The Earth Palace Golden Chapter

A streak of crimson light swept across the sky, winding through the layered clouds over Blazing Mountain with a long, dazzling tail of flame.

On closer inspection, that crimson light was a transportation Talisman Artifact, the "Cloud-Piercing Flying Boat." Inside, a boy of thirteen or fourteen was laughing loudly, his words arrogant and unrestrained.

"Seventh Uncle's Blazing Mountain is great fun, Old Deng. You've never come here with me before, so you don't know its delights. That's why you look like such a stupid bird."

The boy's eyes shone with a clear, lustrous light, and his skin was full and smooth. At a glance, it was obvious he was no ordinary person, but a cultivator who had attained Embryonic Breathing Qi Sensation and crossed the threshold into the innate realm.

Yet his speech always carried a lewd undertone, which, coupled with his young age, made him seem profoundly unsettling.

"Of all my uncles, Seventh Uncle knows best how to please me... Now that you've attained Embryonic Breathing too, you're one of us, so I'll tell you the truth. Back when I was still a virgin, Seventh Uncle was the one who gave me my first taste of flesh."

Chuckling, the boy put an arm around an unremarkable-looking man in his early forties beside him and said affectionately:

"You have no idea how wonderful Seventh Uncle's Xiao Yu is. During these months of confinement, I've missed her to death! The charms she displays between the sheets put even Censor Sun's newly married concubine to shame. A voluptuous young matron has her own appeal, of course, but she still falls far short of Xiao Yu!"

When he said this,

the attendants around them all joined in with raucous laughter. Only "Old Deng" looked faintly displeased.

"Old Deng," whose name was Deng Zhongzhi, was the boy's personal attendant. They had always been close, their bond far stronger than that of an ordinary master and servant.

"Second Young Master, I'm naturally glad that you want to celebrate my attainment of Embryonic Breathing, but you mustn't demean your Seventh Uncle like this. The Mount Yang Daoist is your father's sworn brother, after all. His sixth-level Qi Refining cultivation is second only to your father's."

Deng Zhongzhi cast a displeased glance at the laughing attendants. His gaze was like a bolt of cold lightning, stinging their skin, and the laughter abruptly died.

Then he turned back to the boy, lowered his voice, and said gently:

"Your father is preparing to usurp the kingdom. Once he succeeds, the Rong Kingdom will belong to the Tong Household. That means centuries of wealth and honor, benefiting generation after generation! Second Young Master, at a time like this, it's all the more important not to offend the Mount Yang Daoist or provoke his displeasure. The Tong Household still needs his help with its great undertaking. Another source of support can only be a good thing."

"Hasn't our Tong Household treated him well enough?!"

At Deng Zhongzhi's admonition, the boy flushed. Feeling he had lost face before everyone, he only grew more petulant.

"If my father hadn't saved his life back then, wouldn't the Mount Yang Daoist have been killed by those Rogue Cultivators long ago?"

"And this estate on Blazing Mountain-without my father pointing out the key, how could he have shattered that divine-path White Fox's golden body? And that page of the 'Earth Palace Golden Chapter'! He isn't even a member of our Tong Household, yet my father-"

At this, Deng Zhongzhi's expression changed drastically, and he hurried to cover the boy's mouth.

That page of the "Earth Palace Golden Chapter" was a matter of enormous importance and must never be mentioned before others. This warning had been repeated a thousand times, yet the boy was impulsive by nature. A moment's impatience, and he was ready to spill everything in his complaints.

Deng Zhongzhi enjoyed the deep trust of the Tong Household's patriarch.

The Pillar-of-State Grand General, who was now on the verge of usurping the kingdom, regarded him as a brother and concealed none of his secrets from him.

Thus, Deng Zhongzhi knew full well that the page of the "Earth Palace Golden Chapter" did not belong solely to the Tong Household's patriarch. The patriarch had merely happened to receive its favor and could barely be counted among those destined for it.

And the Mount Yang Daoist was likewise one of those destined for it...

