frightfiction Chapter 539 Clement's Outburst
Chapter 539 Clement's Outburst
To Xu Ning's surprise, the Emperor nodded in affirmation of Clement's guess.
"If that's the explanation, it's not entirely wrong."
"In that era, the gods were at war, and the flames of war raged everywhere. Even a moment of peace was a luxury. The kind and benevolent Heureia risked her life to travel all over Liyue in order to provide a safe place for humanity suffering from the ravages of war."
"And what she finally found was this place, the salt of the earth."
Wan Yan suddenly interjected, "However, even this little bit of peace was eventually shattered by Morax."
Looking at the emperor's little black face, Xu Ning shook his head, "You're really stubborn."
"Go and activate the mechanism. We'll find out who did it once we go in."
Clement didn't care who killed the demon god; he only cared about what treasures were inside.
Zhongli nodded to Xu Ning, "Go ahead, follow the order of south, east, west, and north, and you can unlock the mechanism."
How could I dare to disobey the Emperor's orders?
Xu Ning immediately ran around the area of the salt in the earth and actually found four lightning element tablets on a small island.
"It's a stone tablet made of lightning element, so at least the mechanism on the outside wasn't set up by the Emperor. The Emperor should at least have used a stone tablet made of rock element as the activation mechanism."
Thinking of this, Xu Ning relaxed, summoned his lightning element clone, and lit up the square tablets in the order of south, east, west, and north. Then he heard Clement's cheers from afar.
"It seems the mechanism has been solved."
When Xu Ning returned, he figured those two impatient guys had probably already run downstairs.
Unexpectedly, everyone was standing at the entrance of a large hole, waiting for him.
"Alright, he's here. Mr. Zhongli, what are the rules?"
Zhongli said in a deep voice, "Now that the seal has been opened, the long-sealed secrets will reappear in the world. I hope that you can make a contract here before entering, so as to avoid the pointless quarrels that happened at Guyun Pavilion."
"The contract states that items shall be taken in sequence, one item at a time."
Clement was the first to disagree. "Hey, I'm the one who initiated and led this event. Why should we share the treasure with them? I can share some with Xu Ning, the one who's destined to help. But that guy didn't lift a finger. I don't agree."
Wan Yan reacted even more strongly than Clement, saying, "Those artifacts cannot be given to him; he will only squander the relics left behind by the Salt Demon."
Xu Ning had already guessed that Wan Yan was definitely a follower of the Salt God.
But this demon has been dead for over a thousand years, and her name is not even known to many people. So why would anyone suddenly stand up and worship her?
Seeing that the two were about to start arguing again, Zhong Li said, "If you two are unwilling to agree to sign a contract, I can no longer serve as the advisor for this team. You two can take the treasures and traps in the ruins yourselves."
Clement was torn, but in the end, his greed for the treasure inside prevailed, and he reluctantly agreed.
Seeing that no one else had any objections, Wan Yan could only nod, indicating that she had no other thoughts.
"I have only one request: if the truth about the Salt God is discovered, please make a fair judgment, even if that truth is detrimental to Morax, the Geo Archon of Liyue."
Zhongli nodded without hesitation. "That's acceptable. In that case, let's go down."
Wanyan and Klement immediately crowded together and jumped into the large round hole.
Xu Ning deliberately lagged behind a few steps, and after the two of them had walked a distance, he respectfully bowed to the Emperor and said, "Is there anything Your Majesty desires? Xu Ning will fetch it for you."
Zhongli waved his hand slightly, "It's alright, let's go and see!"
After Xu Ning and Zhong Li went down one by one, they saw the two people in front of them knocking and banging on a white statue.
"It should be a human figure, right?"
"Where can you find such a lifelike portrait?"
Xu Ning walked over and found the man's face filled with terror, his hands outstretched helplessly.
Standing behind the statue, Xu Ning bent down and looked at the direction it faced, which was exactly where he and the others had come down.
"It's clear he was trying to escape to the exit, but unfortunately he failed."
Zhongli walked over and glanced at them. "That's right. They must all be followers of the Salt Demon God from back then."
"Is it a real person? How did it get like this?"
Clement quickly withdrew his hand from the statue and wiped it on his clothes.
Xu Ning glanced into the depths of the ruins. "There's no need to find a way here. As long as we follow these portraits and escape to the opposite location, we should be able to reach the center of the events of that year."
The group arrived at the first place that looked like the main hall. After entering, they saw only some scattered white statues and a salt cup on the offering table.
The salt cup was small, containing about half a cup of clean white crushed salt.
"Just a salt jar? The Salt Demon is really a poor god, and it's strange that he uses salt as his power. I wonder how he developed such supernatural abilities?"
