Chapter 131: Dragon Scale Pattern

Black iron chains spanned the sky, a towering hall forged from tens of millions of catties of green copper, blood‑red albatrosses wheeled in the heavens, amidst churning dark clouds, as if nurturing a bluish‑purple thunder slurry.

The sight before him left Yunhe quite shocked.

A palace!

The palace of the monster realm!

Although when a monster's cultivation base is high enough, passing the heavenly tribulation of transformation can let them take on a human form, that is still far away for Yunhe.

Although he knew this secret realm was left by a certain monster expert, the palace's grand appearance still made his heart tremble with awe.

And lying before the black‑jade‑like steps was a poisonous flood dragon, which pulled him back from that shock.

It must be said, the spiritual intelligence of a third‑tier beast is still quite high.

After the poisonous flood dragon could not sense the location of the soft jade red gourd, it came straight to the deepest part of the secret realm and waited here for Yunhe to come to it.

It seemed quite clear that outsider monsters like Yunhe ultimately aim for this place.

But this put Yunhe in a bit of a bind.

'Guarding the entrance without entering—is it because he thinks it unnecessary, because he can't enter, or because he dares not?'

It is not that he couldn't simply stare down the poisonous flood dragon's blockade and charge in.

But this would require considering some problems.

If after entering the poisonous flood dragon caught up and triggered some bad restriction inside the hall, it would be troublesome.

Or if the poisonous flood dragon dared not enter, that would mean there is an even stronger presence inside the hall, and recklessly charging in would be like running from a wolf pack into a tiger's den.

Undoubtedly the best case is that the poisonous flood dragon cannot enter, simply because this hall is accessible only to outsider monsters like Yunhe, while native monsters such as the poisonous flood dragon cannot.

Such a probability is not nonexistent.

But gambling on probability is obviously not Yunhe's style.

After a brief moment of thought.

He then had a plan.

He slowly retreated to the 'Blazing Thunder Prairie'.

He carefully took out three freshly refined 'Fostering Pills' from his storage bag.

Two of them are perfect pills; if he didn't wrap them in monster power, their medicinal aroma would be extremely strong.

One is an inferior pill; although its efficacy exists and is not weak, it is still considerably inferior to the perfect pills.

Then he took out a spirit talisman, wrapped it in monster power, inscribed a spell seal, and buried the inferior pill in a certain spot.

Immediately afterward he ran to a completely opposite location, following the same method, and buried the remaining two perfect pills in far‑separate places.

After doing this, he once again concealed his aura and came to the outside of the hall, trying as much as possible not to draw the poisonous flood dragon's attention.

When he had carefully approached as close as possible, Yunhe narrowed his eyes and activated the spell seal.

Boom!!

On the distant 'Blazing Thunder Prairie' a dull, unremarkable sound rang out, identical to the noise made by falling thunder.

'Roar?'

But the poisonous flood dragon, which had been lying still, suddenly raised its body, lifted its head, and stared intently toward the direction the sound came from.

Its nostrils twitched slightly; it sensed a scent that made its saliva secrete rapidly and stirred its inner monster power.

Under Yunhe's silent gaze, the poisonous flood dragon hesitated for a while.

In the end it could not suppress its instinctual desire.

With a 'whoosh' it leapt out.

If it had smelled a second‑tier beast or something else, it might not have felt such strong attraction, for a mere second‑tier beast—even if it hadn't eaten a hundred, it had surely eaten at least ninety—compared to that, the resentment over the stolen soft jade red gourd was greater.

But what lay there was a 'Fostering Pill' that holds tremendous benefit and allure for monsters; even as an inferior pill, it is absolutely something this early‑stage third‑tier poisonous flood dragon has never eaten.

'The Fostering Pill plus the qi‑guiding talisman works well.'

Watching the poisonous flood dragon rush out, Yunhe dared not waste time and immediately sprinted toward the hall's entrance at top speed.

He had originally worried the inferior pill wouldn't attract the poisonous flood dragon, so he prepared an extra one, but now it seems.

A boar cannot refuse chaff.

As for why he buried three,

because the inferior pill was a trial, one was a backup, and another—he wasn't going to stay inside the hall forever.

Taking advantage of the poisonous flood dragon's attention being drawn by the 'Fostering Pill', he flashed his body and charged into the hall poured with green copper.

