NOVPUBAt the river’s very center, a small and stable vortex had unexpectedly appeared.
It rotated clockwise.
"Your Sea Serpent Clan’s entrance is so well hidden, no wonder no one can find it!" Xu Zimei said with a light chuckle.
If his guess about that tree was correct, it must have had a special bloodline detection function.
Only members of the Sea Serpent Clan could open this door, and if others tried, it would trigger an alarm.
He followed Liu Changfeng and jumped into the vortex.
Xu Zimei felt the world spin around him.
Only when his feet touched solid ground did he start to survey his surroundings.
It was a passageway where the river water had been cut off.
The walls of the passageway were embedded with transparent Luminous Pearls,
reflecting off the azure blue waters at the sides, and now and then colorful fish swam by, which was quite beautiful.
He walked through the tunnel with Liu Changfeng, and a palace appeared in the distance.
It was quite large, though its decorations were somewhat ordinary.
The view before Xu Zimei began to expand, and sea serpents of various colors and sizes swam freely around him.
These sea serpents varied greatly.
Some were in their original form, while others were transformed into humanoids.
A dark palace was situated in the middle of these buildings.
As he walked with Liu Changfeng, clan members often greeted them.
As the two were nearing the palace entrance, a large group of people rushed over from afar.
"My king, are you alright?"
The leaders of this group were three elders.
All three had gray-white beards and wore long black robes.
Their attire looked quite strange.
"Three Clan Elders," Liu Changfeng greeted the three men with a slight reverence.
"I heard you were trapped in Heaven Illuminating City, and I was thinking of sending someone for your rescue," the leading Clan Elder said hastily.
"Why have you returned alone, where are the others?" the second Clan Elder asked from the side.
"They... they’re all dead," Liu Changfeng paused for a moment before speaking sadly.
"How could that be? Has Heaven Illuminating City become that powerful?"
"Three Clan Elders, let’s talk about these matters later.
First, let me introduce someone to you," Liu Changfeng said, gesturing toward Xu Zimei.
"This is Brother Xu. If not for his help, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have been able to return."
The three Clan Elders looked at Xu Zimei with surprise and then exchanged simple greetings with a noticeably colder demeanor. After all, in their view, a youth as young as Xu Zimei probably saved Liu Changfeng by luck.
There wasn’t much to make of it.
Seeing the attitude of the three Clan Elders, Liu Changfeng felt a lump in his throat but continued anyway.
Then, the third Clan Elder was the first to speak: "My king, what should we do now?
If it really comes down to it, we could surrender to the Heaven Tiger Empire and let them protect our territory alone."
"Do you think the Heaven Tiger Empire would value us?" Liu Changfeng countered.
"Enough, your domestic affairs can wait and be slowly discussed later. Let’s attend to my issue first," Xu Zimei interjected indifferently.
The three Clan Elders glanced at Xu Zimei, irritation etching their brows.
"Brother Xu, come with me, I’ll take you to retrieve it now," Liu Changfeng quickly responded.
"My king, what have you promised him?" the leading Clan Elder asked curiously.
"He saved my life, and in return, I will give him a treasure from our storehouse," Liu Changfeng replied.
"This won’t do, that treasure cloth was left by our ancestors and holds great secrets within. How could we simply give it to strangers?" Clan Elder Two hastily replied.
"This is something I’ve promised, and there’s no need for the Clan Elders to worry about it," Liu Changfeng said, glancing at Xu Zimei.
After he saw that Xu Zimei didn’t get angry, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Clan Elder Three slightly frowned, his face not angry yet bearing an air of authority, and looked at Xu Zimei.
With a somewhat explosive voice, he said, "Young Master Xu, could you perhaps accept something else instead?
We are very grateful that you saved our king, but this treasure cloth was left by our ancestors, and we can’t simply hand it over to others."
Xu Zimei looked up indifferently and glanced at Clan Elder Three.
Then, faster than ordinary people could react, he appeared in front of Clan Elder Three with speed invisible to the flesh eye.
He grabbed the other’s neck and lifted him up.
"What are you trying to do?" Clan Elder One shouted from the side.
A "snap" sound.
As the words of Clan Elder One had just ended, Clan Elder Three’s head was twisted like a ball.
It rolled off and landed on the ground.
Seeing such a scene, everyone present became silent as cicadas in winter, with foreheads covered in cold sweat.
"Do you wish to be annihilated?" Xu Zimei’s gaze swept over all those present with a calm inquiry.
Liu Changfeng immediately snapped to attention and hurried to Xu Zimei’s side, saying, "Brother Xu, this is all a misunderstanding. Please don’t be angered.
I will take you to the treasury now."
Watching the departing backs of Xu Zimei and Liu Changfeng, the two Clan Elders finally took a deep breath and slowly calmed down.
They looked at the body of Clan Elder Three, dead beyond doubt.
And the speed of Xu, just now, was so fast that it almost exceeded their perception.
...
"It seems that your ’king’ doesn’t command much authority," Xu Zimei said lightly on the way.
"The three Clan Elders are highly respected and have many in the direct lineage. Originally, my father could suppress them while he was in power.
Unfortunately, after my father’s death, I had just taken the throne, and many in the clan refused to follow my lead!" Liu Changfeng said with a self-deprecating laugh.
"Tell me about the treasure cloth," Xu Zimei asked.
"Actually, I don’t know much either; it’s a story passed down within our clan," Liu Changfeng nodded in response.
"Our Sea Serpent Clan has lived here generation after generation. It is said that in ancient times, our ancestors witnessed a great cosmic event.
It is said that one day the sun split into two and the weather became extremely hot.
Many creatures perished in that great event due to the drought.
Then one day, one of the two suns suddenly fell.
My ancestor wanted to chase after that sun, but unfortunately, it fell too fast, and within a few breaths, it vanished without a trace.
Fortunately, my ancestor found a piece of treasure cloth that had fallen from that sun."
"Treasure cloth," Xu Zimei murmured. 𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
"Yes, after extensive research and examining countless secret records, my ancestor began to suspect that the sun was the legendary Taiyang Zuzhao," Liu Changfeng continued.
"For the second half of his life, my ancestor was nearly in a state of Demonic Skills. He was always studying that piece of treasure cloth, but sadly, until his death, he wasn’t able to decipher anything.
Laughably, in his dying words, he claimed that whoever could understand the mystery of the treasure cloth could lead our Sea Serpent Clan to rise.
Because of these words, many ancestors devoted their lifetimes to this piece of treasure cloth.
Unfortunately, they all came up empty, and in the end, we could only seal it away."
