“Hehe, is Lord Helian pronouncing the verdict for me?” Hearty laughter wafted over from the aerial vessel, though what could be seen was only a figure gradually coming down from above. He was obviously stepping on air, yet he trod as if walking down from a flight of stairs.
This person was an old man who appeared to be in his sixties; his vitality seemed to be somewhat waning, and he was no longer in his prime, yet he still stood ramrod straight. There were several dragon scales on both his cheeks, bestowing him with a strange countenance.
Behind him, a dozen youngsters emerged, and also descended from the aerial vessel one after another.
Ling Han’s eyes narrowed instantly, for he actually caught sight of Xu Xiu Ran, Small Sword Emperor, Dong Ling’er—the outstanding figures of the five ancient clans.
“Mo Yuan!” Xianyu Tong immediately called out, a sense of dread reflecting in the depths of his eyes.
Not only him—both Helian Rong and Wenren Jie were also like that. They did not look down on this old man just because he appeared aged and his vitality was waning. Mo Yuan, the clan king from the last generation of the Mo Clan. Because of the emergence of a rare gifted genius in the Mo Clan a hundred years ago, he relinquished the position of the king ahead of time—otherwise, even if he was to sit on the position till he died of old age, there would not be anyone who would have dared to say anything with his qualifications.
He was an antique, but his combat strength was absolutely frightening; perhaps he might not even lose to Wenren Jie.
“I had no choice, these several humans came from the five sects of the middle state—just a moment ago, they came out from the Dragon Shrine, bearing the personal orders from the Dragon Emperor that I bring them to Ghostly Dragon Cave for a trip. I had no choice but to reluctantly undertake the task,” Mo Yuan laughingly uttered by way of an explanation somewhat.
Wenren Jie and the other ultimate elites all snorted—even if it was the Dragon Emperor’s arrangement that these humans enter into the Ghostly Dragon Cave, should it not be that these people ought to be bringing the personal orders of the Dragon Emperor here to the north sea to seek them, the three great royal clans of the north sea?
Why was the Mo Clan from the west sea the one bringing them over?
The reason for this was certainly not as simple as the Mo Clan claimed, so there inevitably had to still be something fishy.
Ling Han’s heart also shivered greatly, could it be that… the five great sects have already come to form an agreement with the Sea Race, after which the two powerful factions would be joining forces to stand against the Purple Moon Kingdom, and perhaps to wipe out the Great Ling Dynasty as well while at it?
This was not good news—the strength of the Sea Race was no less than that of the five great sects, and might even be superior. With these two strong parties joining forces, whether the Purple Moon Kingdom would be able to resist or not was still unknown, but the Great Ling Dynasty would be flanked by an elite on both sides. Furthermore, it was fully dependent on their mood whether to act on the Great Ling Dynasty. This was horrible.
On this trip to the Ghostly Dragon Cave, he had to obtain enough treasures to elevate his cultivation level. Only he himself was the most reliable assurance.
“Ling Han, you can really run about, even here I am also able to chance upon you!” Xu Xiu Ran said in a raised voice.
Ling Han was astonished to stumble upon them here, yet the five of them were actually even more shocked. In reality, the five of them had brought personal orders from important persons of the five sects in order to present themselves before the Dragon Emperor; coincidentally, Mo Yuan happened to be there and volunteered for escorting them here.
Of course, Mo Yuan did not do it for naught, conveniently getting a few descendants of the Mo Clan to enter as well—after all, the Ghostly Dragon Cave was the private property belonging to the north sea, and the past Mo Clan could not have had any part in it at all and could only watch on with envy.
In this way, everyone was happy.
But how did Ling Han get here?
A smile spread across Ling Han’s face as he said, “I advise you all to refrain from entering, otherwise… you all might possibly lose your lives.”
The five including Xu Xiu Ran all revealed a look of anger on their faces. They represented the strongest combat strength of the younger generation, yet this person actually dared to look down on them so much—it was abominable! Unable to control herself, Dong Ling’er taunted, “You are merely dependent on a formation, do you think we’ll be unprepared this time?”
