Eternal Life: I Can Control My Essence Qi-Chapter 223 - 177: Plundering the Secret Vault (2)
"Sizzling..."
Zhang Yao infused magical power, laboriously wielding the flying sword to cut, with sparks flying everywhere. It took him half a quarter of an hour to sever a finger and collect a fair amount of blood.
"It’s done."
He carefully preserved Yu Wen Tai’s severed finger and blood, then after pondering for a moment, he built a tomb on the spot and buried Yu Wen Tai inside.
"Ultimately, you’re not Liu Cang. Being born here, it’s like returning to your roots."
Zhang Yao erected a blank tombstone for him, gazed at it for the last time, then turned around and swiftly left by escape light.
......
Heading north.
Zhang Yao crossed several desolate zones effortlessly, and returned within the Da Li Territory.
Back in Da Li, he changed his appearance, concealed his escape light, and discreetly arrived near the Celestial Treasure Tower Headquarters in the Qianzhou Region.
"Rumble..."
Outside the Celestial Treasure Tower Headquarters, from dozens of miles away, the rumbling sound caused by numerous escape lights flying about could be heard, stirring the sea of clouds.
Zhang Yao maneuvered his escape light, approaching the Celestial Treasure Tower, looking at the towering building with a smile:
"Finally almost there!"
From Yu Wen Tai’s memory, Zhang Yao knew all the methods for activating the arrays, restrictions, and secret passages of the Celestial Treasure Tower Headquarters; he had focused on reviewing this part of the memory on his way here.
Inside the Celestial Treasure Tower Headquarters, there were two vaults:
The first was the Earth Vault, the public treasure vault of the Celestial Treasure Tower, where spirit stones and treasure materials were piled like mountains, all accounts were openly managed, and entries and exits followed fixed procedures, with many high-level individuals having the authority to intervene.
The second was the Secret Vault, storing extremely precious treasures, including many pre-auction items.
Although the treasures in the Secret Vault nominally belonged to the public of the Celestial Treasure Tower, the confidentiality level was extremely high, and the accounts were not open, only Yu Wen Tai had permission to access it; effectively, it was his private vault.
The publicly managed Earth Vault had strict supervision, and most of the treasures were of significant size, such that personal storage bags could not accommodate much; therefore, Zhang Yao never targeted the Earth Vault.
His goal was the Secret Vault located on the 352nd floor.
As long as he could infiltrate the Celestial Treasure Tower, he could silently open the Secret Vault using the spell from Yu Wen Tai’s memory and sweep the treasures clean.
The immediate dilemma was how to blend into the non-open upper spaces of the Celestial Treasure Tower without drawing attention.
"At present, aside from me, no one knows that Yu Wen Tai is dead."
"If I don’t seize this last opportunity, once the news of his death or disappearance is confirmed, the Secret Vault will no longer be available to me..."
Thinking about this, Zhang Yao couldn’t help feeling a sense of urgency, slightly accelerating his escape light speed,
The secret of Yu Wen Tai had been hidden in his heart for a thousand years; he was truly a solitary man, leaving behind no life tokens or soul lamps, and no signal would be sent upon his death.
The matter of him secretly leaving the Celestial Treasure Tower Headquarters to travel south to Lu Kingdom was tied to his own secret, which he didn’t disclose to anyone, including Li Shuixian, who thought he was still retreating in the quiet chamber on the upper levels.
Soon,
Zhang Yao arrived at the outskirts of the Celestial Treasure Tower, quickly slowing down his escape light.
Even at the outskirts of the Celestial Treasure Tower, there were arrays constantly on standby, monitoring all directions, providing no opportunity for anyone to sneak in.
However, Zhang Yao carried Yu Wen Tai’s Tower Master Token, which, although it didn’t control the array core, represented the highest authority, ensuring no array alarms were triggered.
"Whew..."
Zhang Yao maintained his invisibility skill, silently flying through the sea of clouds, arriving at the non-open upper floors area of the Celestial Treasure Tower.
The surveillance inside the Celestial Treasure Tower was extremely strict, especially from the 325th floor upwards, where each floor not only had a floor overseer in charge but also fixed monitoring arrays and patrol guards, all being Foundation Establishment masters.
Anyone without a corresponding identity token venturing alone into these areas would immediately trigger array alerts and summon patrol guards.
