Tomb Raider Captain

However, Chen Fengyun was not about to let him off so easily. He lunged forward, delivering a heavy kick to his opponent, sending Lord Ba crashing into a tree. The entrenching shovel in Lord Ba’s right hand clattered to the ground.

With a swift motion, Chen Fengyun kicked Lord Ba’s left hand, sending the pickaxe flying as well. Grabbing his hat, Chen Fengyun yanked it away, revealing his true face—a gaunt middle-aged man, a scar slashed across his left cheek and a scruffy beard on his chin.

At this point, Lord Ba was utterly defeated. Chen Fengyun tossed him aside, then strode over to the backpack and unzipped it, finding inside exactly what he expected: artifacts stolen from the ancient tomb.

There were three bronze pieces—a wine vessel, a copper tray, and a basin—along with a small sword about two or three inches long, several pieces of jade, and a gray stone the size of a fingertip. It was the little stone that radiated a faint spiritual energy.

“Detected: Flying Sword, Mortal Class, Tier Five Artifact.” As Chen Fengyun picked up the tiny sword, the system relayed a message, astonishing him with its ability to appraise magical treasures.

“What is this? Could it be a spirit stone?” As he held the gray stone, the cultivation system responded with a powerful surge, vibrating intensely.

“Absorb,” Chen Fengyun thought silently, keeping his composure. Instantly, the special energy within the spirit stone was drawn away, leaving behind an ordinary pebble.

“Where did you get these things?” After rummaging through the bag and searching Lord Ba, Chen Fengyun found no more spirit stones. He crouched down to interrogate his captive.

“In a valley at the foot of Jade Balance Peak, behind Qingcheng. We only managed to open the outer tomb. There’s a stone door inside that we couldn’t break through, not even with explosives. The commotion alerted the forest rangers nearby, so we ran,” Lord Ba confessed, defeated.

Chen Fengyun pressed him for the tomb’s exact location, then returned all items lacking special energy, taking only the flying sword. “I’ll take this. I don’t need the rest.”

Not until Chen Fengyun had disappeared into the distance did Lord Ba dare breathe a sigh of relief. Casting a furtive glance around, he stuffed the remaining items into his backpack, grabbed his tools, and fled.

That night, Lord Ba rejoined his companions in Rong City, claiming he had lost something during their escape, omitting any mention of Chen Fengyun. Though he suspected Chen Fengyun might visit the tomb, he dared not return.

“That really might have been a spirit stone. Even a tiny piece gave me eight attribute points—remarkable! Still, my cultivation hasn’t improved. I need to check out that ancient tomb; perhaps it belonged to a cultivator from antiquity.”

After leaving, Chen Fengyun hired a taxi in the small town and headed straight for the foot of Jade Balance Peak. He now possessed twelve attribute points but couldn’t break through his cultivation bottleneck, which frustrated him deeply.

“With this many attribute points, I can upgrade my spiritual power and Iron Body technique. Even if the tomb is dangerous, I’ll be prepared.” In the taxi, he spent two points to raise his spiritual power to Mortal Class, Tier Seven, and three more to elevate Iron Body to the same level.

Spiritual Root: Mortal Class, Tier Ten
Spiritual Power: Mortal Class, Tier Seven
Cultivation: Qi Refining, Third Layer
Techniques: Heaven and Earth Nurturing Art (Mortal Class, Tier Three), Iron Body (Mortal Class, Tier Seven)
Skills: None
Magical Treasure: Flying Sword (Mortal Class, Tier Five)
Attribute Points: 8

With the increase in spiritual power, Chen Fengyun’s perception sharpened dramatically. He could sense every subtle movement or spiritual fluctuation within two kilometers and, faintly, the pulse of the world itself.

A distinct fullness settled in a certain part of his mind—the storage for spiritual force. In some cultivation novels, it’s called the Mud Pill Palace, in others, the pineal gland. Chen Fengyun was unsure what to call it, but he could feel subtle waves emanating from it.

Meanwhile, with Iron Body at Mortal Class Tier Seven, it underwent a qualitative change. Its duration reached ten minutes, and it could withstand impacts of up to three thousand catties.

Still, with his cultivation at only the third layer of Qi Refining, Chen Fengyun couldn’t yet release spiritual energy outwards, and thus couldn’t control the flying sword. He would have to reach the fourth layer for that ability.

After getting out at the foot of Jade Balance Peak, Chen Fengyun headed straight for the rear of the mountain, an undeveloped area. Other than the occasional hunter or woodcutter, it was deserted.

But it was the New Year, so no one would be hunting or gathering firewood. The surroundings were utterly silent, not even the call of a bird—only a pervasive stillness, as if death itself had settled over the land.

Yet Chen Fengyun felt no fear—perhaps skill bred courage. He was young, but mature for his age, and since becoming a cultivator, fear seemed a thing of the past.

Soon, he found the valley Lord Ba had described. The tomb’s location was well-hidden, so without a guide, he relied on his senses to search for traces of spiritual energy.

Sure enough, after about ten minutes, Chen Fengyun detected a faint spiritual fluctuation. He followed it to a patch of brambles on one side of the valley, where he discovered a broken-open ancient tomb.

“So this is where Lord Ba and his crew made their find. He told the truth—there really is a door here, and clear marks where explosives were used, but to no effect.”

He realized the faint spiritual energy had come from this very spot. Approaching, he pressed his hand against the stone door, and at once the cultivation system began to vibrate.

He also noticed that the door was covered in numerous symbols—not characters, but lines and figures, as if forming a script of their own. The special energy seemed to be hidden within these glyphs.

“Whatever this is, I’ll absorb its energy first.” Chen Fengyun was convinced this place was linked to ancient cultivators. He decided to absorb the special energy from the stone door and observe any changes.

“If this is a defensive formation set by an ancient cultivator, why is there so little energy?” After absorbing the energy, his attribute points increased by six, reaching fourteen.

To his astonishment, a new entry appeared in the system’s skill panel: Formation Mastery, at Mortal Class, Tier One. Instantly, a stream of knowledge about formations flooded his mind, and he swiftly grasped its essence.

“So absorbing the special energy from the formation not only boosts my points, but grants me formation knowledge. Now I have a way to break through the stone door!” Overjoyed, Chen Fengyun immediately began upgrading his formation skill—each tier required only one point, and his understanding deepened rapidly.

Within half an hour, he used five attribute points to raise his formation skill to Mortal Class, Tier Six. He could now fully comprehend the formation on the stone door—it was nothing more than a reinforcement array, rendering the door unbreakable, impervious even to explosives.