Chapter 449 - 445: Paradise Divine Palace

And so, by a twist of fate, Qin Li and that group of women ended up on the same path once more.

Of course, Qin Li was moving so quickly that by the time the women emerged, he was long gone.

Qin Li had come to the Land of the Far West with only two objectives. The first was to obtain the eighth Ancient Map. Qin Li suspected that the map had, in all likelihood, fallen into the hands of Lengqiu Palace. And judging from the available evidence, this Lengqiu Palace was probably a Purple Pupil Sect.

As for why no one had seen through this over the years, Qin Li didn’t know. Perhaps the members of Lengqiu Palace were just very good at hiding.

His second objective was to avenge Hu!

The massacre of Hu’s entire family back then had been because of him. This rage had not diminished in his heart in the slightest, despite the passage of time and Hu’s subsequent return to glory.

Although he didn’t know the sect’s name, Qin Li was confident that he would recognize its members the moment he saw them.

He was extremely familiar with the fluctuations from the techniques used by those who had slaughtered Hu’s family. Moreover, that sect belonged to the same lineage as the Paradise Celestial Palace, so there were bound to be people cultivating the Absorbing Yin to Nourish Yang or Yang Absorption and Yin Compensation cultivation techniques.

Anyone who cultivated such a depraved and evil skill would have spiritual fluctuations different from those of an ordinary person. Therefore, identifying them wouldn’t be difficult.

The mountain where the Celestial Pool was located was the landmark of the Celestial Lake Kingdom, so the mountain itself was also named Celestial Lake Peak.

Celestial Lake Peak was guarded by troops year-round, so it was utterly impossible for ordinary people who wanted to challenge themselves or admire the Celestial Pool to do so; they couldn’t even get past the army.

For someone like Qin Li, however, this was no problem at all. The guards, posted every few paces, couldn’t even sense his presence.

After bypassing the guards, Qin Li began his ascent. The most miraculous thing about this mountain was that it was surrounded by hundreds of miles of flat plains, with only Celestial Lake Peak rising solitarily from the earth. In the distant past, it had been a massive volcano.

A lone person climbing the peak was as minuscule as an ant. From a distance, they were just a small black dot, slowly but constantly moving upward.

Since he had already come to Celestial Lake Peak, it would be a shame not to see the Celestial Pool with his own eyes. It took Qin Li a little over two hours to climb to the summit of the ten-thousand-meter-high peak.

Looking down, a heroic feeling akin to "reaching the highest peak, all other mountains seem small" welled up inside him. He glanced back at the distant Celestial Lake Kingdom, where vast cities and their magnificent, towering walls merged into a single expanse. Patches of white clouds drifted past beneath his feet. The summit was capped with white snow, and the air was frigid.

He then turned to the Celestial Pool. It seemed to merge with the sky, an immaculate azure, so clear one could almost see the very bottom.

The top of this colossal peak was like a giant bowl perched upon it, and the water of the Celestial Pool was like the water held within that bowl.

It gave off a biting chill, and its purity was astonishing.

Not far from Qin Li, a few fawns were drinking water, curiously sizing up this uninvited guest. Qin Li made a face at them. The fawns scattered in a flurry, but after running a few steps, they stopped and turned back to eye him with curiosity.

Qin Li smiled, then crouched by the pool’s edge and dipped his hand into the water. A bone-chilling cold shot through him, and even with a body tougher than bronze and iron, he couldn’t help but shiver.

"So cold!"

Qin Li exclaimed in awe. His expression suddenly shifted. Deep, deep in the bottom of the Celestial Pool, a massive shadow seemed to flit by. By the time he sent his Divine Sense to investigate, the shadow was already gone.

Its speed was unbelievable.

’There’s a powerful Aquatic Spirit Beast in this Celestial Pool!’ Qin Li concluded instantly. After waiting for a while without seeing the shadow again, he stood up and turned to leave.

He flew across the vast Celestial Pool but still saw nothing. Qin Li began to wonder if his eyes had been playing tricks on him, but he chose to trust his instincts.

After crossing the Celestial Pool to the other side, he took out the Ancient Map that corresponded to the Celestial Lake Kingdom and located the Mysterious Land. It was on a sheer cliff on the back of Celestial Lake Peak.

Qin Li approached but found no signs of human activity. He didn’t dare assume this meant the Mysterious Land was empty. It was just like the Mysterious Land where the Qin Family now resided; anyone who stumbled upon it was guaranteed to find no useful information.

Qin Li closed his eyes and focused. His immense Divine Sense spread out slowly, like mercury flowing across the ground, blanketing the sheer cliff. Moments later, he locked onto a spot on the cliff where the Spiritual Qi fluctuations were abnormal.

Qin Li leaped through the air, arriving before the cliff. He carefully probed the area with his Divine Sense. After about fifteen minutes, he breathed a sigh of relief. With a slight shift, his body slowly phased into the cliff face.

