The Heavens: A Qing, the Yue Girl at the beginning

"Cry--" The giant eagle let out a long cry, spread its wings again, and landed steadily at the entrance of the valley.

The old woman held a long, shiny black staff in her hand and jumped lightly off the eagle's back with agile movements that did not look like her age at all. Her eyes were bright and gave people a sense of majesty without even being angry.

She looked at Zhao Qing and Xia Mi warily and asked, "Who are you? What is your purpose here?"

"Let's go to the Dragon Tomb and take a look." Zhao Qing casually showed a token given by the Emperor of Chu: "What is the name of this old lady? Please lead the way and introduce the situation here."

"You can call me Madam Yun." After verifying the authenticity of the token, the old woman with a cane relaxed her expression and nodded: "I am served by the court of the Great Chu and have been guarding the Dragon Tomb here for more than sixty years. Since you hold the imperial order, you are naturally qualified to enter and take a look..."

“However,” she patted the drooping wings of the giant eagle beside her, signaling it to leave on its own to patrol and forage nearby: “To open the mechanical door here, at least four or five ordinary masters are needed. I can only be equivalent to two and a half at most, which is still a few steps short of this standard…”

Speaking of this, Nanny Yun, who was suspected to be a senior maid in the Chu Imperial Palace in the early years and has now become a veteran master, couldn't help but look at Zhao Qing and Xia Mi with a bit of inquiry, as if she didn't quite believe that these two people who looked very young had master-level skills.

In her opinion, this time the Emperor of Chu sent people to open the gate and enter the Dragon Tomb to inspect the conditions inside. Although the time is quite different from previous years, there will not be any special changes. It should still be the familiar faces among the old servants of the palace who come.

Strangers like Zhao Qing who had never been seen before were most likely just younger generations who came along with her, were very talented, and might try to take over the "responsibility of guarding the tomb" in the future. They just walked in a hurry and got ahead of the "familiar faces", but those who were truly qualified to join forces with her were the ones behind her.

Thinking this in her heart, Nanny Yun remained silent on the surface. She just waved her long staff and removed several layers of concealing illusion arrays from a distance, revealing a circle and a half of moss-grown ring area on the entire mountain wall. At the same time, she calmly explained the preparations needed to open the tomb door:
"To put it simply, just press hard on these claw marks and circle them three times to the right."

"Don't underestimate the word 'use force' that I mentioned. This dragon tomb door is not only extremely solid, but also weighs over 100 million kilograms, far exceeding the imagination of practitioners below the seventh realm. If the pressure is not strong enough, it will not be able to activate the mechanism inside, let alone open the stone door..."

"So, is this how it is opened?" Zhao Qing smiled slightly. He already knew that the mechanism here should have been set up by the ancient dragon clan. It was very simple and crude, different from the various magic arrays today with various shapes and changes. It only had an outrageous power requirement and only needed to rotate and drive hundreds of millions of pounds of rock.

Before the other party could finish his words, she had a thought and condensed a palm of energy several dozen feet in size out of thin air in front of her. Her fingertips were crystal clear and she aimed at the claw marks and embedded them into them. The powerful force instantly penetrated the mountain wall, pressed down the entire circle of dragon claw marks, and began to rotate.

Accompanied by a loud rumbling sound, as if a small earthquake had occurred, the entire cliff was shaking, debris kept rolling down from great heights, and the thick fog was stirred up continuously. Even the giant eagle that had already taken off into the sky again could not help but look down.

In the flying dust, the stone door that was cracked by the dragon's claws and originally fit tightly with the cliff, turned three times clockwise under the pressure of Zhao Qing's giant palm shadow that seemed to be real, and then slowly sank inward, revealing a deep and unfathomable cave entrance.

"Wait!" Nanny Yun was stunned when she saw this scene. She immediately remembered that the stone chamber where she lived was carved out on this claw mark, and she had not had time to pack up the belongings inside!

The entire stone door began to rotate. Wouldn't the bottles and jars containing things immediately be scattered and smashed to pieces?
But when she was thinking about whether she should stop the rotation and whether stopping it now would still work, her eyes suddenly widened and an expression of disbelief appeared on her face.

This was because his belongings showed no signs of overturning or falling as the stone chamber rotated. Instead, they all remained in their original relative positions.

