“This… what is this?”
Suo Lun was almost blinded. The dazzling golden light illuminated the entire massive temple as if it were daylight.
It was too bright for him to see its form clearly.
“Ao Xing, is it the Dragon Seal relic?” Suo Lun asked.
Ao Xing sounded as though it too was stunned, its voice trembling slightly in Suo Lun’s mind. “Yes.”
At this moment, the temple roof continued collapsing, while the golden object slowly descended in front of Suo Lun.
“Master, you must collect it immediately. Otherwise, once the temple roof fully breaks, this golden light will shoot into the sky, and countless barbarian tribes will surge here. Also, once the temple collapses, the entire city’s defensive mechanism will be completely destroyed, and those barbarians will run wild,” Ao Xing said.
Suo Lun looked at the golden object and immediately recalled how, in the Tianmo Mountain Range, when Yan Nian’er touched the Dragon Seal stone tablet, the guarding undead inside instantly surged out, leaving Yan Yan in a life-or-death state.
So, would this Dragon Seal imprint also have guarding undead?
“Master, that Dragon Seal stone tablet was originally just an ordinary monument. It was only because an ancient divine dragon once casually inscribed a few words on it that it gained such powerful energy,” Ao Xing explained. “Countless years passed. Someone accidentally obtained it but failed to recognise it as a sacred object, instead turning it into a tombstone. The dead buried beneath it, nourished over time by its power, became an immensely powerful undead. He came to regard the tablet as his own and would fight to the death against anyone who tried to take it. That was why he directly invaded Yan Yan’s body. In truth, if Yan Nian’er had not crashed into the stone tablet and shed blood upon the Dragon Mark, its energy would not have entered Yan Nian’er’s body.”
Suo Lun understood. Because the Dragon Seal stone tablet was a tombstone, it contained guarding undead. But other Dragon Seal imprints might not necessarily have such entities.
At this moment, the temple roof continued collapsing, nearly breaking through completely.
Suo Lun took a deep breath and rushed forward, grasping the blazing golden object in his hands.
In an instant…
An unimaginably powerful energy erupted like a volcanic explosion.
Endless golden light surged into Suo Lun’s body, making him instantly transparent and glowing gold.
“Ah…” he roared like never before.
A tearing, almost maddening pain exploded within him.
Every part of his body began to split open, blood gushing out violently.
It felt as though countless rivers of molten lava had been poured into him, burning him from the inside out.
Even Ao Xing was utterly shaken, nearly losing its composure.
It desperately tried to absorb the energy, but what it could take was only a drop in the ocean. The remaining power poured out like a raging tide, dispersing into the endless darkness and air.
Suo Lun could clearly feel that he was going to die.
A complete death. A soul-shattering, total annihilation.
Ao Xing also sensed it, but it was utterly powerless. It was still too weak to absorb such an astronomical amount of energy.
Suo Lun tried to run, but he could not move at all. His body felt as if it would shatter at any moment.
Half a second. At most half a second, he would turn to ash.
And then…
“Rumble…”
The massive temple suddenly collapsed.
The surging blood sea poured in violently.
Suo Lun’s body, already on the verge of destruction under the golden light, was engulfed by the blood sea.
The blood sea, which should have corroded everything instantly, even Dragon Gold swords included, now met the golden light head-on.
The two forces collided. One was pure yang. The other was extreme yin and evil.
They cancelled each other out just enough for him to survive, but the pain became unbearable. Suo Lun lost consciousness instantly.
Around him, the blood sea continued to boil.
After several hours, the Dragon Seal relic’s energy was completely exhausted. The golden light gradually faded, and everything returned to calm.
…
No one knew how long had passed. It felt like days and nights of endless torment in hell and flames.
Suo Lun suddenly opened his eyes.
He found himself floating on a small boat.
Fortunately, his body was intact. There were no visible wounds at all.
The surrounding blood sea remained endless, though it seemed slightly clearer than before.
He also finally saw the boat beneath him clearly. In the night, it had looked like a pure white, delicate spirit vessel.
