The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu

Chapter 98: The Sleeping Palace

After the two left, they walked directly toward the location of the sleeping palace within the tomb.

The path they now walked was no longer a muddy cave, but a tomb passage paved with bluestone. The passage was square, flat, and made a tapping sound as they walked on it.

From time to time, a burial chamber would appear on either side of the tomb passage. Some doors were open, some closed, and most of the chambers had already been looted.

Due to time constraints, the two did not enter any of the other burial chambers but headed directly to the deepest part of the tomb—the sleeping palace.

The tomb passage leading to the sleeping palace was complex, with crossroads appearing every now and then. Without a map, he might have gotten lost.

In this world, many powers possess the ability to move mountains and fill seas, so constructing a massive ancient tomb wasn't difficult for them. Tombs in this world were generally far larger than those in his previous life.

As he had anticipated, the various mechanisms within the tomb appeared clearly in his eyes, revealing their progress. He could see the location of every trap.

However, it was of no use. The tomb had been robbed multiple times, and most of the mechanisms had already been dismantled, rendering his awareness of them unnecessary.

The two thus arrived safely at the location of the sleeping palace.

Information about the sleeping palace was scarce among any tribe. They only knew it was dangerous, but no one knew the specifics, as everyone who had entered had died without exception.

This included two Gu Kings.

The two were not the type to risk their lives for treasure.

Long Xuan simply wanted to see if his golden finger could break through the dangers of the sleeping palace. He only intended to observe from afar and had no plans to enter.

Long Ziyan’s purpose might be to study history, or she might have another reason. Perhaps she also harbored the idea of picking up leftovers like him, but she clearly had no intention of entering either.

The two stood in the bluestone tomb passage leading to the sleeping palace, observing the situation from afar.

Each had an eye at the center of their foreheads—whether it was Long Xuan’s Eye of Heavenly secret or Long Ziyan’s Evil Dragon Emperor’s Eye—both had long-range vision, allowing them to see the sleeping palace clearly even from a distance.

The sleeping palace was vast, with ten statues of Golden Crows positioned in various directions within it. The statues were lifelike, as if they might come to life at any moment.

The floor was paved with white stones that reflected light, seemingly made of extraordinary materials with considerable hardness.

Numerous oil lamps that had been burning for an unknown length of time hung on the walls, making the entire sleeping palace seem both dim and bright.

Surprisingly, the walls were not decorated with murals but with a complete text of the "Sun and Moon Heart Sutra," though it lacked the accompanying spiritual techniques.

This was strange, as if the tomb’s owner wanted to openly display the "Sun and Moon Heart Sutra" for everyone to see.

Not only did the sleeping palace contain the "Sun and Moon Heart Sutra," but many burial chambers also showed traces of it—Li Laodao even found a paper version.

Was she intentionally trying to spread her cultivation technique? Did she want more people to learn it?

She was already dead, so why did she do this? Was she trying to find someone who could fix the flaws in her technique? Long Xuan couldn’t help but entertain this baseless thought.

He temporarily set aside this strange notion and focused his gaze on the crystal coffin in the center of the sleeping palace. The coffin was made of some kind of crystal stone, semi-transparent, making it easy to see what was inside.

Long Xuan’s curiosity was piqued, and he wanted to see what the legendary Yaoguang Empress looked like, so he directed his gaze into the coffin.

The Yaoguang Empress was dressed in a golden robe embroidered with many Golden Crows. She wore numerous glowing jewels and ornaments on her fingers and neck, clearly all priceless treasures, making him envious.

He hurriedly looked at the empress’s face but was disappointed to find a strikingly beautiful flower growing inside the coffin, its stem wrapped around the empress’s body, with its leaves conveniently covering her peerless face.

This strange flower was eerie. Though it was full of energy, it didn’t contain spiritual power, and his X-ray vision couldn’t penetrate the thin leaves, astonishing him.

The only part of the empress he could see was her bright red lips, but just by looking at them, he could tell she must have been breathtakingly beautiful, her appearance capable of toppling kingdoms.

Suddenly, he frowned, realizing that he couldn’t see the empress’s progress. Even though she was dead, there should have been some indication of progress, right?

After all, her body hadn’t decayed due to special reasons and remained youthful. Even if the body had decayed, it should have shown decay progress.

His frown deepened as he looked at the ground to compare with the corpses.

Many people had entered the sleeping palace, and many corpses lay on the ground.

There were even a few fresh corpses with undried bloodstains, clearly having died recently. Some people were truly fearless, entering even after the Gu Kings had perished.

