by Dragon King
“Ren, you stay the night here since we’ll travel to the meeting spot tomorrow,” Zhao Hongyu added. “Each time the Nine Dragon Palace opens, only eight people are allowed in there. It means that each Dragon Palace could only send two of their best young cultivators. We, East Ocean, decided to send you and Zi to the event.”
“Zi?” Hao Ren was baffled since Zi, without her Dragon Core, was just an ordinary schoolgirl.
“Right. The Nine Dragon Palace only opens for six hours in every 50 years. Except for the Grand Palace where we worship the ancestors, the other places are still unexplored. In this ancient dragon palace, there are many ancient treasures and precious herbs that are rare and hard to find in the mortal world. It will be an amazing opportunity for the younger generations since a top-tier elixir pill could help you break through three or four realms in one breath. That’s why the Four Ocean Dragon Palaces usually send their descendants there,” Zhao Hongyu said.
Hao Ren nodded, understanding their intention. Zi was weak in cultivation, but as long as she was qualified to enter the Nine Dragon Palace, Zhao Guang and Zhao Hongyu would get her in. Maybe she could be fortunate enough to find some way in the Nine Dragon Palace to grow another Dragon Core. If not, she would probably get other benefits.
It was a rare opportunity that came every 50 years, and the leaders of the Dragon Palaces would certainly give it to their own children and grandchildren. After all, these people would one day inherit the throne.
“I’ll give you the specific instructions before you enter the Nine Dragon Palace tomorrow. It’s late now; you both can go upstairs and sleep,” Zhao Hongyu said to Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi.
“Ok!” Hao Ren looked back at Zhao Yanzi before standing up from the sofa.
Zhao Yanzi snorted as if she was not happy to be partnered with Hao Ren. Then, she stomped up the stairs.
Hao Ren smiled helplessly and walked up the stairs slowly. It suddenly dawned on him that Zen Yitao would also participate in the event.
(TL Note: There are the three chapters for today! Another adventure is coming!)
210 The Nine Dragon Palace
Back in her room, Zhao Yanzi took a quick shower. During the past few days in the Dragon Palace, she had been served with good food and clothes, but she felt exhausted.
Half an hour later, she came out of the bathroom in her pink pajamas. Seeing Hao Ren checking her homework at her desk, she yelled, “Tonight, you sleep in the other room!”
“I know!” Hao Ren rolled his eyes at her complain.
“I don’t want to stay in your room. It’s just that the bathroom is in your room,” Hao Ren retorted silently before entering the bathroom with the pajamas Zhao Hongyu prepared for him.
Little White was rolling around in his necklace, signaling its wish to come out. In the bathroom, Hao Ren took a quick shower before letting Little White out.
Although it was a Spirit Beast, personal hygiene was still necessary. Hao Ren grabbed onto the mini-sized Little White and cleaned it thoroughly with shampoo and warm water.
It was fortunate that it could change sizes. Otherwise, it would be a huge task to wash it in its original form, which was as big as a small elephant.
In his pajamas, Hao Ren walked out of the bathroom, and Little White followed him out after flicking off the water on its body.
Zhao Yanzi was reading in bed. At the sight of Little White, she immediately called out excitedly, “Little White!”
If Hao Ren didn’t let Little White out, she would have totally forgotten about it.
Little White jumped into Zhao Yanzi’s soft bed. After the shower, its long snow-white fur held the fragrance of the shampoo.
Zhao Yanzi caught its front legs and lifted it up. Little White purred happily, seeming to enjoy her attention.
“Little White can stay here. You can go and sleep in your room now,” she turned to look at Hao Ren and declared.
Hao Ren gave her a dirty look and ignored her. Walking to the door, he called, “Little White.”
Little White struggled out of Zhao Yanzi’s hands and jumped down the bed to follow Hao Ren.
“You…” Lying in the quilt, Zhao Yanzi glared at him.
Obviously, Little White was loyal to Hao Ren and wouldn’t betray him because of Zhao Yanzi’s attention.
“I’ll sleep in the next room, but I can let Little White keep you company,” Hao Ren said at the door.
“Humph!” Zhao Yanzi pouted.
“Little White, stay with Zi.” Hao Ren pointed at Zhao Yanzi.
Little White paused and understood his instructions. It trotted back to Zhao Yanzi.
