Chapter 144 - 143: Royal Secret Garden

The Royal Capital. The stronghold of the Sun Chasing Holy Mansion.

In the same grand hall as their last meeting, Vice Manor Master Yue sat at the seat of honor.

This time, only six students were qualified to attend.

They were the Holy Mansion’s six core students: Luo Tian, Jin Fan, Li Yao, Xu Mengxin, Nangong Yu, and Liu Ziyan.

At this moment, Luo Tian and the other five each held a thin booklet and began to read it carefully.

"This booklet contains information and general knowledge about the Royal Secret Garden. However, it’s only for reference, as the geography within the Secret Garden is constantly changing."

Vice Manor Master Yue said solemnly.

After reading the booklet, Luo Tian had a general understanding of the Royal Secret Garden.

The Royal Secret Garden was not the private property of the Azure Cloud Kingdom’s Royal Family.

Instead, it was a Secret Realm Space created ten thousand years ago by an ancient dynasty called the Jin Dynasty, which had mobilized the vast resources of its entire nation, led by several of the most powerful Great Powers of the time.

Later, this ancient dynasty’s Secret Realm Space was shattered into several pieces during a great war.

One of these fragments is the Royal Secret Garden, which the Azure Cloud Kingdom can open a passage into, though it is only accessible at specific times.

’The Jin Dynasty? Creating a space?’

Luo Tian was speechless. Even a Celestial Level Powerhouse didn’t have the ability to create a space.

’It’s hard to imagine just how powerful the Jin Dynasty was back then.’

On the Dongchen Continent today, there were hundreds of nations, both large and small.

However, very few dared to proclaim themselves emperors and establish a "dynasty."

The Azure Cloud Kingdom could only be considered an ordinary kingdom. It was a vassal to the Chilong Dynasty of the Eastern Domain of the Continent and had to pay tribute every year.

Every year, the Chilong Dynasty would enjoy a golden age, receiving tribute from a hundred nations.

But even a power like the Chilong Dynasty was a far cry from the Jin Dynasty of ten thousand years ago.

In that era, Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was abundant, Heavenly and Earthly Treasures were plentiful, and resources were incomparably rich, forging one Great Power after another from Ancient Times.

That was why this Secret Realm, an ancient garden preserved in its original state, was all the more precious.

Inside, it was possible to find long-extinct Ancient Treasures or items of inheritance from the Great Powers.

"Let’s move out!"

After answering a few questions, Vice Manor Master Yue led the group toward the summit of the mountain where the Royal Capital was situated.

The mountain where the Royal Capital was located was named Cloud Heaven Mountain.

It was named after the founding monarch, Li Yuntian.

The Royal Palace and the Cloud Heaven Holy Mansion were both built near the summit of Cloud Heaven Mountain.

"Luo Tian."

Along the way, Nangong Yu quietly handed Luo Tian a scroll.

"What’s this?"

Luo Tian took the scroll and was astonished by what he saw.

The scroll contained the Nangong Family’s records on the Royal Secret Garden.

It detailed some of the opportunities and secrets within the Secret Garden and even included a fragmented map.

It was far more detailed and confidential than the booklet provided by the Holy Mansion.

"Thank you."

Luo Tian committed the contents of the scroll to the Celestial Book.

"I owe you a favor. This is only right," Nangong Yu said solemnly.

Thanks to Luo Tian’s help during the battle with the Jade Spirit Python, Nangong Yu had consumed the Jade Spirit Heart Blood and received a blessing in disguise.

"Brother Nangong, I’ve read the records from both the Holy Mansion and your Nangong Family, and something has me puzzled."

Luo Tian looked thoughtful.

"The Jin Dynasty was so powerful back then. Why would they pay such a massive price to create a Secret Realm Space? It even seems like they deliberately left behind Ancient Treasures and Great Power Relics inside."

Luo Tian asked.

To Luo Tian, it felt as if they were making preparations for what would come after their end.

"I asked my grandfather that same question once."

Nangong Yu’s expression grew nostalgic.

"My grandfather gave me a two-word answer: ’taking refuge’."

"Taking refuge?"

Luo Tian’s heart jolted when he heard those two words.

He suddenly recalled that Ning Xueyao’s origins also seemed to be related to seeking refuge.

"Our Nangong Family was once one of the Ten Hidden Families on the Continent. The first of our ancestral tenets contains the words ’take refuge’."

