223: Unexpected gain

Gao De controlled the dragon talisman like the most patient hunter, cautiously approaching the pile of "relics" near the bottom of the vortex amidst the violent waves of blood and chaotic energy turbulence.

The closer he got, the more terrifying the pressure from the primal fetus and the tearing force of the blood sea's turbulence became.

The dragon talisman was like a midge in a violent storm, liable to be completely crushed at any moment.

Gao De had to pour more focus and Dragon Qi into it to maintain the stability and concealment of the speck of dust, and his forward speed became increasingly slow.

Finally, the dragon talisman reached that relatively calm "eddy" area, first approaching the storage bracelet inlaid with a sapphire.

The bracelet was half-buried under a small pile of dragon scale fragments; the sapphire emitted a hazy halo, standing out exceptionally in the dark red sea of blood.

Its surface was covered by a soft yet resilient water-blue light membrane, and it was precisely this membrane that resisted the erosion of the blood sea.

Gao De could feel that this light membrane contained a trace of pure Water Element Power, likely condensed from a natal dragon pearl by a Tier 4 water-attribute Dragon Clan member or a Great Demon, possessing extraordinary quality.

He did not rush to make contact, but first used his attached Divine Sense to carefully probe the surroundings of the bracelet.

As expected, several extremely obscure energy threads that almost blended with the blood sea remained near the bracelet, like the finest spiderwebs, seemingly formed by the natural evolution of the blood sea's energy.

"Better safe than sorry." With a thought, Gao De controlled the speck of dust to slowly release an extremely weak trace of prison dragon talisman power, which touched those energy threads as gently as a breeze brushing against a cobweb.

"Buzz..."

The threads vibrated slightly, emitting an almost inaudible hum, then flashed with light and quietly annihilated.

They seemed to be merely passive warnings formed by the original owner's residual mana, with no subsequent attack or alarm mechanism; they were naturally dissolved upon contact with the simulated energy.

Obstacles cleared! Gao De's spirits lifted as he controlled the dragon talisman to drift slowly toward the bracelet.

He didn't try to collect the entire bracelet directly, but instead carefully attached the dragon talisman to an inconspicuous groove on the inside of the bracelet.

The speck of dust transformed from the prison dragon talisman's Origin immediately adhered firmly to it.

The next step was to try and open a tiny rift in the storage space to see what was inside, or attempt to "pull" the entire bracelet into the Talisman World!

But fearing he might cause a large disturbance, he decided not to try for the time being.

Gao De decided to test it first.

He split off a strand of Divine Sense a hundred times thinner than a hair, mixed it with the "permeating" power of the prison dragon talisman, and like the most exquisite key, probed toward the bracelet's core Restriction.

The bracelet's original owner clearly had a strong cultivation, and the Restriction was quite complex. However, perhaps because the owner was dead and the Restriction had lost most of its power source, or perhaps it had loosened under the erosion of the blood sea, Gao De's Divine Sense cautiously probed and analyzed, and he actually found a gap!

Divine Sense successfully entered!

Instantly, a massive space with an area of over a thousand square zhang and a height of a hundred zhang appeared within his Divine Sense perception.

Many items floated within the space: the least valuable were those tens of thousands of High Grade water Spirit Stones, several jade bottles labeled with Medicinal Pill names, several Jade Slips recording something, some scattered Tier 4 Materials, and... a peculiar wooden box carefully placed on a jade platform!

A pale gold Talisman was stuck to the wooden box, emitting an aura that stabilized space and blocked detection.

This was clearly the original owner's most valued treasure!

Gao De's heart couldn't help but beat a few beats faster.

He tried to gently touch that wooden box with his Divine Sense.

The wooden box felt warm to the touch. The golden Talisman on top trembled slightly but didn't trigger any counterattack; instead, it slowly drifted up, and the box lid automatically opened a crack.

In an instant, an incredibly pure emerald-green light, carrying vibrant vitality and dense Water-Wood Spiritual Qi, seeped from the box!

Inside the box, laid upon soft spirit silkworm silk, sat a treasure the size of a longan, dripping with emerald green and featuring natural cloud patterns flowing on its surface—the [yimu azure dragon pearl]!

This pearl was not a Dragon Clan inner dan, but a rare treasure naturally nurtured by some Earthly Spiritual Root combined with Yimu Azure Dragon essence. It contained vast Yimu vitality and a trace of Azure Dragon creation power. For wood-attribute or Dragon Clan Cultivators, it was a supreme treasure that could nourish the Physical Body, repair hidden injuries, assist in Cultivation, and might even have miraculous effects on Bloodline purification!

