Chapter 344: Chapter 344

Originally, it was assumed that Ding Fan was nothing more than a Cultivator with low cultivation and simple-mindedness. However, the man withstood the Myriad Forms Behemoth for five minutes, and now within the Eight Trigrams Grand Formation, he persisted for seven to eight minutes.

After the Prohibition in the palace had been lifted, Zhang Kaizhi could have directly attacked him, but in order to be sure, he waited until within the Eight Trigrams Grand Formation.

Initially thinking he had overestimated Ding Fan, only now did he realize he had underestimated him instead. If Ding Fan were truly worthless, how could he possibly have endured such a long time within the Eight Trigrams Grand Formation?

At this moment, Zhang Kaizhi was not as arrogant as before. He was merely waving the Array Flag.

Inside the Grand Formation, Ding Fan also dared not be the slightest bit careless.

The Formation before him seemed to be just an ordinary Eight Trigrams Grand Formation, but it was in fact different. The life and death gates within the Grand Formation constantly shifted, causing Ding Fan a great headache. Now, all Ding Fan could do was pay attention to the frequency and rhythm of the life and death gates' exchanges.

Another half hour passed, and the Eight Trigrams Grand Formation was still operating. Ding Fan had not been trapped to death, nor had the Grand Formation been broken.

By now, Zhang Kaizhi's face had replaced composure with solemnity.

Who would have believed that a young man, barely over twenty years old, could survive half an hour inside an Eight Trigrams Array left by Ancient sages!

Just as Zhang Kaizhi was shocked by Ding Fan's cultivation, what happened next was even more unbelievable.

Ding Fan finally made his move within the Eight Trigrams Grand Formation.

A Flying Blade from Ding Fan directly slashed across. With this Wind Blade, the entire Eight Trigrams Grand Formation began to tremble violently.

"How... how is this possible?!" Zhang Kaizhi looked at Ding Fan within the Grand Formation with some disbelief.

The strength of one person, actually managing to shake the Eight Trigrams Grand Formation?!

Boom... Another loud boom resounded.

This time, the roaring sound was even more fierce than before. The entire Grand Formation shook violently, and eventually, those Stone Pillars suspended in the air, unbelievably began to fall uncontrollably to the ground.

Rumble... A dull thud echoed throughout the entire palace.

Following that dull sound, the surroundings once again returned to the previous scene.

Lady Fang looked at Ding Fan beside her, her face filled with disbelief. She understood that the Eight Trigrams Grand Formation had indeed been broken through.

"How is this possible?!"

Zhang Kaizhi also couldn't help but step back two paces. Even in his dreams, he had never thought that someone could directly break through the Eight Trigrams Grand Formation.

At this time, Ding Fan was supporting Lady Fang with one hand, and in his other hand, he held the 'Selfless' Sword upside down. He looked majestic and exuded killing intent.

This was the first time Ding Fan had brought out the Selfless Flying Sword since its Refinement.

"Die!" Without any hesitation, Zhang Kaizhi immediately pulled out an Explosive Talisman from his bosom and threw it directly at Ding Fan.

Suddenly, the sound of violent explosions enveloped the entire palace, and the palace started to shake fiercely, then it began to sink continuously.

Zhang Kaizhi took this opportunity to flee as if running for his life.

As cunning as Zhang Kaizhi was, how could he not recognize the gap between himself and Ding Fan? A person mighty enough to break an Ancient sage's Formation was not someone he could afford to provoke.

Ding Fan would not have let Zhang Kaizhi go, but after the Explosive Talisman was triggered, the palace sank underground, and he had no way to pursue Zhang Kaizhi now. All he could do was to protect Lady Fang...

It was unknown how much time had passed, but the rumbling noise diminished, and the dust around them had settled.

Ding Fan had been using his body to protect Lady Fang all this while. Now that things seemed stable, he helped Lady Fang to stand up from the rubble.

The palace was pitch black at this point, and there was no sign of vitality around.

Ding Fan extended his Divine Sense, but to his surprise, it was hardly useful here, as if something was blocking his Divine Sense all around.

"Where are we now..." Lady Fang looked around, her expression tinged with nervousness.

"We should be underground..." said Ding Fan.

To reduce Lady Fang's fear, Ding Fan cast a Fireball Technique, illuminating their surroundings with its light.

Ding Fan then carried Lady Fang around to take a look.

The result was as Ding Fan had guessed. The palace had indeed sunk underground. Ding Fan was puzzled if Zhang Kaizhi knew about this.

"What should we do now?" After all, Lady Fang was a woman, and now that she was injured, she was somewhat panicked.

