"Another Fire Element Spirit Mountain brimming with surging Fire Spirit Power?"
After seeing Zuo Bin take away Bu Changtian’s corpse and Huaa Wushuang’s storage ring, Ye Zhen continued to explore the Black Dragon Secret Palace while sensing the power fluctuations within the black stone bead.
Following the Green Wood Spirit Mountain and the Yellow Earth Spirit Mountain, Ye Zhen discovered another Fire Element Spirit Mountain, which, to his surprise, was still full of Supreme Scarlet Fire Spirit Crystals.
Could it be that within this Black Dragon Secret Palace, there are five mountains made purely of the Five Elements Spiritual Power—comprising gold, wood, water, fire, and earth elements?
By now, Ye Zhen had found the wood, earth, and fire spirit mountains and was only missing the gold and water element spirit mountains.
Carrying a thief’s mindset of leaving no stone unturned, Ye Zhen spent more than an hour and took three Red Fire Spirit Crystals, then continued to sense the fluctuations within the black stone bead and ventured further.
A day later, a White Gold Spirit Mountain emanating terrifying Sharp Gold Qi, appeared within Ye Zhen’s sight, confirming his speculation.
Up to now, only one Water Element Spirit Mountain was missing to complete the set of Five Elements Spirit Mountains, a vague guess was gradually forming in Ye Zhen’s mind.
After obtaining five Supreme White Gold Spirit Crystals, Ye Zhen once again felt the power fluctuations from the black stone bead and hastened on his way.
By Ye Zhen’s estimation, time was running short. Since entering the Black Dragon Secret Palace, the passage of time he could remember had already exceeded five days.
Ye Zhen did not know how long it took him to comprehend the Black Dragon Tyrant of Heaven Style—whether it was half a day, one day, or a day and a half.
It’s undeniable that the strangeness of the black stone bead had successfully piqued Ye Zhen’s curiosity; he was extremely eager to know what connection this black stone bead had with the Black Dragon Secret Palace and what kind of treasure it was that could shake such a powerfully spiritual mountain with a gentle landing?
Another day later, Ye Zhen entered a basin emitting terrifying Divine Soul Pressure.
The moment he set foot in the basin, Ye Zhen felt an indescribable Divine Soul Pressure descend, so heavy that his Divine Soul Power couldn’t move the slightest bit.
As for the Cloud Winged Tiger King Kitten, it had rolled its eyes and fainted before even approaching the basin.
Unable to use Divine Soul Power, Ye Zhen’s speed drastically decreased, and he couldn’t even fly, forcing him to use his basic Body Skill to race across the boundless basin.
As Ye Zhen ventured deeper into the basin, the black stone bead in his hand became hotter and hotter, yet, eerily enough, also lighter and lighter, almost as if it was about to float and fly away.
"What is this?"
Suddenly, two huge holes appeared within Ye Zhen’s field of vision; atop his head, dozens of miles away, two holes abruptly formed.
Only with the emergence of these two holes did Ye Zhen realize that the basin, including the sky above, seemed to be part of the basin as well.
It felt as if it was some kind of shell.
The moment the two holes appeared, the black stone bead in Ye Zhen’s hand trembled on the ground, almost ready to fly, but it was like a plump fledgling, always struggling to take flight.
Almost simultaneously, an extremely strong Divine Soul Thought erupted from the black stone bead in Ye Zhen’s hand—Return!
I want to return!
This human-like Divine Soul Thought startled Ye Zhen so much that he almost threw the black stone bead away.
It’s alive!
The black stone bead in front of him was seemingly akin to a living thing.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Ye Zhen swiftly turned around, his gaze shooting out like lightning toward the back, sweeping around. After several searches with no findings, he finally slowed down and turned back.
"Am I really seeing illusions now?"
Ye Zhen was puzzled. Just a moment ago, he had the sudden feeling of being watched by a gaze. When he turned to check, he found nothing.
As Ye Zhen murmured to himself, a shadow with a thick shell on its back slowly emerged from the basin’s rocky walls, a few dozen meters behind him.
As the shadow became more solid, to his astonishment, it took the form of the Old Turtle that Ye Zhen had seen once in the Black Water Legacy Mansion.
The Old Turtle was now a phantom, but those eyes were like those of an old man weathered by the trials of life—ancient and murky. Casually, a glimmer of hope seemed to pass through those cloudy eyes.
"I remember, three hundred years ago, that little fellow reached this step and then came to an end. I wonder if this little guy can take that step?"
"To let go, to let go, knowing it is a treasure, tough decision..."
The Old Turtle’s murmured voice seemed like invisible ripples. Ye Zhen in the distance, however, seemed completely oblivious, instead staring blankly at the black stone bead in his hand, his expression complex.
The black stone bead, as if a living person, conveyed a very clear message to Ye Zhen—it wanted to return.
For a Martial Artist, this was not an easy decision to make.
Almost every Martial Artist has a hoarding habit: first, they always need treasures; second, you never know when you might need it.
Most importantly, judging from the current performance of the black stone bead, it was definitely a Treasure. As Martial Artists say, if you cannot use it yet, it simply means your Cultivation is not high enough.
So the question arises, knowing it’s a Treasure, would you still give it away? Especially when the outcome after giving it away was unclear.
What to do?
If you give it away and get nothing in return, won’t it all be in vain?
And what if it brings disaster?
These were probably the extremely tough decisions that every Martial Artist arriving here had to face.
However, for Ye Zhen, these questions were just fleeting thoughts; his heart was still filled with curiosity!
