Chapter 353: Imperial Tomb

The interior of the Great Moon Imperial Tomb was not dark. During its construction, a type of stone known as Everbright Stone was installed throughout many areas.

These stones were similar to luminous pearls, capable of emitting faint glows in the darkness. While not bright, it provided enough light for a Martial God like Li Pin to see his surroundings clearly. Li Pin had no trouble moving about.

The entire tomb was astonishingly opulent!

The ceiling of the first floor soared nearly ten meters high, and its width rivaled that of a football field, resembling a grand underground palace.

Countless stone pillars supported the vaulted ceiling, while intricate murals adorned the walls.

This was still just the front hall of the tomb.

Each emperor's resting place boasted extravagant features, including carriage rooms, stables, storerooms, main halls, front halls, and side halls, all fully realized.

Naturally, various mechanisms were strategically placed to increase the challenge of exploration.

It was hard to fathom how many resources and laborers the Great Moon Dynasty had mobilized to construct such grand tombs.

"A tomb this size could easily accommodate tens of thousands of people."

After a moment of contemplation, Li Pin was hit with a realization.

Given the extravagant construction of their tombs, it was no surprise the Great Moon Empire had ultimately fallen.

This was all merely one emperor's tomb, and there was a total of twenty-two emperors buried in this region.

Li Pin maintained a cautious stance as he continued his stealthy advance.

As the tomb's spaces shrank, encounters with stray Wild Boarmen and demonic creatures became inevitable.

With Sword of Destiny in hand, Li Pin dispatched each opponent with a swift strike. By the time he reached the entrance to the second floor, over a hundred Wild Boarmen and other creatures lay slain at his feet.

This was still because of his exceptional stealth skills as a Martial God.

Had an Astral Cultivator been in his place, the number of these creatures would have been limitless.

At worst, the Astral Cultivator could have alerted all the tomb's creatures, triggering a fierce confrontation between them and a surging horde.

Remaining vigilant, Li Pin moved through the second and third floors, following the map Lin Langya and the others provided until he arrived at the fourth floor.

"Come to think of it, didn't Lin Baichi and his team encounter a massive, Pale Boarman here? Yet, I haven't seen a trace of it."

Li Pin frowned slightly.

Is my stealth better than I thought? Or has the Pale Boarman just moved on?

Forget it. The stronger a ferocious beast or demonic creature is, the closer it will be to the Celestial Core. I'll keep searching. If it's not on the fourth floor, I'll check the fifth; if not there, I'll go to the sixth and seventh. I'll find it eventually.

With this resolve, he steeled himself and advanced, quickly crossing into the fifth floor and heading toward the sixth.

However, as soon as he set foot on the sixth floor, Li Pin's keen senses alerted him to something amiss.

"Something's not right!"

Instinctively, he prepared to retreat. Just then, a subtle tremor coursed through the entire tomb, as if some mechanism had been activated.

He could feel the chamber shifting rapidly beneath him.

Li Pin steadied himself. "I thought these mechanisms would have deteriorated over the decades. Surprisingly...."

Once the movement ceased, a chorus of growls filled Li Pin's ears.

In the faint light of the Everbright Stone, he saw that a large gateway had replaced the wall of the chamber. Beyond it surged a mass of Wild Boarmen, Giant Moths, and Scorpion-Bodied Serpents.

These creatures seemed to have just awakened from shock. In their fury, they charged at Li Pin with alarming speed—their sheer numbers enough to make one's blood run cold.

"Something is still off!"

Without hesitation, Li Pin pulled out a Luminous Stone and tossed it into the air. Its brilliant glow far surpassed that of the Everbright Stone, illuminating the dim chamber completely.

Relying on the sudden brightness, he quickly counted the Wild Boarmen crowding the hall.

Fewer than a hundred. With so few beasts, what's there to fear?

He raised his sword and charged into the horde, skilfully using the terrain to his advantage as he went on a killing spree against the ferocious beasts and demonic creatures.

***

Minutes later, Li Pin sat in a corner of the chamber, catching his breath.

In that short time, he had wiped out the beasts that numbered less than a hundred.

After a brief rest to recover, he returned to search the bodies for Astral Crystal.

These creatures were on the cusp of being classified as top-tier monsters, and each Astral Crystal could be worth billions.

Even with his current ample resources, a few billion could be traded for hundreds of Primordial Electric Crystals.

That might even help a fellow Martial God break through to the High-Class level, easing some of his burden.

After half an hour, Li Pin sheathed his sword in frustration.

As expected, relying on a bunch of demonic creatures that had barely met top-tier standards to provide him with what he needed was merely wishful thinking.