"Unfortunately, each person’s magical power aura and spirit soul aura are different, so I cannot directly impersonate Yu Wen Tai."
"Otherwise, it would have been much easier to openly enter the Celestial Treasure Tower..."
Yu Wen Tai’s memory contained methods for such profound transformations, but those were true Daoist skills that could only be cultivated at the Golden Core Stage.
Zhang Yao could only try to avoid floor overseers and patrolling Foundation Establishment masters, yet thanks to his strong divine thought and being unhindered by the arrays, he was confident he could achieve this.
A moment later:
Zhang Yao silently arrived at the 352nd floor, avoiding the floor overseer and opening a secret passage.
Following the secret passage for a moment, he finally saw the bronze gate from his memory and revealed a hint of joy:
"The secret door hasn’t been opened yet!"
He stepped forward, executed a series of complex spells, then took out Yu Wen Tai’s severed finger, gently touching it on the bronze gate.
At the same time, he used primordial energy-catalyzing techniques to stimulate the bloodline traits in Yu Wen Tai’s blood, working together with his cultivated five elements magical power, both infused into the bronze gate.
"Rumble..."
The bronze gate sensed a familiar aura, the array automatically dispersed, and the door roared open.
"Success!"
Zhang Yao finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The method to open the bronze gate was so special deliberately as a safeguard by Yu Wen Tai.
He once tried to replicate his consciousness, reenacting Liu Cang’s past endeavor, but he also feared another ’him’ might overshadow him, exploiting his identity for benefits.
Therefore, opening this bronze door required not only knowing the spells to break arrays but also verifying bloodline and mana attributes, preventing anyone else from opening it.
However, it was clear he didn’t foresee that his future killer, a cultivator of the "Scripture of All Transformations and True Nature," would exploit this loophole.
"Remarkable!"
Upon entering the treasure vault, Zhang Yao was instantly astounded.
Though, through Yu Wen Tai’s memory, he had long known the treasures hidden here, he was still awed.
Inside, there were five pieces of top grade spiritual artifacts alone, dozens of pieces of second top grade spiritual gold treasure materials, and even a few third grade treasure materials, each worth a fortune.
The least valuable here were over a hundred top grade spirit stones, typically used by Golden Core Ancestors for quickly restoring magical power; a single piece was worth ten thousand low grade spirit stones, yet couldn’t be bought for the usual market price.
"And Golden Core Level cultivation techniques, scriptures..."
Casually picking up a jade scroll, Zhang Yao’s expression slightly shifted.
There were seven Golden Core Level cultivation techniques here, all allowing cultivation to Golden Core Perfection, alongside several scriptures depicting complete divine communication skills.
The "Taiyi Mingguang True Record" in his hand was the only top level technique, capable of cultivation all the way to the Nascent Soul Stage, and was the most valuable amongst these scriptures.
"The widespread dissemination of this ’Taiyi Mingguang True Record’ must be related to the Illuminati in some way."
With a thought, Zhang Yao didn’t hesitate, directly pulling out the golden storage bag and sweeping all spirit stones and treasures here.
Within a few breaths :
The spacious secret vault had been thoroughly looted by Zhang Yao, leaving not a single spirit stone behind.
"Not bad! This time, I’ve hit the jackpot!"
Zhang Yao revealed a hint of joy, feeling very pleased.
The gains from the Celestial Treasure Tower Secret Vault, combined with Yu Wen Tai’s storage bag, meant his wealth at this moment surpassed that of some Golden Core Ancestors!
"Leave, quickly leave!"
Zhang Yao stepped back a few paces, re-closed the Secret Vault behind him, and navigated the secret passage out of the 352nd floor.
With Yu Wen Tai’s Tower Master Token on him, various monitoring arrays automatically ignored him, allowing a smooth departure from the upper levels.
"Boom!"
The escape light accelerated far away from the Celestial Treasure Tower.
"Whew..."
Only at this moment did Zhang Yao let out a breath, with the weight in his heart eased.
There were indeed many secrets within the Celestial Treasure Tower, including that Realm Breaker, but his target was solely the Secret Vault, so he naturally wouldn’t complicate matters.
"The news of Yu Wen Tai’s death is destined not to be hidden for long."
Zhang Yao looked back at the Celestial Treasure Tower with a deep gaze, then turned around and accelerated his tunneling speed towards the Fang Continent:
"The day when the winds and clouds rise is not far off..."
