Chapter 252: Chaotian Palace of the East Sea
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
“Here it is. This island is the entrance to the Small Thunder Temple Ancient Ruins!”
After a two-day flight, Junior Leopard, Golden Rooster and Luo Haiyun finally rested on an isolated island located remotely in the East Sea.
Standing on the sh.o.r.e, Luo Haiyun took out a piece of black cloth that was made of unknown materials. No one knew how long it had existed, but it was releasing a stale smell.
“My family were wiped out because of this. w.a.n.g Family in Cenzhou, you were my, Luo Haiyun’s, sworn enemy!” Luo Haiyun roared under his breathe.
Junior Leopard kept his head up and fixed his eyes on the skyline far away. They had found that the phantom of the Ancient Ruins hanging in the sky didn’t come any closer than what they sensed when they were in Junior Leopard’s northwest fief. Even after flying for two whole days and crossing thousands of miles, it hadn’t gotten any closer.
However, having mastered s.p.a.ce Division Skill, Junior Leopard felt an unusual sense on the island.
Subtly, he sensed that there was a hidden pa.s.sageway connecting the Ancient Ruins and the island, which was unlike both the Three Realm Division and the s.p.a.ce Division, but was just like the s.p.a.ce Transport Pa.s.sageway that Junior Leopard himself comprehended from the Hollow Magic Carpet.
That was to say, there was a s.p.a.ce Transport Pa.s.sageway between the isolated island and the Ancient Ruins.
“How can we get into the Ancient Ruins?” asked Golden Rooster, inadvertently showing a bit of anxiety.
Luo Haiyun knew that the entrance to the Ancient Ruins was here, but obviously, he was not the only one who knew it. In a very short time, five groups of experts had arrived at this small island.
“I have no idea. The only thing I know is that this piece of kasaya is the key. But I don’t know the exact way to—”
His words were broken by Junior Leopard’s sudden movement in which he s.n.a.t.c.hed that piece of kasaya.
“What are you doing?” Luo Haiyun roared. But just as he was about to strike, he was stopped by Golden Rooster beside him.
“I know what it is!” p.r.i.c.kle-eyed, Junior Leopard shot a glance at Luo Haiyun. “I also know how to use it, but this piece alone is not enough.”
“You mean?”
Without answering him, Junior Leopard raised his arm and said, “My friends, just show up. We share the same purpose, but n.o.body can reach it without cooperation now.”
“You know how to use the kasaya?”
A hoa.r.s.e voice came out from afar.
“I’ve seen it before, it is probably a fragment of Hollow Magic Carpet or something alike, if I’m not mistaken. It works the same as a Hollow Magic Carpet, which means it may enable us to hollow travel and open the pa.s.sageway between here and the Ancient Ruins. But this piece is not enough!”
“You know s.p.a.ce Division Skill?” Another voice came from the dark, this one was a bit shrill.
“I don’t know s.p.a.ce Division Skill, but I do know some skills of s.p.a.ce!” Junior Leopard nodded and said.
“Are you sure you can open the pa.s.sageway?”
“A man in Immortal Palace wouldn’t make fun of you on this issue!” Golden Rooster said grimly, “Just come out. United, we will all find ourselves in a win-win situation. Divided, it shall be lose-lose. I don’t think there is anyone who wants a fight before getting into the Ancient Ruins, is there?”
“Absolutely not!” A robust figure from whom that hoa.r.s.e voice belonged, suddenly appeared.
With the appearance of this man, more people showed themselves from the dark.
“Man, none of them is lower than Level Seven!” thought Junior Leopard. People came one by one and it sent a chill up his spine.
There was no need to hide now. There were 6 groups of people including the group of Junior Leopard. The biggest group consisted of four people, and the smallest one was made up of two, altogether there were 19 people. None of them was under Level Seven.
“The number of experts here is almost one-third of all Level Seven experts in this world!” Junior Leopard thought.
These groups of people seemed to be familiar with each other and had nodded at each other upon coming out. They did not show much hostility or kindness.
They all fixed their eyes on Junior Leopard. The hoa.r.s.e-voiced man also held a piece of kasaya in his hand, which was a little larger than Luo Haiyun’s. He handed his piece of kasaya to Junior Leopard without hesitation, “I am Sect of Flame’s Mo Antong, this is the fragment that we, the Sect of Flame own!”
“Sect of Flame?!” Junior Leopard looked at Mo Antong, spotted the flame embroidered on the corner of his clothes, and nodded towards him. He was not so familiar with the Sect of Flame, but he knew Prince Xiaoming, the Level Nine expert. He remembered that he owed Prince Xiaoming a promise, the Earth Fire Yuan Essence.
