Chapter 34: Opening the Storage Bag

Inside this Storage Bag before my eyes, the Soul Locking Array was actually composed of over a hundred Ancient Runes forming a six-layered compass-shaped array. Without the resonance of Divine Sense, cracking it would require arranging these hundred-plus Ancient Runes into millions of combinations to have any chance of opening the Storage Bag. Even if a cultivator's Soul were powerful, they had not yet transcended their mortal flesh and bone; it was fundamentally impossible to crack it through trial and error, or it would take three to five years to open.

Moreover, human willpower is limited; even a powerhouse in the Spirit Realm would absolutely be unable to sustain such terrifying mental exertion. Perhaps they would suffer a mental breakdown before they even managed to open the Storage Bag.

Therefore, to open this Storage Bag, it is best to find the exclusive secret technique of the Ziyang Sect.

But unfortunately, that is currently impossible.

Unless someone from the Ziyang Sect is willing to help.

But even so, the helper's cultivation cannot be much lower than that of the Daoist in black, otherwise, even if the Soul Lock were broken, it would not be enough to forcibly erase the Divine Sense imprint left inside. In that case, even if the Storage Bag were opened, one could only take the items inside, but the Storage Bag itself could not be used normally and would become completely useless.

Although Xu Chen has not had much contact with Soul Locking Arrays, he is not completely ignorant of them; it is just that his understanding is very superficial, not even counting as scratching the surface.

Among the few Jade Slips that Jiu Shixiong threw to him, there were several methods for cracking Soul Locking Arrays, but they were clearly common goods. However, for Xu Chen, they were an entirely new system of knowledge.

As he continued to study and test them one by one on the Storage Bag, although he did not succeed, it allowed him to find a joy completely different from sitting in meditation to practice Qi, and thus he became more and more deeply immersed.

Time flew by, and it was already midnight.

After more than two hours, Xu Chen did not feel the slightest bit sleepy. He had already tested all the cracking methods in the few Jade Slips several times. Although he still had not found the way to crack it, he had gained some insight: as long as he consciously stimulated the Blue Jade Bead to strike the Soul Locking Array with blue light, the Soul Locking Array's rune ring would begin to spin rapidly, and the speed of its operation from outside to inside would be more than a hundred times faster than when he used ordinary cracking methods.

But even so, it was still unable to break the Soul Locking Array.

Yet, not only was he not discouraged, he was instead filled with infinite interest and fighting spirit.

All methods for cracking Soul Locking Arrays can be summarized into two types:

First, find the correct combination of Soul Locking Ancient Runes to make the Soul Locking Array open correctly, but this method can only deal with simple Soul Locking Arrays that have only two or three layers.

Second, find the Divine Sense imprint hidden inside and destroy it directly.

The Soul Locking Array of this Storage Bag is nested in six layers and is almost impossible to open by combining Ancient Runes, so the only way is to destroy the Divine Sense imprint.

And the Divine Sense imprint is generally hidden in the deepest part of the Soul Locking Array and is very faint; without the person's own Divine Sense communication and resonance, it is extremely difficult to find.

But Xu Chen knew that this was the only way for him to open the Storage Bag before him.

However, the Blue Jade Bead helped him find a glimmer of possibility.

That is, as long as he continuously pushed the Soul Locking Array to operate rapidly, as long as there was a sliver of a chance for the combination to be correct, this wisp of deeply hidden Divine Sense imprint aura would fluctuate, and then he could forcibly drive the blue light to quickly destroy the Divine Sense imprint.

Once the Divine Sense imprint is destroyed, the Storage Bag becomes an ownerless object, like a young lady who has stripped off her clothes, waiting to be admired and touched.

Of course, this is a stupid method, but it is also the best effective method at the moment.

The late-night inn was quiet and peaceful; apart from the sound of the patrolling night watchman, there was almost no movement on the street.

Xu Chen was completely immersed in the process of cracking the Soul Lock and could not extricate himself.

Time flew by, another hour passed, and it was approaching dawn.

And this was the time when everyone was in their deepest sleep; even the night watchman was nowhere to be found.

Xu Chen, sitting cross-legged on the bed, had a slightly pale complexion.

At this moment, in his Sea of Consciousness, the Blue Jade Bead hung high, emitting a bright blue light, illuminating a six-layered nested compass array light shadow spinning at high speed.

Suddenly, a strange fluctuation of Soul aura appeared in the array. Xu Chen's spirit lifted, and his cross-legged body couldn't help but tremble slightly.

Almost at the same time, the Blue Jade Bead suddenly burst into intense blue light, releasing a blinding blue light like a scorching sun that swept across. The rapidly spinning compass light shadow stopped abruptly, and that wisp of Divine Sense fluctuation vanished in an instant.

Accompanied by a series of 'crack, crack, crack' sounds from the depths of his soul, the six-layered compass light shadow rapidly collapsed into a black hole, and a large pile of things appeared out of thin air in Xu Chen's Divine Sense.

It opened!

Xu Chen stared blankly at these items floating in his Divine Sense. It was a long time before he suddenly realized that he had actually succeeded, and he couldn't help but jump up and laugh out loud.

Almost at the same time, two strands of Divine Sense penetrated from the rooms on the left and right and landed on him, and at the same time, Jiu Shixiong's angry Divine Sense roar sounded: "What are you howling about in the middle of the night? Do you have any public spirit!"

Even Thirteenth Senior Sister Zhao Xuan, who had always been quite gentle, was full of anger: "Junior Brother, are you looking for a beating? You scared me so much my soul almost flew away."

