54: Chapter 54 Bravely Ventures into the Dragon Realm

Central State, Heavenly Saint City. Deep within the Great Xia Imperial Palace.

Xia Ruotian, dressed in simple hemp clothes, sat by the pond in the Imperial Garden feeding the fish. The pond water was a dark red, and within it surged a dozen Man-eating Blood Flood Dragons, each several dozen feet long.

Xia Qingyue stood three paces away, reporting on the movements of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion.

Xia Ruotian scattered the last handful of bait into the pond. Several Blood Flood Dragons leaped out of the water to fight for it, splashing water onto the bluestone pavement.

"Everlasting Gu Family." Xia Ruotian spoke, his voice steady. "A power whose roots cannot be traced; it has been a long time since such a thing appeared in the Central State. That old fellow Lu Changtian broke through to the Saint realm and immediately visited the Star-Plucking Tower. He is demonstrating his power to Us."

Xia Qingyue lowered her head. "Imperial Father, your daughter has reached an agreement with the Master of Tianji Pavilion. For the Great Xia Secret Realm trial, the Gu Family will send someone to participate."

Xia Ruotian turned around. This Human Emperor of Great Xia looked to be barely in his early forties, with slightly graying temples. He looked at Xia Qingyue. "You traded twenty percent of the national treasury to have the Gu Family support your ascension to the throne."

Xia Qingyue knelt on the ground. "Your daughter does not dare to deceive Imperial Father."

"Rise." Xia Ruotian pointed at the Blood Flood Dragons in the pond. "The Imperial Family raises Gu; only the one who survives to the end can transform into a Dragon. Those two useless brothers of yours—We have already stripped them of their titles. The Secret Realm trial is not just for finding opportunities, it is also the final coliseum to determine the winner between you. If the Gu Family wants to meddle in Great Xia's family affairs, we shall see if they have the teeth for it."

"What does Imperial Father mean?"

"The Secret Realm suppresses all external forces. Only the younger generation under thirty years of bone age can enter. Who is the Gu Family sending?"

"The Master of Tianji Pavilion' eldest Disciple, Ji Ruxue."

Xia Ruotian smiled. "A girl who has just undergone Awakening. Let her in. The core of the Great Xia Secret Realm is the Dragon Vein; outsiders can only wander the periphery. Prepare yourself; lead the team out in three days."

Xia Qingyue took her orders and withdrew.

Xia Ruotian looked at the empty Imperial Garden and muttered to himself, "The Heavenly Dao is being restored, the Golden Great Era is beginning. The prophecy left by the ancestors is about to be fulfilled in this generation."

He raised his right hand, and an ancient seal appeared in his palm. A kongtong seal fragment. It was the foundation that suppressed the Luck of the Great Xia Dynasty.

Top floor of the Star-Plucking Tower.

The frequency of Gu Sheng's finger tapping on the table slowed down.

"If I can't descend as a Saint, then I'll set the limit at the very top. A Half-Saint."

["Half-Saint Experience Card (Permanent)", priced at fifteen million exchange points,] the System announced the price. [Friendly reminder: the Heavenly Dao of the Eastern Region is incomplete. A Half-Saint is the limit this world can accommodate. Any higher, and the Lightning Tribulation will directly sink the Eastern Region.]

"Buy it."

The account balance plummeted.

A dark gold card formed within Gu Sheng's Sea of Consciousness. The card depicted a hunched old man carrying a rusty iron sword on his back.

[Character Card: Ye Ku. Cultivation: Half-Saint. Trait: "Sword Drawn, No Return"—extremely strong in combat against those of the same rank.]

"Deploy him to the edge of the Guixu," Gu Sheng commanded. "Let Ye Yuan take him inside. The Dragon Clan has survived since ancient times; their foundation is unfathomable. With just a Nascent Soul Stage Clone, he wouldn't even be able to get through the front door."

Guixu.

Ye Yuan stood before a spatial rift. Ahead, seawater poured into a bottomless abyss without a single sound.

The space rippled.

A hunched old man appeared out of thin air. Dressed in gray hemp clothes, he carried a sheathed iron sword on his back.

The old man opened his eyes, his murky pupils turning toward Ye Yuan as he bowed. "This old one is Ye Ku. Greetings, Divine Son."

There was no useless chatter.

Ye Yuan took out three drops of Ao Guang's essence blood. A blue light shone, enveloping the two of them.

They stepped into the Guixu.

Stepping through that distorted curtain of water, a sense of weightlessness hit them. There was no torrential seawater as expected, only a dim, yellow, and deathly silent world.

Beneath their feet was parched, cracked red earth, and a broken blood moon hung in the sky. The air was thick with an ancient, desolate smell of rust. On the distant horizon, unknown beast bones as massive as mountain ranges were scattered about.

Ye Yuan stepped on the gravel, making a crisp sound. Ye Ku, with his hunched back, followed three paces behind. The rusty iron sword was tucked diagonally across his back, making him look exactly like an ordinary old man on his last legs.

"This is the Guixu?" Gu Sheng asked through his Divine Sense.

[A fragment of an ancient battlefield. It was intercepted by a master of Divine Abilities and refined into a Sumeru Mustard Space,] the System's mechanical voice said with a hint of schadenfreude. [Host, the Spiritual Qi concentration here is ten times that of the outside world. The Dragon Clan has lived and bred here for hundreds of thousands of years. Guess how many old monsters are hidden inside?]

"The more old monsters, the better. Only then will the carriage-pullers be prestigious enough." Gu Sheng sipped his tea in the Star-Plucking Tower.

At the end of the red wasteland ahead stood two towering stone pillars. Two massive creatures were coiled around the pillars. These were not four-legged snakes with a single horn like the Dragon King of the East Sea Ao Guang, but true Five-Clawed Golden Dragons. Their golden scales reflected a cold metallic luster under the blood moon, their whiskers fluttered in the wind, and every breath they took caused the surrounding Spiritual Qi to form small vortices.

Mahayana Stage.

The mere gatekeepers were at the Mahayana Stage.

The Dragon Clan was as powerful as imagined, truly worthy of a power that had survived since the ancient era. With such a foundation, any single one of them could walk unhindered through the Eastern Region.

"Halt, visitors." The Golden Dragon on the left opened its eyes, its millstone-sized vertical pupils locking onto Ye Yuan. It spoke in human tongue, its voice vibrating so hard that the surrounding space rippled visibly to the naked eye.

Ye Yuan stopped walking. His Ancient Desolate Magic Body's dark bronze skin felt a faint sting under the impact of the sound waves. "Ye Yuan of the Hidden Ye Family. I've come to pick out a few mounts."

The two Golden Dragons were stunned. For hundreds of thousands of years, aside from some brainless deep-sea beasts that had lost their way, no one had been able to pass through the external Law barrier. A living person finally shows up, and the first thing he says is that he wants to use them as mounts?

"Arrogance!"