Chapter 42 Early Arrival
He finally arrived at the entrance of the Ten Thousand Dragon Secret Realm in the Northern Region by evening.
From afar, he could see hundreds of dragon soldiers guarding the entrance. Each one was clad in dragon scale armor, wielding a trident, and glaring ferociously at their surroundings. The entrance to the secret realm was shrouded in a thick barrier of dragon aura, covered in ancient runes that looked formidable.
"Tsk tsk, the defense is quite tight," Emperor Cao Xukun muttered, squatting on a hilltop while gnawing on a chicken leg. "It's a pity, though; you can keep others out, but you can't stop a cheater like me."
He wiped his mouth, silently cast "Space Teleportation", and his entire body instantly turned into a beam of white light, passing straight through the barrier and appearing inside the secret realm.
The dragon soldiers guarding the outside didn't even lift an eyelid; they had no idea someone had already slipped in.
"Done!" Emperor Cao Xukun clapped his hands and looked around.
He saw towering ancient trees everywhere, the ground carpeted with golden fallen leaves. The air was filled with a rich dragon aura, making one feel refreshed with just a single breath. In the distance, ancient palaces could be vaguely seen hidden among the clouds and mist.
[Ding! Detected that the host has entered the Ten Thousand Dragon Secret Realm!]
[Current location: Secret Realm Outer Forest]
[Distance to Dragon God Treasury: 30 km]
[Distance to Dragon God Inheritance Hall: 50 km]
[1 km ahead is the Ancient Dragon-Trapping Formation, 5 km ahead is the Myriad Arrow Formation, 10 km ahead is the Magma Fire Sea Formation]
"Holy crap, so many traps?" Emperor Cao Xukun raised an eyebrow. "But to me, they're all just for show."
Saying this, he activated Space Teleportation again, skipping directly past the Dragon-Trapping Formation.
The ancient formation that would normally take three days and three nights to break was bypassed without him even glancing at it; he simply teleported to the other side.
"Is that it? Is the dragon race's trap designer an idiot? Creating all this flashy stuff for nothing." Emperor Cao Xukun scoffed. "Pure formalism."
For the rest of the journey, Emperor Cao Xukun kept his Space Teleportation cheat on the whole time.
Myriad Arrow Formation? He just teleported past it, not even touching a single arrow.
Magma Fire Sea Formation? He teleported straight to the opposite bank, not even getting his shoes dirty.
And what about poison fog formations, boulder formations, illusion formations... all the traps he could think of were easily bypassed by his teleportation. He plowed through everything without leaving a single footprint.
The treasury door was forged from a single piece of ten-thousand-year black iron, engraved with nine coiled golden dragons. The dragon heads faced the entrance, holding dragon pearls in their mouths and emitting a terrifying pressure. There was also a huge lock on the door that required nine dragon crystals to open.
"Yo, they even have a combination lock." Emperor Cao Xukun circled the door. "Too bad for you, I don't need a key."
He activated Space Teleportation again, and with a "swish", he appeared directly inside the treasury.
"Done! Unlocking it? Not a chance, I just walk through walls." Emperor Cao Xukun whistled triumphantly, but when he looked up, he was instantly stunned.
Oh my god!
This isn't a treasury; this is a mountain of gold and silver!
The entire treasury was as large as a football field, with the floor piled high with glittering spirit stones, ranging from low-grade to top-grade, forming small hills. The walls were hung with all sorts of ancient artifacts—long swords, broadswords, armor, shields—each exuding a rich spiritual aura. In the corners were rows of jade bottles filled with various immortal elixirs and medicines, with immortal energy wafting from their openings.
"Holy crap! I'm rich!" Emperor Cao Xukun's eyes went wide, and he almost drooled. "The dragon race is too rich! They're more than ten times wealthier than the Heavenly Dao Alliance! If Long Aotian got his hands on this, wouldn't he just take off?"
"Too bad it's all mine now!"
Without saying another word, Emperor Cao Xukun took out the chaos ring and began to loot frantically.
