My Artifacts Can Upgrade Infinitely

As they ascended the mountain, the air grew colder. Hanging icefalls, like fantastical crystal pillars, were everywhere, reflecting a blinding light. The snow-covered landscape... resembled the hem of a silver skirt.

Finally, Shen Yunjiao stopped before a massive, pure-white boulder. Zhao Zuo focused his gaze and realized the boulder only appeared white because it was covered in a thick layer of snow.

Shen Yunjiao took two steps forward, placed her hand on the boulder, and slowly closed her eyes.

CLICK. CLACK. CLICK.

The sound of a mechanism grinding followed, and a recess appeared on the boulder’s surface.

Shen Yunjiao placed her hand inside the recess. A few seconds later, the entire world seemed to shake. The snow and icicles on the tree branches rained down from the violent tremor.

The pure-white boulder began to move, revealing the entrance to a Cave Mansion about one meter wide and two meters high. The inside was pitch-black, without a single glimmer of light.

Zhao Zuo stretched out his hand and could feel a faint breeze blowing out from the entrance. He relaxed; at least he wouldn’t have to worry about suffocation.

While he was observing, Shen Yunjiao had already stepped into the dark Cave Mansion. Zhao Zuo could only hurry to follow. As he entered... the boulder behind him began to shake again, letting out a deafening RUMBLE as it slowly sealed the entrance completely shut.

Zhao Zuo circulated his Mana. He quickly rubbed his right index and middle fingers together, and the Mana in his body rapidly transformed into a flame, illuminating his surroundings.

It was a downward-sloping corridor. A Spirit Stone lamp was set every few steps, but they had lost their ability to illuminate over time. The floor was plain... with a slight downward incline. Although the walls were made of earth, they had been compacted using a Magic Skill.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

Zhao Zuo tested the wall’s hardness with his hand; it was at least comparable to ordinary steel in the mortal world.

The two walked for about another five minutes. At the end of the dark corridor was an Underground Space of about three hundred square meters, supported by four stone pillars. The floor beneath their feet had also changed to some unknown Black Stone, its surface incredibly smooth with a faint, glazed luster.

Their footsteps became crisp and pleasant to the ear.

"There used to be a Trapping Array and a Killing Array here. It took me half a month to break them," Shen Yunjiao explained, pointing to the damaged Array Patterns on the surface of a stone pillar. "But really, I just got lucky that the Arrays were so old their Energy had mostly dissipated."

Zhao Zuo gazed at the Array Patterns on the pillar. He couldn’t help but feel they looked very similar to the Artifact Refining Spirit Patterns he had studied, only much larger and more complex, with at least several thousand strokes and lines.

"That Scroll... let me see it again..."

Opening the Scroll, Zhao Zuo caught a faint, musty smell and a sense of dampness. It was as if it had been left in a humid environment for a long time, causing the once-tough paper to become extremely fragile. He could only read it with the utmost care.

True Man Tongmu. Cultivated for two hundred seventy years. Due to a severe injury in his early years, his lifespan is approaching its end prematurely.

Normally, the lifespan of someone in the Qi Cultivation Stage is one hundred fifty years, while the upper limit for the Foundation Establishment Stage doubles to three hundred years. However, the human body ultimately has its limits, and excessively severe injuries can shorten one’s maximum lifespan.

The characters were neat, the strokes sharp and fierce, as if a Swordsman had written them with the flourish of a blade, all his prowess on display. This calligraphy didn’t seem to be left by someone at death’s door, but rather written in the prime of his life... when his ambition was still burning.

On second thought, Zhao Zuo realized that True Man Tongmu had attempted to break through to the next stage right before his death, so it was natural for him to have a certain heroic spirit. It was understandable that his writing would be so forceful. He then read the next part.

"I have left my legacy and insights on Foundation Establishment in the sealed stone chamber. Only dao companions who are truly in love or sworn brothers who would entrust their lives to one another can obtain it." Zhao Zuo frowned slightly and handed the Scroll back to Shen Yunjiao.

"I’ve read this Scroll so many times. I’ve even tried analyzing the words separately and rearranging them, but I still can’t figure out... what ’truly in love’ and ’entrusting their lives’ is supposed to mean."

Shen Yunjiao took the Scroll and continued forward... This great hall was completely empty. Aside from the two Arrays, it was said there was nothing else here.