With this round of battle for authority, Hao Ren showed Zhao Yanzi that Little White was his personal pet, and she needed to be nice to him if she wanted to borrow Little White from him.
Zhao Yanzi gritted her teeth, but she couldn’t resist the cute Little White. She opened her arms and let it jump into her arms.
“Little White, turn bigger!” Patting its body lightly, Zhao Yanzi gestured to show her intention.
Being very smart, Little White understood her. It rolled and immediately turned into a chubby Snow Lion.
“Haha!” Pleased, Zhao Yanzi reached up and threw her arms around the neck of the big version of Little White.
She used to hug onto a big fluffy toy while she slept. Little White’s big fluffy body and smooth fur gave her great enjoyment.
With its big black eyes and mild personality, she couldn’t see a hint of a Bin-level Spirit Beast in Little White.
Hao Ren looked at her helplessly. He walked out of her room and shut the door behind him.
“Little White, you sleep on this side. Give me your paw and let me rub it…” Out in the corridor, Hao Ren heard Zhao Yanzi playing with Little White in her bedroom.
In the next room, Hao Ren spent some time on cultivation before going to bed.
“Zi! Ren! Get up now!” Zhao Hongyu called them in the corridor the next morning.
“Coming!” Zhao Yanzi who had slept with Little white in her arms ran out from her room in her pajamas.
Little White shook its head and ran out of her room as well.
Cultivating even in his sleep, Hao Ren immediately woke up after hearing the call. He walked out of his room soon as well.
“These are two Taoist robes for you to wear. You must show your respect and sincerity during the worship ceremony when you are in the Nine Dragon Palace, and you can’t wear your daily clothes.” Zhao Hongyu handed each of them a robe.
They went back to their respective rooms to change. Little White looked at Hao Ren then at Zhao Yanzi and finally followed Zhao Yanzi into her room.
Minutes later, they both walked out. Zhao Yanzi looked like a little female Taoist in her Yin Yang Robe.
It was Hao Ren’s first time wearing such a robe, and he looked like a silly young Taoist new to the world.
“There’s only one hour until the designated meeting time, and we need to leave now. Today, you’ll need a lot of energy, and an ordinary breakfast won’t do.”
Opening her palm, Zhao Hongyu revealed two red Essence Replenishment Pills. “These are two Essence Replenishment Pills. Each of you takes one.”
Smelling the aroma of the elixir pills, Little White raised its head and looked at Zhao Hongyu with its innocent big eyes.
“Ok. You have one too.” Zhao Hongyu took out another pill.
Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi each took one pill and swallowed it, and so did Little White.
It was Hao Ren’s first time taking an elixir pill. He felt a surge of warmth rising in his belly and spreading to his limbs. With warmth all over his body, he felt an indescribable comfortable sensation.
The Dragon Core in his Dantian shook slightly as if it was on the verge of a breakthrough.
“Ok. We need to go now, Ren. Put away your Spirit Beast.” Seeing a healthy glow shining on their faces, Zhao Hongyu knew the pills had been absorbed.
“Ok.” Hao Ren beckoned Little White, and it i
mmediately shrunk into its mini-version before jumping into his hidden space. The hidden space was, in fact, a bunch of complex array formations filled with Nature Essence, and it was a more comfortable place for Little White. However, it wanted to come out frequently because it was curious, and the outside world tempted it.
After taking Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi to the balcony, Zhao Hongyu waved her hand, spread out a picture scroll, and asked them to stand on it.
“Your dad is busy, so I told him not to come with us. When you come out of the Nine Dragon Palace, your dad and I will be there to pick you up,” Zhao Hongyu said while she directed the picture scroll to rise slowly.
Zhao Yanzi nodded and looked down at this item. “Well, it is the River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting. It has been a long time since the last use.”
“This time, we’ll have to go to Fifth Heaven, and ordinary Dharma Treasures can’t fly there. Zi, you must stay close to Hao Ren after you enter the Nine Dragon Palace. Don’t mess around,” Zhao Hongyu instructed her.
“Got it, Mom!” Zhao Yanzi pouted. She looked like as little female Taoist in her robe.
Zhao Hongyu pinched her cheeks before waving her hand upward. The spread-out scroll emitted seven-colored light beams and turned into a rainbow. It flew up into the sky at dawn.
(TL Notes: Hey guys, here is an important update.
