230: return

Deep within the rock crevice, time passed quietly in silence and healing.

Gao De held the yimu azure dragon pearl in his hand, his entire body enveloped in a faint emerald-green halo.

The majestic Yimu vitality and Azure Dragon creation power contained within the pearl were like the gentlest spiritual spring, slowly soaking his parched Meridians, repairing his damaged internal organs, and nourishing his weakened Divine Soul.

The Purple Heaven Dragon Transformation Art operated ceaselessly, guiding this pure energy through the heavenly cycles. With each cycle, his aura stabilized further, and his pale complexion regained a hint of color.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

When Gao De opened his eyes again, Purple Lightning flickered within them. Although he hadn't fully returned to his Peak state, the Dragon Yuan in his body had recovered by more than half, the injuries to his Meridians had basically healed, and the stinging pain in his Divine Soul had significantly eased.

The light of the yimu azure dragon pearl had dimmed considerably, but it remained warm and moist. Clearly, it could still be used many times; if placed in a land where Yimu Qi flourished, it could slowly recover.

He exhaled a long breath of turbid Qi, his breathing long and steady.

The most dangerous moment had passed, but the crisis was not entirely over.

This place was still within the sphere of influence of the Qianjiang Dragon Palace. Although the Dragon Palace had suffered heavy losses, a dying centipede dies hard; moreover, those fourth-grade dragon sons and grandsons might not all be dead.

Bai Ze's descent had cleared the evil dragon Clone, but it had not rebuilt order. At this moment, Qianyuan City and even the entire Qianjiang Dragon Palace were in an unprecedented power vacuum and period of Chaos.

"I must leave while there's Chaos, but before I go..." A bold thought rose again in Gao De's eyes as they flashed with sharp light.

Although the Dragon Transformation Pool Secret Realm had collapsed and its core had suffered a cataclysmic explosion, it was, after all, a Forbidden Ground that the Dragon King had managed for many years, gathering countless Dragon Clan Essence Blood and Materials!

After the explosion, besides the destruction of the core evil dragon primordial fetus and the energy rampage, were there still things remaining in the peripheral areas, especially at the edges of the Blood Pools and the "treasures" he had marked but hadn't had time to collect?

For example, Formation Materials that weren't completely destroyed? Residual dragon blood crystals? Or even... fragments of storage Magic Treasures left behind when the Dragon King, Shadow Erosion, or those powerful Dragons fell?

More importantly, had the node connecting the "source eye" and the "Ancient Chidao" revealed more traces in the explosion?

Wealth is sought in danger, let alone such a once-in-a-lifetime "bottom-fishing" opportunity!

Bai Ze was gone, and the Dragon King's life or death was unknown, though he was likely heavily injured and dying or already fallen. Shadow Erosion had disappeared before the Heavenly Demon descended, and the three princes and their remnants were barely surviving. At this moment, the Dragon Transformation Pool Secret Realm was likely at its most vulnerable and chaotic!

"Opportunity knocks but once!" Gao De made up his mind.

He once again sacrificed the prison dragon talisman, attaching his Divine Sense to it and controlling the still-hidden motes of dust. He quietly drifted out of the rock crevice, heading toward the path he had come from, which led to the entrance of the Dragon Transformation Pool Secret Realm.

What he saw along the way was even more dilapidated than three days ago, but also more "empty."

Many survivors seemed to have fled this core ruin, with only a few weak-aura aquatic folk numbly rummaging through the rubble for any remaining treasures or low-grade Materials.

To prevent another crisis, the three princes had already withdrawn from this Secret Realm to rest outside.

Within the Secret Realm, the originally strict order of the Dragon Palace was now almost non-existent. Only occasionally could he feel one or two equally weak, cautious, and bewildered Divine Senses sweeping by.

The motes of dust successfully reached the area where the original Dragon Transformation Pool entrance was located.

This place was now unrecognizable.

That black obelisk had completely shattered, leaving only a mess of rubble on the ground.

