Chapter 121: Ancient Hall, Burning Rhinoceros
The Dragon-Coiled Lock of the bronze palace shattered with a bang, and the key in Lu Qingyang's arms burst forth with nine-colored light. The moment the palace gate opened, the entire mist of the East Sea churned like boiling water, and seventy-two phantom Sea-Stabilizing Steles rose from the abyss, their inscriptions flowing with ancient Yao Race characters.
The Three Pure Bell in his sleeve suddenly exploded into dust, and the stardust that fell from its core condensed into a 'Danger' hexagram in the mist-shrouded sky, only to be churned into ten thousand points of phosphorescent fire by a sudden surge of fishy wind.
"It's livelier than the welcome array at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion," Lu Qingyang said with a slight, unreadable smile. His fingertips gently twirled the Stealing the Heavens and Switching the Sun Talisman, which seemed to come alive, trembling slightly in his hand.
As he moved, the blue smoke rising from the talisman's edge actually outlined a mysterious pattern in the air—a fragment of the Xuanji Array Diagram! The pattern flickered in and out of existence, seemingly containing endless profound mysteries.
Seeing this, Lu Qingyang's smile widened. Without hesitation, he lifted his foot and stomped on three bronze bricks beneath his feet, which were carved with taotie patterns. With a dull thud, something deep within the earth's pulse seemed to be triggered.
Immediately after, a sound of gears meshing echoed, exceptionally clear in the silent palace. The entire palace, as if pushed by an invisible force, began to slowly rotate like a compass.
At the same time, the light beams projected by the Twenty-Eight Constellations diagram on the dome also changed. Those originally ethereal light beams now solidified, illuminating Lu Qingyang's entire body with pinpoint clarity.
Just then, three Nascent Soul Auras, like meteors, pierced through the mist and rapidly pursued him. Leng Yuehan's crystal coffin even crushed half a Sea-Stabilizing Stele, forcefully breaking into the hall.
Seeing this, Lu Qingyang suddenly waved his arm, and a fragment of the Kunlun Mirror shot out like lightning. The fragment spun rapidly in the air, its mirror light refracting the constellation beams like a sharp arrow, directly striking Leng Yuehan's coffin.
"Does Fairy Leng know that this 'Tianxuan' position illuminates the Guanghan Palace's ancestral shrine?" Lu Qingyang's voice echoed through the hall, carrying a hint of mockery.
Before his words faded, a scene was clearly reflected in the Kunlun Mirror fragment—the first Palace Master of Guanghan Palace secretly meeting with a demonic cultivator!
This image was like a heavy blow, striking Leng Yuehan's coffin. Under the mirror's light, the ice coffin actually developed spiderweb-like cracks, as if it could shatter at any moment.
Yin Jiuyou's burial sky coffin slowly emerged from a crack in the earth's pulse, its lid opening to spew out a dense, ink-like corpse Qi. Simultaneously, one hundred thousand corpse beetles gathered from all directions, quickly forming a massive "Nine Nether Soul Devouring Array" that enveloped the burial sky coffin.
However, facing such a terrifying scene, Lu Qingyang remained unusually calm. With a slight smile, he unhurriedly pulled out a Gu-feeding Jade from Insect Master Valley from his embrace. This Gu-feeding Jade was entirely green, smooth as jade, and emitted a faint, clear fragrance.
The moment Lu Qingyang took out the Gu-feeding Jade, the golden cicada within the jade seemed to sense the presence of the corpse Qi and suddenly let out a dragon-like cry. This cry was clear and pleasant, yet contained endless majesty, as if from an ancient Divine Beast.
Hearing this cry, the originally aggressive swarm of corpse beetles suddenly scattered in terror, as if they had encountered a natural enemy. They desperately tried to escape the area, even trampling over each other, creating a chaotic scene.
Seeing this, Yin Jiuyou's expression instantly became extremely ugly. He roared, trying to control the swarm of corpse beetles, but those corpse beetles were already Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, completely ignoring his commands. In the blink of an eye, the swarm of corpse beetles retreated like a tide, leaving Yin Jiuyou standing alone, his dark robes gnawed with seventeen or eighteen holes by the corpse beetles.
