Passing through the cloud-like vortex, Yang Kai held Yang Xiao's small hand as they stepped into the Dragon Palace.
In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai felt his hand lighten. He turned his head to look, and his heart lurched with shock.
Yang Xiao, who had been holding his hand moments ago, had vanished without a trace. The realization sent cold sweat coursing down his back. He had just sworn to Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun that he would look after Yang Xiao, and now the boy had disappeared right under his nose within the span of a single breath — how was that supposed to look?
"Xiao'er! Xiao'er!" Yang Kai bellowed, his powerful voice reverberating through the vast, desolate hall, yet no echo returned. He extended his spiritual sense, only to find it suppressed to within three zhang of his body, utterly unable to detect anything beyond.
This was not his first time entering the Dragon Palace. The last occasion had been when Wu Kuang harnessed the Palace's power to tear through the void and descend into the lower starfields, and Yang Kai had followed through the passage he opened to investigate. Nothing like this had happened back then — so why now?
He had a vague feeling that whatever was going on had something to do with the ancient Dragon Souls enshrined within the palace. Though they had been dead for countless ages, they still harbored staggering power.
With that thought, Yang Kai let out a thunderous shout: "All of you — show yourselves!"
The Golden Sacred Dragon's origin power surged forth, and a resonant dragon cry rang out.
The next instant, answering dragon roars echoed from every corner of that immeasurably deep and vast hall.
Light blazed to life — one pillar, two pillars, three pillars… On the towering columns in every direction, enormous dragon shadows materialized, coiling and spiraling until they completely encircled Yang Kai. Each shadow was vivid and lifelike, retaining as much of their former majesty as possible. Under the rolling waves of dragon pressure, the very space around Yang Kai rippled, as though it might collapse at any moment.
Yang Kai turned to survey the scene, his gaze passing over each dragon shadow in turn as he spoke in a low voice: "Where is the boy who came in with me? Where have you taken him?"
The dragon souls remained silent, offering no response. They simply stared at him with those ancient, unblinking eyes.
"Are you deaf?" Yang Kai's expression darkened.
He did not know whether these dragon souls still possessed any awareness, or whether countless ages had stripped them down to nothing more than primal instincts. But he could not allow anything to happen to Yang Xiao — not on his watch.
"Answer me!" Yang Kai roared, his voice striking like a genuine dragon cry that pierced straight through the heavens.
This time, he finally got a response. The largest of the dragon souls — a creature whose body stretched hundreds of zhang — lifted its head slightly and gazed in a particular direction.
Yang Kai followed its gaze, and his line of sight seemed to pierce straight through the void to the scene beyond.
There sat Yang Xiao, cross-legged atop a stone platform, his expression calm, his breathing steady and unhurried, not a single thing out of place. Multicolored light swirled around him, flowing in and out of his body in an endless cycle — a bizarre sight to behold.
Yang Kai studied the scene for a moment, then looked back at the dragon soul of the founding Elder and asked, frowning: "You know why I brought him here?"
Though he could not explain how he knew for certain, one glance at Yang Xiao's condition told him that the dragon souls within the palace were examining the boy's origin. That was why Yang Xiao had been spirited away the moment they entered — he was still inside the Dragon Palace, but without the dragon souls' intervention, Yang Kai would have been completely unable to perceive his location.
He nodded slowly. "His origin is somewhat unusual — that is precisely why I need your help to take a look. In that case, please carry on."
The moment he finished speaking, the vision of Yang Xiao faded into darkness, vanishing without a trace.
Yang Kai allowed himself a measure of relief. The fact that the dragon souls were willing to do this was, in large part, confirmation that Yang Xiao's origin was sound. If something were wrong, they would have ejected him outright. The Dragon Palace was a sacred place — not just anyone could set foot within it.
After a moment's thought, Yang Kai spoke again: "There is one other matter I wish to consult you all about. I would like to cultivate some dragon clan secret arts, but I am unsure where to begin."
Under normal circumstances, the origin of a Sacred Spirit contained all inherited legacies. Given the right conditions, any Sacred Spirit could awaken the ancestral memories and naturally manifest a wide array of secret arts.
Yang Kai had grasped quite a few things already — the complex and intricate Dragon Tongue, for instance. He had never learned it from anyone, yet after cultivating the Dragon Transformation Art, it had all come to him as though by instinct, as if he had simply always known.
The only thing that dissatisfied him was that he had not managed to comprehend many secret arts from his origin, and he had no idea what to make of his Golden Sacred Dragon origin in that regard.
His reason for coming to the Dragon Palace was, naturally, to gain insight into practical secret arts.
This was exactly the kind of opportunity he could not afford to miss.
Hearing his words, the founding Elder — the dragon whose body spanned a hundred zhang — suddenly opened its massive jaws and expelled a sphere of pure white light that shot straight toward Yang Kai.
Yang Kai was startled, thinking he had somehow angered the old dragon. But upon closer inspection, he realized that was not the case at all. The energy contained within that sphere was profound and mysterious — immense in power, yet carrying not a shred of killing intent.
This was…
Yang Kai's eyes lit up as a possibility dawned on him. As the sphere bore down upon him, he quickly sat cross-legged, eyes focused on the tip of his nose, mind settled into perfect stillness.
The sphere descended, erupting in blinding radiance as it enveloped him completely.