1588 Underwater Demon Palace
Back in his dorm, Xia Fan sat on the window pane, looking at the lights of Subduing Demon City in the night. In this strange city, people used illumination crystals as light sources at night. The glowing stones were distributed throughout the city and reminded Xia Fan of s.p.a.ce.
Only now did Xia Fan understand that the universe wasn’t the limit of s.p.a.ce. The vast and boundless river of stars was only one small part of the world. Besides the universe, there was also the Three Realms!
“I say, when I see Pearl and Flame Swallow again, could I give them a big fright?” Xia Fan asked.
Cid Raleigh laughed. “What are you thinking? Bright Pearl and Flame Swallow are respectively the daughter of the Frostseal Megadragon and the Fire Megadragon. Their bloodlines are pure and their energies vast. Your Beast King’s Order is incapable of applying pressure to them.
!!
“Looking at it more positively, Pearl will be more affectionate with you. After all, your Aura has changed. Compared to other humans, you will be better able to exchange thoughts with dragons on a deeper level.
“In summary, your current abilities are basically like this: you can control all beasts besides Dragons and Demi-Dragons, and with the power of the Law of Speed, you can easily reach ten thousand meters per second, with the Immortal Wine letting you hit fifty thousand. In addition, you also have the Law of Gold. As a basically all-purpose law, the Law of Gold won’t give you a direct boost in combat power, but it can have surprising effects at key moments.
“These three abilities are your foundation. In addition, you’ve also had an excellent education, learning engineering, electronics, pharmacology, botany, chemistry, and even random things like literary appreciation, art, and music.
“Thus, you can see that you’re an all-around warrior down to your bones, knowing a little bit of everything. This sort of person would be unique whether they were among the Skywings or the Lower Realm. Work hard. Your potential is limitless!”
Xia Fan scratched his head. It turned out that he had somehow managed to learn a lot of skills. That wasn’t bad. As the saying went, knowing a lot of skills had never killed anyone.
Xia Fan gazed at the city. If the praise had come from his parents or siblings, it would have been great. But in reality, he was sitting alone on the window pane, and the one praising him was some mysterious old Demon Dragon.
Reality was truly very magical, but it was also rather sad. A child who had been wandering the world since he was young longed to be with his family and hear their voices, but the heavens still fooled around with him. His father was always busy, not even having time to see his little son.
He led the Skywings in battle in the Middle Realm, in the Lower Realm, against the Demonic Ants, against real demons…
His father and his clansmen exterminated anyone they encountered and led glorious lives. Xia Fan was like a little child who wors.h.i.+pped and followed in his father’s footsteps, growing up in a stumbling fas.h.i.+on. After chasing after him for twenty years, he still hadn’t caught up. The Skywings were just such restless people. Xia Fan didn’t know if he should feel helpless or happy to be born in such a clan.
The next morning, Qin Lang brought over his good friend Lio Jiesi to find Xia Fan. Ever since yesterday, when Xia Fan helped Qin Lang tame his Vajra Parrot, Xia Fan’s name had spread throughout all of Subduing Demon City. Everyone was saying that a beast tamer was probably going to emerge from this cla.s.s of youths.
In any society, skilled workers with top-cla.s.s abilities were always lacking. The Lower Realm was huge, so flying beasts were important for every warrior. But there simply weren’t enough top-cla.s.s beast tamers to meet the demand. Many beasts were waiting to be tamed, after which they could be sent into battle.
In the past, warriors first had to go to General Lear. The chief beast tamer of the Beast Garden had outstanding abilities, but he was training far too many flying beasts, and the line was very long. With Xia Fan appearing out of nowhere, the warriors now had an extra choice!
“Please, I’m begging you!” Luo Jiesi smiled as he proffered a gift with both hands. This was a valuable possession of the clan that he had taken from his father’s safe, twenty beast crystals of excellent quality. Before taking a heavy injury, Luo Jiesi’s father had partic.i.p.ated in the tough battles on the second level for thirty years, slowly acc.u.mulating these beast crystals.
Now, his father was retired, and the glory of the clan rested on his successor, Luo Jiesi. The most basic requirement to being a warrior was a flying beast that would listen to his commands!
“Agree to it,” Cid Raleigh said in Xia Fan’s mind. “In any case, you need to go to the Beast Garden today to train the two Lion Vultures. Moreover, the more you hone a blade, the sharper it will be, and the more you use a skill, the more proficient in it you become!”
…
As Xia Fan was gradually on his way to establis.h.i.+ng a reputation as a beast taming specialist, dark clouds covered the skies of the Northern Sea. The investigation team from Subduing Demon City was performing a carpet search of this vast ocean, swearing to find the truth behind why the Second Son of the Flame Spirit was hiding here.
This was a powerful team, led by the weapon specialist City Lord Cotillard. He had brought many supreme weapons and tools created by Subduing Demon City’s secret weapons department with him. The legendary pieces of equipment hidden in thick alloy chests were mostly unheard of by the vast majority of warriors. They had been forged for a future all-out war against the demons!