Looking closely, he was shocked to see that two of the fresh corpses were very familiar to him—they were none other than the ancestors of the Feng and Gu clans.

Judging by their injuries, it appeared they had killed each other in a struggle over treasure, resulting in mutual destruction.

He searched the ground carefully but found no storage bags belonging to the two, which puzzled him.

He didn’t believe anyone could have left the sleeping palace alive.

So there was only one possible explanation.

The two Gu Kings’ clones must have entered the tomb to claim the burial treasure of the sleeping palace.

These clones, only at the Spirit Gathering Stage, were disposable. Even if they died, it wouldn’t be a significant loss. If they somehow managed to bring out the burial treasure, they would have hit the jackpot.

The two ancestors’ mindset was to send clones into the tomb at minimal cost for a high-stakes gamble. As for the Spirit Surge Grass, it was merely a bonus, not worth deploying clones for.

They knew their chances of survival were slim, so they naturally handed all their Spirit Surge Grass and some valuable items to the family’s Gu cultivators to take out. That explained why they had so few valuables on them.

Long Xuan couldn’t help but marvel at the two ancestors’ cunning—they never intended for their clones to survive.

If they didn’t leave, there would be no evidence left, and if he hadn’t recorded a video, they might have succeeded in their deception.

However, what puzzled him was what treasure they found that caused them to kill each other. Did they really find the burial treasure?

Where could the treasure be? It couldn’t have been taken out, but it wasn’t on the ground either. He was utterly baffled—the situation in the sleeping palace was far too eerie.

As expected, the corpses displayed progress. The life force of those who died naturally had disappeared, while those who died violently retained their youthful appearance. If the body didn’t decay, the youthful appearance would remain fixed.

Out of curiosity, he glanced at Long Ziyan beside him.

“Ziyan, do you know...”

His words abruptly stopped because he realized he couldn’t see Long Ziyan’s progress either.

His face stiffened.

“This isn’t good...”

He quickly tried to dodge but was a step too slow, getting slashed across his right shoulder, causing it to bleed before being quickly sealed with ice.

The Second-Grade Dragon Silkworm Treasure Robe was pierced by her sword as if it were made of paper.

Long Xuan felt a chilling aura surge into his body, making his limbs cold, slowing his movements, and even causing his heart to feel like it was freezing.

If not for the Water Bear Gu’s strong resistance to cold, a normal person would have died from this strike.

Long Xuan was utterly shocked and quickly distanced himself. When he looked at Long Ziyan again, she had already vanished into thin air. In another spot, a different Long Ziyan suddenly appeared out of nowhere. This Long Ziyan was staring at him with a bewildered expression and at the wound on his right shoulder.

Noticing the progress bar above her head, Long Xuan realized that this Long Ziyan was the real one. He quickly ran over and grabbed her arm.

"Let's go..."

After running some distance, they entered a tomb chamber. Long Xuan leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. The recent events had been incredibly perilous.

What would have happened if he didn't have the golden finger that allowed him to see progress? He might have been ambushed and killed by that damned illusion, or he could have been deceived by the illusion and ended up fighting the real senior sister, leading to a mutual destruction.

He finally understood how the two ancestors had died. Earlier, he had been puzzled as to why they would inexplicably start fighting when there was clearly no treasure on the ground.

Now he knew. They had fallen victim to the illusion's scheme to sow discord, mistakenly believing that the other had attacked them, leading to internal conflict.

The two Gu Kings who had entered this tomb during previous grave-robbing attempts likely died the same way—tricked by the illusion into attacking each other, ultimately resulting in mutual destruction.

Such a realistic illusion would be almost impossible for anyone else in the world to see through, and anyone who fell for it would inevitably be deceived and manipulated.

No matter the power difference between the parties, the outcome would always be mutual destruction in the end.

This is because the damn illusion was different from normal illusions. Normal illusions are visual deceptions that cannot produce physical attacks.

However, the illusion in the tomb not only perfectly mimicked a person but could also simulate a person's abilities with 100% accuracy, delivering real attacks that left genuine injuries. This was simply absurd. It was the first time Long Xuan had encountered such a sinister illusion, and it was terrifying.

Even if you were lucky enough to kill the real opponent, you would still be killed by the illusion in your wounded state. And even if you were lucky enough to kill the illusion, so what? Illusions are not one-time things—they can reappear repeatedly.

Unless you can see through the illusion, it will automatically disappear, just like when Long Xuan suddenly suspected that the Long Ziyan without progress might be an illusion. The moment this thought occurred to him, the illusion automatically disappeared. Otherwise, the illusion would have continued to chase him.

