The Nine Cauldrons
chapter-215

Sixty-one ‘lanterns’ spread a soft glow as they floated in the deepest area of the dark and gloomy lake. Before their eyes was the Heavenly Flood Palace, its end nowhere in sight.

The men of Qing Hu Island refused to lead the way no matter what.

In this moment, the different sides each had their own agendas. Previously, when Qing Hu Island had been leading the way to Emperor Yu’s Palace, the forty-nine innate experts were of the same mind. However…… once the Heavenly Flood Palace had appeared before their eyes, everyone had other plans in mind when thinking of Emperor Yu’s Treasure, somewhere in the palace.

“Brother Qin Lang, we must part with those great sects’ people later on. Otherwise……even if we found the treasure at the same time, considering the strength of those great sects, we wouldn’t be allowed to get our share. If we part with them, maybe we can find it first! Then we take it and leave!” the white-cloaked young man, Liu Xiu, whispered to Teng Qingshan.

The latter nodded gently.

Simultaneously, Teng Qingshan also noticed that people from different great sects around them were softly discussing amongst themselves as well. As they were whispering very softly and closely to each other, and because they were under water, Teng Qingshan could only vaguely hear the conversations.

“The innate experts were still united when they were at the Great Yan Mountain, but once they arrived the Heavenly Flood Palace……” Teng Qingshan secretly shook his head and thought, “They would probably fight when Emperor Yu’s Treasure is found. However, I wonder if these many people can solve the problem with that Golden Dragon Turtle.”

“Haha……Gu Island Lord.” The King of Beasts guffawed and said, “You guys have entered this Heavenly Flood Palace, I wonder what danger is lurking within!”

No matter what each sect was planning, everyone was looking at Gu Yong of the Qing Hu Island, since it would be a lot better to know what dangers lurked within the Heavenly Flood Palace.

Gu Yong scanned the crowds and responded, “I have said earlier that there are many demonic beasts within this Heavenly Flood Palace! Also, the strength of some demonic beasts is very powerful. Because of these demonic beasts, Qing Hu Island has suffered greatly. No sooner had we entered the Heavenly Flood Palace, than we encountered monsters. As for the depths of the Heavenly Flood Palace, we don’t know anything.”

“However, according to the map, the Heavenly Flood Palace was the location of the Emperor Yu’s Treasure,” Gu Yong continued.

“Hmph. Who wouldn’t be able to guess that after seeing this Heavenly Flood Palace?” said Ying Haojiang, the leader of the nine black-cloaked Law Enforcing Elders of Ying Family, looking towards the Heavenly Flood Palace. “Apart from the senior of my family, Heavenly Emperor Qin Ling, only Emperor Yu, Martial Ancestor Shiga and Li Taibai have the power to build such an edifice underwater. If this palace wasn’t Emperor Yu’s palace, it could only belong to any of the other three.”

Everyone knew this for a fact.

The four most powerful ones. No matter who it was that had built this enormous palace, venturing into it would be worth it.

“If the others won’t go in, we will be going first.”

Ying Haojiang sneered.

With this, the nine black-cloaked Law Enforcing Elders immediately headed towards the entrance of the palace. The path was over ten wide and eight Zhang high……

“Sated be the bold, famished be the cowardly. We will go too.” With this, the six men of Hong Tian City followed the nine elders.

With the objective of entering the palace in order to find the Emperor Yu’s Treasure, the ones who went first would obviously have more of an advantage. Of course…..the ones who entered first would also face more danger. There were both advantages and disadvantages to doing so.

“Island Lord?” Zhao Danchen looked towards Gu Yong. Gu Yong was furrowing his brows as he pondered, “Why hasn’t that Golden Dragon Turtle appeared? Right….this palace is at least a dozen hundred Li big. The Golden Dan Dragon Turtle must be currently somewhere else in the palace, and it would take some time for it to get to the entrance! Oh no! We let those people go first!”

Teng Qingshan was quietly spectating.

Roar~~~ Suddenly, a roar that could shake the souls of men resounded from within the dark Heavenly Flood Palace. The deep roar cause even the experts’ hearts to tremble. The Heavenly Flood Palace was pitch-black. Add to that the respect for Emperor Yu, and the abrupt roar which had frightened many innate experts…

“Retreat!”

The loud roar hadn’t made the nine black-cloaked Law Enforcing Elders of the Ying Family slow down. No. It had sent them retreating like nine darting arrows. The six innate experts of the Hong Tian City who had been following them also retreated at lightning speed!

Instantly, they were over ten Zhang away from the entrance once again.

Weng~~ The originally dark entrance of the Heavenly Flood Palace suddenly illuminated golden beams of light. The light could be seen even from twenty Zhang away.

The sixty innate experts all looked cautiously at the scene in front of them.

“So amazing!” praised Liu Xiu, who was standing beside Teng Qingshan. Although Teng Qingshan was seeing this scene for the second time, he still felt awed. “The entrance of this palace had no damage to it, despite being in existence for thousands of years, and it can even shoot beams of gold light……The power of Emperor Yu truly can’t be grasped by ordinary men.”

In that moment——

At the enormous palace entrance, the three-Zhang-long (7.5 meters) dragon turtle appeared. Its shell had varicolored flowery patterns, and its head looked like the dragon head of the flood dragon. Its sharp interlocking teeth were like hacksaws, and its greenish eyes were glowing. When it noticed Qing Hu Island’s men, it appeared rather cold.

The fact that the men of Qing Hu Island had still dared to come even after the previous warning obviously enraged it.

Roar~~ The Golden Dragon Turtle roared deeply.

“Golden Dragon Turtle!”

Numerous screams rang out from amidst the sixty innate experts only ten zhang away.

An uncomprehending glow appeared in many of their eyes.

