Chapter 223: Mysterious Treasure Trove Exploration

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“Is this old man afraid that I will bring diseases to another place?” Seeing the old man use the Great Holy Light spell on him, Zhou Chen thought to himself.

He had not thought too much about it before. Perhaps if he went somewhere else like this, it might really cause some bad effects. But now, it was okay. After the cleansing by the Great Holy Light spell, there was no longer a source of plague in his body.

Zhou Chen rode the motorcycle at a moderate pace. After a while, he arrived at his destination.

This was similar to the previous city. It was a rather flourishing small city. He spent some gold-like coins called Kimpurs here and rented another courtyard house to continue his training.

A few days later.

“I didn’t expect my second element to be the wood attribute.” Zhou Chen was holding a small bird with bleeding wings. As he held the little bird, faint green flames spread from his palm. In a few breaths, the little bird’s injuries were completely healed, and it flapped its wings and flew out of the courtyard.

This was the Eight Desolates True Energy of the wood attribute. It had the ability to heal living things. If Zhou Chen was willing, he could even work as a healer.

“Let’s go take a breather.” After obtaining some results, Zhou Chen followed the old rules and strolled outside to relax.

This was necessary. The path of cultivation also emphasized relaxation. It was not wise to just cultivate in seclusion.

This time, he came to a tavern in the city called the Long Ears Hunter. He ordered roasted mutton, butter bread, and a bottle of rye wine. While eating and drinking, he listened to the unique songs of the bards.

Apart from the bards singing, there were many people dressed in all kinds of styles chatting enthusiastically.

Zhou Chen enjoyed this bustling scene as he could observe the local customs of this world.

Suddenly, a short man with long ears began to loudly read a notice, interrupting the bard’s singing and stopping the conversation of the many drinkers.

“Mysterious treasure trove exploration! Recruiting silver-ranked mercenaries! Everyone will be paid 600 Kimpurs! Those who are interested, please come to the counter to understand the details!”

“Lat! Why are you reading this again?! You’ve read it five times today!” The small man at the counter had just finished reading the notice when a large man at the nearby table said unhappily.

“I have no choice. It is the boss’s order.” The short man shook his head helplessly.

“I also saw someone post this notice at the square.”

“I’ve seen it in the nearby White Fire Town as well.”

“Who is this rich employer? Why are they searching for high-level mercenaries so crazily?”

“It can’t be helped. There are very few silver ranked experts. These people aren’t often encountered.”

Many discussions arose in the tavern, making Zhou Chen understand some things.

Someone must have wanted to explore a place and urgently needed high-level mercenaries, but it seemed like it was not easy finding such helpers, so they posted notices everywhere and used the high fee to pull people in.

“I haven’t moved about for a few days. Should I go and have fun?” Zhou Chen suddenly had the thought to accept this mission.

The reason was simple. He wanted to fight monsters and move his muscles.

This thought rose in his heart but was not extinguished. Therefore, after eating and drinking his fill, he walked to the counter to understand the details of this mission.

“We set off tonight?” He realized that this mission did not drag time at all. It would begin tonight and he might be able to return tomorrow morning.

“Very good. I like these kinds of things that don’t drag on.”

Seeing that the time of this mission was suitable for him, Zhou Chen asked for the exact location and directly left the tavern.

After a while, he arrived at the Mercenary Association in this city and saw the person who had sent the notice.

“You want to participate in Bart’s exploration tonight? Sure, but you have to pass our test first.”

The employer was a slightly bald middle-aged man. When he saw Zhou Chen register, he said that there was a threshold to participate and that he needed to undergo a test.

“What is it?” Zhou Chen was not too surprised by the test because he was new here. The people here were unfamiliar with him and did not understand what level he was at.

“It’s a strength test. Bart’s exploration is quite dangerous. Those who are not strong enough will only be a burden.” The middle-aged man explained.

“Okay.” Since it was a strength test, Zhou Chen had nothing to say. He felt that his strength was not bad and should be able to pass.

After a while, Zhou Chen was led to a training ground and saw two testers.

Both of them were men. One of them was a warrior, and the other was dressed as a mage. Zhou Chen had to defeat both of them at the same time to pass the test.

“Just these two? Although they are stronger than ordinary people, they are not much stronger.

When he saw these two testers, Zhou Chen determined that their strength was very ordinary through his perception. They were probably at the level of an ordinary high bronze Survivor. To the current him, a casual punch from afar could directly kill them.

Therefore, Zhou Chen only used a small portion of his strength in this test and calmly defeated these two people one after the other, passing the test.

“Congratulations on passing the test! This is the advance payment for the mission. When the mission is over, we will pay the rest.”

As soon as the test was completed, this bald middle-aged man enthusiastically handed Zhou Chen 100 kimpurs and told him the location of the mission tonight.

“Okay, I’ll go over now.” Considering that it was already late, Zhou Chen did not dawdle. He directly left this place and rushed to the rendezvous point.

About fifteen minutes later, he found the rendezvous point beside a small forest outside the city’s east gate. Here, several fellows with strong auras were already waiting.

One of them was a tall young swordsman wearing a trench coat and a claymore on his back. One was a thin masked man in tight leather armor, and the other was a young mage girl wearing a gray robe and holding a short staff with an excited expression.

In addition to the three of them, there was a short, muscular, middle-aged man wearing iron armor and holding a hammer. He was also strong, but he was not recruited, but the leader of this mission,

Bart.

