Journey to the head

The strange serpent beast was savoring its delicious meal when it suddenly felt an excruciating pain in its body. It struggled violently, and the scenery before its eyes blurred, turning into the hideous faces and gaping maws of its two companions.

They are devouring their own flesh and blood!
Not far away, the jade dragon that was holding Lu Qian was stunned.

Just now, Lu Qian used his powerful mental energy, comparable to the early stage of the Yuan Shen realm, to activate the Dream Weaving technique, easily pulling the strange snake beast into the dream. Yu Jiao was just about to unleash his innate divine power, White Dragon Divine Thunder, to deliver a severe blow to the strange snake.

Little did they know that just as the divine thunder surged into their throats, the two primordial spirit companions of the strange snake, who had just passed the slumbering snake, immediately stopped, turned around, circled the snake twice, and seeing that it was still asleep, let out an excited roar and took a big bite!
Their former companions instantly became highly nutritious food!

They actually wanted to take the opportunity to kill the Devouring Serpent and find a chance to evolve and mutate.

However, they did not understand the principles of dream weaving. The attack on the strange snake was not fatal. In pain, it struggled to wake up from the dream and immediately discovered that its companion was about to do something bad. It suddenly let out an extremely sharp roar, and various heads of different sizes grew on its body with facial features. Various beams of light, some blue, some green, some cyan, some purple, some white, and some black shot out.

In an instant, explosions, screams, and roars filled the air as the three primordial spirit beasts clashed. Taking advantage of the moment, Lu Qian led the Jade Dragon forward once more.

As he fled, he memorized the habits of the wild beasts. He recalled how, in the past, when faced with a tide of wild beasts, he had relied on the octopus captain's magical ink to blacken a large area of ​​the sea, causing the beasts to become berserk and attack each other, thus allowing him to escape. Today's events were similar; this could be considered a fatal weakness of the wild beasts, and one of the reasons why they were unable to dominate Yuan Chen. He would make good use of this in the future.

However, there were still seven or eight Nascent Soul level wild beasts trailing behind. They dared not participate in the fierce battle between the three Nascent Soul level wild beasts, and instead slightly bypassed them to chase after Lu Qian.

Lu Qian frowned, intending to deploy a grand formation to eliminate them together with the Jade Flood Dragon, when he heard two roars. The three Nascent Soul Beasts had already decided their fate. Because it was trapped in the dream, it lost the initiative and was seriously injured. The other two beasts successfully killed and devoured it, and were now chasing after Lu Qian while swallowing its prey.

In the short time it took to catch up, large and small fleshy lumps began to writhe and grow on the body of one of the beasts, and each lump began to contort into deformed facial features. Meanwhile, the seven dorsal fins of the other beast were also writhing incessantly, like a lump of soft mud, kneading into seven long snake heads.

They inherited some of the abilities of the strange serpent beasts by devouring them!
Although one of them died, the remaining two were even more dangerous. The speed of such mutation was truly astonishing. Lu Qian stopped the urge to turn back and continued to flee, pulling the jade dragon along.

And so it went, another chase and escape, skimming over underwater mountains, passing through coral forests, and swimming over jagged rocks, until they had fled to an unknown place, having long forgotten their former seas.

As the two primordial spirit beasts drew ever closer, Lu Qian suddenly turned around, his mental power surging once more, and he used the same trick again: Dream Weaving!
With a flash of white light, Lu Qian and the enormous, strangely shaped, dragon-patterned beast simultaneously fell into a deep sleep.

Jade Dragon had already received Lu Qian's instructions. It picked up Lu Qian and continued to fly away. When it looked back, another wild beast, as expected, did not let go of such a golden opportunity. It suddenly pounced, and its seven long snake heads tightly bound its sleeping companion, injecting it with a soul-corroding and heart-devouring poison.

Another battle began, and Lu Qian and his companion continued to rush forward, plunging headlong into the abyss.

