Chapter 904: Entering the Sea Monarch Palace
Chapter 904: Entering the Sea Monarch Palace
Xiao Chen felt a malicious gaze. When he looked up, he discovered that the Immortal Cultivator with the Purple Thunder True Fire was sizing him up with ill intent in his eyes.
He glanced at that person and then disregarded him. The others did not understand the Immortal Arts and might feel some fear of the two. However, he could guarantee that he could give this person an unforgettable lesson if they fought.
After distributing the jade pendants to everyone, Princess Yao Yan handed the core jade pendant to Xiao Chen and said, “This time, we are relying on Young Master Xiao.”
“Princess, you are planning to enter as well?” Xiao Chen accepted the jade pendant immediately.
“Yes. After all, I have gone in there before and am familiar with the terrain. Without me leading the way, you would need to spend even more time searching for the evil Demon’s main body.”
Including Xiao Chen and Yao Yan, a total of twenty people would enter the Sea Monarch Palace.
These twenty people possessed either lightning-attributed flames or Secret Treasures containing lightning-attributed flames. After they entered, they would be able to protect themselves and would not end up as nourishment for the evil Demon clones.
After Yao Yan spoke about some things to take note of, she led the crowd away from this dreamlike castle city and traveled through the bottom of the deep sea.
Unable to breathe or speak in the water, they could only circulate their energy and cycle the air in their bodies. To converse, they needed to project their voices. Although this took a lot of effort, it was not too difficult for this group of Martial Sage experts.
Even without receiving any nourishment, this group of people could live for a long time at the bottom of this sea.
Sages transcended the ordinary. They nurtured Heavenly Sage Laws. As they breathed, they could absorb a large amount of Spiritual Energy and refine them into the even purer Law Energy. There was a great difference between them and cultivators under Martial Sage.
All sorts of rare and strange things could be seen in the deep sea: sea creatures as tall as mountains, bizarre fishes moving around in schools, underwater forests, and many others.
However, the group was in no mood to marvel at the sights of the ocean floor. Under the lead of Princess Yao Yan, they proceeded quickly.
Half a day later, the group arrived at an abandoned underwater castle city.
A strange sight in the middle of the broken city greeted these cultivators: a gargantuan barrier of light made of pitch-black energy, looking like an iron pot flipped upside down on the ground.
In the vicinity of the light barrier, there were experts of the Merfolk Race stationed every hundred meters. They all had their eyes closed, floating in the seawater.
These people all had grave expressions, occasionally sending surging Law Energy into the pitch-black light barrier, strengthening the light barrier even further.
Clearly, this was the outer seal of the Sea Monarch Palace. For the sake of maintaining this seal, the Merfolk Race had sent over all their peak experts.
Even so, the situation did not look good.
Two quasi-Emperor experts floated on top of the light barrier. When they saw Yao Yan and the others arrive, these two quasi-Emperors raised their eyelids but did not come down.
Although this gargantuan seal had already taken form, it needed a constant infusion of large amounts of energy for maintenance. Otherwise, it could shatter at any time.
These two people had to maintain the seal and could not free themselves. This was not a long-term solution. They could relax only after the main body of the evil Demon in the Sea Monarch Palace was sealed.
Otherwise, the outer seal would eventually shatter. At that time, the release of the evil Demon clones would plunge the Merfolk Race in the Chaotic Demonic Sea into disaster.
Originally, the Merfolk Race had not needed to put in this much effort. The Azure Emperor had laid a perfect seal back then. As long as they did not mess around with the seal, they would not have needed to put a seal on the periphery, closing off the entire Sea Monarch Palace.
However, the big shots of the Merfolk Race had all been too greedy. They wanted to refine the entire Sea Monarch Palace, to become a Sovereign Martial Emperor—the next Sea Monarch.
In the end, the evil Demon’s main body sabotaged them, inflicting a great loss. Nine Martial Emperors died in there, and the seal the Azure Emperor had set weakened. They had no choice but to create the gargantuan barrier on the outside to seal this place.
“Yao Yan, all these people possess lightning-attributed flames?”
An old Merfolk Race grandmaster-level Martial Sage freed himself from the formation and swam in front of Yao Yan’s group.
“There is a total of twenty people, all cultivators with lightning-attributed flames. The weakest is at least a Medial Grade Martial Sage. This time, we will definitely be able to fix the seal. At that time, the various elders will not have to spend any more time on this outer seal,” Yao Yan said quietly with determination in her eyes.
“I hope that is so. Otherwise, the entire Merfolk Race will have to uproot and move.”
The old man did not seem to think highly of this group. He clearly knew how many had come sincerely to help. After encouraging them, he did not say anything more.
After the initial shock, everyone with Yao Yan revealed excited expressions, clearly feeling very impatient.
She put on her jade pendant, then led the group through the seal. After getting past the pitch-black barrier, they were finally inside.
A sinister wind blew, and the place was eerily silent. The sky was dark. The inside of this place was separated from the seawater. The group landed on the ground and relaxed.
After all, most of these people were not of the Merfolk Race. Even after spending so long in the water, they could not get used to it.
“Gagaga! There is another batch of fresh food. How great! I want to eat! I want to eat!”
Before Xiao Chen and the others found their footing, strange laughter echoed. Sharp voices saying “I want to eat” resounded repeatedly.
A raft of black clouds ahead streamed closer, as though a strong wind blew them over. The black clouds were all of different sizes, at least a thousand of them densely packed together.
However, when the black clouds drew near, the group discovered that each of the black clouds was an evil Demon. Their silhouettes were similar to that of humans. However, their facial features were twisted, and their bodies were made of smoke; they looked very strange.
