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"Your Highness... is the King... here?"

In the dark abyss of the ocean, where not even the tiniest glimmer of light could penetrate, even a top predator of the seas like the Yaksha spoke with utmost caution.

The waters here were too cold, even colder than those of the Beihai Abyss, and the depths were profound. Buried tens of thousands of fathoms below the seabed, there astonishingly lay another stratum of rock. Breaking through it, one found yet another marine realm.

The chill was so intense that even it could barely withstand it...

The Yaksha knew this place. It was no ordinary area, but the Dragon Palace’s forbidden zone for imprisoning ancient creatures from epochs past. Ordinarily... few could venture into such a place.

Murong Yunji followed carefully behind the two of them, hardly daring to even breathe loudly. For now, she was as frail as an ant...

In these frigid waters, her survival hinged on the strength lent by Princess Ao Zhen. If the protective bubble around her were to burst, she felt she would be frozen to death instantly.

Even with protection, the unknown terrors in the surrounding darkness drove the chill in her heart to its zenith.

She wasn’t sure when she had become utterly irrelevant to the battle ahead. Once a first-rate powerhouse in her own right, here she might not survive an encounter with a single Ancient Sorcerer. Without Chen Qing by her side, she felt a profound lack of assurance, devoid of any confidence.

Ao Zhen paid no heed to Murong Yunji’s emotional fluctuations and instead surveyed the surroundings gravely, "The location sealed by my father has undergone at least nine hundred alterations. In the end, who knows what is true or false... He has always been a suspicious man, and the one he trusted least of all was me. You ask if I’m certain he’s here? I can’t give you a definite answer."

Hearing this, the Yaksha remained silent.

Among the seas, elders normally took pride in and showed great affection for their offspring.

But it was different in the West Sea. Ao Zhen’s position, fought for with blood and steel, made the Old Dragon King of the West Sea deeply wary, and following several instances of targeting her, had it not been for the intervention of the Elders, Ao Zhen’s rise may well have been uncertain.

The majority understood the reasons, albeit difficult to voice.

Nevertheless, the Old Dragon King’s designs on Ao Zhen could not be erased from history.

Thus, the more influential she became, the more he feared her.

The Third Prince, Ao Xin, and the Princess Royale frequently clashed, supported by the Old Dragon King in the shadows.

Clearly, he sought to find a successor who could counter Ao Zhen before she surpassed him definitively.

This was blatant mistrust.

He somewhat grasped why the Old Dragon King would obscure his location; Ao Zhen held high esteem in the military, and with the reopening of the Dragon Palace, her loyalists could likely prioritize her revival. Should Ao Zhen revive before him, his fate would ultimately be in her hands.

Hence, a concealed location offered a buffer, allowing enough time for his loyalists to revive him. This was the strategy of the Old Dragon King.

Yet, in the eyes of the Yaksha, just on this point, the Old Dragon King had already lost in terms of magnanimity...

Princess Ao Zhen likewise did not trust the Dragon King, for if he were to revive before her, he might take advantage of Ao Zhen being sealed and incapacitated to completely possess his daughter.

A Dragon Maiden serves only one male in her lifetime. If possessed, Ao Zhen would have to choose between death or absolute submission to the Dragon King. Either outcome was exactly what the Old Dragon King had always desired.

Under such circumstances, Princess Ao Zhen still daringly placed herself in the most conspicuous location at the gates of the Dragon Palace indicated her absolute confidence that her subordinates would never leave her vulnerable. By contrast, the Old Dragon King clearly lacked such self-assurance.

Within the dark abyss, impenetrable prisons surrounded them, hosting massive Heaven Devourer Pythons, bizarrely-shaped stone statues, and top-tier Evil Spirits still in their Spectral State, entities that did not belong to the world of the living.

Murong Yunji watched this scene, dazed, feeling that if any of these imprisoned monsters escaped, they would overturn the whole world.

Ao Zhen led the way, offering an unusual introduction.

"That python is a Pureblood Celestial Python from the Celestial Serpent Palace, now trapped by a spatial cage.

Fully extended, it is ten times larger than Mother Earth, capable of soaring through the skies and burrowing beneath the earth.

Imagine, if you will, the arrival of the Celestial Serpent Palace, with countless pythons, each larger than your Human Race cities, coiling through the heavens. "

Murong Yunji swallowed hard, her heart pounding at the thought – such a scene... just imagining it was exhilarating...

"These are Otherworldly Demon Statues, one of the most mysterious forces of ancient times.

To this day, no one understands the essence of their power.

