A short while later, Huang Xiaolong finally reached the source of the powerful energy fluctuations he sensed earlier. The two battling parties were just like Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi predicted, the group of six people and the demonic beasts of Hailstone Forest.

Amongst the six people, the tall thin young man from the Azure Dragon Institute, which Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi pointed out as the strongest, was persistently flicking strange shining symbols toward the void in front of him. Colorful lights rippled ceaselessly in the void, he was seemingly in the midst of breaking the protective formation, while the other five people were dealing with eight demonic beasts.

These eight demonic beasts were no doubt a headache to deal with, as the weakest of them was a mid-Tenth Order God Realm.

Even so, both sides were equally matched.

“The formation protecting the treasure is about to break. Once it breaks, sneak in quickly!” Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi was unable to hide the delight in his voice.

Huang Xiaolong nodded, concealing himself as he waited for the right time.

The battle before him continued.

Roughly an hour later, a thunderous roar resounded from the horizon. Clearly, the vigorous battle had alerted other powerful demonic beasts.

“Senior Brother Lu Cong!” One of the Azure Dragon Institute men couldn’t resist urging toward the tall thin man who was breaking the formation. “We won’t be able to hold them back much longer!”

They could barely manage to fight eight demonic beasts, however, if another one came to join the fray, they had no choice but to retreat.

Although a treasure was extremely tempting, it was on the prerequisite that they were alive to enjoy it.

Lu Cong’s face turned gloomy. The formation breaking had been progressing smoothly, but he didn’t expect the burst of energy fluctuations close to the end to attract even more of the surrounding demonic beasts.

However, he only needed another half an hour to break the formation. Half an hour’s time, he wasn’t about to give up when success was so close that he could almost taste it at the tip of his tongue.

Determination glimmered in his eyes. In the next second, his entire body shone with a blinding light as he opened his mouth and read out a string of unintelligible gray symbols.

Those gray symbols turned into streaks of golden light, which flew at rapid speed, crashing into the surface of the protective formation.

While this took place, the roar coming from the distant horizon grew increasingly near. Moments later, two gargantuan sized demonic beasts appeared in everyone’s line of sight.

These two gargantuan newcomers were two great apes, apparently a pair of male and female, both exuding overwhelming momentum from their bodies.

Even Huang Xiaolong, who was hiding in the deep void inside the Godly Mt. Xumi, felt the tremendous pressure surging from the two great apes.

“Oh boy, it’s actually two peak late-Tenth Order God Realm Immemorial Raging Heart Great Apes.” Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi smacked his lips in schadenfreude.

The six people’s expressions turned grim in an instant. All six of them saw through these two great apes’ origin and frightening power.

Lu Cong shot a quick glance in the direction of the treasure’s protective formation, and a ruthless glint flickered in his eyes. His face flushed a bright red as he released a booming roar. An acoustic shockwave pierced through heaven and earth as if there was nothing left but this roar.

Before Huang Xiaolong’s flabbergasted eyes, countless symbols crashed into the defense formation like angered tidal waves.

Rumble~~!

Finally, a blinding light exploded in the perimeter of the treasure’s protective formation and a black spacial hole appeared in their line of sight.

The treasure location’s protective formation was finally broken!

Decisiveness flashed in Huang Xiaolong’s eyes. Seizing this moment, he quickly had the Godly Mt. Xumi turn into a dust-sized particle that floated into the black hole in an instant.

“Enter!” Almost at the same time, Lu Cong hollered and was the first one to disappear into the black spacial hole. Joy flashed across the other five peoples’ faces. Forcing back the surrounding demonic beasts, each of them swiftly flickered into the spacial hole.

When all five passed through, Lu Cong was waiting on the other side. His fingers forming signs and flicking out symbols into the black space hole, making it disappear.

On the other side of the Hailstone Forest, demonic beasts roared with endless fury.

The six wiped away the cold sweat on their foreheads, breathing out in huge relief.

“Any slower and we’d all be dead meat after those two Immemorial Raging Heart Great Apes arrived!” The Azure Dragon Institute’s Ling Qingming forced a chuckle.