Unfortunately, the outcome was decided much faster this time. In the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the final winner had already appeared behind Lu Qian and his companion.

It was a wild beast that had undergone another major mutation, and its spiritual pressure had increased significantly. Its body had become increasingly thick and long, and the head that had been formed from its dorsal fin had now completely arched forward, with a total of eight snake heads coiled around it and hissing. Large swaths of poisonous mist spread out, and the seawater seemed to boil wherever it passed.

Its body was covered with scales of different sizes and shapes, in various colors, and the scales were covered with patterns resembling human faces. At first glance, it looked like tens of thousands of human faces were wailing, which was terrifying.

In the rear half of its body, more than a dozen octopus-like tentacles were waving vigorously, spewing out powerful air waves. The huge roar crushed the seawater, generating shockwaves that shattered the rocks on both sides of the abyss.

With the help of these tentacles, its speed surpassed that of an ordinary primordial spirit, and it quickly caught up with Lu Qian and the jade dragon, pouncing on them.

Lu Qian let out a soft shout, his sea of ​​consciousness surged, and his mental power erupted. He used Dream Weaving once again, intending to pull the newly born eight-headed monstrous snake beast into the dream, and then let it fight each other with the seven Nascent Soul beasts that were following behind.

A flash of white light appeared, and just as the Jade Dragon was about to pull the unconscious Lu Qian back, the illusionary light formed by the condensed mental power struck the body of the eight-headed serpent. However, it was like a drop of water falling on a lotus leaf, sliding smoothly down its strange scales!
Jade Dragon's eyes widened; it was the first time it had ever seen Lu Qian's illusion completely fail.

Lu Qian was greatly surprised. Could it be that the eight strange snakes created from the illusions created by the first two wild beasts, which were affected by the illusions, had gained the ability to be immune to illusions?

The eight-headed serpent had already approached, opening its mouth wide, and eight beams of light of different colors and mysterious shapes shot out from its mouth. Just as Lu Qian pushed the jade dragon away, he was hit by all eight beams of light and instantly annihilated.

But in the next instant, Lu Qian reappeared from another direction, the white light between his brows shining brighter once more.

Spell: Darkness and Chaos!

If illusions don't work, use curses to knock it unconscious. As long as it's stunned for a moment, it can trigger infighting!
However, when the spell struck the eight-headed serpent's body, the same thing happened again. The spell's ripples slid off its scales without causing the slightest disturbance.

This strange snake's evolution didn't grant it immunity to illusions; instead, it granted it complete immunity to all psychic attacks!

Of course, it's impossible to be completely immune; there must be an upper limit. But Lu Qian doesn't have time to test that limit right now. His attack failed, and he was immediately hit by several beams of light at the same time, forcing him to hastily escape using the Mirror Flower Water Moon technique.

Fortunately, although the strange snake could rely on its scales to be immune to the psychic attacks it was subjected to, its own mind was still disordered and its psychic power was weak. It could not see through Lu Qian's invisible avatar at all, nor could it stop Lu Qian's Mirror Flower Water Moon and spatial teleportation.

Lu Qian took a breath. He had been running all the way and frequently used his mental power, so his sea of ​​consciousness was now mostly empty.

The eight-headed serpent in front of him continued to roar and chase after him. Lu Qian was unwilling to get entangled with it any longer. His nascent soul opened its eyes wide in anger and had already taken the golden tree branch into its hand.

However, with a sizzle, a dazzling white light illuminated the dark and gloomy abyss. The thunder roared and was fierce and unparalleled. The dragon-shaped white lightning struck first, vaporizing the seawater in its path and creating a vacuum in an instant, before slamming into the eight-headed monster snake!

With a loud bang, the eight-headed monstrous snake was slammed into the abyss's rocky wall.

It was after Yu Jiao advanced to the Nascent Soul stage that his innate divine power, White Dragon Divine Thunder, solidified. Not only was its power greater than before, but its consumption was also greatly reduced. It completely got rid of the predicament of being unable to use it for more than a couple of times and could be used at will with a very light burden.

