Chapter 949: Bronze Mask

“Good!”

He Pingsheng nodded and said, “Take me there!”

Huoming was of the Phoenix Clan, but he was He Pingsheng’s servant, so He Pingsheng had no fear Huoming would betray him.

Besides He Pingsheng, Luo Bingyao also followed inside.

The Phoenix Clan’s treasure vault lies underground!

Several of them entered through a ruined palace on the surface, broke through two sets of restrictions, and descended downward.

They wound their way down, but when they reached the vault’s entrance, they hit a snag.

Because the vault’s entrance had four layers of defensive arrays.

And each defensive array was eighth-rank.

These were merely ordinary defensive arrays; with his current combat power, He Pingsheng could shatter them with a full-force strike.

The problem was, this was underground.

If they forcibly broke through, the underground space would be destroyed.

The best solution was still to dismantle the grand array.

He Pingsheng had no choice but to return to the surface and wait.

After about half an incense stick’s time, He Tianya and Liu Molin returned.

“Hurry!” He Pingsheng said nothing else, simply gesturing to the two: “Follow me!”

The three entered underground and arrived again before the treasure vault.

"Liu Daofriend!" He Pingsheng nodded toward the vault’s door: "This is the Phoenix Clan’s treasure vault, but outside are several eighth-rank arrays. I beg you to dismantle them one by one!"

“Good!” Liu Molin’s eyes lit up.

He felt his value.

After about half an incense stick’s time of testing, Liu Molin finally nodded and said, “I can break them, but it will take several days.”

He Pingsheng smiled: “I can wait for that much time.”

“Break it. I’ll go handle the aftermath above.”

He Pingsheng left the underground treasure vault in the care of Huoming, Liu Molin, and Luo Bingyao.

He himself returned to the surface with his son.

“This is a supreme-grade Great Transformation Pill!” He Pingsheng handed his son a pill: “When you one day reach the peak of Body Integration, you can use it.”

“Thank you, Father!” He Tianya took the pill and asked: “Father, I heard Mother was sealed in a small spiritual world, and so are my children!”

“I wonder, Father, can you open this small spiritual world?”

He Pingsheng shook his head: “I don’t know… Once a small spiritual world activates, it becomes a world like the Spiritual Realm, forever severed from ours.”

“But don’t worry too much—they didn’t die by accident.”

“Even within that small world, they can still cultivate and breakthrough. If you ascend to the Immortal Realm, you may still meet again.”

“Still, I’m looking for a way,” He Pingsheng said. “If I can find a method to open the entrance to that small spiritual world, that would be better.”

He Pingsheng would not give up.

He now had two directions.

The first, as Jin Ku had said, was to enter the [Piaomiao Mountain] and seek opportunity—perhaps find answers among the ruins of an Immortal sect.

But that was extremely difficult.

The likelihood was exceedingly slim.

The second was to cultivate the Law of Time.

If he could master the Law of Time to its extreme, he might attain the ability to reverse time.

If he could reverse time within a small region, he might open the exit of the small spiritual world against the flow of time.

But neither method was guaranteed to succeed.

Besides opening the small spiritual world, there was Zhou Qingmei.

Zhou Qingmei was more troublesome.

She died by self-explosion.

How could he save her?

He Pingsheng possessed a Heaven-grade technique called [Six Paths Soul Snatching], which could enter the Six Paths to retrieve a soul.

But the problem was, Zhou Qingmei’s cultivation base was too high.

For the Six Paths Soul Snatching to work, there must be at least three major realm differences between the caster and the one being saved.

Otherwise, the soul could not be retrieved.

Moreover, once the technique was cast, the caster would accrue massive karmic retribution.

That was a real problem!

Two days later, Liu Molin indeed opened the Phoenix Clan’s treasure vault.

He Pingsheng led everyone inside.

This was the accumulated wealth of the Phoenix Clan over countless eons.

There was much here.

Including materials, magic treasures, elixirs, jade slips, and cultivation scriptures.

He Pingsheng looked around but saw no top-tier items.

“These things now belong to our human race!” He Pingsheng said to Luo Bingyao: “You and Tianya, inventory everything here. All eighth-rank alchemical materials, hand them to me—I’ll refine pills.”

“Of course, ninth-rank alchemical materials too.”

“The rest, store in the treasury.”

Saying this, He Pingsheng walked to a pile of forging materials and pulled out his Hongmeng Purple Gold Rod.

If the Hongmeng Purple Gold Rod showed desire, if it wanted to devour, then take it.

Too bad!

Nothing!

“This place, the Unextinguished Volcano, is a good spot!” He Pingsheng continued. “Afterward, clean it up and rebuild it into a divine haven.”

“From now on, this will be the core of the entire Heavenfire Continent!”

“Appoint a human Emperor to rule the [Nephan Empire], and guard the Ascension Platform atop Tianwang Mountain!”

Ascension was strange.

Though one could ascend from anywhere in the Spiritual Realm, not necessarily at Tianwang Mountain.

But the Ascension Platform on Tianwang Mountain was a place with ascension guidance.

That is, if you ascend from Tianwang Mountain, you would arrive at a fixed location in the Immortal Realm.

If you ascended elsewhere, randomly, you might land anywhere in the Immortal Realm.

“Understood!” Luo Bingyao said: “Master… let me be the Emperor of the Nephan Empire!”

He Pingsheng smiled: “Fine!”

“I entrust it to you, but mundane affairs come second—cultivation comes first. Don’t neglect your practice!”

Luo Bingyao rolled her eyes: “I’m already on par with you, you know?”

He Pingsheng stroked his chin: Alright, you’ve got a point.

Soon after leaving the vault, the Dragon Clan’s scattered immortal Ao Cheng walked over with a beaming smile.

Seeing Ao Cheng, He Pingsheng sneered.

This guy was a turncoat.

He claimed to surrender, then went back to his clan to fetch an Immortal Artifact—but he was gone for days.

Only after I wiped out the Phoenix Clan did he come groveling with the artifact?

If I hadn’t destroyed them, would he have bothered?

Old fox.

"He Daofriend, hehe... sorry for the wait!" Ao Cheng smiled and placed a simple ancient mask before He Pingsheng: "This is the Immortal Artifact our Dragon Clan obtained during the last opening of the Piaomiao Mountain."

“You see, this item is called the [Bronze Mask], a third-rank Immortal Artifact!”

Immortal Artifacts were ranked.

But the exact naming system was unknown to those below; they simply used simple numerical tiers.

Dirty old dads, five more chapters delivered—please send some electricity!