The entrance had been replaced by a massive, constantly rotating dark vortex filled with chaotic energy and space fragments—a "spatial rift" formed after the Secret Realm's collapse.

A thick scent of blood and resentment lingered around the vortex. After Bai Ze's purification, although it was much thinner than three days ago, it was still uncomfortable.

However, the world-destroying energy explosion had subsided, leaving only unstable aftershocks.

Gao De controlled the motes of dust, cautiously approaching the edge of the vortex to carefully sense the situation inside.

The space inside the vortex was extremely turbulent; sending Divine Sense in was like a clay ox entering the sea, accompanied by a strong tearing sensation, but it wasn't completely impassable.

He felt that the collapsed Secret Realm connected by the vortex was in a slow process of self-repair. At this moment, it had instead formed some relatively stable "temporary passages" that could be traversed briefly.

It seemed the Formation constructing this space hadn't collapsed and could still barely maintain itself.

"I can go in! But I must be quick and not go deep into the core area!" Gao De assessed the risk.

He needed to choose a relatively safe passage to enter.

After observing for a moment, he selected a gap at the edge of the vortex where the energy flow was relatively smooth.

Controlling the motes of dust, he pushed the concealment power of the prison dragon talisman to its limit. Like a speck of dust naturally drawn in, he quietly drifted into that gap.

The familiar tearing and spatial shifting sensations returned, but they were much milder than when he had crossed the shattered barrier before.

A moment later, the motes of dust "landed" on a mess of dark red "land."

This was indeed the area of the Dragon Transformation Pool Secret Realm, but the scene was completely different from before.

Most of the boundless Blood Sea had disappeared, leaving only some dark red depressions of varying depths, like dried-up lakes, where thick blood scabs and incompletely absorbed residues had solidified.

The air was filled with the pungent smell of burning, blood, and energy scorching; the Spiritual Qi was thin and chaotic.

Most of the Formation nodes that originally supported the space had shattered, and the remaining runes were dim and lightless.

Above was a chaotic and distorted "sky," with small spatial cracks flashing from time to time.

"As expected..." Gao De felt reassured and began to control the motes of dust to move and scout quickly.

His goals were clear: first, find any remaining valuable "treasures," especially at those locations he had noted earlier that might have storage Magic Treasures or special Materials, focusing on collecting residual dragon blood essence; second, search for any visible traces of nodes connecting to the "source eye" or "Ancient Chidao"; third, observe the current state of the Secret Realm's core area.

The motes of dust were like an efficient train, shuttling through the devastated ruins of the Secret Realm.

For the first stop, he arrived at the general area where that sapphire storage bracelet had first been discovered.

Now, there was only a shallow pit washed out by energy. At the bottom lay scattered ordinary Ore fragments and dragon scale powder that had lost their spiritual light; the bracelet had long since been collected by him.

But he didn't give up. Scanning the bottom and surroundings of the pit, he actually found a small handful of buried sand grains shimmering with a faint seven-colored luster in a crack in the pit wall—Neon Light Star Sand!

This was a rare spatial-attribute auxiliary material that could be used to refine high-grade storage Magic Treasures or stabilize spatial Formations. It was quite valuable!

Although it was only a small handful, it was an unexpected boon, and he immediately collected it into the dragon talisman.

For the second stop, he headed to the area where several powerful reverse scale fragments had been floating in his memory.

That place was already a mess; most of the reverse scale fragments had been reduced to powder in the explosion.

But at the bottom of a deeper blood-scab depression, he found a scale the size of a palm. It was dark gold all over with edges as sharp as a knife; though covered in cracks, it still emitted a powerful dragon prestige!

This was very likely the remnant reverse scale of a certain Late Stage fourth-grade Dragon. This item was incredibly tough and was a top-tier material for refining defensive Magic Treasures!

He collected it carefully.

For the third stop, he tried to approach the periphery of the "placenta" area where the embryo core had been.

