Martial Ascent to Divinity-Chapter 458 - 443: Seated Statue

Zhou Leng and Liang Baiyin walked into Exhibition Hall No. 1, which was quite similar to an ordinary museum, with a large hall divided into many small rooms.

A few scattered people were walking around while observing.

In front of several display cabinets, a Martial Artist was seated cross-legged.

Liang Baiyin whispered, "Someone is actually cultivating."

"Hmm."

"Then let’s speak quietly."

"Try not to speak at all."

"You must be really happy not having to listen to me talk," Liang Baiyin muttered softly, moving closer to Zhou Leng as they walked toward Display Cabinet No. 1.

Unlike ordinary exhibition halls, apart from special exhibits, all display cases here were just platforms without any covers.

Everything here was essentially for cultivation purposes.

On the first display platform stood a very famous stone.

It was over half a person’s height, gray-blue in color, with most of it heavily eroded, leaving only a few blurred fist marks in the center.

Beneath this Martial Arts Trace, there was a card describing the origin of this Martial Arts Trace.

This was a stone discovered during the technological era, initially neglected by everyone.

When the Ten Realms War began, humanity realized its value, and it was sent to the Old Capital for study.

Later, when Demon City swallowed the Old Capital, this Martial Arts Trace was relocated to Xiong City, the New Capital.

As the first Martial Arts Trace of Dragon Country, its photograph appeared in textbooks.

Zhou Leng stood in front of the display platform, gazing at the fist marks, quietly seeking insight.

A few minutes later, Zhou Leng gently shook his head.

Unable to glean any insights.

Martial Arts Traces can only be comprehended by two types of people.

One type has a spirit, martial arts, will, or certain aspect that can resonate with the Martial Arts Trace.

The other is seasoned experts, generally at the Grandmaster or even Martial Saint level, who have mastered the corresponding field’s power and can forcibly comprehend it with their vast experience.

"You can’t comprehend it either?" Liang Baiyin asked softly, looking up.

Zhou Leng shook his head.

"Then let’s move to the next one."

Thus, the two of them sought to comprehend each Martial Arts Trace in Exhibition Hall No. 1.

Meanwhile, in the distant world of fierce beasts.

The Eight-toothed Mammoth Army charged into the Ring-patterned Elephant Tribe, slaughtering mercilessly.

The feud between the two tribes remained relentless, and when they struck, it was a brutal massacre without mercy.

Usually, Huang would play a supportive role, but now he was incredibly fierce, his whole body clad in domineering armor, with protruding tusks.

With a swipe of his claw, he seemed to rip through space, inevitably tearing off a large chunk of flesh from the Ring-patterned Elephants.

Xiaoba occasionally glanced at Huang, deeply amazed, never expecting Huang’s power to progress so rapidly.

Previously, Huang had immense power within, but couldn’t wield it effectively.

Since obtaining that broken stone, it’s been like adding wings to a tiger.

His battle techniques were so advanced that even clan Grandmasters could not decipher them.

Xiaoba felt a sense of illusion that if Huang went all out, even he would be torn apart.

In the Relics Museum.

Zhou Leng and Liang Baiyin slowly sought insights from the Martial Arts Traces at a pace of one every five minutes.

Four hours later, they had finished trying to comprehend over forty Martial Arts Traces in Exhibition Hall No. 1.

In the end, only one gave any response, and it was a weak one, while the others had no response at all.

"I couldn’t feel anything from any of them, how about you?" Liang Baiyin whispered.

"Just one. Perhaps your realm is too low, maybe you need a higher realm?" Zhou Leng asked.

Liang Baiyin sighed, thinking to himself that if it weren’t for Zhou, he wouldn’t have wasted this qualification, originally planning to come in Innate Realm.

"Let’s go, have lunch, and then come back."

"Alright. I’ll take you to the best roast duck." Liang Baiyin said.

"Let’s go."