“Why would there be a Golden Dragon Turtle here?”

“Since there is one here, how can we even go in?”

The experts making up their group were already considered the top figures in all Nine Prefectures. The only ones more powerful than them were Emptiness Realm Experts. The overall number of that innate experts at that stage could be counted on one’s fingers!

The influence of this group of human experts throughout the nine prefectures was incredibly great. However, when they saw the Golden Dragon Turtle, they simply froze in shock.

Even if what was in front of them had been a demonic beast as big as a small mountain, the group of human experts still wouldn’t have been this shock and terrified.

“Unfortunately, the Golden Dragon Turtle came out early,” Gu Yong said when he saw the scene. “If the Golden Dragon Turtle had come out suddenly when the nine people of the Ying Family had already gone in! Hmph. At least a few of those nine people would have died. Especially that Ying Haojiang……It would have been be best if he were smacked into a pile of mud by the Golden Dragon Turtle!”

Each human expert had different thoughts.

“Gu Yong, you actually said nothing about the Golden Dragon Turtle. What plan do you have in mind?” the nine black-cloaked Law Enforcing Elders of the Ying Family roared furiously.

“We did not encounter the Golden Dragon Turtle last time. I guess there is only one demonic beast of the Emptiness Realm level in the palace. What a coincidence! It’s lucky you guys encountered it at the beginning. If you guys encountered it inside, you wouldn’t have been able to escape,” Gu Yong said with a faint smile.

In a loud voice, the long-eyebrowed old monk of the Mani Temple said, “Everyone, stop your bickering. The Golden Dragon Turtle is blocking the entrance now. How do we enter?”

“A dragon Ttrtle! And it has evolved into a golden-colored one. It is extremely strong and its shell is unbreakable. Even if it only stayed there and let us attack, we probably wouldn’t be able to hurt this Golden Dragon Turtle. Even if it was an Emptiness Realm Expert facing it, the Golden Dragon Turtle would still be a headache to take care of.”

“Why talk of things we all know? Who has a solution?”

The innate experts were slightly nervous.

After roaring twice, the Golden Dragon Turtle laid down its huge body before the entrance, closing its eyes. Occasionally, a green beam would shoot out from its eyes, sweeping past the human experts.

“Let me try.” a deep sound rang.

The crowd looked over and saw The King of Beasts Wu Hou with his hair let down, advancing towards the entrance. Teng Qingshan was slightly surprised, thinking to himself, “This Wu Hou is ranked first of the «Heavenly Ranking», but no matter how powerful, he is still only a Golden Dan Innate Expert. How could he fight against the Golden Dragon Turtle?”

However, Teng Qingshan also understood that the first of the «Heavenly Ranking» was probably very close to the level of Emptiness Realm Experts.

Even though the offensive power of the first of the «Earthly Ranking» and the last of the «Earthly Ranking» could both reach a strength of ten thousand Jin, the strike power of the top ten of the «Earthly Ranking» like “Thunder God Blade” Wu Yue would be a lot more powerful than the strike of “Blood Moon Saber” Meng Tian, who was ranked last of the «Earthly Ranking».

As for the offensive force of the first in the «Earthly Ranking», it was not such a big difference when compared to True Dan innate experts.

It was the same principle. Wu Hou was ranked first on the «Heavenly Ranking» and could fight against a few Golden Dan innate experts at the same time. At the same time, even though Wu Hou was not as strong as an Emptiness Realm Expert, he definitely could be compared with the experts who had just stepped into the Emptiness Realm.

……

Wu Hou stopped when he was seven to eight Zhang away from the entrance.

Roar~~ a soft roar sounded from within Wu Hou’s mouth.

The eyes of the Golden Dragon Turtle opened, and its greenish eyes stared at Wu Hou.

Roar~Rawr~~ Wu Hou roared softly again.

Roar~~ The Golden Dragon actually roared too.

Immediately, a human and a demonic beast began roaring to each other softly while the other fifty-nine innate experts stared with their mouths agape.

“Wow. The rumor is true! The King of Beasts can actually communicate with the demonic beasts,” the white-cloaked Liu Xiu shouted in shock.

Teng Qingshan was also shocked.

There really were many kinds of people in this world. Even someone who could communicate with demonic beasts! To humans, those roars would at most have slight differences in tones and lengths, but other than that, no one could tell them apart. However…….The King of Beasts Wu Hou was actually communicating with the Golden Dragon Turtle like this!

“Maybe there’s a chance we might get it.” The innate experts present all started feeling hopeful.

It was impossible to be forceful in front of a Golden Dragon Turtle, so tame methods would probably be more effective.

By the Heavenly Flood Palace under the lake, one inside and one outside, a man and a beast were just conversing, while the other fifty-nine experts who understood nothing of their words could only wait like idiots.

Roar~~ Wu Hou made a deep and soft roar.

The Golden Dragon Turtle actually stood up and sounded out a loud roar.

“What’s going on?” The other experts couldn’t understand, but something did not sound right.

The King of Beasts Wu Hou once again roared a few times.

This time the Golden Dragon did not roar, but——

“Boom!” A ball of air was shot out from its mouth and the King of Beasts Wu Hou’s right arm moved as the ball of air hit his right arm. Wu Hou was blasted ten Zhang away and fell right in the midst of the group of men.

“Brother Wu Hou, how did it go?”

Everyone looked at King of Beasts Wu Hou.

“Even if I didn’t tell you, you all should still be able to guess.” The King of Beasts Wu Hou shook his head and said helplessly, “It can’t be helped. I said so much, but this old dragon turtle just wouldn’t let us in! However, there’s good news…….This is the location of Emperor Yu’s Treasure and this old dragon turtle is guarding this place in accordance with Emperor Yu’s order.