Chapter 1 An Ancient Treasure Chest

Shi Feng looked at the pitch-black treasure chest placed in the secret room, covered in a thick layer of dust, and his breathing quickened.

An Ancient Treasure Chest!

He had only ever heard of such a thing.

These were treasure chests passed down from the ancient gods. Seemingly made of black iron, they were actually crafted from obsidian crystal, a material second only to the Seven Luminaries Crystal. Furthermore, the chests were inscribed with divine runes personally applied by the ancient gods, imbued with a powerful divine might that ordinary items could never possess.

Every Ancient Treasure Chest was priceless in God's Domain, as they contained divine objects. It was said that the worst items inside were equivalent to those found in Epic Treasure Chests, while the best could rival those in Legendary Treasure Chests.

However, Ancient Treasure Chests were as rare as Epic Treasure Chests, something one only heard about and never actually saw.

Rumor had it that they only appeared in extremely dangerous ancient ruins.

He never expected there to be an Ancient Treasure Chest in the Orcish Empire.

"So, this is an Ancient Treasure Chest? Truly amazing!" Shi Feng walked up to the Ancient Treasure Chest, feeling as if his body was about to collapse.

Because it was an item personally crafted by a god, and inscribed with divine runes, the closer one got to the Ancient Treasure Chest, the stronger the divine might.

Standing before the Ancient Treasure Chest, his entire body felt as heavy as lead. Even a Lord-ranked monster of the same level could easily defeat him.

If a Tier 1 player were to come here, they would probably be kneeling on the ground, unable to move.

However, precisely because of this, the Ancient Treasure Chest was not locked. Its inherent divine might was the best protection.

The moment the Ancient Treasure Chest was opened, the divine runes inscribed on it lit up, and instantly the magic elements within the secret room went berserk. The dense magic power within the room seemed to be drained, frantically absorbed into the Ancient Treasure Chest, like a newly awakened beast in need of feeding.

The absorption of magic power continued for several seconds before stopping, and the pressure emanating from the Ancient Treasure Chest also increased significantly.

"Only one item?" Shi Feng looked at a floating, pitch-black ring inside the chest and was speechless.

The Ancient Treasure Chest, as large as a wardrobe, had an interior space only the size of a basketball…

However, Shi Feng didn't stand on ceremony. Without another word, he picked up the pitch-black ring and began to examine it.

"Unable to read?"

"Is this an item left behind by a god?"

Shi Feng looked at the pitch-black ring in his hand. No matter how he clicked to view its attribute description, the pitch-black ring was like a stone on the roadside, with no information displayed at all.

This was the first time Shi Feng had ever encountered an item in God's Domain that couldn't even be read.

Even the items that grazed against the Eternal could at least have their names known, without displaying absolutely no information.

If the dark, worn ring in his hand wasn't inside the Ancient Treasure Chest, Shi Feng might have thrown it aside as trash, because the pitch-black ring in his hand was simply too ordinary, with not a single special feature.

Although he couldn't read it directly, Shi Feng didn't intend to give up.

After waiting for ten minutes, Shi Feng once again used the Eye of All-Knowing to examine the pitch-black ring.

The appraisal effect of the Eye of All-Knowing far surpassed even Advanced Appraisal.

"How could this be! Unable to read, what kind of ring is this?" Shi Feng looked at the system's prompt, his expression slightly astonished.

His Eye of All-Knowing had never encountered an item that it couldn't appraise, and even Xia Lian, whose strength was unfathomable, had praised his Eye of All-Knowing. Yet, now, it was completely helpless against the pitch-black ring.

The display of 'Unable to read' meant only one possibility: the appraisal level of the Eye of All-Knowing was not high enough, and a stronger appraisal skill was needed.

And the appraisal skill that could surpass the Eye of All-Knowing...

Shi Feng could only think of one: the Eye of Truth!

This was something Xia Lian had mentioned before.

However, he didn't know how to obtain the Eye of Truth and could only ask Xia Lian about it later. Before that, he was completely helpless against the pitch-black ring.

Immediately, Shi Feng put away the pitch-black ring and turned to leave the secret room.

