Outside the palace.

More than 20 figures flew through the air, growing clearer against the hazy night.

When they arrived, it could be seen that they were all traveling without any external objects beneath their feet – all of them were Golden Cores.

The Golden Cores were dressed in the same attire and had a bright moon with many stars embroidered on their clothes. A sect badge hung from their waists etched with a moon and sun.

Their leader had the most immense aura and his black hair swayed. With a fair complexion, his eyes resembled bright stars that shimmered in the night.

“Senior Brother Qian, why did you stop?”

A Golden Core behind him asked softly with a respectful expression.

The leader curled his lips and looked in a seemingly casual manner towards a dark place nearby. Before long, he retracted his gaze as his eyes flashed with a look of mockery. “It’s nothing much. Something seems to have changed in the palace.”

“Are we still going to enter it?” The Golden Core behind him asked.

“Of course!”

The leader smiled. “All the otherworldly soldiers of the palace are gathered towards a single direction. Let’s take a look and check out what happened.”

With that said, the Golden Cores rushed towards the depths of the palace and disappeared in the night before long.

After that group of cultivators vanished, eight figures appeared from a dark place nearby, emitting sinister auras similar to ghosts in the night!

“Senior Brother Mo, there’s quite a few people from Stellar Luna Sect!”

A Golden Core whispered warily.

One of the eight figures had a dark expression and was scrawnier. Faintly visible against the night, he harrumphed coldly. “What’s to be feared about the Stellar Luna Sect? Shadowless Sect isn’t weak either!”

“Their leader seems to be a paragon of Stellar Luna Sect, Qian Xinyu!”

“I heard that Qian Xinyu inherited the ancient phenomenon of Stellar Luna Sect, the 92nd rank of the Phenomenon Ranking, Solar Luna Stellar Lumen.”

Another person frowned and remarked darkly, “Earlier on… Qian Xinyu seemed to have noticed us.”

“It’s alright.”

The scrawny man said coldly, “If it comes to a death bout, I, Mo Xiaofeng, am not scared of him! Let’s enter the palace to check things out as well!”

Mo Xiaofeng waved and brought his seven sect mates with him into the palace.

Before long, another group of cultivators descended.

There were more than ten of them in this group, wearing scarlet robes and seemingly covered by blazing flames.

Judging from their attire and sect badges, it was obvious that they came from one of the top super sects of the Tianhuang North Region, Blaze Columbus Valley!

Although Blaze Columbus Valley was not within one of the nine immortal sects, their strength was not to be underestimated.

Their leader was a tall man with a fiery gaze. He was none other than the genius of the Blaze Columbus Valley inner sect disciples, Wang Yan.

“Fufu, what a crowd,”

Wang Yan roared in laughter. “To think that cultivators of Stellar Luna Sect and Shadowless Sect would be here too. This is good, I’ll see for myself how much Qian Xinyu and Mo Xiaofeng have grown in the past few years!”

Before his laughter ended, Wang Yan led the way into the palace.

…

Depths of the palace.

Su Zimo led Xuan Yi and the other two and continued exploring and advancing in the forbidden grounds.

The malevolent qi in their surroundings was getting heavier and Xuan Yi and the other two were not in great condition.

The three of them had injuries which could not heal completely given the environment. As such, their bloodline was flowing slower and their bodies were turning colder.

Noticing their condition, Su Zimo frowned to himself.

If they were to continue in that heavy malevolent qi, in less than a day, even without the threat of the otherworldly soldiers, the three of them would be in grave condition!

Unlike Su Zimo, they did not cultivate to the tsunami blood realm.

The malevolent qi could not get close to him at all.

Stopping in his tracks, Su Zimo said deeply, “Let’s take a rest first. Once those otherworldly soldiers disperse entirely, I’ll take the three of you to leave this place as soon as possible!”

He possessed universal sight and hearing and could notice the movements of the otherworldly soldiers beforehand, giving them a chance to hide in advance.

Xuan Yi and the other two nodded.

Su Zimo asked, “What other spirit herbs are needed for the Tribulation Tiding Elixir? I’ll look for it after sending you guys out.”

“Rain Frost Flower, Purple Cloud Lingzhi, Thousand Year Blood Ginseng and Qian Essence Grass,” Xuan Yi replied.

Su Zimo had dabbled in elixir refinement before and was familiar with spirit herbs. The moment he heard their names, he could not help but knit his brows.

Those four types of spirit herbs were way too rare!

They were rarely seen in recent years.

For example, Blood Ginseng could only be cultivated with the fresh blood of a living being and nurtured painstakingly, let alone a Thousand Year Blood Ginseng!

Pondering for a moment, a scene flashed through Su Zimo’s mind and he could not help but remark, “When I came to the ruins, I saw that there was a gigantic ravine in the middle of the ruins. Those spirit herbs might be found inside.”

“Psst!”

Li Ziyue was alarmed and gasped, shaking his head as he said with a frightful expression, “D-Don’t go in there!”

“Why?” Su Zimo asked instinctively.

Gulping, Li Ziyue asked instead, “Do you know how that gigantic ravine was formed?”

Su Zimo shook his head.

Li Ziyue replied softly, “It’s said that the ravine was created by that catastrophe 10,000 years ago! An ancestral level divine dragon fought and earthshaking war with the top experts of two great monasteries and the Great Qian Empire!”

“It was an extremely tragic battle and the capital was destroyed overnight. Countless experts, mighty figures and patriarchs of the two monasteries were killed as well.”

Su Zimo had heard the Asura, Yan Beichen, mention about the catastrophe before but he did not know the details.

He could not help but look stunned when Li Ziyue mentioned it.

A single divine dragon caused a catastrophe that killed countless living beings, toppling heaven and earth while causing countless stars to plummet.

Su Zimo felt a sense of trepidation when he thought about it carefully.

A few years ago, when he hid in the capital of Great Zhou after he and Night Spirit devoured a dragon egg, they were pursued by a divine dragon.

If not for a mysterious expert’s presence in the capital of Great Zhou that day, the catastrophe of 10,000 years ago might have repeated itself!

After a moment of silence, Su Zimo asked, “What happened after?”

Li Ziyue sighed gently and lamented, “Everyone knows about the aftermath. The capital of Great Qian was destroyed and that gigantic empire broke apart while the two great monasteries disappeared from Tianhuang Mainland.”

“Is that divine dragon still alive?” Su Zimo asked again.

Li Ziyue shook his head. “It’s said that other super sects of Tianhuang Mainland were alarmed by that battle and more than one emperor came forth! Eventually, with the combined forces of a couple of emperors, with the painful price of a few emperors dying, the divine dragon was killed here and buried in that ravine!”

A blood stench filled the air as the event was being recounted.

The atmosphere was turning extremely repressive!

Li Ziyue whispered, “The ravine’s name is called the Dragon Burial Valley and the divine dragon was buried 10,000 years ago with the blood of old emperors and the death of patriarchs. It’s an extremely unlucky place.”

“Rumor has it that even Dharma Characteristic Dao Lords and Conjoint Body Mighty Figures could not make it out alive!”

When he said that, a sinister gust of wind blew past.

Instantly, Li Ziyue’s face turned frightfully pale as he shuddered, not daring to say anything more as though he was afraid something unlucky might happen.