Chapter 202: Arm Rings

Not only that, after a few breaths, countless insects of all sizes suddenly crawled out from beneath the soil near the large pit—but as soon as they emerged, they all flipped over and lay motionless; in an instant, a thick layer of insect corpses floated in the pit.

Seeing this, Wang Yu quickly formed a hand seal with one hand and released a fireball, which burst into roaring flames and reduced all the insects in the pit to ash.

A foul odor immediately filled the tree hollow.

Wang Yu merely sniffed it briefly and felt a wave of nausea; he held his breath, flipped his hand to reveal a silver folding fan, and slashed it hard—sudden gales erupted within the hollow, sweeping away every trace of the stench.

Only then did he exhale, sealed the gourd, and placed it directly on the ground.

Wang Yu then checked the other gourd; it too contained the same dark green liquid.

He ceased further testing and collected everything into his storage bag.

Next, he took out a black leather pouch—the storage bag of the Mo Luo Sect's true disciple who could transform into a monkey and a black panther.

He upended the pouch's mouth toward the ground, and with a flash of white light, a large pile of items tumbled out.

Besides hundreds of mid-grade spirit stones and several vials and talismans, the most eye-catching items were a thick stack of beast pelts, followed by two blood-red talismans placed separately, a three-inch-long crimson arrow, a pair of black arm rings, and a silver box.

After a brief inspection of the pelts, he found four black monkey pelts, two white tiger pelts, one silver panther pelt, and one blue ox pelt.

These pelts were clearly unlike ordinary animal hides—not only were they perfectly intact with not a single tear, but faint spiritual patterns shimmered faintly across their surfaces.

Seeing these special pelts, Wang Yu became deeply intrigued by this transformation technique.

With his Four Beasts Diagram body cultivation art, if he could learn this direct beast-transformation technique, it would be like adding wings to a tiger.

Next, Wang Yu examined the blood-red talismans and found they were both second-rank Blood Escape Talismans.

It seemed every Mo Dao true disciple entering the Jialan Secret Realm had prepared such a life-saving talisman.

He then picked up the crimson arrow and examined it closely.

The red arrow's body resembled coral, riddled with countless tiny holes; its tip was triangular and exceptionally sharp, with grooves resembling blood channels along both sides.

He held the arrow in his palm and infused a trace of spiritual energy—immediately, it hummed, and eleven black spiritual runes surfaced on its surface, exuding a strong stench of blood; Chucizhiwai, there was no other anomaly.

Wang Yu was puzzled; after thinking for a moment, he flicked his wrist and tossed the crimson arrow away.

"Bang"

The arrow skewed and embedded itself slightly into the tree hollow's wall, its sharpness allowing it to pierce a bit—but then its glow dimmed and its hum ceased.

Wang Yu sighed; it seemed this artifact required a special technique or secret to be truly activated.

He could only place the arrow back on the ground and picked up the pair of black arm rings.

The black arm rings were palm-width, their surfaces marked with rough natural textures, entirely dark and dull, yet warm to the touch.

Curious, Wang Yu slipped one ring onto his arm and infused a trace of spiritual energy—no reaction. After a brief hesitation, he slipped the second ring onto his other arm and simultaneously channeled spiritual energy into both rings.

In the next instant, ten faint red spiritual runes glowed on the rings' surfaces, and a surge of heat flowed into his arms, causing his muscles to twitch slightly.

Wang Yu raised an eyebrow and instinctively moved his arms, then clenched his fists—his strength had clearly changed.

After a moment's thought, he pulled a low-quality bone knife from his storage bag, applied slight pressure with both hands—the bone knife bent slightly; then, with all ten fingers squeezing together, clear finger impressions remained on its surface.

Indeed, his strength had increased—by nearly two-tenths.

Knowing his original strength was already extraordinary, this two-tenths boost meant an immediate gain of nearly a thousand catties—such an increase was truly astonishing.

He had never seen or heard of any auxiliary artifact that could directly enhance strength; he couldn't help but marvel.

He carefully inspected the pair of black arm rings once more, confirmed they had no flaws, used a talisman to conjure purification spirit liquid to cleanse them, then confidently slipped them back onto his arms, deciding not to remove them again.

Why, he wondered, had the Mo Dao true disciple who transformed into a monkey not worn this artifact directly, when it so clearly boosted combat power?

Did the monkey-transformation technique prevent simultaneous use of other artifacts?

Wang Yu felt puzzled, and finally turned his gaze to the silver box.

The box was square, seven or eight inches long, its surface gleaming silver, engraved with intricate patterns, and sealed with two binding talismans crossed over it.

Wang Yu grasped the silver box and slapped its surface—the two talismans silently fell away, but instantly, a thin silver lightning arc flashed across the box's surface and struck his palm holding it.

"Zi-la!"—dense sparks danced across his hand, but fortunately, the golden fist armor protected him; he wasn't truly injured, and instead felt invigorated, carefully opening the silver box's lid.

A crackling sound emerged from within the silver box.

At its center lay a black pearl, the size of a thumb, covered in a faint layer of black mist, from which intermittent threads of lightning flickered.

"What the hell is this?"

Wang Yu swept his spiritual sense toward the pearl—but the black mist instantly repelled it, preventing any penetration; he was startled.

He hesitated, then gently touched the black mist on the pearl's surface with one finger.

"Boom!"

A silver lightning arc, ten times thicker than before, shot out from the pearl and struck his entire palm.

Wang Yu felt his palm grow hot, then a sharp pain.

He quickly pulled his hand back and looked—inhaling sharply.

The golden fist armor, formed from dark aura, had completely dissolved; his bare palm was charred black—the "energy membrane" had failed to fully block the lightning's power, leaving the surface scorched.

His pupils contracted slightly; he swiftly closed the silver box's lid, then pulled out a talisman and pressed it to his palm.

Moments later, green light flickered over his injured hand; the charred layer peeled away rapidly, revealing fresh, pale skin beneath.