Volume One: The Celestial Cloud Palace Chapter Sixty-Five: The Crystal Throne

Chapter Sixty-Five: The Crystal Throne

Within the vast hall of the Crystal Palace, shadows flickered and sword energy clashed in every direction. Every inch of air was thick with a bloody mist. Before Zhou Hao played out a scene of relentless slaughter, severed heads rolling across the floor, while behind him, the palace doors were tightly shut, refusing to open.

Many were locked in deadly combat, but most did not belong to the four great sects of Wind, Rain, Thunder, and Fire. After all, together with the sixteen Immortal Halls, their combined number barely reached fifty. So who were these other combatants? Friends or foes?

Suddenly, with a sharp whistle, a cold arrow shot straight at Zhou Hao’s head from his right. “Careful!” Su Qing, standing to his left, was the first to cry out and react. Her immortal sword flared with brilliant silver light, cleaving the arrow in a flash of lightning. As her sword struck, several shadows lashed back toward the spot from which the arrow had been fired. A tall, thin figure collapsed to the ground.

“A lobster?” The turtle, who had already hidden in terror within Zhou Hao’s arms, poked out half its head. It saw the assassin reveal his true form after being slain by Su Qing: a lobster, nearly human-sized, deep blue all over, curled up in a pool of blood. Its cracked shell bore the unmistakable marks of Su Qing’s sword.

Before Zhou Hao and Su Qing could ponder further, a massive figure charged at them—a short and stocky man, barely one and a half meters tall but bulging with muscle, save for a protruding belly. Wielding a pair of axes, he barreled toward them with a savage snarl.

“I’ll handle this!” Zhou Hao stopped Su Qing from intervening and strode forward barehanded. The axe blades whistled through the air, but Zhou Hao met them without a trace of fear, catching the man’s burly hands in a grip of iron, halting the axes mid-swing.

“You…” The stocky man, his face covered in a bristling beard, looked menacing. Yet, seeing this seemingly frail youth immobilize him, he could not conceal his shock.

“‘You’ what? Go to hell!” Zhou Hao’s eyes were cold. In such a place, he would show no mercy. His right leg shot out like a dragon emerging from its lair, landing with a resounding thud on the man’s chest. At the same time, Zhou Hao released his grip, and the man hurtled through the air like a cannonball.

Three seconds later, the “cannonball” crashed to the ground. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he convulsed, his eyes rolling back, but the force of Zhou Hao’s kick was overwhelming—he had used his full strength. In the end, the man died with bitter regret.

“Wow, a giant crab!” the turtle yelped. The stocky man, now dead, had reverted to his true form: a deep blue crab.

“Lobster? Giant crab? Could these be the legendary... shrimp and crab warriors?” the turtle speculated boldly.

“Since this is the Crystal Palace, the Dragon King’s sanctuary, it makes sense that there would be such guards,” Zhou Hao observed, glancing at the two corpses.

“Look there—is that Cai Lingzi?!” Su Qing suddenly pointed ahead, her voice wary.

Up the blood-stained steps, at the place once reserved for the Dragon King, sat a young man on the crystal throne. Oddly enough, the throne had been empty before. Even Su Qing, usually aloof and composed, was surprised—had his cultivation already surpassed hers by such a margin?

The young man was dressed in resplendent, multicolored robes. His features were sharp and strikingly handsome, putting even celestial maidens to shame. He was none other than the strongest disciple of the Hall of Colorful Incense—Cai Lingzi.

“Cai Lingzi! You bastard, how dare you betray us? You’re courting death!” Several formidable figures now charged toward the crystal throne, clearly the most outstanding disciples of the four great sects.

Cai Lingzi smiled from the throne, unmoved. “Heh, you fools. You want to kill me? You’ll have to reach me first!”

Eight powerful beams of immortal energy shot toward him from above. Yet, as they reached Cai Lingzi, they vanished into thin air, as if punched into nothingness.

