Qin Yun looked at the vast West Sea and pondered. “According to the Myriad Temple’s intelligence, the Ancient Skydragon Palace has twelve entrances. The Four Seas Dragon race has been exploring them for more than six thousand years! However, in the last three thousand years, no Skydragon Blood Crystal has been obtained. The Four Seas Dragon race has many experts, and I’m sure that in the past three thousand years there have been experts who have stepped into the Dao. If I use the same old entrances, the chances of me obtaining a Skydragon Blood Crystal are slim.”
“If I can find a new entrance that leads into a new area of the Ancient Skydragon Palace, perhaps I might be able to obtain a Skydragon Blood Crystal.”
“The Yi family members left Kunlun Prefecture and entered the West Sea. They flew the whole way and this is their last known location before they disappeared. And here is where the Ancient Skydragon Palace is.” Qin Yun compared the maps. “If the Yi family members had accidentally entered the Ancient Skydragon Palace, they might have entered from the southeast!”
Qin Yun gently drew a circle over the likely areas.
“I’ll investigate the area around here.”
Sou!
He cast Beam Transformation Art and rapidly tore through the sky. After some flying, he plummeted deep into the sea.
At the bottom of the sea.
There were corals and schools of fish. Qin Yun stayed close to the seabed as the water naturally parted.
“The Ancient Skydragon Palace has profound array formations. I will not be able to sense them with my psyche,” thought Qin Yun. “I can only use my sword intent domain to probe. Thankfully, my sword intent domain covers a thousand feet of my surroundings.”
As he flew beneath the sea, he gradually entered a region of the Ancient Skydragon Palace according to the map’s markings.
“Oh?” Qin Yun’s expression changed slightly. Despite seeing an underwater mountain, he could not approach it no matter how hard he tried. “I can see it but I can’t reach it.”
“I’ll retreat. I should give it another try from a different spot.”
Qin Yun retreated.
The spot where the Yi family members disappeared was close to the Ancient Skydragon Palace but Qin Yun still needed to extrapolate their general direction. He could only make repeated attempts, probing carefully with his thousand-feet-range sword intent domain, in search of the array formation’s entrance. However, most regions of the array formation were operating normally. Qin Yun’s efforts were wasted time and time again.
He was also certain that nothing about this was a coincidence. The transmission marks of the Yi family members were clearly still there but they could not be contacted. That meant that they were trapped in some odd space! The surrounding area happened to have the Ancient Skydragon Palace, so how could it be a coincidence?
Therefore, he could only take it slow.
…
In what seemed like a blink of an eye, he had spent slightly more than half a month probing the area.
“Brother Yun, have you found my Yi family members?” On the seabed, Qin Yun was communicating with Yi Xiao using his Inspect Heavenly Token.
“No, I’m still looking for them.” Qin Yun shook his head.
“You have already been searching for so long and have done your best. If you can’t find them, just forget it. I heard you mention the Ancient Skydragon Palace. That is quite a dangerous place,” said Yi Xiao.
“The Ancient Skydragon Palace’s array formation keeps throwing me off the path. I’ll give it another try. If they have entered, as I surmise, I should be able to enter too,” said Qin Yun. “Every time I advance, I record my path. Xiaoxiao, don’t worry.”
Yi Xiao nodded. “Alright, just remember that we are only lending a hand to help others. Don’t endanger yourself.”
“Rest assured, my wife.” Qin Yun grinned.
Although he had informed his wife about the Ancient Skydragon Palace, he temporarily kept the matter about the search for the Skydragon Blood Crystal and saving Ao Xue from her.
He would inform her only after he found it.
In another blink of an eye, three more days passed. Qin Yun retreated time and time again. He tried different paths to advance towards the Ancient Skydragon Palace and recorded the details of his travels every time.
“Oh?”
On the seabed, the seawater was naturally parted around Qin Yun. He revealed a look of surprise.
His repeated searches were indeed very dull and boring. If it were not for Yi Xiao’s mother, Qin Yun would have given up long ago. He felt a little jaded after more than twenty days of fruitless searching.
But at that moment—
Although he could not see it with his naked eyes, Qin Yun’s sword intent domain could sense an entrance 920 feet away from where he was. When he sent his sword intent domain in, he could sense a brand new world.
“I found it.” Qin Yun was excited. “The flaw in the array formation’s operations.”
“An array formation that has existed since ancient times. With the array formation operational, the Ancient Skydragon Palace disappeared and could not be found. Six thousand years ago, the ancient array formation finally began to show its flaws, resulting in the palace’s detection,” thought Qin Yun. “The Four Seas Dragon race has obtained sizable amounts of treasure, such as the Skydragon Blood Crystal they go crazy for, on their expeditions. However, all twelve known entrances have been swept clean numerous times.”
“This is an entrance that has not been marked on the map.”
