Palace

The next day

Zhou Hao slowly finished his cultivation. He had smoothly broken through to Spirit Consciousness Sixth Order, so he planned to leave Shilpo Mountain Stronghold today.

After leaving Shilpo Mountain Stronghold, he planned to head for "Luoyang Town," that large town where merchants often came and went.

Since he was already here, of course he had to see the flourishing sights of this world!

"Let's go!" Zhou Hao said as he looked around the empty room.

The room was empty because he had stuffed the bed into his Ring of Holding. Fortunately, his Ring of Holding had plenty of space; otherwise, fitting in such a large bed would not have been easy.

"Gold, Silver, Yuanbao, and Jewels, we're leaving." Zhou Hao took them and flew straight out of Shilpo Mountain Stronghold.

When the stronghold residents looked up, they knew Zhou Hao had left. With Zhou Hao, this outsider, gone, they unexpectedly felt a little unaccustomed to it.

Following the map Ma Hongyun had given him, Zhou Hao flew eastward. At their flying speed, they would arrive before long.

It only depended on whether Zhou Hao wanted to go fast or slow.

Zhou Hao looked down and found that quite a few merchants were indeed traveling along this main road. Those without Rings of Holding drove beast carts loaded with goods along the route.

"Dad, there are people over there." Zhou Yuanbao suddenly pointed toward the nine o'clock direction.

Zhou Hao turned to look and discovered a group of people digging into the ground. He had no idea what they were doing.

"Should we go take a look?" Mu Jinyin flapped his wings and flew to Zhou Hao's side.

Zhou Hao thought for a moment, then nodded. "Let's take a look! We're not in a hurry anyway."

"Achoo~"

Jewels suddenly sneezed.

Zhou Hao immediately knew it had discovered a Mysterious Grade Treasure. "Which direction?"

Jewels pointed in the direction they were already heading.

Zhou Hao smiled. "So that means they have a Mysterious Grade Treasure on them!"

Looking at it this way, those people did not seem simple. After all, not just anyone could possess a Mysterious Grade Treasure.

Just as they drew near, a long-haired man with flowing hair flew toward them.

"Who might you be, sir? Please state your name." Jiang Jun, the long-haired man, cupped his fists and asked.

Zhou Hao paused, then copied him and cupped his fists. "Zhou Hao. May I ask who you are, brother?"

"Jiang Jun," Jiang Jun replied blandly.

He continued, "The Jiang Family of Tianyang City has business here. Unrelated people would do well not to approach, or do not blame Jiang's sword for having no eyes."

Zhou Hao curled his lips. "Can you stop talking in all those tongue-twisting circles? And I've never heard of any Jiang Family around here."

What he hated most were people who immediately used their family background to crush others.

"Then it seems you wish to exchange a few moves with me." A longsword suddenly appeared in Jiang Jun's hand, and a sharp sword cry rang out.

Zhou Hao shrugged. Since the other party had a weapon, he would not make a move himself. He planned to let Zhou Yuanbao teach this brat a lesson.

"Yuanbao..."

At that moment, powerful golden light suddenly erupted from where that group of people stood.

Jiang Jun abruptly turned his head, then immediately flew over.

Zhou Hao looked toward that spot. The next moment, the earth shook and mountains trembled, the ground split apart, and a massive black shadow rose from underground.

Everyone took to the air in succession.

Once the black shadow revealed its full form, everyone discovered that it was actually an enormous palace.

Zhou Hao was quite astonished as well. He had not expected to stumble upon such a major event just by passing through.

"Ding~"

A long, clear chime came from the palace, drawing everyone's attention.

A number thirty appeared on the protective barrier surrounding the palace.

"What does that mean?" Zhou Hao could not make sense of it.

At that moment, Jiang Jun and the others flew over together and entered the protective barrier.

The number changed, becoming twenty-three.

A flash of inspiration struck Zhou Hao, and he immediately understood what the number meant. It was the number of people allowed to enter.

Jiang Jun had flown in with six others just now, so it had decreased by seven.

Zhou Hao hesitated over whether to join in this excitement. The palace looked far from simple, but when he looked at Zhou Yuanbao and Mu Jinyin, his confidence immediately rose. With these two guardian spirits protecting him, there was no need to be timid.

He immediately took Zhou Yuanbao and the others inside.

The next moment, the number twenty-three decreased by one again, becoming twenty-two.

The commotion here was enormous. Powerful experts would probably swarm over soon, but the slots were limited. First come, first served; it depended only on who was faster.

After Zhou Hao entered the palace, he did not see Jiang Jun and the others. There was only an empty main hall.

"Achoo~"

Jewels started sneezing the moment it entered.

Zhou Hao's eyes shifted, and he smiled faintly. He picked up Jewels and had it lead the way.

This place was far too mysterious. Zhou Hao did not feel at ease letting Jewels run around, so he could only carry it.

Before long, guided by Jewels, they found a bottle of pills: Mysterious Grade Low Rank Pills to Break Limits, the very pill Xu Shan had killed Shi Po to seize.

Zhou Hao obtained them with effortless ease. He did not know whether that counted as irony.

Xu Shan had even dared to poison his own elder brother for this pill, while Zhou Hao obtained it without lifting a finger—and he had gotten five at once.

"Achoo~"

Jewels made another discovery.

Following Jewels's directions, Zhou Hao found a Mysterious Grade Mid Rank cultivation technique called "Mysterious Spring Divine Art" inside a hidden compartment in one room.

The name sounded quite impressive, but its rank was truly nothing special.

Still, something was better than nothing, so Zhou Hao accepted it all without hesitation.

"Hm?" Zhou Hao glanced upward and discovered a Soaring Serpent totem carved into the ceiling.

"They deliberately carved the totem in a place like this? There must be something fishy going on."

When Zhou Hao tried to take to the air, he discovered that he could not fly.

He looked at Zhou Yuanbao and Mu Jinyin, frowning. Why was he the only one who could not fly?

"Dad, there's a flight-ban formation here. You can't fly," Mu Jinyin reminded him.

"Then why can you fly?" Zhou Hao asked.

"Because we're strong!"

Zhou Yuanbao and Mu Jinyin answered in unison.

The corner of Zhou Hao's mouth twitched. Fine, he had asked a pointless question.

He pointed at the totem on the ceiling and instructed Zhou Yuanbao, "Go take a look."

Zhou Yuanbao flew up and followed the Soaring Serpent's patterns with his gaze. Finally, he stopped at the Soaring Serpent's eyes.

"Did you find something?" Zhou Hao immediately asked when he saw Zhou Yuanbao stop.

Zhou Yuanbao turned back and said, "There are two drops of Soaring Serpent blood in the Soaring Serpent's eyes."

Zhou Hao waved a hand. "Then dig them out!"

Though he knew little about Soaring Serpents, Soaring Serpent blood should be a treasure of rather high rank.

Zhou Yuanbao dug out both of the Soaring Serpent's eyes.

The next moment, the room suddenly began to tremble, and the entire ceiling came crashing down.

Zhou Hao hurriedly ran away with Zhou Yuanbao and the others.

"Whew, this damned place really does have traps." Zhou Hao let out a breath and curled his lips.

He had been wondering whether there might be danger here, and sure enough, there was. His earlier decision not to let Jewels run around had been the right one.