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Chapter 292 - Temple
🕑 Added 2025-04-17 07:00:19 +0000 UTCAnd her thinking was proven right. Two weeks after Valenia traveled with Jayden, another man found them following the trails. The man, named Lan Chuan, wore a blue flowing robe, a similar style to Lin Wei's, indicating that he originated from the East Region of Cloud Continent.
Previously, since Valenia stopped using her Sword Intent to hide her true ability, her battle power naturally dropped by a lot, to the point that she would struggle against a High-Level Demonic Beast alone. But now, with three people traveling together, fighting demonic beasts became much easier.
After another week, another person appeared wearing all black. He also found them by following Valenia's sword slash marks.
However, the three of them were shocked to learn that the man in black, named Ghossy, was not someone from the Cloud Continent but instead from the Protogaea Continent, a continent that they had never heard of previously. Apparently, he was the main heir of a noble household of the Whispering Kingdom, one of the Twelve Great Kingdoms.
The more they heard about the Protogaea Continent, the more they realized that their continent was quite behind in various aspects, especially cultivation. He claimed that his continent had cultivators of the Dao Manifestation Realm, a cultivation realm higher than the Soul Transformation Realm, the strongest in the Cloud Continent. At first, the three didn't quite believe him, but after Ghossy produced multiple things to prove his claim, they finally believed him.
At the same time, after Ghossy realized that Valenia, Jayden, and Lan Chuan were people of a small continent, he began acting haughty and bossy, appointing himself as the leader of the group. His voice took on a grating edge, every command dripping with an air of superiority that made Valenia's skin crawl.
The group dynamic that Valenia considered pretty normal previously, treating each other as equals, had now shifted to something that she didn't like. To make things worse, Jayden and Lan Chuan both began acting subservient to Ghossy's whims, as if they were trying to win his favor.
Valenia wasn't the most intellectual person, but she still could see that they were doing this to establish a connection with someone from a superior continent, which, in her opinion, was pathetic. Hmph, even if you want to build a connection, do it as equals, not as a lackey, she thought.
Due to Ghossy's bossy attitude, Valenia became more and more reluctant to cooperate with them, and tension began growing between them. The journey continued with repeated attempts from them to make Valenia act subservient to Ghossy as well. Jayden and Lan Chuan kept mocking Valenia for her stubborn attitude that refused to see the bigger picture, claiming that she would miss her chance to soar in the future.
However, Valenia couldn't be bothered by them. She had already planned to separate herself from the joke of a group. She was only waiting for the right time to leave. During these times, Valenia felt that Leyvi's constant teasing of her with Anda wasn't that annoying anymore. A faint smirk tugged at her lips as she pictured his playful grin, a stark contrast to the petty posturing around her.
Hmph, how can men be so different? Leyvi is countless times better than they are. No, no, they couldn't even compare with Leyvi. Maybe Madam was right by trying so hard to bring more ladies to him. Many girls' lives will be saved this way, Valenia thought. She was even considering helping Anda in her noble effort now.
And just a week later, the group found a temple while passing through a swampland. The land was mostly wet, but only some areas were submerged in water. Since the temple was the first building they ever saw in the Mystic Realm, they naturally were curious and decided to explore.
The temple was quite large and had unique carvings all over the building. To be exact, the temple itself was a large carving out of a massive single inselberg but was now broken into many parts and covered with moss.
The sheer size of the temple caused Valenia to feel surprised because it was bigger than the two Leyan Family mansions combined. It made her wonder just how big the original piece of inselberg was before it got carved out.
Going through the mold-covered steps into the temple, they saw the interior of the temple.
The interior of the ancient inselberg temple was dark and humid, with walls carved directly from the massive rock. Over presumably millennia, moisture from the swamp had seeped inside, causing moss, glowing fungi, and creeping vines to take root in the cracks of the stone. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth, decay, and the faint hint of rust. Valenia's nose wrinkled slightly, the musty weight of the air pressing against her senses like an unwelcome shroud.
The group walked through the main hall that stretched wide, supported by worn stone pillars. They kept their vigilance with their eyes and spiritual sense. At the end of the main hall lay a narrow path that was choked with overgrown roots.
Ghossy, as usual, ordered Valenia to cut down all the overgrown roots as if she were his lackey. Valenia, who had already made up her mind to separate from them later, just kept her cool and cut them without any resistance. Her broadsword moved with practiced ease, each slice a quiet act of patience she forced herself to maintain.
Before long, they arrived at the inner sanctum of the temple after passing through the narrow path that had been cleared of roots.
At the heart of the inner sanctum stood a great altar, cracked and eroded, yet still imposing in its silence. Scattered across the floor were the shattered remains of stone tablets made from the same stone as the carved-out temple.
From whatever they could still read of the faded inscriptions, it seemed that the temple used to be a secluded sect, living far from other communities.
The people who lived in seclusion here were practitioners of body strengthening, and the entirety of the temple was carved out and dug by using their strong, trained bodies. It took decades for the temple to actually be finished.
Valenia found it impressive. They weren't cultivators but merely mortals who trained their bodies to the extreme in a crude way. They reminded her of Leyvi's barbaric training to temper his body, but at the same time, they weren't the same at all because while Leyvi trained his body barbarically, he trained it as a cultivator, whereas the people here trained theirs as mortals.
In the end, they couldn't break the limit of a mortal unless they went through the proper body cultivation method, which used spiritual energy to strengthen their body.
Since Leyvi was already a cultivator, the repeated destruction and reconstruction of his body had continuously healed and enhanced his body with his own Qi, while the mortals didn't have this advantage.
That was why Valenia felt more impressed by their dedication to creating this temple using their bare hands as mortals. She ran her fingers along a weathered carving, marveling at the sheer will etched into every rough edge.
While Valenia felt admiration, the other three felt disappointed. Since the temple was made by mortals, there would probably be nothing valuable here.
After more searching, they found a hidden pathway spiraling into darkness underneath the altar that split into four paths, each leading to a secret chamber.
It was at this time that Ghossy suggested they each pick one path, and whatever any of them found belonged to them.
And of course, Ghossy picked a path first, followed by Jayden and Lan Chuan, leaving Valenia with the last path.
When Valenia entered the chamber, there were only a few wooden boxes sitting in the chamber, and they seemed to be covered in some kind of resin, which protected them from decay.
After checking that there was nothing unusual, Valenia carefully opened the wooden box. In there was a single brownish paper and nothing else. She ignored the paper for now and proceeded to open the other boxes as well, and the result wasn't any better. They were all empty.
Valenia was disappointed. She turned her attention back to the piece of paper. Her fingers hesitated over the paper, a flicker of curiosity battling her disappointment.
Suddenly, she heard a faint familiar laugh echoing from the path. Moments later, two more joyful laughs rang out from the path as well. Valenia pouted. She knew those hateful guys had probably gotten something good from the chambers they picked. And here she was, stuck with a single worn paper. Totally unfair! Her lips twisted into a scowl, the sound of their glee grating on her nerves like a dull blade.
Hesitation disappeared from her fingers as she picked up the paper. There was nothing on it, so she flipped it to the other side. This time, there was something drawn and written on it. Seeing what was on the paper, Valenia's eyes lit up a little.
The piece of paper was actually a map. Not a map to secret treasure or anything, but a map to the nearest city. It made sense. Even though the people of the temple lived in seclusion, it didn't mean they cut off their lives from the outside world completely.
Valenia smiled. She had already planned to leave the group, but now she also had an immediate destination to go to.
