Chapter 301: Chapter 182: Subduing the Divine Weapon

SWISH~

Gu Zheng threw on the Invisibility Cloak and instantly became invisible.

TAP TAP!

Footsteps echoed, and a figure appeared at the palace entrance.

"Zuo?"

Gu Zheng blurted out.

"Who’s there!?"

Zuo Lingfeng, who was walking through the entrance, stopped short. His expression grew solemn as he scanned the great hall warily.

"It’s me."

Gu Zheng lifted his cloak, revealing his form, and stared at Zuo Lingfeng in astonishment.

"Gu?"

Zuo Lingfeng’s eyes widened in equal astonishment.

"What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?"

The two asked in unison.

As their voices faded, Gu Zheng’s face lit up with joy. "Zuo, you’re not dead! That’s great!" he said, elated.

"I was as good as dead."

Zuo Lingfeng gave a bitter smile, but he quickly regained his composure. He asked in bewilderment, "Gu, how did you get in here?"

Before Gu Zheng could respond, he continued, "I was being hunted by the King of Baoshan and fell off a cliff. A spatial rift suddenly opened up where I landed. After I went through it, I arrived here."

"Hunted by the King of Baoshan?"

Gu Zheng raised an eyebrow.

’As expected.’

It wasn’t surprising that the King of Baoshan, Zhong Zhengxiao, would go after Zuo Lingfeng to get his revenge. He just hadn’t expected the King to act personally.

’One Divination and Deduction must have been blocked by the Heaven-Covering Leaf, so that wasn’t enough. So he performed another Deduction and learned that Zuo Lingfeng was the one responsible. Perhaps it was because Zuo Lingfeng’s backer was Yuanqian Mountain that Zhong Zhengxiao decided to act himself, just to be safe. That way, besides the two of them, no one else would know.’

’But who could have guessed that Zuo Lingfeng was so blessed by fortune? Not only did he survive the fall, but he even entered the Nine Heavens Shadow Realm!’

Gu Zheng quickly explained the situation regarding the Nine Heavens Shadow Realm.

He also mentioned that members of the major Noble Families were active in other regions.

"A Shadow Realm that opens once every three thousand years?"

Zuo Lingfeng murmured, a glint in his eyes. "Does that mean I can finally leave this place?"

"Yes. Slaying a large number of living creatures will trigger the region-switching mechanism." Gu Zheng nodded. "I’ve already tested this method, and it works. As long as we can switch back to the region with the yellow earth, we can use the entrance there to return to the real world."

"That’s wonderful news."

A look of joy spread across Zuo Lingfeng’s face. He sighed with emotion. "To be honest, Gu, I had already resigned myself to dying of old age here. I’ve been here for a long time without seeing a single person. There are plenty of Demon Fiends, though. They’re all over the volcanic cluster to the northwest."

"This area is better; it’s a stretch of ancient palace ruins. Oh, right!"

As he spoke, he seemed to remember something. "Come on, Gu," he said, beckoning. "I’ll take you somewhere."

Curious, Gu Zheng followed Zuo Lingfeng out of the great hall.

They walked along a half-collapsed corridor, passed through several passageways, and entered a hidden underground chamber.

Zuo Lingfeng led the way, making two turns in the underground passage before the path ahead suddenly brightened.

A spacious, well-lit stone chamber came into view. A crack in the domed ceiling allowed a shaft of light to beam down.

In the center of the chamber, a skeleton sat cross-legged and motionless on a stone platform raised three feet off the ground.

Bathed in the light, the violet-gold skeleton emitted a faint, ethereal glow, repelling the dust in the air so that not a single speck settled on its bones.

A faint, formless pressure emanated from the skeleton, spreading in all directions.

"This is..."

"A King’s Body... or maybe even a True Body Realm expert!" Zuo Lingfeng’s voice trembled with excitement. "Gu, for a skeleton to not decay for millennia and remain this violet-gold color... can you imagine how powerful this senior must have been in life?"

Gu Zheng was silent.

One could only imagine the magnificence of an expert whose bones remained incorruptible and free of pests for thousands, even tens of thousands of years after death.

However, experts like this usually left something behind.

Zuo Lingfeng had been here for over a month. In that much time, he must have scoured the entire area. If there were any treasures, he had likely already found them.

’In other words, after thousands or even tens of thousands of years, has he obtained this senior’s inheritance?’

Gu Zheng looked around the chamber.

He activated his Eyes of Golden Flame and scanned his surroundings, but he found nothing. The violet-gold skeleton, however, seemed faintly unusual.

Under his Eyes of Golden Flame, the arm bones and the spinal column, in particular, revealed strange, gilt-like patterns.

Involuntarily, Gu Zheng’s gaze followed these patterns, tracing them one by one.

As he did, the world around him suddenly vanished. All that remained between heaven and earth was the skeleton, sitting cross-legged in the void. Strange patterns, interspersed with ancient characters, began to appear, flooding into Gu Zheng’s mind.

These characters and patterns interwove, connecting with one another to form a picture...

No, to be precise, it was a map!

A vast, ancient map depicting great mountains, lands, cities, and rivers.

The map was marked with the names of various places, mountains, and cities.

Nine of the locations were marked with nine small Tripod Cauldrons.

And another location showed a seal...

"Gu? Gu!?"

Zuo Lingfeng’s shouts snapped Gu Zheng back to his senses with a jolt.

"I’m fine,"

Gu Zheng replied, keeping his expression neutral. "I just spaced out for a moment."

"Ha, the first time I found this place, I was so stunned I just stood here staring for ages."

Zuo Lingfeng laughed. "This senior must have been an incredible figure when he was alive!"

"Indeed."

Gu Zheng nodded and asked casually, "Zuo, did you notice anything unusual when you were examining this senior?"

"No, why do you ask?" Zuo Lingfeng asked, curious.

"It’s nothing. I was just wondering how a senior with such power could have passed away here," Gu Zheng mused.

Although the skeleton was intact, the bones in several vital areas—the chest, the skull, and the legs—were fractured.