Zhang Ruochen took out the dragon horn and pinched it in his hand as he thoughtfully said, “Since the four-winged Earth Dragon has taken its own dragon horn and refined it into a key, it must be blocking something very valuable. What could be more valuable than a dragon relic?”
Zixi nodded and said, “That’s right. Therefore, even if Emperor Yi went to the Divine Dragon Hall, if he didn’t have the Dragon Horn, it would be impossible for him to obtain the Dragon Shelter. Since that’s the case, why do we need to go and get tough with him?”
“Besides, the Dragon Sheltering Gift may not be in the Divine Dragon Hall yet.”
Right at this moment, on the surface of the dragon horn, a faint layer of light emerged and flickered for a moment, and a grain of light flew out.
Zhang Ruochen and Zixie let out a soft eep almost simultaneously.
What’s going on?
“Could it be that the …… dragon horn sensed something?” Zixie’s eyes were fixed on that one dragon horn, her pupils constantly dilating.
A moment later, the surface of the dragon horn flickered again, the light becoming even more intense.
Zhang Ruochen said thoughtfully, “If we follow the direction that the dragon horn senses, we might find something. However, we still have to wait for a few of my friends.”
A few moments later, Si Xingkong, Chang Qiqi, Huang Yichen, Duanmu Xingling, Chen Xi’er, and Pot Pot, chased after them through that dark fog. Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was still waiting for them at the same spot, they were all very touched.
They all knew that Zhang Ruochen had a dragon horn that could open an important treasure in the Dragon Palace.
Originally, they thought that Zhang Ruochen had left first because he wanted to keep the treasure all to himself.
It wasn’t until this moment that they realised that Zhang Ruochen was actually really just there to open the way and help them remove the danger, not to leave them behind.
Chang Qiqi sighed, “I’m so ashamed that I even gave them the word just now that Senior Brother Zhang must have gone to fetch the treasure independently, not caring about us!”
Zhang Ruochen smiled and said, “Since six people came together, naturally, six people should go searching for the treasures together, and only if all six of us return home with a full load of treasures will this expedition of ours be considered a success.”
Chang Qi Qi was even more ashamed, slapping himself hard on his own, leaving a five-finger print, arching his body and bowing to Zhang Ruochen three times in a row, in his heart, he was admiring Zhang Ruochen to the core.
Previously, he only admired Si Xingkong, but now there was another Zhang Ruochen.
If before, Chang Qi Qi still only regarded Zhang Ruochen as a fairly good friend, then now, he had already regarded Zhang Ruochen as a brother who could share his woes and blessings.
It could be said that right now, as long as Zhang Ruochen gave a word, even if it meant that he, Chang Qiqi, had to go up a mountain of daggers and down a sea of fire, he would not hesitate to do so.
When Chen Xi’er saw Zixi standing beside Zhang Ruochen, with a swish, she immediately drew out an ancient sword with brilliant radiance and stabbed at Zixi.
Chen Xi’er’s cultivation had already broken through to the Heavenly Extremity Realm, her strength had increased greatly, and the speed of her sword was even faster than lightning, and in an instant, the tip of the sword stabbed to Zixi’s brow.
Zhang Ruochen struck out with a palm, knocking Chen Xi’er’s sword out of its orientation.
At the same time, his footsteps shifted and he stood in front of Zixi’s body.
The killing intent on Chen Xi’er’s body did not diminish, and the aura on her sword’s blade became brighter as she said, “Zhang Ruochen, she’s an assassin from the Black Market, why are you protecting her?”
Zhang Ruochen said, “I know that she is an assassin from the Black Market, however, the Dragon Horn was found by her in the Red Sky Secret Mansion, and I promised her that I would bring her along to search for the treasure.”
Chen Xi’er’s brows furrowed as she stared at Huang Yicun, Si Xingkong, and Chang Qiqi, saying, “You guys also agreed that a black market assassin would travel with us?”
Chang Qi Qi said, “I believe in Senior Brother Zhang and support his decision.”
Although Huang Yichen disliked Zixi, he still said, “The dragon horn was indeed found by Zixi.”
“But she is a member of the black market ……,” Chen Xi’er said.