We are going into premium on November 11th, that means 3 chapters per day even on weekends after that, so 90 regular chaps per month in comparison to roughly 56 regular chaps~
Don’t worry, with all the free spirit stones you can get, you can read about 3 chapters per day without spending a dime~ Assuming it’s regularly sized chapters because the cost does depend on word count.
Before we go into Premium, we will post a quick video to tell you guys how you get the most SS every day, and we hope that will help some of you out.
If you still want to support us on Patreon, you will be directly blessing the entire community with bonus chapters at the month-end.)
211 The Weakest Pair of Partners?
The River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting Zhao Hongyu used was undoubtedly an advanced Dharma Treasure. It broke into the void and went above the ordinary clouds in the blink of an eye.
The nine layers of heavens were called Zhong Heaven, Qian Heaven, Cong Heaven, Geng Heaven, Zui Heaven, Kuo Heaven, Xian Heaven, Shen Heaven, and Cheng Heaven. Fifth Heaven was also Zui Heaven. Since mortals could reach the first four Heavens, this Fifth Heaven was where the human cultivation world began.
The immortals lived in Ninth Heaven and up, so the range between Fifth Heaven and Eighth Heaven was a buffer territory between the mortal world and the immortal world.
The dragons could move under Fifth Heaven freely. According to Zhao Hongyu, the wood, water, fire, and earth-elemental dragons could soar as high as Seventh Heaven while the gold-elemental dragons could reach the Eighth Heaven.
When Zhao Guang took Hao Ren to the sky to watch the process of rainfall creation, it seemed high for Hao Ren. However, it was only on Second Heaven.
The airplanes flew above the ordinary clouds, but it was still within First Heaven.
Comparatively, Fifth Heaven was much higher!
Even with Dharma Treasures the River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting, which was a super fast traveling Dharma Treasure, it took them half an hour to reach Fifth Heaven.
Boom!
The seven-colored light beams broke through a pale blue array formation and got through a thick layer of auspicious clouds.
Fifth Heaven!
Standing on the River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting, Hao Ren looked around and saw numerous green mountains.
It was a celestial world.
Standing in front, Zhao Hongyu checked the direction and steered the painting forward.
The speed of the painting had slowed down, and the seven-colored light beams had disappeared.
Flying above the mountains, Zhao Hongyu turned slightly and said to Hao Ren, “Except the Origin Dragon Grand Palace, then there are nine smaller palaces in rings around it. The nine small palaces are Qiuniu Palace, Yazi Palace, Chaofeng Palace, Pulao Palace, Suanni Palace, Baxia Palace, Bian Palace, Fuxi Palace, and Chiwen Palace. They are the branch palaces of the nine ancestors of our Dragon Tribe. There are four entrances in the Origin Dragon Grand Palace. Once you enter the Nine Dragon Palace, you will appear at the entrance in the east since the East Ocean Dragon Palace is located in the east.”
“Ok.” Hao Ren listened attentively, knowing that the trip was crucial and would probably influence the development of East Ocean Dragon Palace in the next tens of years.
“This is a map.” From an ordinary-looking ring on her finger, Zhao Hongyu took out a scroll. “This map has the route of the Origin Dragon Grand Palace and the information about the parts of the nine branch palaces that we have so far explored.”
Hao Ren took the map and opened it with Nature Essence. He found that the map was very detailed in some parts and vague in other parts.
“This map is the result of the efforts of several generations of East Ocean. It’s very precious, and you must make sure it doesn’t fall into other people’s hands,” Zhao Hongyu warned Hao Ren.
“Got it.” Hao Ren put the map into his hidden space. Since it was not food, he was sure that Little White wouldn’t eat it.
“The Nine Dragon Palace opens every 50 years, and the cultivators must be younger than 100 years old to enter it. Of course, it would be a waste of an opportunity to allow cultivators who are very young into it. Usually, the opportunity was given to those who have 50 to 60 years of cultivation experience, and that was why no one could enter the Nine Dragon Palace twice. Zhao Guang and I entered once and didn’t bring back anything extraordinary,” Zhao Hongyu said with regret in her voice.
“Mom, I’m a lucky girl. I will get good stuff this time!” Zhao Yanzi shouted.
“It’s not a field trip. Although the Nine Dragon Palace has no traps in there, it’s not absolutely safe.” Zhao Hongyu looked at Zhao Yanzi seriously, and the latter immediately shut her mouth.