These beings excel in corrupting hearts, inciting slaughter, hatred, bloodshed, and pain; in return, they grant power to those who sow chaos.

Many evil gods seem to be emulating them, yet none come close.

These entities were greatly feared even by the primeval forces.

I heard that a King of Qin once emerged among your kingdoms, sealing these Otherworldly Demon Statues? "

"Uh?" Murong Yunji was taken aback. How had they come by that knowledge? Weren’t they supposed to be sealed for hundreds of thousands of years?

"Although the Dragon Palace was sealed in ice, we weren’t completely ignorant of the outside world.

.." Ao Zhen explained softly, "The Ancient Sorcerers guarding the gates did not remain there without reason. They still have their families in the world of humans who support them. Utilizing the Divine Transmission Technique, they convey some of the current situations and information of the mortal realm to us, reports of which are one of the reasons for their continued value. The deeds of your Human Race’s King of Qin were too colossal, the coexistence of humans and demons, the Celestial Moon Plan; these were things even I dared not dream of.

Such a figure, it is difficult for me not to know. "

"There’s such a thing?"

Murong Yunji narrowed her eyes. It seemed that not only the Dragon Palace but also many other ancient forces might have planted their agents in the human realm, simply unnoticed by others in normal times.

Now that she thought about it, even she, who came close to becoming the head of the Murong Family, wasn’t allowed to approach a certain place within her own family’s domain. Could it also be related to the ancient past?

"As the Earth Spirits awaken, more and more ancient forces will restart, and you will eventually learn that this world has never been simple," someone said.

Murong Yunji nodded at these words.

"That King of Qin is quite formidable, but also naive. Some of his methods are too presumptuous..."

"But he is a great man," Murong Yunji stated earnestly.

Zi Yue and the others had modified her memories, instilling in her many viewpoints she previously didn’t agree with. After her memory restoration, it was natural for her to harbor resentment towards Zi Yue and others, hold many of their ideals in disdain, but she still admired the King of Qin.

Regardless of the outcome, he truly was a man worthy of respect.

"Great, huh?" Ao Zhen laughed. "You, a member of the Human Race, actually think so? That’s rare – you agree with the concept of humans and demons coexisting."

"I think it’s unrealistic, but the direction he strove for is worthy of admiration."

"However, the path Chen Qing is taking now is almost identical to the one the King of Qin took back then, no... maybe even more difficult!"

Murong Yunji remained silent. She did not know how far Chen Qing, this miraculous person, could go. She hoped he could go a little further, allowing her to witness more of the unconventional within her lifetime; if so, her life might not be considered to have been lived in vain.

"What do you intend to do with these monsters from other ancient forces that you’re collecting?"

"Research..." Ao Zhen smiled. "The Dragon Palace values the exploration spirit of the Human Race the most. Influenced by them, the Dragon Palace has acquired many different legacies.

These legacies have led us down a unique path; Formation, observation, Runes, in fact, originated from the Human Race, but later on, they became ours. "

Murong Yunji: "......."

This claim was the first time she had heard it. She always thought that these were inherent legacies of the Dragon Palace; could they actually be from the Human Race?

"Surprised, aren’t you?" Ao Zhen chuckled. "The Dragon Palace might not be the strongest among the ancient forces, but it’s undoubtedly the best at utilizing the Human Race. Chen Qing’s decision to cooperate with us is the right direction."

"Chen Qing is not cooperating with you!" Murong Yunji retorted coldly. "Chen Qing is making you serve him!"

"Presumptuous!" A Yaksha beside her roared angrily.

But this shout immediately drew more attention from the shadows, causing the Yaksha’s rising anger to instantly deflate as she lowered her voice, "Don’t talk nonsense, human!"

"Whether I’m talking nonsense or not, you, Princess, would know best," Murong Yunji replied with a cold laugh. "I have seen that divine seal in your hand. It is one of Chen Qing’s methods; anyone marked by it becomes his subordinate. That much is certain, isn’t it?"

"That’s right..." Ao Zhen immediately said with a smile. "I have never denied it."

"Then you still wish to use the Human Race?"

"Isn’t Chen Qing also using the Human Race?"

"What nonsense are you spouting?" Murong Yunji frowned. "How can he be the same as you heteromorphic beings?"

"Heteromorphic beings?" Ao Zhen watched her amusingly. "So in your eyes, Chen Qing and you... are the same kind?"

This unexpected remark caused Murong Yunji’s heart to skip a beat, a strong unease welling up inside her: "What do you mean?"

"You don’t think... just because Chen Qing looks exactly like you, that... he is of the same kind as you, do you?"

Murong Yunji: "...."