Swallowed Star: Primordial Artifact

Chapter 241 Investigating the Truth
Yan sacrifices to the mainland.

Inside a dark, damp stone house, two mechanical beings sat facing each other, the air thick with the cold scent of metal.

The slightly taller mechanical beings among them had serious expressions.

"That news is true." He spoke, his voice like the clash of metal, hard and cold. "Some powerful kings have already joined forces to forcibly break open the sacrificial tower and searched it thoroughly inside."

"They discovered a complete treasure chamber made of G-grade metal inside the sacrificial tower, as well as a dilapidated G-grade treasure chamber, both of which had already been looted!"

"A treasure room formed from G-grade metal?" Upon hearing this, the diminutive mechanical creature's eyes widened instantly, gleaming with greed. "It seems there really is a treasure."

“Currently, countless powerful alien races on the Yanji Continent are trying their best to find out the whereabouts of the human who killed the Golden King. But so far, no trace of that human has been found.” The tall mechanical raceman continued, “However, what is certain is that once that human is discovered, it will be the time for a bloodbath. At that time, I am afraid that all alien races will flock to the scene.”

"What, Liva?" The short mechanical man grinned, revealing a row of gleaming metal teeth. The smile looked particularly menacing in the dim stone house. "Are you scared?"

"Haha, that human is just a nobody who's only made a name for himself on the Yanji Continent. How could he possibly be qualified to possess such a treasure?" The tall mechanical man laughed, his laughter echoing inside the stone house.

"If we join forces, we'll each get half of the treasure."

"it is good!"

These two mechanical beings formed an alliance. On the Yanji Continent, the King-level powerhouses were usually quite leisurely. When King-level warriors fought each other, it was rare for them to fight to the death. However, the "Sacrifice Tower Treasure" incident made the Yanji Continent suddenly hot. Even some King-level powerhouses from the more dangerous places "Star Tower" and "Morning Sand Starfield" rushed to the Yanji Continent.

There was a moment of panic on the Yanji Continent.

Even the nobles from other races, under orders, secretly began investigating, searching for the human Yang's whereabouts, but strangely...

I can't find it no matter how hard I look!
News of the King of Slaughter's presence at the human camp's O26 military base spread quickly, causing the greedy alien powerhouses on the Yanji Continent to curse him endlessly.

"timid!"

"cowardly!"

"A cowardly guy."

"This human is hiding in the military base, bastard!"

"Let's go, let's go, let's leave the Yanji Continent! This human is so scared he's hiding in the military base. What can we do? Even a Universe Venerable can't do anything to the military base. We're just wasting our time here. Let's hurry back to the Morning Sand Star Region! Maybe some treasures will appear there!"

Many powerful alien races who had initially held onto hope began to lose heart. In fact, they had guessed that if the human King of Gold obtained the treasure, he might leave, but they were unwilling to believe it because they hadn't received accurate information.

After all, the chances of finding treasure in extraterritorial battlefields are very, very slim.

……

In a deep, dark cave on the Yanji Continent, the damp and gloomy environment was almost suffocating, and the smell of decay permeated every inch of space.

The Rift King, who had once fought Jiang Ye, had a cold look in his eyes. "Humans! So cautious and cowardly."

"But by hiding in the military base, you only make the powerful beings of various races in the universe think you are weak, and they are even more convinced that you possess the treasure of the sacrificial tower!"

"But I know..."

“You are being framed. I am the one who truly obtained the treasure of the sacrificial tower, but you…” King Rift said with a sinister look, “Facing three Kings at the limit and two Kings at the peak without being at a disadvantage, and you can even resist the weapon given to me by my teacher, you definitely possess more than one treasure.”

"Also, King of Gold Slayer, I've said it before, what belongs to King of Rift Machines isn't so easy to take!?" King of Rift Machines said softly, "Come out! If you show up, I will absolutely not give you any chance. I will have countless allies watching you, and once your whereabouts are discovered, you're finished."

……

No sooner had he finished speaking than the Rift King quickly notified his many allies on the battlefield outside the Seventh Domain, increasing the bounty once again, vowing to ensure that the Gold Slayer King had nowhere to hide except for his military base.

"Hiss! 5 million Yu Lan units!" A cry of surprise rang out in the Yu Lan World, the "Mechanical Race Virtual World Base Camp" of the Mechanical Race.

"This is insane! This is an incredible deal! 5 million Azure Units just to buy the coordinates of the Gold-Slaying King appearing on the extraterritorial battlefield. Once the coordinates are confirmed, they'll get 5 million Azure Units. Just who is this person who set up the bounty? They're offering such a high price for just the coordinates. They must be incredibly wealthy!"

