135: Chapter 135

The ways of those ancient beings are truly beyond imagination.

"After all, it is the combination of two ancient Bloodlines. At first, the Mirage Dragon Clan was inconspicuous, but later they became a force not to be underestimated within the True Dragon tribes."

Taotie's voice cut in, "In the former Imperial Court of the Yao Race, they controlled a portion of the water Domain authority."

Their duty was to guard the estuaries of major rivers.

Therefore, since this sea beast before us has awakened the Mirage Dragon Bloodline, it must be receiving the call of the Legacy deep within its Bloodline, choosing to dwell in the Domain where land and sea meet.

"So that's it. No wonder Ling Xiao is so eager."

Xu Rufeng realized with a start.

Guarding the estuary?

Doesn't that mean they are already very close to their destination?

"Brother!"

"Please lend me a hand!"

Just then, Xiao's shout pierced through the water waves and reached them.

Xu Rufeng's snake tail lashed out violently, and his form catapulted from the small boat, kicking up a gust of fishy wind.

Crimson mist gushed from the gaps between his scales, wrapping around him like a burning cloud.

At the same time, his deliberately shrunken body began to expand and stretch, restoring its original, sky-covering silhouette.

A low hiss, as if from the depths of the earth, replaced all words.

The moment he took to the air, two figures had already completed their actions in tacit understanding.

A green light like a whip and a silver light like a net reached into the depths of the churning seawater simultaneously, twisting and pulling with combined force.

A heavy, hard-shelled giant object broke through the water, precisely thrown by that force toward the abyss-like maw that was already wide open and filled with sharp teeth.

"Hoo—"

A stream of scorching Qi erupted before the swallowing motion, followed immediately by a powerful suction force.

The giant clam, along with a large amount of salty seawater, vanished instantly into the depths of the dark throat.

Then, the massive snake body began to move.

It was not a simple coil, but a contraction and crushing force originating from within, transmitted segment by segment.

The muffled sound of bones rubbing against the shell was muffled by flesh and seawater, turning into a dull, teeth-grating noise.

This was a method he had only recently figured out—using the wrapping force meant for strangling prey, inside his body, on those hard-shelled "snacks."

His stomach sac had long been tempered like another layer of tough skin, and besides, before swallowing, the scorching Blood Qi had already wrapped around the prey.

Crushing it directly with his mind would work too, but this was more satisfying.

A familiar warm current immediately rose from his belly, rapidly spreading to his cold limbs and bones.

That was the taste of power being absorbed and transformed.

Every bit of extractable substance would not be wasted.

A hiccup smelling of the sea uncontrollably surged up.

The feeling of fullness was real, but recently, this fullness had almost become a daily norm.

"Tsk."

The black shadow watching from the side couldn't help but smack its lips, its tone mixed with undisguised sourness, "These teeth, this appetite..."

It seemed to recall some unbearable past events, and its muttering grew lower.

The obstacle had disappeared.

The churning waves gradually calmed down, and the thick fog that had been lingering persistently also seemed to thin out a little.

His vision was able to pierce through the hazy water vapor and look into the distance.

A huge, seemingly boundless shadow lay across the sea and sky.

It was less like an island and more like the back of a sunken continent protruding out.

And in the deepest part of the mist, the outline of majestic and ancient buildings was looming, silently exuding a heart-palpitating majesty.

Xu Rufeng squeezed a muffled sound from his throat.

Not long after.

The outline of the edge of that land was already right before his eyes.

He opened his mouth and spat out a ball made of crushed shells.

That thing was supported by the crimson mist, suspended in mid-air, about the length of an adult's arm.

"Yunzi," he turned to the person beside him, "Do you want this?"

Ling Yunzi glanced at the ball and shook his head: "I can't feel even a shred of Spiritual Qi, what's the point of taking it."

He paused, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness, "Next time, wait until the thing is actually useful before asking me."

Ling Xiao, who was about to leave the boat, heard the commotion and turned her head to glance at it.

She saw that mottled long snake balancing the large ball as if playing with a pearl, and the corner of her mouth twitched as she sneered: "You really licked it clean, just like a bone gnawed by the servants in the Prime Minister's mansion."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Even a wild dog wouldn't want it."

The Materials produced by the Flower Snake were completely ruined.

