Chapter 152: Brute-Force Cracking

Behind the heavy doors of the secret chamber stood a dozen or so divine statues arranged in a semi-circle. These statues were of ordinary human height, standing upon elevated stone platforms and looking down condescendingly over the hundred-square-meter chamber. Due to the magic arrays carved into their bodies, powerful magical fluctuations constantly emanated from the statues.

Atrash glance at these stone-carved deities allowed El齐 to roughly identify some of the major gods worshipped by the Church. For instance, the God of Dawn, the God of Flame, and the God of Ice and Snow stood firmly in the center, while the twelve surrounding statues were subordinate deities of these three pantheons. For example, the Goddess of Dawn was a subordinate deity to the God of Dawn, the God of Lava served the God of Flame, and the Goddess of Frost belonged to the pantheon of the God of Ice and Snow.

There were fifteen statues in total, and in front of each one rested varying quantities of large bronze chests. These chests, measuring a meter in length and width and half a meter in height, contained nothing else but neatly stacked, thumb-thick, half-foot-long gold bars. Clearly engraved upon each gold bar were the holy cross and the scales—the official reserve currency of the Church bank!

"Gods above, my dear gods, I love you to death!"

El齐's eyes instantly turned a sickly shade of green, and he nearly lunged forward. Fortunately, Long Cheng, standing right beside him, reacted swiftly, grabbing him by the hair and jerking him back. There were at least sixty large chests here, brimful of gold bars—an astronomical sum in gold reserves. Yet, a faint divine light flickered over these chests, protecting every single one of them with a divine barrier.

The eyes of those statues gleamed, casting two pale rays of divine light that enveloped all the chests.

Long Cheng picked up a copper coin and tossed it toward a large chest. When the coin was still two or three inches away from the chest, a faint multicolored radiance flashed, and the coin vanished without a trace. Long Cheng shot El齐 a sideways glance and growled in a low voice, "If you have a death wish, go right ahead and throw yourself at them. This must be a secret stronghold of the Church. What the hell are they hoarding so much gold here for?"

El齐 took a deep breath, narrowing his eyes as he said, "It has to be. This must be wealth accumulated from the Church's sale of indulgences and other such ventures. Within the Church, the Dawn, Flame, and Snow pantheons are said to be allies, which explains why the main gods and principal subordinate deities of all three are erected here. This is a secret stronghold where clergy loyal to these pantheons store their wealth."

Snapping his fingers with a mocking chuckle, El齐 shook his head and sighed, "With so many golden bars sitting right here in this secret chamber, those bastards act like they're too poor to afford a meal! Well, the Church's disciplinary codes are brutally strict; I suppose none of them dared to touch these gold bars anyway."

Knowing precisely the kind of people El齐 was referring to, Long Cheng sneered, "It's not just a matter of daring; they wouldn't even have a way to touch them, right? The divine arts barriers here are exceptionally powerful. In the East, I've only ever seen such potent spiritual barriers set up in my family's own treasury by spirit-sorcerers from the Heavenly Temple."

El齐 cast a secretive glance at Long Cheng, causing the latter's heart to skip a beat. Long Cheng glared fiercely at El齐, silently resolving to relocate his family's treasury the moment he returned East, and to hire a few extra spirit-sorcerers to reinforce its protective barriers.

Giving a soft cough, El齐 pointed at the chests and sighed deeply, "How do we get these out? Once we move them, I'll give you a thirty percent cut, converted into negotiable gold notes for you to carry away!"

Gazing at the piles of gold, Long Cheng's eyes also flickered with a golden luster. Gritting his teeth, he said, "I'm willing to risk breaking these barriers, but I want a fifty percent cut. The divine barriers here are immensely powerful; nobody short of someone with my level of strength could shatter them. I want half, and you will convert mine into easily transportable jewelry for me to take."

Glares exchanged, Long Cheng snapped angrily, "Do you really think I can travel back with gold notes? Those Western gold notes of yours are only good for wiping posteriors where I'm from, and even for that, they're too slick to do a proper job."

El齐 shrugged, took a deep breath, and replied, "Fine, let's make it quick. You break the barriers and take forty percent; my men will have to haul these gold bars out, melt them down, and ship them to various national banks for exchange. There's plenty of tedious work ahead, so taking sixty percent is entirely reasonable. Besides, you expect me to convert all your share into portable jewelry for free? Do you have any idea how much trouble that is?"

Fifty percent versus forty percent? Long Cheng nodded and drew a deep breath.

The air in the secret chamber seemed to be completely sucked dry in that single breath. Long Cheng's stature abruptly stretched by an inch, and dense purple Qi tinged with faint golden light erupted from around his body, coalescing into a swirling purple cloud that enveloped him entirely.

El齐's face twitched violently. Purple Qi with golden light—this fellow was actually on the verge of breaking through to the upper tier of the Heavenly Rank! Considering he was much younger than Blackbeard, El齐 had no idea how the man cultivated. Not to mention, he was a monster practicing both physical and magical arts; this level of strength was utterly terrifying.

A biting cold wind whipped up from the flat ground, and delicate purple ice crystals began to drift leisurely down inside the secret chamber. These ice crystals were extremely fine, looking as delicate and fragile as dandelion seeds dancing in the spring wind. Yet, the chilling energy contained within them was horrifying. When El齐 merely brushed his finger against a tiny speck of ice, a violent shudder wracked his entire body, and the warmth within his vitals seemed entirely drained away.

Such terrifying power! El齐 hurriedly signaled everyone to withdraw from the secret chamber, leaving Long Cheng to work his magic alone.

A low, eerie incantation echoed. Those fine ice crystals gradually condensed into thumb-sized, diamond-like, brilliant crystals. The chill within the chamber grew increasingly horrifying; even from a considerable distance, El齐 and his men were shivering uncontrollably. Thick frost spread outward from the secret chamber, instantly sealing the entire corridor in half-a-foot-thick ice.

With a sharp cry, the purple cloud spun furiously. Without even managing to track Long Cheng's movements, El齐 saw the purple cloud rise into the air and gracefully sweep in a circle around the fifteen divine statues.

*Crack, crack, crack*—the sounds were endless. The divine light on the surfaces of the statues shattered, and the statues themselves froze into pulverized stone dust. Accompanied by a low roar, fifteen streaks of divine light plunged from the sky, crashing heavily onto the purple cloud. The cloud was shattered in a single blow, and Long Cheng drifted toward the mouth of the corridor like a falling leaf.

Spitting out a mouthful of blood, his body trembling, Long Cheng staggered back a few steps and roared furiously, "What are you staring for? Clean the place out! Don't leave a single copper coin behind! Damn it, the barriers here are cursedly vicious!"

El齐 could see it too. Long Cheng had bulldozed through all those barriers with unstoppable force, but the moment the statues collapsed, fifteen beams of divine light had erupted from them, injuring Long Cheng in the process. El齐 had no idea how immense the power of those light beams was, but seeing Long Cheng coughing up blood told him it was far beyond what he could handle.

Waving his hand forcefully, El齐 gave a brisk order. His accompanying subordinates immediately stepped forward, three men to a chest, lifting them and swiftly carrying them out.

A quarter of an hour later, twelve four-wheeled carriages departed from a secluded side door of the All-Nations Botanical Garden, vanishing into the boundless night.