The Suizhou Pearl is a dragon pearl, possessing dragon nature, capable of gathering fortune and auspiciousness.
At this moment, Wu Ming felt a great surge of dragon energy within himself. The Suizhou Pearl emitted a glowing white light, and a path automatically appeared before him.
“Could there still be lingering dragon energy within Wuhui Valley?”
Wu Ming’s heart stirred, yet he stepped onto the path that had mysteriously appeared and began walking forward.
Wuwu…
Gray mist swirled around him, like the howls of ghosts and wolves.
Long devoid of any traces of ghosts, Wuhui Valley, where only monstrous and evil entities have been lingering, finally welcomed a new visitor.
Under the watchful and eerie gazes of numerous evil spirits, a young Daoist priest advanced. Flames of crimson swept across his crown, golden and cyan clouds gathered in swarms, forming a dragon-like creature. A luminous pearl in his hand illuminated his path as he slowly moved forward.
Wuhui Valley is profoundly deep, perpetually enshrouded in an impenetrable mist so dense that not even the mightiest ghosts and deities can disperse it. Inhabited by malevolent spirits and demonic entities, it has earned its notorious reputation as one of the most treacherous realms in the underworld.
Yet at this moment, a strange premonition compelled Wu Ming to cast aside his doubts and hesitations, urging him to move forward swiftly.
His yin spirit riding the wind, swift as lightning, yet without any reference points around him, Wu Ming could not tell how far he had ventured.
Suddenly, the space before him opened up, revealing a vast ruin of ancient structures.
At some point, Wu Ming regained his senses, gazing around, and discovered that the thick fog had dissipated. He now stood upon a vast white marble plaza.
Giant jade pillars and ornamental columns lay scattered on the ground, overrun with wild grass, exuding a sense of desolation.
“Could this be… the remains of a fallen deity’s blessed land?”
Wu Ming suddenly had a realization.
The plaza was broken and carried an aura of decay, yet judging from its layout and the remaining ritual objects, the great god who once ruled here must have held immense authority.
After passing through a massive ruin, Wu Ming’s pupils constricted again as he spotted something extraordinary.
Before him stood a ruined altar. Built from dark earth, it was square at the base and round at the top, embodying the ancient principle of a round heaven and square earth. Each side measured ninety-nine feet in length and it stood ninety-nine feet high. Pieces of silk ritual items and bronze wine cups lay scattered across the ground.
“The scale of this altar suggests it was used for sacrifices to heaven…”
Wu Ming observed, astonished. In ancient times, not everyone had the privilege to offer sacrifices to heaven, and even among deities, this was the case.
“And furthermore…”
He stepped forward, picking up a bronze wine cup.
The cup felt rather rough to the touch, its design ancient and broken, exuding a primitive charm, making it a rare cultural relic.
But these were not the key points. The real key was that as Wu Ming’s skin made contact with the cup, his dragon energy immediately rippled.
“There is indeed lingering dragon vein energy…”
Wu Ming no longer had any doubts: “This deity must have been a dragon god, or perhaps this blessed land was the ancestral site of a dynasty’s original dragon? Otherwise, how could the dragon energy be so intense?”
Huala! Huala!
Fine particles trickled through his fingers, startling Wu Ming.
Then, this crisp sound seemed to activate the entire realm, buzzing…
The entire terrace collapsed with a thunderous roar, raising a great cloud of dust. The force of time’s decay completely obliterated the terrace.
“Sigh… even true deities cannot withstand the erosion of the river of history…”
Wu Ming sighed deeply, understanding that the passage of time had caused the altar’s spiritual radiance to dissipate entirely. It was likely that nothing here could be used anymore, dashing his hopes of retrieving any magical artifacts.
“What a pity…”
After using his spiritual eye once more to confirm that there was no spiritual glow left within the ruins, Wu Ming shook his head and continued deeper.
Among the three most perilous locations in the underworld—Niwang River, Gui Mang Mountain, and Wuhui Valley—Wuhui Valley was the fallen domain of an ancient great god!
Moreover, the fall of this blessed land had transformed the entire Wuhui Valley into a perilous place. The resulting resentment and death spirits were so powerful that even ordinary ghosts and deities dared not approach, lest they invite unpredictable fortune or disaster. Such a thing would be hard to believe without firsthand experience.
“Hmm! Still, this must be so…”
Wu Ming pondered, his magic power surging, forming a water-element talisman that created a glowing screen to record everything.
Of course, it was only a brief scene, proof that he had indeed been here and not fabricating tales.
In case proof of his mission was required, this would serve as evidence.
“To truly repel the surrounding evil spirits and find the correct path to this place, one must possess dragon energy…”
Wu Ming glanced at the dragon above his head: “And not just a little… one must possess the fortune of a latent dragon…”
This condition alone would eliminate over ninety-nine percent of ghosts and deities.
“This is only an altar. If I proceed further, who knows what other opportunities await?”
Passing the altar and moving several miles deeper, toppled pillars and scattered pearls lay everywhere, revealing the former owner’s extravagance.
Further ahead, a ruined palace appeared before Wu Ming’s eyes. Its vast halls stretched endlessly, covering an unknown area. Though showing signs of decay, faint spiritual light still lingered.
