Asura Emperor Venerable
Chapter 273: Imperial Palace

Chapter 273: Chapter 273: Imperial Palace

Shi Hao also headed towards the northeast direction, with Cao Feiyan and An Yuemei silently following behind.

Soon, they arrived in front of a locked room.

On the Spirit Exploration Compass, the light had already appeared in the center, indicating that the treasure should be inside this room.

In front, the person who had been leading them slowly turned around.

Hong Taihe.

However, Jian Chen and his four followers were not with him.

Why not?

Because they were severely injured by Shi Hao and now had to stay in Zhenwu Sect to recuperate.

"Shi Hao," Hong Taihe asked indifferently, this being the first time they faced each other.

Shi Hao smiled faintly, "Hong Taihe."

"You are very bold, not only refusing my goodwill but also injuring my followers," Hong Taihe said, not with rage, but with an unparalleled indifference.

In front of Shi Hao, he naturally felt a sense of superiority.

Whether in terms of strength or status, he had a stable advantage over his counterpart.

The only thing he lacked was that Shi Hao was incredibly handsome—a gap so clear that even he had to admit it wasn’t slight but stark.

Therefore, Shi Hao had two outstanding beauties by his side, while he was alone, somewhat irritating him internally.

Shi Hao shook his head, "Don’t I have the right to refuse to be a dog?"

"Being a dog for this disciple of cultivation is something countless people beg for and can’t get!" Hong Taihe declared proudly, and this was indeed true.

An Yuemei stepped forward and said, "Brother Hong, please give me some face and stop troubling Master Shi."

"Master Shi?" Hong Taihe scoffed. A mere three-star Pill Master also qualifies to be called a master?

He looked at An Yuemei, "I’ll give you face, but stay out of this matter, or else!"

An Yuemei was fearless, shaking her long sword with a cold expression on her pretty face.

Hong Taihe’s expression instantly turned ugly; clearly, she was showing her resolve to him.

"Junior sister, I am the true disciple of Zhenwu Sect!" he couldn’t help but remind her.

He didn’t have much desire for An Yuemei, but, lacking a better candidate, he wouldn’t mind marrying her.

Yet now that she so clearly sided with Shi Hao, he felt a strong sense of betrayal.

An Yuemei raised her sword, "Does being a disciple of cultivation give you the right to bully people?"

With that said, there was naturally no need to continue the discussion.

Hong Taihe looked menacing, his murderous intent boiling.

But before he could take action, a large group of people rushed over, including many powerful figures from Self-Observation.

Hong Taihe immediately abandoned the idea of attacking and even stepped aside.

Bang!

The door was forcibly broken open, and the crowd surged in.

"Spiritual Artifact!"

Someone shouted and then a great battle erupted, only the Self-Observation powerhouses could participate, others had no qualification to intervene.

As the commotion of the fight spread, more Self-Observation powerhouses arrived and joined the fray for the artifact.

Ultimately, the Spiritual Artifact was seized by Xiao Bo.

His combat power was astonishing, shocking many of the older Self-Observation members because Xiao Bo had never been so strong before.

Did this guy consume an Immortal Pill?

Not only had his appearance become youthful, but his strength had also skyrocketed.

Xiao Bo was exceedingly proud as he publicly manipulated the Spiritual Artifact, a Trident, incredibly sharp. When activated, the runes made it even sharper, virtually indestructible.

The crowd thoroughly searched the three inner floors and the three outer floors of the Right Minister’s Mansion, but they found nothing else of value.

Furthermore, within such a vast mansion, not even a single corpse was discovered.

When the Gulang Country perished, did everyone really flee?

If not, some bodies should have been found here.

However, it wasn’t just the Prime Minister’s Mansion that lacked corpses; as more corners of the city were excavated, people discovered that it was a deserted city.

Not to mention human corpses, even the remains of cats and dogs were nowhere to be found.

This was indeed incredible.

Soon, places like the General’s Mansion, the Right Minister’s Mansion, and so on, were all unearthed, yielding significant finds, especially a scroll of ancient texts that sparked a fierce scramble and was eventually torn into three parts.

Xiao Bo faced targeting, as several seasoned Self-Observation powerhouses teamed up to stop him, so even though his combat power had increased noticeably, facing three or even four opponents alone was clearly unrealistic.

However, the greatest treasure had not yet been found.

—The Imperial Palace!

If the Imperial Palace were unearthed, with treasures of five-star caliber appearing, whether these people could still remain united was uncertain.

By then, everyone would want to grab the treasures and run, naturally leading to a great brawl.

A few days later, the location of the Imperial Palace was finally discovered.

However, even after people had cleaned out the entire Imperial Palace and searched everywhere, they found absolutely nothing.

There was plenty of gold and jewels, but which Martial Artist would be moved by those?

What was going on, an immense Imperial Palace, and not even a single treasure to be found?

Not ready to give up, they began to dig three feet into the ground.

Since they had already been digging for so many days, a little longer wouldn’t make a difference.

Some, bolder and with no reservations, even went to the royal tombs in the palace, planning to rob the graves.

Many publicly disdained the idea, yet made excuses to go and watch, just in case some treasures were unearthed, they wouldn’t hesitate to intervene.

—If stolen from someone else, they could naturally disassociate themselves from the grave robbers.

Boom!

Someone knocked over a tomb, kicking up a cloud of dust, causing everyone to cover their noses.

"Eh!"

"Huh?"

After this tomb was toppled, people were surprised to discover that it was empty inside, containing a passage.

Under normal circumstances, this passage would have been virtually impossible to detect.

But now the Gulang Country had long since been destroyed, who would care about royal dignity?

The crowd couldn’t help but grow excited; could the treasures of the Gulang Country be hidden in this secret passage?

They each made their way in, eager to get ahead, which also sparked intense conflicts.

Eventually, a tacit agreement was reached among them, entering one by one according to the strength of each force.

Zhenwu Sect, already among the most powerful, now with Xiao Bo’s significantly enhanced strength, naturally led the vanguard into the secret passage.

They carried torches, brightly illuminating the passageway.

As they proceeded, the path suddenly opened up into a vast stone chamber.

"Eh, what is this place?"

Someone lit the torches already present in the stone chamber, only to see a wave of fire spreading rapidly, boom, boom, boom, each torch igniting in succession, as each was connected through channels filled with oil, igniting all at once.

That the oil hadn’t evaporated after so many years was a miracle in itself.

"An altar!"

Now, everyone could see clearly. In the center of the stone chamber was a huge platform, piled with offerings that, despite the years, still retained their original appearance.

"Immortal Elixirs!" Many people’s eyes suddenly lit up.