Chapter 589: Seventh Floor of the Pagoda
Glancing over the books neatly placed in the bookshelves together with some of the laying on the floor like they had been dropped on the floor, the different artifacts carelessly left forgotten together with a few books, Chu Yang began getting an idea over the situation of the seventh floor.
From the first glance, Chu Yang had been too surprised at the fact that the place was not empty, but after a second glance he realized that the entire seventh floor was extremely chaotic and messy. Almost like there had been someone there in the past, but something had ended up causing them to escape without getting everything on the seventh floor with them...
Just what on earth could have happened for someone to give up all the books and artifacts on the seventh floor...? Is there perhaps some sort of killing formation in place that activates upon entering the seventh floor? Maybe the reason why the members of the Explorer Union who came here in the past left this place intact because of something entirely different... but what...?
Stopping himself from taking a step forward off the spiral staircase and onto the seventh floor of the badly damaged pagoda, Chu Yang could not help feeling like he might end up encountering a dangerous situation if he took a step forward and official stepped onto the seventh floor of the pagoda...
The only question was, what would happen? Would it be some ancient killing formation, or something different?
"..."
Standing still for a few minutes as he quietly observed the seventh floor of the pagoda, Chu Yang failed to find anything off with the seventh floor as he instead began looking over the different artifacts and books present on the seventh floor.
Soon focusing his attention on a few books on the ground and a spear close to the spiral staircase.
If something really was wrong with the seventh floor of the pagoda, Chu yang planned to focus on a few things close to him that he might be able to get his hands on and escape with... Just in case the seventh floor of the pagoda really was dangerous.
The fact that he did not see a single skeleton on the seventh floor of the pagoda also helped greatly boost his confidence in escaping in case something was really wrong with the Seventh floor of the pagoda.
After all, the people from the Explorer Union who had come a few hundred years before him should at most have been in the Core Formation Realm! The skeleton of a Core Formation Realm Expert was far more durable than a mortal Skeleton. Even when left exposed to the elements, it could still last for up to 500 years!
If they could escape, so could he and more importantly, their skeletons should still have been around in case they died on the seventh floor of the pagoda!
Swish-!
Feeling confident about it, Chu Yang didn't waste any more time standing around as he rushed towards the spear first. Deciding to focus on getting it before focusing on the few books that looked useful.
Rumble~
Like he had expected, the seventh floor of the pagoda was not simple, as several ancient looking symbols began dimly shinning all over the seventh floor. Although, most of them barely lit up. Even from a glance, Chu Yang could tell whatever formation he had activated upon stepping onto the seventh floor of the pagoda, it could barely operate.
"What in the world!?"
However, this barely operating formation was more than enough to terrify Chu Yang, as the feeling he got from it was clearly comparable, if not stronger than the feeling he got from his master when practicing with him. The difference this time, was that the formation clearly gave off the feeling of wanting to kill him!
Even without it having done anything yet, Chu Yang felt his body freeze in place for a short moment under this terrifying presence before he continued making his way towards the spear.
Luckily, the formation was barely functional at this point in time, and he could resist the pressure and move. The formation was also slowly sealing off the seventh floor. However, with the sealing speed of the formation, Chu Yang did not worry about not being able to escape in time .
On the other hand, if the formation was fully functional... Chu Yang would be sealed inside the seventh floor of the pagoda the moment he entered. Only capable of waiting for the formation to kill him!
Swoosh!
"Got it!"
Grabbing hold of the spear before rapidly picking up the few nearby books he had chosen on the floor next to the spear, Chu Yang began rushing towards the spiral staircase leading down from the seventh floor.
The attack of the formation had yet to come, as the dimly lit ancient symbols floating around the seventh floor of the pagoda were in the process of transferring their power towards a single ancient symbol.
Even if it was only a single symbol, Chu Yang did not dare to take its attack head on, as he could clearly feel a power beyond the Core Formation Realm brewing inside the slowly charging ancient symbol.
"Hm?"
It was at this moment that Chu Yang noticed something was wrong with his qi, as he felt like his qi reserves were about to dry out after using his movement technique for no more than a few seconds.
I need to get out of here fast!
Even though he wanted to find out why his qi reserve were about to empty up after barely drawing upon them, that would have to wait for later, as the most important thing at the moment was to leave the seventh floor before he ended up getting killed by the formation that was slowly getting ready to attack.
However, things were not that simple, as at the same time Chu Yang was focusing his full attention on escaping from the seventh floor of the pagoda.
At the same time, the weird energy that he had absorbed over the past few days to increase his cultivation realm had been seeping out from his golden core and into his dantian since he entered the core of the ancient city ruins.
After the stimulation from Chu Yang using his qi, the process sped up rapidly, as the weird energy left Chu Yang's dantian at an even faster speed than before
Not long, all the weird energy Chu Yang had refined so far, was directly expelled from his golden core and into his dantian.
Blub~
The result was a massive blob of weird energy that took up most of the space in Chu Yang's dantian!
After having formed, the massive blob slowly began absorbing the qi inside Chu Yang's dantian. Growing larger and larger the more of Chu Yang's qi it absorbed!
Bang!
Chu Yang had just barely managed to throw his body on to the spiral staircase and officially leave the seventh floor out of the formations range when this happened.
"AH-!"
To say it was painful would be an understatement, as Chu Yang felt his qi get violently drawn from all over his dantian and golden core before getting devoured by the blob that had now formed inside his dantian.
What in the world is that thing, didn't I refine those transparent stones and the energy inside them?! How come there is suddenly something trying to devour me!?
Panicking as he felt his cultivation realm at the Third Stage of the Core Formation Realm rapidly destabilize following the weird energy leaving his golden core, Chu Yang quickly calmed himself down to the best of his abilities before sitting down in a lotus position.
Meditating with the Soul Spear Divine Mantra that his master had given him, he barely managed to stop the situation from detreating any further, as the blob inside his dantian could no longer absorb his qi.
The only problem with this, was the fact that he had to keep meditating to stop it from absorbing his qi and at the same time, he did not deal with the blob of weird energy inside his dantian, he merely delayed it from devouring the rest of his qi...
What to do, what to do...
Thinking this to himself, Chu Yang suddenly recalled the books he had taken with him when he dashed into the seventh floor of pagoda just a moment ago.
If he didn't remember wrong, one of the books he had taken out with him should be about the transparent stones... Well... It didn't mention anything called transparent stones, but it did mention some kind of stone located in the stomach of demon beasts who reached the Core Formation Realm!
He could not really read more, as there had only been a short description about the content of the book on the back of it.
But to read the book in search for a solution, I will have to stop meditating and allow the blob to absorb more of my qi! However, I don't really have any choice at this point. My cultivation base is growing more and more unstable with each passing second...!