"What a treasure!" Gao De was overjoyed.

The value of this pearl far exceeded those Spirit Stones and Materials outside!

Moreover, the Yimu vitality it contained might help him resist the erosion of the blood sea and even recover from injuries at a critical moment!

Suppressing his excitement, he wrapped his Divine Sense around the yimu azure dragon pearl and tried to take it out of the box, transmitting it directly through the connection with the Talisman World!

This action carried more risk than simple probing because, if he wasn't careful, the energy contained within the pearl itself would cause spatial fluctuations.

Just as his Divine Sense wrapped around the pearl and applied a slight force to transfer it into the dragon talisman—

A sudden change occurred!

The yimu azure dragon pearl seemed to be triggered by an external force, and it suddenly burst forth with a ring of emerald-green light!

Though the halo wasn't intense, it was as conspicuous as a lighthouse in the dark of night within this dark red blood sea!

Simultaneously, a trace of Azure Dragon aura contained within the pearl leaked out, creating a conflict with the surrounding sinister blood sea composed purely of Dragon Clan Essence Blood!

"Buzz—!"

The surrounding dark red blood waves seemed to be enraged, suddenly churning violently and forming several thick blood wave tentacles that lashed fiercely toward the location of the emerald-green halo!

"Not good!" Gao De was terrified and immediately pulled the pearl into the dragon talisman. Then, he fully retracted his Divine Sense and prison dragon talisman power, while simultaneously controlling the speck of dust to simulate the appearance of being struck by the blood waves and tumbling away.

“Splash!”

The blood wave tentacles lashed fiercely at the spot where the bracelet had been, sending the pile of dragon scale fragments flying in all directions. The sapphire bracelet was also sent tumbling away, though the water-blue light membrane on its surface remained stable.

The emerald-green halo quickly dimmed and dissipated under the impact of the blood waves, and the aura of the yimu azure dragon pearl was once again covered by the blood sea after losing its source.

A false alarm!

Gao De breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, his reaction had been fast enough to directly collect that yimu azure dragon pearl.

However, the commotion was too great and could easily expose him.

He controlled the speck of dust to tumble through the blood waves a few times, eventually stopping at a slightly more distant location near the edge of the "turbulence" by the half-broken silver spear tip.

The spear tip was slanted into the bottom of the blood sea, silver-white all over and flowing with a moonlight-like luster. Even after being soaked in the blood sea for some time, it remained sharp and imposing, emitting an aura of destruction and solemnity.

Its material was extraordinary, clearly another remarkable treasure, perhaps the discarded weapon of some Dragon Clan prince.

Gao De observed for a moment and found no obvious Restrictions around the spear tip, but the spear tip itself seemed to contain a very strong slaughter intent, instinctively rejecting external probing.

He tried to quietly cover it with the suppressing power of the prison dragon talisman; the slaughter intent faltered slightly and was actually forcibly suppressed!

"It's working!" Gao De controlled the speck of dust to approach and repeated his previous trick, adhering the speck firmly into a pit on the broken surface of the spear tip.

This time he didn't make any further attempts but directly tried to use the spatial power of the prison dragon talisman to "swallow" the whole thing into the Talisman World!

This process was more direct and faster than collecting the pearl.

Gao De was extremely careful, opening an incredibly fine spatial rift on the outside of the prison dragon talisman like an invisible mouth, which instantly "bit" toward the half-spear tip.

"Collect!"

Silently, the half-broken silver spear tip suddenly disappeared from the blood sea!

Only a small, imperceptible spatial ripple remained in its place, quickly smoothed over by the surging blood waves.

Success! Another treasure obtained! Gao De's heart was invigorated, and he immediately sank his consciousness into the Talisman World.

The half-broken silver spear tip was floating quietly in the dark void, still flowing with a moonlight-like luster, its slaughter aura firmly bound by the suppressing power of the Talisman World.

Gao De could clearly feel the powerful force and pure material contained within the spear tip. If he integrated it into his battle halberd in the future, he might be able to transform it into a peerless divine weapon!

With two victories in a row, Gao De's confidence increased greatly.

He controlled the speck of dust, took a brief moment to rest, and prepared to approach the next target—those few reverse scale fragments emitting a powerful aura.

At that moment, on the edge of his perception, he suddenly captured an extremely weak yet exceptionally tenacious life fluctuation!

This fluctuation did not come from the corpses about to dissolve, nor from the core of the embryo, but from... a "junk pile" not far away that had been swept up by the aftermath of a blood-colored tornado!