“Mingyi School, Jin Longyu!” Said the owner of the shrill voice. He walked to Junior Leopard, and pa.s.sed his kasaya to him, not forgetting to glare at Mo Antong.
The Sect of Flame and the Mingyi School were the two biggest opposite influences in the Great Jin. Mo Antong and Jin Longyu were Level Eight experts. It was unexpected for Junior Leopard that they were not fighting with each other when meeting here.
Junior Leopard took these two fragments of kasaya, and put them together with his own fragment.
“Hmm, with these two, it is enough.”
In fact, Junior Leopard had already found the way from the island to the Ancient Ruins, but he could also feel that there was a powerful inhibition in the way. Junior Leopard could not cut out the entrance with only his s.p.a.ce Division Skill.
However, it was totally different with the kasaya in hand. It was just like Hollow Magic Carpet, in which a s.p.a.ce Formation was embroidered with golden threads.
Neither the kasaya nor the formation was complete, but to Junior Leopard, these were already enough.
He was sure that he could open the pa.s.sageway to the Ancient Ruins with his Fiery Eyes, his understanding of the s.p.a.ce, and the uncompleted formation.
After putting the three pieces of kasaya together, with a simple flick, Junior Leopard made the parted kasaya pieces recover as one piece after a green streamer flickered on its surface.
After which, Junior Leopard waved his hand and threw the kasaya away, but not too far away. It was floating about a hundred feet away from people, and started rapidly whirling.
A light green streamer began to appear and deepen on the kasaya as it whirled and then it condensed into a pillar of green light, s.h.i.+ning in front of all people here.
“This is…”
All people on the spot began to stare at Junior Leopard. Without a word, he just walked forth and stood in the shower of the green light. At the same time, a sound of “Shhhh” was heard, and he then disappeared in front of everyone.
“It’s Guiding Light! The Guiding light of the Ancient Ruins!” A man behind Mo Antong cried as he suddenly thought of something.
Mo Antong looked back to glare at him and encountered with Jin Longyu’s provocative face. Mo Antong responded to him with a grim smile and stepped into the green light.
What happened next was in accordance with expectation. Those experts entered the green light one by one as if there was some prior consultation. Without fight or congestion, they just stepped into the light by order of strength.
Golden Rooster was the third to get in, followed by Luo Haiyun, who had already changed into the clothes of the 28 constellations of Immortal Palace so that n.o.body here recognized him.
But it was believed that at the moment they went back to the Central Plains from here, they would obtain information on Luo Haiyun, at which point they would await the fool show of the w.a.n.g family. But for now, their attention was fixed on the Ancient Ruins.
…
…
“What the h.e.l.l is this place?”
With a flash of green light, Junior Leopard appeared on the vast ruins, and as two flashes of green light followed, Golden Rooster and Luo Haiyun arrived beside Junior Leopard.
“How dense the essence of the world is!” Golden Rooster exclaimed as soon as he got here. After hearing his words, Junior Leopard recognized that in this grey s.p.a.ce, the essence of the world was at least ten times denser than that of outside. TEN TIMES!
As the green light continued flas.h.i.+ng, the experts on that isolated island had been s.h.i.+fted here, and after their arrival, most of them were shocked about the density of the essence of the world here.
Junior Leopard felt differently.
The s.p.a.ce of the Ancient Ruins was highly problematical because it was unstable and full of cracks that could not be seen with normal eyes, making it like a big splintery gla.s.s bowl which seemed as though it could break at any time.
“I was doing well in my business before. Why did I come to such a G.o.dforsaken place?” Junior Leopard thought to himself and then winked at Luo Haiyun and Golden Rooster.
“Everyone, since we have gotten into the Ancient Ruins, what you can get will be based on your own abilities!” Golden Rooster folded his fist towards the others and then took Junior Leopard and Luo Haiyun away after waving goodbye.
The rest of the groups of people cautiously looked at each other and silently left towards different directions.
…
…
“I wouldn’t recognize it as a temple if you didn’t tell me that it was some ruins of Small Thunder Temple.”
As the three were flying and looking down on the ruins, Junior Leopard sighed and said,
“Small Thunder Temple was a great sect during antiquity times. It’s a pity for them that they offended the Demon tribe of antiquity. As soon as the Demon tribe entered the temple, the ancient temple which might have existed for hundreds of thousand of years was totally torn down. Not to mention the treasures in the temple, which were all taken away by the Demon tribe. There was nothing left!”
