The Eerie Forest and the Dragon’s Rest Lake

“Are you certain the Tianyan Sect won’t pursue me any longer?”

The two continued their journey, yet the atmosphere between them was no longer as it once was.

“The Grand Elder has already investigated,” Su Hanxing replied, forcing a strained smile. “The seven-colored energy within your body, Little Chi, has vanished.”

“When did he investigate my new body?” Chi Qiu questioned, a natural aversion surfacing for the Grand Elder she had never even met.

“It was the day after the martial arts competition concluded, when I sought you out for the Divine Ability of Intertwined Gold,” Su Hanxing explained, seemingly unconcerned with revealing more. “At that very moment, the Grand Elder was within my portable cultivation dwelling.”

Hearing this, Chi Qiu fell silent, concentrating solely on their journey. Behind her, Su Hanxing let out a long sigh before quickening his pace to match hers. The two traveled in this manner for over an hour, encountering no other cultivators. This stark emptiness was a testament to the immense vastness of their current world.

“Ahead lies a forest,” Su Hanxing suddenly declared, breaking the quietude. He pointed into the distance, his voice grave. “We don’t know what might be inside, so we must proceed with caution.”

Chi Qiu, still lost in thought over the various pieces of information Su Hanxing had just shared, only registered his warning now. She raised her eyes, following Su Hanxing’s gaze. A thousand li away, an incredibly vast expanse of towering trees stretched, disappearing beyond the horizon. These trees soared over a hundred zhang tall, forming a dense, dark mass. Devoid of any green, they appeared utterly eerie.

“You should be careful too,” Chi Qiu stated coolly. These four simple words, however, brought a renewed look of joy to Su Hanxing’s face.

Su Hanxing nodded, unslung the precious bow from his back, and his eyes grew sharp, maintaining constant vigilance. Before long, the two had traversed a thousand li, finally arriving at the edge of the ominous forest.

“There are remnants of the Yinglong’s divine power here,” Chi Qiu declared. Standing before the forest, she had keenly detected its traces.

This forest was exceptionally eerie. As far as their eyes could see, only colossal, charred trees stood. These giant trees bore no leaves, nor any other living creatures; in fact, Chi Qiu and Su Hanxing found it difficult to even discern if the trees were alive or dead.

Chi Qiu drew her sword and stepped forward. With a casual slash, she severed a colossal tree, hundreds of zhang tall and ten zhang thick. She blew away the dust, only to find the giant tree’s interior was equally pitch-black, utterly devoid of vitality.

“Let’s go. Our objective should be within this very place,” Su Hanxing said, catching up to Chi Qiu. His pupils glowed faintly purple, as if he had already pinpointed the location of the Dragon Transformation Pond.

Chi Qiu nodded, and together, the two entered the desolate forest.

“Is that Fellow Daoist Chi ahead—”

After Chi Qiu and Su Hanxing had followed the Yinglong’s divine power for about half an hour, a voice suddenly echoed from behind them. Both were intimately familiar with it: it was Qi Feng of the Qi clan.

The two immediately turned around. They saw three members of the Qi clan rushing towards them, followed by the formidable Black Armored Imperial Guards.

“Sister Chi, who is this?” Qi Yue asked, rushing to Chi Qiu’s side and gesturing towards Su Hanxing.

“Hehehehe… I am Su Hanxing,” Su Hanxing chuckled. He reached up to his face, dispelling the disguise art and revealing his originally handsome and extraordinary countenance.

“I knew it had to be Brother Hanxing,” Qi Yun said, approaching them with clear delight. “That day, we were scattered by the golden cyclone, and seeing no trace of you truly worried me for a long time.”

“Brother Hanxing and Fellow Daoist Chi possess formidable strength,” Qi Feng remarked, sauntering forward. “I said before that they would surely be able to reach this place. Now it seems, the two of you have reaped considerable rewards.” His eyes lit up as he spotted the precious bow in Su Hanxing’s hand and the profound black chainmail Chi Qiu wore.

“Our luck was good; we gained quite a bit,” Chi Qiu affirmed with a nod, offering no denial. For individuals like Qi Feng, born into royalty, their ability to discern treasures was undoubtedly extraordinary, allowing them to instantly recognize the exceptional nature of her and Su Hanxing’s spirit treasures.

“In that case, let us travel together,” Qi Feng proposed, extending an invitation to them. “This forest is incredibly vast, yet utterly devoid of any living creatures, which is truly eerie.”

Su Hanxing glanced at Chi Qiu. Chi Qiu offered no direct reply, merely a slight nod, saying, “That’s fine.”

After joining Qi Feng’s group of three, Chi Qiu and Su Hanxing felt considerably more at ease. Su Hanxing re-slung his precious bow onto his back, and Chi Qiu put away her dark jade longsword.

“In my opinion, the Yinglong that perished within this Yinglong Tomb died extremely suddenly,” Qi Feng offered, a smile on his face as he saw Chi Qiu and Su Hanxing put away their weapons. He proactively revealed this piece of information.