"Who knows? Recently, our Mechanical Race has put up quite a few bounties for the one who killed the Gold King, but 500 million Azure Units is definitely the highest. And they certainly wouldn't dare to cheat. This is a public bounty, and countless eyes are watching. If they dare to deceive everyone and not pay the bounty, then they would be making enemies of countless allies in the entire Seventh Domain Outer Battlefield."

"Ah."

"Poor Gold-Slaying King."

"This King of Killing Gold will probably find it difficult to move an inch on the battlefield outside the domain."

Sure enough, soon, the bounty posters for the Rift King swept across every corner of the Seventh Domain Outer Battlefield like a storm.

Those lone warriors on the battlefield, who were eager to get rich overnight, were instantly ignited by the astronomical bounty, fueling their deepest greed.

Those powerful individuals who had previously doubted whether the treasure of the sacrificial tower had truly fallen into the hands of the King of Gold Slayer no longer hesitated.

After all, having so many people put a bounty on your head is the best proof of that, isn't it? Besides,
Five hundred million Azure Units—even a peak-level King-level expert wouldn't earn that much money at such an outrageous rate. Normally, it would take tens of thousands of years to earn that much without working extremely hard. And now, just a piece of information is being sold for such a high price.

……

Inside the human base O26, Jiang Ye was quietly cultivating, undisturbed by the outside noise and the high bounty.

Residences within Hongmeng City

Little Pi had already presented the bounty information and various intelligence gathered from the Machine Race to him in the most intuitive way.

Jiang Ye stood in front of the floating holographic screen, his gaze sweeping over the glaring bounty posters, his brows gradually furrowing.

"The Mechanical Race has the largest and earliest bounty on me. Now I can be 100% certain that the one who framed me was definitely a powerful Mechanical Race member who used those five spaceships to ambush me before." Jiang Ye's voice was deep and resolute, echoing in the empty room.

"Master, the enemy still won't give up," Little Pi communicated telepathically.

"It's normal that he won't give up, after all, I destroyed several of his important spaceships," Jiang Ye sneered. "But to publicly offer a bounty on countless allies of the Yanji Continent within the Mechanical Race camp to find my coordinates, humph... it seems that guy has definitely prepared a series of methods and is confident in dealing with me, otherwise he wouldn't have just publicly accused me of possessing the Sacrifice Tower's treasure. Obviously... he covets the treasure I possess." Jiang Ye secretly guessed that if the other party was simply seeking revenge and wanted to use someone else to kill him, all he needed to do was spread the news that he possessed the treasure.

However, the fact that the other party chose such a complicated method as publicly offering a reward must mean that they wanted more.

Xiao Pi's electronic voice sounded again: "Hmm, Master! The Virtual Universe Information Department just sent a new message from the Machine Race about you."

"The Rift King?" Jiang Ye blurted out when he saw the familiar yet unfamiliar name on the screen.

When his eyes fell on the words "The Rift King increases the bounty, offering 500 million Azure Units for the coordinates of the King of Slaying Gold," he couldn't help but gasp. "What a huge offer! He's offering 500 million Azure Units for just the coordinates."

He narrowed his eyes slightly, a cold glint flashing within them. He thought to himself, "This alien race is truly sparing no expense to kill me."

"The Rift King?" Jiang Ye took a deep breath and quickly reviewed every detail of his fight with that mechanical race expert.

He knew that since the King of Rift dared to offer such an exorbitant bounty, he must have believed that the value of him far exceeded that amount.

"Xiao Pi, do everything you can to find all information about the Rift King, from his background and growth trajectory to all his battle records, paying particular attention to his recent movements." Jiang Ye stared intently at the screen, his expression grim.

hum...

In the blink of an eye, a massive amount of information, in the form of 3D holographic images, flooded Jiang Ye's eyes like a tidal wave. Images and texts flickered and jumped in the void, constructing a vague outline of the Rift King.

Rift King...

Race: Machine

Strength: Limit of Kingship

Background: Unknown
ability:……

Jiang Ye examined each item meticulously, leaving no detail overlooked.

Although most of the information about this Rift King is unknown, Jiang Ye still managed to capture a key clue from the records of his recent movements—he frequently appeared in high-risk areas of the Seventh Domain Outer Battlefield, and just a year ago, he appeared on the Yanji Continent, which was around the time Jiang Ye was attacked.

