Chapter 137: Rank Five Spirit Stone

Some of the other murals depicted stars connected by dotted lines, resembling a star map. Lu Chen examined them closely for quite a while, but he couldn't make heads or tails of them. He decided to stop worrying about the murals and shifted his focus to the massive stone sarcophagus at the heart of the tower. According to universal principles, whether human or extraterrestrial, graves were always accompanied by burial goods. He hoped this one would bring him a pleasant surprise.

However, as Lu Chen approached, an inexplicable sense of danger washed over him. It seemed as though the sarcophagus was quite perilous. He immediately summoned the swamp mud from his inner space, shrouding his body in a layer of muddy armor. He then manifested two large, clawed appendages to pry open the lid of the sarcophagus.

*Rustle, rustle, rustle...*

A few seconds later, a sound emerged from within the sarcophagus; something had awakened.

*Click, click...*

Black, fist-sized beetles crawled out abruptly. These creatures stretched their wings and suddenly swarmed toward Lu Chen in a dense cloud. Upon landing on his mud armor, they opened their sharp, hardened mandibles and gnawed away frantically, creating holes in his defenses in the blink of an eye.

"Dammit... good thing I came prepared!"

The swamp mud covering his body expanded once more into a black mist, quickly engulfing the swarm of eerie beetles before detonating with a thunderous boom. Only after sensing that they had all been destroyed did Lu Chen let out a sigh of relief. These beetles had tough bodies and incredible flight speeds; in such a confined space, it would have been easy to fall victim to them if he hadn't been careful.

Sensing that there were no more beetles in the sarcophagus, Lu Chen moved in closer to observe. There were no remains of any extraterrestrial beings inside, only a honeycomb-like object. If his guess was correct, this was the beetles' nest. They had been sealed by the runes carved onto the sarcophagus and had remained in a state of hibernation. Once he lifted the lid, they had awakened to attack any living thing in the tomb.

So, this was a defensive mechanism used by the aliens. According to the ancient records of geomancy and feng shui, there had to be a real coffin hidden somewhere. Yet, Lu Chen had scanned the entire space and found no other traps or secret passages. Puzzled, he returned to examine the murals on the stone walls once again. After circling the room, he felt that something was off. He was sixteen meters long, and walking from one end to the other took about five body lengths—roughly eighty meters.

Lu Chen suddenly realized the source of his suspicion. To test his theory, he went back outside the pyramid to measure the length of one side of its base. This pyramid was the smallest of them all, with an exterior length of less than seventy meters, yet the interior was eighty meters long... that made no scientific sense. Could it be that the interior contained a structure similar to an inner space?

Feeling he had hit upon the truth, Lu Chen unleashed a barrage of compressed energy blasts. Sure enough, countless runes flickered on the interior stone walls, forming a transparent barrier to block his attacks. He didn't even need to aim; he just kept up the relentless bombardment. Lu Chen firmly believed that supernatural power could not overcome the passage of time. Even the most formidable defensive runic arrays could not withstand the erosion of endless ages. The thick vines covering the exterior of the towers indicated that these pyramids had existed for at least a thousand years. The energy sustaining the defensive arrays inside probably wasn't much, otherwise, he wouldn't have broken through the outer shield so easily.

Sure enough, after a dozen or so attacks, the transparent shield shattered with a loud crash. The true structure of the pyramid was finally revealed to Lu Chen. It wasn't built of stone, but forged from bronze metal, covered in dense, glowing, intricate runes. The sphere at the very top, the size of a goose egg, shone as brightly as a miniature sun.

*Spirit stones?!*

Those stone structures were indeed nothing more than a facade. The true internal structure was a bronze fortress, over a hundred meters long and dozens of meters high, inscribed with profound and mysterious runes. Despite the passage of countless ages, the interior showed no signs of decay; adorned with countless spirit stones, it still radiated a cold, metallic luster. In the center of the pyramid stood rows of bronze coffins, similar in style to the stone sarcophagus he had destroyed earlier, their surfaces also covered in countless runes.

Seeing the spirit stones, a gleam of joy flickered in Lu Chen's beastly eyes. Immersed in their presence, he sensed a rich surge of energy, as if his entire body were soaking in a hot spring; he felt completely rejuvenated. There were hundreds of them. That goose-egg-sized one at the top had to be at least Grade 3!

He had hit the jackpot—he had really hit the jackpot this time!

Without a moment's hesitation, Lu Chen summoned the swamp mud and launched himself toward the top. A massive, pitch-black muddy hand reached out and plucked the spirit stone directly from the bronze ceiling.

*Click, click...*

Almost the moment the spirit stone left its socket, a sound echoed through the bronze fortress; something had been broken.

Lu Chen had been highly vigilant while grabbing the stone. Upon hearing the unusual noise, he immediately manipulated his mud platform to drop rapidly, assuming a defensive posture. He landed back on the ground and waited for half a minute. When no creatures appeared, he finally relaxed. Then, he noticed that the once-gleaming bronze fortress began to rust. It seemed as if it had endured a century of weathering in mere seconds.

This was likely related to the spirit stone in his grasp. These stones had been maintaining the runic arrays within the fortress; once the structure was compromised, it could no longer resist the ravages of time. However, Lu Chen felt no guilt. Even if these alien pyramids were considered cultural relics, they were extraterrestrial, and he had no connection to them.

Filled with curiosity and greed, he examined the goose-egg-sized sphere in his claws again. Up close, he could feel the massive energy contained within, far exceeding any spirit stone he had obtained before. Confirming there were no issues, Lu Chen couldn't wait and swallowed it.

"Damaged Grade 5 Spirit Stone, provides 920,000 energy points..."

*How much?*

A Grade 5 spirit stone, 920,000 energy points? Lu Chen was first surprised, then felt a tinge of regret. A Grade 5 spirit stone was likely unique in the entire Blue Star. From his previous conversations with Dong Mingjun, Lu Chen learned that the highest grade of spirit stone mined in the Xia Kingdom was only Grade 3. The one he had just swallowed was Grade 5, which was truly beyond imagination.

However, the energy points it contained were a bit disappointing. After consuming so many spirit stones, Lu Chen had a general understanding of the energy points each grade provided. For every grade increase, the energy points increased tenfold. A Grade 1 stone provided roughly 400 points, a Grade 2 provided 4,000, and so on. A Grade 5 stone should have provided about 4 million points. It was a pity that the one he obtained was damaged, providing less than a million.

But... there were still many spirit stones inside the fortress. Although their grade might not match this one, they should still provide a considerable amount of energy. Besides, there were dozens more pyramids in the tomb complex.