"Let's look around first. Since this palace is an Ancient Martial Artist's ruins, there must be some treasures left behind," Ding Fan said.

Ding Fan was not too worried about finding a way out at the moment. The palace wouldn't have sunk if there wasn't empty space beneath it. Since the palace could sink, they could just as well make their way back up.

Having heard Ding Fan's words, Lady Fang nodded.

They had overcome a myriad of hardships to find this place; their goal was to find these ancient ruins. Now that they were inside the palace, even if it meant death, they couldn't possibly die empty-handed.

Right away, Ding Fan held Lady Fang as they searched through each room one by one. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝓷𝓮𝓽

Ding Fan pushed open the door of one room.

As the door creaked open, Ding Fan walked in, still holding Lady Fang.

The room was filled with books, neatly arranged on seven or eight bookshelves. However, because they were extremely old, the wind stirred up by Ding Fan's entrance caused the books on the shelves to instantly turn into ash, leaving the whole room a dusty mess.

Lady Fang felt a pang in her heart at this sight. Among these books, there might have been cultivation techniques from the ancient ruins. She knew how many people had soared to the heavens upon acquiring techniques from such ruins. Lady Fang herself had attained Earth Level cultivation at just over thirty years old due to a fortunate encounter.

So, the importance of the cultivation techniques within these ancient ruins was something no one understood better than Lady Fang.

Since the books in this room had all turned to ash, there was no longer any point in staying. Ding Fan and his companion directly moved on to another room.

There were more than twenty such rooms in the hallway.

Ding Fan, holding Lady Fang, pushed open another room.

Upon opening this room, the two of them were immediately stunned by what was inside.

The room was astonishingly filled with Luminous Pearls.

In the Secular World, a single Luminous Pearl was worth a fortune. At this moment, let alone the multitude scattered across the floor, Ding Fan glanced briefly and estimated there were no fewer than two or three hundred pearls.

Ding Fan and Lady Fang only collected a few.

Luminous Pearls had no use in cultivation, so it was senseless to take more. Just a few would suffice.

After leaving this room, Ding Fan carried Lady Fang and explored a few more rooms.

The next five or six rooms contained no treasures; they were either empty or contained some gold coins and other valuables.

The two continued their search, almost reaching the end of the hallway, when they finally found a treasure in one room.

Upon opening this room, even Ding Fan, with his extraordinary vision, was utterly shocked.

In the room, there were scattered Crystal Stones.

Crystal Stones, reserves of Spiritual Energy, served as currency among cultivators in the Cultivation World. With these stones, Ding Fan could be considered a wealthy man within the Cultivation World.

Ding Fan immediately collected all the Crystal Stones, roughly more than five hundred in total.

After collecting the Crystal Stones, they then found a necklace in the last room.

The necklace had nine beads, each with a somewhat dim luster.

The craftsmanship of the necklace was quite rough, which at first glance gave off the impression of being worthless.

However, Ding Fan wouldn't judge the value of the necklace by its appearance.

It harbored a deeply mysterious power. Even Ding Fan's Divine Sense was unable to penetrate it; he could only sense an ancient and formidable energy residing within it.

Just as Ding Fan was about to collect the necklace, he suddenly noticed one of its beads light up brightly.

But after shining for an instant, it dimmed down again.

Ding Fan probed with his Divine Sense but could not understand what change had occurred within the necklace.

With no other choice, Ding Fan simply took the necklace. Since all the treasures of the palace had been collected, there was no need to stay any longer.

At that moment, an aged voice suddenly rang out.

"Youngster, I never expected that you would collect my Aurora Necklace... Haha, I have been waiting for hundreds of years, and ultimately it was you who appeared..."

"Someone?!" Lady Fang tensed up at this moment.

While Ding Fan carried Lady Fang searching for treasures within the palace, they had seen no one, so the sudden emergence of a human voice naturally surprised her.

Soon, a wisp of blue light slowly appeared before them, and from within the light, a human face gradually revealed itself.

"That's not a person, that's a remnant soul," Ding Fan said to Lady Fang.

Lady Fang was facing a remnant soul for the first time. Although she was an Earth Level Martial Artist, she was also a woman, and her body involuntarily trembled in Ding Fan's arms.

"I wonder if the senior is the owner of this Aurora Necklace?" Ding Fan said with utmost respect to the spectral entity.

The layout of the forbidden area, along with the prohibitions set up outside the palace, had filled Ding Fan with respect for the master of this palace.

"Yes," the remnant soul neither confirmed nor denied. "Young with not outstanding cultivation, yet passable for your age."

Ding Fan, aware that the remnant soul was speaking about him, bowed humbly and responded, "Senior flatters me."