At the bottom of the lake.
Bai Shengyi and her group dove down, only to find nothing unusual in the water.
"Huh? Did the Demon King's words... go wrong?" Ji Hou muttered, seeing this.
Jing Fei also harbored doubts. He hesitated, pointing at the lake surface to Bai Shengyi, asking if they should go up first.
Bai Shengyi nodded. She felt that it was impossible for the information to be wrong; it was more likely that their method was incorrect. Otherwise, they would have encountered the previous group by now.
The group turned and swam towards the surface. Just then, something fell from Ji Hou's embrace, hitting Jing Fei's arm and sliding past his sleeve towards the lake bottom.
"My things!" Ji Hou's expression changed when he saw what it was, and he immediately struggled excitedly.
Jing Fei quickly tried to grab him. With Ji Hou's shove, the Profound Thunder Ore from his sleeve also fell out.
"Splash..."
As if scattering water droplets, a clear sound echoed in their ears. In an instant, the three were sucked into a vortex.
When she opened her eyes again, Bai Shengyi found her feet on solid ground.
She opened her eyes and blinked, realizing there was no water around. Jing Fei was still holding Ji Hou by her side.
"The underwater Dragon Palace! There really is a Dragon Palace! So the Demon King didn't lie to us!" Ji Hou's gaze was burning as he looked forward, as if staring at countless rare treasures, completely entranced.
Jing Fei felt Ji Hou's state was a bit off, but he was also stunned by the scene before them, quickly forgetting Ji Hou's oddity.
Before the three of them, a noble, magnificent, and enormous palace stood amidst vibrant and bright coral clusters of pinkish purple and light blue.
Whatever material the palace was made of, it refracted dazzling golden light, making it incredibly grand and blindingly bright.
Bai Shengyi only looked for a moment before looking away, instead assessing their surroundings.
They seemed to have entered a barrier. The green lake water was still visible around them. Outside the palace, on either side, were giant, man-sized conch shells. The shells opened and closed, revealing countless fist-sized pearls faintly.
"The Azure Dragon's aura is inside the palace," the Samsara Brush said in her sea of consciousness.
Bai Shengyi's heart stirred. Her divine sense and mental power poured out simultaneously. Her divine sense soon encountered an obstruction, but her mental power, following the palace gate, entered and saw a sleeping giant sea turtle, passing by other palaces...
"Who?"
Hua Nishang sharply sensed the feeling of being spied upon, letting out a sharp cry and warily looking around. However, there was nothing unusual in the surroundings.
"Senior Sister, what's wrong?" the junior brother behind her asked.
Hua Nishang shook her head, "Nothing."
Perhaps she was too sensitive. They should be the first to enter this underwater Dragon Palace; how could there be anyone else inside?
Hua Nishang lowered her gaze and instructed everyone, "Hurry up and search. We must find the Azure Dragon before anyone else arrives here."
Everyone responded in unison, "Yes, Senior Sister."
On the other side, Jing Fei saw Bai Shengyi standing still without urging them. Instead, Ji Hou became restless and walked forward.
Seeing that he had already reached the giant clam, and with just a reach he could obtain the rare pearl, he stumbled violently, falling face-first.
"You!" Ji Hou's expression twisted for a moment, but he quickly recovered, pouting at Jing Fei, "Fellow Daoist, was that necessary?"
Jing Fei frowned slightly.
Ji Hou curled his lips, "You seem like a gentleman, so why do you always do such petty things?"
Jing Fei came from a prominent family and rarely interacted with sly and cunning individuals like Ji Hou. He opened his mouth, unsure how to retort.
As his frown deepened, Bai Shengyi looked over.
She said to Ji Hou with a half-smile, "Have we been too lenient with you?"
Without her command, the Qingteng Vine itself tightened the vines on Ji Hou, causing him to grimace. "Hiss... Mercy, fellow Daoist, mercy! This humble one knows his mistake..."
Bai Shengyi signaled the Qingteng Vine to stop and slowly warned, "Don't forget, you are our captive. Don't be shameless just because we are kind. If you anger me, I will kill even the Demon King's people."
Ji Hou's heart trembled.
In that instant, he truly felt Bai Shengyi's killing intent!
He had no doubt that if he caused any more trouble, Bai Shengyi would efficiently end his life!
Seeing that he had become obedient, Bai Shengyi gave a cold smile and turned to Jing Fei, "Let's go in too. Be careful."
"Okay." Jing Fei had no objections and followed Bai Shengyi.
This time, he did not bring Ji Hou along.
"Hey! Fellow Daoist!" Ji Hou hastily reminded Jing Fei, he was still there!
If they didn't take him, how could he walk, wrapped like a silkworm by vines?
However, Jing Fei acted as if he hadn't heard.
Seeing this, Ji Hou couldn't help but curse inwardly and had to hop along after them.
The Dragon Palace was resplendent. The winding paths on the ground were all paved with spirit crystal jade stones imbued with wood-element spiritual energy.
The spiritual energy contained within these jade-green stones was no less than that of top-grade spirit stones. Ji Hou almost couldn't resist crawling on the ground to dig up the spirit crystal jade stones.
He glanced at the backs of Bai Shengyi and Jing Fei, gritted his teeth, and followed, though he couldn't help but smack his lips.
"The paths are paved with rare wood-element spirit crystal jade stones. How wealthy must the owner of this Dragon Palace be?"
Neither Bai Shengyi nor Jing Fei spoke, their expressions growing increasingly solemn.
"Did you notice?" Bai Shengyi asked.
Jing Fei nodded, "You noticed too?"
"What are you two mumbling about? What did you discover?" Ji Hou asked with a chuckle, leaning closer as if the previous unpleasantness between them had never happened.
But Bai Shengyi still caught the fleeting glint in his small eyes.
This monkey demon was truly cunning, and thick-skinned to boot. She realized she needed to be more careful, lest she fall into his trap.
However, bringing him along was quite useful, as it soon proved.
"Ancient Realm, Gate of Primordial Chaos, Only Demons May Enter." Jing Fei softly read the words on the tightly shut great gate before them.
As he finished reading, the characters flashed with golden light before dimming again.
Jing Fei said helplessly, "There's only a single sentence of reminder, but how does this gate distinguish if we are of the demon race?"
Bai Shengyi surveyed the area and pointed to a slot in the corner of the gate, "Come here, drip your blood on this."
There was still a fresh scent of blood on the slot. If she wasn't mistaken, it was left by the previous group.
After Ji Hou dripped his blood onto the slot, the three heard a "creak" as the gate slowly opened, releasing a dense, pure, and vast spiritual energy from within.
"This spiritual energy is so pure! Shengyi, hurry and take a look!" Even the Samsara Brush was startled. With a "whoosh," it darted out from Bai Shengyi's sea of consciousness and ran inside.
"Little Samsara!" Bai Shengyi couldn't even call out to stop it. Immediately after, the Crescent Moon Cat, which had been staying with her, also ran inside. Only the Qingteng Vine, though eager, remained obediently on Bai Shengyi's wrist.
"Master, Little Vine Leaf will protect you."
Bai Shengyi looked down and petted the Little Vine Leaf. She said to the two people beside her who were equally impatient, "Let's go in and take a look."
They had passed through a gate before, and now another gate appeared, with a restriction requiring demon lineage. Clearly, this gate was the most crucial part of the entire underwater Dragon Palace.
Bai Shengyi stepped in after preparing herself mentally.
As soon as she entered, she heard a voice asking.
"Do you wish to become an immortal? Do you wish to become a god?"