Chapter 808: Exploring the Ruins

For a Great Luo Golden Immortal like Ling Xiao, exchanging the secrets of the Demon God’s remains for a Post-Nature Supreme Treasure was undoubtedly a very worthwhile deal.
A Post-Nature Supreme Treasure was the highest-grade and most powerful immortal artifact; even many Immortal Emperors of the Third Heaven did not possess artifacts of such a rank.
The enormous temptation before her made Ling Xuan extremely tempted. After brief consideration, she looked straight into Su Che’s eyes and said softly, “I hope you can guarantee my safety.”
“That’s only natural,” Su Che nodded seriously and replied gently, “To be honest, this transaction with you already has elements of coercion. I must apologize for that first. That’s why I’m willing to make the greatest possible compensation and will never risk your safety.”
Su Che’s expression and tone were extremely sincere. Ling Xuan could tell by intuition that he was definitely not a villain. She just didn’t understand how he could associate with a ferocious figure like the Dragon Emperor.
“Then thank you, fellow cultivator.”
Ling Xuan pointed at an immortal artifact on the table and asked tentatively, “May I choose this one?”
“Yes,” Su Che nodded with a smile.
“Thank you.”
Ling Xuan thanked him again and took the Post-Nature Supreme Treasure into her hands, her face showing unmistakable joy.
Previously, she had doubts, reservations, and fears. Now that she actually held the treasure in her hands, overwhelming joy surged within her.
A Post-Nature Supreme Treasure!
From this moment on, she became its owner. Even if she ascended to an Immortal Emperor of the Fourth or Fifth Heaven millions of years later, she could still use it…
“Then I…”
She looked at Su Che and asked cautiously, “May I…?”
“Of course,” Su Che nodded with a smile. “Go and store it first. We’ll wait for you here.”
“Thank you, fellow cultivator. Thank you, Lord Dragon Emperor.”
Ling Xuan put away the treasure, bowed, and left temporarily.
A marketplace of Lingxiao Tianfu’s caliber had extremely well-developed storage facilities and systems. By paying a certain amount of immortal crystals, guests’ stored items would be fully protected, with high confidentiality—even the staff wouldn’t know what was inside the tightly sealed storage boxes, aside from the guests themselves.
In short, over its hundred million years of history, there had never been any issues with Lingxiao Tianfu’s storage facilities. Once guests paid, the merchants were obligated to protect their interests; otherwise, they wouldn’t be qualified to operate a marketplace in the Cloud Immortal Realm.

Not only is there a storage system, but within Tianfu, there is another relic notarization system. For example, if Ling Xuan believes the mission is extremely risky and could cost him his life, he can, in addition to storing his belongings, designate an heir to retrieve them after several years using a certain token. These are all part of Yunxiao Tianfu’s services—providing the greatest convenience to guests so that businesses can make a profit. This is true in both the Immortal Realm and the mortal world. After Ling Xuan left, the Dragon Emperor snorted coldly, “A Late-Stage Supreme Treasure? That’s far too cheap for her.” “For me, the importance of the Demon God’s Bone far exceeds a few Late-Stage Supreme Treasures,” Su Che replied calmly. “It’s just a matter of meeting each other’s needs. I don’t think I’m at a disadvantage.” After saying this, Su Che gave him a solemn warning, “You’d better not lay eyes on her. If she suffers any misfortune because of you in the future, I’ll stand by her side.” The usually domineering Dragon Emperor wasn’t annoyed at all; instead, he chuckled softly and said, “This shows that the Arbiter is truly an honest person. Dealing with you, I won’t suffer any loss. Haha, now I’m relieved.” Two hours later, Ling Xuan returned and first apologized, “I’m truly sorry for making Lord Dragon Emperor and the fellow cultivator wait so long.” Then he asked, “Shall we head to the Deer Emperor’s territory now?” “Yes,” Su Che nodded. Along the way, the Dragon Emperor sent a message asking, “Has that kid, the Deer Emperor, entered the Immortal Lord’s treasure vault?” Su Che nodded silently. “Lucky bastard!” The Dragon Emperor gritted his teeth secretly, his eyes gleaming with fury. Clearly, his jealousy had flared up again. Within the Deer Emperor’s territory was a swampy area called the Misty Barrier Swamp. Guided by Ling Xuan, the three of them arrived there. The swamps in the Immortal Realm have complex terrain—far more than just muddy plains covered in water plants. Within hundreds of thousands of square miles covered by swamps, there are also forests, mountains, and hills. In fact, it is precisely the presence of these forests, mountains, and hills that form a natural maze. Entering this swamp, lower-ranked immortals can easily get lost and take many detours. Moreover, the Misty Barrier Swamp is shrouded in a thin layer of mist all year round, which is actually a poisonous miasma that can cause hallucinations if one is exposed to it for too long. There are no valuable special products in the swamp, so few people venture into this barren land. It’s not an exaggeration to say it’s rarely visited. “Back then, I fought a life-and-death battle with an enemy and severely wounded him. He fled here and hid deep in the swamp…”

Above the swamp, as Ling Xuan flew, he slowly recounted, “After catching up with him, we engaged in another fierce battle. The shockwaves generated from our magical clashes created huge craters in an area of hills. In the end, I managed to kill my opponent and win by a narrow margin. But deep within one of those craters, I discovered a tunnel. Following that tunnel underground, I found a giant palace…”

The space in the Immortal Realm is extremely stable, and similarly, the soil and rocks on the surface are extremely hard and have strong insulating properties. It can be said that if stones from the Immortal Realm were used to build houses in the mortal world, along with a few defensive magic arrays, they could become impregnable fortresses.