What Ye Zhen really wanted to know was, what kind of treasure was this black stone bead?
This was the fundamental reason why Ye Zhen had sensed the fluctuations of the black stone bead and followed them to this basin.
So, after a fleeting moment of distraction, Ye Zhen took action.
With a slight lift of his hands, he seemed to give the black stone bead a pair of wings, causing it to fly up into the air.
Whoosh!
The black stone bead that flew up suddenly accelerated, as though something was pulling it toward the hole at the top of the cave.
Crack!
As if it were a pearl fitting perfectly into its setting, the black stone bead suddenly lodged itself into the empty hole on the left, and the black radiance flashed dramatically, like the semblance of an object.
"An eye!"
"Isn’t this just like an eye?"
Almost at the instant that the thought rose from the bottom of Ye Zhen’s heart, an intimidating Dragon Roar emanated from all directions. At the moment the Dragon Roar resounded, the entire basin shook violently.
What was odd was that, whether it was the Dragon Roar or the shaking, Ye Zhen could sense an emotion of ’joy’ within it.
"Eh? The Divine Soul suppression is gone?"
It wasn’t until this moment that Ye Zhen discovered the Divine Soul Pressure that had pervaded the entire basin and prevented him from moving even a fraction of his Divine Soul Power had vanished into thin air.
Almost simultaneously, throughout the entire Black Dragon Secret Palace, whether it was the Green Wood Spirit Mountain, the Yellow Earth Spirit Mountain, the Red Fire Spirit Mountain, or the peaks and valleys of other mountains, the deafening Dragon Roar sounded from all directions.
In an instant, the Dragon Roar reverberated throughout the entire Black Dragon Secret Palace, causing the Martial Artists on the Black Dragon Ranking still exploring inside to freeze in their tracks. Even two Martial Artists who were engaged in a life-and-death battle stopped fighting because of the inexplicable Dragon Roar echoing from all sides.
The Dragon Roar continued, and the black stone bead that resembled an eyeball was rotating somewhat clumsily, as if it were adjusting to something.
Looking at this black eye bead and thinking back on what had happened before, Ye Zhen’s figure suddenly shook.
"I understand now!"
"This Black Dragon Secret Palace is actually the insides of the legendary Black Dragon’s body from the Black Dragon Domain! The blue Spirit Mountain must be the Black Dragon’s liver, and the liver is associated with the Wood Element. The Yellow Earth Spirit Mountain is its stomach, the stomach is associated with the Earth Element, and the heart is associated with the Fire Element, the liver with the Metal Element!"
"I see now, I see! No wonder there is no sign of life here. The reason is that the legendary Black Dragon has already... fallen..."
Almost as the word ’fallen’ slipped out, the recently returned Black Dragon’s Left Eye suddenly reversed itself, and the black and white pupil abruptly fixed its gaze on Ye Zhen.
Roar!
The Dragon Roar sounded again.
Accompanied by the Dragon Roar, a black column of light suddenly enveloped Ye Zhen’s body. The next moment, the black radiance engulfing Ye Zhen, like water, seeped into his body.
As the black column of light entered his body, it felt like a red-hot iron piercing directly into him, making Ye Zhen’s eyes bulge out as he fainted.
Almost at the same time, the Mirage Dragon Pearl at the Danzhong Acupoint on Ye Zhen’s chest suddenly shone brightly. The moment the radiance appeared, the black light that had surged into Ye Zhen’s body recoiled as if it had encountered something terrifying, scattering and being forced toward one particular place.
"How... how is this possible?"
The shadow of Old Turtle behind Ye Zhen suddenly opened its mouth wide in shock, its eyes bulging with disbelief.
"How can this be..."
As Old Turtle’s exclamation echoed, the continuous stream of black light shrouded Ye Zhen, converging on a certain place in his body.
Perhaps even Old Turtle had not noticed that within Ye Zhen’s embrace, another small life kept squirming.
Each squirm allowed a strand of black light, thinner than a hair, to flow into the body of the Cloud Winged Tiger King Kitten. Compared to the black radiance entering Ye Zhen’s body, it was extremely sparse, yet it was steadily absorbing!
Inside the Black Dragon Ancient Land, seven days had passed, and the majority of the Martial Artists who had come to join in the excitement and watch the battles had already left early. Most of those who remained were the mighty Martial Artists from the Soul Sea Realm.
They were all prepared to escort their disciples on the list back to the Sect.
After all, any Martial Artist who could make it onto the Black Dragon Ranking would be a disciple that the Sect would focus on nurturing upon returning. To exaggerate a bit, each and everyone was the future pillar of their Sect or family, and they needed to be safely escorted back.
"Qing Yii brother, seven days have passed; they should be coming out soon, right? It’s just that I wonder how Changtian and the others fared?" the Thousand Illusion Eagle King asked impatiently, occasionally glancing over at the group from the Qiyun Sect. He couldn’t wait any longer.
With the Thousand Illusion Eagle King’s question, everyone’s eyes turned to Qing Yii.
To some extent, the Phantom Divine Sect was definitely the oldest Sect in the Black Dragon Domain and the one with the most complete collection of Sect records, naturally privy to many secrets.
"Eagle King, no need to be impatient! Changtian and his seven brothers definitely won’t have bad results," Qing Yii said.
"Although the Black Dragon Ancient Land is only open for seven days, because everyone’s encounters are different, there will be some variations when people are sent out. Just wait a bit longer..."
"They’re out!"
"Look, they’re coming out!"
In the midst of the conversation, a figure surrounded by green light suddenly emerged from the center of the Black Dragon Ancient Land! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)

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