Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 55: Dragon and Tiger Secret Realm
Before entering, everyone would think that there must be an underground palace below.

After all, it is underground and there are doors opening and closing on the top, so it looks like an underground building no matter how you look at it.

But when Jin Mingxiu looked down from mid-air, his heart skipped a beat.

There was a plain below. Like a mirror image of the above, the skeletons of a dragon and a tiger were encircling the ground below. Something should have been placed in the center, but it was missing.

The dragon and tiger skeletons were extremely huge, like mountains. The dragon's half was fiery red, and the tiger's half was icy blue like crystal. The visual effect was truly shocking.

At least in Daqian, people had never seen a dragon, nor had they seen a tiger like Dacheng.

The incredibly rich spiritual energy seemed to be tangible, slowing the person's descent by a factor of three. Looking around, he could see a boundary in the surrounding darkness. It looked like a mountain, but it wasn't a mountain. It was... a spiritual stone vein!
Jin Mingxiu held his breath.

If I could have this place all to myself...

Glancing over, he saw four people besides himself descending. Of these, only the Sect Master, like himself, was a fourth-rank cultivator. The white-haired girl was a fifth-rank cultivator, and the other two were negligible. If he could find an opportunity to ambush the Sect Master, wouldn't this place be completely free for him to wreak havoc?
The fall was not very high. His mind raced and his feet had already stepped on the solid ground, which was the open space in the center of the dragon and tiger skeleton.

Before Jin Mingxiu had time to think of a sneak attack strategy, the four men moved first.

The seemingly insignificant child and the white-haired girl suddenly attacked from the left and right. Shen Tang sat upright in front, pushing forward with both palms.

The vast and unparalleled purple energy surged like a tidal wave. Jin Mingxiu quickly drew his sword and slashed it fiercely, just like breaking through a wall. He barely managed to separate the energy, and he staggered backward with his blood and energy disordered.

The fists of the children on the left and right, and the sword of the white-haired girl, had no time to dodge and were hit in the ribs at the same time.

Jin Mingxiu hadn't expected to be ambushed by this group of women and children before he could even launch a surprise attack. He hadn't expected this child to be so strong! With a painful groan, he quickly shook off Anuo and Dugu Qingli, then turned and flew away. "The Sect Master has attacked loyal officials and committed atrocities. I will inform the entire sect and demand an explanation from everyone!"

Fortunately, this child is only of the fifth rank, and the white-haired girl is also of the fifth rank. Although he is injured, his rank is there, and he is still confident that he can leave them behind.

Shen Tang was lame anyway, so he couldn't catch up.

Just as I was thinking this, I suddenly heard the sound of wind whistling behind me.

Jin Mingxiu looked back in shock, only to see Shen Tang leisurely strolling less than ten feet behind him: "It's a pity you can't get out."

Jin Mingxiu was as if he had seen a ghost: "You, your legs..."

"Unfortunately, I just recovered yesterday."

"So you asked me to come down so that you could kill me where no one could see!"

"You're overthinking it." Shen Tang smiled slightly. "It's just that your mind is unpredictable. If I leave you outside, I don't know who to tell on you. It's better to bring you down and solve the problem in advance."

Jin Mingxiu felt despair. This sect leader really didn't have so many twists and turns before. What happened now...

In the space of two sentences, Shen Tang had already caught up with him and slapped him with his right palm again.

The terrifying, violent energy surged again, and Jin Mingxiu, still wounded, reluctantly returned his sword. However, the high-quality flying sword he was usually so proud of was like scrap metal in the face of Shen Tang's unparalleled purple energy. With a strike of his palm, the sword broke.

"Bang!" The jade hand easily dispersed the sword energy, which hit Jin Mingxiu's chest heavily.

Jin Mingxiu spat out a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground. He looked at Shen Tangru who was walking slowly towards him with a devilish look: "You... you have practiced the Imperial Extreme Shocking World Sutra to this extent, it's simply..."

Even though the Huangji Jingshi Jing is a supreme martial art in the world, it doesn't mean that hitting a flying sword of the same level with bare hands is as easy as hitting tofu. This is not only due to the power of the martial art itself, but also the strength of the practitioner himself. The body training has reached an extremely astonishing level, and the martial arts energy is condensed as if it were substance.

Jin Mingxiu was almost certain that even if a certain prince also reached the fourth rank, he would still not be a match for Shen Tang.

This is the kind of person who is invincible at the same level.

"You only just realized it's the Imperial Supreme World Sutra, which shows you're not my father's man. Besides, my father's men won't kill me now..." Shen Tang walked up to him and whispered, "Tell me who you belong to, and maybe I'll consider giving you a quick death."

Jin Mingxiu sneered, "It's just that you took power at such a young age and then went on to do evil things, slaughtering eight elders who had worked so hard to protect you and help you escape to Xiazhou. You're not worthy of being the Lord!"

"Why do you have to make the idea of ​​replacing someone else sound so high-sounding?" Shen Tang sighed and raised his hand slightly to use the method of forcing a confession.

"Sister, wait a minute." Anuo ran over carrying a white banner. "Master said that our Human Emperor Banner has just been upgraded. Now that we can imprison souls, we can retain more memories. Do you want to try it? Maybe we can dig out more secrets."

Shen Tang turned around and rubbed her head: "I leave it to you."

Ah Nuo looked at the slumped Jin Mingxiu and smiled innocently. Shen Tang returned to the Dragon and Tiger Center. Lu Xingzhou didn't even bother to watch the pursuit over there. He had been surveying here for a while. Dugu Qingli also went to the surrounding spirit stone veins to investigate the situation.

