CHAPTER 554: 285, DEVOTING ONESELF TO, THE LONGEVITY IMMORTAL DYNASTY_2

After stepping on the Immortal Path from the mortal world, his initial fame was not due to his cultivation talent but his talent in array techniques. Although he had neglected the art of array techniques during his years of diligent cultivation, he had already dabbled in Nascent Soul stage arrays when he was in the Dao Pill Realm.

As the White Jade Pillars were repositioned, a change quickly occurred in the underground cavity, revealing a Stone Door on the eastern wall.

"Floating Dao Palace..."

"This is the opportunity Hong Wenren obtained here, but this is merely a grave above a grave."

Xu Xing shook his head and smiled, not paying too much attention to the Floating Dao Palace. He extended his Divine Sense into it and withdrew his gaze after seeing that there were no extraordinary treasures inside.

Then, he continued to shift the jade pillars. In an instant, a fist-sized hole appeared beneath his feet.

At this moment, Wu Ziting, who had come with him, finally escaped from the Five-colored Radiance and arrived in the underground cavity.

"This token is for opening the Floating Dao Palace. I’ll give it to you, Fairy Wu. I’ll explore the Cave Mansion below first..."

Xu Xing tossed the token to Wu Ziting, flicked his sleeve, and used an Escape Technique to enter the hole before him, heading deep underground.

"You..."

Seeing Xu Xing leave with just a greeting, Wu Ziting was a little annoyed. However, she could do nothing about it and simply took the token, heading towards the Stone Door where the Floating Dao Palace was located. As for the underground hole Xu Xing had entered, the other, more valuable Cave Mansion, she didn’t even spare it a glance.

Upper Sect disciples possessed their own pride. The inheritances of rogue cultivators from outside the mountains did not catch their eye; only some artifacts with unique divine powers might make them consider using them temporarily.

As for Xu Xing, who had entered the underground hole, he finally saw a faint light after descending about a thousand zhang. At the end of the passage, he arrived in a Stone Chamber.

Three portraits hung in the Stone Chamber. In front of them was an altar table bearing a bronze tripod incense burner, a jade slip, a Yellow Jade Finger Ring, and a scroll.

"The General Outline of the Ascending Dragon Art..."

"The dragons in the world are divided into three categories according to the three potencies of Heaven, Earth, and Man: Heavenly Dragons, Earth Dragons, and Human Dragons..."

"Heavenly Dragons bring thunderstorms, Earth Dragons condense Spiritual Energy, and Human Dragons... control lakes and rivers..."

Xu Xing placed the jade slip close to his forehead and used his Divine Sense to examine its contents. After reading the jade slip, a solemn look appeared on his face.

If he wasn’t mistaken, this Stone Chamber he had come to should be the Inheritance Hall of the ancient sect, the Ascending Dragon Gate. The "Rising Dragon Technique" was the fundamental cultivation method of the Ascending Dragon Gate, a great ancient sect. When he saw the Hundred Orifice Fish Talisman Technique in the Lishan Hong Family, he had suspicions about the origin of this technique and speculated that its source might be the Ascending Dragon Gate. After all, sects known for practicing the ’False Dragon Form’ in East Huangzhou had always been few and far between, throughout ancient and modern times.

This finger ring must be the token of the Sect Master of the Ascending Dragon Gate, Xu Xing concluded.

Xu Xing put the jade slip and finger ring into his Storage Bag, then turned his attention to the rolled-up Painting Scroll on the altar table. For him, the Ascending Dragon Gate’s cultivation method was just a reference; he wouldn’t simply change his fundamental cultivation method to practice the "Rising Dragon Technique". The "Exorcism Holy Art" and the "Feather Transformation Immortal Sutra", which were Primordial Spirit level cultivation techniques, cultivated a higher level of Dao Principles and Dao Intent and did not conflict with his Qi-gathering technique.

The Painting Scroll slowly unfolded under the command of Xu Xing’s Magic Power, revealing the scene within.

"A woman?" Xu Xing frowned slightly.

The seven-foot-tall Painting Scroll hanging in the air depicted a red-clothed woman holding an oil-paper umbrella. It looked unremarkable. Generally speaking, the Inheritance Hall was a very solemn place; the three portraits hanging on the wall belonged to the three founding ancestors of the Ascending Dragon Gate. The contents of the scroll should be related to the transmission of cultivation methods, so how could they just paint a woman?

Could it be...? Is there something mysterious within?

Xu Xing pondered for a moment, then took out the Yellow Jade Finger Ring from his Storage Bag and placed it on the scroll.

In an instant, the scroll seemed to be imbued with divine intent. The red-clothed woman in the painting slightly raised her head, looking towards the Heavenly Vault. The white scene in the painting instantly turned pitch black, with dark clouds covering the sky as rain began to fall. The red-clothed woman transformed into a red carp, swimming in the rainwater. As it floated into the air, the carp had already turned into a dragon, soaring among the clouds, controlling the wind and summoning thunder.