Ling Han uttered an ‘Oh’ in response. He managed to con them into telling something about their trump card—although he had yet to know what it was, but it should be able to match the Ice Dragon Ground Blast Formation.
As soon as the words left her mouth, Dong Ling’er realized that she had let the cat out of the bag. However, she was not overly concerned—after all, it was inevitable that she’d need to use this trump card anyways if she were to go up against Ling Han.
“Where are the personal orders of the Dragon Emperor?” Wenren Jie asked with cold indifference. He had naturally ignored completely the conflicts between juniors like Ling Han and Xu Xiu Ran’s group of five.
Mo Yuan flung his hand out, and a golden scroll was instantly hurled in Wenren Jie’s direction. After catching it, the latter promptly unfolded and glanced through it, and the expression on his face abruptly darkened.
He then tossed the scroll over to Helian Rong, who, after looking through it, then gave it to Xianyu Tong. Sure enough, it was clearly from the Dragon Emperor’s hand, no doubt about that. They were to properly receive Xu Xiu Ran’s group of five; they were honored guests.
This was a decree from the Imperial Family—who in the four seas would dare not to abide by it?
All three powerhouses were feeling dismal. The Ghostly Dragon Cave was clearly the private property of the north sea, so why should they let outsiders meddle in it? But the Dragon Emperor had already decreed so, and how could they dare not obey? If they did, it would be deemed an act of rebellion, and their whole north sea would be destroyed.
Xianyu Tong then returned the scroll back to Mo Yuan, and sneered while he said, “Lord Mo really spared no effort, personally making the trip to attend to this trivial matter.”
“Hehe, seeing the looks of you three lords, as ferocious as wolves and tigers, supposing I hadn’t personally escorted them, would they not have been swallowed whole by the lot of you already?” Mo Yuan replied just as coldly.
“Humph, since the matter has already reached this stage, then just cut the crap, stop wasting time, and promptly enter into the Ghostly Dragon Cave!” Wenren Jie waved a hand at the juniors at the back, and said, “When the Ghostly Dragon Cave is closed, it will expel the living beings in its outer circle. But if you all were to remain inside too long, or have been infected too much by the aura within, you will be assimilated by the Ghostly Dragon Cave, regarded as part of it, and would not be repelled later. With the perilous environment of that place, you all basically would not be able to hold out till five hundred years later.”
“Yes!” everyone shouted obediently.
They all split up and one by one leaped into the center of that big whirlpool, which was the entrance to the Ghostly Dragon Cave.
The Wenren royal clan was the first to go, followed by the Xianyu and then the Helian royal clan. Just when Ling Han was leaping in as well, Xu Xiu Ran and the others all exuded killing intent.
This person had to be eliminated!
Chapter 793 - Blood River
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The Ghostly Dragon Cave was a very unique place.
It was originally formed from the body of an elite of the Sea Race. At that time, he had already cultivated to the peak of what was possible, genuinely highest of the highest degree, with a combat strength of twenty Stars of Shattering Void Tier—an absolute that others could o
nly give up all hope of ever achieving, for even the Immortals that descended to the Lower Realm could do nothing much against him back then.
Although this elite had died, the power of regulation that he had established remained uncorroded in this place throughout the ages, keeping watch over this Ghostly Dragon Cave. It could be said that as long as one’s strength was not as strong as this elite from ages ago, then one had to abide by the rules here.
Shattering Void Tier elites could not enter; any that dared to would be slain!
Yet though Shattering Void Tier cultivators could not enter, it did not mean that one could not draw on a Shattering Void Tier cultivator’s combat strength—any decree or forbidden Tool could still be used, but ultimately this type of combat strength would not last long.
Ling Han held Helian Xun Xue’s hand on one side, and on the other he tugged Hu Niu along. Flop, the three of them then jumped into the center of the whirlpool. An unstoppable force pulled them underwater towards the bottom.
