Quinn Shepherd reached out and grabbed one, cautiously taking a bite. The moment it hit his throat, it burned fiercely—spicier than Butcher’s fiery liquor. As it reached his stomach, it felt like a blaze roaring inside him, making his yuanqi surge with energy.
He circulated his yuanqi and immediately sensed a medicinal effect similar to a Core‑Stabilizing Pill, boosting his cultivation. However, the increase was much less than what a real Core‑Stabilizing Pill would provide.
“Is this creature a plant or an animal?”
Quinn grabbed another one. This strange lifeform had no eyes, no hands, no feet, and no mouth—just root‑like tentacles absorbing nutrients from the moss. He genuinely couldn’t tell if it was plant or animal.
He only ate one, but Lina the Spirit Fox bounced around, eating her fill.
The farther they walked, the colder the air became. After an unknown distance, the sound of trickling water reached them. A clear stream ran along the mountain wall, and at its end was a glowing pool where several huge, eyeless fish lived—fish that also gave off light. To get across, they would have to pass through the pool to reach the tunnel on the other side.
“These big fish are vicious. If they hear any sound, they’ll rush over—super dangerous!”
Lina the Spirit Fox whispered, “I’ll throw a rock to distract the fish, then we’ll dash across!” With that, she snatched up a stone and hurled it with all her strength.
The stone struck the wall, and with a splash, several of the eyeless fish burst from the water. Their tails whipped through the air, their four fins spreading wide like great wings as they charged toward the noise in a frenzy!
“Run for it!”
Lina the Spirit Fox led the way as Quinn sprinted frantically along the edge of the pool. In the rush, the boy heard several thunderous crashes—the strange fish had slammed into the stone wall, their gaping maws biting huge holes into it!
The rock-hard mountain stone seemed like tofu in their jaws. If they bit a person, the consequences would be unimaginable!
Just as the pair reached the opposite shore, the fish heard their footsteps, whipped their fins around, and flew toward them!
“Stay with me, sir!”
Lina darted into the tunnel ahead, and Quinn scrambled in after her. The passage was narrow, and the big fish couldn’t fly inside, but they used their four fins like feet, charging after Quinn and the little fox!
“Are these really fish?”
Quinn's scalp tingled as he hurried after Lina. The strange fish chased them for a while, but when they couldn’t catch up, they slowly backed out of the tunnel and returned to lurking in the pool.
Quinn breathed a sigh of relief as the path ahead gradually widened. Emerging from a trumpet-shaped cave, he was suddenly bathed in shimmering sunlight. Quinn looked up and was stunned.
Above his head, torrents of water flowed by, schools of fish swam overhead, and he saw giant golden turtles, fish as big as boats, and massive river beasts.
One huge fish spotted Quinn and the little fox, got excited, and lunged at them with its gaping maw—only to slam into an invisible wall of water and bounce back.
The big fish shook its head, looking a bit confused, then swam away, tail swaying.
“Yong River—we’re under the Yong River!”
Quinn’s expression grew odd. “The Yong River is right above us, but the water isn’t flooding down here…”
He looked ahead, heart pounding. Enormous dragon pillars appeared before him—each dozens of zhang tall, rising from the riverbed. Their tops touched the river above, and beneath their feet was a floor paved with white marble. A broad road stretched forward, flanked by rows of dragon pillars. After a hundred or so zhang, clusters of palaces came into view.
Dragon pillars surrounded the palace clusters, holding up the river overhead and keeping the water out.
Many of the palaces had already collapsed—a great upheaval must have struck here, turning it all into ruins.
Lina the Spirit Fox bounced ahead to a palace ruin. Quinn saw that a half-collapsed wall was covered in mottled murals: a dragon-headed elder hosting a banquet for strange guests—a turtle-backed old man, a snake-tailed woman, a monk, and humans.
Crash.
A column toppled, nearly crushing Quinn and the little fox.
Lina entered the half-collapsed great hall and said, “This is where I found those ancient manuals.”
Quinn stepped closer. Inside the ruined great hall was a hidden stone chamber built into the wall, its stone door toppled—only then did Lina discover it.
The stone chamber was now empty—Lina must have already carried everything back to her hut.
“If we go any farther, it’ll get really dangerous!”
Lina pointed nervously at a towering gate ahead. “It’s terrifying!”
Quinn looked toward the gate. Beyond it, he could just make out a palace—still intact, not collapsed. Strangely, the interior was wrapped in thick water-mist, obscuring everything inside. The palace seemed to float in the haze, half-visible, half-hidden.
“There’s something terrifying in there…”
Lina’s voice trembled. “If you get close to the gate, you’ll feel its aura—and then you’ll go limp, unable to move…”
Quinn walked forward, Lina bravely trailing behind. As they reached the gate, a wave of overwhelming killing intent slammed into Quinn—so fierce and chilling it made his heart pound and body tremble, as if a sky of black storm clouds had suddenly pressed down, and some colossal beast was staring right at him!
Sacred, solemn, inviolable—and at the same time, ferocious and terrifying. This was the ‘great terror’ Lina had warned about.
Quinn took a long, steady breath, braced himself, and calmed his mind.
“Divine Firmament Heaven Eye—activate!”
Yuanqi patterns bloomed in his pupils, forming a second set of eye-marks as he peered into the mist beyond the gate.
Beside him, the white fox had gone completely limp, belly to the ground, struggling to turn and slowly crawl back the way they came.
Quinn picked her up. The little white fox hung limply, protesting, “Don’t grab me—I’m dying, my heart’s pounding…”
“You’re not dying. Whatever’s in this Dragon Palace is already dead.”
Quinn chuckled. “Want to guess what I’m seeing?”
Lina didn’t answer, her legs pawing the air and tail swishing, desperate to crawl away and unwilling to stay even a moment longer.
Quinn laughed. “I see the Yong River Dragon King!”
“Ah—”
The little white fox let out a sigh and fainted, all four legs sticking straight out. Quinn waited a moment; then the fox cracked one eye open, sneaking a peek. Quinn deliberately repeated, “Yong River Dragon King.”
Lina’s legs stuck out even straighter, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
“The Yong River Dragon King is dead.”
Quinn couldn’t help but laugh. “All that’s left is bones. The Dragon King died ages ago—I can see his skeleton in the mist.”
Lina immediately opened her eyes. “Dead?”
Quinn nodded. “You can relax now. Want to come in with me?”
Lina shook her head at once. Quinn sighed, set her down, but she still crawled weakly, belly to the ground. He picked her up again, set her on his shoulder, and strode toward the gate. The little fox, fur bristling, clung to his shoulder, eyes wide with terror, frozen in place.
Quinn stepped into the mist, Lina clutching him even tighter, her fluffy tail sticking straight up.
The mist was thick and ancient, yet curiously dry. Quinn walked on, noticing countless droplets suspended motionless in the fog.
He saw broken jade fragments floating in the mist, along with shards of spirit weapons and bits of shattered bone—all drifting weightlessly. Outside the gate, he’d only noticed the dragon bones, not these other remains.
“There must have been a brutal battle here—even the corpses of masters and their spirit weapons were smashed to bits! What happened in this place? Did it occur before or after the Great Ruins disaster?”
Suddenly, Quinn’s scalp prickled—Lina, terrified by a floating skull, leapt onto his head, clinging to his hair, her back arched high.
The little white fox trembled so hard that Quinn’s scalp shook too.
“A dragon—”
The white fox shrieked, darted from Quinn’s head to his back, and clung to his waist like a furry backpack.