“Be careful. These are the clones made of the evil Demon’s will. Martial Techniques do little to hurt them. Don’t let them close. Otherwise, if they enter your mind, even the gods cannot save you.”
Yao Yan’s expression turned cold as she placed the Thorn Sovereign Circlet on her head. Then, she took out a short sword containing a lightning-attributed flame.
Only about one meter long and covered in a layer of lightning-attributed flame, this short sword was a King Grade Secret Treasure. However, it was inferior to the Extreme Thunder Sword. The lightning-attributed flame on it was clearly of a lower grade than the Extreme Thunder True Fire.
Seeing the evil Demon clones for the first time, the others did not dare to be careless. They all had lightning-attributed flames. All those who possessed a lightning-attributed flame summoned it out and covered their bodies with it, leaving no openings.
However, those with only Secret Treasures containing lightning-attributed flames could not put up such a tight defense. The most they could do was get their Secret Treasures to hover above their heads, ready for battle at all times.
Xiao Chen could finally get a look at the others’ strength.
He swept his gaze around. Aside from the two youths from the Penglai Sea, five others caught his attention.
One was Lang Taotian. This person was the top true inheritor of the Profound Water Sect and was indeed rather capable. The lightning-attributed flame that he refined had a fresh scarlet color and was called the Blood Kill Lightning Flame. It was similar in rank to the Extreme Thunder True Fire.
There were two other youths—a man and a woman—who came from Spirit Returning Island outside the Chaotic Demonic Sea. They had very similar Secret Treasures, both purple Fire Beacon Lightning Banners. However, the details on the two Fire Beacon Lightning Banners were somewhat different.
Of the five, the one who drew Xiao Chen’s attention the most was an old man with deep cultivation. A few people in the crowd treated this old man as their leader. After hearing Yao Yan’s introduction, he found out that this old man was called Yan Chihai. The people who deferred to this old man came from the same faction, the Northern Sea Alliance.
After crossing the Chaotic Demonic Sea, there was an even vaster ocean world, which was the true center of the oceanic realm. It was called the Heavenly Starry Ocean, implying that the boundless ocean world could contain all the stars in the sky.
The Northern Sea Alliance was a large faction of the north of the Heavenly Starry Ocean, composed of several allied peak sects.
The Profound Water Sect and Spirit Returning Island were only big sects at the periphery of the Heavenly Starry Ocean. There was a large gap between them and a peak faction like the Northern Sea Alliance.
Yan Chihai wore black embroidered clothes. The Secret Treasure that hovered above his head was a jeweled mirror containing a fierce lightning-attributed flame and appearing very mysterious.
The last of the five was a low-profile youth. He wore purple armor flickering with specks of lightning-attributed flames. Although he did not look very strong, Xiao Chen estimated that this purple armor on him had the highest grade in the group.
This person was from the Heavenly Starry Ocean as well. He was a Superior Grade Martial Sage called Leng Ao. However, he was not in the least bit arrogant at all. When standing in the crowd, he was easy to miss.
[TL Note: The name Leng Ao (冷傲) means icily arrogant.]
Long Fei and Qi Wuxue aside, the other cultivators were not comparable to these five.
“Pu ci! Pu ci!”
Just as Xiao Chen was thinking, the crowd and the evil Demon clones started fighting. The situation heavily favored the side of the cultivators. With the various lightning-attributed flames, the thousands of evil Demon clones could not fight back at all and were quickly nothing more than ashes.
“Ha ha! Some evil Demons! They are just so-so.”
The crowd easily dispatched this group of evil Demon clones. Aside from a few who suffered some superficial injuries, everyone was unscathed. They had killed the evil Demon clones like chopping vegetables, taking one down with each strike.
Xiao Chen had not needed to act at all. The group slaughtered all the evil Demon clones.
“Something is not right. The last time I came here, I met with several evil Demon clones that were hard to deal with. Why are we running into all these weak soldiers?” Princess Yao Yan frowned heavily, not daring to advance.
Maintaining his guard, Xiao Chen extended his Spiritual Sense and swept it through the place. Aside from some hazy clouds in the sky in front, he did not discover anything strange. However, he felt a certain pressure on his body; he kept feeling that something was wrong.
The others felt that something was wrong as well. They all sent out their Mental Energies but did not discover anything. Only then did they slowly relax.
Due to the large number of evil Demon clones killed, the group’s morale was high. Someone laughed and said, “Princess is probably worrying too much. This is likely due to there being so many lightning-attributed flames scaring away these evil Demon clones. Before we enter the Sea Monarch Palace, we will probably not see them again.”
Perhaps that is so. Yao Yan looked into the distance, at the vague silhouette of the palace and said, “Let’s go. No matter what, it is always good to be cautious.”
After advancing for a certain distance, Xiao Chen suddenly stopped. He scrutinized the hazy clouds in the sky in front with a grave expression. The clouds were wispy like fog.
Nothing seemed to be wrong. However, when Xiao Chen recreated this scene in his mind, his expression changed drastically.
If these hazy clouds shrank a thousand times, they clearly formed a twisted face with its mouth opened wide. It looked evil and ferocious.
Given the direction that the cultivators were taking, they looked like they were voluntarily walking into this mouth.
“Be careful. Everyone, back off. There is danger ahead!” Xiao Chen shouted immediately, using some techniques from the Dragon Tone Art.
Xiao Chen’s thunderous voice entered the minds of the group. The people who trusted him reacted quickly without saying a word. They promptly used their Secret Treasures and flew back.