Underground Altar

Between the coughs and fervent laughter of Gu Liang, the disciples of the two big sects were still rather composed.

Zhang Baichi glanced at Yu Hao and raised an eyebrow. "We won't need a sacrifice."

The others turned to him and followed his eyes to Yu Hao. The latter seemed confused at first but nodded his head in understanding. "It's because of their dragon blood that they can activate the altars? Then it really won't be a problem."

As someone who fused with a drop of True Dragon Blood, Yu Hao was keenly aware about the difference between his own and Gu Liang's bloodline. There was not the slightest hint of familiarity, which could only mean that Gu Liang's bloodline was infinitely inferior to his own.

Demonbeasts have a clear hierarchy within their ranks that is based on their bloodlines; Mythical bloodlines like those of phoenixes or dragons naturally stood at the peak among those bloodlines.

But those powerful bloodlines also had incredibly strict internal hierarchies; Those with inferior bloodlines could barely raise their heads in front of superior bloodlines, much less resist them.

While the Gu Clan might have the bloodline of some dragon, this bloodline was so weak and diluted, that Yu Hao could not even tell that Gu Liang had a draconic bloodline at all.

Yu Hao's words confused everyone except Zhang Baichi, including even Gu Liang. However, Yu Hao did not speak about the matter anymore, while Zhang Baichi smiled and changed the topic. "What can we expect to see after 'ascending'?"

Gu Liang turned to face him again and sneered. "Don't even think about ascending in the first place. You inferior humans can't do it. Even if you did, the Dragon God would disdain to ever meet you! You'd be lucky to not be killed in an instant for trespassing!"

"So, this Dragon God can be met after 'ascending'? That means he's at the top of the Dragon Peak, huh?", Zhang Baichi concluded, completely ignoring Gu Liang's insults.

Again, Gu Liang sneered. "So what? You think you qualify to meet the Dragon God? Quit dreaming! The only ones that can meet the Dragon God are us descendants from the Ancient Clans."

"Well, unfortunately for you, you will not be alive to meet him.", Zhang Baichi muttered. He once again placed his sword on Gu Liang's throat, much to the latter's dismay.

He stared at Zhang Baichi, desperately pleading. "Wait, wait! You promised you'd let me leave if I tell you everything! I did! I told you everything! You can't kill me!"

Zhang Baichi's face did not change, and he shook his head lightly. "I never promised you anything."

With a flick of his wrist, Gu Liang's throat was cut, and blood gushed out while Gu Liang could only look at Zhang Baichi with a gaze filled with disbelief and regret. He died, just like that.

"Besides, you were not qualified to negotiate with me. Not in the beginning, and not now.", he spoke coldly, cleaned his sword off the blood, and put it back into his inventory.

The remaining disciples looked at Gu Liang's corpse with indifference. None of them planned to leave Gu Liang alive to begin with.

Zhang Baichi had crippled his four limbs and destroyed his Dantian and meridians; He was already as good as dead!

Moreover, Gu Liang and the disciples of the Broad Wisdom Sect were their enemies to begin with. One more of them dying meant one less problem for their groups!

Zhang Baichi turned around and patted the dust off of his legs. He looked up at Lu Zheng and Xiao Xueling, first and foremost. "Let everyone know that we'll be departing tomorrow morning. When our Fleeting Storm Sword Sect entered the Mystic Realm, we were transported into an empty tunnel underground, so we already know where to find one of the altars."

Lu Zheng nodded, while Xiao Xueling seemed a bit concerned. "Are you sure it leads to one of those altars?"

"We started in the north-west, inside an underground tunnel. If what Gu Liang said is true, then that should be the way to the altar. Yun Ye and Yu Hao scouted the tunnel before, but there was nothing but twisting tunnels for hundreds of metres.", Zhang Baichi explained.

"I see…" Xiao Xueling nodded slowly and looked thoughtful. It was unknown what was going through her head again at this time.

The orders had already been given, so Zhang Baichi did not bother with her for long. If she had any questions, she should ask them upfront; If not he could only assume that she was fine with his arrangements.

For the rest of the day, Lu Zheng had the other disciples prepare themselves to depart the next day and made sure that everyone would get enough sleep to be in their best shape the next day.

None of them, including Zhang Baichi, had any real idea what to expect once they find the altar, much less what would happen once they 'ascended'.

Early in the morning, their camp was cleaned up and the once again departed toward the north-west under Zhang Baichi's and Lu Zheng's leadership.

With their knowledge and experience of traversing the forests, they reached the coast in just a few hours and found the cave the first arrived in after a quick search through the area.

The winding cave was dark and damp, but no one was perturbed by this.

A few hundred metres into the cave, they found the slightly more spacious cavern where the disciples of the Fleeting Storm Sword Sect had rested in the beginning, then followed Yun Ye's and YU Hao's lead deeper into the cavern.

As they had reported before, there was nothing but a single winding path for hundreds of metres to come, with no Demonbeasts, traps, or even branching paths or caverns in sight.

Without delay, they continued deeper and deeper into the tunnel, and walked for over two hours before Zhang Baichi frowned.

They had been walking in a straight line for the past half an hour or so. Zhang Baichi had made mental not to try and keep their direction in mind, and now it seemed that they were walking inland towards the Dragon Peak.

'We're really in our way to the Dragon Peak underground? Don't tell me that 'ascending' means jumping on an elevator? That would be too ridiculous.', Zhang Baichi thought, mainly to keep his mind occupied during this boring march.

Their surroundings did not change, nor was there anything to see or hear, and they could only ever follow the dark, damp path.

Another hour passed, and the group was continuously walking straight ahead. Everyone had grown silent and was just mindlessly following the path by now; it was truly numbingly boring.

"Huh? There's some light.", Yun Ye said from the front of the group, garnering everyone's attention. Everyone picked up their pace and they finally left the boring tunnels to step into a big, open cavern.

The whole spacious room was lit in a soft glow by shining stones embedded into the walls and ceiling. The floor was paved with smooth rock of various colours, arranged in a simple yet elegant design.

In the middle of the room was a platform, raised about a metre over the rest of the room, with a big stone altar on top.

Intricate symbols were engraved into the altar, which Zhang Baichi quickly recognized as the ancient language of dragons; He could not read it by any means, but the symbols were clearly the same as the ones engraved in the Dragon Peak's foot.

Zhang Baichi made the first step onto the raised platform, with everyone else following behind. The few leaders of their group quickly noticed two things: Three indentations on the top of the altar, and three matching, noticeable stone doors in the back of the room.

"There's really an altar here, huh.", Lu Zheng said, looking between the three doors and the three indentations. "Every indentation is matched to one door. So, only three people can 'ascend'?"

Zhang Baichi had the same idea, especially since a 'sacrifice' was meant to be made to 'ascend'. It would be weird if one sacrifice allowed multiple people to 'ascend'. "Seems like it."

He was certain that Yu Hao could open the doors with his blood since Gu Liang could allegedly do the same. The only question was how much blood was needed.

'Each of those indents looks like it'll hold about one to two litres. If it needs that much blood, we can't let Yu Hao do it by himself.', Zhang Baichi thought.

Yu Hao seemed to have the same thought and looked at Zhang Baichi. "Should I give it a try?"

The connection was easy to make, and everyone understood that each indentation was linked to one door, but Lu Zheng, Yun Ye and Xiao Xueling frowned at Yu Hao's question.

While Yun Ye and Lu Zheng did not understand what Yu Hao meant, Xiao Xueling seemed to have another problem. She stepped in front of Yu Hao and turned to Zhang Baichi. "Shouldn't we decide who will get these opportunities first?"