341: Chapter 341 The Earth Dragon Palace, Ominous!

They had walked through the entrance passage for less than half an hour when the path ahead suddenly opened up.

They stood before a massive underground palace.

Three large characters were carved into the lintel—Earth Dragon Palace.

The handwriting was vigorous and powerful, as if carved by claws, each stroke carrying a tyrannical pressure.

It covered over three hundred li, cut off from the sky and sun.

Above them was a thick layer of rock; the sky was invisible, with only countless glowing crystals embedded in the dome, resembling an inverted galaxy.

The interior of the treasury was far more complex than Chu Sheng had imagined.

The air was dry, but the Spiritual Qi was so dense it felt liquid; with every breath, he could feel spiritual power flowing slowly through his Meridians.

Chu Sheng scanned his surroundings. A few Heaven Rank Materials were scattered on stone platforms along the sides of the passage, like neglected debris.

In the distance, there were several other artifacts shimmering with spiritual light, their grades not low.

Jiuer's gaze was also drawn to them.

She did not go to take them immediately, but Chu Sheng could feel her gaze linger there for a moment.

"There are indeed quite a lot of things here."

Jiuer whispered, her tone carrying a hint of temptation, "Why don't we split up to search? It would be more efficient, and we could scavenge more while we're at it."

Chu Sheng shook his head.

"It's better not to. The terrain here is complex, and splitting up makes trouble likely. Let's follow The Bald Monk first and find his fragment before doing anything else."

Jiuer did not insist and nodded.

The Bald Monk walked at the very front, holding a Buddhist bead in his hand. His fingertips glowed with a faint golden light, as if he were sensing something.

He did not walk fast, but every step was firm, as if an invisible thread were guiding him.

Passing through several corridors and bypassing a collapsed stone palace, The Bald Monk stopped in an inconspicuous corner.

It was a stone platform half-buried in rubble, with a simple Buddhist seal carved on its surface, mostly weathered away.

The Bald Monk crouched down, reached out to brush away the rubble, and retrieved a grayish-white bead from the gap in the stone platform.

The bead was not large, about the size of a thumb, its surface having lost its luster, looking like an ordinary stone.

But the hand holding it trembled visibly.

He lowered his head and remained silent for a long time.

Then Chu Sheng heard him murmur extremely softly, "Junior Brother..."

He did not say anything more, simply tucking the bead carefully into his sleeve.

Chu Sheng did not press for answers.

He knew that some things did not need to be asked.

They continued moving forward.

After walking for about half an hour, Chu Sheng suddenly stopped in front of a stone wall.

Embedded in the stone wall was a jade box, its lid slightly ajar, revealing a crystalline Medicinal Pill inside.

There were nine pill patterns on the surface of the Medicinal Pill, each emitting a gentle luster.

A ninth-grade pill.

Chu Sheng carefully examined the arrangement of the pill patterns and formed a rough judgment in his mind.

This was a Medicinal Pill capable of raising one's cultivation by a small Realm, but the cost was a significant risk of Qi Deviation.

For an ordinary Cultivator, this might be a poison.

But for him, as a Demonic Cultivator himself, the risk of Qi Deviation was almost negligible.

He did not hesitate, reaching out to take the jade box, removing the Medicinal Pill, and consuming it on the spot.

As the Medicinal Pill went down his throat, it turned into a torrent of scalding spiritual power, like a river set ablaze, surging and churning through his Meridians.

His Dao Palace began to tremble, and the spiritual power in his Dantian climbed rapidly.

A moment later, his aura surged, leaping directly from the Late Stage of Dao Completion to the Peak of Dao Completion.

The Bald Monk glanced at him, pressed his palms together, and spoke in a calm but sincere tone.

"Congratulations, Benefactor. Let us move quickly."

Chu Sheng nodded, and just as he was about to respond, the ground beneath his feet suddenly vanished—

The three of them plummeted simultaneously.

The scenery around them spun rapidly, like an overturned painting.

Chu Sheng instinctively channeled his spiritual power, attempting to stabilize his figure, but the downward force was far stronger than he had anticipated, as if something were pulling them, making it impossible to break free.

Just as he was about to forcibly break the surrounding Restriction, The Bald Monk's voice came from beside him, carrying a hint of urgency.

"Do not break it by force! This is a teleportation array!"

Upon hearing this, Chu Sheng immediately withdrew his spiritual power.

The Bald Monk's kasaya unfolded violently the moment they fell, transforming into a golden screen of light that enveloped the three of them.

The Void Realm outside the light screen twisted for an instant and then vanished.

They landed heavily on the ground.

Chu Sheng stood up immediately and scanned his surroundings—

He was standing in a massive hall.

It was not the kind of treasury they had been in before, but a hall piled high with skeletons.

The skeletons were densely packed, covering the entire floor; some had already weathered into fragments, while others still retained their complete outlines.

Most of them belonged to the Yao Race.

One could distinguish tiger bones, snake bones, bird bones, fish bones, and some skeletons whose names Chu Sheng did not know.

A small portion belonged to the Human Race, scattered among the Yao Race skeletons like carelessly discarded debris.

The air was permeated with a faint scent, like something that had been stale for a very long time.

Chu Sheng did not move. He quickly scanned the entire hall, and only after confirming there were no ambushes did he relax his vigilance slightly.

Jiuer stood beside him, her expression looking rather unpleasant, but she did not speak.

The Bald Monk put away his kasaya, his gaze falling into the depths of the hall.

There was a faint light there, as if it were shining up from beneath the ground.

Chu Sheng looked in the direction of his gaze, vaguely guessing what it might be.

They wove through the skeletons, the bone fragments beneath their feet emitting faint, crisp sounds.

The Bald Monk walked very quickly, as if he had already locked onto the target's location.

A moment later, he stopped at a stone platform in the center of the hall.

On the stone platform lay a fragment, entirely glazed in color, with jagged edges, emitting a gentle and calm light.

A fragment of the glazed buddha bowl.

The Bald Monk reached out, carefully picked it up, and cradled it in his palm. His fingertips trembled slightly, but he did not lose his composure as he had before.

He put the fragment away, turned around, and was just about to speak—

Chu Sheng had already taken out the Heavenly Secret Calculation.

He did not explain anything, simply silently chanting in his heart: "The safety of the remainder of this trip."

This time, he spent two years of his lifespan.

The phantom of the bamboo slip cylinder appeared, shook gently, and then a bamboo slip jumped out.

Ominous.

Chu Sheng was stunned for a moment.

He looked up at Jiuer, his voice lowered to the extreme, yet carrying an unquestionable sense of urgency.

"Defense. Immediately."

"The sea-suppressing cauldron, Biluo Palace—deploy them all."

Jiuer did not ask further, and both of them immediately unleashed their two Magical Artifacts.

A bronze-colored radiance and a jade-green light screen unfolded almost simultaneously, firmly shielding the two of them in the center.