Leaving the First Hall
In an instant, Lin Ming rushed towards the crimson palace, his figure leaving a long trail of bubbles in the deep blue sea.
The entire colossal palace was constructed of crimson boulders, their surfaces covered with dense flame patterns. These patterns gleamed with a faint, dark red light in the shadowy depths of the sea, like pieces of charcoal buried underwater, still faintly emitting residual heat.
In the square in front of the palace stood more than a dozen complete stone pillars. Each of these pillars was as thick as several people could hug and was over a hundred feet tall. The pillars were covered with dense Flame Runes, which looked like flames carved on the stone surface. Even after ten thousand years, they still exuded a scorching and sharp aura.
The square was paved with some kind of dark gray stone slabs, on which some dents of varying depths and scorch marks could be faintly seen, clearly indicating that this place was once an important training ground for martial arts.
Lin Ming landed at the edge of the square, and the moment his feet touched the stone slabs, he felt a warmth rising from the soles of his feet. Although the warmth was extremely weak, it was particularly noticeable in the cold environment of the seabed, like a stone warmed by the sun being placed in cold water.
He looked up and surveyed the enormous hall. The doors were wide open, the doors hanging askew on the frame, one of them broken in half, the jagged stone fragments at the break resembling a row of broken teeth.
Above the temple gate hangs a plaque, the characters on which are mostly blurred, but the words "transmission of skills" can still be vaguely discerned.
This should be the Transmission Hall of the First Hall, where the disciples of the First Hall practice their Cultivation Method and exchange supernatural abilities on a daily basis.
Lin Ming strode toward the palace gate, but as soon as he reached the center of the square, he felt the stone slabs under his feet tremble slightly.
The vibration was extremely subtle, like a heart that had been submerged underwater giving a gentle beating, yet Lin Ming immediately stopped in his tracks.
In an instant, Lin Ming's Spiritual Energy spread out from his feet in all directions, like countless invisible tentacles exploring the stone slabs of the square one by one.
A moment later, he raised an eyebrow slightly. Beneath the seemingly ordinary stone slabs on the plaza's surface lay a formation that covered the entire plaza.
The Spiritual Runes were engraved on the bottom of the stone slab, and could not be seen from above. However, their structure was extremely intricate. The Spiritual Runes were like a giant net laid under the stone slab, with the meshes connected by a very clever pattern. Each Spiritual Runes formed a nest with several others, like a disassembled Rubik's Cube.
This formation is at the mid-level of Grandmaster rank. Its function should be a protective formation in the Training Ground to prevent the aftershocks of disciples' sparring from leaking out, while also having a certain effect of trapping and suppressing enemies.
Lin Ming crouched down and examined it carefully for a moment, discovering that the core nodes of the formation were distributed under the four stone pillars at the four corners of the square. Each of the stone pillars had a ring of dark red Spiritual Runes on its base that Dharma Form underground, like the roots of a tree extending in all directions from the trunk.
He found a way to break this type of protective formation for Training Grounds from the legacy of the Master of the Lin Residence.
Although this formation covers a very wide area, its structure has a natural weakness: the core nodes at the four corners must maintain a constant supply of Spiritual Energy in order to keep the entire net in balance.
Just like a tent supported by four pillars, if one of them breaks, the entire tent will collapse to that side.
He walked to the stone pillar in the southeast corner, squatted down, condensed his Spiritual Energy into a probe, and inserted it into the gap between the base of the pillar and the ground.
The Spiritual Runes at the base were denser and more complex than elsewhere, but he quickly found an extremely fine gap amidst the entanglement of those Spiritual Runes, located at the intersection of two Spiritual Runes.
A wisp of Spiritual Energy was inserted into the gap, like a needle inserted into a keyhole, and then gently pried it open.
The two Spiritual Runes were slightly parted, and the Spiritual Energy flowing within the formation experienced a slight stagnation at that point.
He followed the same method, prying open the three key nodes under the southeast corner base one by one. With each node opened, the flow of Spiritual Energy in the stone slab beneath his feet slowed down a little.
When he selected the third spot, the entire square trembled slightly. The Spiritual Runes under the stone slabs dimmed outwards from the southeast corner, like a lamp whose wick had been turned down, the light shrinking in circles from the edge to the center.
A moment later, the entire formation went out completely, and a slight creaking sound came from the stone slabs underfoot, like a group of springs that had been stretched for a long time finally releasing their tension.
Standing up, Lin Ming walked towards the entrance of the Hall of Transmission of Skills.
The space inside the hall was extremely spacious, several times larger than the side halls and inner treasury he had visited before. Dozens of extinguished Spirit Lamps hung high on the dome. These Spirit Lamps were cast in bronze and shaped like inverted lotus flowers. Although they no longer emitted light, their shapes were still exquisite.
The floor inside the hall was covered with a thick, dark red carpet, most of which was rotten. When you stepped on it, it made a soft, rustling sound, like stepping on a pile of dead leaves.
The hall is divided into three sections. The first section is a spacious hall with dozens of Cushion. These Cushion are woven from some kind of Spirit herb. Although they are dry and blackened, they still maintain their round shape, like the relics of a group of monks who passed away while meditating.
The walls of the hall were covered with dense text and diagrams. The texts were cultivation insights from the Ancient Heavenly Palace, mostly about how to hone Spiritual Energy and temper the physical body at the Tier 9 Supreme stage.
