The Strongest System
chapter-209

‘Ding…congratulations on defeating Greater Celestial Middle Level: King of Spirits.’

‘Ding…Experience Points +600,000,000’

‘Ding…Congratulations on leveling up.’

‘Ding…Congratulations on smelting success.’

‘Ding…Congratulations on discovering Spirit Crystal.’

...

‘Ha?!’ Lin Fan was dazed by the numerous notifications by the system. Overwhelmed with joy, he burst out laughing. Lin Fan had initially thought that he wouldn’t gain anything from this smelt. In fact, the kill of the spirit may not even be granted to him. To think that he would gain both the sumptuous feast of experience points and the smelt product.

He had earned it big time now. Big time!

Seemed like Yours Truly was a blessed, lucky man indeed. No matter what he did, it all went right in the end!

At this point, Lin Fan was no longer pissed at the spirit for trying to take over his body. After all, its death was pretty worthwhile.

Seemed like even though this expedition of Tuodi Shrine was fraught with dangers, the rewards were pretty fulfilling! At the same time, he even had a deeper understanding of the Heaven and Earth Smelt and as a bonus, increased his cultivation base!

Pericelestial Lower Level.

Even though his cultivation base wasn’t that high, he was sure that just based on fighting strength alone, he was comparable to a lesser celestial by now.

‘Spirit Crystal: Formed from the essence of the King of Spirits. An item which allows you to communicate with the 9 spiritual realms.’

The crystal was around the size of his fist, purple in color. Lin Fan looked at it somewhat puzzled. Just how was he supposed to make use of this thing?

Lin Fan did not want to think too much about it for now and threw it within his storage sack.

Even though the Big BOSS was defeated, this Tuodi Shrine still seemed to be filled with mysteries.

One gaze across and Lin Fan could take in everything about the shrine with one look. But he was sure that there was more to this than what met the eye.

The Tuodi Shrine had existed for so long, and he was sure that there must have been tons of people who have explored this place before him. Why had none of them met these spirits who had been sealed in these altars?

That was weird.

Lin Fan turned his gaze up to the altars on top of the fingers, wondering if these things still had any use.

‘Ding…congratulations on discovering Sealed Altar (Broken)’

He took down one of them and looked at it. It seemed pretty useless and looked extremely normal. Furthermore, it was broken. But coming to think of it, these things were treasures in the past.

Lin Fan threw it within his storage sack as well. Perhaps, he might be able to find a use for it sometime in the future.

Lin Fan continued scouring Tuodi Shrine. Looking behind the gigantic statues, he did not find anything unusual. He even smashed one of the statues to check if there were anything hidden within.

This behavior of his could be attributed to poisoning by all the novels he had read in the past. Treasures could be found in all sorts of inconspicuous locations, and he would rather be sure not to miss any of them. After all, wouldn’t he reap a big fortune if he managed to find something rare?

When he truly couldn’t find anything within the Tuodi Shrine, he then turned around to leave.

Even though this Tuodi Shrine seemed like there was more to it, based on the situation right now, perhaps the time just wasn’t right yet. Maybe he should return at a later time to see if there were any changes to this place.

Sha Dulong and the other bandits were awaiting outside. Lin Fan had entered for an entire day and night, but yet had not returned. This was a worrisome fact.

"Big Brother, do you think that anything might have happened inside?" Sha Miexiong was fanning a bonfire as he sat on the floor. This Tuodi Shrine’s surroundings were extremely creepy. During night-time, there would be some eerie sounds coming from time to time.

If their Big Brother had not asked them to stay around, perhaps they might have even decided to run off from this place.

They all knew that they had gotten a good deal by following Lin Fan around. But now that he was gone for an entire day and night, no one knew if he were still alive or dead. They couldn’t be waiting around here for the rest of their lives, right?

Sha Dulong frowned and did not reply. Eventually, he let out a sigh, "We’ll wait for two more days. If sir does not come out two days later, we’ll leave.’

Sha Dulong did try to check out what was happening from outside the entrance. But the inside of the shrine was so dark that he wouldn’t even be able to see his fingers outstretched, let alone what was happening.

Even just by standing at the entrance, Sha Dulong could feel an intimidating and evil aura emitting from within the shrine.

Just then, a sound came from beyond.

The fourteen Sand Bandits were alerted immediately. Sha Dulong even pulled out his curved saber, ready to fight should anything go wrong, staring cautiously ahead. But by the time he could make out the figure, he let out a sigh of relief and headed forth, "Sir, you’re out!"

"Yes." Lin Fan nodded his head. But when he saw the presence of a bonfire, he was quite startled, "How long have I been inside for?"

"An entire day and night."

Lin Fan was pretty astonished. He had not expected time to pass by so quickly. He had barely felt the moving of time inside!

"Alright, let’s prepare to move out." Lin Fan did not want to think too much about this Tuodi Shrine anymore. Even though he had wiped the spirits within, the place still gave him an uneasy feeling.

"Pack up and prepare to move out!" Sha Dulong did not ask much and just relayed the order to his brothers.

Lin Fan’s carriage slowly left the area…

Tuodi Shrine was once again shrouded in a creepy aura, as the entire place returned to its desolate and silent state. Occasionally, weird noises would come from the surroundings.

As night fell, the moonlight tried to pierce through the night and shine directly upon Tuodi Shrine, but it was blocked by the thick tree covers.

But just then, a beam of light broke the darkness.

A crow flapped down from the far distance. It was covered with a stench of dead bodies as those glowing ruby red eyes of its surveyed the surroundings.

The crow flew slowly into the Tuodi Shrine, through its dark entrance, and made its way slowly into the hall. The crow stopped on the biggest and most imposing statue as its ruby red eyes let out a shining bright red light.

Suddenly, the black feathers of the crow were filled with blood, gushing out like a stream.

The crow cawed terribly until it finally became a corpse and disappeared.

As though it had a life of its own, the blood flowed downstream from the statue. Continuously, it flowed and seeped into the ground.

A black stone sarcophagus laid quietly beneath the entire shrine. Thick chains coiled around the sarcophagus while above it was a golden skeleton sitting cross-legged on it. The skeleton gave off an ancient aura, evidently being an extremely powerful being.

On the walls surrounding the chamber were runic markings etched all around it.

Just then, a puff of red smoke slowly emitted from within the black sarcophagus. However, the runes on the walls immediately gave off a bright glow. The moment the smoke touched the glow, it retreated back into the sarcophagus.

Drip by drip, the crimson blood dripped onto the skeleton from the ceiling.

As every drip touched the skeleton, it began to darken bit by bit.

On the walls, one of the runes dimmed and disappeared entirely.

The chambers then returned to complete darkness…