Chapter 215: Might As Well
Translator: Noodletown Translated Editor: Noodletown Translated
Dragging Zhao Yanzi, Hao Ren ran for the door of Yazi Palace. Given no time to process what was happening, Zhao Yanzi could only follow Hao Ren.
Greatly shocked, Zeng Yitao realized that his Natal Dharma Treasure had been seized by Hao Ren and immediately began going after him.
“Crown Prince, it’s more important to obtain the treasures here now!” His servant called out again.
After sprinting forward a dozen steps, Zeng Yitao finally stopped. Gritting his teeth, he sent out a burst of blue Nature Essence from his palm, which pierced through the white light-veil and began a.s.sisting his servant in obtaining the treasures.
As they were the first to arrive at Yazi Palace, they believed they had sufficient time and decided to each work on obtaining one treasure first. Then, they could make time to get the third one together. Judging from their current situation, it would be extremely fortunate if they were able to obtain even one treasure – it was almost impossible for them to retrieve the second one!
At this moment, Zeng Yitao was grinding his teeth with hatred! He had already achieved Zhen level and had his own Natal Dharma Treasure; yet, he couldn’t even defeat Hao Ren who was merely at Li level!
Following Hao Ren out of the Yazi Palace, Zhao Yanzi looked to Hao Ren with doubts, “Are we not going to try to obtain the treasures?”
“We need to find elixirs. Acquiring Dharma Treasures is not what is most important.” Tapping the necklace on his chest, Hao Ren summoned Little White.
At this time, Little White was toying with Zeng Yitao’s golden spear in the s.p.a.ce.
After jumping out of the s.p.a.ce, Little White began rolling around on the gra.s.s, acting like a spoiled child. Seeing to it, Hao Ren gently kicked Little White in the b.u.t.t, and it instantly rolled over obediently and became the gigantic Snow Lion that it was.
“We still have time to go to the next branch palace!” Pulling Zhao Yanzi with him, Hao Ren sat on the back of Little White and shot out a burst of very faint sword energy to stimulate the fur around its rear, causing Little White let out a growl and flew into the sky at once!
With its four paws unleas.h.i.+ng fire, Little White soared freely in the sky.
As there was not much time left, Hao Ren’s decision had put everything at stake. If they didn’t have Little White, he would definitely have stayed at Yazi Palace to try to retrieve a Dharma Treasure. However, with Little White’s flying ability, there were more possibilities for them.
This time, seated behind Hao Ren, Zhao Yanzi was tightly holding onto Hao Ren’s Daoist robe as Little White tried its best to fly towards the branch palace that was further ahead.
“Hey, about…” She thought for a moment and said in the quietest voice possible, “Don’t ever do dangerous things again.”
“What do you mean?” Hao Ren asked.
“Well…” Yanking Hao Ren’s Daoist robe with her hands, Zhao Yanzi replied, “Things like fighting others bare-handed and unarmed…”
“Okay, got it,” Hao Ren responded. He thought more about it and broke into a bright smile. Needless to say, Zhao Yanzi was not able to see his face as she was seated behind him.
“Also, how were you able to seize his spear?” Zhao Yanzi inquired again.
“The s.p.a.ce inside my necklace is as big as a room; I can take in 50 or 60 of them, let alone just a single one!” Hao Ren answered with a laugh.
Last time, he tried putting the bell he got from the Lu sisters into the s.p.a.ce to test it and found that the Lu sisters were not able to detect the bell anymore. From then on, he had thought of another way to make use of the s.p.a.ce, just that he hadn’t had the chance to try it out until now.
Anything that was within a certain range and had Nature Essence could be seized through mind control. For one, Zeng Yitao’s Natal Dharma Treasure certainly had Nature Essence, and its size also did not exceed the limit of the s.p.a.ce. Therefore, Hao Ren was able to seize it without doubts.
