Chapter 242: Corpse

Lin Yun remembered the common feature used to describe the Planar Path leading to Heaven Enlightening Plane in all the sources, which was a thread overflowing with a golden aura. Lin Yun slowly crouched down next to the Planar Path and stared at that thread.

This time, Lin Yun didn’t use the Magic Array to analyze it. Instead, he looked through his pocket and fished out a bottle of Angel Potion.

He opened the bottle and placed it near the golden aura. The potion instantly started boiling while an intense aura of life filled the treasure trove.

‘Sure enough, it is the Heaven Enlightening Plane…” Lin Yun was already more than 90% sure that this Planar Path was leading to the plane everyone yearned for.

Only the golden aura from the Heaven Enlightening Plane contained such intense mana as well as such a strong aura of life.

It could be seen from that bottle of Angel Potion. The structure of the Angel Potion Lin Yun crafted was far stabler than what an ordinary alchemist could make, yet such a stable potion instantly became greatly agitated. And this could only happen in one case, which was if high-intensity mana was poured into it; only that could cause fluctuations in the structure of the Angel Potion and make it flare up.

And with that, along with the strong aura of life, Lin Yun could more or less acknowledge the existence of the Heaven Enlightening Plane.

After figuring this out, LIn Yun couldn’t help sighing. ‘I truly didn’t think that the Planar Path to the famous yet unseen Heaven Enlightening Plane would appear in underground ruins in the Four Seasons Canyon.

“Merlin, where does this Planar Path lead?” As Lin Yun was immersed in his thoughts, Solomon and Lys couldn’t help feeling curious.

They were already getting used to the situation.

Since they entered the treasury trove, strange things kept happening. First was the appearance of the large hoard of magic materials, followed by Fran entering the Archmage Realm, before he was incinerated by the 9th Rank Great Mage Merlin. And just after all this happened, the young Great Mage used Fran’s set of Magic Tools to open a Planar Path.

It was as if a brand new world spread in front of everyone.

Solomon and Lys could be considered extremely knowledgeable, but these strange things happening one after the other made the two peak High Mages of Thousand Sails City rather curious.

“This Planar Path…” Lin Yun thought for a moment before continuing, “This Planar Path leads to a mythical plane. A grain of sand or a drop of water from that place could be considered a priceless treasure in Noscent…”

“…” Solomon and Lys couldn’t help looking at each other while holding their breaths when they heard Lin Yun’s exaggerated description.

They had a very good understanding of that young Great Mage. The Gilded Rose was already monopolizing Thousand Sails City’s alchemy market and had amassed an enormous amount of wealth in less than a year. It probably wouldn’t be inaccurate to consider him the wealthiest person in Thousand Sails City.

But now, the richest youth in Thousand Sails City was saying that the value of that plane far surpassed what they could imagine.

Moreover…

From the young Great Mage’s serious expression, the two guessed that the value of the plane might far surpass the value of those priceless magic materials filling the treasure trove.

It took a while for the two to recover.

It felt as if they had been casually walking down a street when a pile of golds suddenly appeared in front of them. This was incredible… They had originally thought that these magic materials had been the greatest reward from the expedition, but they didn’t expect to find an even more valuable plane.

Thinking of this, their eyes couldn’t help shining.

“However…”

Lin Yun’s next sentence was akin to pouring cold water on their faces. “That mythical plane is also filled with unimaginable dangers…”

“Who is afraid of dangers?” Solomon said disapprovingly when he heard that. “Wasn’t Vaughn’s laboratory filled with dangers? Didn’t we still make it here?”

“No, High Mage Solomon, that place is different. No matter how dangerous this laboratory was, it was only a place left by an Artisan. The strongest thing here would be Heaven rank at most, but the plane behind that Planar Path has never been seen before. No one know what dangers awaits us.”

“Maybe there will be no dangers.”

“Haha, High Mage Solomon, you should come and stand here.” Lin Yun beckoned to Solomon. When Solomon reached Lin Yun with a baffled expression, Lin Yun told him, “Try to feel the mana fluctuations here…”

“Eh?” Solomon was surprised, but he listened to Lin Yun and started sensing the mana fluctuations with a heavy heart.

Then, that peak High Mage’s complexion worsened.

