Chapter 17 : Chapter 17
Chapter 17: Ancient Archmage Isno
As the Cangwu Sword Art erupted, the dozens of enormous golems inside the Underground Palace were struck again and again by the force of the Cangwu Sword!
In an instant, the golems collapsed, shattered into broken stones by those autumn-water-like sword shadows, and crashed continuously onto the floor of the Underground Palace.
Amid the flying dust and fragments, all of the guardian golems rapidly crumbled.
Only when his Divine Sense no longer detected a single golem did Jiang Lin slowly let out a breath, his face a little pale.
Using Sword-Control Art to unleash the Cangwu Sword Art was still somewhat beyond him.
Even with his supreme control over the sword, he could not avoid the doubled expenditure of Spiritual Power.
That would not have mattered in the past, but now, every use of Spiritual Power meant having less left.
He took out a Spirit Stone and held it in his hand, slowly absorbing the pure, rich Spiritual Energy within it.
Only then did Jiang Lin’s complexion gradually recover. He put away the Spirit Stone again, after only half of its Spiritual Energy had been consumed.
“This is only the beginning, and it is already this exhausting. If there is no treasure in here, then I am taking a huge loss!”
Amid a tremendous roar, the stone wall collapsed, and dust and fragments billowed everywhere.
Jiang Lin slowly stepped into the first level of the Underground Palace, and his Divine Sense just happened to be able to cover the entire floor.
Without the slightest hesitation, he walked straight toward a certain part of the Underground Palace.
Under the light of the kerosene lamp, what gradually came into view on the ground, besides the shattered remains of the golems, were bones.
No one knew how long those bones had been there. There were roughly ten skeletons.
But the moment Jiang Lin touched them lightly, they turned to powder. It seemed that a Mercenary Band or some adventurers had come to this Underground Palace before.
They had all been killed on the first level by those golems.
When he had examined the place earlier with his Divine Sense, he had thought there might be something worth taking, but judging by the staves that had already rotted away, even the Magic Crystals on them had long since lost their Magic.
Jiang Lin did not linger any longer and continued onward to the next level of the Underground Palace.
Judging by the danger on the first level, the second level would probably only be more dangerous.
To him, something like an Underground Palace should be more or less the same as a secret realm.
The Cangwu Sword circled around him, maintaining constant vigilance over the surroundings.
Within the descending stairway, only his own footsteps could be heard.
They gradually echoed through the entire Underground Palace, making it seem incomparably empty and silent.
In this Underground Palace, which had lain silent for who knew how many ages, Jiang Lin, an outsider from another world, had now arrived.
Under the probing of his Divine Sense, there were no statues or anything else inside the second level.
Even so, Jiang Lin still did not enter in a hurry. With a wave of his hand, the Cangwu Sword shot forward at once.
It began to whirl wildly through the second level of the Underground Palace, using itself to trigger the traps here.
Sure enough, in the very next instant, Jiang Lin suddenly sensed the Cangwu Sword being locked onto by something, as though its connection with him had been severed in an instant.
Immediately afterward, a gigantic circular magic array suddenly appeared below the second level of the Underground Palace. Its lurid dark-purple glow illuminated the entire floor.
At that moment, the Cangwu Sword was also locked in place by the enormous array below, and no matter what Jiang Lin did, he could not call it back.
The array burst forth with light, carrying a violent aura of destruction as it completely enveloped the Cangwu Sword.
Under the powerful fluctuations of Magic, that destructive force trembled back and forth without cease, while one ring after another rose from the array before crashing down violently.
If a person had been standing at the center of the array, they would undoubtedly have been smashed into pulp by those rings.
But the Cangwu Sword showed no reaction at all. It was merely locked in place.
This magic array seemed to be designed specifically to target living beings. It had no effect on dead objects.
Jiang Lin understood a little more. Then, with his Divine Sense fixed on that enormous magic array and the intricate, obscure runic array inscribed within it, he thought that although he could not understand it, destroying it should be enough.
With a casual motion, he pulled a Profound-Grade Longsword out of his Storage Ring. Forming seals with both hands, Jiang Lin decisively controlled the sword and slashed at those runic arrays!