Just when they were spiraled into a state of obscurity, all of a sudden, they resurfaced in a blood river.
“Wa!” The people who had entered ahead earlier were all vomiting wildly by the riverbank. However, it was apparent that the numbers had greatly reduced as the number of people present was far less than one-tenth of the original total. It seemed that though there was only one entrance, everyone must have been split into batches and sent to different places.
“Quick, let’s leave!” Ling Han’s expression changed instantly, and he grabbed the two females while leaping up into the air. However, he then gave a mild exclamation of surprise as it struck him that he actually could not fly in this place. Hence, he then dropped from midair once again.
He exhaled a breath, leveraging on this force, then propelled himself more than thirty meters horizontally and landed on the riverbank.
Helian Xun Xue was also wearing an unsightly expression. She was feeling dizzy from the spin just now, and only wanted to throw up. Hu Niu, on the contrary, appeared as if nothing had happened, and instead was clapping her hands and shouting in excitement, “Let’s do it again!”
Ling Han looked down at his own clothes—there were traces of corrosive reaction which was caused by the corrosive river water. Although the corrosion rate was very slow, it was extremely persistent, and even if he circulated the Indestructible Heaven Scroll, it could only hamper the speed of corrosion, and would not be able to resolve it.
In other words, if he were to soak in the river for too long, even he would also be turned into melted liquid.
What was this!
Ling Han gazed into the distance. The length of this river was unknown, but the river water was blood-red and gave off a faint metallic smell.
“Could it be that this is the blood of the alternative dragon?” Helian Xun Xue spoke out after gradually catching her breath as she, too, looked upon this river.
There was the emergence of a True Dragon in this realm before, but absolutely not of one that cultivated to the state of True Dragon in this place. This little realm did not have the environment for one possessing the bloodline of the Dragon Clan to complete the final leap, and at most could only achieve the level of alternative dragon.
As such, if this really was an alternative dragon’s blood, its value would be indescribable, precious beyond mere words.
Ling Han shook his head. “Even if it was an alternative dragon’s blood, it has already been contaminated, filled with corrosive energy, and as time passes, I reckon even the Level Ten Precious Metal would be eroded away!”
Other Shattering Void Tier possibly could not, but this alternative dragon had already achieved the combat strength of twenty Stars of Shattering Void Tier; it certainly must have also cultivated the power of regulation, and with the refining of power of regulation, was there anything in this realm that could not be refined?
… Unless it was something not of this realm.
“This place is really bleak and desolate.” Ling Han looked at the surroundings on both his right and left—there was only an extremely narrow space. Apart from the blood river that lay in the middle and was gushing with what looked to be blood-like water, both sides of the riverbank were merely around three hundred meters in width; after that, there was nothing else, looking as if a fault had appeared in the world.
Since this place was formed from an elite’s body, naturally one should not have high hopes for it to be like the real world.
“Which way should we go?” Helian Xun Xue asked.
“The source,” Ling Han answered after pondering.
They were just about to set out when they caught sight of a blade’s light flashing past—a person suddenly charged towards them. The Sword Qi that surged forth was filled with a decidedly dense chill that rushed towards them.
“Ling Han, I am going to kill you!”
Ling Han took a glance, then very casually stretched out his hand, and using two fingers in an effortless motion, he held the opponent’s long sword immobilized between his fingers as he responded indifferently, “So it seems that Princess Cai has quite the temper. It’s best not to have such a hot temper as you’ll get old easily.”
The person who wielded the sword was precisely Xianyu Cai. She tried hard to retrieve her sword, yet discovered to her astonishment that the sword had seemingly grown roots in Ling Han’s hand and would not budge no matter how hard she pulled. She was dumbstruck—what kind of a monster was this human? This sword was a Level Eight Spirit Tool; furthermore, it was of an extremely fine quality, enough to display the combat strength of the peak of the Deity Transformation Tier, but in Ling Han’s hand, it was powerless like an infant.