“Then what did we come for?” asked Junior Leopard.
“Hmm, natural sources were very abundant in antiquity times. Things of value at that time would be a priceless treasure now. What antiquity pract.i.tioners saw as useless, would be treasures of heaven and earth now. Look!”
When talking, Golden Rooster seemed to notice something and pointed forward. “It looks like Crimson Snow Gra.s.s, a perfect material for calming, but it has ceased to exist in our world a thousand years ago.”
Golden Rooster stopped before a white, dandelion-like plant and carefully dug it up, along with its root, and then stored it.
“Things like it were just as useless as weeds, but now, they are priceless treasures!”
“What I care about is the underground palace of the Small Thunder Temple.” Confirming that no one was near, Junior Leopard reminded him with a low voice.
During the first two days on that island, Luo Haiyun had told them the whole story about how he got the piece of kasaya, how the Ancient Ruins showed up, and how his family was wiped out by w.a.n.g Family.
He unexpectedly got this piece of kasaya along with a diary covered by the kasaya in a remote temple three years ago. He came to learn that the temple was the Uniform Dao, pa.s.sed on by a monk who ran away from Small Thunder Temple in antiquity times. However, his Uniform Dao had been lost.
Secrets concerning Small Thunder Temple were written on the diary, but some of them were lost or were actually just surmises of descendants that had possessed the diary, since many people had held it over such a long time. In the end, the only thing that Luo Haiyun could be a.s.sured of, was that although Small Thunder Temple was torn down and robbed, the underground palace of Small Thunder Temple had not been found yet.
As for what was in the underground palace, no one knew.
At the beginning, Luo Haiyun regarded the book as an unofficial history. After all, it had been so many years since antiquity times, and everything had changed. In addition, Small Thunder Temple had disappeared. Even if not, even if the Ancient Ruins still existed, it would be impossible for it to show up, for the showing up of Ancient Ruins was totally an accidental issue. Even though the Ancient Ruins showed up at last, they might not be the ruins of the Small Thunder Temple.
However, things always went coincidentally. A month ago, the kasaya showed a fantastic reaction. The golden thread flashed all of a sudden and had a tendency to fly to the east. Although he didn’t have a pair of Fiery Eyes, Luo Haiyun, a knowledgeable person, knew it was a symbol of Ancient Ruins showing up. It made him extremely happy, and he began to prepare for the tour of the Ancient Ruins right away.
But, the walls had ears. Minshan Commandery belonged to Cenzhou, and there were finger men of the w.a.n.g Family everywhere. Although the Luo Family was also a great family in Minshan Commandery, despite the fact that they had a lot of power, the w.a.n.g Family’s power was overwhelming. In the Luo Family, there were men of the w.a.n.g family stealthily sending messages. Besides, Luo Haiyun did not take it seriously when getting the kasaya and diary because he did not think such a coincidence would happen to him, so he did not keep it a secret. When the Ancient Ruins showed up, it was too late for him to keep it a secret.
Once the information about the kasaya was known by the w.a.n.g Family in Cenzhou, the things that happened next were easy to imagine, just like the conventional plot in Jianghu, when neither compelling nor inducing worked out, the w.a.n.g Family decided to take it by force. Consequently, the Luo Family in Minshan Commandery, the great family that had existed for hundreds of years, was almost erased from this world completely by the w.a.n.g Family. Only Luo Haiyun, the strongest one and the potential great avenger of the Luo Family, had managed to escape, and was saved by Junior Leopard and Golden Rooster.
“This is Jianghu. You can never take even one wrong step. If you do so, you will probably lose everything. Luo Haiyun is only fighting against the w.a.n.g Family, but my Fiery Eyes, may be faced with all of the prestigious sects, schools, well-known families and barons in this world. If my secret leaks out, my consequence will be thousand times more miserable than him!” Junior Leopard thought to himself silently. He had known better and more directly about Jianghu from the experience of Luo Haiyun, and thus he became more cautious.
“The content about the underground palace in that diary, is it true?”
“We won’t know until we get there!” Golden Rooster seemed a little helpless. He looked around and glanced at Luo Haiyun. “I hope that the underground palace does exist. I also hope that we are able to find something incredible, or it’s not worthy for you to come here.”
“Huh, it’s not worthy for me even if I can find a fairy weapon there!” Luo Haiyun showed a bitter smile. “I only hope I will get something that can destroy the w.a.n.g Family!”
“Well, Elder Qing is going to have a headache. You know, we of the Immortal Palace doesn’t like to take in people who insist on revenge!”
