Against The Heavens 113 The Throne Room.

Li Yang and Fang Ying trailed a little behind the other groups as they pa.s.sed through the open door and checked their surroundings. Stretching out beyond the door was a hallway that was a few tens of meters in width and height, going on for at least one or two hundred meters before ending in another door, this one engraved with an eagle and a fish both coiling around each other.

There were a few doors located along the walls of his hallway, but most of them were already opened, revealing somewhat small rooms containing only a few empty flowerpots, a single table, and two couches within. The walls in this hallway weren't nearly as damaged as the walls in the previous hall, but there were still a few long scratches that dug into the walls.

A few people cast sideways glances at Fang Ying to see what she was going to do. Fang Ying was the only one here who had reached the late stage of the Immortal Rebirth realm, she was the strongest one currently there. If she ended up taking an interest in something they went for, it would be hard for these groups to protect it. They heaved a stealthy sigh of relief when they saw that Fang Ying was more interested in chatting with Li Yang, only casually checking her surroundings.

The various groups quickly set out to open the various closed doors and inspecting the already opened rooms. Li Yang and Fang Ying calmly observed the various groups, occasionally casting a sideways glance into one of the rooms or entering them. Li Yang occasionally also cast a glance at the scratches on the walls, quietly conversing with Fang Ying and Langshen.

"These scratches should have been made using claws, not weapons. And looking at how high above the ground they are placed, the beast that made them should be rather big. It might be the beast responsible for the drops of blood on the scale and the feather. The previous hall should have been the waiting area for common guests, these rooms should be the waiting area for the more important guests. But they already seem to have been swept clean, there isn't even a single seed or speck of earth remaining."

The rooms had circular flowerpots, but all of them were completely empty and had faint scratch marks on the edges, the one that left the long scratches on the walls might have also emptied the flowerpots. But why they might have done something like that, Li Yang and Fang Ying had no idea. Neither of them was really searching the area, they left that to Langshen, who could easily use his control over s.p.a.ce to discover anything that might be hidden from plain sight.

There would occasionally be one or two small fights when people ended up arguing over who could take the couches or the pillows covering the couches, but no one was willing to start any large battles just yet. When they got closer to the closed door at the end of the hallway, only a few tens of meters away, Langshen stopped walking and used his nose to point at a certain scratch on the wall. Thanks to the fact that they were still trailing behind all the other groups, no one else saw Langshen's motion.

Li Yang and Fang Ying locked eyes for a short second before nonchalantly walking over to the scratch mark, casually inspecting it. But even after inspecting the entire scratch mark, they were unable to find anything strange about it. Fang Ying furrowed her brows and placed a finger against one end of the mark, a small amount of blood starting to cover the entire thing.

When the blood reached the halfway point of the mark, it slowed down for a short second. Fang Ying immediately stopped the blood, Li Yang stretching out his arm and placing his palm on the place where the blood had slowed down. He felt something tickle his palm when he placed it there, one of his eyebrows rising as he grabbed the thing he had touched and pulled back his arm.

He was now holding a small tuft of b.l.o.o.d.y fur, only visible thanks to the blood that Fang Ying had brought worth. He took one strand of the fur and traced it with his finger, stretching it out as far as he could. That one strand was almost 30 centimeters long and was completely invisible, save for the part that had been touched by the blood, only by using their Qi to do a thorough scan of the surroundings were they able to see it. Fang Ying s.n.a.t.c.hed a bit of the fur and did the same as Li Yang, both of them looking at the fur with a sliver of amazement.

"Invisible fur, huh? Let's hope the beast that left this behind isn't still alive, that would make things quite troublesome."

Demonic beasts who could become invisible were rather rare, they were also very troublesome and dangerous to fight. As for a Demonic beast that had naturally invisible fur like this? Neither Li Yang or Fang Ying had ever heard about anything like it, something that only served to further spark Li Yang's curiosity about this place. The two quickly put away the fur and continued to act nonchalantly, both of them activating their own respective tracking techniques to make sure that they weren't caught off guard.

The door at the end of the hallways was sealed up just like the previous one, a few people from each group stepping forward to figure out how the array that locked the door worked, slowly taking it apart by destroying the runes that controlled the array. The seal on this door wasn't as good as the one that had been present on the gate to the garden, it only took the groups half a day to break the array and push open the doors.