Obviously, there is an extremely condensed true energy that fixes them, causing them to rotate synchronously with the stone chamber at the same angular velocity, maintaining a relatively static state, and naturally showing extremely delicate and subtle true energy manipulation skills!
"This..." Nanny Yun couldn't help but look at Zhao Qing in astonishment, only to see the latter calmly retracting his vital energy palm, and at the same time dissipating the true energy that was acting on those debris.

She turned around and looked at Nanny Yun, smiling slightly, "Don't worry, Nanny, your things are intact."

He was able to open the tomb door by himself and provide such delicate protection at the same time, doing it so casually and effortlessly. I'm afraid even Your Majesty would find it difficult to do it!
Nanny Yun was secretly surprised. She knew that the opponent's strength was far superior to her own "Xuanwu Vajra Dharmakaya" that she had cultivated for many years. He was definitely one of the great masters in the world. She immediately collected her thoughts and thanked Zhao Qing solemnly, "Thank you for your help."

"You're welcome." Zhao Qing nodded and looked at the tomb door that sank dozens of feet into the mountain wall, revealing a passage more than twenty feet wide, as well as the traces of dragon claws cutting and dragon scales rubbing on the rock wall. He had a more intuitive feeling of the size of the ancient dragon clan.

She turned around, gestured to Xia Mi, and walked into the cave first, asking, "I wonder how far the deepest part of the dragon tomb is from here, and what kind of structure is inside? Can Nanny Yun explain it to us in detail?"

"Of course." Nanny Yun responded and quickly followed Zhao Qing's steps. She began to tell what she knew: "This ancient dragon tomb was accidentally discovered by our Emperor Wen of Chu when he was hunting in Yunmengze about four hundred years ago after he obtained the Ruhuang dog and the Wanlu silk."

"At that time, Emperor Wen of Chu led many guards deep into the swamp to hunt dragons. As a result, they noticed the ancient ruins outside the island. After several investigations, they confirmed that this was a former residence of the Three Emperors Sect. Later, it was occupied by the You Dynasty's army. It is said that even Emperor You came here in person."

"With these discoveries, Emperor Wen of Chu was naturally very interested. He neglected his official duties and secretly dispatched many royal experts to search the island for three full months before accidentally noticing the huge dragon claw marks in the valley. He then found the dragon tomb with the entrance hidden in the mountain wall."

"According to historical records, when the tomb door was opened, dragon energy gushed out of the tomb, condensed into a dragon shape, and soared into the sky, causing a strange phenomenon in the world that shook the four directions."

"After that, Emperor Chu Wen ordered the news to be blocked and this place was designated as a forbidden area. Only members of the royal family and royal servants were allowed to enter to explore and collect the resources inside. Every time the tomb door was opened, it required the cooperation of multiple masters and consumed a large amount of true energy to prevent the 'tomb keeper' from being greedy and stealing."

"The giant eagles that are patrolling the island now are descendants of the falcons that Emperor Wen received from the aliens and tamed in the past. They have passed down the responsibility of guarding the Dragon Tomb from generation to generation, and together with the 'tombkeepers' they are guarding the secrets of this forbidden land."

At this point, Nanny Yun paused and continued, "As for the structure inside the Dragon Tomb, just like the mechanism of the tomb door that can be opened with brute force, it is actually not complicated at all, and there are no traps for latecomers. Just follow the corridor and go down."

"After all, the dragon clan at that time, as the rulers of the entire world, did not need to worry about anyone daring to disturb their sleep or dig up their graves, so they simply dug out a large enough space to place the remains of their clansmen, and sealed the stone door with great force from the outside."

"The corridor of this dragon tomb extends downward in a spiral shape. Its depth and length are quite astonishing. According to my estimation, it is at least five or six thousand feet deep underground. The further you go down, the wider the corridor becomes, from the initial twenty feet to gradually expanding to hundreds of feet, or even wider."

"Five or six thousand feet?" Hearing this, even Zhao Qing was slightly surprised by the huge amount of work involved. He asked, "How big is the 'main tomb' at the bottom? And are there any murals, texts, or other information carved on the walls of this spiral corridor? Can you confirm the approximate age of the dragon tomb?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you on this point." Nanny Yun shook her head and said with some regret: "Every few years, I and a few other worshippers have to come here to pick some of the 'Dragon Blood Grass', 'Dragon Scale Fern', 'Dragon Fat Mushroom', and 'Dragon Seal Moss' growing there. We come here quite often."