“What a pity. I was at my peak when you took me in!”
Golden Rooster laughed and said, “Fine, no more nonsense. Just show us the way.”
Luo Haiyun nodded, carefully observed the landform, before he led Junior Leopard and Golden Rooster to the deep of the ruins.
A while later, Junior Leopard and Golden Rooster stopped almost at the same time.
“People there, show yourselves please!” The eyes of Golden Rooster flashed and he slightly moved his hands which reflected chilling lights under his sleeves.
“Experts from Immortal Palace, you do have well-deserved reputations!”
Four figures came out all of a sudden from the left rock and one of them said, “We have tried our best to restrain our spirits. Unexpectedly, we were still found by Your Excellency.”
Looking at those four people, Junior Leopard squinted his eyes, he found that there were two experts at Level Eight among these four.
“That’s Second Palace Leader of the Chaotian Palace of the East Sea!” While Golden Rooster and Junior Leopard kept silent, Luo Haiyun recognized him and said, “What can you enlighten me on?”
Chaotian Palace, located in the East Sea, was one of the strongest sects. It was a thousand-year sect just as Tian Long Taoism and Sect of Flame, but their sphere of influence was the East Sea, seldom involving the central mainland.
“How sharp your insight is, Your Excellency! I, Wan Renshan of Chaotian Palace, pay my respect to you three!”
“Master Wan, what’s your purpose of following us?”
“Your Excellency, please don’t make fun of us. The Ancient Ruins are not large. We just happen to have the same direction as you, and walk slower than you.”
“Oh?” Golden Rooster scoffed and said, “We have changed our direction three times. Yet you are still walking behind us. Do you think we Immortal Palace have n.o.body to fight?”
“Well, well, I am so sorry. It must be a coincidence!” Encountered with the query from Golden Rooster, a kind smile spread over Wan Renshan’s fat face. His look was far away from an expert at Level Eight, but more like an amiable businessman.
“I don’t believe in coincidence!” Golden Rooster looked at those four people with an unfriendly att.i.tude.
“Well, I have no choice.” Wan Renshan threw up his hands and posed a reluctant emotion. Suddenly, a sound of laughter, which was obviously reckless and filled with mockery, came from the three behind him. The group consisted of four people, two Level Eight experts and two Level Seven experts, while Junior Leopard’s group was made up of only three, one Level Eight expert fewer than them. It seemed to be just one person fewer than them, but from the aspect of actual strength, Junior Leopard’s group was much weaker than the other group.
Generally speaking, a Level Eight expert was equivalent to a dozen or more of Level Seven experts. After all, Internal Qi as water and Internal Qi as steel were two totally different concepts. Therefore, from the angle of the scene, the group of Chaotian Palace had the upper hand.
“That’s to say, you Chaotian Palace want to set yourselves against us Immortal Palace?”
“Well, well, don’t say it like that. We Chaotian Palace are located in the remote East Sea. How dare we set ourselves against Immortal Palace? However, the road is built for everyone. We just took our side to walk. Immortal Palace is great and famous and has marvelous strength, but you cannot be too overbearing and forbid us to walk on the road, right? Even though you might have outstanding eloquence, I am afraid that in this case—”
“Shhhhh!”
Golden Rooster did not have time to talk nonsense with Wan Renshan. He flashed forth towards Wan Renshan when he was still talking. Golden Rooster fiercely attacked him with golden lights sparkling in his hands.
Obviously, Wan Renshan did not expect that Golden Rooster would recklessly start a fight without any warning. All of sudden, Wan Renshan was fl.u.s.tered by force in no time.
Seeing the tense situation, with a loud shout, those three people behind him all went forth and prepared to besiege and attack Golden Rooster.
As Junior Leopard laughed softly, a clear green light burst from his fingertip and changed into thousands of green light spots which instantly covered the three people.
“Too arrogant!” As a Level Eight expert behind Wan Renshan roared, blue Gang Qi poured from his body and exploded like billows.
“Water Pure Gang, break it for me!”
“Hua la la!”
As a violent noise burst out like a waterfall hitting the ground from the Ninth Heaven, the blue Gang Qi rolled and pounced like a huge wave, drowning the green sword light released by Junior Leopard. Though that was not the end. The blue billow soared at an incredible speed and pounced on Junior Leopard and Luo Haiyun both of whom seemed to be flooded at the same time.
“Watch out!”
Luo Haiyun changed his emotion and quickly moved back, but Junior Leopard remained still. When the blue wave was about to immerse him, the Gang Qi suddenly stopped and s.h.i.+vered, inside which, a green light shone dimly.