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes sank as he said forcefully, “This matter is settled, anyone who still has opinions can withdraw. Senior Sister Chen, if you really think that I have any collusion with the Black Market, after you go back, you can report it to the Palace Master by all means.”
Chen Xi’er stared at Zhang Ruochen’s eyes and felt an unprecedented overbearing aura emanating from Zhang Ruochen’s body, which pressed her somewhat unable to lift her head, her legs trembled slightly, and she unexpectedly did not dare to look straight at Zhang Ruochen.
Chen Xi’er ultimately chose to compromise, there was no way, who told everyone present to look up to Zhang Ruochen, even if she strongly opposed it, no one would stand on her side.
This was a true friend in need, even though they knew that Zhang Ruochen’s approach was a bit improper, they still supported Zhang Ruochen without any hesitation and stood on his side without hesitation.
If it was in the past, after Si Xingkong and Chang Qiqi knew Zixi’s identity, they would have already drawn their swords against each other, without any room for discussion at all.
“Let’s go!”
Zhang Ruochen glanced towards Zixi, squeezed the dragon horn in his hand, and quickly travelled towards the northwestern corner of the Dragon Palace, following the horn’s guidance.
In the Dragon Palace, there were many killing formations arranged.
The slightest carelessness and breaking into the killing formations would be a dead end.
Zhang Ruochen had slightly studied formations, so when he encountered a killing formation, he immediately took a diversion.
About half an hour later, a group of seven people, came to the bottom of an underwater hill.
The dragon horn in Zhang Ruochen’s hand emitted a light that grew more and more intense, and even began to tremble slightly. Putting the dragon horn to his ear, he could even hear a low dragon whistle coming out from it.
“This should be the place.”
Zhang Ruochen stopped and looked towards that one underwater hill.
The hill, which was over 500 metres high, was full of pitch-black rocks and dirt.
On top of the hill, there was a strain of spiritual medicine growing, emitting colourful light and giving off a pearlescent feeling.
“Heavens! This is simply a mountain of treasures underwater, look guys, that blood coral plant, it’s actually three feet tall, and it’s at least a thousand years old. If I can refine it, I will definitely be able to break through two realms in a row and reach the late stage of the Heavenly Extremity Realm within a year.”
Chang Qi Qi was trembling with excitement, rubbing his palms non-stop, about to rush towards that one hill.
Zi Xi’s eyes also revealed a strange lustre as she said, “On the hill, there are actually fourteen Purple Qi Dragon Grasses growing. If I can obtain one of them, I will be able to cultivate the Purple Haze Divine Illumination Technique to the seventh level and impact the Heavenly Extremity Realm in one fell swoop. If I can pick all fourteen Purple Qi Dragon Grass plants, I will even be able to break through to the eighth gravity.”
In the Heavenly Demon Ridge, not a single Violet Qi Dragon Grass could be found. Here, there were fourteen plants growing on top of just one hill. How could Zixi not be excited?
Zhang Ruochen held down Zi Xi and Chang Qi Qi, stopping them from barging into that one hill, and said with a grave face, “Don’t be anxious, look at the ground.”
Everyone’s gazes, all of them looked towards the bottom of the hill, only to see that the bottom of the hill was piled with white bones, both human bones and the bones of savage beasts.
Among them, there were also some fresh corpses, apparently a black market martial artist had previously gone to break into the hill, but somehow died below the hill.
It was too bizarre!
Seeing those corpses, the crowd’s excitement immediately cooled down, and instead, they all revealed looks of fear.
“On the periphery of the hill, it is estimated that there is some sort of killing formation, once you get close, you will be crushed by the formation.” Yellow Smokey guessed.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head and said, “I’ve just probed the periphery of the hill and there are no traces of formation inscriptions.”
“How could there be? Those martial artists and savage beasts couldn’t have crashed to their deaths on top of the hill, right?” Chang Qi Qi stroked his chin, revealing a worried expression.
“That’s the weirdest part, how did those humans and savage beasts die?” Zhang Ruochen’s brows furrowed.
Having already arrived at the Treasure Mountain but could only look on dryly, this kind of mood, don’t mention how groovy it was.
Several times, Chang Qi Qi wanted to rush up recklessly, but she was dragged back by Zhang Ruochen and Si Xingkong.