Now under daylight, it was revealed to be made entirely of interwoven white bones, a sight that made one’s spine chill.
Then Suo Lun immediately thought of the Dragon Seal relic.
Very quickly, he saw its true form and was stunned.
This… this is the Dragon Seal relic? What is it?
It was extremely beautiful, completely transparent, like a flame.
Yes, like a frozen flame.
Flames are energy states, intangible, formless, almost without substance.
Yet this flame could be seen and touched.
At its centre was a drop of golden substance. Something unknown.
“Ao Xing, is this the Dragon Seal relic?” Suo Lun asked.
“Yes,” Ao Xing replied, its voice complex.
Suo Lun asked, “So it is a flame?”
Ao Xing said, “It is a flame once breathed out by a divine dragon, which melted something completely and preserved it in crystallised flame form. It was regarded as a sacred object in the Blood Shore Maze City and hidden within the temple roof.”
“If not for the blood sea, I would have died,” Suo Lun said.
Ao Xing replied, “I thought its power had weakened over countless years. I did not expect that even a weakened Dragon Flame would still be this powerful.”
Suo Lun asked, “Has its energy been exhausted?”
Ao Xing said, “Yes. But rest assured, it is still enough to save Yan Yan. Dragon Flame is the natural enemy of all undead.”
Suo Lun then asked, “And the golden drop in the centre?”
Ao Xing fell silent for a moment. “Although I do not wish to say this, I cannot lie to my master. It is a drop of demon blood.”
“Demon blood?” Suo Lun was shocked. “And it is golden?”
Ao Xing said, “It was originally only a thin trace of blood. But last night, the Dragon Flame boiled the blood sea and absorbed countless blood essence, causing it to grow to this extent. You must be careful. This Dragon Flame crystallisation must never be seen by people of the Divine Dragon Sanctuary, or it will bring catastrophe.”
Then Ao Xing added, “Master, that Jiang Xue likely also obtained something, and that item originally belonged to you.”
Suo Lun was surprised. “Belonged to me? Everything here is ownerless. Whoever takes it owns it. How can it be mine?”
He looked down and noticed something else on the bone boat.
A sword, ugly and ferocious, its entire body blood-red.
Suo Lun picked it up and immediately heard wailing ghostly cries.
“What… what is this?” he asked.
Ao Xing said, “It is an indestructible Ghost Dragon Gold Sword. From now on, you are its master.”
Suo Lun was stunned. “Is this Jiang Xue’s sword, corroded by the blood sea and then discarded?”
Ao Xing said, “Probably. But a Dragon Gold Sword corrupted by the blood sea becomes even more terrifying.”
Suo Lun was speechless. He had thought Jiang Xue was extravagant, but not to this extent.
The bone boat soon drifted to shore.
Suo Lun stepped onto the path of Blood Shore Maze City. The bone boat drifted away again.
What he did not know was that beneath the boat were two terrifying nightmarish creatures pushing it forward.
…
The temple had collapsed. The city’s defensive formation was completely destroyed.
Blood Shore Maze City had become an ordinary ruin.
Suo Lun ran along the main road and escaped the city in two hours.
The exploration of Blood Shore Maze City had finally ended. He had obtained the relic needed to save Yan Yan, though everything had gone far beyond his expectations.
He returned to the cliff beneath the giant red-leaf tree where he had agreed to meet Meng Duo Luo.
“Ao Xing, has ten days passed?” Suo Lun asked.
“Not yet. One day remains,” Ao Xing replied. “Master, find a safe place. I will enhance your cultivation.”
Suo Lun entered a hollow in the tree and sat down cross-legged.
Then Ao Xing released the absorbed energy.
“Boom boom boom…”
Endless Dragon Force surged through his meridians.
Suo Lun’s strength began to rise at a terrifying speed, one he could clearly feel.
As Ao Xing had said, this was an unprecedented enhancement, far beyond the total accumulation of his previous Dragon Force combined.