Bai Yue carefully examined the scattered corpses while advancing, quickly noticing a striking commonality—every Undying corpse he encountered was bare. No space rings. No world rings. No divine weapons.
"They were already looted," Bai Yue concluded calmly. "Looks like the He Dong Clan Champions arrived first… and stripped the place clean."
What he saw next confirmed it completely.
The entire outer perimeter of the ancient Castle had been swept with ruthless efficiency. Not even scraps were left behind. Any treasure that could be carried—no matter how trivial—had already been taken.
Seeing no further value in lingering, Bai Yue casually collected a few intact corpses of the Lian Xing Clan into his Original Universe for later research. He did not waste time with detailed inspections. Instead, he shifted direction and accelerated toward the Castle's inner core.
At the entrance to the inner passage, the nine Champions of the He Dong Clan were gathered together, their expressions relaxed and satisfied. Even the preliminary sweep alone had yielded enormous gains. None of them bothered hiding their anticipation—whatever lay deeper inside was bound to be far more valuable.
Once all nine had assembled, they advanced together.
The passageway itself was massive—dozens of meters in diameter—and pulsed faintly with oppressive energy fluctuations.
"Based on the records we recovered earlier," one Champion explained while flying, "this passage only permits those above Lord level to enter. It was likely designed to keep weaker members of the Lian Xing Clan away from the core vaults."
Their progress had been so smooth that none of them noticed they were being followed.
A speck of dust drifted silently behind them, unnoticed. It adhered to the armor of the last Champion in line, slipping into the passage alongside the group.
Inside the passage, the walls were densely covered with profound law-pattern engravings. The pressure was immediate and overwhelming. Any being below Lord level would find even basic movement nearly impossible here.
At the far end, Nu Tao King raised the refining star token once more. A beam of light descended from the ceiling, scanning it thoroughly. After the verification completed, the massive door behind the passage rumbled open.
One by one, the Champions passed through, leaping out into a vast interior hall.
The hall was enormous. Corridors branched off to the left and right, each leading deeper into the Castle's core.
"Karlmai," Nu Tao King ordered evenly, "you take your men to the right. I'll take the left. Move carefully."
The group split without hesitation.
The Champion carrying Bai Yue—still disguised as dust—was assigned to the right-side corridor and followed Karlmai's team forward.
Because the Castle was saturated with intricate spatial law formations, the entire interior was fully sealed. Instant teleportation was impossible. All movement relied purely on flight speed.
The corridor twisted and looped, and as they advanced at high velocity, the group glanced into the large chambers lining the sides. Every one of them was spotless. Empty. Not even residual energy remained.
They soon reached the end.
A massive chamber stood there, positioned at the very center of the structure. The corridor itself curved around it, clearly marking this room as special.
The hundred-meter-wide door was tightly shut.
After several attempts, the Champions confirmed the problem—without a refining star token, the door could not be opened.
With no choice, Karlmai's team turned back and headed for the opposite corridor to rendezvous with Nu Tao King.
They arrived just in time.
The door to the opposite chamber had already been opened.
Inside, Nu Tao King and his group stood silently.
At the center of the chamber was a semi-transparent platform. Before it sat a corpse in a cross-legged posture—an Immortal God who had long since perished. On the platform itself rested three solemn black boxes, each roughly half a meter square.
Nu Tao King's group was carefully inspecting them.
No greetings were exchanged.
Bai Yue's consciousness swept the room discreetly. He spared the Immortal corpse barely a glance. His attention focused instead on the platform, which was engraved with dense characters—written in a standardized Human language format.
Through the Virtual Universe Network, Bai Yue instantly accessed the language library. With his calculation speed, mastery took only seconds.
He read.
Our clan faces annihilation.
The three treasure boxes within this chamber each contain a world ring filled with resources.
May our descendants rise again through them.
These treasure boxes are bound by clan-recognition systems.
Only members of the Lian Xing Clan may open them.
Bai Yue's gaze shifted to the boxes themselves. Dense law-patterns were layered across their surfaces.
"G9-grade alloy… embedded with high-level law inscriptions," he assessed silently. "Forcible destruction would require at least Universe Exalt strength. Each box alone is worth over ten million Hun Yuan units."
Opening them, however, was another matter entirely.
As expected, the He Dong Clan Champions studied the boxes for a long time and failed. Eventually, they stored all three away, intending to have their clan's Universe Exalts deal with them later.
Attention then turned to the wall behind the platform.
Another sealed chamber.
Given its location, the value of what lay inside was obvious.
Unfortunately, it too required Lian Xing Clan authorization.
They could only give up—for now.
The group then moved to the opposite chamber, where three more identical black boxes awaited. According to the platform inscriptions, these contained the Lian Xing Clan's secret technique inheritances.
Beyond that, yet another core chamber door stood sealed.
Unopenable.
After thoroughly scouring the entire inner core and finding nothing else, the group finally withdrew—reluctant, but satisfied with their haul.
As they departed, none of them noticed the speck of dust drifting free from one Champion's armor, remaining behind in the Castle's depths.
The He Dong Clan group exited the Castle along their original route, eager to return.
The moment they emerged into the magma ocean, Nu Tao King's expression changed.
Space—sealed.
A sudden surge of lethal danger erupted in his instincts.
A terrifying energy torrent burst through the magma, engulfing all nine Champions.
BOOM!
Magma exploded skyward. Space shattered into fragments. Even the ancient Castle trembled violently.
Nu Tao King reacted instantly, raising a defensive shield and protecting six nearby Champions. Their divine bodies were damaged—but intact.
The remaining two Champions were erased completely.
"Zerg Queen Mother!" Nu Tao King roared.
A cold, echoing voice answered from the void.
"Hand over the treasures and inheritances, Nu Tao King… and I may spare your life."
Nu Tao King did not reply. Killing intent surged from his shark-like face.
He immediately released their shuttle-type spacecraft and transmitted orders.
"Enter the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle. Now."
The six Champions moved at once.
Suddenly—one of them attacked.
Lightning wrapped around a spear as it slammed into Nu Tao King, blasting him backward.
"Sangjie Jia—are you insane?"
"Have you betrayed the clan?!"
"Ignore him," Nu Tao King's calm voice rang out. "He's enslaved. Board immediately."
The remaining five obeyed without hesitation.
Nu Tao King rejoined them, sealing the shuttle and accelerating away just as a combined strike from millions of Zerg forces descended.
The Cloud-Piercing Shuttle was hurled like a meteor—but endured.
"Heavy treasure… palace-type," the Zerg Queen Mother hissed, frustration bleeding through.
Too late.
Nu Tao King's decisiveness shattered her plans.
In the distance, the shuttle escaped the sealed region and vanished into the Fire Spirit Abyss through instant teleportation.
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