“Maybe we can try with our Martial Soul.” Zhang Ruochen’s heart secretly said.
Zhang Ruochen immediately sat down on the ground, secretly releasing his Martial Soul as he carefully approached towards that one hill.
“Ow!”
The Martial Soul had only just advanced a dozen or so steps when suddenly, a dragon’s roar resounded from the interior of the hill, nearly shaking Zhang Ruochen’s Martial Soul apart.
Zhang Ruochen immediately retracted his Martial Soul, his brain went black, and a mouthful of blood was spat out as his throat became sweet.
What a terrifying power.
Zhang Ruochen’s Martial Soul had suffered a heavy blow, and his brain was in pain, but fortunately, he had invoked the resonance of the Gods twice, and the Gods’ shadows in the Qi Lake had helped him block some of the power. Otherwise, Zhang Ruochen would have done more than just spit out a mouthful of blood.
“Zhang Ruochen, what’s wrong with you?”
Zixi immediately pressed her palm onto Zhang Ruochen’s vest and fed a stream of True Qi into Zhang Ruochen’s body.
Huang Yichen had already rushed over as well, but Zixi was one step ahead of him.
Seeing Zi Xi being so intimate with Zhang Ruochen, Huang Yichen’s heart was naturally very unhappy, his eyes were filled with coldness as he walked over, grabbed Zi Xi’s wrist, ripped away Zi Xi’s palm that was pressed onto Zhang Ruochen’s back, and pushed her aside, saying, “Your cultivation is too weak, I’ll help him heal his injuries.”
Saying this, Huang Yichen sat down behind Zhang Ruochen, his thick true qi flowed out from his sea of qi, transported to his palms, and pressed onto Zhang Ruochen’s vest.
Zi Xi’s hands clenched, very annoyed, how could there be such an unreasonable woman?
However, when she thought of Huang Yichen’s status as Zhang Ruochen’s fiancée, she immediately put away her anger. It can’t be helped, someone else is a fiancée, what kind of status are you?
Moreover, Huang Yichen had already broken through to the Heavenly Extremity Realm, and her martial arts cultivation was indeed much higher than hers. No matter which way she looked at it, she couldn’t afford to mess with Huang Yichen.
Earlier, the crowd only saw Zhang Ruochen sitting cross-legged on the ground and did not know that Zhang Ruochen was releasing his martial soul. What’s more, they didn’t know that Zhang Ruochen wasn’t actually physically injured, but rather, his Martial Soul was traumatised.
When a martial soul was injured, it could only be healed slowly, and an outsider channelling true qi would not be of any use at all.
After Zhang Ruochen suppressed the trauma to his Martial Soul, he opened his eyes, and apart from some tingling in his head, there was no other discomfort.
“It seems that the Martial Soul cannot be used again for a short period of time.”
Not being able to use the Martial Soul also meant not being able to mobilise the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, and not being able to perform the Spatial Domain. In this way, Zhang Ruochen’s strength would have to be greatly reduced.
Although his Martial Soul was damaged, Zhang Ruochen had also gained a great deal, and he already knew how to enter that one hill.
“Senior Sister Huang, I’m already fine!” Zhang Ruochen said.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen waking up, Huang Yichen was overjoyed in his heart and immediately retracted his palms as he asked with concern, “Zhang Ruochen, what happened to you just now? Why did you suddenly vomit blood?”
Chang Qi Qi’s eyes stared at the surroundings and eerily said, “It can’t be haunted!”
Zhang Ruochen stood up and smiled, “There aren’t that many ghosts in the world. I was just using a secret technique to explore that one hill just now, and I was injured because I was bombarded by a powerful force.”
Duanmu Xingling asked, “What did you find out?”
“Of course there are discoveries.”
Zhang Ruochen’s gaze, looked at the hill that was hundreds of metres high, his fingers kept on gesturing, and after a long time, he withdrew his hand and gently nodded, saying, “The Dragon’s Den is the main source of life, yet the deathly aura is overwhelming. If I’m not wrong, this is not a hill at all, but a grave.”
“A grave? Who would build a grave this huge?” Chang Qi Qi said.
“A dragon!”
Zhang Ruochen added, “A dragon’s grave.”
