Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 469 - Dragon Palace

The suction force from the black hole gradually weakened, becoming less intense and barely noticeable. The sea demons had disappeared, and the seawater began to recede.

As Liu Wuxie grabbed hold of Gu Yu, the stone wall suddenly crumbled, pulling them both into the vortex along with massive chunks of rock. Their consciousness began to blur, but Liu Wuxie quickly activated the Ghost Eye to maneuver through the chaos, dodging the rocks crashing down around them.

Many cultivators and sea demons were swept into the vortex, but they were shredded into pieces by the vortex because they couldn’t withstand the tearing force.

Only those who were in the high levels of the Heavenly Phase Realm barely survived, while many in the low levels suffered heavy casualties.

Even if they managed to survive the tearing force from the vortex, the falling rocks could crush them into debris.

The seawater was dyed red in blood, and they continued to sink. A series of loud bangs followed with the seawater falling first, followed by stones, then the humans and sea demons.

Screams could be heard because many people were barely conscious when they blew apart from the impact as they smashed into the rocks.

Liu Wuxie barely managed to stay conscious, relying on his powerful soul energy. When he was several dozen meters from the ground, he flipped around and dragged Gu Yu to the side.

Even Ding Ye and the Wolf Fang Regiment’s leader were caught by the vortex, but they wouldn’t die, given their strength. This meant the consequences would be unimaginable if they saw him, and the best solution was to avoid them.

When landing on the ground, Liu Wuxie circulated his cultivation technique to dispel the discomfort.

Gu Yu was dizzy and disoriented from the fall, so he took five breaths to adapt slowly.

Out of more than three thousand people who were swept into the vortex, over half were ripped apart by the vortex, and one-third were fatally injured by the fall. This meant that only less than one-third of the people survived.

The sea demons didn’t fare any better because they suffered heavy losses. Only the abyssal devils had surprisingly higher survival rate due to their powerful physique.

“Where are we?” Those who had recovered from the fall looked around in confusion, utterly bewildered by their surroundings. Nearly a thousand individuals had gathered, their gazes darting in every direction.

Among the three races, about three hundred sea demons had survived, along with around two hundred abyssal devils, as they hadn’t sent many forces. This meant that humans had the advantage in numbers. However, there was a significant drawback: unlike the sea demons and abyssal devils, who followed the orders of their superiors, humans struggled to unite, each group driven by their own agendas.

Liu Wuxie and Gu Yu hid behind a large rock, concealing their aura to the utmost extent to avoid being discovered by anyone. Furthermore, Liu Wuxie also scanned the surroundings with Ghost Eye to observe the environment.

When he looked up, he saw a massive black hole above them, as if the ceiling had been punched through. The surroundings resembled an ancient underground structure, with colossal pillars supporting the Blood Sea Abyssal Island. The entire underground chamber extended for tens of thousands of meters.

This baffled everyone. Who could have built such a large underground palace capable of supporting an entire island? Some people tried to fly up the black hole several times, but the suction force was so powerful that even those in the Astral River Realm were easily dragged down.

This place looked like an isolated world that had suddenly opened, and the rocks laid on the ground were unlike anything Liu Wuxie had ever seen.

Suddenly, an exclamation echoed throughout the underground palace and drew everyone’s attention.

“Look at these pillars!” A cultivator walked over to the nearest pillar and wiped the dust off it, revealing the intricate engravings.

Everyone hurried over to inspect the pillar.

“These are dragon runes!” Ding Ye and others couldn’t recognize the patterns, but the shark sea demon exclaimed after recognizing the engravings.

Everyone was stunned by this revelation, regardless of whether they were sea demons or abyssal devils.

“Could this place be an underground dragon palace?” Everyone was excited upon learning that this was an underground dragon palace.

The Dragon clan was the noblest race in heaven and earth, and the Dragon Clan’s bloodline was ranked first out of three thousand. Even divine beasts like Qilin and Phoenix were ranked beneath the Dragon Clan.

The human bloodline had a low ranking and couldn’t even be compared to the abyssal devils, barely making it into the top two thousand.

Legends mentioned three thousand races in the universe, and the Dragon Clan’s origins preceded humans by billions of years.

In that era, dragons reigned supreme across the universe, commanding the allegiance of countless races from various planes. Even the Demon Clan, which rose to prominence later, was originally a branch of the Dragon Clan and would bow in submission at the mere sight of a dragon.

The Sea Demon Clan was part of the Demon Clan, and they felt both afraid and excited at the sight of the dragon runes.

Liu Wuxie, on the other hand, frowned at the sight of the dragon runes. The appearance of the dragon runes didn’t surprise him, but the appearance of dragons was scarce in the True Martial Continent.

He recalled a genius from the Immortal Realm who had bathed daily in the blood essence of the Dragon Clan, ultimately achieving the legendary True Dragon Physique. This physique was renowned for its immense power and near-immortality, enabling its possessor, at the highest levels, to take on the form of a true dragon and become indistinguishable from the dragons themselves.

After all, using the Dragon Clan’s bloodline to transform into a dragon was extremely rare in the Celestial Realm for humans. This was because dragons had a powerful physique, and transforming into them meant becoming almost invincible.

