215: Dragon Palace Incident

Just then, an anomaly occurred!

It did not come from an outside attack or internal rebellion, but originated from... the Crystal Palace itself, or rather, from the water veins of the Qianjiang River Basin outside the Secret Realm!

"Rumble—!"

A dull, extremely deep roar, as if coming from the depths of the earth or from the endless Void Realm, suddenly erupted!

This sound did not travel through air or water, but vibrated directly within the Divine Soul of every living creature!

Immediately following, the entire Crystal Palace—no, the entire Secret Realm where Qianyuan City was located—shook violently!

It was not an earthquake, but a disturbance of the water veins! Countless palace beams and pillars groaned under the strain, the light of the Formation flickered uncertainly, and some lower-level maids even stumbled and fell.

"What is happening?!"

"Water vein disturbance?!"

"Enemy attack?!"

The square was in an uproar, and the guests were panic-stricken.

This was the core of the Qianjiang Dragon Palace, a place where over a hundred Late Fourth Stage experts gathered. In this era where Fifth Stage existences did not appear and Fourth Stage was the absolute peak of the world, how could anyone dare to come here to cause trouble at such a time?

On the high platform, Dragon King Ao Guang stood up abruptly, his face instantly becoming incomparably gloomy, and piercing, shocking light shot from his eyes!

The Turtle Chancellor, the three Late Fourth Stage Dragon Princes, Great General Zhenhai, and other high-ranking officials also changed color in unison!

"Silence!" The Turtle Chancellor's aged yet majestic voice instantly overwhelmed all the noise, echoing in every corner.

At the same time, the Dragon King's cold voice rang out, carrying an unquestionable command: "Attend to your duties, soothe the guests, and strengthen the guard! Without my decree, no one is allowed to leave their seats without authorization, and no one is allowed to recklessly use Divine Sense to investigate! Violators will be treated as traitors!"

As the words fell, an even more vast and terrifying Dragon prestige erupted from the Dragon King, instantly enveloping the entire Crystal Palace area, forcibly suppressing all the commotion!

The guests were terrified into silence, and no one dared to make a sound or move again.

Gao De's heart shook violently; that strong, ominous premonition had reached its peak!

Something had indeed happened! And judging by this commotion and the reaction of the Dragon Palace's top brass, it was definitely no small matter!

It was very likely related to the previous anomaly in the Yunmeng Marsh, and the Dragon King leaving the banquet halfway earlier might have also been because of this!

He forcibly steadied his mind and swept his gaze quickly over the high platform.

He saw the Dragon King quickly give a few orders to the Turtle Chancellor and that minister who exuded a cold aura. The Turtle Chancellor and that person received the orders, and their figures instantly disappeared from the spot.

The three Dragon Princes also received the Dragon King's voice transmission; their expressions changed, but they quickly regained their composure and began to direct their subordinates to maintain order.

The Dragon King himself sat back on his throne, his face as sunken as water, his eyes like lightning, scanning the terrified guests below, especially... the direction where the guests from the Central Continent were located.

Mysterious Mechanism Master and Shopkeeper Chen also had grave expressions at this moment. They looked at each other, their eyes full of suspicion and contemplation, both wondering if the other party had done something. After all, outsiders did not know their true purpose for coming here, but their own people certainly understood.

The atmosphere of the birthday banquet had dropped from extreme joy to freezing point in an instant, and was shrouded in a thick layer of clouds filled with the unknown and crisis.

This sudden change caused the birthday banquet, which was originally planned to last for several days, to end in a hurry.

The Dragon King used "a sudden minor ailment of the earth veins that needs urgent handling" as an excuse to announce the early end of the banquet, but required all guests to remain in Qianyuan City until the situation subsided and the Dragon Palace had completed its inspection, under the pretext of "ensuring the safety of all guests."

The Dragon Palace immediately entered a state of high alert; the Secret Realm was closed, all Formations were fully activated, the number of patrol guards increased sharply, and the surveillance of the guest areas became much stricter.

An invisible sense of oppression shrouded the entire underwater city.

Gao De returned to Bibo Garden, his heart full of doubts.

The Dragon Palace's explanation was obviously unconvincing; the tremor that directly shook the Divine Soul and triggered the water veins was definitely not a normal "minor ailment of the earth veins."

He recalled the slight palpitation of the dragon blood in his body when the tremor occurred, as well as that indescribable aura, mixed with ancient, violent, and a trace of... bloodthirst?

"Must find out what happened," Gao De thought to himself.

Staying in the Dragon Palace was safe, but being ignorant of potential dangers was the real danger.