Zhao Hongyu turned to Hao Ren. “The Nine Dragon Palace is protected by prehistoric array formations. Although the palace is in desolation for thousands of years, the major array formations are still operating. The Origin Dragon Grand Palace is in the center of the Nine Dragon Palace while the nine small palaces surround it. However, their positions are not fixed; each time people go in, they would find that the positions of the small palaces had changed. Since the time interval is 50 years, each person had only six hours to explore it, and the Four Ocean Dragon Clans don’t share information, no one knows about the movement patterns of the nine small palaces. With the current information, no one can be sure if they moved according to astrology or the Eight Trigram. Which branch palace you will enter and what kind of treasures you can get is all based on luck.
“Which small palace did you and Uncle enter last time?” Hao Ren asked.
“We entered Fuxi Palace and got this River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting,” Zhao Hongyu answered.
“Can we only take one treasure?” Hao Ren asked immediately.
“No. You can take as many as you can. Except for the items in the Grand Palace, everything else in the Nine Dragon Palace is legacy left by the ancestors of the prehistoric times and can be taken with you. In fact, the Four Oceans came up with the solution of opening the Nine Dragon Palace every 50 years because we couldn’t agree on a distribution plan of the fortunes. So, each time the Nine Dragon Palace opens, each ocean would send out two young cultivators to take everything they can with their luck and abilities.”
“It seems that Dad and Mom were not very powerful at the time,” Zhao Yanzi raised her head and said.
Zhao Hongyu smiled helplessly. Hao Ren saw her expression and knew that he and Zhao Yanzi were even weaker. One of them had just reached Li-level while the other didn’t even possess a Dragon Core…
“All in all, if you can take back three ancient treasures o
r elixirs, it will be a big success. If you get two, it will be good. If you get one, it will still be better than nothing,” Zhao Hongyu turned serious and said.
“Ok!” Zhao Yanzi and Hao Ren said in unison.
While they were talking, the River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting had flown into the center of a round valley. Hao Ren looked down and saw that some people were already gathered on the meadow below them. Among them were Oldman Zeng and Zeng Yitao.
Zhao Hongyu steered the painting and landed on the meadow slowly.
“Mrs. Zhao!” The representatives of North Ocean and South Ocean came over to greet her.
“Elder Xu, Elder Hu! How are you?” Zhao Hongyu greeted them with a smile.
Since each ocean sent only two cultivators and a representative who led the way, there were altogether 12 people there. Zeng Yitao’s partner was a boy who looked a couple of years younger than him; he was probably Zeng Yitao’s little servant.
South Ocean’s team was comprised of one guy and one girl who were in their mid-twenties. They were holding hands and looked like a couple. North Ocean’s team was made up of one guy who looked 20 and one girl who was about 18; they looked like brother and sister.
“Mrs. Zhao, you are the last to arrive. I thought you are too afraid to come!” Oldman Zeng glanced at Zhao Hongyu and said in a cold tone.
“Well, since West Ocean is eager to open the Nine Dragon Palace, how can we East Ocean not join in on the fun?” Zhao Hongyu replied breezily.
“We proposed to open the Nine Dragon Palace so that the young elites of the Four Ocean Dragon Palaces can come and practice. But from the looks of it, you are in dire need of talented youths, right?” Oldman Zeng looked at Hao Ren to Zhao Yanzi and said sarcastically.
Zhao Hongyu didn’t want to argue with him. She looked away, pretending to have not heard his remarks.
As the most senior and most powerful cultivator in the group, Oldman Zeng stopped his offensive comments after Zhao Hongyu ignored him. He snorted disdainfully.
Eight people were going to enter. Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi from East Ocean were respectively a Li-level cultivator and a mortal. The couple from South Ocean were young elites, and they both had reached top-tier Geng-level; South Ocean had already arranged for their dual-cultivation. This time when West Ocean proposed to open the Nine Dragon Palace, South Ocean had eagerly agreed, hoping that this young couple could take this opportunity to gain another breakthrough. The siblings of North Ocean were the oldest son and second daughter of the Crown Prince of the North Ocean Dragon Palace. They had both reached Zhen-level and were charging at Geng-level. Zeng Yitao had reached Zhen-level half a year ago, and his servant was just an assistant to him. Zeng Yitao would enjoy all the treasures they get in the Nine Dragon Palace.