A burst of air filled with dense Qi was unleashed the moment the doors were pushed open, quickly sweeping over everyone gathered in the hallway. The Qi was far denser than it was in the outside world, it had even surpa.s.sed the density of Qi within the various high-grade training grounds of the Tian and Yuan clans. Clearly, there was a rather spectacular treasure located beyond the door.

Some of the groups let the greed go to their head and rushed into the room, but some of the other groups realized that treasures like this would often be guarded by either arrays or Demonic beasts. These groups followed the rushing groups, but they moved far slower than them, vigilantly sweeping their surroundings. Li Yang and Fang Ying once again walked in the very back, their vigilance reaching a peak as they stepped through the doors.

All the groups had now entered a ma.s.sive hexagonal hall, at least 20 kilometers in each direction. There were a total of 108 spiraling pillars spread throughout the room, each one covered in tiny engravings that seemed to tell a story, each pillar telling a different story. There were a few doors located at the very end of the hall, but the gazes of everyone was locked onto the centerpiece of the room, an elevated and tall throne carved from what seemed to be amber crystal.

There was a tall mound of earth placed in front of the steps that led up to the elevated throne, a few wilted flowers visible. And lying next to this mound of earth was a nearly fifty-meter-long skeleton with bones as white as milk, each bone still radiating an utterly suffocating amount of Qi. The skeleton was in the shape of a beast, likely a tiger or a panther, and it was lying so that its heart would be directly next to the mound of dirt.

Li Yang and Fang Ying's eyes narrowed faintly when they saw this skeleton, not only were there some teeth-mark on the bones, but it was also missing its Demon Crystal. Its flesh could rot, its skin and organs could wither away, but a Demon Crystal would exist until it was shattered, not even draining all the Qi within it would cause the Demon Crystal to vanish. For this skeleton to be missing its Demon Crystal, it meant that someone had likely already been here and s.n.a.t.c.hed it, or eaten it.

All the hairs on Li Yang's neck suddenly stood up, a feeling of danger flooding his body. He had yet to discover anything with his tracking technique, but he trusted his instincts and acted without hesitation. His golden-purple sword appeared in his grasp as he spun around, fire and lightning dancing around the blade and causing the air around it to distort.

His sword collided with something, a shock running through Li Yang's arms that made it feel like his attack had just collided with a mountain. He was pushed back a few steps from the force of the impact, a few drops of blood dripping down on the ground as the skin on his palms had split open. Standing in his previous position was a four-meter-long panther that had clean white fur and three tails ending in small sickles. There was a b.l.o.o.d.y scar on the side of the panther's head, golden fire and lightning tearing at the wound to make it grow larger.

Fang Ying and Langshen launched their own attacks the moment Li Yang spun around, but before they managed to hit it, the panther jumped back and then vanished into thin air. It seemed like the panther covered up the wound Li Yang left on its face, as he was no longer able to feel the fire or lightning that was tearing at the wound, it had likely suffocated the two elements using a very dense amount of energy.

At the same time as Li Yang blocked the attack, six other people in the room were attacked, all of them being the ones with the lowest cultivation. Five of the six died without being able to react, their heads suddenly getting crushed by the invisible panthers. The last person was able to react, turning around to block the attack, but his defense was too weak, faltering almost immediately. His head was crushed just like the other five, their corpses immediately dragged over to the mound of earth.

Li Yang gave his hands a few shakes to push away the aching sensation, a few drops of blood splashing the area. He activated a more basic tracking technique, simply stretching out his Qi as far as possible to inspect everything around him, but even then he was unable to detect the panthers. He clicked his tongue, quickly taking up position next to Fang Ying, who had rushed over to him alongside Langshen.

"Tch, seems like your guess was correct, there is indeed a beast still living in this castle, multiple of them too it seems. Not even the most basic scanning technique is able to detect them, they must have evolved or been bred for perfect stealth, we need to be very careful."

Not only did they have excellent stealth, but their bodies were also incredibly hard. Fighting Demonic beasts like this would be somewhat annoying and troublesome, especially since they had no idea just how many of them there were hiding within this hall. It could be just the seven of them, but there might also be more hiding around, waiting for an opening.

Fang Ying gave a fractal nod of her head, her red-veined sword appearing in her grasp as she vigilantly swept the surroundings, warning the others in the room about what they were facing. In a situation like this, it would be best to tell the others what they knew, it would not only reduce casualties, but it would also make it easier for everyone to work together to face the enemy.