The deputy leaders were the main powers of various Demon Slayer Clans. Their ancestors had once slain Demon Kings, establis.h.i.+ng a glorious foundation for them. As descendants of those legendary warriors, the warriors of the Demon Slayer Clans had inherited powerful abilities. They always fought on the front line, going wherever they were needed.
During the first week of investigation, the team ran into a serious problem. The terrain at the bottom of the Northern Sea was extremely complicated. Most of the sea floor consisted of sand, but the bottom of the Northern Sea was a maze-like collection of stone ridges!
Down on the dark sea bottom, the strange and craggy rocks formed mountains and forests,. Sea gra.s.s several hundred meters long grew from them, swaying in the water. Warriors who tried to search the sea bottom would often get caught up in the seaweed, and their search devices were not spared. The moment the seaweed and sand got into the devices, they needed to be taken back and handed to the engineering division for repair.
Two weeks had gone by, but the investigation was at a standstill. Just when the warriors were exhausted from the intense work, a sudden discovery brought hope to the team.
Late at night, Cotillard summoned his deputies for a conference. He first listened to the report from the scanning group.
“In short, the situation is just like what I said. In Region 13, the scanning crystal discovered a large metallic signature hidden underground. We estimate that it is a metal building no less than twenty-five square kilometers in area!
“Unfortunately, this building is buried in the sand, and it will take some time and large-scale sand-sucking equipment to clear up all the sand.”
Cotillard nodded and looked to everyone else, saying sternly, “This large metal building measuring twenty-five square kilometers is highly likely to be a Demon Palace. I’ve already notified Subduing Demon City to send over more siphon crystals and more flexible metal pipes. If no one objects, we can start the large-scale excavation tomorrow.”
Dongfang Laiyin frowned. “Why would the Northern Sea have a Demon King’s Palace? Since it’s probably a Demon King palace, shouldn’t we ask for reinforcements in case there’s a Demon King slumbering there?”
Cotillard replied, “I can answer these two questions for you. Over the countless epochs of war, we have suffered bitter defeats more than once, the demon army rising up from the third level of the Lower Realm and attacking the first level where we are.
“Before holding this meeting, I consulted the historian Calvinson. He consulted the archives and found records saying that the Scarlet Flame King Stanley once set up a base near the Northern Sea.
“That was during the 137th full-scale war. Subduing Demon City fell, and the demon army managed to get all the way to the perimeter barrier. According to the records, Stanley was stationed at the Northern Sea for three whole years. He had more than enough time to build a palace!
“As for why it was never discovered, there are two possibilities. The first is that it was always built underwater. Stanley is the Scarlet Blaze Demon King, and everyone knows he hates water, so no one imagined that he would build a palace underwater.
“The other possibility is that the palace was originally built on land, but when Stanley decided to retreat, he used some powerful ability to sink the palace to the sea bottom, in addition burying the Second Son of Flame Soul’s egg of reincarnation there. In that way, he planted a seed of evil for their next counterattack.”
Everyone nodded, feeling that Cotillard’s words were logical.
Cotillard paused and then continued, “As for the question of reinforcements, it doesn’t seem necessary to me. First, we already have a lot of people, and many of them are elites. In addition, if the Demon Palace has some other powerful lifeforms, or even the Scarlet Demon King himself, they would have appeared with the Second Son.
“That battle in the valley appears to be a coincidence. Moreover, the Demon Palace under the sea is nothing more than a temporary residence, so its danger level shouldn’t be too high. But because the palace is buried in sand, it will be rather difficult to get to it.”
…
The next morning, the plan started.
The warriors put on diving suits and entered the water, carrying with them crystals that could resist communication disruption.
Siphons made from flexible metal immediately went to work. The sand siphons had vacuum crystals installed in them, a powerful suction force coming from the crystals and drawing in sand, stones, and gra.s.s to the other end of the pipes, fifty kilometers away.
On the first day, there were twenty siphons working. One week later, reinforcements and supplies came from Subduing Demon City, and the number of siphons swelled to one hundred and fifty. Every day, an average of a million cubic meters of sand was being cleared away!
The sea floor was torn away. On the ninth day of the operation, the warriors working underwater sent back word that the pointed roof of a Demon Palace had been found twenty meters under the sea floor. At the tip of the roof was a flame-shaped statue, indicating that this was a Demon Palace that had belonged to Scarlet Blaze King Stanley!
The warriors were invigorated. Splitting into four work crews, they took s.h.i.+fts so that they could work day and night.
In the blink of an eye, on the twelfth day, the entire roof of the Demon Palace was exposed. The palace was T-shaped, a long corridor linking the buildings. It was a typical demon building, though they were still not certain how many floors the palace had or if it had any underground tunnels or chambers.
As the investigation team was about to excitedly relay news of their progress to Subduing Demon City, something unexpected happened…