However, the difference in their cultivation levels was too great, and Yu Jiao's White Dragon Divine Thunder couldn't cause much damage, only temporarily forcing the eight-headed monster snake away. But the two were of one mind, and in that instant, Lu Qian heard Yu Jiao's inner cry.

"My lord, look!"

During the chase, neither side had escaped to any known location. At this moment, in the dark and unfathomably deep rift valley, a beam of light suddenly appeared in the distance!
Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a water palace!
Who would choose to build the Water Palace in this dark place where even aquatic creatures have disappeared?

But no matter what, there are still other people here! Just then, the seven Nascent Soul beasts pounced on them. Lu Qian snorted coldly, pressing down on the golden tree branch without taking it out. Instead, he clasped his hands together, and five-colored light spread across the sky, with the five elements of spiritual energy surging and rushing.

The Five Elements Realm unfolded, and various Five Elements Grand Arrays, including the Chaotic Entanglement, the Nine Netherworld Yin Fire, and the Heavenly Punishment Divine Thunder, emerged in five layers of transformation. Each of these arrays possessed the power of a Nascent Soul cultivator at its peak, and they bombarded the enemy relentlessly.

Lu Qian flicked his hands again, and the Mirror of Truth flew into the air, its light sweeping across and slowing down the appearance of objects. The Spirit Suppressing Pagoda's tassels jingled, radiating golden light and suppressing everything above and below.

For a moment, the seven Nascent Soul level wild beasts were blocked and unable to advance.

Jade Dragon sensed Lu Qian's intention and unleashed another White Dragon Divine Thunder. This time, the White Dragon Divine Thunder contained the top-grade magic weapon, Annihilation Thunder Pearl, which had been cultivated into a natal magic weapon. The lightning was even more terrifying and surging, with arcs of electricity flashing within a radius of a thousand feet, which slowed down the eight-headed monster snake that had just jumped out.

The two retreated swiftly towards the water mansion, intending to divert trouble and use someone else to do their dirty work. They hoped that by using the Jade Dragon's pure bloodline, they could get the water mansion's master to lead his navy to their aid.

But when they arrived at the Water Palace, Lu Qian and Yu Jiao were immediately taken aback.

This water palace was carved out of the rock wall of this deep ravine. It does not occupy a large area, with only a few courtyards, a few pavilions, and a few squares. In terms of scale, it is comparable to the Dragon Lord's Mansion of the Coral City's Tide Lord, and does not seem to be able to garrison a large number of naval troops.

What's more troublesome is that although the defensive array of this water mansion is still operating and radiating spiritual pressure at the primordial spirit level, Lu Qian's superb array formation skills and keen perception can tell that the array has been unattended for a long time and is only operating by the array diagram alone, which has already shown signs of sluggishness.

The great array has been unused for at least several decades.

Looking around again, one sees that within this underwater palace, aquatic plants grow rampant, obstructing the paths, and algae spread across the halls and pavilions. Fish, jellyfish, corals, and anemones, originally intended for display, have long since left their gardens, growing wildly and wandering freely within the palace. Due to the lack of cultivation and care over time, these ornamental creatures have multiplied freely, losing their vibrant colors and returning to their natural state.

Apart from the spiritual light of the grand formation, the entire underwater palace was pitch black, without a single light in sight. All signs indicated that this underwater palace beneath the abyss had been uninhabited for decades, perhaps even centuries!
At this moment, Lu Qian, who had already approached, felt something jump suddenly in his storage bag. The Water Mansion Formation seemed to be attracted, trembled slightly, and flashed with spiritual light. The fish in the Water Mansion were startled and scattered in all directions.

This is--

With a loud whoosh, eight beams of light of different colors pierced through Lu Qian's body again and struck the great formation, instantly activating it. Heavy spiritual pressure began to spread, and the formation underwent changes within it.

