Chapter 260: Secret Mansions
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Beneath Qi Lake, there was a water palace. It was where the Water God once stayed and was filled with spiritual energy. It was glittering gold from the inside, and there was a huge protective array on the outside.
In the main hall, pearls and jade pieces covered the floor, reflecting the image of many clams and shellfish dancing about.
On the tables, there were spiritual fruits and spiritual wine; a dinner was ongoing.
But this time, the owner of the place was no longer the Water God of Qi Lake.
"Brother Bai! Please!"
The three demons were the stars of the night. One of them who was covered in a flowery pattern offered wine to a young man in white. "Wishing you a speedy cultivation to become the next Water God!"
Brother Bai was Bai Guan, a python. The other two were a water buffalo and an alligator snapping turtle, but both of them were suitable and had dragon properties as well.
They had already decided since the attack on Water God. Bai Guan did the most and would receive the imperial order and the water palace. The remaining corpse and dragon properties from the Water God would be divided equally among the other two.
"Thank you for your blessings!"
Bai Guan smiled. Inside him, the imperial order, in the form of a talisman, floated mysteriously. "The previous Water God is of the same race as me. If not for the fact that my tribulation is about to arrive and I require the imperial order, I wouldn't have attacked him..."
"We still need to clean up what he did while he was alive!"
The alligator snapping turtle revealed his Yin Spirit, a well-built man. The man started to gobble down an entire pig and cow before gulping down bowls of wine. After a satisfactory burp, he continued. "The previous god trusts no one and therefore there might be a trap or two in this palace!"
"I know..."
Bai Guan continued. "With the imperial order from the Water God, I can detect that the few generations before him have put in place several secret mansions. I'm guessing that they are preparing to have a comeback!"
"Comeback?"
The buffalo shrieked. "We cannot let that happen!"
If they did not combine forces, none of them was strong enough on their own to take down the Water God.
"Your objection is useless. These are the rules of this world. If you have heavenly karma, you can have a chance of a comeback!"
Bai Guan stroked the beard above his mouth. "Of course, I will still have to depend on fate to see if I can cultivate and transform into a dragon. Furthermore, I already have the position of Water God and there's nothing else I can do."
With the appointment of the Water God, he had access to a 500-mile radius area of spiritual energy around the lake.
This was assistance from the heavens and earth on a single person. If the Water God were to revive, he could be equally powerful without the imperial order and would regain his power after his reincarnation.
"Even so, we still have to get rid of the trouble!"
The few demons exchanged glances with a murderous look.
"Water God, the water guardian Ha Haer is requesting to see you!"
After the dinner, a water guardian entered and knelt down respectfully. He was the one who chased after the crocodile.
"What's the matter?"
Strictly speaking, Bai Guan had yet to reach the cultivation level to be the Water God, but his actions were already demonstrating his power.
Ha Haer started to describe everything from chasing the crocodile to the encounter with Fang Yuan.
"A black carp? You let him snatch the treasure map and escape?"
Bai Guan frowned. "You useless thing!"
"Water God, spare me! Spare me!"
Ha Haer started to kowtow.
"From the chaos, the crocodile had obtained a map of the secret mansion. Although it is not the map of the most important one, we still need to be wary!"
After lecturing, Bai Guan appeared solemn. "After receiving the imperial order and undergoing cultivation, I already have half of what it takes to be the Water God. Although I cannot exactly pinpoint the locations of the secret mansions, I can roughly detect them! The scattered secret mansions are all small issues. Most importantly, we need to destroy the one within the dragon palace!"
The white python was extremely decisive and quickly made a decision.
...
At the same time, Fang Yuan followed the directions on the map and arrived in a new area.
Qi Lake was extremely large and this area was a secluded one. More importantly, there was little spiritual energy around here and schools of fishes would not come here.
Furthermore, the current was strong and it was a dangerous place.
"This should be the place on the map!"
After swimming past a coral tree and through a few underwater currents, he arrived at a trench in the lake.
"The Water God's secret mansion? What can I find inside?"
The trench was deep but Fang Yuan was unafraid and dived right down.
Beneath, it was pitch black and Fang Yuan started to feel fear of the unknown.
"Bloop! Bloop!"
After a while, bubbles emerged from the side and lantern-like eyes appeared.
"Hmmm?"
As Fang Yuan dodged, he released his spiritual will and realised that his attacker was an eel.
"Water-type shield!"
As his spiritual will shook, a translucent shield covered him with a current of water.
"Peng! Peng!"
As soon as the shield was formed, there came a continuous fierce knocking.
Ferocious glares from many eyes appeared, surrounding Fang Yuan like a pack of wolves.
"Is this... an eel's nest?"