Xu Ning, who was gazing at the main hall in the distance, casually replied, "Perhaps it's because she loves to cry too much, and her tears are just too salty."
Clement was clearly dissatisfied with his gains and couldn't help but complain. However, he didn't expect Xu Ning to respond to his complaints seriously, let alone say something so "emotional".
"You cry too much? How did you know?"
Xu Ning snapped out of his daze when Clement pressed him for answers.
Feeling a bit strange about his own inexplicable remark, he could only brush it off with a "just kidding."
Zhongli seemed to sense something, his gaze sweeping over Xu Ning, but he said nothing. Instead, he commented on the salt cup on the offering table.
"This salt cup is no ordinary object. Although it is only half full, it will always be half full, which means it represents infinity."
Everyone was immediately shocked; no one had expected that this inconspicuous object was actually a magical artifact.
"So, even if I keep pouring it out non-stop, the salt inside won't decrease?" Clement asked excitedly. "After all this trouble, I've finally found a treasure. This stuff is mine now. Pour out tens of millions of bags of salt, and that'll make me rich!"
Wan Yan said resentfully, "To think that he would only use it for such a superficial thing, he really is just a greedy person."
Zhongli made no comment on Clement, but simply said, "According to the contract, now that you have taken the salt cup, the next item should be chosen by Lady Wanyan."
Clement rubbed the salt cup in his hands, beaming, and said, "It's alright, I've already obtained the most valuable treasure anyway."
Xu Ning was quite surprised by the power displayed by this salt cup. Normally, he would have racked his brains to figure out how to get his hands on it.
But at this moment he had little interest in these things. He felt his gaze always drifting uncontrollably toward the main hall in the distance, where something seemed to both excite and frighten him.
Upon hearing that the distribution of salt cups had ended, Xu Ning couldn't help but head towards the next hall.
This underground space is very large, with many side halls around it, perhaps to house people who used to live here.
However, there is only one path leading to the main hall, and it seems that some kind of energy bursts out from the main hall, making this only path intermittent.
Xu Ning jumped over a broken bridge pillar. A section of the bridge was missing here. Just as he was about to turn around to warn the three people behind him to be careful of this location, Xu Ning's gaze suddenly fixed on the bridge pillar.
This bridge pillar is composed of seven hexagonal stone pillars, each of which looks as if it had been deliberately cut, straight and hard.
Xu Ning was very familiar with these stone pillars.
At Guyun Pavilion, the entire mountain is composed of stone pillars with this structure.
Inside this underground palace, not only the bridge pillars, but even the rock walls have this kind of supporting structure.
This underground palace was not formed naturally at all!
What has found a peaceful place? This place was clearly built by someone using the supernatural power of rock element to provide refuge for the Salt Demon.
Could it be His Majesty the Emperor?
Xu Ning, filled with doubt, entered the second underground palace with the others.
Here, the white statues become more numerous, each with a look of horror on its face, their gestures left as if in the final moment of escape, but now it all seems futile.
On the same altar, a wide ruler was placed on a shelf.
"A ruler? What's the use of that?"
"This is a salt ruler. Once inserted into the ground, the soil will be covered with salt as if it were flooded. The deeper it is inserted, the more salt grains there will be. In other words, it's a salt harvest."
Upon hearing Zhongli's explanation, Xu Ning felt that the function of this ruler was completely redundant with that of the salt cup.
With a salt cup, there will never be a shortage of salt.
Just like having the Dust Concealment Gourd, one doesn't lack wine at all.
Therefore, the function of this salt ruler should not be for producing salt, but rather as a weapon.
Xu Ning reached out and pulled the salt ruler from the shelf, holding it in his hand.
The handle of the ruler fits snugly in the palm, making it extremely convenient to wield.
Imagine this salt ruler: every time it touches an enemy, their weapons and body are covered in a thick layer of salt. If it were to penetrate the enemy's body, countless grains of salt would spill out from within...
Xu Ning couldn't help but shake his head. The image was terrifying to even think about, and he wondered what concept this thing was based on.
“Xu Ning, according to the contract, this salt ruler should belong to Ms. Wan Yan.”
Xu Ning thought to himself that Clement's eyes turned red when he heard about the uses of this thing, and now that he had given it to Wan Yan, he was afraid that the greedy guy would explode.
But what does it matter?
Xu Ning smiled and placed the salt ruler in Wan Yan's hand, "This salt ruler is yours!"
"I absolutely disagree! I paid for it, and I explored it for my organization. Why should I be the one to suffer? She's been completely useless so far. Why should I give it to her? Give me the stuff!"
Clement finally snapped.