76: The real treasure in the Dragon Ruins Forbidden Palace

"No! This... impossible..."

The outer shell exploded, revealing a broken body that had not yet completed its transformation.

The Golden Cicada vanished amidst a shriek of disbelief.

"Letting someone chop you down while standing still, I've never seen anyone so foolish before." Qin Wangchuan sheathed his sword, his tone calm: "Besides, no matter what Realm you once reached, no matter how hard your outer shell was, now... you are nothing more than an Eleventh Realm Demon Cultivator."

Saying that, he walked over and grabbed.

The shattered demon core fell into his hand, and he casually tossed it into Little Golden Crow's mouth.

The little fellow immediately flapped its wings happily, letting out crisp "chirp, chirp" calls.

It held the demon core with its small claws, as if it had obtained some rare treasure, first cautiously pecking it twice, and after confirming there was no problem, it suddenly gulped it down whole.

It let out a comfortable burp, spitting out a small ball of starlight-infused sparks, then dizzyingly tumbled into Qin Wangchuan's hair, curling up into a fluffy golden ball and falling asleep.

Between heaven and earth, there was a dead silence.

Everyone was stunned.

Although it currently only had Eleventh Realm Cultivation, as a transformed Great Demon once comparable to a Thirteenth Realm Supreme, its strength was naturally not to be underestimated.

Just like that... cut down with one sword strike?

"Gulp."

No one knew who swallowed their saliva, the sound exceptionally clear in the silence.

"Starting with a unique skill, just like his Big Brother..." Chu Wujiu tutted twice, but then turned around and found Li Xuan beside him was very off.

"Why are you covering your head?"

Li Xuan shook his head with a complicated expression, he looked at the Golden Cicada's corpse, as if he saw his past self in it.

In an instant, a complex resonance welled up in his heart.

'Daring to stand there and let him chop you, you didn't die in vain.'

Li Qingluan's hand gripping the sword tightened slightly, a hint of complexity flashing in her beautiful eyes.

Meanwhile, Qin Zhaoer blinked at the surprised expressions of the people around her, quietly having the Nine-tailed Fox beneath her approach Qin Wangchuan's side.

The Nine-tailed Fox's pupils contracted, a storm raging in its heart: "I... I've latched onto a big shot?"

It silently lowered its head, its earlier dissatisfaction long gone, replaced by a surge of relief in its heart.

As for Lu Chen and the others, they had already silently bypassed the Dragon Inscription Stele Forest and were heading towards the Dragon Ruin Forbidden Palace.

However, his actions did not escape Qin Wangchuan, who had been paying attention to this side.

In front of the main gate of the Dragon Ruin Forbidden Palace, mottled bronze patterns glowed faintly in the gloom.

Lu Chen slowly took off the hood of his cloaking cloak, his fingertips tracing the ancient Dragon-shaped carvings on the door, a flicker of trance in his eyes.

"I recognize this place..." he murmured softly, his voice as light as if he were sleep-talking.

Gu Yuan stood behind him, his gaze shifting uncertainly.

Along the way, Lu Chen had avoided all Restrictions and traps as if he had foreknowledge, even accurately finding paths through hidden doors and mechanisms that were not even recorded in ancient texts.

'This kid definitely has a treasure on him...'

Gu Yuan stared at Lu Chen's back, already secretly making a decision in his heart.

Once Lu Chen had no more use, he would immediately get rid of him!

"Rumble—"

Just then, the dust-sealed great door suddenly opened on its own, and a vast Dragon's Breath rushed out.

Lu Chen's robes moved without wind, and faint golden streams of light even faintly appeared in his hair.

Gu Yuan's pupils beside him contracted — he clearly saw Lu Chen's shadow twist for a moment in the Dragon's Breath, actually transforming into a winding Dragon shadow!

"Let's go." Lu Chen stepped into the hall without looking back, his tone terrifyingly calm, "The true Legacy is inside."

The great hall was empty and desolate.

Although the Restrictions on the door would regenerate with each opening of the Secret Realm, they were not difficult to break.

Generations of Cultivators who entered here had ransacked the entire hall, even prying off the luminous pearls embedded in the walls, leaving only pitted indentations.

But Lu Chen ignored those ruins, he looked directly at the dust-covered True Dragon statue in the center of the great hall, mumbling:

"Calling out to me..."

"Thump!"

His knees hit the ground heavily, echoing in the silent great hall.

Lu Chen knelt on the ground with his forehead touching, the golden Dragon scale mark on his brow suddenly shining brightly, seemingly resonating with something.

Gu Yuan frowned, about to speak, when he saw the unremarkable statue suddenly erupt with brilliant golden light!

"This is..."

Golden light rained down, falling on Lu Chen.

His pupils gradually took on a gilded hue, and the Dragon scale mark on his forehead became even more dazzling.

With a soft "click," the stone wall behind the statue slowly moved aside, revealing a deep passage.

"It's inside..."

Lu Chen stepped directly into the passage.

It was a square corridor, its walls densely covered with murals.

He gently caressed them with his fingertips.

Unfamiliar memories surged like a tide—

Battlefields where Dragons roared to shake the heavens, a blood-stained throne, and... the old man who sealed him in a Dragon cocoon.

"So that's how it is..." Lu Chen muttered to himself, millennia of vicissitudes flowing in his golden eyes, "I remember now."

"Hey." Gu Yuan frowned looking at the deep passage, vaguely feeling a heart-pounding aura.

"What's ahead?"

Hearing Gu Yuan's questioning, Lu Chen seemed to suddenly snap back to reality, "I almost forgot about you."

He lightly tapped a certain spot on the wall, and a Dragon-patterned barrier stone suddenly descended in the passage, booming to isolate Gu Yuan and the others outside.

Boom—!

The massive sound of the barrier stone falling echoed in the passage, and Gu Yuan's face twisted instantly.

"Lu Chen!!"

His furious roar made the stone walls tremble, and he punched the Dragon-patterned boulder.

A direct descendant of the dignified Gu Family, actually outsmarted by an unknown ant!

"Young Lord, calm your anger!" The attendant beside him rushed forward, wanting to break open the stone.

"No... wait!" Gu Yuan suddenly calmed down, then sinisterly looked behind him and smiled, "This is good too, let's go!"

Lu Chen on this side didn't bother with what was behind him, he walked straight out of the passage.

At the end of the passage, a hundred Dragon-shaped stone statues surrounded a massive altar.

These statues had various poses, but all exuded a tragic, murderous aura.

And in the very center of the altar, a golden Dragon scale egg as tall as a person quietly floated above the altar, its shell surface entwined with chain-like Dao patterns.

The surging Dragon's Might was enough to crush some low-Cultivation Cultivators, but Lu Chen walked forward as if in his element.

Just as he stepped onto the altar—

"Clap, clap, clap."

Crisp applause came from the darkness.

At the exit of the gloomy passage, Qin Wangchuan's figure quietly appeared like an ink stain spreading.

He tilted his head, a smile on his lips, his tone as familiar as if old friends were reunited: "Surprise?"