Nangong Yu added after a moment of hesitation.

This touched upon the secrets of the Nangong Family.

He wouldn’t have spoken of it in such depth if he didn’t trust Luo Tian’s character.

...

「An hour later.」

The group from the Sun Chasing Holy Mansion arrived at the summit of Cloud Heaven Mountain.

Along the way, Luo Tian’s group encountered several squads of mobilized Imperial City guards. Security was extremely tight, and the air was thick with a grim, murderous aura.

Even the group from the Holy Mansion was stopped and questioned.

"What’s going on?"

"The atmosphere in the Royal Capital is so tense today."

A few students murmured in confusion.

"A war has started!"

Vice Manor Master Yue dropped the bombshell.

"The grand army of the Qiu Yue Kingdom has invaded! They’re clashing with our Azure Cloud Kingdom at the border. The Royal Capital is urgently mobilizing reinforcements."

’War?’

Luo Tian and the others were stunned. Li Yao, however, remained calm, as if he had already heard the news.

The Qiu Yue Kingdom had always been the archenemy of its neighbor, the Azure Cloud Kingdom.

Its national power was a cut above that of the Azure Cloud Kingdom, and a century ago, its army had reached the very walls of the Royal Capital.

Of course, the Qiu Yue Kingdom, like the Azure Cloud Kingdom, was a vassal state of the Chilong Dynasty. Although they had the right to self-govern, they still had to pay tribute every year.

"This has nothing to do with you. The war is a long way from affecting the Royal Capital," Vice Manor Master Yue said calmly.

The Qiu Yue Kingdom wasn’t so strong that it could crush the Azure Cloud Kingdom. If the war dragged on for too long, they could always request the Chilong Dynasty to intervene and mediate.

"We’re here!"

The group arrived beside a small, archaic-looking, navy-blue hill.

The hill was several dozen meters high, and its front portion was broken, as if snapped in two by some immense force.

’Hmm?’

Luo Tian sensed that the broken, navy-blue hill radiated an aura from Ancient Times. Its material felt incredibly solid and dense.

At the fracture point of the archaic hill, there was a bronze gate several meters wide, surrounded by sprawling, esoteric patterns of an ancient array.

"This hill is the location where the entrance to the Royal Secret Garden is opened," Vice Manor Master Yue explained.

Luo Tian had read the Nangong Family’s scroll.

This archaic hill was a special object originating from within the Royal Secret Garden, capable of acting as a medium to connect to the garden’s space.

Before long, the top twenty students from the Cloud Heaven Holy Mansion, the Martial Kun Holy Mansion, and others all arrived beside the archaic hill.

However, a few Royal Elders and high-ranking members of the Holy Mansions were still waiting. The Royal Secret Realm had not yet opened.

After a little while, another twenty or thirty people arrived before the archaic hill. Their cultivation ranged from the Ninth Layer of the Meridian Opening Realm to the Initial Tier of the Spirit Sea Realm.

Among them, Luo Tian spotted Princess Yunxiu. The latter’s beautiful eyes shifted, and a hint of delighted tenderness appeared within them when she saw him.

"There are actually fifty spots for the Royal Secret Garden. Twenty of them are for the top twenty from the Wu Mansion competition. The other thirty are either used internally by the Royal Family or purchased at great cost by other powerful Noble Families with connections," Senior Jin explained, noticing Luo Tian’s confusion.

Luo Tian suddenly understood.

The Azure Cloud Royal Family controlled the entrance to the Secret Realm. Naturally, they wouldn’t make all the spots public. They had to consider their own family’s development and how to maximize their own interests.

After all, opening the Royal Secret Garden required the Azure Cloud Royal Family to expend a great deal of manpower and financial resources each time.

"Greetings, Seventh Prince!"

A full-figured beauty in a black robe, a cultivator at the Spirit Sea Realm, floated over to Seventh Prince Li Yao and curtsied.

"Who is she?"

Liu Ziyan frowned, a flicker of displeasure in her eyes.

"She is an expert sent by my mother’s family to assist me inside the Secret Garden."

Li Yao wore a smug expression, his gaze lingering for a moment on the black-robed beauty’s full chest.

Inside the Royal Secret Garden, opportunity and danger existed side by side.

This woman in the black robe was, in effect, the Seventh Prince’s bodyguard.

"Brother Luo."

Li Yunxiu, graceful and dazzlingly beautiful, walked over with a young man at the Spirit Sea Realm who had stylishly messy hair.