Hum—

As if passing through a special barrier.

After his vision swam for a moment.

What lay before his eyes was a sheet of darkness.

He could see not a single glimmer of light.

Even his own claws were invisible, as if he had fallen into a vat completely soaked in black ink.

Moreover, this place was extremely quiet; even when he lightly rubbed his claws against his scales, no sound was made.

Or rather, any sound was cancelled before it could be produced.

A nameless panic welled up from his heart.

What frightened him most was not the sudden appearance of monsters and ghosts, but the unknown.

Unknown dangers, unknown enemies, unknown situations and the like were rapidly magnified in this dark, desolate emptiness.

He almost instinctively patted his storage bag and took out a glowing stone.

But not only sound—light seemed to be absorbed by this place; the stone that could normally glow now felt like an ordinary rock in his hand.

Yunhe opened his mouth, yet still could not make a sound.

Some, it seems only the heartbeat near the ear grows ever more pronounced and rapid.

Thud—thud—thud—

After a while.

Yunhe took a deep breath.

His tense body and face gradually relaxed, and he simply lay down.

'Interesting.'

He seemed to gradually understand what this hall and this darkness intended to do.

'Alright, then I'll wait.'

If it were another demon beast, suddenly entering a place without sound or light, perhaps it could stay calm at first, but the longer it lasted, the more likely it would become irritable, timid, fearful, and a series of negative emotions would follow.

But as for Yunhe, not to mention his strong demon sense, firm will, and ability to endure loneliness.

At worst, he would shift his focus, putting more energy into his cultivator body, after all he still had many things to do.

He originally thought that being trapped in this dark prison would at most take three or five days.

Who would have thought that this wait would actually be three months!

Three months, unaware of time passing or his own changes—if it were another demon beast, it might truly go mad.

If it weren't for the cultivator body distracting him, Yunhe couldn't be sure he could endure.

Moreover, he later discovered that his demon beast body could neither sleep nor enter meditation or a trance; his consciousness and mind remained fully clear and active.

It was practically a forced attempt to drive a demon beast mad.

Hum—

After three months passed.

His vision suddenly returned; the sudden flash of light caused him little discomfort.

Afterward he realized he was standing at the entrance of a towering hall.

The broken ground showed that it had once been paved with stone tiles; the fractured gray-white stone pillars were carved with a lifelike demon beast, and above them, the original dome bore a mottled mural.

Directly ahead was an ancient door, its carved patterns somewhat blurred.

Moreover, piles of bones lay heaped like mountains in the hall's corners.

No matter how you look at it, this place is a picture of utter dilapidation.

But what most caught Yunhe's attention was undoubtedly the figure that had appeared before him at some point.

A black giant turtle with a rugged shell and dense scales.

It was virtually identical to him!

However, the black giant turtle opposite him, though its aura, body, and even cultivation technique were the same as his, had eye sockets of black and white.

'A trial?'

He had formed this guess earlier when everything was pitch black and no danger appeared, and upon seeing this demon beast identical to himself, he confirmed it.

Immediately his expression turned somewhat strange.

Because if the two stages were truly set up this way, a demon beast hoping to pass might be one in a million, but at least the difficulty is still high.

One must overcome both the inner self and the outer self.

But when it came to him, it felt like

'Like cheating.'

To beat himself would be hard, assuming that the 'copy' had a storage bag like him and could flexibly use various talismans, spiritual artifacts, and elixirs.

That, of course, is impossible.

The demon clan expert who left this secret realm trial probably never imagined that a second‑tier demon beast could possess so many items used by human cultivators.

'Roar—'

The black giant turtle opposite suddenly roared and charged at Yunhe.

Yunhe let out a light sigh and patted his storage bag.

Since he was 'cheating,' not exploiting his advantage to the fullest would be foolish.

A banner fluttered wildly, moving without wind.

Bang!!

The black giant turtle shattered into powder under the heavy blow of a turtle claw.

Yunhe's chest heaved violently, and the scales on his body were broken in many places.

In his eyes, besides enlightenment, there was added resolve.

He indeed hadn't expected that what he thought would be a simple process would turn out far more difficult than he imagined.

Even with the aid of some spiritual artifacts, he paid a great price before finally defeating 'himself'.