With a bitter smile, Fang Yuan released water arrows in all directions.
"Whizz!"
The water arrows pierced through many eels, sinking many. The others started to escape in fear.
"Heh... I just have to kill one to scare the rest away!"
With the flick of his tail, he released his spiritual will once more and followed the directions on the map, eventually arriving at a water cave.
"This is the place..."
Clenching his teeth, he dived in.
"Buzz!"
In the next moment, there was a flash and the surroundings started to change.
As soon as he entered the hole, he could see what was truly inside.
What had appeared in front of Fang Yuan was a huge array formed from a fog. In continuously consumed spiritual energy from the water around and remained active.
"Is this an array?"
There was a look of interest in his eyes.
The array was only average but it was already considered strong to the lake dwellers. However, to Fang Yuan who has knowledge about arrays, it was nothing.
"Destroy the array!"
With the flick of his tail, he started to work on it.
...
Beneath the Water God's palace.
Bai Guan, the water buffalo and the alligator snapping turtle stood before an array and took in a cold breath.
"Impressive! Impressive indeed!"
The water buffalo stared at the array. "Who would've thought that that green python would be so well-versed in arrays."
"This place is considered the heart of the palace. Without it, I can only activate the buildings outside. I'm afraid my abilities are still limited, even with the imperial order..."
Bai Guan let out a sigh and looked at the 12 tall pillars in front of him and the fog surrounding it. "This is a powerful restriction. I'm afraid we will have to slowly undergo cultivation to break through it in the future."
These three demons were totally clueless about arrays and could only think about breaking through it using brute force.
Within seconds, three streaks of black fog appeared and shot up into the sky.
...
"This restriction looks simple on the outside but is complicated on the inside!"
On the head of the black fish, Fang Yuan's Yin Spirit appeared. He was examining the colourful restriction in front of him.
After breaking through the fog array outside, he arrived here. He could see the vague silhouette of jade treasures beyond the restriction.
"Water God is indeed a God. A random secret mansion is already so luxurious! What about the palace?"
Fang Yuan's Yin Spirit shimmered as he entered the restriction.
"Whooo!"
The colourful restriction started to spin from a green, to red, then to black.
"Fortunately, this is only a variation of the Five Elements Array!"
After investigating it, there was a look of joy on his face.
Fang Yuan already had the elementary knowledge of arrays. In an attempt to form the 8 Gates Sword Array, he placed more emphasis on learning about arrays. Although he was still not an expert in it, he could still easily break through a simple restriction like this.
"Restriction, transfer?"
After mulling over it, Fang Yuan sighed. "Is this restriction is linked to another array elsewhere? That after breaking it, it would affect something elsewhere? Fortunately, after transferring, I can reverse the changes!"
Looking at the imagery of a palace appearing and disappearing, his expression changed.
"Kacha! Kacha!"
At this moment, on the restriction, there was a distinct sound, and Fang Yuan's expression changed once more. "This is not good! Is the other restriction from elsewhere activated as well?"
Without hesitation, he slammed his fish body forward.
"Rumble!"
In the next moment, something happened!
After coming to his senses, Fang yuan found himself in an enormous palace carved in white jade. There was a flowery array beneath him.
Not just that, outside him, there was a commotion and three thick streaks of black fogs started to rise upwards.
"Is that... the Demon King!?"
Fang Yuan stared.
At the same time, outside, Bai Guan and the other two demons stared at the black carp which appeared in the palace.
They had painstakingly made their way through the array and were left with the final steps. Who would've known that a black carp would appear?
"D*mn it!"
Fang Yuan shivered in fear. "It seems that in all the secret mansions of the Water God, there would be the same array linking everywhere together, and even linking the secret mansion which the demons are after?"
As he clenched his teeth, he glanced at the array before rushing towards the main hall.
"I am the Water God. What are your intentions, black carp?"
Seeing this, Bai Guan was enraged. Frenzied, the other two demons joined him in rushing into the array. "Succumb to me and I will let you become the general to lead all the water troops. You will only be under me but above everybody else!! A gentleman like me never lie!"
"Get lost!"
Fang Yuan rolled his eyes as he swam into the main hall.
"Rumble!"
As soon as he entered, there was a shocking surge of energy.
In the golden-plated stairs, there was a corpse of a green dragon.
"This... this is a real dragon!"
Its scales were green with a hint of gold. It had two antlers and four claws and was majestic looking. In a moment, Fang Yuan could already recognise it. Quickly, he noticed a golden pearl glittering on the dragon's head, and knew that the energy he felt was from the pearl.
"Dragon Pearl!"
He swam across and bit it in his mouth.
"Whoosh!"
The process of taking the pearl was shockingly smooth. Following, the corpse of the dragon disintegrated into ash.