“Could it have remained intact until now?”
Seeing this, Wu Ming was not alarmed but delighted. His greatest fear was that the palace would have been eroded by time, just like the altar before, causing all spiritual objects to collapse. However, the presence of lingering magical wards was fortunate.
Regardless of how powerful the ancient magical wards might have been, after enduring the erosion of time, their strength would have greatly diminished.
Before the palace, jade beads were discolored, and the plaque had long rotted away.
A great sorrowful aura instantly enveloped Wu Ming’s heart.
“This god no longer exists, his name difficult to leave behind. Even seemingly eternal deities cannot achieve immortality?”
Beside the palace, the magical wards had weakened, no longer able to protect the area, which had become overgrown with weeds. A half-buried stone stele lay on the ground, revealing a weathered corner.
Wu Ming approached, brushing it with his sleeve. Though most of it had rotted away, two faint, broken cloud-seal characters were still visible.
“This character should mean ‘Fu’ (mansion), and the one below seems like ‘Jun’ (lord). Together, does it read ‘Fu Jun’?”
Carefully identifying the characters, Wu Ming made a discovery: “Fu Jun? Then this must have been a local deity. A land god with such grandeur is rare indeed…”
Filled with anticipation, he approached the palace gates.
Though appearing dilapidated, the palace had nine layers of curtains. As Wu Ming reached out to push the door, a faint glow appeared, firmly resisting his hand.
“Still retains such power?”
This change stirred Wu Ming’s heart, increasing his eagerness: “It seems there must be many treasures inside…”
With a gesture, the dragon above his head coiled, seemingly ready to extend its claws.
Roar! Roar!
At that moment, Wu Ming’s expression suddenly changed as he looked at the Suizhou Pearl in his hand.
Hiss! Hiss!
A stream of mysterious energy, carrying the aura of ancient wilderness, emerged from the mansion and was absorbed into the Suizhou Pearl.
“This isn’t dragon energy! It seems more like the lingering energy of an ancient fierce serpent…”
The Suizhou Pearl contained only a trace of dragon nature. The creature encountered by Suizhou in ancient times was a large serpent, not yet fully transformed into a dragon, thus possessing serpentine qualities.
“Hmm, something within this mansion is highly beneficial to the Suizhou Pearl!”
A delighted expression appeared on Wu Ming’s face: “If I can use this serpent’s energy, combined with dragon energy from both inside and outside, there’s a chance to break through the magical wards!”
Mumu!
Suddenly, a dense black mist emerged from the ground in front of the palace, swirling into a large mass of dark fog. Within it, two blood-red eyes glared at Wu Ming.
A thick, long leg covered in coarse hairs, each strand standing upright like a sword, suddenly shot out from the black mist, descending with thunderous force.
Boom!
Dust flew everywhere, instantly creating a massive crater on the white marble plaza in front of the palace.
Wu Ming quickly retreated, focusing on the monster hidden within the black mist. His spiritual eye flashed with light:
“This is… an evil spirit? But it also carries the divine light of a deity. Could it be a former guardian deity?”
A powerful deity would inevitably have subordinate gods and gatekeepers.
Wu Ming never expected that the ancient guardian deity, although long deceased, its soul fragmented, seemed to have merged with the land, transforming into a monster resembling an evil spirit.
“Furthermore… in this region, it was once the guardian, automatically receiving the magical ward’s power to expel me, an outsider, in a completely justified manner…”
Rapidly retreating, within Wu Ming’s consciousness, a talisman seed suddenly emitted a glow.
Chi chi!
From the cracks in the weed-infested white marble of the grand hall, countless green vines surged forth, covered in thorns, rushing forward like venomous snakes toward the black mist.
“Outsider… Daoist… kill…”
Within the black mist, the blood-red eyes carried madness, yet also a hint of confusion, its intellect long lost. At this moment, it could only act on instinctual defense.
A burst of crimson light suddenly exploded from the black mist, igniting raging flames.
Fire overcomes wood! Even with elemental magic, this fundamental rule must still be followed.
Almost instantly, dozens of thick vines turned to ashes.
The monster did not pause, its massive head emerging from the black mist, crowned with two horns, spewing forth a wave of five-colored arcane light, sweeping across the heavens and earth.
“The five elements generating each other? No! This is the Five-Color Divine Light Restriction!”
Before the flames arrived, a powerful force of prohibition and isolation suddenly descended, nearly severing Wu Ming’s connection to his own magical energy.
“This place is strange, and this monster…”
Looking at the terrifying flame-like aura stretching several zhang from the opponent’s body, along with the swirling clouds of five-colored arcane light mixed with black and red hues, Wu Ming’s eyes narrowed.
“Roar! Roar!”
Above him, the golden-cyan dragon roared furiously, its eyes glowing with intense purple. Suddenly, it soared upward and swung its tail.
Boom!
The massive dragon tail collided with the barrier formed by the five-colored arcane light, sending shockwaves rippling outward.
Swoosh!
Using the force of this impact, Wu Ming’s yin spirit seemed as frail as a willow in the wind, carried away in an instant, traveling several miles.
The ghost deity roared, chasing to the edge of the ruins, yet could only stop there, letting out a reluctant howl at Wu Ming’s retreating figure.
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