It took them less than a minute to reach the end of the hall. There stood a stone door about two meters high, which gave off an incredibly heavy and indestructible feeling. The door’s surface was perfectly flat, except for two rust-covered bronze rings located about one and a half meters from the ground.

Two meters to the left of the stone door was a stone pedestal about a meter high.

"The Scroll was placed right here," Shen Yunjiao said.

Zhao Zuo took two steps forward, crouched down slightly, and examined the entire pedestal. It seemed to be made of very ordinary stone, carved with two centipedes connected head-to-tail. At the base of the pedestal... some dark green moss was growing.

What surprised Zhao Zuo the most were the two centipedes. The master of this Cave Mansion seemed rather casual and sloppy with everything else, yet the relief carvings of these two centipedes were clearly the work of a master—lifelike and rich in detail.

"Don’t you think these two centipedes seem a bit out of place with the rest of the decor in this Cave Mansion?"

Zhao Zuo stood up, dusted off his hands, and said.

"They do seem a bit out of place, but... that’s not important," Shen Yunjiao replied.

"Alright, I guess it’s not important."

Zhao Zuo walked to the stone door and stood opposite Shen Yunjiao, each on one side. The bronze rings were right in front of them. Before taking hold, he put on his Spirit Silk Gloves, then gripped the rust-covered ring.

"When I say, ’three, two, one,’ we’ll inject our Mana," Shen Yunjiao reminded him. Her eyes were filled with the joy of being about to obtain the legacy, and she couldn’t wait to open the stone door.

"Okay." Zhao Zuo nodded, but he didn’t grip the ring tightly, holding it loosely instead. In truth, the Mana of a Qi Cultivation Stage cultivator could leave the body slightly, so there was no need to hold on tight to inject it.

"Three... two... one."

They injected their Mana at the same time. The bronze ring seemed to come alive, and it began to continuously absorb Zhao Zuo’s Mana, draining it like a bottomless vortex. It exerted a terrifying suction force, consuming a third of his Mana in an incredibly short time.

At that moment, Zhao Zuo had a growing sense that something was wrong.

A drain on his Mana of this magnitude definitely wasn’t just to open a door. There had to be some deeper reason he couldn’t yet understand; that was the only explanation for such a terrifying absorption of Mana.

Zhao Zuo took out two Spirit Revitalizing Pills and swallowed them, beginning to restore his Mana. Just then, the bronze ring seemed to awaken fully and lunged toward Zhao Zuo’s left hand. It wanted to actively absorb and devour his Mana!

"What do we do?" Zhao Zuo asked Shen Yunjiao as he fought against the suction.

"I don’t know... This might be a trap."

"My hand is stuck," Shen Yunjiao’s voice was laced with nervousness and panic. She hadn’t expected things to escalate to this point, and at the same time, she felt a pang of guilt toward Zhao Zuo.

’Stuck?’ Zhao Zuo tested it and found that he could easily break free from the bronze ring with his own strength. ’But if I do that, won’t it put Shen Yunjiao in an even more dangerous situation?’

Just then, a line of fluorescent green text appeared on the stone door’s surface.

"If either person breaks free, the suction force on the other will double."

Zhao Zuo stared at the words, his resolve wavering. ’If I let go, Shen Yunjiao will surely have to pay some price to break free from the bronze ring, like cutting off her own arm with her sword.’

At the same time, Shen Yunjiao also saw the text and subconsciously looked at Zhao Zuo. She knew he practiced a Body Refining Technique, which meant the ring’s suction... wasn’t impossible for him to resist.

In truth, although the current situation was urgent, it was by no means fatal.

The crisis could be easily resolved as long as one of them was willing to sacrifice an arm. The only problem now was who would bear that risk, and who should be the first to think about escaping.

’Love, trust, entrusting one’s life,’ Zhao Zuo mused, thinking about the words on the Scroll.

As Zhao Zuo mulled over the words on the Scroll, he suddenly understood something.

"Taoist Friend Shen, do you trust me?" Zhao Zuo asked, his voice full of confidence.

"Of course... I’m willing to trust you." Shen Yunjiao had also regained her composure by now. She, too, had thought of a way to break the deadlock—it was just a matter of sacrificing an arm. It wasn’t as if she would lose her life.

"Then neither of us will think about escaping. We’ll pour all our Mana into it together!"

....