The Black Warrior Institute’s Nie Yu scanned the Hailstone Treasure space. Spotting the grand palace structures atop of a peak, he broke into jubilant laughter, “This is the fabled Hailstone Treasure? Now, all of it belongs to us!”

The rest joined in the laughter, filled with a exuberant joy.

“Once we find the Highgod divine dragons’ beast cores and refine them into Extreme Dragon Golden Pellets, our strengths will definitely soar. In the Highgod Advancement Tournament two hundred years later, the top ten will be monopolized by us!”

“Go!”

The six people flew at rapid speed toward the grand palace structures on the peak, leaving their jubilant laughter echoing in the air.

While the six of them were flying toward building on the mountain peak, Huang Xiaolong descended on another side of the mountain.

“Still thinking about the technique that the Azure Dragon Institute’s thin young man used earlier?” Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi asked.

Huang Xiaolong nodded. Earlier, the soundwave attack move that young man used at the end to break the protective formation was extremely powerful. He was pondering about this.

“It is the Ten Thousand Words Dharani[1], the ultimate technique of an ancient sect called Ten Thousand Words Scholarly Gate. According to rumors, if one learned all ten thousand characters, its power could shake heaven and earth. There probably wouldn’t be any rival in the four galaxies, however, if I’m not mistaken, that Azure Dragon young man has only mastered three thousand characters at most.”

Huang Xiaolong was taken aback. This Ten Thousand Words Dharani technique was so tyrannical? Learning all ten thousand characters would enable one to swagger in all four galaxies with no rival?

Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi added, “Many ancient sects’ cultivation techniques were lost in the river of time, I didn’t expect to see this Ten Thousand Words Dharani appear again. Little Huang brat, if you’re really going to participate in the coming Highgod Advancement Tournament, this young man would be your number one rival.”

Huang Xiaolong’s expression grew serious and somber, but he nodded, agreeing with Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi’s comment.

Whether it was that powerful young man or the other five people, all of them were tough opponents in the tournament.

“In fact, this Hailstone Treasure is a dwelling left behind by an ancient sect.” Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi explained, “It was called the Hailstone Holy Sect. More than a hundred thousand years ago, its name resounded throughout the four galaxies, to the extent where all four institute principals were wary of it. Its sect founder was an ice element divine dragon, and under him were all formidable ice element demonic beasts. Of course, there were also many humans that practiced ice element techniques.”

This information astounded Huang Xiaolong, it never crossed his mind that the Hailstone Treasure would be a ruin of an ancient sect, one that even the four top institutes were wary of. Just from this statement alone, he could imagine how powerful the Hailstone Holy Sect was back in the day.

“It’s just that the sect provoked too many parties, the four galaxies’ super forces joined hands and sieged the sect, ending in its destruction.” Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi sighed, pausing for a moment before continuing, “Highgod divine dragon beast core, sacred grade divine pellets, all of these should be inside the Hailstone Holy Sect’s treasure vault, we must now hurry and locate the treasure vault before the others.”

Huang Xiaolong’s eyes took a quick glance at his surroundings. Undulating mountain ranges weaved out for thousands of li and the countless palaces scattered like mushrooms after rain evoked a wry smile on his face, how was he supposed to search for the treasure vault in this situation?

Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi’s voice sounded, “It may be difficult for the six of them to locate the treasure vault, but it is an easy matter for you because you possess the True Dragon Physique. On top of that, you cultivate in the Treasure Dragon Protective Shield Art. Try to sense the dragon qi. The place with the highest concentration of dragon qi should be the location of the treasure vault.”

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Huang Xiaolong’s eyes brightened, immediately understanding the meaning of Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi’s words. A Highgod Realm divine dragon’s beast core definitely contained abundant pure dragon qi, others might not be able to sense it, but Huang Xiaolong’s True Dragon Physique could.

Immediately, Huang Xiaolong activated the Treasure Dragon Protective Shield Art, allowing the formation inside his body to appear.

“It’s inside one of the buildings on the mountain up ahead!” A while later, Huang Xiaolong’s eyes lit up.

1. Dharani: the word dhāraṇī derives from a Sanskrit word, meaning "to hold or maintain". Dhāraṇī is suggested to be saturated with meaning – every syllable is symbolic on multiple levels