343: Huang Shamen

"Boom!"

The tall stone door slowly opened.

A sudden alarm rang in Zhou Xiangyu's heart.

"Body-Protecting Golden Light."

A burst of golden light emanated from around Zhou Xiangyu's body.

"Clang!"

A fist-sized, earthy-yellow spike shot out from within the stone door.

It broke through the reddish-gold light shield and heavily struck the golden light.

Zhou Xiangyu pushed with both hands, fully opening the stone door.

In front of him,

a giant, earthy-yellow Scorpion Beast, about twenty zhang in size, slowly retracted its scorpion tail.

At the tip of its tail was a fist-sized spike.

"Foundation Establishment Stage Great Demon."

"You two, step back."

Zhou Xiangyu commanded the two people behind him in a low voice.

Zhou Xiangxu and the other man had already sensed that something was wrong when the golden light flashed.

They retreated backward.

A bronze Formation Plate flew out and landed in Zhou Xiangxu's hand.

Zhou Xiangxu infused it with magical power, reactivating the Formation Plate, and three reddish-gold Formation Flags protected him and Chang Yuanshan within their bounds.

At the stone door,

Zhou Xiangyu shook his wrist.

Emitting golden light all over his body, he walked inside.

Inside the stone door

was a desolate and lonely space, with dilapidated palaces standing within it.

As Zhou Xiangyu moved,

the giant Scorpion Beast in front seemed to hesitate, slowly retreating backward.

Its full-force surprise attack just now had failed to harm Zhou Xiangyu.

The earthy-yellow Scorpion Beast emanated Demonic Qi.

Its Aura grew increasingly dense.

Zhou Xiangyu remained unmoved, continuing to press forward.

"Roar!"

A roar seemed to come from the Scorpion Beast's mouth.

A large expanse of yellow sand suddenly spread out around the earthy-yellow Scorpion Beast.

The Scorpion Beast disappeared into the yellow sand.

Zhou Xiangyu paused.

He looked at the large expanse of yellow sand covering the surroundings.

He quietly sensed.

Time slowly passed.

Suddenly,

Zhou Xiangyu moved sideways by about a zhang.

An earthy-yellow scorpion tail brushed past Zhou Xiangyu.

If Zhou Xiangyu had not dodged, he would have been pierced by this scorpion tail.

"Got you!"

A slight smile appeared on Zhou Xiangyu's lips.

In his right hand,

a five-chi long Miao Dao appeared, with a slender blade engraved with the words "Phoenix."

"Body Severing Art!"

Zhou Xiangyu raised his Dao and brought it down.

Dao Qi enveloped the Phoenix Dao, and he forcefully slashed at the scorpion tail that had not yet been retracted.

"Crack ~"

A white light flashed.

Dark green liquid dripped from the Phoenix Dao.

A section of the scorpion tail fell to the ground, twitching continuously.

"Roar!"

The Scorpion Beast roared in pain.

It stirred up gusts of yellow sand.

However, this movement ruined the Scorpion Beast's own Divine Ability, losing its key to concealment.

Zhou Xiangyu, holding the Phoenix Dao, transformed into a mass of golden-black Qi and disappeared from his original spot.

In the yellow sand,

above the earthy-yellow Scorpion Beast, which had a section of its tail severed and was roaring madly,

golden-black light flashed.

Zhou Xiangyu's figure appeared.

His body suddenly dropped.

The Phoenix Dao plunged into the Scorpion Beast's head.

"Boom!"

The giant Scorpion Beast crashed to the ground.

Bursts of dark green blood continuously gushed from its head.

Zhou Xiangyu pressed one hand on the hilt of the Dao.

Even as the Scorpion Beast struggled, it was all in vain.

After a while,

the earthy-yellow Scorpion Beast lost its vitality and stopped struggling.

Without the Scorpion Beast's support,

the yellow sand gradually dispersed.

Zhou Xiangyu removed the Phoenix Dao.

Magical power circulated, wiping away the dark green blood from the blade.

Outside the stone door,

hearing that the sounds had stopped,

Zhou Xiangxu and Chang Yuanshan slowly looked inside the stone door.

