Even though the temple had been underwater for who knows how many years already, it didn't look worn out at all or on the verge of decay. It was as if its time had stopped when it was underwater.

The temple was simply grand and anyone who took a look at it would experience a strong feeling of reverence in their heart. No one would think that a temple as clean and as beautiful as that was something that had been underwater for thousands of years.

While Yun Ling, Snow Fang, and the boy were walking inside the temple, Yun Ling and Snow Fang couldn't help but look around and appreciate the view around them.

"As expected of a god's temple... this is more luxurious than the most luxurious place back in the empire," Yun Ling commented with an impressed gaze. There were even valuable materials used to decorate everywhere around the temple that would have fetched an incredibly high price back in their empire.

Truthfully, he was a bit tempted. There were even spiritual plants rarely seen in their world in the past hundreds of years, growing in the pots at the side. It was only because he wanted to maintain his image in front of the boy that he didn't do that since he didn't want the boy to look down on him.

Snow Fang, however, had no reservations. When he saw a rare spiritual plant, he would immediately eat it without refining it at all. Seeing that made Yun Ling's heart bleed but he didn't voice out his displeasure.

Such a waste!

If Snow Fang didn't eat those plants but instead combined it with other ingredients and turned it into a pill with the help of an alchemist, the effects would've been a lot more beneficial to him than just eating it outright.

Yun Ling was about to instruct Snow Fang to get some rare plants and keep them when they heard the boy say, "That's enough."

Snow Fang looked at him curiously. The boy never said any word the entire time even when he was being brazen by eating those plants so why did he speak up only now?

"This is a god's temple. There are many protections in this place that you do not know of. You can take some of the things here but if you take too much"—the boy paused—"look behind you."

The two did what they were told and looked behind...

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... only to see a shadow with a human figure about to attack them.

They were about to dodge the shadow's attacks but found that the shadow was much faster than them. Not good! They wouldn't be able to avoid it!

Just as the shadow's attack was about to hit them, the boy went in front of them and punched the shadow with his fist, glowing in white light.

The shadow flew back after taking that hit before it disappeared in a cloud of smoke. It was completely eliminated out of existence.

Yun Ling's face went grave. Ever since he had gotten himself unwillingly involved with the boy, he was starting to see just how weak he was in the grand scheme of things. Many times he had felt incredibly useless after getting inside the Thousand Mountain Valley.

If not for the boy's words, he wouldn't have been able to detect that shadow. That was quite a blow to his pride.

"What was that...?" Snow Fang asked wide-eyed after the shadow disappeared.

The boy merely responded, "That, child, was one of the guardians in this temple. They will not normally move unless someone hoards in the treasures here or had ill intent to the god sleeping in here."

He then looked at Snow Fang.

"You're lucky that it didn't consider what you picked up as something valuable. If it did, it wouldn't just be a single shadow that would show up."

Yun Ling and Snow Fang exchanged looks with each other.

Those were rare plants yet it isn't considered valuable? Just how common were those things tens of thousands of years ago?

After that encounter, the three continued walking.

Yun Ling and Snow Fang no longer let themselves be distracted from the treasures around them again. They didn't want to alert the shadows for their foolishness even if the boy, who was capable of destroying that shadow easily, was with them. They didn't want to unnecessarily put themselves at risk by thinking that the boy would save them every time.

"We're here," the boy said as he stopped in front of a room with two black doors.

Yun Ling and Snow Fang also stopped their steps.

The boy placed both his palms on each door. He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

His eyes opened as he exhaled loudly and slowly pushed the two doors.

Yun Ling and Snow Fang held their ground when they felt the temple shake as the boy pushed the two doors. The two looked at the doors in surprise. Those doors should've been incredibly heavy if just opening it was already causing the temple to shake.

In a few seconds, the boy managed to open the doors fully as he came inside the room. Seeing that, Yun Ling and Snow Fang came along.

The room was nothing much when compared to the rest of the temple. There weren't any luxurious designs or anything. It was just... dark. If not for the torches around the room, they wouldn't have been able to see anything inside it.

Yun Ling's eyes constricted as it landed at the center of the room.

At the center of the room was an individual bound in chains. All four of the individual's limbs were bounded by chains that were connected to the ceiling and the ground, forcing him into an "X" position because of his bounded limbs.

The boy looked at Yun Ling and Snow Fang and said, "Well then... let's wake this god up."