Chapter 466: Dragon Tribe’s Central Agency
Translator: Noodletown Translated Editor: Noodletown Translated
The towering Dragon G.o.d Shrine looked similar to the grand tower in the Nine Dragon Palace. In fact, the Dragon G.o.d Shrine, which was in the center of the floating platform, was based on the Nine Dragon Palace.
No matter how grand the Dragon G.o.d Shrine was, it was unable to exceed the presence that the magnificent Nine Dragon Palace. If the Nine Dragon Palace were East Ocean City, then the Dragon G.o.d Shrine’s platform would only be a piece of land in the East Ocean City, and the Dragon G.o.d Shrine would be a skysc.r.a.per on top of that land.
The Dragon G.o.d Shrine was made of innumerable pieces of black stones. Hao Ren felt a s.h.i.+ver down his spine as soon as he stepped inside.
These black stones were not ordinary materials. Many cultivators would admire the Dragon G.o.d Shrine just by the materials that it was made from; the power of the Dragon G.o.d Shrine was extraordinary. These materials were used to form numerous array formations, turning the Dragon G.o.d Shrine into a large dharma treasure!
“Each area inside the Dragon G.o.d Shrine has specified access levels, so you can’t just go running around.” Su Han turned around and instructed Hao Ren as she walked inside.
“Ok.” Hao Ren nodded, and he observed the inside of the Dragon G.o.d Shrine as he walked.
The interior was all made from black stones, and it let out s.h.i.+vering waves of cold air. The more inward Hao Ren got, the colder it was; Hao Ren couldn’t help but s.h.i.+ver.
Then, he immediately started to use the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll to warm himself up.
Aside from the ice-cold temperature, the rooms were standard, so it gave a dull impression. From the outside, the Dragon G.o.d Shrine was a square building. Who knew that everything, including the pillars, were square-shaped even inside the building.
“Actually, every zone in the East Ocean Dragon Palace had specified access levels. Since you’re related of Zhao Guang, no one would block you,” Su Han said.
Hao Ren turned around and looked at Su Han as she continued, “In the Dragon G.o.d Shrine, no matter what royal background you came from, you’re only a level 3 inspector. If you do anything wrong, the Dragon G.o.d Shrine has the power to punish you.”
Su Han looked serious, making Hao Ren feel very nervous.
The East Ocean Dragon Palace valued relations.h.i.+ps, but the Dragon G.o.d Shrine was stricter with rules. This could be shown by Qin Shaoyang from the Metal-Elemental Dragon Clan; he was arrogant but never dared to disobey the Dragon G.o.d Shrine’s rules.
In Su Han’s case, she was a Qian-level cultivator. Because of what happened in the East Ocean, she was demoted to a level 3 inspector without exception.
Inspectors having special privileges also meant that they were bound by the Dragon G.o.d Shrine.
Click, click, click… Su Han’s heels made a series of crisp sounds as she walked on the black stone floor inside the Dragon G.o.d Shrine.
“Take your token out and put it by your waist,” Su Han said.
Hao Ren followed her orders and took out his inspector’s token from inside his body. He suddenly realized that the token had turned yellow when they came inside.
The inspectors coming toward them had white tokens by their waists.
These few inspectors respectfully cleared a path for them to pa.s.s through.
“The tokens all look similar outside the Dragon G.o.d Shrine. What’s different is the number of golden dragon claws carved on it. However, when you’re inside the Dragon G.o.d Shrine, the tokens will appear in different colors; white for level 1 inspectors, silver for level 2 inspectors, yellow for level 3 inspectors, and golden for level 4 inspectors.”
Su Han continued to explain. With her personality, she didn’t like speaking much. Since it was the first time Hao Ren entered the Dragon G.o.d Shrine, she had to give him some explanation.
Of course, this rare patience was only toward Hao Ren.
“I recommend you put your token out when you’re in the Dragon G.o.d Shrine. Different levels have different access restrictions,” Su Han said.
When they were talking, a level 4 inspector walked by. Su Han waved and said hi, but he only lightly nodded and walked by. He didn’t even look at Hao Ren.
“In the Dragon G.o.d Shrine, higher-leveled inspectors could command lower-leveled inspectors to do stuff. Normally though, the level 4 inspectors only command level 1 and level 2 inspectors, so you probably don’t need to worry about that,” Su Han continued to explain to Hao Ren as they walked, “And since you’re mine, I don’t think any level 4 inspectors will dare to make you do anything.”
“You’re mine…” Hao Ren was stunned.
Su Han’s words were calm, but the underlying meaning was domineering!
In the whole inspector system, there weren’t that many level 4 inspectors. Su Han was almost the strongest amongst all the level 4 inspectors before, so all the other level 4 inspectors recognized Su Han. That was why even when Su Han was demoted to a level 3 inspector, they would still pay Su Han some respect.
