Although Ling Xiao didn't know what grade of weapon the bronze drum was, he was certain that it was at least a half-step holy artifact in its current state. Otherwise, how could it have an artifact spirit?
Ling Xiao had studied the bronze drum for a while. In the end, he discovered that the bronze drum only needed to be infused with spiritual energy to unleash its power. There didn't seem to be any special requirements.
However, the bronze drum required an enormous amount of spiritual energy.
Ling Xiao had tried it a few times, but with his current spiritual energy, he could only unleash three attacks from the bronze drum at most before he couldn't unleash its power any further. It was clear that the bronze drum's consumption was quite shocking.
Dong dong!
The sound was like the sound of war from ancient times. It was very shocking to hear.
"Sky … Sky Suppression Drum … It's the sound of the Sky Suppression Drum!" The remnant soul in the cave shrieked, as if it was very familiar with the sound of the drum.
"Is the Sky Suppression Drum referring to this broken drum?" Ling Xiao asked in his heart as he beat the drum.
Ling Xiao didn't have much time to think. A few more rays of light shot out from the cave. This time, the power was much more terrifying than before. It was likely that even a Heavenly Venerable would have a hard time withstanding it.
Fortunately, Ling Xiao was fast enough. As he dodged the attacks with the bronze drum in his arms, he gathered all his strength in his palms and struck again.
As the sound of the drum fell, a giant with eyes as large as a bell appeared in the cave. It was holding a giant drum in its hands, as if it would only be satisfied if the cave was broken.
"Bastard, I'm going to cripple you, you lowly commoner!" The voice was incomparably furious. It roared, and the shadow of a golden dragon roared out from the cave.
Roar!
An eight-clawed Golden Dragon charged out with unparalleled might.
This Golden Dragon was many times more powerful than the one Gu Xiaohe had unleashed. It was like a real dragon had appeared in the world, and the cave was about to be broken.
It was also at this moment that the giant's eyes widened. Its thick arms raised the drum stick and smashed it against the giant drum.
Dong!
The sound was like the roar of an ancient ferocious beast, and it was also like the beating of war drums in an ancient battlefield. The sound was deafening, and it shook the heavens and the earth, causing people to feel as if they had returned to the hot-blooded era of the ancient battlefield.
Ling Xiao's strength was much greater than Wen Huang's, so his attacks were naturally much more powerful.
As the sound of the copper rang out, Ling Xiao's ears, which had long been shut off, began to buzz incessantly. The Eight-clawed Golden Dragon that was about to reach him was pulverized by the sound of the copper. The Golden Dragon Spear naturally fell to the ground.
Not only that, but the cave also began to explode.
Rumble!
The powerful sound waves were greatly amplified within the cave, and the surrounding restrictions were finally unable to withstand the endless reverberations of the sound waves, and began to collapse.
Ling Xiao was already dizzy from the shock of the bronze sound.
Normally, such a situation would not occur even when he was practicing the sound of the copper drum in the open space. Now that the cave was too narrow, the sound of the copper drum had nowhere to vent, so it naturally reverberated incessantly in this place.
The rock walls in the surroundings began to collapse, and Ling Xiao, who was completely defenseless, was smashed into unconsciousness by the falling boulders.
Before he collapsed, he could still hear the hoarse voice cursing in exasperation, "You little bastard, you're so ruthless! I'll definitely make you die a horrible death …"
…
Outside the mountain, Gu Xiaohe, Gu Yufei, Bu Qing, and the others who were lucky enough to escape were already thousands of meters away from the mountain.
They looked at the mountain that had suddenly exploded, and their expressions became incomparably horrified.
This mountain had not been destroyed even through the chaotic times of war, but now it began to collapse with a thunderous sound of the drum.
A series of rumbling sounds rang out incessantly, as if the sky was about to collapse.
When the sound disappeared, the mountain seemed to have vanished into thin air. Not even a single piece of stone was left on the ground, and there was only a vast expanse of flat land, as if the mountain had never been there in the first place.
Everyone stared at this scene with their mouths agape, and their eyes were filled with incomparable shock.
"He … he disappeared. Impossible!" Gu Xiaohe's heart felt as if it had been stabbed by a knife, and she murmured in discomfort.
Bu Qing thought that 'he' was referring to 'it', and she immediately nodded and replied, "Yes, this remnant soul is too powerful. I don't know what method it used to move this mountain away."
Gu Xiaohe did not reply to Bu Qing, and she only sat on the ground in a daze. Tears welled up in her beautiful eyes as she murmured, "He did it to save me … it's all to save me, that's why he died … sob sob …"
Gu Xiaohe suddenly burst into tears, and Bu Qing was extremely puzzled.
After all, only the two of them had entered the cave, and now that they had both come out alive, why were they crying so sadly?
A figure suddenly appeared in Bu Qing's mind. "Could it be him?"
Gu Yufei recovered a little, and he comforted Gu Xiaohe, "Little sister … don't blame yourself. I think Brother Ling is a good man, and he will be fine."
"But …" Gu Xiaohe wanted to say something, but her throat seemed to be blocked by something.
The explosion just now was simply earth-shattering, and even a Heavenly Venerable would not be able to withstand it. Could he really still be alive?
