The eyes were a dark yellow with a vertical black pupil in the center. It looked like the eyes of a reptile.
“We meet again.” Completely unflappable, Lu Yun nodded at the eyes.
“Ss sss SSS!” Piercing rasps traveled into his ears. Lu Yun nodded again and tossed something into the water—the vivd green thunder bead of poison that he’d collected with Thunder Palmstrike.
It left the confines of the Thousand Obliteration Formation of the Six Royals and sank into an unknown space.
The creature’s mouth.
“Any words of advice since I’m headed for the center of the tomb?” Lu Yun asked.
“SSss ssssss ss.” After a few more rasps, the yellow eyes gradually faded away.
“What did it say?” asked a startled Fish King.
“It wants us to not go.” Lu Yun frowned. The pair of eyes belonged to the entity that’d released boundless water energy from the lake to counteract the horrifying poison when the poison formation appeared.
As opposed to a life form, it was the manifestation of a certain rule. In a place as wondrous as the Hongmeng, even rules possessed intelligence when they took physical form.
Qing Ting and Azureclad waved and gestured wildly, wanting to communicate something. They could say nothing at all in this environment or even transmit mentally.
Lu Yun wasn’t expecting much out of them either. They were just the keys to the door; he’d send them out of here to safety once they opened a passage through the tomb’s seal.
But upon the seal’s opening, brother and sister would also absorb the power of the azure dragon that was contained within. That would confer incredible benefits to the duo, which was the primary reason why Lu Yun had brought them along, as opposed to just taking their heart’s blood.
“It’s witnessed your strength, but it still doesn’t want you to press on,” the Fish King said worriedly.
“It wouldn’t come here to demand the poison thunder bead if it had a chance to witness my true strength.” Lu Yun didn’t mind at all. He sent the bridge of light further into the depths with a wave of his hand.
The lake was so unfathomably deep that he had no idea how long they’d dived for. They’d yet to reach the bottom of the lake after an indeterminable period of time.
The farther down they went, the more violent the order of opposition became and the more berserk the power of destruction it projected was. The Fish King slowly fell silent as well; she could only join Qing Ting and Azureclad in staring silently around them.
“There’s life here?” Lu Yun suddenly asked softly.
The Fish King’s eyes went wide with surprise. She gaped incredulously at Lu Yun—not because there was life in the lake—but because he could still talk.
“There really is life here. Though it’s extremely weak… they’re all born of destruction. If there comes a day when the lake dries up…” Lu Yun shuddered with dread.
The Azure Dragon Lake was essentially a massive petri dish that nurtured seemingly fragile, yet very frightful creatures. Those creatures were in paradise while the lake still existed, so they wouldn’t leave their home and were wholly disinterested in the outside world.
But if this petri dish vanished one day, forcing them to set foot in the outside world… That would be a terrifying disaster for not only for Azure Dragon Region, but also the Hongmeng as a whole.
Creatures born of destruction adored the presence of destruction. They would turn whatever environment they were in into their preferred habitat.
The Fish King stared intently at Lu Yun, but couldn’t make a sound no matter how hard she tried. She had to settle for listening to Lu Yun murmur to himself.
“But this lake is a massive tomb that’s connected to the Hongmeng, so it’s not likely that anyone can destroy the lake. I suppose they could evaporate all of the water in it, but these waters are the order of opposition created by the clash of water and fire virtue. It’s not likely that someone with the ability to do so will actually do something like this.” In the absence of feedback from the others, Lu Yun carried on a conversation with himself and analyzed the situation.
Azureclad opened his mouth wide, but couldn’t force out even a peep.
“Are you trying to say that maybe someone created what we’re seeing?” Lu Yun guessed what the duke wanted to say.
Azureclad rapidly bobbed his head up and down.
“That’s possible too…” Lu Yun stroked his chin. “But someone with the ability to set up this kind of plan can use ten thousand other methods to destroy the Hongmeng, or just kill everything within it to turn this realm into one of destruction. There’s no need to go to the thankless task of creating so much extra work for themselves.”
The Fish King still stared at Lu Yun, her face flushing beet red from emotion.
After an immeasurable period of time, the five finally arrived at the bottom of the Azure Dragon Lake. As opposed to mud, sand, or rocks at the bottom, it was a patch of fiery sea. Fearsome power of fire virtue continuously shot upward, defying the power of water virtue above it.
Fire and water virtue were examples of force that life forms derived from connate energy. They were latter day forces that developed from connate sources and incorporated sufficient fortune of the land that one could establish a divine dynasty with it.
The ten divine nations of the Hongmeng all possessed this type of strength. Water, fire, metal, wood, and earth virtue were both the five elements and sources for the four origins.
After prolonged assessment of the clash between water and fire virtue in the lake, Lu Yun almost felt that this was a battle between one of the water divine nations and one of the fire divine nations.
In fact, the one buried within the tomb was possibly a peak powerhouse of one of the fire divine nations. Perhaps one who hailed from the divine nation of Fire, or one of Ignis. As for whether or not the tomb owner was completely dead, Lu Yun couldn’t determine that with his current level of skill as he couldn’t pierce through the order of opposition here.
“Can it be that the azure dragon set up this tomb? He does possess the power of water virtue and he’s the one behind the seal at the bottom of the lake.” Lu Yun and the others landed gently on the bottom, avoiding the overwhelming sea of fire virtue.
There was a faint curtain of azure light demarcating a line between the two powers and preventing a direct clash; it also restricted those who entered the lake from accessing the inner tomb.
Since the entire lake was a tomb, entering the lake meant entering the tomb. However, there was an outer and inner tomb. The waters were the outer tomb. There was nothing to be found there apart from the order of opposition and power of destruction.
The inner tomb was where fire virtue dwelled—that was the true heart of the tomb and it was far more dangerous than the outside world.
Lu Yun wouldn’t have attempted this trip if he didn’t have the Thousand Obliteration Formation of the Six Royals. Just the destructive force alone would’ve crushed them all to meat patties. Not even the Fish King possessed the ability to withstand the destructive power within the depths.
Would the Fish King become… a fish patty? Filet O’Fish anyone?
I’ll see myself out.