They went to a roast duck shop, ordered five roast ducks, and then took out Dragon Meat to have it heated at the store.

While chatting, they ate their meal.

After finishing the first roast duck, Liang Baiyin stopped eating, continuously wrapping small pancakes and roast duck meat for Zhou Leng.

After their lunch, the two strolled together.

In the afternoon, they re-entered the Relics Museum to seek insights from the Martial Arts Traces in Exhibition Hall No. 2.

As evening approached, Zhou Leng felt insights from two Martial Arts Traces, but similar to the first, the feeling was not very clear.

Liang Baiyin did not gain anything.

After a dinner, they came back at night to comprehend in Exhibition Hall No. 3.

Until late at night, Zhou Leng gained nothing, but Liang Baiyin felt some insight from a fragment of a broken bronze cauldron.

They noted down the Martial Arts Traces they gained insights from and returned to Yunhua Martial Arts Academy.

On the second day, they returned.

An ordinary insight qualification allows the comprehension of all ordinary exhibition halls, and one can ultimately choose one Martial Arts Trace for a full day’s insight.

After two days, they completed comprehending all the Martial Arts Traces in the ordinary exhibition halls.

Late at night, the two walked out of the exhibition hall, sitting in a taxi on the way back to Yunhua Martial Arts Academy.

"I’ve chosen mine, which is that bronze cauldron fragment, it gave me the strongest feeling. How about you?"

"I resonated with seven Martial Arts Traces, but none strongly."

"Seven, that’s impressive, I only had three. Have you chosen?"

"I do not intend to choose."

"Huh? Are you going to choose later, or what?"

"I plan to go to the advanced exhibition hall to choose tomorrow."

"Hmm? You have advanced qualification?"

"I was lucky to acquire one."

Liang Baiyin looked at Zhou Leng, his eyes sparkling in the night, and said, "Brother Zhou, you seem to be getting more and more impressive. The advanced qualification of the Relics Museum is extremely, extremely rare."

"Is it really that difficult? Is there an explanation?" Zhou Leng asked.

"Back then, there was no distinction between ordinary and high-level, management was chaotic, and then some just got ’lost.’ Later, to prevent losses, especially important Martial Arts Traces were placed in the high-level exhibit, strictly forbidden to be moved."

"Impossible, who would have such guts?"

"Think about it, who indeed would have such guts?"

Zhou Leng quickly recalled some rumors and asked, "Are these artifacts in the museum going to the same group of people?"

"Of course," Liang Baiyin replied.

Zhou Leng sighed softly, saying nothing.

"But recently it’s better, martial arts resources are very strictly guarded now. Of course, ordinary artifacts are still the same... I can’t get into the high-level exhibit, so I might not be able to accompany you tomorrow. Can you accompany little Baiyin?" Liang Baiyin pleaded pitifully.

Zhou Leng said, "When I arrived, Hall Master Wang told me I didn’t need to visit the ordinary exhibit, but to satisfy my curiosity, and with a mindset to potentially pick up a bargain, I’ve already wasted two days."

Liang Baiyin thought to herself, is he implying that he has deliberately accompanied me for two days?

She instantly smiled and said, "Really, I’ve been very happy to be with you these past two days. By the way, didn’t Hall Master Wang tell you anything else?"

"What else?"

"I heard from my family that back then, one of Wang Boxiong’s elders discovered a rather peculiar jade artifact and handed it over to the museum. Later, that jade artifact disappeared. My grandfather said that it was..."

Liang Baiyin looked around, leaned close to Zhou Leng’s ear, covered her hand, and whispered, "It was taken away by Zhao Hao, the patriarch of the Zhao Family."

"I’ve never heard of that," Zhou Leng said.

In the morning, the two went again to the relic museum.

Liang Baiyin chose to cultivate for the whole day, while Zhou Leng went into the high-level exhibit for a closer inspection.

The Martial Arts Traces in the high-level exhibit were different from those in the ordinary exhibit.