“Too bad, that is—”
“Such a fool! Don’t I know that you are a Level Eight expert? Will I take actions when I don’t have the confidence to succeed? How foolish do you think I am? I am not the fool eager to die in the fight against someone I can’t deal with.” Junior Leopard scoffed and a cyan stripe suddenly and violently rose from the blue Gang Qi and dull blue electric arcs soared along with sword light. The most dangerous part was that there was infinite Sword Qi among those electric arcs.
The sword light suddenly cut through the wave like lightning, unveiling the three people who were under the protection of Gang Qi before.
“Today I shall let you know how youth overwhelm elders!”
“Gosh, run!”
“Oh my G.o.d!”
“He is a sword pract.i.tioner!”
Several cries were heard, which could not change anything. Silvermoon Swordplay had already been activated, and the cyan Sword Qi that was like Death that collected souls, immediately cut a Level Seven expert open. As for the other two, the Level Eight expert avoided the Sword Qi in time, but his arm was cut off. The other was not lucky enough to avoid the Sword Qi, so his leg was cut off at his knee.
How formidable the sword pract.i.tioner was!
In a short time, one Level Eight expert and two Level Seven experts ended up as one dead body and two disabled persons, all losing the ability to fight.
Junior Leopard’s unexpected movement did contribute to the result, but the powerful strength of Silvermoon Swordplay coordinating with Blue Sword and his Jade Original Power Gang Qi was also responsible.
“d.a.m.n, let’s go! Immortal Palace, we’re going to have a long feud!”
Apparently, Wan Renshan, who was attacked by Golden Rooster, did not expect such a result. In such a short time, a Level Eight expert and two Level Seven experts were repulsed by only one person. Wan Renshan himself had lost the advantage. Now he did not have any chance to win and might be killed here.
He was a determined man. Seeing things went wrong, he raced to attack and got an interval in the fight at the cost of being hurt by Golden Rooster’s claw. He grabbed the two experts alive with his two hands and managed to run away as fast as a flash of lightning.
“Hmm, he is only good at running!” Thought Golden Rooster, who had clawed Wan Renshan. The attack could not satisfy him, nevertheless, he was unwilling to chase after them, so he only saw them leaving.
“After that, I don’t think anyone would dare to stalk us.”
Junior Leopard said thoughtfully and astringed the green light around him.
“Let’s go, don’t care too much about him. The underground palace is the most important thing!” Golden Rooster patted Luo Haiyun who was standing still and said.
He knew that Junior Leopard was a sword pract.i.tioner, but he did not know he could kill a person in such a short time with his powerful strength.
He failed to regain consciousness until Golden Rooster patted his shoulder.
“Oh, yeah. Follow me!”
“Now we have started a feud with Chaotian Palace. Three experts in all, one dead, two heavily injured, one slightly hurt. We must be careful from now on. ”
“Why? Are they pretty strong?” Junior Leopard cast his eye on Golden Rooster, puzzled by his words, and said, “You seem to fear them.”
“I just don’t want to get into trouble. If I was scared, I wouldn’t have watched you killing that man.” Golden Rooster snickered and said, “However, the Palace Leader of Chaotian Palace is a woman, and a troublesome person. It was said by Elder Qing that she almost joined Immortal Palace 60 years ago. Though she failed in the end, she gets along well with some elder constellations in Immortal Palace.”
“Is it possible for them to help outsiders?”
“No, not to such an extent. But they will feel embarra.s.sed. You needn’t care about it. I will deal with it!” Golden Rooster said.
The three kept walking for a while. The longer they walked, the Junior Leopard felt the atmosphere was wrong.
“What, do you sense something?” Finding the expression of Junior Leopard was a little weird, Golden Rooster asked as his mind flickered.
“Nah, not some findings. I just sensed that there is something wrong with this s.p.a.ce. As if the essence of the world is continuously draining.”
“Your spiritual mind is very sensitive. Although the essence of the world is dense here, it can never be compared with that in antiquity times, not even that of the medieval period. As was expected, all Ancient Ruins showing up in this world are not stable. It is said that the s.p.a.ce of those Ancient Ruins is damaged and filled with invisible s.p.a.ce cracks from which the essence of the world leaks out. But there’s no need to worry, because it’s not a big deal. The destruction of the s.p.a.ce of Ancient Ruins is a very long process. If there’s still the essence of the world there, it means that the s.p.a.ce is not completely destroyed. We are safe to search for what we want.”
Before his voice had died away, Luo Haiyun spoke out, “That’s it! I think this is the place.”
…