Looking from afar, a massive, bottomless dark pit had formed there. Terrifying energy radiation lingered at its edges, and from its depths, chaotic spatial currents and lingering evil auras faintly emanated—clearly the center of the massive explosion.

Gao De only dared to scan the edges of the pit from a great distance using the sensing limits of the motes of dust.

In a pile of rocks and blood-scab mixture thrown up by the shockwave and piled at the edge of the pit, he unexpectedly found a small section of broken "pipe" wreckage, neither metal nor jade, dark purple and covered in fine runes!

This seemed to be a fragment of the derivative umbilical cord used to transport pure energy between the "placenta" and the external Formation. The material was special and contained a strange Dao charm; perhaps it would be valuable for studying fifth-grade characteristics. Gao De collected it decisively.

Besides these target locations, Gao De didn't let any valuable "trash" along the way go to waste during his transit.

He found several relatively intact pieces of Blood Jade Coral containing pure water Spiritual Qi, likely from some spatial equipment crushed by the explosion. He also found a few Storage Rings that had lost their owners but were made of decent Materials. Their internal spaces were not small, and upon checking the contents, the owners were at least fourth-grade beings.

He even found a small pool of dark red viscous liquid in a crack that hadn't completely evaporated, containing faint dragon blood essence. It seemed to be the residual essence that had precipitated after the Blood Sea dried up, which he also carefully collected in a special jade bottle.

Of course, risks were always present in the Secret Realm.

Unstable energy currents still lingered in the Secret Realm, and small-scale spatial fragments would occasionally collapse.

Once, when the motes of dust passed through a seemingly calm area, the space suddenly collapsed, revealing a rift spewing foul blood Qi that almost sucked the motes of dust in.

Gao De steered the motes of dust away just in time, becoming even more cautious.

While scavenging for "treasures," Gao De also kept an eye out for traces that might connect to the "source eye" or "Ancient Chidao."

He noticed that after the Secret Realm's collapse, some geological structures originally hidden by Formations were now exposed.

On a rock wall about a dozen miles from the core explosion pit, he saw an extremely ancient, seemingly naturally formed massive rift.

The depths of the rift were pitch black, emitting a desolate, heavy aura that seemed to lead to another era.

At the edge of the rift were some stone-carved symbols, different from the Dragon Palace style and more rugged and ancient. The symbols were already blurred, but Gao De felt this was very likely an entrance or a related node to a branch of the Ancient Chidao ruins!

However, the space near the rift was extremely unstable, and there were powerful natural Restrictions remaining, making it impossible for him to explore now.

He simply memorized the location and characteristics, planning to return if he had the chance in the future.

As for the "source eye," he found no obvious traces. Perhaps it was hidden deep beneath the core explosion area or had another secret entrance; at least, he found no clues here.

After about half a day, Gao De had scavenged almost all the areas in the periphery that could be safely reached, reaping a bountiful harvest.

The pile of "spoils" inside the prison dragon talisman had grown considerably. Although mostly fragments, wreckage, or small portions of Materials, they were diverse and valuable. Many were rare items treasured by the deceased third and fourth-grade dragon sons and daughters.

"That's enough; time to go." Gao De knew that biting off more than he could chew was unwise, and the longer he stayed, the greater the risk.

He controlled the motes of dust, preparing to leave through the "passage" he had come in by.

Just as the motes of dust were about to reach the exit, Gao De suddenly had a thought and steered them toward the remote corner where he remembered the dragon girl Ao Xue had initially been floating.

That place was also a mess, with dried blood scabs and shattered rocks.

But in the deepest part of the corner, beneath a collapsed boulder, the sensing of the motes of dust captured an extremely faint yet exceptionally resilient scent of blood.

Gao De steered the motes of dust into the rock crevice and saw a small piece of strange scale beneath, palm-sized, thin as a cicada's wing, crystal clear like ten-thousand-year-old ice, and still flowing with a faint blood light!

The aura of this scale was of the same origin as the mutated Bloodline Power Ao Xue had emitted before, but it was purer and more ancient, seemingly the source that triggered her Bloodline mutation.