Upon realizing this was a dragon palace, Gu Yu’s face changed. He possessed the Sky Dragon’s bloodline, a branch of the Dragon Clan. The Dragon Clan had many variations, such as Golden Dragons, Sky Dragons, Desolate Dragons, Titan Dragons, etc.

“Big Brother Liu, do you remember when I told you there’s a mysterious force attracting me here?” Gu Yu transmitted his voice to Liu Wuxie. He could sense the attraction when they had previously entered the mines.

“You’re saying something is calling out to you here?” Liu Wuxie withdrew his gaze. Everyone was now focused on the dragon clan and had forgotten about him.

“That’s right. I suspect that this dragon palace was once my ancestor’s residence.” Gu Yu frowned because the Gu Clan had descended from the Sky Dragon’s bloodline, and it made sense that Gu Yu could feel a connection if this place was the Sky Dragon’s residence.

“Besides that vague attraction, can you sense anything more specific?” Liu Wuxie asked, helping Gu Yu to analyze the situation. The feeling alone didn’t prove much; it was like a faint, indistinct pull.

“It feels like a calling, like a mysterious force calling out to me.” Gu Yu dared not hide anything from Liu Wuxie and shared everything he knew. The calling wasn’t obvious, but he could feel his bloodline stirring as if a mysterious force had been calling out to him since entering this place.

“Can you sense where’s the calling coming from?” Liu Wuxie inquired, knowing they needed to uncover the mystery before the others did.

“Over there!” Gu Yu pointed straight ahead, where it was pitch-black to the naked eye.

“This is strange because there’s nothing there!” Liu Wuxie had already used Ghost Eye to scan the surroundings when they had landed. The Dragon Palace’s entrance was on the right, with ‘Dragon Palace’ engraved at the top.

“I don’t know either. I can only feel a calling coming from that direction!” Gu Yu couldn’t explain it in detail because it was only a feeling.

“Let’s wait till we enter the Dragon Palace. A stone wall blocks that side, and we can’t enter. Perhaps there might be another secret passage to enter,” Liu Wuxie offered an explanation based on his analysis. The materials used to construct the stone walls were unique, capable of blocking his Ghost Eye.

Gu Yu nodded and trusted Liu Wuxie’s words.

The others were still gathered around the pillar to observe the dragon runes. Many people even took out paper and a brush to record the runes.

A portion of the people moved towards the Dragon Palace’s entrance. The suction force was gradually weakening, but no one left.

The ‘Dragon Palace’ at the top of the entrance gleamed brightly and was visible from hundreds of meters away.

The plaza outside the Dragon Palace, where they had fallen, was an expansive area supported by countless stone pillars.

The humans were divided into three factions: the Ding Feng Hall, Wolf Fang Regiment, and rogue cultivators that did not belong to the two forces. The rogue cultivators had no choice but to band together to deter the other factions, becoming a force that couldn’t be ignored.

They even forgot why they had ended up there. Then again, it was understandable because even those in the high levels of the Heavenly Phase Realm were shredded by the vortex, not to mention Liu Wuxie, who was just at the low levels of the Heavenly Phase Realm.

Being forgotten was good news to Liu Wuxie because no one noticed him. The gate was tightly shut with two massive door rings that emanated an overwhelming dragon’s aura.

“These door rings are priceless treasures!” Liu Wuxie murmured.

The Dragon Clan had appeared billions of years ago and plundered countless treasures. They had even created the Dragon Realm, which proved their wealth.

Every year, many humans from the Celestial Realm would secretly infiltrate the Dragon Realm to steal treasures.

The Wolf Fang Regiment’s leader walked to the front and stared at the massive gates. He took a deep breath before pushing the gates with all his might, but the gigantic gate didn’t budge.

He was in the pinnacle of the Astral River Realm, but he couldn’t even budge the two gates, which were unbelievable.

“Let me help you!” Xing Lian took a step forward and helped to push the gates with all his might, but the gates remained unmoved.

An uproar exploded from the crowd because the dragon palace was before their eyes, but they couldn’t enter. Everyone was eager and confident that there were countless treasures inside, and they would become rich as long as they could open the gates.

“What are you all standing around for? Come and help out!” Xing Lian roared as more people stepped forward to help push the gates.

Even Ding Ye and Lin Feng joined in, not wanting the Wolf Fang Regiment to advance on them.

The forces of hundreds of people combined were comparable to those of the Nascent Transformation Realm. The giant gates began to creak, revealing a small gap as they slowly opened.

The sea demons and abyssal devils stood aside and didn’t move, waiting for the gates to be fully opened before rushing in.

As the gap slowly opened, Liu Wuxie adjusted his body to face the gates. The moment the gate opened, his Ghost Eye instantly penetrated the depths of the dragon palace before gasping in shock.

“Big Brother Liu, what did you see inside?” Gu Yu already knew that Liu Wuxie had practiced a bizarre eye technique and could see through many things.

“You’ll find out soon enough!” Liu Wuxie couldn’t describe the interior with words because it vastly differed from what he had imagined.

When the gap opened big enough to barely accommodate a person, everyone was dumbfounded when they saw the interior because this wasn’t what they had imagined. They began to wonder if this place was a dragon palace.