The next moment, Qin Li appeared in a vast, sprawling grassland. The sweet fragrance of fresh grass filled his nostrils. The Spiritual Qi here was astonishingly rich.

Qin Li had never felt such a high concentration of Spiritual Qi in any Mysterious Land before. He couldn’t help but feel surprised. ’Could it be that the closer one gets to the West, the more abundant the Spiritual Qi becomes?’

’It really seemed possible. During the Primordial Era, almost all the supreme experts were concentrated here in the Land of the Far West. The farther East one went, the fewer powerful figures there were. It was likely directly related to the concentration of Spiritual Qi.’

As Qin Li was pondering this, his expression suddenly changed. Right above him, it seemed someone else was about to enter. The Spiritual Qi fluctuations were intense. Qin Li’s figure flickered and vanished, concealing himself as he stared with narrowed eyes at the spot where he had just been standing.

With a violent surge of Spiritual Qi, seven or eight more people appeared on the grassland. Qin Li was inwardly stunned, because he had just seen these people—it was the handsome young man in the white martial attire and his entourage!

The young man in white had lost all of the refined grace he’d displayed at the restaurant. His face was gloomy, his gaze was ice-cold, and he spoke with fury, "Those damned women! I can’t believe they stumbled right into our territory. Hmph! Let’s see them escape my grasp this time!"

"Young Master, you must reconsider this! I seem to recall one of the long-lived elders of our sect saying that sects from the Land of the Far West occasionally come to the Celestial Pool to catch Ice and Fire Fish. Although our Paradise Divine Palace is not weak, we are still somewhat inferior to those major sects. It doesn’t seem necessary to go this far for a few Tripod Furnaces."

A prudent elder advised from beside the young man in white.

Qin Li, however, was stunned. A grim smile touched the corners of his lips. ’To think I searched high and low for them, only to have them fall right into my lap,’ he thought.

’Paradise Divine Palace, Paradise Celestial Palace... It would be hard to believe these two sects weren’t connected. Especially since the ones who massacred Hu’s family were Martial Artists from a Mysterious Land in the Celestial Lake Kingdom. At this point, I’m almost certain I’ve found the right place!’

Just then, the young man in white sneered, "The sects from the Land of the Far West vary in strength. Besides, this is just a dozen or so women. No matter how strong they are, they’re no match for us! And are they just ordinary Tripod Furnaces? Have you not noticed? Every single one of them has a natural-born seductive charm—they must be Top-Grade Tripod Furnaces! And most importantly, they are all pure, untouched virgins! Hmph, trying to hide their innocent hearts behind a promiscuous facade... it’s laughable!"

Another elder said with a grave expression, "The Young Master is correct. These women are all Top-Grade Tripod Furnaces. Moreover, once they are deflowered, we can use our Divine Skill to make them completely devoted to us. That way, we could even let them return to the Land of the Far West. We... would have our own group of spies there, haha!"

"Hahaha!" The young man in white burst out laughing, clearly pleased with the elder’s words. He declared loudly, "Capture these women, and there will be benefits for all of you! Doesn’t the Celestial Lake Kingdom offer up a hundred-odd Top-Grade Tripod Furnaces every year? When the time comes, I’ll ask my father to give one to each of you!"

"Young Master, do you truly mean that?" one of the elders asked, his face flushing with excitement.

"Tch. When has your Young Master ever lied?" the young man in white said, rolling his eyes in disdain. "So, get a move on. I’ll go keep my father occupied while you go retrieve the Soul-Capturing Flower. Remember, no one else can find out about this. Otherwise, your reward... Hmph!"

"Yes, yes, rest assured, Young Master, we know what to do!" the group roared in agreement. Then, along with the young man in white, they sped off toward the northwest of the grassland.

A murderous intent now surged in Qin Li’s heart. ’This Paradise Divine Palace is just like the old Paradise Celestial Palace,’ he thought. ’They both cultivate these selfish techniques that harm others for their own benefit.’

’And it seems they’re the ones pulling the strings behind the Celestial Lake Kingdom. The kingdom must have helped them commit countless evil deeds over the years. No wonder I kept hearing about the emperor selecting consorts when I first arrived.’

’It seems it’s almost time for the annual offering of Tripod Furnaces to the Paradise Divine Palace again.’

’A bunch of scum!’

’I’ll slaughter you all and see if you can still harm anyone else! Hu, I’m about to avenge you! And at the same time, I’ll be delivering justice on behalf of the heavens!’

With these thoughts, Qin Li shot after the retreating figure of the young man in white, moving like a wisp of green smoke.

This Mysterious Land was much smaller than Qin Li had anticipated. It was almost entirely grassland, with few mountain ranges to be seen. In Qin Li’s eyes, the mountains here were, at best, just slightly tall hills.

Two hours later, a large, sprawling complex of buildings appeared in the distance.