At the entrance to the Dragon Palace at the bottom of the lake.
"Immortal Fairy Bing Xin, someone has already entered here before us."
The jade feather crown on Mo Qingque's head swayed twice. His expression changed slightly, and he turned to the white-robed female cultivator beside him and said seriously.
The white-robed female cultivator was Yuan Bingxin.
Yuan Bingxin stood at the head of the Supreme Sect disciples. Her gossamer robes were as white as the moon. Her delicate brows were slightly furrowed, showing her displeasure. "We have the map and rushed all the way here. How could someone arrive before us?"
This time, the Supreme Sect had spared no expense in entering the small secret realm. First and foremost were the disciples participating in the secret realm trials. Although only fifteen people were dispatched, among these fifteen, in addition to Yuan Bingxin at the Mahayana stage, there were five at the mid-Nascent Soul stage, and the remaining ten were all at the peak Nascent Soul stage.
In other words, the eight Supreme Sect disciples gathered here, including Yuan Bingxin, were all at the peak Nascent Soul stage.
Secondly, the cultivation of these disciples was all boosted by peculiar elixirs administered by the Huiling Layman. Furthermore, the Supreme Sect possessed a map of the secret realm.
Although this map was not detailed or clear, it depicted the general terrain and direction within the secret realm. More importantly, after Li Tingyun obtained the map, he and the elders of the Supreme Sect deduced the location where the Azure Dragon was buried!
Yuan Bingxin still remembered the day she broke through to the Mahayana stage. Aunt Hui held her hand and said, "It is said that ancient divine beasts have long been extinct. But Bingxin, do you know that Qianying in the Academy on the Continent of the Forsaken Gods is a transformation of the Vermillion Bird? This shows that the other divine beasts must also have traces. The Azure Dragon clan once fled into the Vast Universe Secret Realm..."
If Hua Nishang were present, she would be extremely surprised.
She learned about the past secrets of the Azure Dragon clan because her father, Mountain Master Hua Ling, had informed her. Then, how did Huiling Layman, an unremarkable cultivator of the Supreme Sect, know about it?
"There's a new palace here!"
The group walked directly into the Dragon Palace. Before long, they discovered a palace that lay directly in front of them. The palace gave them a mysterious and profound feeling, with its magnificent palace walls faintly leaking spiritual energy.
"Bring Yu Qing over."
Mo Qingque gave an order, and the Supreme Sect disciples dragged the gagged Yu Qing to the trough beside the palace.
He snorted coldly and directly used a dagger to slash open Yu Qing's palm, letting his blood drip into the trough. Soon, the palace door slowly turned.
"Immortal Fairy Bing Xin, please!" Mo Qingque said with a smile, gesturing to Yuan Bingxin.
Yuan Bingxin knew that this person was her admirer. She was also quite kind to Mo Qingque, nodded, and said, "Thank you for your trouble."
"No trouble at all, it is my wish to serve Immortal Fairy," Mo Qingque said, smiling with narrowed eyes, and followed Yuan Bingxin inside.
As the two of them stepped into the palace, a sharp claw wind swept towards them!
"Scram!"
Before Yuan Bingxin could make a move, Mo Qingque was the first to nail the claw to the ground with his jade feather!
"Yuan Bingxin?"
"Bai Shengyi?"
Yuan Bingxin saw clearly who the female cultivator in the palace was and spat out three words through gritted teeth.
It was this woman who had caused her to retreat in embarrassment from Anping City back to the Supreme Sect to cultivate in seclusion. It was this woman who had caused her status before the Sect Master to plummet, forcing her to use secret medicines to enhance her cultivation!
If the competition at the Divine Revelation Academy had only made Yuan Bingxin resentful and unwilling, then the incident in Anping City not long ago had made Yuan Bingxin completely enraged at Bai Shengyi!
Bai Shengyi, of course, saw the killing intent in Yuan Bingxin's eyes, but she didn't care.
"This is... a Soul Corpse?" A disciple from the Supreme Sect team exclaimed in great alarm. "Immortal Fairy Bing Xin, let's quickly retreat!"
Yuan Bingxin quickly regained her composure. "Are you sure it's a Soul Corpse?"
