"Thank you." That's what he said to Fu Mingxu.
Yan Yun quickly swallowed what she was about to say, while Shen Ange smiled and carefully put away the pills.
After the screams ended, the atmosphere in the long queue became even more oppressive. Even through the spiritual veil, Fu Mingxu could see the wary and uneasy expressions on the faces of those cultivators.
[Master, the item rich in chaotic energy is in the palace ahead; you must obtain it.]
Having gone through all this, how could Fu Mingxu not know the benefits of having profound cultivation? This time, he did not refute the Mirror Spirit's words, only thinking that if he obtained the item, he would have enough chaotic energy to support his cultivation.
At that time, he will not need anyone else to protect him.
Just as the crowd had finally calmed down, a gust of wind blew in, dispelling the clouds and mist that had been swirling around the palace, and the eaves, which had previously only been partially visible, were revealed to the crowd in a leaping motion.
In the instant the clouds and mist dissipated, ten thousand golden rays shot out rapidly, hovered in the air for two breaths, and then disappeared into the palace.
The roar of dragons and the cry of phoenixes resounded throughout the heavens and earth, countless birds wanted to join in the singing, beasts prostrated themselves, and grass and trees trembled slightly.
The palace, perched atop the mountain, finally revealed its full form, looking down upon everyone like an emperor.
No matter which angle you look at it from, this palace exudes an aura of wealth and ethereal beauty.
The sounds of dragons roaring and phoenixes singing still echoed in Fu Mingxu's mind. He recalled what the Mirror Spirit had said and guessed that this palace must be related to the dragon and phoenix clans.
The group finally started moving. Li Chixue gripped her longsword tightly and stood in front of the three of them as a protector, saying in a deep voice, "Let's go."
Now that we're here, there's no turning back.
Fu Mingxu lifted his foot to follow, stepping up the steps one after another. After a few steps, a chilling feeling of being watched made him stop, but when he looked up, apart from the crowd hurrying along with their heads down and being wary of each other, he could not see anything unusual.
"What's wrong?" Shen Ange asked him softly.
"It's nothing." The intense gaze seemed to sense that he had been discovered, and it withdrew the moment he looked up. "Let's keep going."
Perhaps he was being overly paranoid.
The higher you go, the more the entire palace is revealed to everyone.
This is an extremely peculiar palace.
From Fu Mingxu's perspective, the palace eaves and walls were decorated with two dragons and two phoenixes in flight at the four corners. At this moment, the palace doors were wide open, as if someone was waiting for their arrival inside.
The palace was crowded with people. Perhaps the shock of the devastation on both sides of the road they had come from was still lingering, and no one dared to be the first to enter.
The shimmering light of treasure visible through the open doors is truly captivating.
Just then, the group at the front moved. Without hesitation, the leader grabbed his companion and threw him inside, shouting before the other could react, "I once saved your life, so this time you'll help scout ahead."
Fu Mingxu's brow twitched. He recognized the disciple as a member of the Medicine Sect when he glanced at his attire, and a chill ran through him.
The tragic scene everyone had imagined did not occur. As soon as the disciple who had been thrown in landed, a golden light entered his body directly. In just a few breaths, his cultivation level increased significantly, and a treasure directly recognized him as its master.
It really is true that fortune and misfortune are intertwined.
Many people were taken aback by the sudden development. By the time they realized what was happening, the first group of cultivators had already rushed in.
There were indeed many treasures inside the palace, and many cultivators stumbled upon several as soon as they entered. However, none of them were as lucky as the cultivators who were pushed in earlier. At least when Fu Mingxu entered, apart from the first one, no treasures recognized him as their owner.
He looked at the swirling lights above his head and strongly suspected that the treasure was teasing them.
How can one not feel anxious when treasure is right in front of them but they cannot obtain it?
Amidst the flustered atmosphere and the inevitable physical contact during the jostling, many people had already started fighting before long.
