Chapter 3288: Ji Xuan from the Blood Dragon Clan

Perhaps it was due to Duan Ling Tian’s genuine interest in listening to Meng Hao Xuan talking about the Heavenly Emperor of the Solitary Destructive Heaven, Meng Hao Xuan’s impression of Duan Ling Tian was rather favorable, and he grew more familiar with Duan Ling Tian as well. It was also for these reasons that he asked tentatively, “Brother Ling Tian, my First Senior Brother is imprisoned in the Heavenly Pool Palace’s Thousands Chains Prison. Do you know how he’s faring?”

‘Thousands Chains Prison?’ Duan Ling Tian’s eyes narrowed imperceptibly. It was his first time hearing about such a place in the Heavenly Pool Palace. During his investigations on places where Huan’er’s parents might be imprisoned, he did not hear anything about the Thousands Chains Prison at all. Since he did not dare to ask the high-ranking officials in the Heavenly Pool Palace about this matter, he could only ask those who did hold high positions in the palace. These people, naturally, did not know much. He had planned to ask Xu Lang about this matter after they had grown more familiar. Since Xu Lang was one of the nine titled Celestial Emperors in the Heavenly Pool Palace, it stood to reason that he should be privy to Huan’er’s parents’ whereabouts. He had assumed he would only be able to obtain useful information from Xu Lang; he did not expect he would be able to obtain such useful information from a Heavenly Sword Mountain disciple in the Title Temple’s testing ground for Celestial Lords.

“Are you sure your First Senior Brother is imprisoned in the Thousands Chains Prison?” Duan Ling Tian asked as his eyes flashed briefly.

“That’s what my master told me,” Meng Hao Xuan said, “My master is the Hidden Sword Celestial Emperor of the Heavenly Sword Mountain. Many people know him as the Hidden Sword Old Man… My master was associated with the Heavenly Emperor of the Solitary Destructive Heaven in the past.” A hint of pride could be heard in Meng Hao Xuan’s voice when he spoke.

“Oh?” Duan Ling Tian looked at Meng Hao Xuan in surprise. “Tell me all about it.”

In Duan Ling Tian’s opinion, since Meng Hao Xuan’s master was acquainted with Feng Qing Yang, it probably meant that they were friends.

“Before the Heavenly Emperor took over the position of the Heavenly Emperor of the Solitary Destructive Heaven, he used to wander the lands to fight Sword Celestials… My teacher was defeated by him,” Meng Hao Xuan said.

Duan Ling Tian hesitated for a beat before he asked, “So you’re saying your master is associated with Feng Qing Yang because he was once defeated by Feng Qing Yang?”

Meng Hao Xuan nodded as he smiled and said, “Doesn’t that count as being associated with the Heavenly Emperor?”

Duan Ling Tian was rendered speechless by Meng Hao Xuan’s words. If such a thing could be considered as being associated with Feng Qing Yang, then what was his relationship with Feng Qing Yang whose legacy he inherited in his hometown in the mundane realm?

…

Another two days passed before Duan Ling Tian and Meng Hao Xuan encountered another person.

The other person was a tall and muscular young man, and he was dressed in a long gray robe. His eyes were big, framed by a pair of bushy eyebrows. There was a sinister air around him that made one feel as though he was not human.

As Duan Ling Tian and Meng Hao Xuan flew toward the grey-clad young man, Meng Hao Xuan said through Voice Transmission. “He’s not a human.”

“I sensed it as well.”

As the duo drew closer and closer to the young man, the feeling that the young man was not human grew stronger and stronger.

The young man stood still and waited for the duo. It was clear he had no intention of running away.

Before the duo came to a halt, the young man scoffed before he raised his hand for a preemptive strike.

A chilling energy swept toward Duan Ling Tian and Meng Hao Xuan in just an instant.

“The law of ice?” Duan Ling Tian narrowed his eyes as he looked at the wall of ice that appeared in front of him. With just a thought, he teleported to the other side of the ice wall.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Meanwhile, golden sword rays revolved around Meng Hao Xuan as he ran into the ice wall. In just a blink of an eye, the ice wall shattered. Following that, he continued making his way toward the grey-clad young man.

“Not bad,” the young man said in a raspy voice. A hint of surprise could be seen in his eyes when he looked at Meng Hao Xuan. Since Duan Ling Tian had used the law of space’s Teleportation Profundity, he could not accurately gauge Duan Ling Tian’s strength. For this reason, he paid more attention to Meng Hao Xuan who displayed his extraordinary strength.

When the young man was about to attack again, Meng Hao Xuan hurriedly said, “My friend, we’re not here to attack you. We only want to ask if you’re interested in joining us to enter one of the obstacles we found.”

