Chapter 852: Strange Temple
Zhao Ruizhi thought to himself that if he crossed through the immortal gate, wouldn’t it be his son’s body that obtained immortality? What he wanted the most was to achieve immortality with his original body. Even if it were his own son, he still didn’t want him to obtain that chance instead. However, he quickly realized that the opportunity was fleeting. There might not be a chance for his original self to achieve immortality if he waited.
He decided to grant this body immortality first. He’d see if he could make his main body immortal with some peaches after he left the dungeon. When he thought of that, he suddenly lowered his head to look at the deathsworn soldiers. What right do these ants have to achieve immortality with me?! Even filth like them?
When he thought about how there were many who had eaten the peaches before him, he was worried that they might achieve immortality first. If he didn’t stop them, it would be too late. As such, he decided to postpone crossing through the gate of immortality and instead turned around to kill them first.
But when he turned around, everything before his eyes changed. The beautiful scene filled with fragrant fruits vanished. The surroundings suddenly darkened, and King Qi Manor’s deathsworn soldiers weren’t carrying large and pretty peaches, but rather strange fruits that resembled skeletons.
Some of King Qi Manor’s soldiers began to walk toward the lake with strange smiles on their faces. That lake that had originally appeared sapphire blue was no longer the same, but rather pitch-black. Ghost faces floated across the water surface.
The robust body of the first soldier who entered the lake first began to shrivel up, but he seemed to be completely unaware of that. There was an infatuated smile on his face, making the whole place seem stranger and stranger…
“What the hell is this?!” Zhao Ruizhi broke out into a cold sweat. He realized that something was off right away. When he turned around, he didn’t see any immortal gate. He had almost walked to the edge of the lake himself.
He ignited all of his ki to its peak. Then, a powerful aura spread out, instantly scattering the surrounding illusion. Suddenly, he sensed that something was off with his body. There was a black hole within him that was crazily absorbing his energy.
He frowned. He quickly used his powerful cultivation to stop the absorption process, and then he examined his own body. He discovered that three ugly flowers had grown in his stomach, every single flower like a skull that crazily sucked at his internal ki. Countless roots extended toward his internal organs. Every single root was secreting some kind of liquid. It seemed as if it was precisely that substance that had numbed his mind and brought him the illusion of immortality he desired.
“Damn it all!” Zhao Ruizhi harrumphed. He unleashed his power and every inch of his skin surged with golden light. The three skull-like flowers screamed miserably, and the roots twisted about frantically. They released black energy to fight back. However, what kind of cultivation did the emperor have? They only managed to persist for a few seconds before they were burned away by the golden light.
Then, Zhao Ruizhi beckoned toward the deathsworn soldiers, dragging them out from the lake. He used true speech and commanded, “Wake up!” These guys still had their use in a strange dungeon like this. At the very least, he could use them to test things out first.
The soldiers trembled all over, feeling as if there were a huge bell ringing in their ears. The trembling in their souls made their entire bodies shiver, as all of them woke up one after another.
“What happened?”
“I think I was about to achieve immortality just now!”
“Huh? Why did the lake turn black?”
“What the hell is this thing?”
Many people saw that they were holding skull-shaped fruits, and tossed them away in fright. What was scarier than holding a skull-shaped fruit, however? Holding half of one…
He Li saw that the remaining half of the skeleton fruit in his hands had many familiar teeth marks. His stomach churned and he quickly began to vomit. Unfortunately, what could he even throw up at that point?
Zhao Ruizhi spoke. “We were trapped in an illusion earlier. The lake and peach trees were all fake. I’ve already woken you up, so you’re fine now.”
“Thank you, your majesty!” The warriors all shed tears of gratitude. At the same time, they cursed the illusions.
But He Li was gloomy instead. With his cultivation, he had already examined his condition. He saw that there was an ugly skull-like flower inside of him, and its growth was only temporarily stopped by a streak of golden light.
That golden light was probably because of what the emperor had just done, but he knew that such suppression was only temporary. Once the time limit was up, the golden light would weaken. The skull flower would then grow crazily within him.
He tried to force the flower out on his own, but he failed no matter what he tried. This flower seemed to have already merged with his very flesh and blood. Unless he discarded this body, there would be no way of eliminating this flower. He Li quickly understood the emperor’s plans, yet he didn’t dare expose him. He could only look at his excited companions sullenly. Sometimes, ignorance really was bliss.
Zhao Ruizhi walked over to the lake. He pressed his palm downward emotionlessly and a golden palm appeared in the skies. The lake water instantly boiled, and soon afterward, it evaporated into steam and revealed what was at the lake bottom.
It was full of withered bones, some human, some belonging to all sorts of beasts. Some of the skeletons had strange smiles of both satisfaction and suffering, similar to what King Qi Manor’s soldiers had had on their faces before.
Chills ran down their backs; even Zhao Ruizhi was no exception. If not because he had just happened to turn around, by the time he reacted to what was going on, those strange flowers might have already finished maturing in his body. Eliminating them then would be even more difficult.
He quickly spread out his divine awareness, and his brows immediately furrowed. Normally, his divine senses could surround the entire capital whenever he wished, but now, it only reached a few dozen zhang out. He was clearly being suppressed by this world’s special laws.
“We’ll advance and continue with our search!” Zhao Ruizhi didn’t sense the existence of any mysterious creatures nearby, so he gave up on searching the place. The top priority right now was the highest sacred mountain. There was a grand palace that was obviously the centerpiece of these three sacred mountains. If there were any secret treasures, that was most likely where they would be.
But after experiencing everything that had happened here, his previous high spirits were now shrouded in sullen gloom. It seemed this place might not have any medicines of immortality. If he’d known that this would be the case, he would have gotten rid of that little bastard Zu An first!
He was enraged. It was all these strange peach trees’ fault. With a brush of his sleeves, a strand of golden light flew out. The strange peach trees immediately began to burn fiercely, and all manner of strange ghost faces screamed miserably. The others turned pale with fright as they watched.
The peach forest looked dense, but for Zhao Ruizhi, destroying it was extremely easy. The entire place was burned to ashes in just a few seconds. He harrumphed, then turned around to walk in the direction Zu An had fled toward. King Qi Manor’s people quickly followed behind him.
But they stopped soon afterward. The flourishing scenery was nowhere to be seen, having been replaced with a desert that stretched out endlessly.
“Could it be another illusion?” He Li asked with a gulp.
Zhao Ruizhi shook his head. “I sensed some intense ki vibrations in the air just now. The space here has just undergone a transformation, so what’s in front of us isn’t an illusion, but a real desert.” He frowned inwardly. If this really were the case, the place Zu An had gone to might not even be the same space he had entered. Hunting down that kid was going to be troublesome.
“Let’s head toward that palace at the very top first.” Zhao Ruizhi quickly made his decision. They were all on an island anyway, so Zu An had no way of escaping. Once he finished investigating this dungeon and obtained its inheritance, he would then slowly find that little bastard.
…
“Achoo!” Zu An rubbed his nose. “I’m sure a beauty is missing me to death.”
Mi Li rolled her eyes. “Wishing you were dead sounds more accurate.”
Zu An smiled in embarrassment. He had to admit that really might be a possibility. After all, he still received Rage points from the emperor from time to time.
“Huh? There seems to be some weird temple up ahead,” Bi Linglong said.
Zu An raised his head and saw a giant temple a hundred zhang out. But the temple was rather strange in architecture. It wasn’t like any other temple he had ever seen. It lacked the slightest trace of holiness and solemnity, but instead looked like a resting monster.