Fu Mingxu frowned slightly and stopped Yan Yun, who was about to reach out to grab Bao Guang: "Don't move yet, something feels wrong here."
From the moment they stepped onto the path leading to the palace below, all the cultivators became extremely agitated, and fighting was a common occurrence.
A cultivator who had been following the light past him overheard this and mocked, "I think you've been scared out of your wits."
After saying that, he continued his pursuit of the treasure with great enthusiasm.
A bloody smell began to permeate the air. Li Chixue didn't make a move, but instead turned her head and asked him, "What did you find?"
The feeling of being secretly watched became even more pronounced, and Fu Mingxu couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.
“Look, aren’t those treasures flying everywhere deliberately hung high to incite everyone to kill each other?” Fu Mingxu looked at the increasingly chaotic scene inside the palace and saw that many people were fighting with bloodshot eyes, even fighting without regard for their own sect, their faces showing a ferocious expression. “Since I came to the palace area, I feel that this place can amplify people’s desires.”
Even he himself, when he followed along, was eager to obtain the treasure that the Mirror Spirit had mentioned.
Moreover, these cultivators came specifically for rare and precious materials.
Just then, Yan Yun saw a cultivator lying in a pool of blood ahead. As soon as he fell, his fellow disciples not only did not come to his aid, but instead stepped on his body to continue capturing the treasure light.
Yan Yun was so frightened that she withdrew her hand.
Shen Ange gripped the whip tightly, his voice deep: "The cultivator who was initially recognized as the master by the treasure has disappeared."
Li Chixue's sharp gaze swept around, but as expected, she didn't find the person's shadow. They had arrived late and were currently standing at the palace entrance; if anyone had gone out, they would surely have remembered them.
Now, amidst the chaos, that person seemed to have vanished into thin air.
"No, it's that all the disciples of the Medicine Sect have disappeared."
Fu Mingxu's heart sank further and further. The smell of blood he could smell grew stronger and stronger. Looking up, he saw that many people were lying on the ground, all crooked and disheveled.
Blood flowed continuously, spreading everywhere as the pursuing cultivators trampled it.
He looked at the blood that seemed to have seeped into the ground, and his heart skipped a beat. He said to Li Chixue beside him, "Something's really wrong. Look, the blood looks like it's seeping into the ground."
Li Chixue followed his gaze and saw the blood spreading and disappearing. He took two steps forward and noticed a detail that Fu Mingxu had not noticed.
"Watch out!" As soon as he finished speaking, the palace doors behind him slammed shut without any wind, making a loud bang.
At the same time, the light that had been hovering overhead disappeared, and before the pursuing cultivators could react, everyone was plunged into darkness.
The darkness was thick and still, as if the flow of time had been suddenly paused.
"Where's my treasure?" someone shouted, their voice filled with anger. "Did you steal it?"
These words sounded utterly absurd, and Yan Yun was about to laugh at them when he heard the sound of a weapon piercing flesh.
Fu Mingxu could smell even more blood. Not only that, but the gaze that was spying on him became more and more obvious, as if it were hiding in the crowd, watching him closely under the cover of darkness.
As the wind whistled, Li Chixue attacked without hesitation. Under the sword light, he could see that the attacking cultivator's eyes were bloodshot, and the malice in his eyes was like a poisonous core.
He held the dragon scale in his palm, and Fu Mingxu placed the search for a suitable weapon in front of the flying magic weapon.
The ear-piercing sound of Shen Ange's whip cracking incessantly, and Li Chixue, holding a long sword, stood in front of everyone without hesitation.
Screams and screams echoed through the darkness. Some who had regained consciousness were already ramming against the closed palace doors. Their flesh and blood collided with the heavy doors, producing a despairing thud.
The joy of seeing the treasure vanished completely, replaced only by despair and darkness.
Everything happened too fast. By the time Fu Mingxu remembered to summon the Dragon Flame, the scene inside the palace was already horrific.
Golden-red flames danced at his fingertips, and beneath the corpses of many people lay spilled blood.