"Old Yin, your corpse Puppets are truly plump and strong!" Lu Qingyang laughed mockingly. "Just right for my golden cicada to have an extra meal!" With that, he lightly shook the Gu-feeding Jade, and the golden cicada flew out like lightning, directly lunging at Yin Jiuyou.
At the same time, Su Meiniang was not idle either. She lightly parted her red lips and blew out a ball of Fox Fire. The Fox Fire rapidly expanded in the air, transforming into a thousand-zhang-long red ribbon, like a Dragon emerging from the sea, coiling towards the palace pillars.
Seeing this, Lu Qingyang's lips curled into a sly smile. He threw out a Xuanji Array Diagram Jade Slip with a backhand, and the Jade Slip spun rapidly in the air, instantly unfolding into a massive Formation Diagram.
The moment the Formation Diagram unfolded, the originally straight constellation beams suddenly seemed to be twisted by an invisible force, transforming into a Dragon-Binding Rope that tightly entangled Su Meiniang's red ribbon.
"Su Jiejie, let me borrow your fox tail fur!" Lu Qingyang said with a playful smile.
Su Meiniang's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, but her reaction was extremely quick. With a flick of her wrist, the red ribbon violently struggled, trying to break free from the Dragon-Binding Rope's bondage.
However, as the red ribbon and the Dragon-Binding Rope wrestled with each other, the Spiritual Qi that erupted when the red ribbon was shredded by the light beam, like a fuse, instantly activated the sleeping qing tong (bronze) puppets in the hall.
With a series of "clank" sounds, three thousand qing tong (bronze) puppets, engraved with ancient 'Xuanji' characters, slowly opened their blood-red eyes. The halberds in their hands gleamed with cold light, all pointing at the intruders.
Lu Qingyang, who was taking advantage of the chaos to rush towards the main hall, suddenly stopped. The taotie pattern on the bronze brick floor actually bit into the sole of his shoe. The key in his arms automatically flew into a groove in a palace pillar, and the tadpole-like script that appeared on the pillar moved like living creatures, revealing the 'Burning Rhinoceros Chapter,' the opening of the Taixu Secret Canon. He bit his tongue and spat out a drop of vital blood. The moment the blood drop touched the characters, the entire palace suddenly shed its bronze rust, revealing the magnificent scene from when Old Monster Xuanji laid out the array.
"So, it requires breaking a blood Restriction," he muttered, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. From his sleeve flew out various Magic Treasures he had stolen from different sects. When the Ice Soul Pearl from Guanghan Palace collided with the Armillary Sphere from Tianji Pavilion, the Spiritual Qi vortexes generated by the two supreme treasures actually tore open a crack in the dome. Lu Qingyang stepped on the heads of the qing tong (bronze) puppets and leaped into the crack. As he landed, the key in his embrace suddenly grew scorching hot—suspended above the nine-tiered altar before him was precisely the Rhinoceros Lamp that had triggered three thousand years of bloody war in the cultivation world!
The seven Sea-Stabilizing Pearls embedded in the lamp's base suddenly trembled, and the entire East Sea erupted in a ten-thousand-foot tidal wave. The three Nascent Soul powerhouses who had pursued him into the secret hall simultaneously formed hand seals, their crystal coffin, burial sky coffin, and Fox Fire ribbon forming a Three Talents Killing Array. Lu Qingyang, however, inserted the key into the lamp wick. The moment the lamp flame flared up, the Guanghan Palace Map tattoo on his chest suddenly came alive, and the phantom image of Leng Yuehan within the map actually reached out to grasp the lamp.
"What a clever way to seize treasure by leveraging power!" he exclaimed softly, his body spinning rapidly like a ghost, skillfully evading the fierce grasp of the phantom. At the same time, seventy-two Formation Plates suddenly flew out from his sleeve. These Formation Plates rapidly circled in the air, intertwining, and in the blink of an eye, formed a Stealing the Heavens and Switching the Sun Array.