"Absolutely! I once heard my master talk about cultivators whose bones were infected by demons, who harbored resentment, and died to live, thus becoming Soul Corpses. Newly born Soul Corpses resemble cultivators but have six clawed fingers, three eyes, and bodies like magic artifacts that are impervious to damage or destruction, breathing in and out demonic energy."
The cultivator's voice trembled as he spoke.
He had not yet mentioned that because Soul Corpses were captured by evil cultivators and forged with demonic energy, the places where they were born were invariably places of great ferocity and evil.
This place was not as safe as it appeared on the surface!
Yuan Bingxin frowned tightly. Just as she was hesitating whether to have the Supreme Sect disciples retreat, she saw Bai Shengyi suddenly leap up and head towards the most densely populated area of Soul Corpses in mid-air!
Seeing this, Jing Fei's eyes narrowed. Peonies bloomed magnificently, forming a barrier that blocked the Soul Corpses chasing Bai Shengyi, clearing a path for her.
Chi Feiyue did the same.
"You all go out and wait for me!" Yuan Bingxin's gaze deepened, and she immediately followed Bai Shengyi.
Not only her, but Hua Nishang and Mo Qingque also followed.
"Fellow Daoist Yuan," Hua Nishang nodded to Yuan Bingxin, her gaze falling on Bai Shengyi ahead. "Fellow Daoist Yuan, although I don't know what is here, the fact that so many Soul Corpses are guarding it clearly indicates that this place is extraordinary. If Fellow Daoist Yuan is willing, why don't we form an alliance?"
Hua Nishang did not mention the origin of these Soul Corpses.
She had already noticed Yuan Bingxin's killing intent towards Bai Shengyi. She believed that Yuan Bingxin would not refuse her proposal.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Even though she and Yuan Bingxin could never be friends.
As expected, Yuan Bingxin nodded: "Fairy Nishang invites me, so Bingxin is naturally very pleased to accept."
After all, when they obtained a great treasure, with the current combat power of her Supreme Sect, she could snatch it from Hua Nishang.
Bai Shengyi did not hear their conversation. She moved upwards, and the higher she went, the deeper her gaze became.
"Such powerful pressure!" Bai Shengyi cleaved an attacking Soul Corpse in mid-air with her sword and stood poised, scanning her surroundings.
"Shengyi, it's there!" The Samsara Brush sensed this strange yet familiar aura and couldn't help but rush out of Bai Shengyi's sea of consciousness, leading the way for Bai Shengyi outside.
"How strange, why do I suddenly feel like I've seen this scene long ago," the Samsara Brush murmured.
However, it quickly dismissed this anomaly from its mind and pointed to the place where many Soul Corpses were gathered ahead, saying, "There's the aura of the Azure Dragon there! The Brush feels it!"
One did not know how many cultivators had perished in this Dragon Palace at the bottom of the lake, lured by the temptation of becoming gods or immortals. Just along Bai Shengyi's path, the number of cultivators she had seen was definitely more than the disciples of Hua Ling Mountain!
And now, where the Samsara Brush pointed, Soul Corpses were even more dense, piled up like a beehive.
Bai Shengyi glanced over, fearing there were hundreds of people. These people "swish"ed their heads up simultaneously, their gazes fixed on Bai Shengyi, eerily terrifying.
"This small Vast Universe Secret Realm is probably not a newly born secret realm at all."
Bai Shengyi thought this in her heart. The Chunhong Sword hummed with a resonant clang, its sword light splitting into thousands and charging towards the pile of Soul Corpses!
"Hiss!"
With this move, Bai Shengyi was like disturbing a hornet's nest. Those Soul Corpses shot out like swarming hornets, surrounding Bai Shengyi and clawing at her!
Bai Shengyi was fearless, drawing her sword to meet them. After a short while, she cleared a path towards the "beehive."
Bai Shengyi walked step by step.
The further she went, the more she could feel a terrifying pressure.
It was like the cold, indifferent gaze of a divine being looking down.
She could clearly sense that there was another layer of barrier ahead. Just as she was about to raise her sword to destroy the barrier, the Samsara Brush