"Yunxiu, long time no see."

Luo Tian smiled faintly.

He had been wondering why Li Yunxiu hadn’t participated in the Wu Mansion’s grand competition. It turned out she had a shortcut.

"I’ve been in seclusion recently, preparing for the Royal Secret Garden. Once we’re inside the Secret Garden, I hope Brother Luo will look out for me a little."

Li Yunxiu’s pretty face flushed slightly as she playfully stuck out her tongue.

By now, her cultivation was already approaching the Peak of the Ninth Layer.

"Yunxiu! You have your cousin here to protect you. Why bother someone else?"

Behind the Commandery Princess, the young man with the messy hair, a Spirit Sea Realm cultivator, frowned. His gaze swept over Luo Tian, filled with a measure of hostility and contempt.

’A mere cultivator at the Ninth Layer of Meridian Opening, getting this close to my cousin?’

"This is my cousin, Zhou Qingyu. My father arranged for him to come protect me..."

Li Yunxiu explained hurriedly, her beautiful eyes darting around.

She was worried that Luo Tian would misunderstand her relationship with Zhou Qingyu.

Upon hearing her words, Zhou Qingyu was practically fuming.

He had come this time as Li Yunxiu’s bodyguard, partly with the intention of pursuing her.

’Who would have thought that his cousin, the ever more noble and beautiful Commandery Princess, had actually taken a liking to this useless pretty boy!’

"Brother Luo, this is a Spirit Rhinoceros Jade Pendant. Once we’re in the Secret Garden, we’ll be able to sense each other’s approximate location within a certain range."

A vibrant blush appeared on the Commandery Princess’s incomparably elegant face.

She took out a pair of horn-shaped jade pendants that fit together perfectly and handed one half to Luo Tian.

"Alright."

Luo Tian accepted the Spirit Rhinoceros Jade Pendant, oblivious to the shy delight in Li Yunxiu’s eyes.

Among the great Noble Families, these Spirit Rhinoceros Jade Pendants often signified a romantic pairing.

’My cousin actually fell for this pretty boy! Once we’re inside the Secret Garden, I’ll make him pay!’

Zhou Qingyu’s face turned pale with rage as he seethed internally.

Suddenly, Luo Tian’s eyes narrowed, and he looked at Zhou Qingyu with a strange expression.

"What are you looking at!"

Zhou Qingyu snapped.

"I observe a baleful aura of blood around you. I’m afraid a disaster is coming your way. You should be careful."

Luo Tian said with great seriousness.

He only gave the well-intentioned warning because the man was Li Yunxiu’s cousin.

"Playing the mystic! Trying to be mysterious! Cut the crap."

Zhou Qingyu’s face was full of contempt.

’This pretty boy probably used these charlatan’s tricks to fool my cousin and win her affection,’ he thought.

Huh?!

Luo Tian’s Qi Observation Skill swept over some of the people nearby.

He discovered that the Clear Qi Pillars of the Seventh Prince, the Third Prince, and even Liu Ziyan were all entangled with a baleful, bloody aura.

Clearly, this fate of impending disaster wasn’t unique to Zhou Qingyu.

’What is going on?!’

Luo Tian’s heart hammered in his chest.

’So many people are facing disaster... Could the Creation Technique’s Qi Observation Skill be wrong?’

"Open the entrance!"

A thunderous shout echoed.

Several Royal Elders and a few Mansion Master Level powerhouses channeled a majestic, pillar-like True Qi Radiance into the archaic, broken hill.

A vast, boundless pressure descended, making it hard for the students present to breathe.

BOOM! WENG!

The archaic hill erupted in a dazzling, five-colored radiance. Vast swaths of array patterns swirled and converged on the Bronze Gate at the hill’s fracture.

In an instant, the Bronze Gate opened to reveal a deep, dark-silver tunnel, like a distorted cave of light.

This was the entrance passage to the Royal Secret Garden. It could only withstand cultivators up to the First or Second Layer of the Spirit Sea Realm; any stronger, and it risked collapse.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

The fifty people present, most of them youths and young adults, leaped into the Bronze Gate one after another, stepping into the deep, twisting passage.

Like a snow-white ice lotus, Xia Bingyue was the first to step into the passage and vanish from sight.

Luo Tian tried to check on Xia Bingyue with his Qi Observation Skill, but he was too late.