Even a powerful being at the Mahayana stage couldn’t shatter a single brick or tile of such a fortress, so those inside would be utterly safe.

Generally speaking, even the divine consciousness of an Immortal Emperor couldn’t penetrate ten thousand zhang underground. Thus, many unknown secrets lie hidden deep beneath the Immortal Realm.

Yet because the Immortal Realm is so vast, even spending a lifetime exploring its depths might not yield just one or two secrets—such things depend on chance.

Ling Xuan continued, “But the problem is that the giant palace was surrounded by a powerful restriction. With my current cultivation level, I couldn’t break through that restriction no matter what I tried. All I could do was find those few pieces of the Demon God’s bones outside the palace.”

“I believe this palace is very likely the residence of some ancient Demon God, undoubtedly an ancient treasure that has never been opened. I thought I could keep this secret to myself and try to break the restriction again when I became an Immortal Emperor to uncover the secrets hidden within. But now…”

At this point, he shook his head slightly, implying that the secret no longer belonged to him—it had been bought by Su Che with a supreme treasure acquired later in life.

“A subterranean palace?”

Su Che nodded silently, guessing in his heart, “That subterranean palace is likely the lair of the Demon God. It was originally built on the surface but sank deep underground due to the punishment of the Heavenly Dao. The powerful restriction mentioned by Ling Xuan is actually the sealing force resulting from that heavenly punishment. Not even a Great Luo Golden Immortal like her, let alone a Ninth Heaven Immortal Emperor, could break through that restriction.”

“What kind of worthless treasure!”

The Dragon Emperor wore a look of disdain and said gloomily, “Any relic related to the ancient demon gods will suffer the punishment of the Heavenly Dao. Even ancient treasures will turn into useless relics, no different from stones and dirt. At most, only the bones of the demon gods themselves may retain some value. I’ve encountered a few such remnants of demon gods in the Earth Immortal Realm as well, but I never touch them, lest I end up in trouble instead of gaining anything.”
Though harsh, it was the truth—most immortals avoided the power of the Heavenly Dao’s punishment.
The remaining journey of over ten thousand miles passed in an instant. The poisonous miasma of the swamps couldn’t affect a Great Luo Golden Immortal, let alone a powerful figure like the Dragon Emperor.
When they reached a higher-lying hilly area, Ling Xuan landed and pointed downward, saying, “This is it.” Then she used the Earth Concealment technique to dive underground first.
Clearly, the deep pit created back then had long been buried by her, merely to conceal the remnants of the demon gods beneath.
Diving at high speed, she soon entered the passage she mentioned and continued deeper. After about a quarter of an hour, having descended hundreds of thousands of feet underground, she indeed saw a massive cave.
At the center of the cave stood a black palace hundreds of feet tall, with a simple design—not particularly exquisite, but in line with the rough style of the ancient demon gods.
Ling Xuan had already explored this place thoroughly. She walked straight to the palace’s main gate and turned to Su Che, saying, “Fellow cultivator, take a look. It’s this layer of restriction. No matter what I try, I can’t break it.”
As she spoke, she tapped the black gate, which was ten feet high.
She had expected a barrier-like restriction to appear upon contact, but what happened next stunned Su Che and the Dragon Emperor, leaving Ling Xuan herself in awe.
Whoosh…
The incredibly thick black gate slowly swung inward—pushed open with just a light touch.
“How is this possible?”
Ling Xuan stammered in shock, “Why is it so easy to open this time?”
Despite her words, she stepped forward without hesitation, passing through the gate and entering.
“Don’t go in!” Su Che shouted, but he couldn’t stop her. Watching her figure vanish into the dark gate, he could only sigh inwardly, “This woman is too reckless. She just goes in without even testing it?”
At that moment, the Dragon Emperor transmitted a message, “My divine sense can’t penetrate inside. Do you really intend to go in?”
Even the powerful divine sense of a Seventh Heaven Immortal Emperor couldn’t penetrate the palace, let alone Su Che’s Golden Immortal divine sense.

Su Che replied in a low voice, “We definitely have to go in, but first…” Yet before he could finish, he saw Ling Xuan sticking his upper body out from inside the door, waving excitedly and saying, “Fellow cultivator, come quickly! There are so many remains of demon gods!”
Huh?
As a Great Luo Golden Immortal who could enter and exit freely, this meant there was no danger inside.
Su Che wasn’t very afraid of the power of heavenly punishment and was even bolder in this regard. Without further hesitation, he dashed through the doorway and entered the vast palace.
The Dragon Emperor frowned and hesitated for a moment, but had no choice but to follow the Judge Lord inside.
Once inside, everything was pitch black; his divine sense was completely useless, and he couldn’t see the remains of demon gods that Ling Xuan had mentioned.
Su Che and the Dragon Emperor were like blind people. Just as they were wondering why, they heard a loud thud! The palace doors closed suddenly behind them.
Followed by Ling Xuan’s shrill cackling, which echoed around, extremely grating to the ears.
Total darkness—nothing to see, nothing to feel!
Su Che and the Dragon Emperor both felt a chill in their hearts and silently sighed, “It seems we’ve been tricked!”