"Spirit stones! Take it all!"
"Artifacts! Take it all!"
"Elixirs! Take it all!"
"And this dragon scale armor! Not bad, not bad. It'll fit Li Tieniu perfectly; he's thick-skinned and can take a beating."
"This dragon saliva incense! Top quality! I'll take it back for Qingyue and Qingying to help them sleep."
"These dragon blood pearls! I'll give them to Hao'er and Xuan'er as toys; they're perfect for tempering their bodies."
He muttered to himself while collecting, his hands moving incredibly fast, and the space in the chaos ring was slowly being filled.
[Ding! Obtained 1,000,000 top-grade spirit stones!]
[Ding! Obtained 300 ancient artifacts!]
[Ding! Obtained 50 bottles of Grade 9 Dragon Origin Pills!]
[Ding! Obtained one piece of Dragon God Armor!]
[Ding! Obtained 500,000 system points!]
The system notification sounds kept ringing in his head, and Emperor Cao Xukun couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear.
As he was looting, he suddenly discovered a hidden compartment in the deepest part of the treasury.
He opened the hidden compartment and saw a palm-sized golden box lying inside.
"Hmm? What's this? Hidden so deep, it must be something good."
Emperor Cao Xukun opened the box, and inside lay a crystal-clear dragon pearl, emitting a soft golden light.
[Ding! Discovered myriad dragon pearl!]
[myriad dragon pearl: The core of the Ten Thousand Dragon Secret Realm, containing the dragon aura of the entire realm; holding it allows one to control the Ten Thousand Dragon Secret Realm.]
"Holy crap! It's actually the secret realm core!" Emperor Cao Xukun was so excited he almost jumped up. "This is the treasure of all treasures! With this, the entire Ten Thousand Dragon Secret Realm is mine! Even if that kid Long Aotian gets in, he'll only be left with nothing to eat!"
He carefully tucked the myriad dragon pearl into his robe and continued looting.
Another hour passed, and the entire Dragon God Treasury had been cleaned out, not even leaving a speck of dust on the floor.
The once magnificent and golden treasury was now completely empty, cleaner than his own face.
Emperor Cao Xukun patted the chaos ring and nodded with satisfaction. "Not bad, not bad, a full harvest. This was a massive profit!"
He looked around the empty treasury and stroked his chin with a wicked grin. "Little brother Long Aotian, thank you so much for working so hard to save up all these treasures for me. When you come in and see this, won't you be so angry you just die on the spot?"
"But I'm a good person, so I have to leave you something to remember me by."
He took a piece of paper from his robe and used a charcoal pen to write a few large characters: "Emperor Cao Xukun was here. I've gratefully accepted the treasures. Remember to save more next time."
He then stuck the paper on the most conspicuous wall of the treasury.
"Perfect!" Emperor Cao Xukun clapped his hands, turned around, and walked out of the treasury.
"Next, it's time to go check out the Dragon God Inheritance Hall."
"Long Aotian's destined inheritance, right? I want to see what kind of inheritance could make him the Son of Destiny."
"Don't worry, I will definitely 'take good care' of it for you."
Emperor Cao Xukun activated Space Teleportation and flew toward the Dragon God Inheritance Hall.
Meanwhile, outside the secret realm, Long Aotian was leading the Eight Great Elders, walking toward the entrance of the secret realm in high spirits.
He was wearing a golden dragon robe, a dragon crown on his head, and his eyes were filled with confidence.
"Elders, once I obtain the Dragon God inheritance and awaken the supreme bloodline, I will unify the demon race, then lead my troops south to overthrow the Great Xuan Dynasty and kill that traitor Emperor Cao Xukun!"
"By then, I will be the master of the entire Xuanhuang Mortal Realm!"
The Eight Great Elders flattered him: "Young Master is wise! It is destined by Heaven! That clown Emperor Cao Xukun is no match for you at all!"
Long Aotian laughed triumphantly, completely unaware that the Dragon God Treasury he had been longing for had been cleaned out, not even leaving a single hair behind.