"But apart from the first section of the corridor, which has a few simple totems and symbols carved by the dragons, the deeper you go, the walls become bare, with nothing left... I guess the dragons have their own way of passing on memories and knowledge, so there's no need to record their history in the tomb."

"As for the size of the underground space at the bottom, it is truly astonishing. It can at least accommodate the entire palace. However, since this giant cave is only illuminated in the center and the edges are quite dark, we are unable to accurately estimate its specific scope and can only do a rough exploration."

"Light?" Xia Mi, who had been following behind and occasionally touching the claw marks on the rock wall with a thoughtful look, caught this key word and asked curiously: "Is it formed naturally, or is there something glowing over there?" "I think it's the latter." Nanny Yun shook her head, recalling what she had seen in the past, and slowly narrated: "I don't know where this light comes from. It's like a kind of heaven and earth energy condensed into substance, with colors constantly changing, sometimes golden red like fire, sometimes blue like the sea, wandering in the middle of the tomb."

"According to the previous 'gravekeeper', this is most likely the law of vital energy that was engraved in the world by the great powers of the Eight Realms in ancient times. Perhaps it came from the ancient dragon who built the tomb, or perhaps it was other powerful people who entered this place in later generations and wanted to explore the secrets of the dragon clan. In short, there is no way to verify it."

A magic array arranged with the divine runes of the Great Dao? Zhao Qing's heart moved. This trip to explore the dragon tomb was already a guaranteed gain. In addition, along the way, she secretly figured out the power and direction of the dragons' claws when they dug the tunnel, and gained a deep understanding of the ancient dragons' power-using mode.

"The specific age of the Dragon Tomb," Madam Yun pondered for a moment and continued, "Based on some ancient inscriptions that Emperor Chu Wen found in the ruins of the Three Emperors Sect, and the semi-petrified 'Dragon Crystal Fruit' that was later found in the Dragon Tomb, it can probably be traced back to tens of thousands of years ago."

"At that time, the dragon race was still in its prime and dominated the world. Their power was so strong that it was unimaginable. Even the weakest dragon member had more power than most of the masters today, and their lifespan was so long that even the existence of the Eight Realms Qi Tian could not compare to it..."

The three of them talked as they walked quickly along the dim and empty corridor, and soon they came to a place more than a thousand feet underground. On the rock walls on both sides, at regular intervals, there were luminous pearls the size of washbasins, which emitted a soft light that could barely illuminate the surrounding environment.

If such huge pearls were placed in the outside world, each one would be a treasure that could be auctioned for at least hundreds of thousands of gold. But here, they are just randomly embedded in the stone wall for the purpose of lighting, and there are so many of them that it is simply unimaginable.

"It's actually a 'vitality lamp' made of a special material." Zhao Qing touched a bead on the wall and found that the value of these things was a little hard to say. They were not truly rare jewels, but they were able to absorb the vitality between heaven and earth and transform it into light. They did not need to be replaced and had no consumption, so they could provide permanent illumination.

"This type of 'vitality lamp' was quite common in ancient times, especially in the caves and tombs of powerful people. It was considered a symbol of status."

"With the passage of time, the method of making the 'vitality lantern' has been lost, and now only these relics remain, which can give us a glimpse of the glory of the past."

Nanny Yun gave an explanation and dispelled Xia Mi's idea of ​​digging them away: "Unfortunately, these 'lights' are closely connected to the surrounding heaven and earth energy environment. If they are forcibly taken away, they will lose their light and turn into ordinary stones. Only a few people in the world will be able to see them with their own eyes."

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They continued to advance to a depth of a thousand feet. The distance between the "vitality lamps" became farther and farther, but on the surrounding cave walls, some glowing mosses and ferns began to grow, illuminating the environment on both sides of the corridor with a dark blue and mysterious feeling, which had a dreamy beauty.

"These are 'Glow Moss' and 'Firefly Fern'." Nanny Yun plucked a few of them, put them in her mouth and started chewing them. While chewing, she introduced them, "They only grow in moist, energetic and pure places. They are rarely seen in the outside world. Their growth rate is much slower than that of ordinary mosses and ferns."

"After another thousand feet, it will be infected by the dragon's aura and transformed into higher-level 'Dragon Seal Moss' and 'Dragon Scale Fern'. The color will also change to a certain extent, becoming light blue with fine gold patterns. It is an indispensable auxiliary material for refining some high-quality elixirs."