Naturally, she had heard of the fight between Ling Han and Xianyu Ziyuan, but she had always thought it to be something of an exaggeration, and surmised that it must have been the strength of the formation entirely. But now that she have had the chance to clash with Ling Han, she was suddenly made aware that he was indeed incomparably powerful.
Ling Han gave a slight push with his hand, causing Xianyu Cai to abruptly stagger as she fell back. After that, he also released his fingers’ hold on her sword, and remarked, “For the sake of the Xianyu royal clan, I shall not retaliate this time, but if you persist in not knowing what’s good for you, I will let you know what fear is!”
It was not that he was afraid of the Xianyu royal clan, but rather that the clan was a faction that he could still attempt to gather to his and Helian’s side. He did not want the amicable ties between the two clans to be disrupted because of a haughty little princess like Xianyu Cai.
“Heng, heng, Dragon meat is Niu’s favorite!” Hu Niu said threateningly from the side.
There were unshed tears in Xianyu Cai’s eyes—this human was too abominable. The elders of her clan had wanted to force her to marry him, and this human actually refused. Now, he was treating her so fiercely, making her feel incredibly aggrieved.
What did she do wrong? She was the biggest victim!
“Let’s go!” Ling Han did not bother with Xianyu Cai. Although they were all randomly spread out after entering, the three great clans already accounted for ninety-nine percent of the people here; naturally, there was no lack of people from the Xianyu royal clan, and as such there was no need for him to take care of this delicate little princess.
They had but taken a few steps when they noticed that Xianyu Cai actually also followed them.
Ling Han halted his steps and asked, “Why are you following us?”
“Who said I am following you?” Xianyu Cai countered with her head held high. “Can’t I take this path as well?”
“Sure, please!” Ling Han made a move to give way.
Xianyu Cai was secretly irked and she walked past Ling Han in big strides, seeming to have some kind of grudge against the earth as she stomped the ground with vehemence, making thumping sounds.
They waited after she had walked a good distance ahead. Only then did the three of them start out once again
.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, that was a great beauty. Why did you not accept her?” Helian Xun Xue said in a sour tone dripping with envy.
Ling Han laughed heartily as he said, “Are you jealous?”
“In your dreams!” Helian Xun Xue, of course, denied adamantly.
“Niu is jealous!” Hu Niu, not knowing how to hide her feelings, briskly pounced onto Ling Han, dangling with her arms around his neck as she declared, “Ling Han is Niu’s, no one can snatch him!”
Helian Xun Xue found it laughable. Hu Niu appeared to be only five to six years old, yet clearly gave the impression of wanting to dominate Ling Han exclusively. Such a small little girl, how could she have got such a notion?
“This place is the first floor of the so-called Blood Dragon Cave? Wasn’t it said that there are various kinds of Spirit Herbs here? Why is it that I don’t see anything?” Ling Han peered around. The surroundings here were too simple—one could easily see everything at a glance, whether there were any Spirit Herbs or not.
“You think the Spirit Herbs are like vegetables that you’ll find growing all over the place?” Helian Xun Xue rolled her eyes at him.
Ling Han nodded his head and questioned, “Aren’t they?”
Recalling the Spirit Herbs that grew in abundance everywhere in the Black Tower that Ling Han possessed, Helian Xun Xue was abruptly rendered speechless.
Chapter 794 - Dragon’s Blood Grass
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Although Spirit Herbs could be cultivated inside the Black Tower, they were limited by Ling Han’s individual ability. Now, aside from Dragon Blood Tyrant Ginseng, there were not many high-grade Spirit Herbs in it, which made Ling Han feel extremely gloomy. That was because the majority of Spirit Herbs were useless for him, and he could only consume them after he had extracted their essence with the Heaven Transformation Bowl. As a result, their effects were naturally not as good as after they were concocted into alchemical pills.
Alchemy Emperor of the Divine Dao c1-1294 Page 405