With that being said, if the opponent were a lot stronger than he was, Hao Ren would not try to seize things hastily. Even this time, he was lucky to be able to take full advantage of the fact that Zeng Yitao had no clue what was to come. After all, a Natal Dharma Treasure and its user were connected and could communicate directly. Thus, if Zeng Yitao suddenly puts his spear away, the s.p.a.ce might not be able to suck it in.
Watching Little White soar in the sky, Hao Ren felt that he could not take its hard work for granted. Therefore, he took out an Elixir Pill and placed it in its mouth.
While flying high up in the air, Little White started chewing the pill. Soon, the flames from its claws were blazing even more fiercely, and its speed had increased considerably!
Thump! After a short period of flying, Little White began descending at an angle onto the ground right before the second branch palace!
This time, Hao Ren did not put Little White away. Instead, he allowed it to follow behind him and Zhao Yanzi.
Similar to Yazi Palace, two stone beasts were standing in front of the entrance of the palace. The two stone beasts appeared like tortoises, crawling on two humongous hearthstones.
“This is the sixth son of the G.o.dly Dragon – Baxia. It had immense strength and could carry many mountains on its back at once.” Zhao Yanzi stated as she recognized the stone beast.
“So, this must be Baxia Palace.” As Hao Ren had no time to waste, he had no intention to stay by the entrance to observe the two stone beasts. Promptly, he dragged Zhao Yanzi into the palace with him. Wagging its tail, Little White followed right behind.
Yazi was a fighter and sought to kill, hence the inside of Yazi Palace was stacked with all types of offensive Dharma Treasures. Judging from the look of the stone beasts by the entrance, Hao Ren estimated that he would find different types of defensive Dharma Treasures inside Baxia Palace.
To his surprise, he and Zhao Yanzi walked into a copious amount of densely placed black-colored stone monuments inside the main hall!
All of the stone monuments had carvings of ancient characters that Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi did not recognize. Still, from the lively auras and the t.i.tles of the scriptures, Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi could tell that those were all ancient cultivation techniques!
They were, in fact, the long lost great techniques from the Prehistoric Era!
“What should we do? We can’t take them with us, let’s memorize them then.” As her eyes lit up, Zhao Yanzi’s voice emitted a sense of urgency. Now that they had finally made it into the second branch palace, there was no way they were leaving empty-handed.
“Look carefully. These cultivation techniques were not complete. The writing is all in stanza form, and it seems some key sentences are hidden among the stone monuments. We will have to find the pattern to activate the gear somehow. Only then, we will be able to acquire the complete cultivation techniques from the corresponding stone monuments,” Hao Ren lowered his head and watched Zhao Yanzi, “Think you can do it?”
Zhao Yanzi responded quickly by frantically shaking her head. It would most likely hurt her brain if she were to use it.
“Let’s go then!” Grabbing her arm, Hao Ren headed for the door.
Zhao Yanzi could not take her eyes off of the stone monuments as she was unwilling to leave empty-handed again.
“I know there is not enough time, but we can still copy down an incomplete one and bring it back to study it.” Even when they were already outside, Zhao Yanzi couldn’t help but repeat her suggestion.
“Let’s gamble one more time and see what happens with the next branch palace.” Once more, Hao Ren pulled Zhao Yanzi onto the back of Little White.
He too, understood that there was not much time left. Now, whether they could make it smoothly to the third branch palace and obtain anything useful would be a true test of their att.i.tude and mentality.
Otherwise, if they were able to get to three branch palaces in a row but were unable to obtain anything, it would be… a tragedy.
After reaching his hand to Little White’s mouth and feeding it another elixir, Hao Ren urged Little White to fly toward the third branch palace which they had once spotted.
While they were up in the air, Hao Ren could see in his view that two more branch palaces were located close together at the far end. If they were given sufficient time, he would have loved to visit them one by one… Boom! Little White landed abruptly, even leaving a dent in the soil before the entrance of the third branch palace. On their way there, Little White was able to sense Hao Ren’s anxiety. Hence, it landed in a rush and not as smooth as before.