He decided to add a layer of protection for himself. It just so happened that after his Breakthrough to the Fourth Stage, the prison character dragon talisman he had used once before had undergone deeper changes, and he decided to take this opportunity to study it properly.

He entered the secret room of Bibo Garden, set up several layers of isolation and warning Formations, and ensured his own safety and secrecy.

The sudden changes and martial Law in the Dragon Palace made the alarm bells in his heart ring loudly.

"Must increase my self-protection ability as soon as possible, or at least have more means to deal with possible crises," Gao De thought to himself.

Being in this den of tigers and dragons, the status of a guest was not necessarily an amulet, but rather more likely to become a target; strength and trump cards were the foundation.

He sat cross-legged, his mind sinking into his Dantian.

In addition to the nourishing purple heaven dragon shadow sword, purple scale earth-shaking armor, and thunder fang formation-breaking halberd, his attention was focused on a peculiar rune floating above and to the side of his demon core, emitting a dark and profound light—the [prison character dragon talisman].

This strange dragon talisman, obtained from the Immortal Cave of an ancient Cultivator in the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range and which had once helped him suppress a powerful enemy, seemed to have undergone some deeper changes after he broke through to the Fourth Stage and his Bloodline was further purified.

Previously, he had been busy stabilizing his Realm, refining Magic Treasures, and attending the banquet to socialize, so he had not had time to investigate carefully.

Now, it was the right time.

Gao De carefully probed the prison character dragon talisman with his Divine Sense.

"Hum—!"

The rune vibrated gently, and a stream of information, far clearer, more vast, yet also more complex and obscure than before, poured into his Sea of Consciousness.

This time, what he "saw" was not just some simple methods of suppression and sealing, but touched upon part of the core essence and source imprint of this dragon talisman!

Its name: [abyssal suppression dragon talisman]!

It was not naturally generated, but refined by a powerful Dragon King with heaven-shaking and earth-shattering cultivation in the ancient Yunmeng Great Marsh, who had extracted part of his own Origin and Dao Laws and combined them with some kind of heaven and earth treasure to suppress and Seal enemies!

On the day the Talisman was formed, that Dragon King was also severely injured, but this Talisman shone brilliantly because of it.

The core ability of this Talisman was "suppression" and "prison."

"Suppression" could suppress all tangible and intangible things, living beings, Divine Souls, energy, Laws, and even conceptual "existence." As long as the user had sufficient strength, by activating the dragon talisman, they could form an absolute suppression field, like carrying an abyss on their back, where all Laws fell silent.

"Prison" could open an unbreakable sealed cave heaven within the Talisman, depriving the trapped person of their strength, perception, and even the concepts of time and space, imprisoning them forever in the "dragon prison" transformed by the rune, enduring the erosion and suppression of endless years.

The strength of these two core abilities depended on two factors: one was the user's cultivation and understanding of the rune; the second was... the purity and strength of the Dragon Clan Bloodline!

This Talisman was originally a treasure of the Dragon Clan; only dragon blood could truly awaken and drive its power. The purer the Bloodline, the greater the potential, and one could even comprehend a trace of the suppression Dao true meaning contained by the refiner!

In addition, Gao De also "saw" some vague fragments: endless dark Void Realm, shattered stars, continuous roaring of chains, and a towering, magnificent Dragon shadow that made the stars in the heavens dim, as it struck a flickering point of light into a blood-colored abyss rolling with endless resentment and evil energy... The scene ended abruptly here, but it made Gao De's Divine Soul shake violently and his blood and Qi surge.

"What a terrifying Talisman! What a terrifying Origin!" Gao De withdrew his Divine Sense, and fine sweat had already appeared on his forehead.

The level of this [abyssal suppression dragon talisman] was far beyond what he could fully control at present, but its revealed "suppression" and "sealing" characteristics, as well as its high compatibility with his own Dragon Clan Bloodline, were undoubtedly an extremely powerful trump card.

Especially in the depths of this Dragon Palace, if any "ominous" or "taboo" thing was truly triggered, this Talisman might play an unexpected role.

He began to concentrate on comprehending the relatively basic suppression and sealing methods in the dragon talisman that he could barely understand and use now, trying to communicate and nourish it with his own dragon Origin and Divine Sense.

He discovered that as he comprehended it, the connection between the dragon talisman and his own Bloodline seemed to be a bit closer, and the dark light in the rune was also vaguely a bit more active.

Just as Gao De was studying the [abyssal suppression dragon talisman] in Bibo Garden, in the deepest part of the Qianjiang Dragon Palace, in a secret space that most dragon descendants did not know about—the dragon blood Transformation Pool—a conversation concerning the future of the Dragon Palace was taking place.