Huh? Isn't this an adventure kingdom building game?!
Chapter 202 Underground Palace

Chapter 202: Chapter 202 Underground Palace

"We’re likely following the route she took into Yellow Dragon Ridge, but she must have flown forward and was forcibly halted somewhere."

Hu Zhile sniffed the complex scent lingering in the dry air and whispered, "We need to maneuver around the ravines, which naturally slows us compared to flying, but that way we won’t easily provoke the predecessor who just awakened from slumber."

Bai Yunqi raised an eyebrow, "How do you know they just woke up from slumber?"

"Because I passed through here some time ago and didn’t smell this faint air of intimidation; moreover, I smell this aura blending solidly and grandly with the earth, indicating they have hidden beneath the yellow soil for a long time."

She smiled gently, her eyes curving, "Besides, this Yellow Dragon Ridge isn’t secluded. Going a few hundred miles further in this direction leads to the Cyan Fish Mountain Market entrance, bustling with visitors. If there’s such a mysterious senior, word would have surely spread."

His reasoning was logical, and Jiang Yuan secretly pondered what situation they might encounter next. But could what even Bai Yunqi feared truly be something he could confront directly with over 2000 attack power after equipping his accessories?

"The aura has completely disappeared here." After leading them through twists and turns for over an hour, Hu Zhile finally stopped at a point overlooking the plateau, akin to a dragon’s eye, staring at the fierce wind blowing across the landscape. She was somewhat bewildered, "Very strange that the senior’s aura vanished upon reaching here."

[You have arrived within the Underground Palace’s entrance area. Please find the Five Elements position suppressing objects and dig them out]

Jiang Yuan: ???

It’s really like a video game quest, offering a rough location and expecting you to wander aimlessly until finding the specified location and then issue the next task.

"There are suppressing objects around here based on the Five Elements." He didn’t understand the Five Elements or Eight Trigrams, and could only mimic randomly, "We need to dig out the suppressing objects."

Bai Yunqi immediately became alert, "Venerable one, once we dig out the suppressing object, we’ll release what’s been suppressed! Do you know what’s being suppressed here?"

Jiang Yuan thought, how would I know, it’s a system task requirement... but reconsidered, feeling it somewhat reckless. What if we release something dreadful?

"Suppressing object?" Hu Zhile looked around hesitantly, "Sir, I suddenly recalled an old legend. It said there was a True Dragon in the wilderness, demoted to the Lower Realm for violating heavens’ laws. An Immortal later wanted to subdue it and suppressed it using the Five Elements Technique. The True Dragon couldn’t resist the Immortal’s suppression and unwillingly transformed into an Earth Dragon.

As we flew over earlier, the terrain indeed resembled a coiled dragon... could the legend really be true?"

Bai Yunqi perked up upon hearing "True Dragon," "Whether true or not, let’s first find the suppressing objects! Each suppression technique varies, but choosing to suppress requires passing information from the suppressing objects to future generations to prevent accidentally unleashing something heinous. Finding the suppressing objects can give us some clue as to what is suppressed."

The three immediately dispersed to search individually. Jiang Yuan was clueless about it and wandered aimlessly, waiting for a system prompt;

Bai Yunqi seemed to slightly understand, muttering while observing the stars and moon and calculating; Hu Zhile utilized her Earth Element Technique to harmonize with the earth, carefully examining the direction of small steps around the earth mountain ravines.

[Eastern Suppressing Object—Earth Profound Divine Wood Burial Location]

Indeed, after wandering for a while in the direction pointed by the map, when Jiang Yuan stepped into a recessed ravine, the system prompt appeared.

He immediately took out a shovel from his storage bag and began digging energetically.

"Xiao Bai, Miss Hu, come over and have a look!" He expected the suppressing object to be formidable, but after digging for a long time, the shovel touched a piece of green wood less than a meter in diameter, so he called them over to look.

[Earth Profound Divine Wood: A segment of Divine Wood from the Celestial Realm, Xuanyuan Yangguang intended to suppress and absorb the essence of the earth vein to transform into a dragon for personal use. The spirituality of the Divine Wood has faded, only part of its spirituality can be extracted for medicine]

[After digging, the essence of the earth vein can be released, find the entrance of the underground palace]

"The eastern element is wood; logically, if aiming for restraint, a metallic object should be buried here, yet clearly it’s the same element of wood, with suppression runes inscribed. Is this meant for suppression or promotion?" Bai Yunqi found it peculiar after examining.

Hu Zhile casually added, "Isn’t it simple? It’s merely a scheme to imprison and suppress yet not to truly let the opponent be suppressed to death. From the suppressing object, it likely isn’t some heinous being that’s suppressed."

She touched it further and added, "Moreover, this suppressing object barely has any energy left and can’t sustain for much longer. Precisely because it can no longer suppress, it might have attacked cultivators passing by."

"Not much energy left? What are we waiting for? Let’s quickly dig it out and see what else it can do." Bai Yunqi added promptly, helping to retrieve the suppressing object and muttered quietly, "If there’s truly a dragon, by taking out the suppressing object, we’ve helped significantly, at least would it be courteous when we meet."

Before long, the suppressing object was extracted, a rumbling sound emerged from deep underground, collapsing many of the surrounding earth mountains and ravines.

With the eastern Wood as a reference, the three quickly found and unearthed the suppressing objects buried in the southern Fire, western Metal, northern Water, and central Earth.

The more they dug, the more intense the tremors became until the entire overlooking Earth Dragon form completely disappeared, and the central Earth position collapsed into a grand and majestic underground palace entrance formed by yellow earth.

"Thank you, young friends, for removing the burden weighing down on me. The old one is quite inconvenienced; I invite you to come into my underground palace to rest a while."

The three were gazing up at the enormous palace made entirely of yellow earth, without any other decorations. Various dragon-shaped motifs posing atop it added to its grandeur and magnificence.

An ancient voice echoed from deep within the underground palace, Bai Yunqi and Hu Zhile instinctively looked towards Jiang Yuan.

Entering the other’s residence without knowing the situation is certainly not a wise choice.

"Senior, I was sent here to find a cultivator who went missing a short while ago. Have you seen them?" Jiang Yuan was not foolish. Though retrieving the suppressing objects and releasing them counted as a favor, what if the other party was unreasonable?

Having the suppressing object extracted would mean he’d be at their mercy, what if the other party decided to bury him at once?

"You’re talking about that little friend..." The ancient voice seemed rather unclear, sounding like mumbling in a dream, pausing for quite a while before continuing, "Are you the ones sent as emissaries by Xuanyuan Yangguang? Tell him, even if the old one endures countless tribulations, I will never submit to him!"

Bai Yunqi’s pupils narrowed, "Venerable one, this senior might have just awoken from slumber and is still a bit confused."

"No, not confused; he’s poisoned." Hu Zhile transformed back into her original form, a furry white fox head, extended her nose and sniffed ardently, "I smell many types of poisons, which is why they captured the poison-using cultivator..."

She raised her voice and asked, "Senior, were you poisoned and had no power to resist being suppressed by Xuanyuan Yangguang here? The missing, poison-mastery comrade, did you summon her for detoxification?"

Poison?! Jiang Yuan perked up upon hearing that word, what a coincidence! I possess Bee Venom capable of counteracting poison!