Chapter 614: Discovery of an Underground Palace
The theft had indeed greatly angered the draconic lizard. For a long time after, the draconic lizard had ripped any human apart who so much as stepped into his territory. In fact, peace only returned after an academy overseer personally put down the draconic lizard.
Although the Dragon Phoenix Mountain Range was the demons' territory, the fact that the Dragon Phoenix Academy could be built here meant that they had the strength to contend against the demons. The draconic lizard's act of wantonly slaughtering humans was naturally not something the academy would put up with. Of course, this all happened in the future.
Xiang Shaoyun had quickly rejoined Tang Longfei and company after stealing from the draconic lizard. After fleeing far away from the draconic lizard's territory, Xiang Shaoyun took out the dragon liquid he found and gave each of the people present five drops in addition to five drops of the emperor-grade healing spring liquid. They were all filled with excitement after receiving their share.
"Young Master Xiang, a-aren't these too much? We haven't contributed anything!" Shou Xie said, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
"Just take it. Since you guys have the guts to come, at least the effort counts," said Xiang Shaoyun nonchalantly.
He had reaped a great harvest this time. Disregarding the pool of emperor-grade liquid, he had also harvested over 100 drops of dragon liquid. He had only shared about one third of his harvest and still kept the majority for himself. Although he was the only one who had worked for the harvest, he did not keep everything for himself. His generosity was evident.
Shou Xie, Jin Shui, and Ling Lin were filled with admiration. If they were in a similar situation, they wouldn't have been so generous.
"Haha, it has always been profitable following Shaoyun," said Tang Longfei with a hearty laugh.
Ning Wenhuang was also filled with gratitude. "I, Ning Wenhuang, will definitely help without hesitation if you need anything from me in the future, Young Master Xiang."
The dragon liquid was incomparably precious. Each drop would benefit their cultivation greatly. One could say that with this harvest alone, they could complete the mission on a perfect note. Just one drop of dragon liquid was worth 200,000 contribution points, which they could do a lot with. One could say that getting the dragon liquid had benefited them in multiple aspects.
Xiang Shaoyun shrugged indifferently. "We are all friends. There is no need to be too polite."
They did not end their search after the big harvest. It hadn't even been a month since they had left the academy, so they had plenty of time. During the coming time, Xiang Shaoyun relied on his senses and the treasure seeking mouse to locate two more places with dragon liquid.
Both places did not have much dragon liquid, but they had instead obtained some king and emperor medicines, so their harvest was still decent. Of course, they had also gotten into many difficult fights. Fortunately, they had Xiang Shaoyun to keep them safe. Just as they were about to end their search, the treasure seeking mouse discovered something astonishing.
"Young Master Xiang, the treasure seeking mouse has discovered an underground palace!" Shou Xie informed Xiang Shaoyun of the news.
Everyone was shocked.
Xiang Shaoyun's eyes lit up as he asked, "Where?"
"Right within the valley ahead of us, but it's filled with poisonous miasma and other powerful poisonous life forms. Moreover, some of our fellow academy members are nearby. Looks like they have discovered something as well," said Shou Xie. "A powerful formation surrounds the underground palace, one that massively pressured the treasure seeking mouse from a distance and forced it to give up on advancing and return to us."
Generally, the treasure seeking mouse was allowed to roam free instead of being kept around them. It would usually return to Shou Xie so long as it discovered something. It was the same this time.
"Let's go check it out," decided Xiang Shaoyun without any hesitation.
Inwardly, he mused, The divine site can't be here, right?
He had the urge to take a look at the map he was given, but he restrained himself from doing so since he still couldn't verify if the underground palace was in fact the divine site. And thus, the group advanced under the treasure seeking mouse's lead. After about an hour, they arrived near a valley surrounded by poisonous miasma. They stopped, not daring to go any deeper.
The poisonous miasma was rather powerful, and the vegetation in the area was all withered and dead. A rotten smell hung in the air, and some poisonous life forms were hidden within the miasma. If the groups somehow survived the miasma, the life forms would bite them to death. In fact, the ground just ahead of them was stained in blood. Evidently, someone had left the bloodstains not too long ago.
"What a powerful poison. With our strength, entering will only mean death," said Tang Longfei with a sigh.
"That's right. We can say that this is a place protected naturally. Not even a powerful Soul Foundation Realm expert would dare to delve too deeply. Who knows if there are any more powerful poisonous life forms inside," said Shou Xie.
Xiang Shaoyun remained silent as he scanned the situation within the miasma with his Nether Soul Domain. The further he extended his senses, the more dangerous the poisonous miasma felt. He also discovered a group of about a dozen people struggling to rush out not far ahead of them. Gradually, he got a clear look at the group. Di Lin and Di Shang were actually part of the group.
The moment they rushed out of the miasma, they dashed toward a different direction. A group of dreadful poisonous beasts was chasing after them, constantly spurting poison from their mouths. With a single touch from the poison, those who weren't fast enough would be helplessly reduced into a pile of blood.
During the moment of crisis, Di Lin tossed out a peak Emperor puppet to block the poisonous beasts. Only then did they manage to flee safely. Xiang Shaoyun had the urge to chase after them and strike them while they were down, but he decided against it after some hesitation.
He had a feeling the group was being protected by a very powerful person. He did not dare to act rashly. If there really was a hidden expert somewhere, he would be the one to fall into danger instead.
A gentleman can always afford to wait before taking his revenge. It won't be long before I harvest all your heads, thought Xiang Shaoyun to himself.
He then said to the others, "Let's leave. This place is filled with poison. Even if there is an underground palace here, it is not a place we can explore."
The others agreed.
Xiang Shaoyun warned, "Also, make sure none of you speak about this, or we might invite great trouble upon ourselves."
They naturally understood what he meant. News of this would move even the upper echelons of the academy. When that happened, they would attract everyone's attention, and they might even be forced to explore the poison miasma so as to prove their words. Since a different group had also found the valley, it was better to let the other group spread the news. As for what would happen after that, there was no way of guessing.