"Good stuff!" Gao De's eyes lit up.

This scale contained the core secrets and powerful strength of Ao Xue's mutated Bloodline. Whether used for research or refined into a Magic Treasure or Medicinal Pill in the future, its value was limitless.

He carefully collected this blood dragon scale.

With that, the scavenging operation ended successfully.

The motes of dust quietly passed through the "temporary passage" of the spatial vortex and returned to the ruins of Qianyuan City.

Gao De did not linger, controlling the motes of dust to return to his hiding place in the rock crevice at top speed.

Returning to his main body, Gao De immediately checked his gains, his heart filled with joy.

Although he hadn't obtained a complete "holy fetus" or a world-shaking treasure, the resources from this "ruin scavenging" trip were so abundant and rare that they far exceeded all his previous accumulations!

It was more than enough for him to re-refine and upgrade the purple scale earth-shaking armor and thunder fang formation-breaking halberd, refine a large number of auxiliary Medicinal Pills, Talismans, and Formations, and even train the Demon Soldiers under his command!

More importantly, he had obtained clues about the Ancient Chidao node and special items like Ao Xue's blood dragon scale, which might yield even greater value in the future.

"This place is not safe to stay; I must leave immediately!" Gao De suppressed his excitement and acted quickly.

He first moved Ao Xue out of the isolation space in the Talisman World and placed her into a spirit pet ring obtained from the ruins, which could hold living beings, and kept it close to him.

This would prevent the Talisman World from being exposed and make her easy to carry. As for Ao Xue herself, being in a coma, she naturally wouldn't have any objections.

Next, he categorized all his important gains and stored them properly.

The prison dragon talisman was once again nurtured within his Dantian.

Finally, he removed the Restriction at the rock crevice entrance, performed a concealment movement technique, transformed into a faint purple shadow that almost merged with the water, and quietly left the broken rock crevice, sneaking toward the underwater tunnel exit of Qianyuan City leading to the outside world.

It was still chaotic along the way, but no one had the energy to conduct inspections anymore.

Gao De avoided several areas where there were still slight energy currents and small groups of Demon Soldiers, successfully finding that still-passable underwater corridor.

Passing through the long corridor, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

The familiar, relatively murky but vast and boundless waters of a Qian River tributary appeared before him.

Looking back, the originally grand Secret Realm entrance of Qianyuan City was now just a collapsed, massive pit blocked by rubble and residual Formation light, like a silent scar. Fortunately, the city outside remained unaffected.

Several princes and the remaining dragon sons and daughters were in the city in seclusion to recover from their injuries. As for who would succeed to the position of Dragon Lord, that was not for Gao De to consider.

Gao De had no lingering attachment. Discerning the direction toward the intersection of the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range and the Qian River tributary, his body transformed into a swift Purple Lightning light, cutting through the water and racing into the distance without looking back.

Behind him were the collapsed Dragon Palace, the departed glory, and countless unsolved mysteries.

Ahead was the way home, his foundation, and new unknowns and challenges.

The journey to the Qianjiang Dragon Palace had been a life-or-death gamble for Gao De, as well as a transformative baptism.

He had taken away bountiful resources and secret clues, while also leaving behind deep-seated traces that would stir up trouble.

All of this would become crucial cornerstones and waves on his future path.

As for Bai Ze's meaningful glance, the ultimate fate of the Dragon King, Shadow Erosion, and the princes, and the Ancient Chidao and source eye connected to ancient secrets... these might cross paths with him again at some point in the future.

But for now, he only wanted to return to his Qianjiao Cliff as soon as possible to digest his gains, consolidate his cultivation, and protect and develop his own forces.

At this time, the Three Kingdoms Region also seemed increasingly crowded; perhaps he should carefully consider the future development of Qianjiao Cliff.

The Purple Lightning light sliced through the dark river water, drifting further away until it finally disappeared into the depths of the vast waters.

The waves of the Qian River seemed to temporarily settle with his departure.