Book 5 - Chapter 16: Heavenly Flooded Palace

The Nine Cauldrons

Chapter 16 Heavenly Flooded Palace

As the thirteen innate experts advanced beneath the water, they encountered two demonic beasts. One of the demonic beasts fled rapidly, while the other wanted to attack stealthily but was killed by Gu Yong. Teng Qingshan did not know the name of this demonic beast…… but it didn’t seem very strong.

“The difference between demonic beasts is great as well,” Teng Qingshan remarked and sighed emotionally.

Just like the unevolved Red Scaled Beast, the Darksteel Centipede, and the Steel Arms Monkey, their strength was equal to the experts of the Earthly Ranking, even slightly stronger.

However, the evolved Red Scaled Beast, the Steel Arms Monkey, and the fish-like demonic beast could be considered to be at the level of Emptiness Dan of the Innate Realm and True Dan of the Innate Realm.

As for the Steel Arms Monkey King and the Iron String Blade Snake, they could be compared to the Golden Dan Innate Experts.

The Purple Radiant Flood Dragon was even stronger than Golden Dan Innate Experts. Perhaps only the famous figures ranked at the top of the 《Heavenly Ranking》 could fight the Purple Radiant Flood Dragon.

……

Some species of wild animals were born physically stronger than humans, even if in they lived in the same environment. Just as powerful figures were born among humans in lands abundantly filled with the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth, so were powerful beings born among wild animals. The powerful ones among the wild animals were demonic beasts! These demonic beasts could reach incredible levels if they had intelligence. Of course…

Demonic beasts and humans were still different. Humans had Emperor Yu, Heavenly Emperor Qin Ling, Martial Ancestor Shiga, Poetic Sword God Li Taibai who were unbeatable entities. Even though there were extremely terrifying powerful beings among the demonic beasts, they were slightly inferior to Emperor Yu and the others.

“Island Lord, what is that ahead?!”

After advancing underwater for one hour, the thirteen innate experts of Qing Hu Island had suddenly found a section of a building under the water! Because it was pitch-black, the innate experts could only scrutinize it through the glow of the Innate True Origin. However, even with the glow of all thirteen innate experts, they could only see an overall area of ten Zhang.

Within that area of ten Zhang…

Under the water, a building with the height of two Zhang and of an unknown length appeared before their eyes. The surface of the building was covered with mud and aquatic weeds.

“Let me see,” Zhao Danchen said and walked over to it.

With a wave of his hand, a gold-colored Innate True Origin flew out of his hand and hit the building’s surface like a spread-out fan. As soon as it touched the surface, an explosion occurred!

“Rumble~~~” A deep sound resounded repeatedly.

The mud covering the surface of the building was blasted away by the explosion of the Innate True Origin. Immediately, the water in the surroundings became muddy. In the midst of this muddy water, the thirteen innate experts of Qing Hu Island approached and scrutinized the building’s surface.

“What is this material? An azure green wall?”

The thirteen innate experts of Qing Hu Island stared in amazement.

“This is incredible! After so many years of withstanding the great water pressure, the wall doesn’t have even one blemish!”

“Island Lord, look! This entire wall is one whole piece! It wasn’t built brick by brick.”

“How is that possible?!”

“The nearly ten-Zhang wide wall before our eyes is one piece! This azure wall? It’s not rock or iron…. What is it?”

“This… this must be Emperor Yu’s Palace! It must be it!”

Just this wall by itself shocked the thirteen innate experts.They had never seen such a material in any of the Nine Prefectures of the great land.

“Quick! Search for the entrance of this palace.” The thirteen innate experts immediately advanced along the wall. When the thirteen people left, Teng Qingshan also came before the wall.

“Emperor Yu’s Palace?” Teng Qingshan scrutinized the wall carefully and even touched it. The wall was smooth and icy cold to the touch.

It’s as smooth as the ceramic tiles in my previous life. The weirdest thing is…..the entire wall is a whole, without even one crevice, Teng Qingshan thought as he scanned the top of the palace under water. Also, Zhao Danchen’s Innate True Origin actually didn’t even leave a mark on the surface.

Teng Qingshan felt that it was incredible.

“Teacher once said that the demonic monk was unbeatable in this world, but he still could not be compared to Emperor Yu and the other three! Emperor Yu could unite the world with his own strength.” Teng Qingshan remembered it clearly. “United the world with his own strength….. what power did Emperor Yu have that he could build such an amazing palace?!”