These were the combined attacks of the eight strongest disciples from the four great sects. Their talent and potential were extraordinary—barely five hundred years into their cultivation and all but at the threshold of the Golden Immortal realm. In fact, two of them had already entered its early stages. Such a force could not be withstood by even a true Golden Immortal. Yet, against this breathtakingly handsome young man on the throne, they had no effect at all. Could it be that Cai Lingzi’s cultivation had truly surpassed even the early Golden Immortal level?

“How can this be? Our attacks…” the eight masters cried out in disbelief. “Have you already surpassed the Golden Immortal threshold?”

“No!” Zhou Hao suddenly spoke. Amid the chaos, he observed that the shrimp and crab warriors, though numerous, were not particularly powerful. By his estimation, they were at best late-stage Lesser Immortals, the crab generals a bit stronger, at the peak of the Lesser Immortal level. Thus, he and Su Qing, both at the quasi-Golden Immortal stage, hardly needed to worry.

“It’s the crystal throne. It must absorb all immortal energy. This is the throne of the Dragon Immortal King—how could your attacks possibly harm it?” Zhou Hao shook his head.

A beautiful woman in green, one of the eight, addressed Zhou Hao without reservation. “Since you know the reason, do you have any way to ‘invite’ the gentleman above to step down?”

Before Zhou Hao could answer, a tall, handsome youth at her side interjected, “Sister Fengling, he and Cai Lingzi are both disciples of the Immortal Halls. Do you think he would betray his own?”

“Oh, I should have thought of that. How could this gentleman possibly turn against his fellow disciple? What are we to do…” Fengling looked regretful, her large eyes full of disappointment.

“These two are putting on a show!” the turtle muttered from Zhou Hao’s arms.

Zhou Hao responded with a gentle smile, his words chilling everyone present except Su Qing and the turtle. “You’re mistaken. At this point, does anyone really care about sect loyalty? Besides, Cai Lingzi was the first to betray us. Banding together against him is only self-defense.”

A smile with a hidden blade—that was Zhou Hao to perfection.

“You’re absolutely right,” Fengling quickly agreed. “Cai Lingzi used underhanded means to seize the crystal throne and summoned the shrimp and crab warriors to attack us. If not for our high cultivation, we’d all be dead by now!” She thus revealed the reason for the hall’s chaotic melee.

“So you should join us against Cai Lingzi! The crystal throne is the key to the palace’s treasury. If we claim it, we can seek the Immortal King’s fortune together.” The handsome youth beside Fengling chimed in. His name was Feng Jun, the strongest among the young Wind Desert cultivators.

“Oh? The Immortal King’s fortune? Isn’t this supposed to be the cave estate of a greater immortal?” Zhou Hao feigned ignorance, a look of confusion on his face.

Fengling explained, “Not just us—even the leaders of the four great sects and the sixteen Immortal Halls had no idea that the cave estate actually concealed the Crystal Palace of a Dragon King. If word got out, it would shake the heavens! If we obtain its treasures, we could instantly ascend to the Golden Immortal realm or even higher. That’s why we hope you’ll join us—every extra hand increases our chances.”

It was obvious that Zhou Hao’s strength had been recognized by the eight strongest young masters; the prospect of recruiting a quasi-Golden Immortal was too good to pass up.

“What a joke. You think sheer numbers can force me down?” Cai Lingzi sat on the throne, supremely confident, his words laced with scorn.

“Cai Lingzi, though we are both disciples of the Immortal Halls, isn’t it a bit much for you to hog the crystal throne alone? Why don’t you let me have a seat?” Zhou Hao directed his gaze at him.

“So arrogant! A mere quasi-Golden Immortal dares address me? I’ll kill you all, then seek the Dragon King’s treasure!” Cai Lingzi laughed wildly, prideful in his peacock heritage. He saw no threat in Zhou Hao, Su Qing, or the eight masters. He lingered only to eliminate any obstacles before proceeding to the palace treasury.

“Kill!”

The sides were drawn. Cai Lingzi would now face the ten strongest young cultivators. The true battle was about to begin!