This is a common flaw in most illusions: once you recognize them as illusions, they will automatically vanish.

"What just happened? How did you suddenly get injured?"

Long Ziyan glanced at his injured shoulder, noticing that the wound had been sealed with ice, emitting an aura she found very familiar. She frowned; the wound looked so much like one she might have caused. Could her junior brother have misunderstood?

Long Xuan didn't answer her question. Instead, he anxiously stared into her eyes, "Tell me quickly, did you see that flower?"

After some brief deductions, he finally concluded that it was definitely that demonic flower causing all the trouble.

Everyone had died in the bedchamber, so naturally, he thought the danger would only be within that area. That's why he dared to observe from the tomb passage, believing that as long as he didn't enter, he wouldn't be in danger. Long Ziyan had thought the same.

But now, even though he hadn't entered the bedchamber, he was inexplicably caught in a trap. By comparing the differences between himself and the group of dead bodies, he could only conclude that it was because he had the ability to see from a distance, allowing him to spot that strange flower in advance.

Others without the ability to see from afar would have to get very close before they could see the flower, so they all died in the bedchamber.

As for why he only suspected that flower and not the other things in the coffin, it was entirely because everything else in the coffin was an illusion.

The female emperor's corpse, which had no progress, must have been an illusion. The crystal coffin was completely empty—there was nothing inside but that demonic flower.

He broke out in a cold sweat, feeling a chill in his bones, and goosebumps rose on his back.

Where did the female emperor's corpse go?

With that demonic flower around, even if the Gu Kings had come, they would have died. It was impossible that someone took it away.

So there was only one answer: she had walked out herself, taking all the tomb treasures with her.

His fear grew even stronger.

When did this happen? When did the female emperor's corpse walk out?

It shouldn't have been before the tomb-robbing began.

Because many people had taken countless priceless treasures from the tomb, and the Long clan had even brought out the precious Blood of the Golden Crow.

If she had left before the tomb-robbing, she shouldn't have left those treasures behind.

He didn't even consider the possibility of her becoming a zombie—this wasn't a horror story. In this world, people don't naturally turn into zombies after death unless they're specially refined.

So she must have been conscious, awakened during the tomb-robbing, and took all the treasures from the coffin.

Had a resurrected powerhouse with overwhelming combat power returned?

Did this happen just now, or a long time ago? Did the female emperor escape long ago, or is she still in this ancient tomb?

Long Xuan's scalp tingled.

So the first thing he asked was whether Long Ziyan had seen that demonic flower.

If she had seen it, then things would be really troublesome.

What if she was attacked by an illusion pretending to be Long Xuan and then attacked the real Long Xuan in anger? That would be deadly.

So if he knew Long Ziyan had seen that flower, he would have to stay far away from her, as she would be extremely dangerous at that moment.

Fortunately, Long Ziyan showed a confused look at this time, asking in surprise, "What flower? I was just watching the part about the supernatural powers in the 'Sun and Moon Sutra' on the wall. The content on it can enhance my clone, so I didn't look too closely at the other parts of the tomb."

"That's good. It's good that you didn't look too closely." Hearing this, Long Xuan let out a long sigh of relief and patted his chest.

He quickly explained his deductions to Long Ziyan and then asked, "You are knowledgeable. Do you know the origin of that demonic flower?"

He showed deep dread toward that demonic flower. He had only glanced at it in a hurry, not seeing it clearly. The progress on that demonic flower was incredibly long; it seemed to be not just five digits after the decimal point but seven digits after the decimal point—it was utterly terrifying.

Moreover, the energy contained in that demonic flower wasn't spiritual power. His Fire clone had searched through all the illustrations but had never seen it. He didn't know its species, didn't know its function—it was all unknown.

Long Ziyan frowned slightly, clearly shocked by the fact that the female emperor's clone had likely already escaped. If so, this ancient tomb was now too dangerous, and they needed to leave as soon as possible.

"I don't know the origin of that flower either, but if I can't recognize the spirit herb, then there is only one possibility."

Long Ziyan's eyes flashed, and she said confidently, "That is, this flower is not something from this world at all. It might be from another world, such as the Demon Realm."

"The energy you mentioned that isn't spiritual power might be demonic energy. The Demon Realm is a higher plane, so its energy level must be above spiritual power. A demonic flower with demonic energy would be extremely difficult to deal with, and its abilities would not be easy to break." Long Ziyan showed a serious expression.

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