Lin Ming looked along the wall and picked out a few passages about how to stabilize one's mind and guide Spiritual Energy to break through when attempting to break through to the Earth Sovereign realm. Although the content was not useful to him now, it might come in handy when he actually reached that point in the future. He copied those passages into Jade Slip and put it away.
The second section is a slightly smaller side hall, in which there is a row of stone tables, each with a Jade Slip or an ancient book on it.
Most of the Jade Slip slips were broken, but one of them was placed separately in a Jade Casket with the words "Insights from the Chief Disciple of the Transmission Hall" engraved on the box.
He opened the Jade Casket and took out the Jade Slip scroll. He probed into it with his divine sense. The Jade Slip contained a divine power called "Nine Revolutions Heaven-Splitting Finger".
That supernatural power condenses the Fire-Element Power into finger strength, nine fingers linked together, each finger stronger than the last. By the ninth finger, the finger strength had been refined to its limit, like a red-hot steel needle capable of piercing through any defense.
He carefully put away the Jade Slip scroll and continued searching through the stone tables. From a pile of broken Jade Slip, he pieced together a body-refining Cultivation Method called "Earth Fire Body-Tempering Technique." This Cultivation Method uses the Earth Core Fire to temper the body, and its effect should be quite good when used in conjunction with the Golden Sun Body-Tempering Pill in his hand.
The third room was a smaller inner room containing only a stone table with a bronze box on it.
He opened the bronze box, inside which was a crimson Crystal Stone about the size of a thumb. The Crystal Stone was perfectly round, with fine flame patterns slowly flowing inside, like a small sun compressed into a bead.
After a moment of examination, he recognized it as a "Earth Fire Essence Crystal," a type of Fire Element- elemental material. It is said to be the essence born from the magma at the Earth's core, containing extremely pure Fire Element Origin, making it a rare treasure for those who cultivate Fire Element Cultivation Method.
He carefully put away the Earth Fire Essence Crystal, intending to keep it for himself. Although the Emperor Flame within him was already extremely powerful, no one could ever have too much of the Fire Element Origin.
As I emerged from the Hall of Transmission, my Spiritual Energy swept across the Ruins outside the hall once more, and I discovered a hidden compartment protected by an array in a small side hall on the east side of the plaza.
The hidden compartment was concealed beneath a collapsed palace wall. The array was of a low grade, roughly at the early stage of the Grandmaster level. He broke it open in just a few breaths and obtained a Jade Casket box containing three "Fire Origin Pills," made from Fire Attribute spiritual herbs. After consumption, they could greatly increase the output of Fire Element Spiritual Energy for a short period of time. Although there would be some weakness after the effects wore off, they were perfect for use when fighting desperately.
He carefully put away the three pills and then searched the west side of the square. Under a collapsed stone pillar, he found a flattened Jade Slip. The Jade Slip contained a set of escape techniques called "Flowing Fire Movement Technique," which used Fire Element Spiritual Energy to transform the body into a stream of fire, extremely fast and with an unpredictable trajectory.
By this time, he had already searched most of the core area of the First Hall, from the main hall to the inner treasury and then to the Hall of Transmission of Skills. The things he had gained were like a small treasure trove.
Standing in the square, Lin Ming looked around. Most of the remaining palaces had collapsed into Ruins. The few that were relatively intact were now just empty shells, their contents long since decayed over the millennia.
Just as he was about to leave, his Spiritual Energy detected a very subtle fluctuation in a side hall on the north side of the square, which was mostly collapsed.
The fluctuation was weaker than any he had encountered in the Transmission Hall, yet it carried a very special aura of Law, like a spark buried in ashes still radiating a unique heat.
He walked towards the side hall, searched through the Ruins for a while, and dug out a palm-sized black stone box from under a pile of broken bricks.
The stone box had no protective array on its surface, but its material was extremely peculiar. It was carved entirely from an unknown black stone, and it felt warm and heavy to the touch, like a piece of polished black jade.
He opened the stone box, inside which was a bright red bead, about the size of a pigeon egg, perfectly round, with countless fine flame patterns slowly rotating inside, like a Miniature Sun compressed inside the bead.
He examined it for a moment, his pupils contracting slightly.
That was a "Earth Heart Fire Pearl," a supreme treasure of the Fire Element.
He carefully placed the Earth Heart Fire Pearl into the Jade Casket and sealed it. Then, he used his Spiritual Energy to scan the Ruins of the side hall again, making sure nothing was missed, before turning to leave.
He had already spent nearly a day in the First Hall, and his gains far exceeded his initial expectations.
The spiritual materials, pills, weapons, Cultivation Method, and supreme treasures combined were enough for him to push his own and those around him's strength to another level.
Without lingering any longer, Lin Ming swam towards the outer perimeter of the underwater palace complex, his figure in the deep blue water resembling a fish returning to its nest.
The colossal palaces receded further and further behind him, growing smaller and smaller until they finally became a dark, indistinct outline that merged into the darkness of the seabed.
As he emerged from the sea, the pale sunlight shone upon him, making the water droplets still clinging to his robes appear like tiny, scattered diamonds.
He took a deep breath while suspended in mid-air. The air was dry and crisp, a stark contrast to the stuffy, damp atmosphere of the seabed.
He glanced down at the vast blue sea, then looked up at the hazy world deep within the Heavenly Palace, a smile playing on his lips.
The spoils from the First Hall are in hand; now it's time to head to the Second Hall.