It could only be a connate-grade spirit root, or a treasure similar to such a spirit root. Only a living treasure like a connate spirit root, or something like it, would entice the absolute powerhouses deep in the depths of the tomb to forfeit such a connate treasure as the Cosmic Sea.

The North Sea was the most heavily damaged of the four seas, as this had been the last zone of survival for the ancient dragons. Toward the end of the great immortal war, the dragons of the East, West, and South Seas had all fallen. Their survivors had fled to the North Sea, where they’d bitterly clung on with everything they had.

The North Sea was the guardian of the final draconic remnants, but its defenses were broken in the final battle, leaving the North Sea in tatters.

However, though this ocean was broken and marred, all kinds of supreme treasures bounded in its depths. There was the connate spirit root Moon Osmanthus in the Dragon Palace treasury, and another similar treasure in the skydragon tomb.

Back in the ancient times, dragons were viewed as the foremost fat cats in the world of immortals, and the North Sea was where they’d concentrated all of their final wealth. Thus, endless experts from all over the world had streamed to the marine faction when the skydragon tomb opened.

……

Situ Zong gradually regained consciousness after taking the antidote, and though he didn’t know what had just happened, he didn’t ask. He continued carrying his disciple with one hand and shouldering the cannon with the other, aping every single one of Lu Yun’s footsteps and following closely behind the pair.

The passages far inside the tomb were dusky and narrow, unlike the hallways of a tomb. They were in fact the tunnels of a dragon nest, and everything had been built according to the needs of dragons.

When they’d resided in this nest, they hadn’t taken on human form. All of them remained in dragon form, so the heart of the tomb wasn’t suitable for human exploration.

“Situ, turn into a dragon,” Lu Yun suddenly said. “Someone else is going to take the treasure if we don’t hurry!”

Without waiting for a response, he took out a Shapeshifting Talisman and stuck it to Situ Zong.

Shortly thereafter, a long dragon howl emitted from the immortal’s mouth. His body elongated, transformed, and elongated again. At the end, an enormous, azure dragon roughly three hundred meters long stood before Lu Yun.

“This….” Situ Zong’s mouth dropped in shock. He really was a dragon!

And it wasn’t an illusion; he was a bonafide dragon, inside and out! A dragon’s bones, blood, flesh… even his immortal energy was now draconic strength! 

More importantly, he realized that communicating with the Pelagic Orb was smoother than before!

In the ancient times, this orb had been a treasure of the skydragons. Being refined from a dragon and with Situ Zong’s true form being a water dragon, he immediately received the approval of the Pelagic Orb, thereby deepening their bond.

“It’s just a combat art talisman, there’s no need to make a big deal out of it,” explained Lu Yun when he saw Situ Zong’s expression. “My cultivation isn’t high enough yet, so the talisman will be effective for only four hours. You’ll revert to a human body then, so we need to get going, now!”

He grabbed the prone Situ Yun on the ground and hopped onto the back of the water dragon with Qing Han. Situ Zong reached out with two foreclaws and clenched them around the cannon before hurtling forward with a twist of his body.

Indeed, his speed as a dragon was five times higher than what it’d been when he was a human. There was a strange power within the dragon nest that kept a constant pressure on the immortals within. But now that he was in dragon form, this intangible suppression had completely disappeared.

Situ Zong quickly vanished into the void.

“Young lord!” his hoarse voice suddenly rang out. “There’s a power attacking me and trying to turn me into a zombie!”

“What!?” Lu Yun’s expression shifted drastically. “Stop!”

Situ Zong churned to a stop, revealing that half of his large body was already rotten and giving time for the putrid scent of decaying flesh to catch up to them.

Lu Yun and Qing Han were horrified, while the recently-awakened Situ Yun was likewise also terrified.

With a wave of his hand, Lu Yun deactivated the Shapeshifting Talisman and reverted Situ Zong to human form. A hazy air current disengaged from his body, nullifying his half-zombie state.

Seething, Lu Yun finally noticed at this time that Aoxue and the Scaled-Dragon King had been grievously injured a while ago and were trapped somewhere in the tomb. If it weren’t for Xue Daozi and Beigong Yu throwing everything they had to protect the injured pair, Aoxue and the Scaled-Dragon King would’ve died a long time ago.

Aoxue was a blood 

dragon

, which meant that she was unable to resist this terrifying curse. There was no exception made for her being Lu Yun’s envoy. Meanwhile, there was a complete draconic bloodline within the Scaled-Dragon King, which created similar openings for the curse.

This North Sea skydragon tomb… is such a vicious setup! It means to lure all of the draconic experts in the world here and wipe them out! 

Lu Yun’s heart quailed.

The opening of the skydragon tomb was no coincidence!

He brought Aoxue and the others back into hell with a quick shift of his thoughts. 

The last hopes of the dragon race that the dragon empress was safeguarding… are probably…

The dragon empress had fallen, leaving only a strand of obsession powering the silver eyes to protect the remaining children of her race deep within the dragon nest. But now it seemed that those she looked after… were more likely already dead than not.

“It’s that curse! If teacher and the dragon empress can suppress that curse together, then there might still be a chance left!” Qing Han hurriedly postulated. 

“What’s dead is dead. They can’t be brought back to life even if the curse vanishes.” Lu Yun shook his head and petted the baby dragon snoring on his shoulder. “It… is probably the last living dragon here.”

This baby dragon likely possessed an extraordinary identity for it to be able to resist the tomb’s curse.

“Mmhmm.” Qing Han nodded. “So this means that none of the draconic experts that travel here this time will make it out alive.”

“Let’s go.” Lu Yun waved a hand.

Heart still in his throat, Situ Zong kept patting himself all over and double checking his condition. Finally assured that all was well, he heaved a small sigh of relief.

Before long, the area in front of the group opened up and an enormous ocean of fire and layers of heat waves crashed into view. An enormous tree of flames towered in front of them with several tall and stocky figures engaging in mighty combat beneath its branches, plainly fighting over it.

“Fusang Purewood… no, wait, this isn’t it. This is the ultimate treasure of the phoenixes, the divine Fire Parasol Tree! It’s not a spirit root, but half spirit root, half divine weapon!” Lu Yun instantly recognized it from Huangqing’s memories.

The Fire Parasol Tree!

Legend had it that the ancestor of the phoenixes, the Nine-Headed Divine Phoenix himself, had been born on this tree.

“But shouldn’t this be in the depths of a phoenix nest? What’s it doing in a dragon nest??” Lu Yun’s mind grappled with these new ramifications and failed to do so.

Whirr!!

A large formation abruptly lit up and trapped them all within. There were some other immortals already inside, and even an arcane dao immortal.

“The Blithe Entrapment Formation!” shrieked Situ Zong. “This is a formation of the Witherdew court!”

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