The Ascension of Contracted Spirits

Chapter 745 - 307: Young King’s Palace_3

Having been in dangerous situations for a long time, GuaGua also understood the preciousness of life-sustaining skills and did not squander them as frivolously as usual.

Huazhu nodded and looked up, only to freeze in surprise.

"Didn’t we... fall from above?"

Under the focused gaze of six eyes, the space above spanned at least a kilometer high, much more open than before.

But above them, there was no large hole, and the atmosphere seemed seamlessly intact, as if it had never been damaged.

"The space within the tomb is chaotic, sometimes stepping wrongly can teleport you to another floor,"

Ye Hanjun kicked away some rocks at his feet and searched a large area overgrown with vines for a long time before excavating a stele.

On the dim ancient stele were script smeared with the blood of some creature from the Demon Clan.

"Ten?"

Thanks to their upbringing by Ye Hanjun from a young age, both Huazhu and GuaGua could read.

Especially the scripts of the Demon Clan and Witch Clan, the witch and frog were nearly as fluent as in their mother tongue.

"Based on that, were we possibly on the ninth floor before?"

"Perhaps."

Ye Hanjun had no way to confirm but harbored such a guess in his mind.

All the dangers he had encountered before originated from the Unlimited Foetus.

His landing spot was definitely in the mid-levels of the eighteen-layered purgatory.

Now, they had abruptly reached the tenth floor, drawing ever closer to the most terrifying lower six levels.

"They say that in the tomb, the farther down, the more numerous the cracks, and the chance to ascend upwards is quite slim,"

"There were clan members who encountered countless downward types of spatial cracks in a short period, despite having considerable strength. Due to the lack of time to adapt, they directly reached purgatory floors they could not survive, ultimately perishing..."

Ye Hanjun frowned, his mood heavy.

Indeed, being inside the labyrinth of the demon was relatively safer.

Since leaving, they had frequently fallen into desperate situations, always feeling breathlessly imminent.

"Big tadpole, with you being this unlucky, what about the old grandpa?" GuaGua asked curiously.

"Heaven knows," Ye Hanjun shook his head. "I can only confirm that he’s still alive."

"There’s no concept of north, south, east, west, or up, down, left, and right in the tomb."

"Amidst the haziness, sensing Ye Liuying and Ye Yin is very vague, they seem very far from us, and there’s no possibility of meeting up with them anytime soon."

"Then he just needs to hang in there~"

Hopping and jumping around, GuaGua circled Ye Hanjun three times, then suddenly cast his gaze to one side.

"Big tadpole, there’s some strange construction over there, let’s go check it out!"

"I saw it,"

Ye Hanjun had never stopped observing, his gaze roaming in all directions, trying to determine the possible ecosystems of nearby dwelling species from the flora or the hues of rocks.

"Watch overhead, I saw bat-winged dragon dung again."

"Three hundred meters ahead, there’s a curled-up giant centipede, a highly poisonous kind, quite troublesome to deal with, try not to disturb it."

"GuaGua, do you see that small red flower on your right? Go pick it, we might need it to stave off hunger when necessary."

...

Moving cautiously around bends, it took half an hour for Ye Hanjun to reach the designated area.

What met his eyes was a cluster of ancient buildings resembling a risen palace.

Regrettably, whether due to years of neglect or damage by giant beasts, most were ruins, emitting a profound sense of history.

"Indeed it’s the ’Young King Palace’..."

Ye Hanjun nodded lightly, flew around the palace for half a circle, and found the main entrance.

For a moment, he felt as though he had discovered a new world, his eyes sparkling, his face showing a trace of astonishment.

"Strange, the temple doors are wide open, indicating that someone had entered and initiated the trial."

"But the plaque above still glows, does this mean that the temple’s treasured relics have yet to be taken?"

Ye Hanjun slowly landed on the ground, one hand clutching his chin, deep in thought.

The Young King Temple, one of the top opportunities within Asura’s Tomb.

All members standing at the 6th rank who also possess B-level authority desire it the most when entering the tomb.

"Big tadpole, can the top crown really do anything, even randomly elevate someone’s authority?"

"Not always."

Ye Hanjun softly explained, "However, the crown that our ancestor possessed was named ’Asura King’."

"Being his pure-blooded descendants, with his blood flowing through our veins, we have such a bond that allows us to achieve what others cannot even dream of."

"But aren’t you already the Young King?"

GuaGua, seeing Ye Hanjun stepping towards the temple, blinked and mounted the Ninth Layer Lotus Platform to catch up.

"Although the Young King Stone is useless to me, within this palace, there may be clan members who fell due to failing their challenges."

"On their bodies, there might be leftover treasures. If there’s a chance to collect, I mustn’t miss it."

Ye Hanjun entered the palace with a serene expression.

A jade light suddenly illuminated the dark passage, shaped like a jade sword, straight and unstoppable.

Huazhu, following closely behind, had hundreds of mini whirlpools swirling on the surface of her skin.

With a mere thought, these mini whirlpools could grow into overwhelming hurricanes, dicing any predator of insufficient rank that approached into a pitiful end.

"Indeed, there are signs that the mechanisms here have been activated before..."

"Clansmen have battled here before, breaking through one barrier after another, relentlessly moving forward despite being covered in wounds..."

Ye Hanjun advanced, and occasionally, mouse demons startled by his presence would flash their blood-red eyes, resembling blood-soaked lanterns, casting a chilling, eerie field.

"Boom!!"

Without needing a command, he repeatedly executed the Wind and Cloud Palm.

The crafted airstream would also dismember any attacking mouse demons, leaving them decapitated.

Ye Hanjun, uninjured, looked down at the corpses along the way, most of them unidentified monsters.

Occasionally, there were parts of mechanical puppets, all rusted and crumbling on touch.

From this, he deduced that this trial had been long abandoned, perhaps not merely ten or twenty thousand years.

"Click..."

He walked for a very long time, long enough to measure the time in days.

A human skeleton, severed at the waist, caught Ye Hanjun’s attention.

He crouched down, trying as much as possible not to let his own lively aura touch the ashen bones.

Sharp nails gently hooked a jade pendant, flipping it over, and a square ’Savage’ character came into view.

"Ye Man?"

Ye Hanjun struggled to remember, but could not recall such a person in his memory.

Over the past 120,000 years, countless had entered the tomb.

Even though there was a specialized clan history recording the life stories of the deceased clan members, only those with outstanding talents or who experienced unusual adventures were likely to be prominently mentioned.

Ye Man... was probably just an ordinary clan member.

He withered here, unnoticed, with no one remembering his face or what he had done.

But Ye Hanjun now knew that he had died here, died in this Young King Temple.

And here, the distance to the ultimate treasure... was already very close.