'Turns out I'm this strong.'

To be honest, he himself hadn't imagined that even without spiritual artifacts, talismans, or elixirs, he could unleash such power.

Many of the things the phantom could do—or rather, the combat techniques, methods, and ways it used—were things he had never previously considered.

'This is a self‑examination, but I must also admit that I learned a great deal from 'myself.''

It also gave him a deeper understanding and awareness of his own strength and the cultivation method he practices.

'I have to say, I am indeed somewhat hindered by the existence of my cultivator body; even when I sometimes realize this issue, my subconscious still feels its influence.'

The fighting style of demon beasts, especially those with strong bodies and deep demonic power, treats the self as a weapon; fully unleashing it is actually not inferior to some spiritual artifacts or talismans.

'Spiritual artifacts and talismans are certainly not useless; they just made me overlook my own strength a little.'

This is Yunhe's gain.

Moreover, it is a substantial gain, greater than the benefits brought by some external objects.

Boom—

Just as he was examining himself, the hall's door slowly moved.

"This is."

Yunhe's demon sense swept.

Suddenly he noticed that on the slowly moving hall door, something seemed somewhat out of place.

He stepped forward and lightly knocked.

Immediately, a palm-sized, four-cornered, half-fan-shaped scale fell into his claw.

". Dragon Scale?"

Although the scale had lost all aura, his intuition told him it was indeed a dragon scale.

"Wait."

Suddenly, as if he had made a discovery, Yunhe flipped the translucent scale over.

He saw that on its back were etched some strange patterns, resembling writing yet not quite writing, different from all the demon tribe script he had seen before.

Slowly, Yunhe's eyes widened, and a bold idea suddenly sprang to mind.

"Spirit talisman? Dragon scale pattern?"

These lines, these brushstrokes, share some similarities with spirit talismans in many places, but undoubtedly they are far more profound than any spirit talisman runes he has drawn before.

Just by calming his mind and pondering a little, he felt his mental energy drain quickly.

But deep down, he felt this rune was very profound.

As for the "Dragon Scale Pattern", it is a legend passed among cultivators who study the dao of runes in the cultivation world.

It is said that the "Dragon Scale Pattern" contains wondrous power; it is a spirit pattern formed when a great being of the True Dragon clan inscribes a thread of the Heaven and Earth Great Dao onto its own scale, and it is one of the important inheritances of the dragon clan, as well as one of the wondrous spirit patterns sought by many rune cultivators.

But there is something more important now.

He gathered his scales, decided to end this secret realm trip, and would ponder it slowly when he had free time.

At this moment the slowly moving stone door finally opened.

What hit him in the face was a great cloud of dust.

Along with a refreshing fragrance that penetrated the heart and spleen.

"Is this the Demon-washing Pool?"

Gazing at the pool ten zhang wide and twenty zhang long, and the half-pool of crimson liquid within, Yunhe felt his temples throbbing thump-thump-thump.

His heart, demon core, and the blood in his body all seemed to become exceptionally active at that moment, even to the point of being exhilarated.

Suddenly.

Yunhe suddenly understood where the blood went after demon beasts died outside the island and inside the secret realm.

But the liquid in the pool that looked like blood had no trace of a bloody smell; instead it seemed somewhat like an elixir, exuding a fresh fragrance.

"Go straight in?"

He recalled the description of the "Demon-washing Pool" on the stone tablet on the island.

He slowly walked toward the pool.

Though the pool appeared shallow, when he reached the center the water came exactly up to his carapace.

He felt no discomfort, just as if he were in lake water, only cooler; threadlike coolness seemed to seep through his carapace, scale armor, and skin, drilling into every part of his body.

"Quite comfortable."

Yunhe let out a comfortable groan; the fatigue from his earlier battle with the illusion vanished completely.

Just as he was about to lie down to rest,

Thud thud!!

His heart pounded violently.

The demon core in his Qi Sea dantian also began to spin rapidly.

A piercing pain surged into his consciousness almost instantly, nearly making him faint outright.

For a moment,

He couldn't tell whether the pool's liquid was trying to burrow into his body, or his own blood was eager to escape.

"Roar——!!"

Yunhe could not bear it and let out a long skyward howl.

Rolling like waves, bursts like thunder!

————

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(End of chapter)