If they had had sufficient qi and blood to produce Astral Crystals, their qi and blood would have far exceeded three hundred. It should have been closer to the upper limit of top-tier creatures, which was five hundred.

Li Pin glanced at the vanished wall and stepped into the adjacent room.

The room opposite was another palace, identical to the one he had just left. Judging by the damage to the walls, it was clear that the demonic creatures had also been trapped here, just like him.

"So..." Li Pin frowned, "is this a dead end?"

After a moment, he approached the palace walls and knocked on each one in succession.

The palace was vast, as spacious as an indoor football field, which was the only way it could accommodate nearly a hundred demonic creatures.

After half a day of examining every wall, he confirmed they were all solid.

Pausing to reflect, a realization quickly dawned on him.

"This... this is the tomb formation mentioned in Lin Langya's data!"

Wasn't this formation supposed to be at the entrance? Why is it down here, on the fifth level?

Since Li Pin had found it easy to enter the tomb, he thought the formation had long ceased to function, eroded by time and the damage inflicted by demonic creatures.

"If this is truly the tomb formation, then things will be simple..." muttered Li Pin.

Images of Lin Langya's notes flashed through his mind.

The tomb formation demanded absolute precision; one misstep would ensnare him indefinitely, leading to a slow demise.

Yet, Lin Langya's records contained the key to escape.

He returned to the spot where he had first appeared, waiting in silence.

Each midnight, the tomb formation shifted. He only needed to navigate these changes to find his way out.

Li Pin settled himself and resumed cultivating the Celestial Martial God Manual to recover as he awaited midnight.

***

When the hour arrived, the palace erupted in a deep rumbling once again.

Drawing on his experience, Li Pin gripped his sword and waited patiently.

As the palace's rotation came to an end, the wall that had become a doorway sealed shut, and a new entrance opened in another direction. Accompanying the opening were the roars of trapped creatures, all evidently ensnared in the tomb formation like him.

"A day's rest, and now a bit of exercise—this is quite the ideal training ground."

Li Pin chuckled lightly, raised his sword, and stepped into the formation.

***

Minutes later, the palace was once again awash in blood. Not a single one of the hundred demonic beasts survived.

"This time, I should wait in the palace across from here."

Li Pin entered the next palace and resumed his cultivation.

A jade token appeared in his hand.

This was the Lin Clan Leader's Command Token, a spatial treasure comparable to a divine relic. This was also the first spatial treasure he had ever encountered.

The palm-sized command token contained a space exceeding two meters in all dimensions, filled with ample supplies to sustain him and his training needs.

Lin Yusheng had entrusted this command token to him in exchange for allowing Lin Langya to join the Celestial Martial God Hall as an Elder stationed in Black Gold City.

"Now, to wait for the next midnight."

Li Pin took out some basic provisions and a Primordial Electric Crystal. He wouldn't waste these twenty-four hours.

Li Pin felt a twinge of regret. "It's unfortunate that many of my techniques can't be deployed deep underground. If I were on the surface... I could have leveled this entire tomb by now."

In the days that followed, he engaged in a battle of wits and strength against the formation. Because he was already trapped in the formation, despite knowing its operational patterns, it took him nine days to find his way out.

By the time he emerged from the monotonous palace layouts, he discovered a new palace. Although it was relatively small, it contained a passage leading to the next level.

Li Pin let out a sigh of relief. "Finally, I'm out."

He then glanced back at the tomb formation with a thoughtful expression.

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

With the Lin Clan's command token and provisions sufficient for three months, he could use this tomb—where encounters with hundreds of top-tier demonic creatures were a daily occurrence—as a secluded training ground.

Let's continue further down first. If I don't find a creature comparable to a Master Astral Cultivator, I can always stay here and train until I reach the top tier.

As he pondered this, he quickly dealt with the demonic creatures in the palace and soon began searching for spoils

Initially, he had little hope, but when he defeated a Dark Boarman, he sensed something unusual about its strength. After a thorough search, a top-tier Astral Crystal finally appeared before him.

As Li Pin pocketed the crystal, he mused,

Finally, after slaying a thousand demonic creatures over ten days, I found something worthwhile. Anyone hoping to make a fortune by hunting beasts and looting their Astral Crystals would end up losing everything.

He soon approached a newly excavated passage leading downward. Following the path for over a hundred meters, his previously confined view suddenly opened into a vast expanse.

Almost simultaneously, a massive Pale Boarman, standing over three and a half meters tall, came into view.

Blocking the doorway was a ten-meter-long Dark Scorpion-Bodied Serpent covered in ominous black scales.

As Li Pin stepped out of the passage, the two hyper-aware creatures quickly sensed his presence.

They fixed their bloodthirsty, scarlet eyes on him at once.