「One-quarter of an hour later.」

All the unusual phenomena on the Painting Scroll disappeared. Just like before, it was still a red-clothed woman holding an oil-paper umbrella. However, a few lines of text had appeared on the painting.

[In the 432nd year of Emperor Chengyun’s reign, the Emperor ordered the Abyss Sea Dragon Palace to present dragon offspring to the Heavenly Capital to taste the immortal delicacy of dragon liver. The Dragon Palace refused, led troops in rebellion, and was wiped out along with its nine clans.]

[Our sect has a past with the Dragon Palace. We hid the Dragon Princess in the Boundless Sea, sealing her there forever.]

Seeing this, Xu Xing’s gaze flickered a few times as he carefully studied the Painting Scroll once again.

Then, he activated his Innate Immortal Qi Shield, opened his mouth, and spat out several strands of Sun True Fire, burning the Painting Scroll floating in the air. The Sun True Fire was the epitome of Yang.

Within a few breaths, the magical prohibitions on the Painting Scroll crumbled one by one. A mournful cry sounded out as a dragon-shaped remnant soul fell from it. This dragon soul was identical to the red horned dragon depicted earlier, just much weaker in aura.

"Sun True Fire? You actually have Sun True Fire?"

The dragon-shaped remnant soul looked at Xu Xing with amazement. It had never expected that, after hiding in this Stone Chamber for so long, the first cultivator it encountered would be a Nascent Soul Daoist Lord with a Golden Crow Immortal Body. It was truly a stroke of terrible luck. Remnant souls were most afraid of extremely firm and Yang presences like Sun True Fire.

"Sir, what is your intention in trying to deceive me into going to this so-called Boundless Sea...?"

Xu Xing spat out several more strands of Sun True Fire, completely sealing the dragon-shaped remnant soul’s escape routes. Then, a cold light flashed in his eyes as he sternly questioned it.

He had already carefully inspected the Yellow Jade Finger Ring earlier and found no magical prohibitions inside; it was just an ordinary token. He had placed the finger ring on the Painting Scroll deliberately to lure the remnant soul hiding within it to reveal itself. In addition to cultivating the Immortal Path, he had also spent thousands of years as a Ghost Immortal in an Instance World and was thoroughly familiar with the tricks of Ghost Immortals. The dragon-shaped remnant soul’s tricks could not deceive him.

"Daoist friend, please don’t be angry, don’t be angry! I... I did this because I had no other choice..."

The dragon-shaped remnant soul transformed into the red-clothed woman from the painting, her face pitiful, her beautiful eyes welling with tears as she pleaded.

Xu Xing remained silent, his expression unchanged, still utterly indifferent. He could resist the seduction of a living immortal like Fairy Wu, so he was naturally unmoved by the provocations of this remnant soul.

"Fine, I will speak frankly."

The red-clothed woman sighed in grief and stopped pleading for mercy. With a bitter expression, she said, "The words that appeared on the Painting Scroll earlier were true; they described everything I experienced."

"I was born in the Origin Sea Dragon Palace, the Sixth Princess of the Dragon Palace. Back then, Emperor Chengyun was favored by Immortals and established the Longevity Immortal Dynasty."

"The Longevity Immortal Dynasty waged wars everywhere, annexing the territories, lakes, seas, and rivers of various states in the Purple Yin Realm. My Origin Sea Dragon Palace was also among those targeted for conquest. To survive, the Dragon Palace surrendered, and its members became officials of the Immortal Dynasty."

"However, the good times didn’t last. Emperor Chengyun wished to taste the legendary immortal delicacy of dragon liver and phoenix marrow, and ordered my Dragon Palace to offer up its dragon sons and grandsons."

"At first, it was just lesser dragons, but later, it became true dragons like us."

"Later, the Dragon Palace’s rebellion failed, and I was sent to the Ascending Dragon Gate in East Huangzhou."

"The Ascending Dragon Gate had an old connection with my Dragon Palace and agreed to shelter me. But not long after, upon learning that my Origin Sea Dragon Palace had been annihilated, the Ascending Dragon Gate planned to refine me, a true dragon, into their sect’s supreme treasure," the red-clothed woman recounted.

"As for the Dragon Princess in the Boundless Sea, that is actually where my Dao Body is located. I deceived you only because I want to find my body... and revive myself," she added.

Longevity Immortal Dynasty? Origin Sea Dragon Palace? Boundless Sea?

Xu Xing couldn’t help but furrow his brows upon hearing these unfamiliar names.

The ancient times were several hundred thousand years ago. It was only natural for the names of regions to change over such a vast period. However, while Ancient Books still contained records about the Ascending Dragon Gate, records of these regional names had practically vanished completely.

Could it be the Chiming Imperial Dynasty?

The Chiming Imperial Dynasty wiped out the Nascent Soul and Primordial Spirit cultivators in each state. Perhaps it also erased the records of the ancient and distant history of these regions, Xu Xing mused.