Chapter 945: Golden Lake
It was becoming apparent that the secret space had a lot of good stuff in it. Some had obtained saint soul fruits, some had obtained goldblood stones, and some had obtained damaged saint equipment.
Of course, there were also some who had been killed by evil spirits and others who had perished from other dangers. From the initial 401 disciples that had come to the island, 376 of them had managed to enter the secret space. A small part of them had made some gains, and about 40 of them had died.
They were all genius cultivators from all corners of the world. Each of them had the potential to reach the Heaven Battling Realm. Each death was a great loss to the dominion. At this rate, in less than six months, it would be great if half of them were still alive.
But that was how cruel the competition was. Only those who could rise among all the geniuses present would be considered giants among men.
After obtaining three saint soul fruits, Xiang Shaoyun solicited a lot of envy and was now a public enemy. Everyone was trying to find him and snatch the saint soul fruits in his hands.
Xiang Shaoyun was only one person, and he wasn't part of the four academies. With Gui Mochou and Feng Xiaosha fanning the flame, it was natural that he was turned into a public enemy.
However, Xiang Shaoyun seemed to have vanished after obtaining the three fruits. Nobody could find him, and some were even wondering if either he was hiding somewhere to consume the fruits or had left the secret space entirely.
Xiang Shaoyun naturally wouldn't leave the secret space. Nor would he leave. He had merely turned invisible and started searching the space for treasures. This was an ancient battlefield. Many heroes had perished here. During the long passage of time, the place had also been intermittently conquered by some other people. Eventually, such a unique space came into existence.
Xiang Shaoyun started roaming the secret space, picking up the others' leftovers. He went through the places other disciples had gone through, and he managed to obtain some undiscovered treasures he found through his Nether Soul Domain senses.
Although these leftovers weren't as valuable as the saint soul fruits, they were still rare sovereign materials and could still be considered great gains. Among the leftovers he picked up, a certain damaged saint armor was the most valuable of them all. Perhaps it was badly damaged, but it was still good enough to protect him against top-quality sovereign weapons.
Money had also found some items he could devour. Xiang Shaoyun couldn't even recognize them, so he allowed Money to do as he wished to them.
A month passed. Apart from picking up leftovers, Xiang Shaoyun had constantly suppressed his cultivation base and purified his draconic aura. It had now reached 79.9 percent, and he could enter the eighth stage at any time, but Xiang Shaoyun decided to delay his breakthrough. He wanted to break through at a more opportune moment.
Xiang Shaoyun appeared before a golden lake. This was the same lake where someone had discovered some goldblood stones.
The goldblood stone was a high-tier sovereign stone. It could allow one to cultivate the goldblood battle aura that could easily increase one's battle strength by 50 percent. Such an increase in strength was fatally attractive to any cultivator.
Of course, the golden lake was also extremely dangerous because a gold-scaled dragon turtle resided in the lake. It was a peak Demon Sovereign, and many disciples had entered the lake without returning. Eventually, many of them no longer dared to enter.
The disciple that had obtained the goldblood stones had only obtained them due to luck. In fact, he didn't have the courage to enter the lake once more. Thus, the golden lake and its surroundings calmed down and became relatively tranquil. Xiang Shaoyun stopped his invisibility and stood beside the lake. Looking at the lake, he muttered, "Is there really a gold-scaled dragon turtle here? It's not a corpse under control of some evil spirit, right?"
The gold-scaled dragon turtle was a powerful demonic beast with a trace of dragon blood flowing in its veins. Not only did it have powerful defenses, its offensive prowess was also far higher than other demonic turtles.
Xiang Shaoyun was naturally not here because he wanted to pit himself against the gold-scaled dragon turtle. All he wanted was a piece of goldblood stone. Although he had formed the nine-colored fog, also known as the primal inception energy, from his nine energies, it did not mean that he was undefeated among his peers.
After all, he still didn't have an unending supply. He could only use the primal inception energy each time he accumulated a certain amount. He did not have near enough of the energy to use it as he wished. Furthermore, the little tree of life, the gold tree sapling, and the other plants in his astral cosmos sea also needed the nourishment of the nine-colored fog.
If he could obtain a piece of goldblood stone, he would be able to increase his combat strength by about 50 percent. For him, the stone was an absolute treasure, something worth taking the risk of making this trip.
According to the other disciples, the goldblood stones could only be found at the bottom of the lake. This signified that one would only be able to obtain some goldblood stones by diving to the bottom of the lake, the same place where the gold-scaled dragon turtle resided.
One could see just how risky it was to get to reach the lakebed. Xiang Shaoyun withdrew his presence and started studying the lake. The lake wasn't small, and some gold elemental plants were growing around it. However, their grades were low, so the disciples hadn't bothered to harvest any of them. Xiang Shaoyun didn't gather them either.
"Just what am I supposed to do to get myself some goldblood stones?" Xiang Shaoyun muttered as he rested his chin on his palm.
He could rely on his soul clone, the Radiant Saint Sword, and the chakram. However, he was far too weak compared to the gold-scaled dragon turtle. It did not seem possible that he could rely on equipment to take down the beast.
"Boss, you can use your gold lunar liquid here! Perhaps that old turtle likes this thing? You also have some saint gold crystals. That old turtle will definitely trade with you," Money suggested.
"True! Why didn't I think of that?" Xiang Shaoyun exclaimed in realization.
The gold lunar liquid was no regular liquid. It wouldn't have been found beside the white tiger remains otherwise. Furthermore, it was extremely treasured by the goldmen. For them, the gold lunar liquid was a holy liquid, as the liquid could do more than increasing their strength. The liquid could also purify their bloodline. In fact, this liquid was loved by any gold elemental race.
Xiang Shaoyun had a pool of such gold lunar liquid in his astral cosmos sea. It was currently being used to nourish the vicious tiger gold lotus, and he still had a lot. As for the saint gold crystals, he had obtained them by trading with the goldman prince.
He walked toward the lake and shouted, "The lord residing in the lake, please show yourself. This kid has something to discuss."
His voice spread across the calm lake.