“If this palace is truly Emperor Yu’s palace, then that is truly frightening!”

Emperor Yu was a figure who appeared a few thousand years ago.

Which meant that…..

This palace had existed under water for thousands of years, yet this wall hasn’t even been damaged after all these years! This was impossible even in the modern society of Teng Qingshan’s previous life!

“This palace was definitely not build through great manpower.” Teng Qingshan was confident in his observations. “Could it be that Emperor Yu built it himself?” Teng Qingshan really couldn’t comprehend the power Emperor Yu possessed during ancient times. As someone who could destroy an enormous mountain with five strikes of a hammer, Emperor Yu had the power of gods.

At this moment, the thirteen people of Qing Hu Island had gone seventy Zhang away.

Teng Qingshan immediately followed.

……

Time passed as the thirteen innate experts moved around this palace. They were shocked when they realized how huge this underwater palace was.

“The palace entrance!”

“Island Lord, the palace entrance is ahead!”

The experts of Qing Hu Island were excited. Teng Qingshan was also staring at the entrance from afar. The men of Qing Hu Island had to get closer in order to see, but Teng Qingshan could see everything clearly from ten Zhang away……The palace entrance had a width of thirty Zhang. In front of the entrance was a tall rectangular object that looked similar to a monument.

“Eh…….” Zhao Danchen came before this ‘monument’ and rubbed it with his right hand.

“Weng——” The mud on the ‘monument’ was cleared, revealing its azure color. There were four big words on the monument——‘Heavenly Flood Palace’!

“Heavenly Flood Palace?” Gu Yong also approached the monument and stared at the four words, puzzled.

“Island Lord,” Zhao Danchen smiled and said. “Emperor Yu and the others have reached the highest realm, which is the Broken Emptiness Realm, and attained the level of Self Completion. Emperor Yu must have built this Heavenly Flood Palace! Besides the four powerful ones in history, no one could have built this palace with the force of the heavens and the earth. The one who built this palace must have been Emperor Yu…..He must have created this palace with all his strength.”

Teng Qingshan listened carefully from afar.

“The highest Realm? Broken Emptiness Realm? Self Completion?” As Teng Qingshan listened, he felt confused.

The Realm of Emptiness was the highest level in the Nine Prefectures of the great land.

Of course, if Emperor Yu, Heavenly Emperor Qin Ling, and the other two almighty ones hadn’t existed, the Realm of Emptiness would have been the highest level.

“Sigh… I can’t even reach the Emptiness realm, let alone the the highest level that Emperor Yu and the other three had reached,” Gu Yong sighed emotionally and said. “Emperor Yu hacked a towering mountain more than a thousand Zhang high with his hammer. When he had passed the fierce hundred Zhang-wide Jiang River, he had stopped the river from flowing! Millions of soldiers were only toys before the four almighty innate experts! If they wanted to unite the world, they could do it…… They were absolutely omnipotent.”

Zhao Dan Chen also recalled: “The meaning behind the emptiness of the empty realm is the emptiness of the void, the emptiness of nihility. One’s body becomes rounded, and the consciousness enters the void…. The insides become rounded and voided, infinitely nearing perfection. As for the outer space, which is infinite, it also becomes part of the void without any borders…. With the perfection of life, one can break through the void and achieve a higher realm.”

“Anyone can explain it, but reaching that level is too difficult.” Gu Yong shook his head and sighed.

“We can’t even touch the edge of the Realm of Emptiness, let alone reach the level of Emperor Yu and the other three omnipotent beings,” Zhao Danchen remarked as he sighed. Emperor Yu’s level truly was too far away from them.

……

Teng Qingshan also remembered their words

“Let’s go in.”

Gu Yong and the other twelve people immediately approached the palace entrance.

“Weng~~~” When the thirteen people drew near the entrance, it instantly started glowing with a golden light.

“Stop!” Gu Yong yelled. The thirteen people then stood outside the entrance with no audacity to enter.

“Roar~~” A deep roar sounded from within the palace. The roar could even shake the souls of men. When the thirteen innate experts of Qing Hu Island heard the roar, they hastily backed several Zhang away and gathered together closely as they stared at the entrance of the Heavenly Flood Palace.

A three-Zhang-long golden-colored turtle appeared at the entrance.