Gao De controlled the speck of dust to approach quietly.

In that "junk pile," a petite white dragon body was half-buried.

It was precisely the twenty-first daughter, Ao Xue, who had been thrown into the pool earlier!

She actually hadn't died completely!

Her eyes were tightly closed, her breath so weak it was nearly severed, and her body was covered in a thin, crystal-clear protective light like ice and snow. It was this light that was struggling to resist the erosion of the blood sea.

In the center of her forehead, that dragon horn which should have been pure white was now stained with a strange, writhing dark-gold blood-colored pattern that seemed like a living thing!

It was this mutated dragon horn that seemed to emit a peculiar power, creating a subtle resonance with the blood sea, which had allowed her to survive in such a harsh environment until now!

"Bloodline mutation? Prison dragon or blood dragon?" Gao De's heart stirred.

He recalled the conversation between the Dragon King and the Black-Robed Person mentioning that "special Bloodline mutation individuals provide the greatest benefit to the holy fetus."

This Ao Xue was likely one of those one-in-a-million mutated Bloodline possessors!

No wonder she was given special "care" and thrown into the pool.

At this moment, she had clearly fallen into a deep coma, hanging onto life only through instinct and the power of her mutated Bloodline.

But Gao De could feel that the vitality within her was being slowly extracted and converted by the blood sea and that mutated reverse scale, and she would eventually become nourishment for the primal fetus.

A thought rose uncontrollably: Save her? Or not?

Saving her carried immense risk.

Carrying a living being through the blood sea, avoiding detection, and bringing her into the Talisman World was far more difficult than collecting dead objects.

Furthermore, her identity was sensitive; she was a dragon girl, and it was hard to tell if she would be friend or foe upon waking.

Not saving her and letting her turn into nutrients seemed more in line with his interests as the "oriole," reducing the number of variables.

However, looking at that weak yet tenacious light of life and that mutated reverse scale which seemed to contain some secret, Gao De hesitated.

Perhaps this Ao Xue knew some secrets of the Dragon Palace? Perhaps her mutated Bloodline also had research value for him? She might even become an unexpected aid or bargaining chip in the future.

"Forget it, meeting is fate. Besides, sabotaging the Dragon King's 'nourishment' is itself a blow to his plan." Gao De finally decided to act.

But he wouldn't bring her directly into the Talisman World; that was too risky.

He controlled the speck of dust to drift quietly near the mutated reverse scale on Ao Xue's brow.

The power of the prison dragon talisman slowly seeped out, not as an attack, but to attempt to form an extremely thin invisible film with sealing properties. It covered the dark-gold blood-colored patterns on the reverse scale, trying to temporarily block its energy exchange with the blood sea while isolating her life aura, sending her into a deeper state of "suspended animation" to slow the loss of vitality.

At the same time, he split off a tiny strand of Divine Sense and tried to probe into Ao Xue's nearly stagnant Sea of Consciousness, leaving an "imprint" carrying the aura of the prison dragon talisman.

This imprint was harmless, more like a coordinate and a weak protection.

Having done all this, Gao De controlled the dragon talisman to leave quickly and continue his "treasure hunting" journey.

He collected those few powerful reverse scale fragments and tried to approach the sapphire bracelet again, but found that the bracelet's Restriction seemed to have been partially activated by the previous commotion, becoming more stable and difficult to open quietly in a short time, so he had to temporarily give up and note its position.

His main energy returned to observing the core of the embryo, the purple crystal, and the operational patterns of the surrounding blood-colored tornadoes.

Time trickled by. There were no days or nights in the blood sea, but Gao De, relying on the mysteries of the prison dragon talisman and his own tenacity, was like a tiny insect lurking in the shadow of a giant beast, silently accumulating power and waiting for the final moment to arrive.

As for the dragon girl Ao Xue whom he had "marked," the writhing of the dark-gold patterns on the mutated reverse scale on her brow seemed to slow down slightly under the isolation of the prison dragon talisman's film. Her weak life fluctuations also became increasingly obscure, as if she had truly turned into a lifeless "stubborn stone" sinking in a corner of the blood sea.

The blood sea continued to churn, and the throb of the holy fetus became increasingly powerful.

The Dragon King, the Black-Robed Person, and even other potentially existing forces were all in the midst of intense final preparations.

A storm that would sweep through the Qianjiang Dragon Palace and decide countless fates had already revealed its hideous corner in the depths of the blood sea.

And Gao De, this unexpected intruder, was preparing to seize his own staggering opportunity within this storm!