"One of our missions this time is to collect the precious medicinal herbs that are unique to the dragon tomb environment."

The three of them continued to go deeper. As the corridor continued to widen, the air around them became heavier, as if even time was flowing more slowly here. The air was permeated with an ancient and vast atmosphere that made people involuntarily feel awe.

"We're finally here." When we reached the end of the corridor, the front was already shrouded in moving light. It was an indescribable color, as if it contained all the splendor in the world.

Looking at the underground space from afar, it was found to be more than a thousand feet wide and hundreds of feet high, with a dome-shaped top, like a natural underground palace. Zhao Qing and others stood at the entrance, like tiny ants facing the boundless wilderness.

In this isolated little underground world, the soil on the entire ground looks extremely soft and is grayish white in color.

Gusts of cold wind blew, occasionally rolling up large flakes of gray-white dust, like a violent snowstorm, flying and circling in the air, and finally slowly falling back to the ground, adding a bit of bleakness and desolation to this mysterious space.

However, in this seemingly dead environment, there grow countless rare spiritual flowers and herbs. Some are gorgeous, some are strange, and emit a faint fluorescence, which makes people forget the gloom around them and brings a touch of vitality to the ancient dragon cemetery.

Some huge skeletons are scattered everywhere, some are complete and some are incomplete, but all of them reveal the majesty and power of the ancient dragon clan. Some are over a hundred feet long, while others are relatively small. But even the smallest dragon skeleton here is more than twenty feet in size.

"Have you brought the 'Golden Medal of Immunity'?" Nanny Yun quickly activated a true energy shield around her body, walked slowly in front, and warned: "It is best not to touch these floating gray gases! Try to stay in the air and be careful to dodge!"

"This gray gas is the resentment of generations of dragons who died at the end of their lives and the vitality in their corpses. It is the evil energy of the dragon, which can dissolve almost all true energy! Although it has no harm to the body and flesh of the Seventh Realm Grandmaster, it has temporarily lost his cultivation, so it will be very difficult to move."

A golden medal of immunity from death? Zhao Qing had recently found time to read many books in the library of the Chu Imperial Palace. He understood that the "golden medal of immunity from death" mentioned by the other party was not the token bestowed by the emperor to meritorious officials in ordinary feudal dynasties, which allowed them to enjoy special rights and pardon the death penalty, but a secret treasure unique to the You Dynasty.

To put it simply, during a certain period of Emperor You's reign, for some unknown reason, a martial arts competition limited to young people was held every few years. The competition was divided into many events, and a batch of gold, silver, bronze, and iron medals were specially made to reward young talents who he considered to be talented and worthy of cultivation.

Whether it is the gold medal, silver medal, bronze medal or iron medal, they are all extremely special defensive weapons. The first three are equal in number and are only awarded to the top three in each competition. Iron medals are more abundant and all outstanding people have the opportunity to obtain them.

In addition to being able to withstand one or more powerful attacks on their own after being infused with true energy in advance, they are also said to have the passive property of seeking fortune and avoiding misfortune, and resisting calamity, which can greatly increase the wearer's chances of survival in dangerous situations.

In later generations, most of the gold, silver, copper and iron medals had exhausted their power during long-term circulation and use. The medals that have survived to this day with basically intact functions are extremely rare, so they are all collectively called "Golden Medals of Immunity from Death". In fact, their quality varies greatly and the differences between them are huge.

But no matter which brand it is, it plays an almost irreplaceable role in current situations where we need to avoid being contaminated by the "evil spirit of the dragon", and is regarded as a must-have item for visiting special areas with vital energy environments such as dragon tombs.

Because of their inherent passive characteristics, they can truly provide all-round protection. Although their strength is not as strong as the grandmaster-level Zhenyuan Gangzhao, they can greatly weaken the resentment and vitality erosion contained in the gray air, and are worthy of being the products of the Youchao who are proficient in dragon taming.

However, when Zhao Qing went out, she did not ask Emperor Chu for such a "gold medal". With her cultivation and vision, she naturally did not think it was a necessity. On the contrary, she was interested in exploring the nature of this evil spirit in depth to see if it had any other uses.

As for Xia Mi, a character who could grow into the "Goddess of Death Hela", she would not be affected by this kind of dragon evil spirit at all. She had even been secretly absorbing and trying to refine it while walking behind and no one was paying attention.

But after a while, the look on her face was not very good, and there was a hint of disappointment.

...(End of chapter)