Chapter 391: Altar

While the crowd was discussing the buildings’ history, there was a rumbling sound as the ground tore open. The nearby buildings collapsed into dust, revealing a white floor beneath them.

Many cultivators ran over excitedly, thinking that they had discovered something, but they soon felt numb. “It’s nothing but parasites! Be careful not to disturb them.”

Everyone looked below their feet. Could there be nothing but parasites below the ground? That would mean that they were standing within a flood of the worms. 

The thought horrified them all, and everyone rose into the air, no longer daring to touch the ground for fear of waking the parasitic worms.

Someone suddenly asked, “Do you think that the entire centipede might be filled with these worms?”

Everyone felt their backs go cold, as such a thing would be absolutely terrifying. Given how tough these worms’ defenses were, even a Hunter would find it hard to escape from such a situation.

The centipede was so huge, so if it was completely filled with parasites, then it would be enough to inundate several planets. Such a number was a nauseating thought for any human.

Northgate Gang barked, “What are you afraid of? Our Northgate elder is outside. So what if this thing is nothing but parasites?”

The crowd relaxed. That was right—there was still that old freak outside whose power level was several hundred thousand. His attack could destroy the entire region at once.

Everyone carefully flew along, as they were all worried that some idiot would startle the worms and unleash a disaster upon everyone.

The further in they went, the greater the pressure they felt. Suddenly, someone ahead fell down and died instantly.

Everyone was terrified, and they all looked at Lu Yin, who was in the back of the group. Lu Yin squinted. “It’s the same attack as before. There must be a pike up ahead.”

The crowd stopped dead in their tracks.

Northgate Lie said, “Brother Lu, could we trouble you to warn us again?” 

They looked at Lu Yin with expectation in their eyes, but he dispassionately shrugged. “I’m sorry, Brother Northgate. I used too much energy to unlock the previous pike, so I don’t have much energy left.”

Northgate Lie’s eyes flashed. “Can we help Brother Lu recover some energy?”

Lu Yin looked up and surveyed the crowd. He estimated that there were about three hundred people here, so if he asked for 10,000 star crystals from each person, then he would get three million cubes, which was thirty star essence. He had borrowed fifty essence from Lulu, so with this move, he would be able to recuperate more than half of what he owed her.

He became emotional as he realized that he should have come up with this earlier. He could actually have charged an entrance fee instead of lockbreaking for free! There had been more than a thousand people who had passed by the pike earlier, so he could have easily cleared his debt to Lulu and even earned quite a decent amount for himself on top. What a pity that he had thought of it too late. 

Lu Yin coughed before slowly saying, “Ah, everyone should know that lockbreaking takes a heavy toll on the body. I’ll have to buy some supplements when I head out later, but I don’t have any money.”

He felt rather embarrassed. Had he been too blunt?

The monkey also felt embarrassed. “Seventh Bro, your greed has become a disease. You need be treated.”

Northgate Lie smiled. Just as he guessed, this person liked money. It was fine since he was already aware of Lu Yin’s preferences. He put on a thoughtful expression before asking, “How much does Brother Lu need?”

“10,000 star crystals per person. That shouldn’t be too much.”

“That’s fine.” Northgate Lie nodded and then tossed Lu Yin a Mavis Bank crystal card. “There’s 300,000 cubes of star crystals in there. This is my Northgate Family’s payment for all of the Northline Flowzone’s juniors.”

There were less than thirty people from the Northline Flowzone who had followed Northgate Lie, so 300,000 was more than enough. 

Lu Yin looked at the others. “Everyone, as we continue on, there’s a good chance that we’ll encounter another pike, so the invisible attacks will become more frequent. Are you sure that you don’t need me to warn you?” 

No one in the crowd hesitated. 10,000 star crystals was quite affordable.

Lu Yin quickly collected all the money and felt rather refreshed. In the past, back in the Astral Combat Academy, he had wagered 20,000 star crystals with Craynor on their battle. To people from the Innerverse, this amount of money was basically loose change, though 100,000 would be too much. Lu Yin’s experience with that broke guy, Ah Fan, had explained all this.

The Blaze Realm elder also tossed a Mavis Bank crystal card to Lu Yin that contained the payment for everyone from the Blaze Realm.

Lu Yin’s breathing grew ragged. He had earned three million star crystals in an instant, and it had even been quite easy. Right, he should extort more later on and increase his profits even more.

Lu Yin felt like he had finally discovered the best earning opportunities in the future, as there was more than one way to earn money through lockbreaking. The true path to wealth lay here; anytime a Lockbreaker was needed was a business opportunity.

“Brother Lu, you’ve received our money, so please warn us in advance,” Northgate Lie politely reminded him.

Lu Yin smiled. “Please rest assured, Brother Northgate, I will, I will.” His face suddenly changed as he reached out with a hand that turned into a claw and pushed a young cultivator a hundred meters away aside.

The crowd was confused.

“Fortunately, I was in time. Brother, your 10,000 crystals were definitely worth it.”

The cultivator who Lu Yin had pushed aside was stunned, only just now realizing that he had nearly died. He looked at Lu Yin with an appreciative gaze. Trading 10,000 crystals for his life was definitely worth it. Those in the crowd felt their hair stand on end, and they subconsciously moved closer to Lu Yin, not daring to stray too far away from him.

Lu Yin was pleased, as the situation was under his total control. 

The further in they went, the more often the phantom pikes appeared, and Lu Yin’s warnings rang out more frequently.

Gradually, people’s expressions turned ugly since the warnings were just too frequent. Was it real or fake? No one could be sure.