In the next instant, the Mana Circuit of the array was severed, and the runic arrays no longer received power.
The entire magic array disappeared just like that, and the Cangwu Sword regained its freedom.
A magic array like this generally relied on catching intruders off guard, locking onto them, and attacking them.
But Jiang Lin was not some reckless brute who only knew how to charge straight in.
After destroying the array, this level no longer had any value worth exploring.
Jiang Lin continued downward. After dealing with the mechanisms on several more levels below in succession,
he arrived at the final level, the sixth floor.
This Underground Palace had a full six levels, yet he had not obtained the slightest gain so far.
He had already absorbed the other half of that Spirit Stone as well, leaving him with only four Spirit Stones.
“This really is more loss than gain...”
Jiang Lin felt a pang of heartache and began wondering whether he should pay a visit to the Gerson City Lord’s residence and earn back all the Spirit Stones he had wasted.
Since he was a lord, he definitely had Magic Crystals.
Under the coverage of his Divine Sense, there did not seem to be anything strange about this level of the Underground Palace. But the moment Jiang Lin stepped forward, flames instantly lit up all along the surrounding walls.
The entire level was bathed in a dim yellow glow.
Jiang Lin also saw the surroundings clearly.
Directly in front of him stood a gigantic statue of a woman, so lifelike that it seemed as though it had been carved by the finest dwarven craftsman in the world.
The statue wore a mage’s robe and a pointed hat, the broad brim of which nearly covered the upper half of her face.
Its pose was that of holding a massive Staff, pointed directly at Jiang Lin.
Aside from that, there was nothing else at all.
In the empty Underground Palace, only this single statue stood there.
The smile visible beneath the brim of the hat seemed to be mocking Jiang Lin at this very moment.
Brave adventurer, congratulations. All your effort was wasted.
“What kind of twisted sense of humor is this? Isno, was it? I will remember you.”
Jiang Lin stared at the enormous statue, meeting the vivid gaze carved beneath the brim of its hat.
Only after a long while did he slowly let out a sigh, turn around, and prepare to leave.
But at that very moment, a voice appeared behind him.
It was a female voice utterly devoid of emotion, clear and ethereal.
“Brave one, do you not wish to receive your reward?”
Jiang Lin slowly turned around and saw a hazy phantom gradually emerging before the statue.
That phantom was indistinct, almost like a soul, flickering in and out.
Seeing that Jiang Lin said nothing, the remnant soul spoke again in a calm voice.
“You have already come this far, which means you may receive my inheritance. I am the ancient Archmage, Isno Cheval Ostan.”
Jiang Lin still said nothing. He merely stared at the remnant soul with a faint smile on his face.
“What is it? Has the inheritance of one from later ages become so unworthy of your interest?” There was a trace of puzzlement in the remnant soul’s voice.
“I was a Tenth-Tier Archmage! Even in our era, there were not many Tenth-Tier Archmages. Does that not stir your heart in the slightest?”
Jiang Lin replied flatly,
“I am not interested. If you have Magic Crystals, I might consider it.”
“Yes, yes, I do. Come a little closer. As long as you accept my inheritance, you will also inherit my treasure. There are countless Magic Crystals in it.”
The remnant soul spoke quickly.
“Very well, I agree.” Jiang Lin nodded, smiling as he slowly walked toward the remnant soul.
The moment he reached the remnant soul, it suddenly lunged at him!
But in the next instant, the remnant soul froze on the spot, unable to move in the slightest. It only felt that it had been locked down by something strange.
Even its voice became flustered.
“What did you do? Release me at once! The High Tower was founded by my own hand, and yet you dare show me such disrespect!”
“Then why did you pounce on me? Also, why has your voice turned into a man’s?”
Jiang Lin looked at the remnant soul before him with a half-smile. The instant it lunged at him, he had already locked onto it with his Divine Sense.
Possession tricks like this had long since been played to exhaustion by the demonic cultivators of Zhongzhou.
How could he possibly fall for something like that?