Lu Qian only needed one glance to know that this was the Twelve Capital Heaven Sumeru Formation.

But now is not the time for research. Having once again dodged the attack of the eight-headed serpent with the Mirror Flower Water Moon technique, Lu Qian took a deep breath. He needed to quickly deal with the wild beast in front of him and then properly explore this water palace.

If I'm not mistaken, it is—

Boom! Jade Dragon screamed like a pig being slaughtered, as it was being chased by three Nascent Soul level wild beasts. Although Lu Qian knew that Jade Dragon might not be without the ability to fight, it was just habitually timid and dependent on him, but there was no time to train it now.

Lu Qian put away the Five Elements Realm, and eighteen jade beads shot out from his dantian, disappearing into the abyss like eighteen shooting stars. As the array base was set up, the golden silk and jade-shaped array diagram unfolded, and three spirit marrows burned to provide energy.

The heavy and intense buzzing sound instantly transformed into the neighing of men and horses, the clanging of weapons, and eighteen figures emerged from the deep sea. Each figure had a different posture and different weapons and armor, and they floated in twos and threes in the abyss. Each figure exuded a powerful Nascent Soul spiritual pressure, forcibly pushing the seawater back several feet.

Four figures stood out, each exuding the aura of a fully-fledged Nascent Soul cultivator!

Hai Mocheng was mistaken in the past. This is not the original Eighteen Spirit Generals Soul-Binding Array. Rather, it is a new array created by Lu Qian with his profound array cultivation. He used the Eighteen Spirit Generals Soul-Binding Array as a foundation, combined with the Nine Luminaries Star God Array inherited from Qiancheng Spirit Lord, and incorporated the principles of shikigami from "The Profound Mystery of Yin-Yang Arts". He spent fifteen years meticulously researching and creating this new array.

It was named the Eighteen Divine Generals Demon-Slaying Formation!

Lu Qian gently pushed the array diagram, and eighteen divine generals surrounded the seven Nascent Soul beasts.

He had complete confidence in this grand formation, and had even previously planned to use it as a basis to fight against Hai Mocheng. Now that the formation was up, even if he completely let go, the changes recorded in the formation diagram would allow it to operate on its own and wipe out these wild beasts!

As for this eight-headed monster serpent at the primordial spirit level...
Facing the serpent's roar and the raging beams of light and venom, the golden branch was gently swung!
Half an hour later, Lu Qian, having slightly recovered his spiritual and mental power, stood before the Water Mansion once again.

He reached into his storage bag and pulled something out, and the great formation began to shake even more violently.

Yu Jiao tilted his head: "My lord, how did you obtain the token for this great formation?"

The object in Lu Qian's hand was a jade array pass token, with the words "Nine Abyss Water Mansion" engraved on it in ancient seal script.

Lu Qian couldn't help but sigh, for there was no greater chance than this in the world.

This is one of the spoils of war obtained after the killing of Lord Yueyuan and Qiuweng in the past!

Without further hesitation, he held the token and cleaved through the waves, passing through the Twelve Capital Heaven Sumeru Array that shrouded the Water Mansion. He then went straight to the location of the spiritual vein, closed the array, and welcomed the Jade Dragon in.

Jade Dragon cheered and looked at the long-silent water palace with its eyes shining with golden light, eagerly beginning its treasure hunt.

Lu Qian spotted a courtyard that seemed to be the owner's place of study. Pushing open the door, he saw numerous jade bookshelves gleaming dimly amidst piles of seaweed.

With a flick of his sleeve, the water surged, washing away all the aquatic plants and algae. Rows of palm-leaf books, jade slips, and jade scrolls on the bookshelf regained their light, and a jade box beside the master's desk also glowed faintly.

As if sensing the guidance of fate, Lu Qian's heart pounded. He held his breath and broke the weakened seal on the jade box, taking out the jade slip that had been carefully treasured inside.

The first four characters are large.

The Dragon Palace Holy Land! (End of Chapter)