More importantly, this Rift King is known for its ability to set up an incredibly powerful array.

Jiang Ye's gaze was fixed on the key information of "array". He vaguely felt that this Rift King was the wealthy mechanical race expert he had fought before.

"Little Pi, conduct an in-depth analysis of the performance parameters of the F-level mechanical puppet controlled by the Rift King, and compare it with the mechanical puppet controlled by the mechanical race powerhouse we captured before."

Xiao Pi's core computing module was running at high speed, with strings of complex data flashing and comparing on the 3D holographic image.

A moment later, the analysis results were presented to Jiang Ye.

"Master, the performance parameters of the two are 96.3% similar, which almost certainly means that the mechanical race expert who attacked you is the Rift King." Xiao Pi's electronic voice sounded clearly.

Just as the Zerg can use the same raw materials to create different Zerg warriors, the Mechs can create different mechanical golems even using the same metal.

The Zerg Queen selects several key Zerg warriors early in her development. These warriors will become the main types she breeds in the future. Changing the types of warriors she breeds will require a significant price.

The same applies to the Machine Race. When creating an F-grade mechanical puppet, each powerful member of the Machine Race incorporates their own unique technical ideas and energy fluctuation characteristics. These characteristics are like unique marks that are difficult to completely erase even after modification and disguise.

Such a high degree of similarity in performance parameters is almost equivalent to labeling the Rift King as an "Attacker".

Jiang Ye's eyes instantly turned icy cold, and a murderous aura emanated from his body. "It really was him! Originally, you ambushed me, and I destroyed a few of your spaceships, so we were even. But now that you dare to target me so meticulously, don't blame me for being impolite."

Jiang Ye slowly stood up and paced back and forth in the room, pondering a solution.

Since the Rift King dared to openly offer a bounty for Jiang Ye's coordinates, he must have made thorough preparations and likely gathered a group of powerful allies to ambush and kill Jiang Ye.

"Master, what should we do next?" Little Pi asked.

Jiang Ye pondered for a moment, a resolute glint in his eyes: "I will remain still and wait for the right moment. Since he wants to lure me out, I will not let him have his way. I am not doing nothing in this military base either. Xiao Pi, help me contact some friends in Hongmeng City and ask them to help me gather more information about the Rift King. At the same time, I will go into seclusion for a period of time to improve my strength."

Virtual universe

Thunder Island resembles a giant mountain range suspended in the endless void, with the palace of the Chaos City Lord standing silently at its highest point.

The palace gates slowly opened, and Jiang Ye stepped steadily into the main hall. He saw the chaotic energy flowing freely, as if it were a living, breathing creature.

"Teacher." Jiang Ye stopped and spoke respectfully, his voice echoing in the space, carrying a hint of respect and earnestness.

"Why are you in such a hurry to find me?" The voice of the Chaos City Lord seemed to come from the depths of the chaotic energy, as if it had traveled through endless time and space, carrying a mellow quality that made people feel inexplicably at ease.

"This disciple has a request to make," Jiang Ye said.

As soon as the words were spoken, a figure in golden robes slowly emerged from the chaotic energy. The Lord of Chaos City walked over with steady steps. His eyes were calm like the endless starry sky, deep and vast, as if they could contain all things in the universe. However, at this moment, a trace of barely perceptible surprise flashed in his eyes.

As Jiang Ye's teacher, the Lord of Chaos City has been silently watching over this exceptionally talented disciple's every step of growth on the battlefield outside the domain.

Whether it was Jiang Ye killing a King-level Immortal as a Realm Lord, or being called the "Gold-Slaying King" by the alien races and making a name for himself on the bloody battlefield, the Chaos City Lord was the first to know!

It's important to know that Jiang Ye activated virtual universe synchronous teleportation when killing those alien races.

After watching, the Lord of Chaos City was first astonished that Jiang Ye, as a World Lord, had actually killed a peak King-level expert and fought to the limit of a King-level expert. Then he was immediately convinced...

However, since Jiang Ye became his disciple, apart from humbly seeking guidance from the Chaos City Lord when creating secret techniques, he has mostly faced challenges alone and rarely asks his teacher for help. He even seeks out his senior brother Guiyi more often than the Chaos City Lord.

Seeing Jiang Ye arrive with a solemn and worried expression, the Lord of Chaos City couldn't help but feel curious and concerned. What kind of thorny problem could have forced this usually independent and self-reliant disciple to seek help?

"Speak," the Chaos City Lord said gently, his voice carrying a reassuring quality.

(End of this chapter)