Xu Rufeng immediately raised his voice: "Did you hear that, Yunzi? Your second sister says you're a dog!"

Before Ling Yunzi could speak, Da Hei laughed first: "Interesting! Truly interesting!"

"Aren't snakes and dogs the same thing?"

"..."

"...Forget it, let's go ashore first."

...

After stepping onto solid ground, they put away the small boat and the flags used for the Formation.

There was no time for much rest.

Several pairs of eyes turned toward the hazy outline of the palace in the distance.

They had to figure out first whether it was an illusion caused by light and shadow.

After approaching, an open area paved with blue-gray stone slabs appeared before them, with five Dragon-shaped carvings coiled within it, their aura heavy and vast, by no means something that could be imitated by an illusion.

The stone surface was worn smooth by the years, reflecting the rising morning sun from the east, shimmering with a thin, almost sacred pale gold.

In the middle of the venue, stood a raised, Dragon-shaped stone platform.

The platform was covered with dense carvings, including Formation diagrams and ancient incantations.

Even now, those patterns were still faintly drawing in the surrounding flowing Spiritual Qi, maintaining a certain cycle in this area.

"Five?"

Xu Rufeng was the first to notice that the Dragon-shaped statues supporting the stone platform were, neither more nor less, exactly five.

Five Dragons?

But as far as he knew, there were clearly only four branches of the True Dragon Bloodline.

How could there be a statue of a fifth one?

And what was that extra one?

"The Five Dragons refer to the Azure Dragon, Red Dragon, Yellow Dragon, White Dragon, and Black Dragon."

Ling Xiao's voice came clearly.

The Azure Dragon is also known as the Azure Dragon.

The Yellow Dragon is sometimes also called the Golden Dragon.

The Black Dragon is the Li Dragon.

The White Dragon also has the alternative name of Jade Dragon.

"What about the Red Dragon?"

It wasn't that Xu Rufeng hadn't heard this name before.

It was just that the memory belonged to an earlier time.

The color 'Chi' is red.

In the past, he had seen the term "Red Dragon Stirs the Sea" in some medical books, which referred to moving the tongue between the teeth to stimulate saliva, considered a method for nourishing health.

"That lineage of the Red Dragon has long since vanished," Ling Xiao said. "Or rather, it has completely merged into the Bloodline of the Human Race."

Those who carry the Legacy of the Red Dragon are the co-rulers of the human world.

The emperors who have reigned throughout the ages on the Eastern land are all regarded as seeds left behind by the Red Dragon.

One can no longer find the continuation of the Red Dragon Bloodline here.

"Can people called the seeds of the Red Dragon not awaken their Bloodline Power?"

Xu Rufeng asked.

"Naturally not," Ling Xiao's response was brief, "Ordinary human monarchs, although protected by Dragon Qi and national destiny, have no connection to Cultivate."

What she controls is less a territory and more a Sect.

Precisely because of this, she is not bound by such constraints.

The plaza was so open that one could see it all at a glance, and there was nothing worth stopping for.

The group did not stay long either. They walked straight through.

Further inside, a continuous stretch of palaces unfolded.

They perched on the mountain ridge like the sleeping bones of a giant beast, or like a solidified thunderbolt between heaven and earth, silently recording the long-faded glory.

It was just that time is like a chisel, leaving pits of varying depths on the surface of past glory; and time is also like water, silently flowing over, washing away too many old stories.

Walking through it, one only felt that this dilapidated and deep palace was filled with some indescribable atmosphere.

The palace walls were too high.

Everywhere, it seemed as if Dragon-shaped phantoms were flickering.

It always made one feel that a tyrannical and condescending gaze was hidden behind the hazy mist.

"Heh."

Xu Rufeng exhaled a long breath from his throat.

Then he lowered his body, spun around on the spot, and revealed his true form.

A huge mottled long snake.

Its body was nearly forty zhang long.

It raised its head and gently flicked the tip of its tail.

"This is much more comfortable."

Winding and moving through the palaces in this form was much more comfortable than before.

Finally, he didn't have to endure that oppression of being examined from above.

"Your snake body seems to have grown thicker again?"

Ling Xiao glanced at him, tapped her toes, and lightly stepped onto it.

"Perhaps."

Xu Rufeng didn't pay it any mind. He had long ceased to pay much attention to the subtle changes in his body size.