Larger, more complete, with a stronger presence.

A huge stone wall, tens of meters high, covered densely with sword marks.

A half-height fragment of a black cauldron, imprinted with fist and palm marks.

A faceless humanoid statue, entirely black, with a pitted surface, very worn, but exuding an impressive aura.

...

A piece of strange silver metal, with clear fingerprints left on it.

The fingerprints were as large as a human head, and the complexity of the fingerprint patterns far exceeded that of human fingerprints, almost like a peculiar design.

Even the part of the fingerprint seemed like just a part, rather than a complete fingerprint.

There were also some Martial Arts Traces engraved with Divine Text.

The high-level exhibit had a total of forty-five Martial Arts Traces.

Zhou Leng could clearly sense twenty-three items.

Three items gave a strong reaction.

One was the head-sized silver fingerprint.

Another was a broken eight-sided lantern.

The last was the faceless humanoid statue.

The humanoid statue was the most complete among all the Martial Arts Traces, while the others were almost all damaged.

The aura of the humanoid statue was very unusual, as if he had sensed it somewhere before, but for the moment, couldn’t pinpoint its source.

Afterward, Zhou Leng repeatedly rotated his focus among the three Martial Arts Traces, making his final choice.

On the fifth round of sensing, Zhou Leng suddenly looked towards the humanoid statue.

Finally, he remembered the familiar sensation of the humanoid statue came from somewhere.

The Gate of Purgatory, Evil God’s Gaze.

Zhou Leng’s expression changed slightly.

If by any chance...

He hurried out of the exhibit and dialed Wang Boxiong’s video call.

"What’s the matter?" Wang Boxiong was standing outdoors, covered in blood, looking calm.

"Would I be disturbing you?"

"Some demon brats have been abducting people lately. I just killed some demon brats and saved some people, currently taking a rest."

Zhou Leng said in a low voice, "I found something possibly connected to an Evil God in the high-level exhibit of the relic museum, it’s the faceless humanoid statue."

Wang Boxiong’s eyes widened slightly.

"Are you certain?"

"Very sure, I’ve accidentally encountered similar power. There’s definitely something wrong with that humanoid statue."

Wang Boxiong’s expression became serious, and he said in a low voice, "You must not tell outsiders, I’ll find a way to report back to the capital."

"Okay."

After hanging up, Zhou Leng felt a weight on his mind.

If it required Wang Boxiong to personally return to Lai Xiong City to report, the matter couldn’t be small, possibly aligning with his suspicions.

If someone deliberately brought it in, it could be a huge case.

The Martial Artists who previously contemplated the humanoid statue...

The subsequent matters didn’t concern him much.

With the humanoid statue around, Zhou Leng didn’t dare to cultivate for long and continued repeatedly sensing other Martial Arts Traces.

Another day passed, and although Liang Baiyin didn’t need to visit the relic museum, she still came early in the morning to find Zhou Leng for morning training, then they had breakfast together, claiming it was to learn Martial Arts from Instructor Zhou.

After breakfast, Liang Baiyin returned to school, and Zhou Leng went to the high-level exhibit again.

The faceless humanoid statue had already been taken to the storage under the guise of maintenance.

Without the interference of the Evil God power, Zhou Leng felt relieved and turned his attention to the two items with the strongest reactions.

Silver fingerprint, eight-sided lantern.

The silver fingerprint was likely left by a particularly powerful Divine Spirit.

After so many years, the fingerprint was still clearly visible.

The aura was similar to that of the Observing Heaven Mountain in Hundred Peaks Valley, containing the power of the stars, and might be related to the Ancient River Sect.

The eight-sided lantern seemed very familiar.

The outside of the eight-sided lantern was a twisted, charred frame, with the leather covering completely gone.

The center of the lantern’s base, the ancient gray iron lamp was extinguished, with no wick left, only half the lamp cup remained.

It particularly resembled the river lamp of the Ancient River Sect.