"Hahahaha, Senior Brother, Senior Sister, come quickly, I've opened the Storage Bag!"

Xu Chen didn't mind, sending out a strand of Divine Sense. He received two screams in an instant. In just a few breaths, he heard the door bang open; the door bolt almost hit Xu Chen on the head. Jiu Shixiong rushed in like a cheetah, holding up his trousers.

A moment later, Zhao Xuan also rushed in with messy hair, wearing a thin, tight-fitting sleeping dress.

"Junior Brother, did you really open the Storage Bag?"

Before the two arrived, their voices had already poured into Xu Chen's Sea of Consciousness.

"Haha, look!"

Xu Chen opened his hand, held the Storage Bag, and gave it a shake. Instantly, a large pile of things poured out of thin air with a clatter: Jade Bottles, Yujia, Magic Treasures, Spirit Materials, Spirit Medicine, Spirit Stones, monster cores, spirit bones, gold, silver, and jewelry—all kinds of things, recognized and unrecognized, piled up to fill half the bed. The spiritual light flickered and treasures shone, blinding one's titanium alloy dog eyes.

"So many?" Xu Chen himself was stunned.

"Oh my mother, I'm rich, I'm rich!" Jiu Shixiong's eyes shone as he threw himself onto the edge of the bed, his hands cupping a pile of things, saliva overflowing.

"Wow, this is Seven Star Bamboo..."

"Wow, this is Purple Jade Heart..."

"Wow, this is Blood Jade Lingzhi..."

"Wow, this is a piece of gold... grass..."

Jiu Shixiong was like a madman, his hands grabbing wildly on the bed, while his mouth kept howling.

Although Xu Chen was also drooling and his blood was pumping with excitement, his mindset was much better. After all, he had already seen it in the Storage Bag just now; apart from the Spirit Stones and a few Spirit Materials and Spirit Medicine, he didn't recognize most of them.

Zhao Xuan also squeezed between the two, looking at the treasures covering half the bed. Her delicate little face was also incomparably shocked, her eyes shining brightly, and she didn't know which one to touch first.

Just as the three of them were shouting and identifying the treasures, suddenly there was the sound of talking and footsteps coming up the stairs. Xu Chen was startled and reminded: "Shh, Jiu Shixiong, stop howling. The innkeeper is probably coming up. It won't be good if he sees this."

Jiu Shixiong calmed down instantly and stopped shouting. Sure enough, not long after, the innkeeper walked to Xu Chen's door holding an oil lamp and wearing his clothes, cautiously saying to the inside: "Three guests, what happened in the middle of the night? Why is it so noisy, even the door was kicked broken? My little shop has thin profits..."

"Bang~"

Before the innkeeper could finish speaking, a large piece of golden, glittering thing slammed heavily in front of his toes, and a large hole was smashed into the wooden floorboards. At the same time, an impatient voice came out: "My little brother had a nightmare just now, and the commotion was a bit loud. The gold is compensation; find someone to fix the door tomorrow."

"Eh, alright, alright, three guests, take your time. Does the old one need to help you call a doctor..."

"No need, hurry up and leave! Don't come up without our call!"

"Yes, yes, the old one will take his leave!"

The innkeeper was trembling with excitement, picked up a large lump of gold weighing at least a catty, and hurried away with his heart thumping. However, because he was too excited, he missed a step while going downstairs and then went tumbling down with a clatter.

"Gold, my precious gold!"

In the pitch-black darkness, the shopkeeper ignored his pain and clutched the gold tightly, unable to let go.

Soon, his wife and daughter also came over holding lamps and candles; when they saw the man covered in blood from his fall and grinning foolishly, they thought he had knocked his head, but when they saw the large piece of gold in his hands, they immediately shrieked in unison.

"Stop your screeching! If you disturb the three honored guests upstairs, I'll beat you to death!"

The shopkeeper scrambled up and hurriedly limped back to his room with his wife and daughter.

After a flurry of clattering downstairs, it quickly became quiet, and inside the room, the emotions of Xu Chen and the other two had also calmed down.

However, facing such a vast amount of treasure, the three of them still felt their hearts pounding wildly, even more joyful and excited than the shopkeeper was upon receiving a single piece of gold.

Jiu Shixiong and Zhao Xuan didn't even have time to ask Xu Chen how he had opened the Storage Bag; instead, after closing the door with the broken lock, they quickly inventoried all the treasures and discovered there were dozens of items, both large and small.

There were over ten bottles of various medicinal pills, among which there were five bottles of Great Origin Pill alone, plus two bottles of Gathering Qi Pill, one bottle of True Fire Pill, and one bottle of Jade Dew Pill; one of the bottles contained the Guiyuan Pill that had been taken out last time, with only one pill inside, and there were four other Jade Bottles that also contained only one pill each, though they did not recognize them.

Whether they recognized them or not, these pills were certainly good things; at the very least, the Great Origin Pill was a timely gift for the three of them right now, and as for the Gathering Qi Pill, True Fire Pill, and Jade Dew Pill, they were all second-grade pills consumed by cultivators in the Zhenyuan Realm, so their preciousness went without saying; the Taiyuan Sect also had these pills, but they were scarce in quantity, perhaps only refined once every year or two, and then distributed by the pill to Disciples who had already reached the Zhenyuan Realm.

But for the wealthy and powerful Ziyang Sect, the fact that such pills appeared in whole bottles in the hands of a single cultivator showed that the strength of the Ziyang Sect was truly terrifying.