"How?" Shen Tang asked.

Lu Xingzhou looked at the depression in the center and frowned. "This must have been a furnace. I want to know why the furnace flew away, but unfortunately, I still can't draw any conclusions from here. As for the rest..."

He pointed to the giant dragon and tiger skeletons surrounding them. "These bones once contained immense energy, but now they've been absorbed into useless, dry bones. Even a strong impact would dissipate them. I suggest preserving them. They should still have some value... At least they can be used for archaeological research to determine what they are. After all, Daqian doesn't really have any."

Shen Tang nodded: "Okay."

Lu Xingzhou fell silent after he finished speaking, and Shen Tang sighed slightly.

If the dragon-tiger skeleton was still in its original state, then there would be as many immortal bones as needed, and almost all of them could be counted. But now it felt like entering a treasure trove only to find that the treasure was already useless. One could imagine Lu Xingzhou's disappointment; it would be better if he hadn't found it at all.

Lu Xingzhou perked up a bit and said with a smile, "I'm not particularly interested in these kinds of animal bones. It's awkward... This is a large area, and the survey has just begun. There won't be only these things. Even if there are only these, the Tianxing Sword Sect has made a big profit this time."

Shen Tang nodded. Regardless of the fact that the extremely rich spiritual energy and the special yin-yang atmosphere could create an excellent place for the sect to practice and train, the surrounding spiritual stone veins alone were a necessary condition for becoming a top sect.

No top sect has ever grown by selling medicinal herbs or flying swords; that's the strategy ordinary sects rely on to stay afloat. To say that the Tianyao Holy Land relies on selling medicinal herbs to provide resources for its disciples is simply laughable. Having minerals is the most reassuring thing, and the most important of these is the spirit stone mine.

Of course, we cannot just sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor. We still need to have various industries to achieve healthy operation, which does not conflict with the previous development plan.

The best part is that this spirit stone vein is hidden in a secret place and does not need to be put out in the open to attract people's covetousness.

But Shen Tang still couldn't be happy. Looking at Lu Xingzhou's expression, she felt that he was forcing a smile. Without saying anything more, she quickly went to investigate in the opposite direction of Dugu Qingli.

The so-called spirit stone mine, of course, wasn't simply made up of spirit stones; it was still a mountain. And since it was a mountain, there was still the possibility of something else inside. With such a rich concentration of energy, the chances of a special creation emerging from a mountain were high, such as the possibility of immortal caves.

The dragon and tiger bones, the original alchemy furnace, all prove that someone must have arranged this. So where was this person originally? They couldn't have just lived in the wilderness, right?

This is the aspect that Dugu Qingli has been investigating since the very beginning.

Little White Hair had been alone in Dongyuehanchuan for so many years, and the ancient tombs and caves he had dug under the glacier with his own hands were probably more than Lu Xingzhou had ever heard of.

"Lu Xingzhou." Dugu Qingli knocked on a certain part of the mountain and pondered for a long time. Suddenly, he turned around and shouted, "Take out some spirit stones and place them in the dragon and tiger's eye sockets and try."

Lu Xingzhou's heart trembled slightly. If there was an immortal cave, there must be a trick to opening it. Judging by the gaze of the dragon and tiger in this place, it made sense.

He slapped the wheelchair, flew up, quickly took out four spirit stones from the ring, and threw them accurately into the empty eye sockets of Longhu.

The spiritual energy seeped into the eyes, and gradually the dragon and tiger's eyes seemed to have a little spirit, and the light flashed slightly.

It was only the faint glow of a firefly, but it was enough. Everyone could vaguely see four extremely thin rays of light hitting the mountain wall in front of Dugu Qingli, forming four irregular dots, but the top, bottom, left, and right directions were still clear.

The four of them gathered together quickly.

"If nothing unexpected happens, this is where the restriction is activated, and it must be addressed with the power of the Four Symbols." Dugu Qingli said seriously, "Of the Four Symbols, I have the power of Bingling, which can respond to the Black Tortoise; Lu Xingzhou is an alchemist who cultivates fire, so he can respond to the Vermillion Bird; Shen Tang, a swordsman, can respond to the White Tiger..."

Then he looked at An Nuo and said, "Although I don't know your specific cultivation, I always feel that your wood element is extremely strong. Is that wrong?"

Anuo nodded: "I can."

The four of them looked at each other, all with a strange feeling of destiny. None of them had ever deliberately put together any attributes, but unknowingly, they had all the four elements.

Shen Tang asked cautiously: "Since this is a place of immortals, are our cultivations sufficient to open it?"

Dugu Qingli said, "This is supposed to be a gate to one's own home, not a tomb gate. It doesn't require too much power to open. No one wants to waste effort at home. I'm afraid that energy of the eighth or ninth level is enough... What I can't confirm now is, do they need to be opened simultaneously, or in a certain order?"

The access control system may not require much strength to open, but if you press the wrong button, even the thief will be killed without mercy.

The original owner was most likely a single person, but with his cultivation, it would be easy for him to trigger all four points simultaneously, making it difficult to determine. If he had to click them sequentially, that would be troublesome, as no one would know the order of another person's password.

Lu Xingzhou stroked his chin and stared at the four dots in silence for a long time. Suddenly, he smiled. "Of course, at the same time. Since we're going home, who would bother clicking four times if it can open right away? I'll never use a password if I can scan my face."

(End of this chapter)