“Heavens…” Near the Planar Path’s entrance, the dense mana fluctuations had already surpassed what Solomon had imagined from Lin Yun’s warnings. They were far too terrible. Solomon couldn’t even understand how there could be a power that could still leave such shocking mana fluctuations after crossing a long distance and passing through a spatial distortion.

Solomon then knew that he had said something stupid.

A plane that had such power… Even if it was empty, it definitely wasn’t a place a High Mage could casually set foot on. And it wouldn’t be too far off to say that a snowflake carried by a breeze in such a place could easily destroy a Great Mage. That was no laughing matter, a power of that level was too shocking.

Solomon finally understood why that young Great Mage said that this was a mythical plane.

Because surely only omnipotent Gods could reside on such a formidable plane.

Solomon was unable to say anything for a moment, and after no less than a minute, he managed to ask Lin Yun with a deathly pale face. “Merlin, what… What kind of plane is this?”

“You can call it the Mythical Plane.”

“Then we… we…” Solomon no longer dared to talk about the dangers. It could no longer be described as merely dangerous. Walking in a higher plane like this was akin to walking on the edge of a blade or swimming through lava. Hoping to be able to come back in one piece was already very optimistic.

“Everyone decide for yourself. The wealth of that plane far surpasses what you can imagine. Just as I said, a drop of water or a speck of sand would become a priceless treasure in Noscent. But at the same time, the dangers far surpass what you could think of. One moment of carelessness and even an Archmage would easily fall.”

The treasure trove fell silent after Lin Yun’s words.

The twenty members of the joint exploration all sank into deep contemplation. This was a very difficult choice. On one side was endless wealth, and on the other was very likely death. Even William, Solomon, and Lys, those who trusted Lin Yun the most, didn’t dare to make their decisions right away.

“I shall withdraw.” The first to withdraw was that Elder of the Monchi Family. The Monchi Family could be said to be the one exerting the least effort in this joint exploration. They would most likely receive the smallest share after returning to Thousand Sails City. Since that was the case, why would they bother braving such dangers?

Naturally, that Elder had some darker thoughts and schemes in mind.

Such as…

‘Since the plane behind that Planar Path is so dangerous, then wouldn’t my Monchi Family be able to keep everything here if the others all fell?’

Naturally, he only dared to think about such matters privately.

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“I’ll also withdraw…” To everyone’s surprise, Sauss was the second one to demur.

After all, Sauss was the leader of Thousand Sails City’s strongest underground power, and he was famous for being adventurous. When he was still a more roguish fellow, he even dared to stab a guard of Thousand Sails City. No one thought that he would have so little courage a few dozen years later.

But Lin Yun smiled as he looked at Sauss.

Because Lin Yun knew that after the Viper Nest obtained the Magic Spring Potion, they had accelerated their expansion and would soon approach the temple of the Haiba Dragon God. How could Sauss take risks when he was about to strike it rich anyways?

“Merlin, what are your plans?” Solomon asked after a difficult struggle.

Lin Yun thought for a moment. “If there is nothing unexpected, I will go in and take a look. After all, it is a never-before-seen plane. Even if I can’t get any benefits inside, being able to leave some coordinate markers would be good, and maybe when there is another useful opportunity…”

“Then I’ll go with you.”

“So will I.”

“Cousin, I’ll follow you.”

Many people answered once Lin Yun shared his decision. Solomon, Lys, William… Even the Draconic Beastman that only interested in saving his own neck reacted after hearing Lin Yun. He sullenly asked, “Sir Merlin, can you cancel my contract before heading towards your death?”

“What are you saying?”

“Err… I’ll follow you inside…” The Draconic Beastman wept as he watched the people that were still hesitating, his heart filled with jealousy. ‘You should be content with your own situations. You still have the choice to go or not to go, while I don’t even have the right to choose…’

The joint exploration team quickly split into two groups.

There were a total of eight people unwilling to enter the Planar Path. Besides that Elder from the Monchi Family and Sauss, there was also Cadgar, who had always had good relations with Lin Yun.

The rest of Lin Yun’s closer acquaintances were willing to take the risk him.