Compared to the pitch-black ring in the Ancient Treasure Chest, completing the task was more important.

The road to the royal underground treasury was filled with many traps, and a single trap formula could cost a player their life. Even top-tier assassins would die if they weren't careful.

This was even more difficult for Shi Feng, who was just a swordsman.

The only thing he could do was to use the Eye of All-Knowing to avoid the trap formulas. If he encountered a trap formula attack that was impossible to avoid, he could only forcibly use Absolute Defense to withstand it.

A journey that normally took just over ten minutes now required several times the time to slowly advance.

Just as he was getting closer and closer to the royal treasury, Shi Feng suddenly received a message from Melancholic Smile.

The message was simple.

Not long ago, many fiends had appeared in the White River City area and around Stone Forest Town. Almost all of them were Lord-ranked or higher, and these fiends were acting very cautiously, striking and then moving on, not giving Zero Wing Guild any time to send people to encircle them.

This caused the number of players wanting to go to Stone Forest Town to suddenly decrease significantly.

Although Stone Forest Town was safe, and no monsters could conquer it, ordinary players and adventurer teams did not have private residences in Stone Forest Town. They could not teleport directly to Stone Forest Town and could only take a carriage from the nearest NPC town to Stone Forest Town.

Although the carriage was fast, it had no attack power. If it was ambushed by fiends, ordinary players would only be sending themselves to their deaths, unable to even resist.

Such an unsafe journey would naturally cause many players to give up on going to Stone Forest Town, as the cost of dying once was too great.

"So, Heaven's Burial doesn't even want to hide it anymore?" Shi Feng's face turned slightly cold, which made him want to complete the task and return even sooner.

Lord-level fiends were no match for the expert players of today. Only experts like Aqua Rose could contend with them. However, Aqua Rose and the others had already gone to do their class advancement quests. Currently, there were no powerful experts stationed in Stone Forest Town. If they wanted to deal with the fiends, they could only rely on encirclement.

But these fiends would leave after attacking, not giving Zero Wing any chance at all.

Now, only he could do it. As long as fiends appeared and players informed him of the coordinates, he could use the Seven Luminaries Ring's spatial movement to rush over as quickly as possible.

However, he had finally managed to enter the royal palace. If he went back without completing the task, it would be even more difficult to come again next time.

Afterward, Shi Feng sent a message to Melancholic Smile, asking Zero Wing Guild to form patrol groups first. Although this was labor-intensive, it would have a certain deterrent effect on the fiends, preventing them from acting rashly on the trade routes.

The remaining matters could only wait until he returned.

...

Time passed, and Shi Feng finally arrived at the hall of the royal treasury after spending more than two hours.

At this time, in the vast hall fortified with divine runes and magic arrays, an orc wearing armor was sitting quietly in front of the treasury's large iron gate, his eyes closed, like a stone statue.

"No wonder I've been inside for so long, and there haven't been any orcs searching for me in the entire underground treasury. It turns out there was such a guardian." Shi Feng watched the orc guarding the large iron gate from the dark corner of the corridor, his brows furrowing slightly.

Although the orc guarding the treasury was not very tall, and could even be described as thin and aged, any player who encountered this orc now would be doomed to death.

Because this orc was the leader of the Orcish Tribe.

Orc Leader, humanoid creature, Legendary rank, Level 85, HP 320,000,000.

With such combat power, even a hundred-man Tier 2 elite group of Level 85s would probably be wiped out, because Shi Feng had led a group to kill an Orc Leader before, but he had already been promoted to a Tier 3 Sword King at that time.

The Orc Leader was more powerful than the three Legendary orcs who had rushed out of the city before, and his intelligence was comparable to an NPC, like a wise man among the orcs. Even a thousand-man elite group of the same level would be completely wiped out if they didn't have items that targeted the Orc Leader's weaknesses.

With such an Orc Leader guarding the large iron gate, it would be difficult to even break through, let alone fight.

Just as Shi Feng was thinking about how to break through the Orc Leader's blockade, Shi Feng suddenly heard a rustling sound of footsteps coming from behind him, getting closer and closer.