The instant Leng Yuehan's true form's finger was about to touch the lamp flame, the array patterns of the Stealing the Heavens and Switching the Sun Array suddenly seemed to be driven by an invisible force, reversing sharply. In that very moment, the true Rhinoceros Lamp, as if enchanted, silently fell into his treasure pouch at his waist. What remained in its place was merely a fake, conjured by the Gu of Insect Master Valley.
The residual heat of the lamp flame was extraordinarily scorching, as if it could melt everything. The moment it touched the ground, it actually melted a gigantic magma pool into the floor of the secret hall. The scalding magma churned, and molten rock occasionally splashed up, like blooming red lotuses.
He fearlessly stepped on the splashing molten rock, his figure light as a bird as he gracefully leaped to the top level of the altar. However, when his gaze fell upon the Jade Slip floating in the bronze cauldron on the top level, his pupils suddenly contracted, as if he had seen something extremely astonishing.
The head of that Jade Slip was clearly inscribed with five large characters written in Dragon blood—"Burning Rhinoceros Illuminates the Netherworld"! These five characters, written with powerful, flowing strokes, seemed to contain endless mysteries and power.
A surge of excitement coursed through him, and he unhesitatingly reached out to grab the Jade Slip. However, just as his fingertips were about to touch the Jade Slip, a low roar suddenly echoed from within the cauldron. Immediately after, a withered, stick-like claw shot out from the cauldron like lightning, directly grabbing at his throat!
The claw's speed was lightning-fast, and in the blink of an eye, it was only three inches from his throat!
"Your old nails need a trim," Lu Qingyang said with a playful grin, simultaneously flicking his right hand, sending the Guanghan Palace bellyband flying out like a meteor.
This bellyband was woven from ice silkworm silk, and its material was extremely special. Once it came into contact with a remnant soul, it would instantly freeze it, as if time itself had solidified at that moment.
The moment the remnant soul was frozen, Lu Qingyang moved like lightning, quickly stuffing the Jade Slip into his embrace. However, just as he turned to prepare to escape, he suddenly felt a powerful Aura Attack from behind.
His heart tightened, and he quickly looked back, only to see a Fox Fire blade, condensed into a solid form, striking towards his face like lightning!
This strike was fierce and lightning-fast, and Lu Qingyang had no time to dodge. But in this critical moment, he suddenly had an idea and pulled out a jade token from his embrace, engraved with "Hehuan Sect Secret Vault."
This jade token was a secret treasure of the Hehuan Sect, imbued with powerful Restriction forces. Lu Qingyang used the jade token as a shield, forcefully blocking the Fox Fire blade.
"Su Jiejie's private stash is hidden in..." Lu Qingyang hadn't finished speaking when he suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet violently shake, and the entire secret hall began to tremble intensely.
It turned out that his act of stealing the Rhinoceros Lamp had triggered the underwater Restriction, and nine massive phantom Sea-Stabilizing Flood Dragons burst through the hall ceiling, baring their fangs and claws as they lunged at him.
Seeing this, Lu Qingyang dared not hesitate for a moment. He immediately stepped on the continuously falling bronze bricks, scurrying towards the crack in the hall ceiling like a cunning rabbit.
However, three Nascent Soul powerhouses followed closely behind him, their killing moves sweeping towards him like a storm, instantly tearing the nine phantom Flood Dragons into shreds.
Under this terrifying attack, Lu Qingyang desperately fled. Finally, he broke out of the vortex and landed, disheveled, on a beach.
Just as he was catching his breath, he suddenly felt the Jade Slip in his embrace grow hot. His heart tightened, and he quickly took out the Jade Slip. He saw that the previously blank area on the Jade Slip now displayed a map of the East Sea.
And in a certain part of the map, a blood-red character 'Xū' (Ruins) was particularly striking—that direction was precisely the Forbidden Land of the Yao Race, Guixu (The Return to Ruins)!