“Look, what’s that?” someone suddenly cried out.

They all looked up ahead and saw that there was a tall building that appeared to be a sacrificial altar from ages past.

Although there had been many buildings along the way, they had all been very normal and seemed to be common residences. This altar, however, was different, as it should be the one of the ancient civilization’s most important areas. The altar meant that they were in the center of the region.

Everyone started to move faster.

Lu Yin suddenly barked, “Careful! The shortie up front, duck!”

A dozen people ducked at the same time to avoid a phantom pike.

Lu Yin was struck speechless by the scene. Were these people really that insecure about their heights?

Of course, there were also those who were more confident, and a man who was shaped like a piece of bamboo charged forward first, unafraid of death.

Northgate Lie’s brows leaped up, and he intended to give chase, but he was also worried about the phantom pikes.

The skinny person had no misgivings at all, and he quickly pulled ahead of the crowd.

Many buildings had long since turned into dust in the area ahead of them, which made the distant altar and its surroundings even more conspicuous. There were many ancient buildings surrounding it, and they were much more impressive than the ones that they had seen before. If the earlier buildings were from a small tribe, then the buildings currently in front of them were from an ancient bustling city.

That bamboo-looking man excitedly charged forward and dashed towards the altar. He was from the Tempest Flowzone’s Fire Scorpion Sect, and he was incomparably excited because he had accidentally overheard the ancient legend. He had specifically gone in a different direction from He Zhong and the others since he did not want He Zhong to take credit for everything. He Zhong, that fool thinks that he’s the only one in the younger generation who knows about that secret. He doesn’t even realize that there are others who are also aware of it.

The moment he saw the altar, he had charged ahead without a care for his life. He was risking everything for this slight possibility. If it was real, then his future would completely change. It was worth risking his life for such a chance. Death was not unwelcome, either, as having a dull future was even worse than death.

He quickly closed in on the altar.

Northgate Lie’s eyes went wide, and he clenched both fists, wanting to charge across.

The skinny man stared excitedly at the altar. He saw the words and the design on it, as well as a numbing sight. There were five pikes stuck in the altar, and the man became so terrified that he did not dare to move any closer. There was a soft thump when his foot made contact with the ground, and at that moment, the entire city collapsed into dust.

Everyone stared on, dumbfounded, as none of them had imagined that such a thing would happen. Who could have expected an enormous, ancient city to disintegrate just because of a soft noise?

Northgate Lie was furious. “You asked for it!” He dashed up next to the skinny man and smashed him in the head. The man was still staring at the altar even as his eyes filled up with blood, and he slowly collapsed to the ground, dead in every sense of the word.

The others also rushed over and looked at where the city had been standing just a moment ago in pity. They felt no sympathy for the skinny man, since he had caused the city to collapse, robbing them of a chance to observe and study it in detail. It might have even been possible to get some useful information since they had seen some writing earlier, but now, the city had crumbled to pieces, and there was nothing for them to look at except the altar.

“Everyone, be careful and move back,” Lu Yin warned as he pulled multiple people back. When they looked up, they finally discovered what the skinny man had seen before his death: five pikes. Beneath the weapons was a dried corpse, with its head, both hands, and both legs pierced through by a pike. It was obvious that the five pikes had pinned this person here and killed him.

Everyone quickly pulled away as they felt their backs turn cold. After spending so much time in the centipede, they all had an idea of how much time had passed by, since even the writing on the buildings had faded. But right now, they were looking at a desiccated corpse that must have existed for eons. 

“A corpse from ancient times, and five pikes pinning it down. That’s too cruel.” The monkey was horrified.

Lu Yin narrowed his eyes and studied the altar. Who could have hated this person so much as to pierce him with five pikes, and to do so on an altar to boot. This had clearly been done to prevent this person from reincarnating.

Northgate Lie and the others silently stared at the corpse with flickering eyes.

There were also some words on the altar, and everyone tried their best to memorize the symbols.

At that moment, a crack appeared on the altar. It then disintegrated into dust just like the rest of the buildings. Everyone’s hearts pounded heavily as they watched the dried corpse, but fortunately, the corpse did not turn to dust like everything else.

Such a corpse held great research value, but the five pikes pinning it down made everyone extremely unwilling to get closer. One pike alone was enough to kill everyone, let alone five.

“Eh? Look! There’s something there!” Lily Anne cried.

Everyone watched as the alter disappeared, and the corpse was ripped apart by the five pikes. They saw that there were black words beside the left hand of the corpse.

Three of the pikes fell about a hundred meters away from the corpse.

The moment they saw the pikes, everyone’s eyes lit up. Lu Yin, Northgate Lie, the Blaze Realm’s powerhouses, and the experts who had hidden themselves all rushed forward to snatch them up. Since the three pikes had fallen some distance away from the corpse, there was no threat whatsoever. Only a fool would not try to grab them.

Suddenly, the centipede’s body trembled as an aged voice rang out in everyone’s ears. “Everyone is to immediately leave. All violators will be killed without question.”

It was Northgate Taisui’s voice. Since the united strength of the various powerhouses had stabilized the centipede’s corpse, he would no longer allow anyone else to get a share of whatever was left inside the body. 

Lu Yin and the rest paid no attention to those words, and they all continued forward to grab the pikes. The closest people to the three pikes were Lu Yin and Northgate Lie.

“Brother Lu, the Northgate family is willing to pay a high price for these, so please don’t intervene!” Northgate Lie abruptly avoided a phantom pike as he shouted at Lu Yin.

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