Solomon, Lys, William, Xiuban, Sasu… And to everyone’s surprise, the two from the Mercury Tower, Suyass and Fran, actually chose to join in. When the two expressed their opinions, even Lin Yun was startled. There was no issue with Suyass, but what about Fran? Two of his fingers had been cut off, so where did he get such courage?

In fact, this confusion was due to Lin Yun not fully understanding the Mercury Tower.

Fran had always been a bit marginalized in the Mercury Tower. This time, he had rushed to his own doom and had two fingers cut off. Eventually, Suyass had to pay a huge price to save his life. After returning, Fran was bound to suffer a very strict punishment. Even if Nolan didn’t say anything, Suyass would definitely have him suffer the consequences.

Now, the only opportunity Fran had was this newly opened Planar Path. If he luckily obtained some benefits, it would count as a great contribution. Even just quietly recording that mysterious plane’s coordinates and bringing them back to the Mercury Tower would be enough to make up for the mistake he had just made.

Unfortunately…

Fran still hadn’t understood that this “Mythical Plane” was different from any plane he’d ever known about.

The biggest difference was the key.

A plane on the level of the Heaven Enlightening Plane wasn’t a plane that could be opened by just any power. Even the Crystal Scales Lin Yun had used could only open it once. Afterwards, they would lose their power and turn into ordinary objects.

Naturally, this was something only Lin Yun knew.

Only he knew that the two rings he wore and the magic staff he held no longer had any wisps of mana within. The whole set of heaven-defying Magic Tools had now become an ordinary item.

In other words, he only had one opportunity to enter the Heaven Enlightening Plane. Even if Fran recorded the coordinates, he wouldn’t have the opportunity to return.

Unless Fran could find another key to open the Heaven Enlightening Plane.

Soon, Lin Yun’s group was ready and only left behind those eight people unwilling to take the risk. However, they also had their own mission. They were in charge of sorting the magic materials and distributing them according to the agreement and then subdividing them based on everyone’s contribution.

In any case, they were all from Thousand Sails City. They weren’t worried about others stuffing their pockets because they could always gang up on the thieving ones.

Naturally…

This wouldn’t be the same if Lin Yun’s group wasn’t able to survive that mysterious plane.

Lin Yun entered first. After all, the ones who decided to take the risk had been 99% convinced to go because of him.

Just as he entered the Planar Path, Lin Yun could immediately tell that this mysterious and incomprehensible plane was different from any he had seen before. The Planar Path was too long.

Lin Yun advanced for three minutes and still didn’t see the end.

Planar Paths were used to distort space. Regardless of how far a plane was, after the Planar Path distorted the space between them, it would be within reach and he should be able to arrive there nearly instantly. But now, Lin Yun had already walked down the Planar Path for a full three minutes. This meant that the Heaven Enlightening Plane’s distance from Noscent was unimaginable.

After another three minutes, Lin Yun caught sight of a faint light.

Then, that light grew brighter and brighter. It started like a firefly, but it soon looked like the sun rising from the east. Even Lin Yun was amazed as light started blooming in front of him and it felt as if that Planar Path was illuminated by the light of day!

Lin Yun subconsciously raised his hand to cover his eyes.

But he froze just as he raised his right hand.

“This…” At this time, Lin Yun simply didn’t dare to believe in his own eyes because he found a corpse at his feet!

Lin Yun stood stock still in shock. This was too freaky. Lin Yun never imagined that he would meet a withered body halfway through the Planar Path.

‘What is this?’ Lin Yun stood there for a long time, before cautiously crouching down to examine the withered corpse. The corpse was just next to his feet. He had missed it before because of the light, but after shielding his eyes, he had suddenly noticed it.

That corpse seemed to belong to a Human Mage because of the black robe wrapped around it. Although there weren’t any fierce mana fluctuation coming from that corpse, Lin Yun, as a Master Alchemist, could clearly see that this robe had once been a True Spirit Magic Tool.

But something had happened over the course of time, and the Incarnation had already dissipated. Its mana was also exhausted, so it was only an ordinary mage robe at this point.

After seeing this, Lin Yun was more and more curious about the identity of that corpse.

After all, a True Spirit Magic Tool wasn’t something that could casually be obtained.

Star Sage Jouyi had high status and was very powerful, but even then, it would be really hard for him to take out a True Spirit Magic Tool.