Su Hao led Hao Ren into a small room.
Inside the room sat an old man who looked a bit like Premier Xia. He had wrinkles all over his face and looked ancient.
“Elder Luo,” Su Han said has she led Hao Ren in.
“This is…” The old cultivator whose last name was Luo said as he squinted at Hao Ren.
“He’s the new level 3 inspector, Hao Ren. I brought him here to register,” Su Han said.
“Oh… I remember now… He was your a.s.sisting inspector.” The old cultivator nodded. “Han, you never had a.s.sisting inspectors before. This was a first.”
a.s.sisting inspectors were not allowed inside the Dragon G.o.d Shrine but were still required to be registered, which would be done by their supervising inspectors.
Hao Ren jumping from a.s.sisting inspector to a level 3 inspector was a big change, so this old cultivator who oversaw registration knew of him. However, he never expected the new level 3 inspector to be this young.
“He’s also now the regional inspector at the East Ocean City,” Su Han said.
“Understood. Understood.” The old cultivator handed Hao Ren an ink brush and pointed at the name registry. “Sign here.”
Hao Ren held the brush and used nature essence on it. The tip of the ink brush turned stiff, like a fountain pen, and Hao Ren wrote his name using it.
The old cultivator reached out to lightly touch the token by Hao Ren’s waist. Tens of light dots s.h.i.+ned on the yellow token but then disappeared immediately.
“You’re a new inspector, so let me explain. I have not only the registry but also different missions you could take.” The old cultivator took out a thick book and put it in front of Hao Ren.
Hao Ren flipped open the book, and on it were lines and lines of missions for the inspectors.
He flipped to the recent records and saw that some had already been completed.
[The Wuyi Mountain couldn’t deal with the 100-year-old Demon Bees, and they requested help from the Dragon G.o.d Shrine… Level 3 inspector, Ye Feijing, had taken on the mission… He had killed all the bees on February 16th, Year Xinmao.]
[Xun-level cultivator, Kong Ling, had caused great disruption and deaths at the West Ocean’s Thousand Spirit Island… Level 4 inspector, Hong Fangyang, took on the mission… Kong Ling was caught and imprisoned on March 6th, Year Xinmao.]
[A spirit stone was discovered by ordinary researchers at the 1825 Art District of the East Ocean City… Level 2 inspector, Mo Xie, took on the mission… He destroyed the spirit stone on April 3, Year Xinmao.]
Hao Ren’s eyes brightened when he saw this.
That spirit stone was the one he accidentally dropped on the roof.
“Didn’t it end up being sent to the country’s research centers?” Hao Ren thought.
It seemed like the spirit stone had been destroyed by an inspector, and the one in the research center was probably just an ordinary rock that replaced the one destroyed. No results would come out now from the research.
“Let’s go, Hao Ren.” Su Han tapped Hao Ren.
Inspectors can improve their contribution by taking on missions that were set out by the Dragon G.o.d Shrine. The inspectors would receive certain rewards for their missions, as well as gaining some experience from the job. However, Su Han thought Hao Ren would be better off sticking to his usual training for now.
“The stamp has been unlocked. Han, bring him over,” the old cultivator said.
“Thanks, Elder Luo,” Su Han said politely and led Hao Ren out of the room.
“What did the blinks on the token resemble?” Hao Ren asked softly.
“It’s your first time at the Dragon G.o.d Shrine, and your authorization will only be unlocked when you register here. Otherwise, you’ll fall into the many traps ahead,” Su Han said.
Hao Ren was secretly shocked by how well the defense of the Dragon G.o.d Shrine was.
Even the strong cultivators who were able to duplicate inspector’s token to trick the array formations and enter the Dragon G.o.d Shrine would not be able to reach deep inside.
This old man acted as the first guard on the first-floor lobby of the Dragon G.o.d Shrine. Any new inspectors who enter the Dragon G.o.d Shrine for the first time must go to him so that he could recognize their faces and grant them access according to their respective levels.
“What realm is he on? I couldn’t tell,” Hao Ren asked.
“Qian,” Su Han responded calmly.
“Hiss…” Hao Ren gasped and thought, “The Dragon G.o.d Shrine sure is powerful! Eve a guard is on Qian-level!”
“There are many powerful people here at the Dragon G.o.d Shrine. It’s better not to do anything recklessly.” Su Han warned Hao Ren as she saw right through him.
Su Han led Hao Ren to a staircase that was also made of black stone. Beside the staircase was a square pillar that had a two-clawed golden dragon mark on it.
“The two-clawed golden dragon mark means that we are going into the area accessible to only inspectors who are level 2 or beyond,” Su Han said.