As they expected, there were also two stone beasts situated by the entrance. This time, the two stone beasts looked like two lions firmly seated on two round boards. Moreover, there were engravings of exquisite incense burners adorned all around the round boards.
Suanni! The fifth son of the G.o.dly Dragon!
The most desolate and distant land of southern Kunlun could deplete the most refined ferocious aura yet was the place that gave life to the clan of spirit beast- Suanni. Speaking of which, Suanni was actually the ancestor of lion-type spirit beast like Little White!
However, Hao Ren now had no time to stay at the entrance to elaborate to Little White about its ancestor. Instead, he again dashed inside the branch palace while yanking Zhao Yanzi by her arm.
By this time, Hao Ren had made up his mind. This was their last chance, and they could not afford to be picky – they would grab whatever Suanni Palace had to offer!
Although it would only take half a minute for them to run into the palace, Hao Ren appeared so nervous and tense that it looked as though they would have to run for an entire hour!
They could sense that there was not much left of the three hours they were granted, as they had wasted most of the time traveling to the different locations. Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi realized that they could be expelled by the Nine Dragon Palace any time now!
Soon, the view of the main hall finally appeared in Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi’s sight.
One by one, there was a dazzling display of small cells on the wall – each containing a bottle!
Elixir!
They found Elixirs!
According to legends, Suanni was always puffing and inhaling clouds. Thus, it would only make sense for Suanni Palace, which was representative of Suanni, to have all types of elixirs displayed inside!
Nonetheless, the bottles that contained the elixirs were all placed in the cells that were carved out from the wall of the main hall. However, flying on Dharma Treasures was prohibited in the entire primitive world of the Nine Dragon Palace!
Therefore, as they could see, only a few cells that were located at the lowest points on the wall had been visited by their predecessors using various methods. All the other bottles had remained intact inside their respective cells.
The fact that flying on Dharma Treasures was not allowed meant that they were not able to command Dharma Treasures using Nature Essence. That was why Zeng Yitao was utilizing sheer martial art when he attacked Hao Ren – he threw the spear at Hao Ren using brute force instead of controlling the spear with his Nature Essence!
“What should we do?” Zhao Yanzi turned to Hao Ren anxiously as she also seemed to have realized the restriction.
The ancient elixirs had filled the entire wall, yet, generations of masters before Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi were not able to retrieve them! The surface of the wall was incredibly smooth and slippery that it made climbing it impossible. As for the cells located lowest on the wall, they imagined the cultivators at the time were only able to reach those cells by climbing on top of each other.
“Dumb!” Hao Ren put out his hand and tapped Zhao Yanzi’s head, “We’ve got Little White!”
“That’s true, Little White!” Zhao Yanzi suddenly looked enlightened, “Now that we have Little White, we can go as high as we want! Since Little White’s flying ability is its innate power, it shouldn’t count as a Dharma Treasure!”
Enthusiastically, Zhao Yanzi locked her gaze on Little White. Whereas, widening its innocent big eyes, Little White was confused by Zhao Yanzi’s behavior.
“Little White, fly!” Zhao Yanzi directed after she climbed onto Little White’s back and slapped its behind.
However, after jumping up a couple of times, only sparks came out of its paws, Little White was not able to fly up at all.
“Looks like it is indeed a special case in here – all forms of flying are prohibited.” Hao Ren’s brows furrowed.
“What are we going to do now? Hurry and come up with something!” Riding on Little White’s back, Zhao Yanzi was so anxious that she almost felt like giving Hao Ren a beating. Watching so many elixirs displayed before them, it would undoubtedly be heartbreaking if they were not able to obtain any.
Suanni was the legendary G.o.dly beast of Kunlun, and it meant that these elixirs could be ones created by the legendary Queen Mother of the West!
“We can only count on exhausting you and Little White then!” Hao Ren sent forward a flash of sword energy with his finger, “Game of great joy – Gold Coin Catching! Second row on the left!”
(TL Note: Hey guys, here are the two chapters for today! MC and Zi traveled to three branch palaces already! Will there be more? Stay tuned!)