TL: Etude
At the bottom of the Changling River.
Ye Tian stood with a group of King-level practitioners in front of a majestic temple, located on a vast plaza.
This temple was incredibly large, occupying an area of about ten miles. Despite the ravages of time, it still exuded an indescribable, majestic aura, as if it could swallow the sun, moon, and stars.
The entire temple was enveloped by a thin-looking barrier, seemingly fragile but impenetrable even by Emperors. Only those with a temple key could enter. Saints and Emperors were unable to enter the temple, allowing opportunities like this to fall into the hands of King-level practitioners like Ye Tian; otherwise, the more powerful Saints and Emperors would have monopolized them.
One by one, the King-level practitioners, holding their temple keys, walked into the light and easily passed through, stepping into the interior of the main hall of the temple.
Hundreds of King-level practitioners entered the hall without crowding it, indicating its immense size. In the center of the grand hall was a light gate, the only direct passage to the temple space. All other directions were blocked by thick walls.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
One after another, King-level practitioners entered the light gate without hesitation, and Ye Tian quickly followed.
The familiar sensation of teleportation enveloped Ye Tian!
He soon arrived in a completely different realm.
"My copying talent isn't suppressed here!"
Ye Tian breathed a sigh of relief.
In the temple, he had found his copying talent suppressed, which was somewhat frustrating. Now, in this new space, the suppression was gone, a pleasing turn of events. Otherwise, even after his copying talent's cooldown ended, he wouldn't have been able to copy anyone's talents here.
"It feels like this space isn't inside that temple," Ye Tian speculated.
Although the temple was mysterious and only the main hall was accessible, it surely had more than just that one area. The other parts were simply inaccessible. The light gate in the temple seemed like a teleportation array, connecting to this unknown space. The space probably wasn't located within the temple, but rather, somewhere far away.
"If that's the case, it would explain why my copying talent isn't suppressed here," Ye Tian thought.
"The Temple Relics are too mysterious. Better not to think about it too much and focus on finding buildings."
Ye Tian flew up into the air, surveying his surroundings.
He had no idea where the other King-level practitioners were; everyone was teleported to different locations.
Looking around, he couldn't see any other King-level practitioners. The vastness of the area was evident, given that hundreds had entered but none were visible.
Ye Tian chose a direction at random and flew swiftly, scanning the ground below.
In less than half an hour, he finally spotted a building.
Swoosh!
He flew towards it, arriving in front of the structure.
It was a courtyard, resembling the residence of a powerful practitioner, covered by a formation.
"Top-tier formation talent, activate!"
Instantly.
The entire formation became visible to Ye Tian, transforming into a world of layered spatial formations, incredibly complex.
"Such a terrifying formation!"
Ye Tian was astonished.
What he could see was just the formation space visible to him; there might be even more complex layers that even a top-tier formation talent couldn't perceive. This suggested that the level of the formation might surpass that of a top-tier grand formation.
"Breaking through this formation will be difficult!"
Ye Tian shook his head, abandoning the idea.
As he approached the courtyard gate, a golden-armored warrior wielding a long spear appeared in front of him.
"Invading the master's residence, die!"
The golden-armored warrior spoke coldly.
"A guardian creature!"
Ye Tian remembered Holy Maiden Xiyue's words. Clearly, this golden-armored warrior was one of the guardians.
Instinctively, Ye Tian covered the warrior with his copying talent.
To his shock, he actually managed to see the guardian's talents.
Type: Golden-Armored Corpse Puppet
Cultivation Talent: Extraordinary
Defense Talent: Advanced
Strength Talent: Intermediate
Spear Technique Talent: Intermediate
"Golden-Armored Corpse Puppet, could it be that someone transformed the corpse of a King-level into a puppet? My copying talent can even copy the talents of a corpse, as long as the body is intact. This golden-armored corpse puppet is a complete body, so it's possible for my talent to copy its abilities."
Ye Tian realized this and tensed up.
The force behind these temple relics from the ancient civilization era was definitely not righteous. The number of golden-armored corpse puppets indicated how many bodies they had used to create these puppets.
"Using corpses to create puppets to guard one's home, this is the style of this force. But it's unclear what happened that transformed this space into a heritage site, perhaps as a training and assessment ground for the disciples of their force. However, only one item can be taken from each building. Over the long years, this force disappeared, and this space was preserved until our era when it was discovered by us," Ye Tian speculated.
Without giving Ye Tian much time to think, the golden-armored corpse puppet attacked.
With a simple swing of his sword, Ye Tian cleaved the puppet in half. The sword light continued towards the formation, but it only caused minor ripples and failed to break the formation.
Suddenly, the two halves of the corpse puppet were absorbed by the formation, and an entrance appeared.
Ye Tian could enter now!
He walked into the courtyard and saw several quaint rooms.
He randomly opened a room and found it to be a study with some books. Touching one of the books, it turned to dust instantly.
"These are just ordinary books," Ye Tian thought to himself.
Some books could last for thousands of years without decaying, but not ordinary books.
After inspecting the study, Ye Tian found only three books that had survived. These books were made from the skin of a ferocious beast and had endured the passage of time without damage.
"Is this the script of the ancient civilization?"
Ye Tian opened the books and saw strange characters, neither modern nor ancient Chinese.
He couldn't recognize the writing, but after flipping through them, he understood their content. The creators of these books had infused them with spiritual power that conveyed the meaning of the words to Ye Tian. Many secret texts had this effect, so it wasn't unusual.
All three books were cultivation manuals: one was a Silver-level sword technique called the "Cross Secret Sword," one a high-level yuan force cultivation technique, and the last discussed theories on spiritual power, particularly the concept that sufficiently strong spiritual power could exist eternally without a physical body.
This theory was merely a curiosity for Ye Tian and not particularly useful.
He chose not to take any of these books, sensing that if he took any, he would immediately be teleported away.
"Let's check the other rooms!"
Ye Tian moved towards the other rooms…