It had all begun when the Tong Household's patriarch casually rescued the Mount Yang Daoist in a small secret realm, where the latter had also come to try his luck.

In truth, he had not intended to perform a good deed. Rather, if danger arose later in the journey, he could push the Mount Yang Daoist out in front and gain a sliver of hope for his own survival.

But the two proceeded cautiously throughout their journey, never taking a wrong step, and finally reached the end by the narrowest of margins.

The opportunity awaiting them at the end of that secret realm, however, was neither Talisman Coins, treasures, writings left by their predecessors, nor some powerful Talisman Artifact.

It was only a single page of a golden book-

The golden page recorded an exceptional Dao Art used to temper the physical body externally.

Below it was an annotation in small characters, specifying which section and page of the "Earth Palace Golden Chapter" it belonged to. It also declared that anyone who privately transmitted or received it without the Dao Court lifting its restriction would be severely punished without mercy, cast into the Nether Office to endure a hundred thousand years of torment from the nine colds and nine heats.

The Tong Household's patriarch and the Mount Yang Daoist had only hastily memorized the writing when the golden page suddenly blazed with light. It shot away from where it lay, plunged into the void, and vanished without a trace.

The Tong Household's patriarch had intended to kill him, but at this wondrous sight, he could only suppress that intent. Instead, he put on a genial expression and drew the Mount Yang Daoist into a sworn brotherhood.

Since the Tong Household's patriarch had five brothers, the Mount Yang Daoist had the sense not to insist on ranking by age and humbly took seventh place.

From then on, the Tong Household's patriarch gradually lost his desire to kill him and even offered him guidance from time to time. He had, for instance, lent a hand in the assault on Blazing Mountain's divine-path White Fox.

Yet that golden page remained impossible to fully comprehend.

The Tong Household's patriarch had once tried reciting its contents to Deng Zhongzhi and several of his brothers, but the words came out in a hopeless jumble, bearing no coherent form.

Even when he wrote them down, the characters, though clear and accurate in his own eyes, appeared to everyone else as indecipherable, ghost-scrawled scribbles.

After several such attempts, the Tong Household's patriarch gave up, and his awe of that Dao Court, of which he had never heard, deepened still further.

Deng Zhongzhi knew that the "Earth Palace Golden Chapter" was a secret that must never be spoken aloud. Thus, when the boy began blurting things out, he disregarded rank and hurried to cover his mouth.

"Second Young Master!"

Deng Zhongzhi's gaze was stern. "Say no more!"

At that sharp rebuke, the boy realized he had misspoken. His throat bobbed, and he closed his mouth awkwardly.

These attendants probably can't be allowed to live!

Deng Zhongzhi secretly swept his gaze around, steeling his heart.

But soon, suspicion arose within him.

The Cloud-Piercing Flying Boat had been hovering in the air for some time. Why had no one come out to welcome them?

Though this was his first visit to Blazing Mountain, he had heard of the Mount Yang Daoist's unrestrained debauchery. Yet from the lack of activity below, it seemed as though the entire mountain had fallen deathly silent.

Inside the cave abode.

Chen Heng had tightened his grip on the Thunderfire Thunderclap Bead and was about to step outside when Tu Shan Ge's urgent voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

"You can handle him?"

After hearing Tu Shan Ge out, Chen Heng frowned.

"Master, let me use an illusion to fob him off for now. You must not attack! That boy's father is the Rong Kingdom's current Pillar-of-State Grand General, and his Qi Refining cultivation is even stronger than the Mount Yang Daoist's. You mustn't act rashly!"

Through the link of the Spirit Contract, Tu Shan Ge and Chen Heng could communicate directly with their thoughts. The fox hurriedly said:

"Master, you mustn't kill him!"

After waiting a while without receiving a reply from Chen Heng, Tu Shan Ge finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he called over Tu Shan Zhuang, who was the most skilled at transformations. After a few whispered words, the two foxes stepped nervously out of the Divine Domain.

What a grand display...

Despite being prepared, Tu Shan Ge still started when he saw the flying boat suspended in midair.