Hao Ren followed Su Han up the stairs. He looked back at the lobby and thought to himself, “Level 1 inspectors could only stay on the first floor of the Dragon G.o.d Shrine.”
Except for that old man’s room where inspectors could take on missions, there were only some lounges for communication and resting on the first floor.
Those cultivators who risked their lives to become inspectors would typically become level 1 inspectors. With the ident.i.ty of inspector, they would be able to enter the Dragon G.o.d Shrine and have the opportunity to get different missions.
Even enough it was just that, all the dragon cultivators fought day and night for these few quotas. This only went to show the difference in resources between big forces and small forces.
“Don’t you think that there’s something different in the Dragon G.o.d Shrine compared with the outside?” Su Hao asked as she continued walking.
“Different…” Hao Ren went blank for a moment and then started to think about it in more depth.
Inside the ice-cold Dragon G.o.d Shrine, the nature essence intensity was seven to eight times higher than the outside.
Hao Ren trained in Fifth Heaven often, and Fifth Heaven had three or four times the nature essence intensity than First Heaven. The Ethereal Summit had even higher concentrations of nature essence than other places on Fifth Heaven, around seven to eight times more than First Heaven.
That was why even though Hao Ren felt cold, he didn’t feel anything special about the Dragon G.o.d Shrine.
However, the Dragon G.o.d Shrine was like a cultivation heaven to many dragon cultivators since it was so dense with nature essence.
As long as one became an inspector, even if it were just level 1, he or she would be able to enjoy this nature essence intensity.
Since the Dragon G.o.d Shrine was itself was like an essence stem, cultivating here would be more efficient!
“I joined the Dragon G.o.d Shrine because I wanted to advance faster,” Su Han said calmly.
Anything on and above Fifth Heaven were the territories of the human cultivators. Those weren’t the places that traditional dragon cultivators could easily access.
Hao Ren cultivated the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll which required simultaneously pulled in all five elements, while Zhao Yanzi and Xie Yujia cultivated using human cultivation techniques. Lu Linlin and Lu Lili weren’t dragon cultivators, and Zhen Congming didn’t have the aura of a dragon as well. That was why they were all able to move freely on Fifth Heaven.
The dragon cultivators above Zhen-level but below Kun-level did not dare to enter Fifth Heaven recklessly because they couldn’t guarantee that they would be able to go back in one piece. They wouldn’t dare to even go into a valley, let alone creating a cave abode there.
Even Su Han didn’t dare to trespa.s.s into Fifth Heaven before she reached Kun-level. The cultivation sects had deep hostility toward dragon cultivators, and they were also very sensitive to dragons’ auras.
Fifth Heaven was the front line for the cultivation sects, and it was key to fend off possible invading dragon cultivators. The dragon cultivators who succeeded in pa.s.sing through Fifth Heaven would immediately face cultivators from Sixth or even Seventh Heaven.
“These stairs are round,” Hao Ren suddenly said as he followed Su Han up the stairs.
Everything in the Dragon G.o.d Shrine was in squares, but this staircase was oddly in a circular design.
On one side of the staircase was a gold wall. On the other side, the staircase was connected to floors full of rooms.
These rooms were like the designs in a hotel or an office, with rooms right next to each other. Some larger rooms were made with transparent crystals, resembling gyms, libraries, and bars of a luxury hotel – they corresponded to training rooms, cultivation rooms, and resting areas.
These crystal rooms had a three-clawed golden dragon or a four-clawed golden dragon mark on their lintels or door posts. Those resembled the access restrictions of the inspectors.
“The Dragon G.o.d Shrine was the place that one could improve their skills fastest. It had the best environment for cultivation, had the best cores, had the best techniques, and different opportunities where you could gain fighting experience both internally and externally,” Su Han said.
Hao Ren nodded. Hao Ren had seen the riches in the East Ocean Dragon Palace, so he wasn’t especially impressed. However, for the cultivators who came from middle to smaller sized powers which lacked resources, the Dragon G.o.d Shrine was the highest source of agency and school they could attain. That was why they admired and longed to enter the Dragon G.o.d Shrine.
The pillar beside the staircase had a three-clawed golden dragon mark.
Anywhere beyond it was restricted to level 3 inspectors or above.
The higher one went, the colder it was. The colder it was, the denser the nature essence
Hao Ren leaned against the wall by the side. He never thought he would have walked for so long up the stairs. It was probably equivalent to walking up 30 floors in a normal building. If it were an ordinary person, he or she would have been exhausted by now.
The staircase was extended by a counter-clockwise spiral. Hao Ren turned around to look at the wall on his left and suddenly realized that this was one long and big pillar. The pillar linked the bottom of the Dragon G.o.d Shrine to the golden ceiling.