Only after seeing the Scorpion Beast dead did they quickly step forward and come to Zhou Xiangyu's side.

"There was actually a Foundation Establishment Stage Scorpion Beast hidden here."

Chang Yuanshan looked still shaken.

If he had pushed open this great door when he first came in,

he would probably have become part of this yellow sand.

"Be careful."

Zhou Xiangyu was not careless.

After putting the corpse of the Foundation Establishment Stage earthy-yellow Scorpion Beast into his Storage Pouch,

the three of them walked towards a dilapidated building in the distance.

A moment later,

Zhou Xiangyu stopped.

He reached out and beckoned.

A broken plaque, buried in the yellow sand, flew out.

"Yellow Sand Sect..."

Zhou Xiangxu read it aloud.

In his mind, he recalled the various forces mentioned in the ancient texts he had seen on the first floor of the Clan's Cultivation Manual Tower.

However, he found no relevant clues.

Zhou Xiangyu frowned and looked for a moment.

He also had no impression.

Neither Zhou Xiangyu nor the other man knew.

Chang Yuanshan, of course, was even less likely to know.

He glanced at it and gave up thinking.

He waited for the two to enlighten him.

But Zhou Xiangyu and the other man also didn't know.

"This is truly strange."

Chang Yuanshan was surprised.

"Let's keep going."

Zhou Xiangyu moved the plaque aside.

He continued to walk forward.

Before long,

they arrived at the first dilapidated palace.

Stepping inside,

within the ruins,

there were only piles of yellow sand.

Faintly, one could discern the original placement of items here.

They should have been various Magical Artifacts.

But now, only residual shapes remained.

The three searched inside and out.

They found no harvest.

Chang Yuanshan had a bad premonition.

Even Magical Artifacts had turned into yellow sand.

Wouldn't other treasures like Spirit Pills be even harder to preserve?

"The age of this place is probably unimaginable..."

Zhou Xiangyu speculated in his heart.

The three emerged from the ruins.

They rushed to another location.

A moment later,

the three emerged from that dilapidated palace.

Their faces were not very pleasant.

This place should have been where Spirit Medicine was stored, but it was just like the previous palace.

Everything preserved inside had turned into yellow sand.

Not a single trace remained.

Three figures continuously shuttled through the dilapidated palaces.

Getting closer and closer to the center.

Several hours later,

the three stopped.

Zhou Xiangxu looked at the three round beads in his hand.

Chang Yuanshan took out several broken Spiritual Artifacts.

His eyes were somewhat complex.

After busying themselves for a while, they only got these three second-rank Legacy jade beads and a few broken Spiritual Artifacts.

Zhou Xiangyu, however, showed no change, only further confirming his guess.

The amount of time this Secret Realm had endured was unimaginable.

So long that only Legacy jade beads of special material and a few second-rank spiritual artifacts could be preserved.

And those Magical Artifacts, Medicinal Pills, etc., that required nurturing had all lost their power and been weathered into yellow sand.

"Let's go, there's one more place."

Zhou Xiangyu said to the two.

Ahead was the largest palace, which was also relatively well-preserved.

Chang Yuanshan and Zhou Xiangxu tidied their emotions.

The three of them, together, swept towards the distant palace.

"Yellow Sand Palace..."

In front of the main hall of that largest palace,

a plaque, almost indistinguishable due to erosion, hung askew above the hall entrance.

The three of them, through guessing and piecing together, recognized the three characters on the plaque.

"This should be the main hall of the Yellow Sand Sect; I hope there will be some different gains."

Chang Yuanshan prayed in his heart.

With uneasy feelings,

the three stepped inside.

Inside the main hall,

the walls, originally carved with patterns, were also blurred and unclear.

Only desolation permeated the main hall.

As the three entered the main hall,

on both sides, stone pillars had collapsed.

At the upper end of the main hall was a tall throne.

Upon it was a pile of dust.

In the center of the dust,

was a dim, fist-sized round bead, and a slightly smaller, perfectly round jade bead.

"That is... ashes, a Golden Core, and a Legacy jade bead..."

Zhou Xiangyu's heart stirred, recognizing the pile of dust and the two items upon it.