“You’re that high-level warrior monk, Li?” When Zhou Chen approached, Bart asked Zhou Chen.

“?” Zhou Chen was speechless when he heard this. He thought to himself, he never said that he was a warrior monk. Who made this up?

‘Perhaps the punches and kicks I showed in the previous strength test are very similar to the warrior monks of this world…!

Zhou Chen tacitly agreed to this setting and nodded.

“Alright, everyone is here. Let’s go!” Bart looked at Zhou Chen and seemed to notice that his strength was quite high. He did not say anything and directly led the four people into the nearby forest.

They passed through the forest and quickly crossed a large distance and entered a mountain area. Then, they walked in the mountain area for several hours until late at night.

“I’ve been here before, there can’t be any treasure here.” After they arrived at the foot of the ordinary mountain, the masked man in tight leather armor expressed his doubt to Bart.

The reason was very simple. Their current location was not a secluded place which few people knew of. If there were treasures here, they should have been discovered long ago.

Bart remained calm. “The mysterious treasure I found is naturally not here. This is only a teleportation point to go there.”

As he spoke, he took out a scroll-like thing and cast a spell on a stone wall. The wall began to resonate and a circle of light that looked like a portal appeared on the stone wall. In the circle of light, they could see a cave with dim lighting. In the depths of the cave, a huge bear-like monster was walking slowly.

“This Teleportation Portal can only be maintained for a short period of time. Enter quickly.” After saying this, Bart jumped in. Then, he quietly moved toward the bear monster with the hammer.

“It’s finally time for my combat performance!” The excited young mage girl was the second to jump in. She was clearly looking forward to this exploration.

Behind her, the tall swordsman also jumped into the circle of light and charged at the bear monster.

Zhou Chen and the thin masked man looked at each other. Zhou Chen went first, and the masked man followed.

When Zhou Chen crossed the circle of light and entered this unknown cave, the battle ahead had already begun. Bart was fighting at the front. The young mage girl used an ice-type spell to freeze the huge bear, while the swordsman had already jumped onto the head of the huge bear with his claymore.

Since the others had already begun the work, Zhou Chen and the masked man naturally could not be too lazy. The masked man’s figure flashed and quickly approached the huge bear and attacked.

Zhou Chen also rushed over with him and punched this huge beast.

Under the siege of everyone, the huge beast only lasted for three to four seconds before it collapsed. It did not even have the time to let out a few screams.

“Let’s continue deeper.” After killing the huge bear blocking the way, Bart ignored the corpse and led the others deeper into the cave.

“Aren’t we going to skin it? Its fur should be worth some money.” The young mage girl was puzzled when she saw that they had skipped the stage of processing the spoils of war.

“Let’s talk about it when we return. Perhaps the treasures deeper inside will be enough to fill our bags.” Bart turned to her and smiled as he explained.

“Oh! I understand!” The young mage girl was even more excited when she heard the leader say that there might be many treasures inside. She seemed to want to see those treasures sooner.

Zhou Chen also began to use his Bloodthirst to sense the situation around him. He realized that apart from the large bear, there were no other monsters near them. There were not even many insects

‘I hope there are powerful monsters inside.’ Zhou Chen was not too interested in treasures. He had come mainly to fight monsters and exercise his muscles. The huge bear was far from his requirements. If he had not been putting on an act just now, he could have easily crushed the bear into dust with a punch.

Under the lead of Bart, the four of them walked deeper into the cave while holding torches. They did not encounter any monsters along the way, but the atmosphere quickly became slightly oppressive.

The more they walked into the cave, the more they felt an invisible pressure. This meant that there was a powerful existence waiting for them in the depths of the cave.

“Everyone, please be prepared. There will be a difficult battle soon. In the depths of this cave, there is a powerful existence guarding a large number of treasures. I hired you to defeat it.” Bart reminded the others behind him while holding the torch and leading the way into the cave.

“Is it a dragon?” The young mage girl behind him blinked and asked in anticipation.

“No.” But the leader immediately shattered her fantasy. “We can’t defeat a dragon. I’m not that stupid.”

“Then tell me what’s inside? We are already here, why still keep mum?” The masked man at the back interrupted unhappily.

“Sorry, I only know that it’s a powerful existence. You will see what it is soon.” The leader still replied with a smile.

“There is indeed a powerful existence here.’ At this moment, Zhou Chen, who had not spoken much on the way, was somewhat surprised in his heart. This was because he had sensed an extremely powerful existence in the depths of the cave through Bloodthirst. This existence was indeed not a dragon, but it might be even stronger than a dragon!

“This exploration mission seems to be strange. I wonder what this person is up to.’

Zhou Chen obscurely glanced at Bart, wanting to see what he was thinking, but unfortunately, he did not have the ability to read minds. From the outside, Bart’s behavior was normal, without many flaws.

‘Why did this person recruit us? To send us to our deaths? I’m not sure, but it’s definitely not for a fight.’ As the few of them approached the depths of the cave, the doubt in Zhou Chen’s heart increased. Even so, he did not show any abnormality and continued to follow the group.

Because he had confidence that he could win even when facing this powerful enemy.

About ten seconds later, when Bart led the group to the end of the cave, they did not see any treasures. They only saw a tall statue of a man holding an iron hammer under the light of the torches, emitting a terrifying pressure.