Chapter 396: The Clever Crow Four!
Jiang Chen stood at the rear, his voice echoing toward the Patterned Bone Puppets. “Advance deeper into the Seal Bone Tomb.”
*Crack!*
Moving with eerie, mechanical synchronization, the skeletal constructs marched straight for the entrance.
Jiang Chen tapped his Spirit Beast Ring, summoning a Fire Crow. Since Crow One possessed the highest Potential and was too valuable to risk, he opted for Crow Five. He tossed the bird a few savory treats to placate it before sending it into the secret realm.
Prioritizing safety, Crow Five didn’t take to the air. Instead, it fluttered down to perch securely atop the skull of a Patterned Bone Puppet. Its beady little eyes darted left and right, absorbing every detail of the alien environment.
Jiang Chen closed his eyes, seamlessly linking his mind to the crow’s to share its vision. Instantly, the murky depths of the Seal Bone Tomb materialized in his mind’s eye.
The outermost perimeter was a sprawling zone of shifting, golden quicksand. But this was no ordinary desert. The grains were etched with microscopic ‘Repulsion Runes.’ Anything foreign that dared approach would be violently levitated and swarmed by a localized sandstorm.
Jiang Chen knew this firsthand; he had triggered the trap during a previous scouting run using the Fortress. On the surface, the abrasive damage seemed negligible. In reality, once the sand swallowed a victim, escaping its gravitational snare was impossible.
Fortunately, the tomb’s defenses recognized the Patterned Bone Puppets as ‘one of their own,’ allowing them to march through the golden dunes unmolested.
As the skeletal vanguard pressed deeper, faint glimmers pierced the gloom. Hexagonal crystals, glowing with a warm amber hue, littered the ground.Intrigued, Jiang Chen summoned another Fire Crow—Crow Four. He commanded it to fly into the secret realm, snatch one of the crystals, and return.
*Gawu~*
Crow Four squawked proudly upon its return, practically puffing out its chest for praise.
“Well done,” Jiang Chen murmured, giving its feathered head a brief pat. He then focused his analytical gaze on the amber hexagon, cross-referencing its structure with the vast repository of runic knowledge in his mind.
It resembled a standard sand crystal, but the runes carved into its facets were the exact inverse of the Repulsion Runes. From a professional standpoint, it was an archaic variant of a Settlement Rune. Carrying this crystal would grant temporary immunity to the quicksand’s repulsive fields.
Still, the item held little value for Jiang Chen. He was a man of strict principles: until he condensed a Golden Core, he absolutely refused to set foot inside this secret realm. He didn’t even need to study the archaic Settlement Rune. The world of cultivation was constantly evolving; modern Settlement Runes were far simpler and vastly more efficient than these convoluted ancient designs.
The puppets marched further into the depths, soon uncovering a new anomaly. Chunks of what looked like solid amber lay scattered about, but instead of prehistoric insects or leaves, they encased bones. Shins, femurs, and even severed finger joints were perfectly preserved within the resin-like substance. Judging by their texture, they were identical to the materials making up the Patterned Bone Puppets—perhaps even spare parts.
*If these were just ordinary runes, they wouldn’t be sealed like this,* Jiang Chen calculated. *There must be a mutation or a hidden mechanic.*
“Go,” he instructed Crow Four. “Bring back… a single finger bone.”
*Gawu!*
Crow Four flapped its wings and darted back into the spatial rift. Moments later, it returned, but it hadn’t just followed orders. While it held the requested finger bone in its beak, its talons firmly gripped a heavy leg bone.
Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow. “You’re quite the clever one, aren’t you?”
Rewarding initiative, he immediately retrieved a handful of Top-quality Spirit Rice and fed it to the bird himself. The little creature pecked at the grains, letting out contented, humming chirps as it enjoyed the premium meal.
Meanwhile, Jiang Chen inspected the retrieved bones. As expected, their surfaces were scored with runes entirely distinct from the Repulsion and Settlement variants. Given the sheer antiquity of the tomb’s arrays, he couldn’t immediately identify their function. He would have to reverse-engineer them.
With the puppets still trekking through empty terrain, Jiang Chen seized the downtime. He meticulously analyzed the bone runes, burning his spiritual power to trace their glowing outlines in mid-air. Here, safely outside the realm and within his own controlled space, he could experiment without fear of triggering a lethal trap.
As he completed the ethereal sketch, the spiritual light pulsed weakly before stabilizing. It exhibited no elemental traits, no offensive aura, and no defensive barrier. It was completely inert.
*Since it lacks an active trigger,* Jiang Chen mused, *it must be a passive catalyst or an amplification circuit.* He made a mental note to engrave it during his next artifact-forging session to test its true properties.
Reconnecting his mind to Crow Five, Jiang Chen was met with a drastically altered landscape. The golden sands had darkened into a pitch-black, viscous mire. The leading Patterned Bone Puppet stepped into the sludge and immediately began to sink. No matter how violently the undead construct thrashed, the swamp’s suction only dragged it deeper.
Sensing the danger, Crow Five decisively abandoned its sinking mount. It took flight, soaring over the treacherous bog before landing safely on the skull of a puppet further back in the formation.
*Either this is a natural extreme of the environment, or a high-tier treasure is buried beneath that muck,* Jiang Chen deduced, his profit-driven mind cataloging the coordinates before shifting his focus back to the vanguard.
The surviving puppets finally cleared the outer quicksand zone, stepping into the tomb’s middle region. The ruins of a forgotten civilization loomed ahead—crumbling stone structures and collapsed archways swallowed by the gloom.
Tucked away in the shadowed corners of these ruins grew peculiar flowers. They sprouted, bloomed, and withered in the span of a single heartbeat, trapped in an endless cycle of ephemeral life and death. They closely resembled Rune Spirit Flowers, but the ancient runes etched onto their fleeting petals were infinitely more complex.
Jiang Chen ordered Crow Four to harvest one. Despite the bird’s intelligence and multiple creative attempts, its beak snapped at empty air every time. The flowers simply withered before they could be plucked.
*Unless I can artificially extend their temporal bloom,* Jiang Chen concluded, *harvesting them is impossible.*
Unwilling to risk his asset further, he called Crow Four back. This secret realm only opened once every five centuries, and its depths were a meat grinder. Crow Four had proven itself far too intelligent to be thrown away on a fool’s errand.
A cup of tea’s time passed. Deep within the ruins, a cluster of identical stones came into view. A mysterious, five-colored light flowed across their surfaces, radiating an aura of profound power.
This time, before Jiang Chen could even issue a command, Crow Four shot into the rift. Eager to erase the stain of its recent failure and prove its worth, the bird dove toward the glowing stones. It snatched one up and bolted back through the entrance.
Jiang Chen opened his eyes, catching the glowing stone with one hand while gently pressing the other against Crow Four’s head. “Don’t do that again. Always assess the danger before making a move.”
Crow Four blinked its beady eyes and offered a soft *Gawu*, seemingly understanding the reprimand.
“It’s a shame,” Jiang Chen sighed, a hint of genuine regret in his voice. “You’re leagues smarter than Crow One, but your Potential is lacking. If only your foundation were better, I’d pour resources into nurturing you.”
Of his five Fire Crows, he was most familiar with Crow One. That particular bird was a textbook bully—cowardly against strong foes but a tyrant in the nest. It only held the title of leader because it possessed the highest Potential.
He had barely paid attention to Crow Four before today. If not for this impromptu scouting mission, Jiang Chen would never have realized that this unassuming bird was actually the mastermind of the flock!