In the eyes of Qi Feng’s group, while Su Hanxing and Chi Qiu were powerful, their meager numbers posed no threat. Moreover, the Tianyan Sect maintained good relations with the imperial family, and Prince Heng, Qi Wuyai, had previously informed them that the sect had no intention of competing for the True Dragon’s Aura. Su Hanxing’s true purpose for this journey was merely to ascertain who would ultimately claim it. Given these numerous factors, Qi Feng felt quite reassured about Su Hanxing and Chi Qiu. Naturally, he didn’t mind lending them a hand.

“Brother Qi Feng, why do you say that?” Su Hanxing asked, turning his head slightly.

“Before a True Dragon is about to die, it will have a premonition,” Qi Feng explained with a faint smile. “As True Dragons, their innate bloodline compels them to prepare their dragon tomb. This serves two purposes: firstly, to prevent their remains from being stolen, and secondly, if they have descendants, the dragon tomb can serve to nurture their offspring.”

Su Hanxing and Chi Qiu both nodded. Earlier, when Tan Xiao had impatiently collected the colossal Dharma Manifestation Realm sculpture, even Chi Qiu, who wasn’t typically concerned with the value of demon beast corpses, had recognized its profound preciousness. The corpse of a True Dragon, however, surpassed the value of the ancestral sculpture by an immeasurable amount. Naturally, a True Dragon would not wish for its remains to be plundered after death.

“Currently, this Yinglong Tomb, although bearing some traces of construction, is truly too sparse,” Qi Feng stated, a hint of unnaturalness flickering across his face. “Therefore, in terms of both scale and danger, it falls far short of other dragon tombs.”

He had originally exchanged a dragon tomb map for their joint operation. However, after entering the Yinglong Tomb, everyone discovered it was vastly different from the one depicted on the map, arguably bearing very few similarities.

“Could this indicate that the period between this Yinglong realizing its impending death and its actual demise was extremely short?” Chi Qiu mused, a thoughtful expression on her face. “So short, in fact, that it lacked the time to properly construct its mausoleum?”

“That should be about right,” Qi Yun affirmed with a nod, agreeing with Chi Qiu’s conjecture. “We just don’t know why it died so suddenly.”

Was it a natural disaster, or a man-made calamity? A heavy feeling settled in everyone’s hearts.

“This forest should have been composed of countless Scarlet Dragon Trees,” Qi Yue explained, reaching out to lightly caress a charred giant tree. “These Scarlet Dragon Trees contained extremely rich spiritual energy, forming a formidable barrier to protect the Dragon Transformation Pond. But now…” Her tone was filled with regret.

It seems these charred giant trees were once quite remarkable spirit plants, Chi Qiu guessed inwardly, nodding. Their sheer number was astonishing, even to the wealthy Qi clan disciples.

The group then continued their journey, exchanging information as they went. Several hours passed in this manner.

“We entered the cave where fierce winds howled,” Qi Feng recounted, his face as warm as a spring breeze, clearly pleased with his discovery. “Inside, I found several green dragon whiskers, emanating gusts of chilling wind, quite miraculous.”

“Within these dragon whiskers, a trace of the Yinglong’s Annihilating Wind essence is hidden,” Qi Yue explained, eagerly extending her hand. A wisp of green Annihilating Wind gathered in her palm, emanating sharp, extremely potent edges. “Each of us three has refined one, and we’ve now initially grasped this Annihilating Wind.”

“The three Fellow Daoists have quite the good fortune; congratulations, congratulations,” Chi Qiu said, offering a slight smile and cupping her hands in greeting. At the same time, she subtly glanced at Su Hanxing, her expression largely unchanged, save for a slight flicker in her pupils.

Su Hanxing immediately understood Chi Qiu’s meaning: she did not wish for the fact that she possessed the origin of tribulation lightning to be exposed. Su Hanxing nodded slightly, giving Chi Qiu a reassuring look. Then, he also cupped his hands and offered his congratulations.

“Ahead should be the end of the forest,” Qi Yue observed. Her eye technique was excellent, allowing her to discern in the far distance that the charred trees were gradually becoming sparse. “If that Yinglong had properly constructed its tomb before its death, there should be a large lake ahead.”

The remaining four all nodded. Having seen the dragon tomb map, they naturally knew what the center of the dragon tomb looked like. According to the map, the outer perimeter of the dragon tomb space should be the Scarlet Dragon Forest. Beyond this forest lay the Dragon’s Rest Lake, upon which was the Dragon’s Peace Isle, and within the island was the Dragon Transformation Pond.

Now that the Scarlet Dragon Forest had appeared, if nothing unexpected happened, the Dragon’s Rest Lake should be next.

“It truly is a lake,” someone exclaimed. “The spiritual energy within this lake is so rich!”

The group emerged from the Scarlet Dragon Forest, only to find a vast lake stretching before them. The lake’s surface was like a mirror, its waters clear and faintly golden, with living creatures visible within.

“It seems this Dragon’s Rest Lake, like the Scarlet Dragon Forest, contains no guardian beasts,” Qi Feng remarked, shaking his head. His investigation had revealed no traces of demon beasts within.

“That saves a lot of trouble,” Qi Yun said with a laugh. He then summoned a small, flat boat, placed it upon the lake’s surface, and gestured for everyone to board.