The azure sea stretched endlessly, waves rolling in and out while gulls soared overhead.
Splash.
With the sound of water parting, a Gu Immortal dove beneath the surface and plunged straight down.
One hundred zhang, one thousand zhang, ten thousand zhang…
The ocean here was unfathomably deep, home to countless ferocious sea beasts.
Once he passed a hundred thousand zhang, primordial-level sea beasts began to appear.
Naturally, rare treasures were plentiful as well.
"The East Sea truly lives up to being the most resource-rich of the Five Regions," the Gu Immortal marveled inwardly, continuing his descent without pause.
After descending fully a million zhang, a dazzling dreamscape emerged from the boundless darkness of the deep ocean.
As the Gu Immortal drew closer, the dreamscape expanded continuously in his field of vision. By the time he reached its edge, it had grown as large as a small mountain.
"The Dragon Palace should be right here!" The Gu Immortal's eyes burned with intensity.
His build was broad and powerful, his features handsome — a high-bridged nose, resolute lips. Golden dragon scales covered his body, a pair of amber dragon pupils gleamed in their sockets, and a pair of golden coral dragon horns crowned his forehead.
This was none other than Fang Yuan's dragon-man clone.
Fang Yuan knew that the Dragon Palace was hidden somewhere in the East Sea, but he had never pinpointed its exact location in his previous life.
In his previous life, when Dragon Duke led Feng Jinhuang to attempt subduing the Dragon Palace, they were obstructed by the Four Great Dragon Generals. A battle erupted, and the Dragon Palace seized the opportunity to soar skyward, piercing through the heavens and vanishing.
Dragon Duke gave chase, causing such a commotion that the Eighth Transformation Gu Immortals of the East Sea all swarmed to the scene. By then, word had spread across the Five Regions. Fang Yuan had just finished conquering the Beast Calamity Blessed Land and, with that matter concluded, his interest was piqued — he headed to the East Sea to join the commotion.
In the end, he was discovered and gained nothing of value. What's more, a second Stone Lotus Island had appeared in the River of Time.
Fang Yuan made the critical decision to abandon the Dragon Palace and chase after the second Red Lotus True Inheritance on the Stone Lotus Island.
However, although he had disrupted the Heavenly Court's plans, Feng Jiuge resolutely activated the Great Unity Wind, destroying the Stone Lotus Island entirely.
As a result, the Dragon Palace fell into the hands of the Heavenly Court and was sealed within the Dragon Hiding Cavern. The East Sea Gu Immortals refused to accept defeat, which in turn led to one of the pivotal battles of the Central Continent War — the Battle of the Dragon Hiding Cavern.
Having been reborn in this life, the Dragon Palace had long since been part of Fang Yuan's plans.
Long ago, he had begun making preparations — constantly gathering intelligence, performing calculations, and narrowing down the general area. He then dispatched his subordinate Gu Immortals one after another to the East Sea for secret exploration.
Fang Yuan didn't know where the Dragon Palace had originally been placed, but persistence paid off — his efforts bore fruit, and at this point in time, he had found its location!
The dragon-man clone surveyed the surroundings and confirmed that no primordial desolate beasts were lurking nearby. Everything was safe.
Immortal killer move — Pure Dream Truth-Seeking Transformation.
He wasted no time, immediately unleashing the killer move upon the dreamscape.
His choice was the same as Dragon Duke's in his previous life — to peel away the dreamscape and then attack the Gu Immortal House, the Dragon Palace, directly.
High above the sea, hidden within the clouds, Fang Yuan's true body lay concealed — monitoring the surroundings and standing guard for the dragon-man clone. At the same time, he was letting the clone serve as the advance scout.
Should anything go wrong, Fang Yuan's true body could quickly extract itself and retreat to safety.
After all, Fang Yuan didn't have complete knowledge of the Dragon Palace affair's every detail. This was unlike his previous planning for the Battle of the River of Time or the acquisition of the Tao Zhu True Inheritance and other matters.
What if the Heavenly Court had set an ambush?
Even without an ambush, the Dragon Palace itself was extremely dangerous. It possessed offensive killer moves of the Dream Path, which made Fang Yuan deeply wary.
One Pure Dream Truth-Seeking Body after another coalesced from within the dreamscape. The dragon-man clone's progress was quite smooth.
But the scale of this dreamscape was truly massive. At this rate, it would take several days and nights to complete the condensation.
"Setting everything else aside, this dreamscape alone is an impossibly vast treasure. In my previous life, it fell into the Heavenly Court's hands, and they had no way to utilize it. Now that it's in my possession, things are entirely different."
Fang Yuan's true body observed the scene in the deep sea with perfect clarity.
Moments later, Fang Yuan raised his gaze to look above his own head.
After activating his Luck Path techniques, he beheld the Fortune Cooking Cauldron suspended above him.
The cauldron hovered in midair, bobbing ever so slightly up and down, as if adrift on water.
Fang Yuan couldn't observe his own fortune, but he could observe the dragon-man clone's condition.
There, beside the eight-dragon-engraved golden Fortune Cooking Cauldron, the small purple fortune dragon corresponding to the dragon-man clone coiled motionless in midair.
It strained to open its jaws wide, its expression restless and uneasy as it vigilantly scanned all around.
Around it, wisps and threads of black qi were rapidly condensing into clumps, forming clusters of dark clouds.
"These black clouds of fortune — they herald a deadly variable. It seems the dragon-man clone is still at risk of being killed!" Fang Yuan furrowed his brow.
He immediately began calculating: "In this life's rebirth, based on timing, I discovered the Dragon Palace far earlier than the Heavenly Court did in the previous life. I've acted well ahead of schedule."