Chapter 72: Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Eyes, Dragon Grave
The Sunset Forest.
A streak of golden light tore through the sky and finally came to a halt atop a hill roughly 500 meters high, revealing the figures of Zhou Chen and Zhu Zhuqing.
"This should be the place."
Zhou Chen glanced at the navigation map provided by the system, the destination clearly located within this hill.
Looking down from above, Zhou Chen could clearly see that the summit of the hill was actually an inverted cone-shaped depression.
At this moment, thick heat was rising from within, blocking his view. The vapor was not only humid, but also carried the scent of sulfur.
Based on the geographical knowledge Zhou Chen had studied, this should be a volcanic crater, and one that had been inactive for many years. Otherwise, there would not be water vapor emerging from within.
In other words, entering the crater would not involve encountering scorching magma.
"Zhuqing, hold tight."
Zhou Chen wrapped an arm around Zhu Zhuqing's slender waist. With a thought, the Xuanyuan Sword beneath his feet shot straight into the volcanic crater below.
The crater was not deep. Inside was a basin-like valley, and after only a few seconds of sword flight, Zhou Chen reached the valley floor.
Putting away the Xuanyuan Sword, Zhou Chen held Zhu Zhuqing's jade-like hand and surveyed the scene within the valley.
The valley was filled with plants of countless forms. Although Zhou Chen did not recognize a single one, it was clear that all of them were extremely rare.
At the center of the valley was an oval hot spring pool, distinctly divided into two halves, milky white and vermilion red, resembling a Taiji diagram.
Rolling clouds of steam drifted up from the pool toward the crater above.
"This is… the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Eyes?"
Zhou Chen looked completely stunned.
The Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Eyes are born as one yet divided into two, with the dual principles mutually restraining each other. They are a convergence point of heaven-and-earth spiritual energy and can accelerate plant growth by hundreds or even thousands of times, earning the title of one of the three great treasure basins.
In the original storyline, this place was the medicinal garden where the Poison Douluo, Dugu Bo, cultivated spiritual herbs, and also the location he used to suppress the toxins within his body.
It was also here that Tang San found a large number of cultivation-enhancing spiritual herbs and became close friends with Dugu Bo despite the age difference.
But the problem was, what connection could a treasure land for growing herbs possibly have with a Divine Realm prison?
"System, are you sure the Divine Realm prison is here?"
Zhou Chen raised an eyebrow and asked with doubt.
"Ding… confirmed. Please have the host jump into the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Eyes. The Divine Realm prison is located at the bottom of the pool."
"I'm not jumping."
Zhou Chen shook his head decisively.
According to the original plot, the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Eyes contain two completely opposite energies of extreme cold and extreme heat. Under such dual extremes, an ordinary person who jumped in rashly would immediately explode and die.
Although Zhou Chen did not consider himself ordinary, caution was still the wiser choice. After all, one only has one life, and it cannot be reset.
"Ding… please jump in bravely, host. This system will escort you throughout."
As the voice fell, a golden spherical protective barrier suddenly appeared around Zhou Chen and Zhu Zhuqing.
"Bang!"
Zhou Chen gathered the full strength of his body and punched it, only to find the golden barrier completely unmoving, while his hand throbbed with pain.
Clearly, the protection provided by the system was quite reliable.
Seeing the golden barrier suddenly appear beside her, Zhu Zhuqing reached out to touch it and asked in confusion, "Zhou Chen, what is this?"
"Just think of it as one of my soul skills."
Zhou Chen smiled, scooped Zhu Zhuqing into his arms, and leapt straight into the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Eyes.
"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—"
The moment they submerged, the protective barrier provided by the system began to hiss, clearly showing that the water of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Eyes was extremely corrosive.
After descending for roughly 3 minutes, the system's voice sounded once more.
"Ding… approaching the Divine Realm prison. Please prepare for landing impact."
"Boom!"
The golden barrier collided with something unknown, sending Zhou Chen and Zhu Zhuqing reeling, demonstrating the tremendous force of the impact.
Steadying himself with effort, Zhou Chen landed on both feet and looked forward, immediately sucking in a cold breath.
Ahead stood a sealed silver cube, over 100 meters tall and several thousand meters in length and width.
The silver cube appeared to be forged from an extremely sturdy metal, its surface densely engraved with countless runes.
At the very bottom of the cube was a metal gate roughly 10 meters in both height and width, which now stood wide open, completely undefended.
"Ding… this is Divine Realm Prison Number 233. All prisoners have already died. Host may enter without concern."
"Hoo…"
Zhou Chen let out a long breath. The thought of soon finding those 50 tons of divine crystals made him feel slightly excited.
Beside him, Zhu Zhuqing widened her beautiful eyes and exclaimed in shock, "What place is this?"
"Divine Realm prison."
Zhou Chen spoke four words. Without waiting for Zhu Zhuqing to ask more, he held her and transformed into a streak of golden light, charging straight through the gate.
The moment they passed through the gate, Zhou Chen felt his vision go black, followed by a sensation of the world spinning.
When he and Zhu Zhuqing landed again, they had arrived in a vast, boundless valley.
Here, the sky was gray and sunless, and the land was shattered and barren, devoid of any vegetation. Clearly, this was no longer Douluo Continent, but another space entirely.
"What a grand undertaking."
Zhou Chen sighed in admiration. The gods of the Divine Realm were indeed formidable, actually using spatial power to open up a subspace small world within this prison.
Those 50 tons of divine crystals should be hidden somewhere within this small world.
"System, locate the divine crystals."
"Ding… locating. Location complete."
In the next instant, the familiar blue navigation route appeared before Zhou Chen's eyes.
"Sword, come!"
Zhou Chen shouted softly, picked up the utterly dazed Zhu Zhuqing, stepped onto the Xuanyuan Sword, and shot forward at high speed.
Before long, after roughly a quarter of an hour, Zhou Chen arrived above the destination where the divine crystals were stored.
Below lay a basin. Zhou Chen looked down and his entire body shook violently.
Because he saw countless enormous bones, along with brilliantly colored scales scattered around them.
These bones and scales clearly belonged to gigantic beasts. After careful examination, Zhou Chen finally identified them.
They were dragon bones, the remains of the dragon race.
According to the lore of the Three Dragon Kings of Douluo, the dragon race was the first highly intelligent lifeform on Douluo Star and the ancestor of all soul beasts.
Within this basin lay the remains of several thousand dragons.
Each massive dragon skeleton was hundreds of meters long, with heights ranging from dozens to over 100 meters.
Moreover, although these true dragons had been dead for countless years, their bones still emitted waves of pure soul power.
One could imagine that when alive, each of these true dragons possessed immense size, resilient scales, and boundless soul power.
By Zhou Chen's estimation, the strength of these true dragons in life was at least at the level of Titled Douluo.
Unfortunately, they became prisoners of the Divine Realm prison, and all of them had died.
End of chapter.
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