A golden-colored Dragon Turtle?” A few of the thirteen Qing Hu Island’s innate experts shouted out involuntarily.

“Dragon Turtle? A golden-colored Dragon Turtle?” Teng Qingshan also widened his eyes as he stared at the Dragon Turtle that had a length of only three Zhang.

According to the book——

Dragon Turtle: In addition to being the demonic beast with the highest defense, it is extremely strong! Mature Dragon Turtles are normally azure-colored and are dozens of Zhang long, like a small mountain. If Golden Dan Innate Expert would encounter one, the expert could still fight it, but with great effort. Once the azure-colored Dragon Turtle evolved, it would transform into a golden-colored Dragon Turtle! Its body would shrink drastically into a three or four Zhang long Golden Dragon Turtle…… If you encountered one, there was just one word for you——run!

“A Golden Dragon Turtle?” Teng Qingshan secretly rejoiced, “Hmph. Do those bastards from Qing Hu Island think they can easily enter Emperor Yu’s Palace? The ability of this Golden Dragon Turtle is probably equal to that of Emptiness Realm Experts!”

……

Gu Yong went a step forward and bowed as he said, “Senior Dragon Turtle, we have obtained Emperor Yu’s Treasure Map and have came to take the treasure by Emperor Yu’s Command. Senior Dragon Turtle, please let us in.” As he spoke, he took out the Black Iron Treasure Map and pointed at the palace.

This demonic beast possessed great intelligence. To have been able to evolve into the Golden Dragon Turtle, it must have lived for numerous years.

This Dragon Turtle must have been in this world when Emperor Yu was still alive.

As it was impossible to enter by force, they could only rely on a milder method. Perhaps the Golden Dragon Turtle would actually let them in.

Yet, the Golden Dragon Turtle roared deeply and opened its mouth——

“Boom!”

A powerful airflow was spouted out of the Golden Dragon Turtle’s mouth, and three visible balls of air shot towards the thirteen innate experts at a lightning-fast speed. One should know that the Golden Dragon Turtle’s body was extremely strong, and it possessed an unbreakable defense. A breath of air exhaled by an ordinary human being could only move sheets of paper, but a breath of air exhaled by the Golden Dragon Turtle could crush huge rocks.

Of course, puffing out balls of smoke was obviously just a warning!

The Golden Dragon Turtle was too lazy to fight.

“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!”

The water surged, and three balls of smoke shot towards the thirteen innate experts

“Dodge! ” Gu Yong shouted, but the speed of the three balls of smoke was too fast. Two innate experts hadn’t managed to dodge in time.

“Bang!” “Bang!”

The two blocked the ball of smoke with their sabers, but both of them were thrown in different directions. The grey-cloaked Elder Lian was thrown towards Teng Qingshan’s position.

“Boom!” The grey-cloaked Elder Lian was thrown ten Zhang away by the force of impact.

“Even just the breath of this Golden Dragon Turtle could hurt me!” Elder Lian was amazed, since he was also a True Dan Innate Expert. Suddenly, Elder Lian felt the movement of water behind him. His heart skipped a beat, and he hastily dodged while turning around.

“Puchi”

A quick shadow penetrated his head!

“Ah!” A sad, painful shout rang.

Before Elder Lian died, he only saw a pair of fierce eyes filled with murderous intent.

Teng Qingshan pulled out his palm from Elder Lian’s head.

“First! True Dan of the Innate Realm!”

Teng Qingshan immediately backed away silently. In absolute darkness, no one could notice Teng Qingshan, who wasn’t using his Innate true Origin. This made him the most terrifying assassin!

……

Hearing the painful cries, Gu Yong and the others were shocked.

“Let’s retreat first.” Gu Yong yelled. They didn’t dare to fight the Golden Dragon Turtle.

The Golden Dragon Turtle scanned the group of people with its green, illuminating eyes and raised its head as it roared loudly.

“Roar~~~” The sound spread far away.

Immediately——

“Roar!” “Roar!” “Roar!”

Roars rang from within the Emperor Yu‘s Palace in response to the Golden Dragon Turtle’s roar and resounded one after the other. Hearing the roars, the expressions of Gu Yong and the other twelve innate experts changed drastically.

“Heavens! This isn’t Emperor Yu’s Palace…… This.. this is the lair of the demonic beasts!” The purple-cloaked woman widened her eyes.