…
After an unknown period of time, Ling Xiao slowly regained consciousness.
"Hiss!" Ling Xiao's body had just moved a little, and he could not help but suck in a breath of cold air.
Only now did he realize that he had been crushed by a huge rock, and a few of his ribs were probably broken. Fortunately, his condition was not too bad.
Ling Xiao circulated the Ancient Emperor's Divine Art to repair his damaged organs, and balls of golden light flickered incessantly. Gentle spiritual energy flowed out of his five-colored dantian, and it continuously soothed his meridians and nourished his organs, activating the regeneration effect.
"Ah!"
After Ling Xiao's injuries had recovered a little, he let out a loud shout, and the aura around his body shook, shattering the huge rock into pieces.
Ling Xiao crawled up and immediately swallowed a few pills. Then, he quickly circulated the Ancient Emperor's Divine Art to speed up his recovery.
At the same time, he kept the bronze drum that had landed beside him.
"Did that guy disappear?"
Ling Xiao realized that he could no longer sense the fluctuations of the remnant soul's power, but he still felt a little uneasy.
Just as Ling Xiao was about to walk towards the big cave, he saw the Golden Dragon Spear that had fallen to the side. With a grab of one hand, the Golden Dragon Spear automatically fell into his hand.
"This is a Sacred Weapon! Could it be that only members of the Gu Family can use it?" Ling Xiao murmured as he looked at the ordinary-looking Golden Dragon Spear.
He had seen Gu Xiaohe and the remnant soul use this Golden Dragon Spear before. Its power was really terrifying, but Gu Qingfeng couldn't use its full power, so he wondered if this Golden Dragon Spear required some kind of Secret Technique to be used.
Ling Xiao didn't have time to study it, so he could only put it away.
Of course, Ling Xiao would not let go of Gu Qingfeng's half-step Sacred Weapon and Space Ring. In addition, the battle armour and golden spears of the four dried corpses were also collected by Ling Xiao one by one.
After doing all this, Ling Xiao cautiously walked towards the three caves.
However, Ling Xiao still didn't dare to walk towards the cave on the left. The danger index there was too high, so he had to be cautious.
He chose the cave on the right. The Bone Dragon had escaped from this cave, so he didn't know what was inside.
This cave was much more spacious than the cave mansion outside, but without the illumination of the pearls, it was extremely dark.
Fortunately, Ling Xiao had his green eyes, so he could see everything in the darkness with just one glance.
There weren't many things in this cave mansion. There were golden scales scattered on the ground, which seemed to be real dragon scales. In addition to these dragon scales, there was also a pair of golden horns and a bead. These things all exuded a faint golden light, and it seemed that they didn't have much energy left.
Ling Xiao grabbed one of the scales and carefully examined it. He was immediately pleasantly surprised to find that it was indeed a real dragon scale.
Dragon scales were top-grade divine materials for Artifact Refining. If they fell into the hands of a Saint Artifact Master, it wouldn't be a problem for them to be refined into Sacred-level defensive armours. Dragons were from the God Race, so their dragon scales had the powerful defense of Dragons. It wasn't something that ordinary Profound Artifacts or Spirit Artifacts could break.
Although Ling Xiao wasn't an Artifact Refiner, he still had some common sense.
It was just that he couldn't determine whether these dragon scales were the dragon scales of a Flood Dragon or real Dragons. After all, there wasn't much difference between the two, and he had never seen a real Divine Dragon before.
Without a second thought, he put away the huge pile of Dragon Scales.
He didn't have any use for these dragon scales, but if he took them to the auction, there would definitely be many Artifact Refiners who would fight to the death to get them!
After keeping the dragon scales, Ling Xiao picked up the pair of golden horns that were as tall as a human.
This pair of golden horns was like a deer's antlers, with two forks. It didn't seem to be anything special, but the glistening golden light emitted a noble color. The warm color flowed into Ling Xiao's palm, making him feel like he couldn't bear to part with it.
"It's a pity that it's of the metal attribute. I don't know if it's useful to this little dragon. If it's useless, then I'll refine it into a top-grade pill. It should be of great help to my Ancient Emperor Mystic Art." Ling Xiao sighed lightly and put it away again.
From some ancient books, Ling Xiao had read about some Divine Beasts, and among them, there was a saying that this dragon horn could be used to refine pills. It was said that after the pill was refined, it could strengthen the body and physique of a person.
It was just that the Alchemy Manual didn't mention anything about this, so Ling Xiao didn't know whether this dragon horn could be used to refine pills or not. However, he cultivated the Ancient Emperor Mystic Art, so he believed that this golden horn would be of some use to him.
Finally, Ling Xiao picked up a fist-sized bead.
This bead didn't emit a golden light like the dragon scales and dragon horns. Instead, it gave off an incomparably clear and bright light. Although this light wasn't strong, it gave off an ancient aura. Within the bead, there seemed to be a sparkling little dragon swimming around. It looked nimble and agile, making people feel that it was quite magical.
"This shouldn't be a Beast Dan. Could it be … Could this be the legendary Dragon Pearl?" Ling Xiao revealed an incomparably shocked expression as he looked at the bead and muttered.