Upon hearing Meng Hao Xuan’s words, the young man stopped attacking. However, he remained vigilant and kept a distance from the duo.

Duan Ling Tian and Meng Hao Xuan stopped moving immediately and no longer moved toward the young man.

“My name’s Meng Hao Xuan. I’m from the Heavenly Sword Mountain in the Solitary Destructive Heaven,” Meng Hao Xuan said as he looked at the young man. Following that, he introduced Duan Ling Tian to the young man. “This person next to me is from the Boundless Heaven’s Heavenly Pool Palace. His name is Duan Ling Tian. We only met a few days ago. I discovered the obstacle and invited him to join me then.”

The young man responded lightly, “Ji Xuan from the Blood Dragon Clan in the Ten Thousand Beasts Heaven.”

These words confirmed Duan Ling Tian and Meng Hao Xuan’s speculations about him not being human.

The Ten Thousand Beasts Heaven was a Devata Realm inhabited mostly by Celestial Beasts. The Celestial Beasts there were rather hostile to humans so it was rare to see humans there.

Meng Hao Xuan, “As it turns out, you’re a friend from the Blood Dragon Clan in the Ten Thousand Beasts Heaven… My friend, are you interested in joining us to overcome that obstacle?”

“Sure.” Ji Xuan nodded slightly in response.

With that, Duan Ling Tian and Meng Hao Xuan found their third member.

Meng Hao Xuan said, “Let’s continue to search this place for the remaining two members.”

The trio wandered around in search of the two remaining members while they maintained a safe distance from each other.

“What’s the Blood Dragon Clan?” Duan Ling Tian asked Meng Hao Xuan through Voice Transmission, “I know the dragon clan is a heaven-grad force in the Ten Thousand Beasts Heaven, but I’ve never heard of the Blood Dragon Clan…”

“Brother Ling Tian, the Blood Dragon Clan is independent of the dragon clan even if they can be considered to be like a branch clan of the dragon clan. Despite that, they have five powerful titled Celestial Emperors among their ranks. Their relationship with the dragon clan is rather hostile since the dragon clan doesn’t acknowledge the members of the Blood Dragon Clan as one of them.”

…

Another five days passed before the trio found another two people to join them. One of them was also from a heaven-grade force while the other person was a sectless cultivator.

Meng Hao Xuan said to Duan Ling Tian and the others, “Since there are five of us now, it’s time for us to challenge the obstacle.”

Now that there were five of them, they no longer bothered maintaining a safe distance. They had all come to an agreement that whoever tried to make a move would have to contend with the remaining four people in the group.

Meng Hao Xuan led them into the lake and brought them to the depths of the lake. “There it is!”

At the bottom of the lake, five gateways appeared in front of everyone’s eyes.

“We need five people to open the five respective gates. I tried using a cloning technique, but it didn’t work. It requires a real person to open it. The energy from the gate is capable of detecting if one’s real or just a clone,” Meng Hao Xuan explained as he stood in front of one of the gates.

Following that, Duan Ling Tian and the other four took their positions in front of the gates.

The moment five of them stood in front of the gateways, the water in the lake began to stir violently. If someone were to look at the lake from outside, they would see the originally calm surface of the lake boiling at this moment.

In just an instant, an energy shrouded the five people before they vanished into thin air.

When the darkness receded, Duan Tian found himself in an enclosed space that looked like a small sealed room. The pressure in the room was immense and fell on him immediately. He tried to ease the pressure by using his Celestial Origin Energy that had been boosted by the law of space’s Space Elemental Profundity. Alas, it was futile. The pressure easily overwhelmed his energy.

At this moment, the World Cleansing Divine Water’s voice rang in Duan Ling Tian’s ears. “This place is very suitable for you to refine the energy of the Pine Willow Divine Tree.”

Duan Ling Tian’s eyes lit up immediately. “How do I refine it?”

“Calm down and focus. I’ll guide the energy of the Pine Willow Divine Tree that was absorbed by the Divine Tree of Life into your body. At that time, just follow my instructions to refine the energy,” the Word Cleansing Divine Water said.

“Alright.” Duan Ling Tian nodded.

After a few moments, Duan Ling Tian was completely shrouded in white light. At the same time, the pressure continued pressing down on him. The white light that shrouded his body seemed to merge before surging into his body.

“Amazing! The energy from the Pine Willow Divine Tree can be refined in such a way. I can feel my body is going through a transformation.” Duan Ling Tian was fascinated by the sensation he felt when he was refining the energy from the Pine Willow Divine Tree.