“I wonder if the lost Yi family members entered through this entrance. Whether they did or not, it’s definitely another entrance to the Ancient Skydragon Palace.” Qin Yun felt undulating emotions as he took out an Inspect Heavenly Token.
A projection appeared in front of him. It was light blue-dressed Yi Xiao in front of a drawing board. She was drawing talismans.
“Brother Yun.” Yi Xiao beamed.
“I found it. I found the entrance,” said Qin Yun.
“You finally found it? Are they inside?” asked Yi Xiao.
“I do not know. I have to go in to take a look. But once I enter, you might not be able to contact me,” said Qin Yun. “I believe transmissions are shielded inside, so don’t be worried if you can’t contact me.”
“You have to be careful.” Yi Xiao turned nervous when she heard that.
Qin Yun looked at his wife, feeling both nervous and anticipant. He looked forward to finding the Skydragon Blood Crystal and informing his wife about her mother when the time came.
“Wait for me to return.” After Qin Yun cut the transmission, he headed for the entrance. But as he flew towards it, he felt distortions from the array formation. The more he flew, the farther he seemed to get from the entrance.
Thankfully, he had the entrance pinpointed. Only after attempting more than ten times did he reach the entrance.
His sword intent domain around him tore through the obstruction as Qin Yun entered through the array formation’s flaw.
…
The moment he entered, Qin Yun saw a towering and grandiose palace. It was ancient and it extended far out. It was even bigger than the West Sea Dragon Palace. Furthermore, it was made mostly of crystal, making it exude a picturesque beauty.
However, portions of the ancient crystal palace were in ruins. From afar, Qin Yun could see blood stains.
“Hu! Hu! Hu!”
Bloodlust auras lingered.
Despite the blood stains having existed since time immemorial, the bloodlust aura in them was still fresh. It even gave Qin Yun a repressive feeling.
“This must be a bloodstain left behind from the ancient Skydragon’s final fight,” thought Qin Yun. “According to data on the other twelve entrances, one of the entrances allowed one to barely see the ancient Skydragon’s corpse from afar.”
The ancient Skydragon’s corpse remained in the palace to this date.
According to the information, it was believed that the ancient Skydragon had killed an Other Realm Fiendcelestial and died from heavy injuries. But before his death, he had sealed off the entire Skydragon Palace. He did not wish for his corpse to be desecrated or controlled by other fiendcelestials. After all, a Skydragon corpse had many uses. He had protected his corpse very well.
He had sealed off the entire dragon palace and locked it down with array formations. Even now, immortals and fiendcelestials were unable to enter. His corpse was hidden at the core of the palace. Even thousands of years later, one could only see it from afar through a crack in the palace’s crumbled walls.
“How exquisite.”
As Qin Yun walked, he entered one of the palace corridors that was closest to him. The corridor was laid out with large crystal panels that showed his reflection.
“This must be done through a Dharmic spell. This crystal is frozen in place. More than ninety percent of the palace is constructed with crystal. How extravagant. The ancient Skydragon’s Dharmic powers were just too immense. If it were me, I’ll barely be able to construct a hall while constantly freezing crystal.” Qin Yun gasped in awe. He was also very careful as he had his sword intent domain permeate his surroundings.
He entered the hall that was closest to him.
“Whoosh–Whoosh–”
Invisible auras howled as they infiltrated Qin Yun’s sword intent domain. Immediately, they showed themselves.
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
Two blood-colored blobs of mist took form as they rapidly surged at Qin Yun.
Qin Yun’s expression changed slightly.
“Break!”
The sword intent domain barely blocked them. The two blobs of mist constantly encroached upon him, occasionally transforming into sinister-looking heads that stared at Qin Yun, or strange dancing boys and girls. They were shockingly mesmerizing but with Qin Yun’s soul having reached the Connate Golden Core level, and his achieving the Sword Intent Paramount realm, how could he fall for charms that easily? The two blobs of mist flew about five hundred feet into Qin Yun’s sword intent domain before dissipating.
“Just two aura blobs can resist the sword intent domain for that long?” Qin Yun’s expression changed slightly. “For it to be so sinister, it has to be a fiend’s aura. Even great fiendish demons are not that terrifying. It has to be a fiendcelestial. It could even be the Other Realm Fiendcelestial that had been killed.”
“It died in ancient times but the remnant auras it leaves behind are still this terrifying? Or could I have guessed wrongly?”
Qin Yun turned more vigilant.
From accounts of the other twelve entrances, there was an instance of seeing the ancient Skydragon’s corpse from afar but the Other Realm Fiendcelestial’s corpse or aura were not detected. It could also be possible that the Four Seas’ Dragon race had discovered it but it was not included in the intelligence the Myriad Temple gave him.
After a cursory look at the hall, he proceeded through a side door.
Just a few steps later, Qin Yun saw two men dressed in Daoist robes. They were sitting cross-legged a distance away in the hall’s passage. However, they were motionless with their faces occasionally twitching.
“Found them.”