Ling Yunzi also leaped onto the snake's back.

Da Hei scrambled onto the snake's head in a few quick moves.

The group continued to head deeper.

The palaces were scattered according to the mountain terrain, the main structures built with giant stones. Eroded by years of wind and rain, the stone surfaces had long become dull and mottled, with dark green moss crawling all over the cracks.

On some of the remaining walls, one could still discern the carvings of True Dragon totems: dragon heads held high, sharp claws spread out. Even though the outlines were worn blurry by time, the pressure and power originating from the ancient past could still seep out from the damaged stone patterns.

Ling Yunzi scanned with his Divine Sense and said: "Only the shell remains; the inside has long been exhausted."

These statues were merely traces left by True Dragons. It was a pity that the Divine Thought within them had long dissipated. Otherwise, they wouldn't have decayed to this extent.

A faint mist always lingered around the palace complex, and daylight shone through the thin haze, falling on the broken eaves, the clear light and the darkness deep within the palace cutting into each other.

Diluting the aura where dominance and sacredness were intertwined, making it even thinner.

When the wind swept over the palace walls, it carried the smell of old wood mixed with wet soil, and occasionally a long, wailing sound came from those towering, broken doorways. It was unclear whether it was the friction of airflow or something else, but it just made one's spine go cold.

The once prominent palaces were now just a few solitary walls standing among the weeds, like the skeletons of forgotten giant beasts.

The further in they went, the thicker the darkness became, and even the occasional leaking daylight was swallowed up.

They didn't stop along the way and walked straight toward the largest building at the end of the central axis—that was the core of the entire ruin.

The main hall was even more oppressive than it looked from a distance. But no matter how magnificent it was, it couldn't hide the traces of collapsing pillars and peeling paint.

Crossing the threshold, the first things to catch the eye were the stone pillars supporting the dome—each one so thick that it required several people to embrace it, and the reliefs coiled around the pillars seemed to be slowly wriggling in the dimness.

"Are they carved, or are they real?"

Xu Rufeng extended the tip of his tail and lightly touched the surface of the stone pillar.

The Dragon-shaped patterns coiled from the base of the pillar to the top, with distinct scales and sharp claws, as if they would break out of the stone the next moment.

But upon closer inspection, one could see countless fine cracks covering the entire dragon body. Not just the exterior, but even the interior retained a certain vitality. No, it should be said that it was the void left after the vitality had dissipated.

"This is the Imperial Mausoleum of the True Dragon." Ling Xiao exhaled, her voice sounding very light in the emptiness.

"So these on the pillars... are all the remains of the Dragon Clan?"

Xu Rufeng craned his neck. This was truly incredible. He couldn't help but imagine what these creatures looked like when they were still alive.

"One would be enough for me to eat for several days."

"Ha!" Da Hei laughed out loud, "Why don't you say you aren't even enough to fill the gaps between their teeth?"

"Hmph! How could I diminish my own prestige!"

"This hall won't last much longer." Ling Yunzi's gaze swept over the surrounding pillars and beams.

The buildings in the Azure Dragon Secret Realm seemed to have been forged using Materials similar to the plaque of the Sin Prison main hall, and Divine Sense was suppressed to be extremely thin here. But just by eyes and experience, one could see the clues.

"The Spiritual Vein underground is about to dry up."

The True Dragon of the Yao Race had long become a legend. The Spiritual Vein of the Azure Dragon Secret Realm had been continuously mined for thousands of years, and after losing its master's maintenance, the various Formations were still automatically running, constantly extracting the remaining Spiritual Qi.

Just like this hall before them. This entire hall was itself a tomb. The stone pillars and Dragon remains were all part of the Formation. If it weren't for the Formation sealing it, everything would have long turned into dust.

"Let's go, there's nothing to see here." Ling Xiao signaled to Xu Rufeng.

The Dragon remains coiled on the pillars had flesh and bones that were like dregs after being squeezed dry, with nothing left.

"The essence has long been drained; there is no use in looking further." Ling Yunzi followed up.

If it weren't for the Formation maintaining that last bit of form, I'm afraid a light touch would cause them to crumble into ashes.

Actually, without them saying it, Xu Rufeng had already felt it. Xu Rufeng hardly had to put any thought into it.