There were stumps and bloodstains falling to the side, and even Shen Ange couldn't help but turn her head away from looking.
Two steps away, a cultivator lay on the ground, his eyes wide open, expressing his resentment.
Fu Mingxu's face turned deathly pale. He had never seen such a scene before, and felt that even hell was no better than this.
Those who had previously fought over the treasure not only gained nothing, but also lost their lives under the lure of greed.
Now that things have come to this, what don't they understand? Perhaps this secret realm is real, but this palace is definitely a deadly trap.
Yan Yun and Shen Ange pulled desperately at the closed palace door, but no matter how hard they tried, the door seemed to be embedded in the ground and wouldn't budge.
"Stop them!" Li Chixue saw the blood on the ground slowly forming a strange pattern and immediately sensed that something was terribly wrong.
After saying that, he immediately struck and knocked the two men who were fighting to the ground unconscious with a single sword strike.
Before Shen Ange could even think about it, she lashed out with her whip, and one of the people rushing towards her was knocked unconscious by hitting his head against the door.
"It's a formation!" Fu Mingxu exclaimed, his eyes lighting up as he looked at the pattern made of blood on the ground. "Quickly clean up the blood on the ground."
Although the purpose of this formation is unknown, a formation that requires the blood of a cultivator to activate is certainly not the righteous path.
Yan Yun's cultivation level wasn't high, but he was very quick and efficient. Knowing that asking questions at this point would be a waste of time, he imitated Fu Mingxu by tearing open the hem of his clothes and frantically wiping himself.
Unfortunately, this method was too slow, and Fu Mingxu felt it was useless after wiping it a couple of times. He glanced at the leaping dragon flame, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he stood up and quickly threw the dragon flame to the ground.
The darkness was instantly banished, and boundless flames burned on the blood, like the rolling fires of hell.
The blood evaporated quickly, and the pattern formed by the blood on the soles of the feet gradually shrank, leaving only dark brown marks.
The firelight illuminated his exquisite profile, revealing golden-red brows. As he lowered his head, he appeared as if a god had descended to earth.
Li Chixue was stunned for a moment. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the sudden shaking of the palace.
The ground was shaking violently, as if the actions of the group had angered a ferocious beast that wanted to burst forth from the earth.
Fu Mingxu, preoccupied with controlling the dragon flames, lost his balance and nearly fell to the ground.
Without thinking, Li Chixue reached out to hug him, but before she could even touch the hem of his clothes, a golden light burst through the door and, with Fu Mingxu's exclamation, the light instantly filled the palace.
Amidst the earth-shaking tremors, he saw an extremely tall man with one arm around Fu Mingxu's waist, his golden eyes coldly glancing over.
A note from the author:
The plot has finally progressed a bit; in the next chapter, the two will be hugging and cuddling! Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants between 2022-04-11 00:00:00 and 2022-04-12 00:00:00!
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 52
The veil fell off with the sudden movement, revealing a face that could captivate anyone.
"Han Tao!" Fu Mingxu's eyes stung from the sudden light, and tears welled up in his eyes, trembling slightly on his eyelashes.
Rough fingers wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, and a rare gentleness appeared on Han Tao's sharply defined face: "Don't be afraid, I'm here."
Fu Mingxu wasn't afraid; the person he was worried about had finally appeared, and he could finally relax.
Shen Ange breathed a slight sigh of relief, thinking that at least his safety was protected.
The palace was still shaking, clearly not a good time to talk. Han Tao, with Fu Mingxu in his arms, waved his free hand into the palace. After a flash of golden light, the remaining struggling cultivators fainted and were swept away from the palace by the golden light.
Knowing that he was doing something important, Fu Mingxu tried to remain still, but from other people's perspective, he appeared to be nestled in the arms of the tall man.
The group quickly left the palace. Han Tao placed him to one side, not looking at the others, and said with his eyes lowered, "Wait for me."
After saying that, he soared up and leaped above the palace.