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The one human and two beasts fell silent. Looking at Xu Xiaolan who was currently breaking through, strings of curses raced through their minds.
An Lin increasingly felt that this dragon tomb was owned by Xu Xiaolan’s family. Even taking back doors wouldn’t bring one so many benefits.
The vital energy of heaven and earth formed into a swirl and started surging into Xu Xiaolan’s body.
Xu Xiaolan absorbed and tempered this pure vital energy, and a golden fire seed started to materialize on top of her spirit root. Her cultivation base rose continuously, and it eventually broke through some invisible shackle.
Boom! A powerful aura radiated from her body.
Her eyes fluttered open. Wisps of golden flames swam about her bright and clear eyes, and they exuded a proud and forbidding might.
“Congratulations on breaking through! Now hurry up and give us a treat!” An Lin offered his congratulations after sensing that Xu Xiaolan’s aura had broken through to the Spirit Nurturing Final Stage.
Xu Xiaolan smiled faintly. The wisps of golden flames still hadn’t fully vanished from her eyes as she looked toward An Lin. Her eyes were full of vibrancy. They were beautiful and noble, and they also had a look of undisguised intimacy and tenderness.
“I’ll tell you some good news. Not only did I break through, but even the power of my bloodline was further unlocked and activated.”
“…”
“Then please give us more treats.”
Xu Xiaolan thought for a moment. Then, a crimson-colored fruit appeared in her hands. There were even little fire dragons swimming on its surface. “Here, this is a dragonfruit. It’s a third-rank spirit fruit and it tastes really good~ It’s my treat!”
“Good heavens! Why does this dragonfruit look different from the ones that I’ve eaten before?” An Lin’s eyes widened in amazement.
He picked up this dragonfruit and took a large bite out of it.
Boom!
An insanely spicy sensation stung at his taste buds. It was as if there had been an explosion inside his mouth.
“Holy f*ck! Water! Hurry up and give me water!” An Lin felt like there was a fire burning in his mouth.
“Don’t drink water,” Xu Xiaolan advised. “If you swallow it into your stomach, then the spiciness will leave your mouth!”
An Lin followed her advice and swallowed the fruit into his stomach. Sure enough, the spiciness left his mouth. Then…
“Holy f*ck! My stomach… Save me!” An Lin felt like a fire had started burning in his stomach. He looked as if he were about to explode any second.
Seeing An Lin’s expression, Xu Xiaolan finally couldn’t contain herself and burst into laughter. Her silvery laugh echoed through the palace, and it was especially pleasant to the ear.
An Lin was extremely worried in the beginning. However, after the burning sensation left his stomach, he felt a pure burst of flame energy circulating around his entire body. He instantly felt soothed and at ease. It was as if his conception and governor vessels 1 had been opened up.
He blinked his eyes. “Is this bitterness before sweetness?”
Xu Xiaolan took out another dragonfruit and started eating it herself. “Wrong.” She grinned daintily. “This is spiciness before pleasure! It can even raise one’s cultivation base slightly~”
An Lin nodded. This dragonfruit tasted very explosive. However, one would feel great pleasure after its spiciness passed. This made him want to continue eating it.
Hence, he continued to munch down on this dragonfruit, and he wavered between the sensations of burning and pleasure…
Da Bai didn’t want to look at these two people. Their display of affection was far too much for him to handle.
After finishing the dragonfruits, they rested for a while. Then, they once again set off on their adventure.
“Hmm? It’s the Palace of Tiger this time?” Looking at the plaque sitting above the door of this palace, An Lin speculated in his mind that this palace’s inheritance was probably going to be a beast type inheritance.
“Lord Year mentioned the twelve zodiacs before,” Xu Xiaolan chuckled and said. “This palace is probably one of the twelve zodiac palaces.”
They both had a look of anticipation as they entered this palace.
However, they were surprised to find that this palace was completely empty.
“Huh? Where’s the tiger?” An Lin asked curiously.
He had imagined that there would probably be a tiger or some sort of mutant beast guarding this palace.
“Ah… It looks like the inheritance here has already been obtained by someone else.” Xu Xiaolan sighed in disappointment.
They carefully examined the palace, yet didn’t discover anything new.
There was nothing they could do about it, so they decided to head to the next palace.
The Palace of Rabbit was also deserted.
The Palace of Dragon, Palace of Snake, Palace of Horse…
They went through all twelve of the zodiac palaces and found that they were all empty and deserted.
After these twelve palaces, there was a final Zodiac Palace. In this palace, there were twelve zodiac carvings which were half a human tall. They looked vivid and lifelike and appeared fairly valuable. An Lin tried to place them into his storage ring. However, he failed.
“They actually obtained all twelve of the zodiac inheritances! The previous two groups must’ve been quite powerful. Even so, they were still done over by the Palace of Heaven?” An Lin wore a puzzled expression on his face as he rubbed his chin. “If this dragon tomb is looking for a fated person to inherit its legacy, then wouldn’t killing off the fated persons who received the zodiac inheritances be a waste of those inheritances?”
“Have you forgotten? Those tomb keepers are actually also very good successors,” Xu Xiaolan chuckled and said.
“Makes sense… Which is to say, all these early inheritances are just appetizers. All these ‘fated persons’ are not actually as important as it seems. If Winged Dragon Shen Yin’s complete inheritance truly exists, then it’s most likely over at that place.” An Lin looked up toward the enchanting palace which was radiating with a divine white glow and said, “Palace of Heaven.”
After looking toward the divine glow of that palace, an intense desire to head over there surged in their hearts.
“We’ll leave that until we rake in everything of value in the other few palaces!” An Lin said to Xu Xiaolan. He didn’t dare look at the Palace of Heaven again.
Just like that, the two of them continued forward.
They arrived at a place called the Palace of Life.
This palace was particularly strange, and there were all kinds of bizarre and exotic plants growing inside. For example: golden trees, bone flowers which were even larger than trees, blades of grass which glowed with five different colors… These were all plants that An Lin had never seen before. He hadn’t come across them even on the Exotic Plant and Mineral Handbook.
Their vital energy fluctuations were especially strong though, and they clearly weren’t ordinary plants.
Could it be that this inheritance is related to strange and exotic plants?
An Lin held back his curiosity and walked into the depths of this plant foliage.
Then, he saw a white-haired old man. This old man was currently sitting in front of a table which had oracle bones, copper coins, yarrow, and all kinds of other strange things lying upon it.
“Young fated persons, welcome to the Palace of Life. I’m Elder Fate. This place provides the fairest, most accurate, and most powerful fortune-telling services. Are you guys interested?” The white-haired old man squinted his eyes and spoke in a benevolent manner.
An Lin and Xu Xiaolan were both dazed. Fortune teller?
“Aren’t there any other inheritances, trials, treasures, and such?” An Lin blinked in curiosity.
Elder Fate chuckled giddily. “The Palace of Life only provides fortune-telling services. This Daoist priest already has one foot in the grave. I don’t have any treasures to give you. I only know how to tell fortunes. The price is ten thousand to thirty thousand spirit stones per telling depending on what services you guys want…”
An Lin grimaced. Holy sh*t dude, who are you kidding? If you already have one foot in the grave, then why do you want dung and dirt like spirit stones?!
Just as he considered whether he should turn around and leave, Xu Xiaolan had already walked up toward the old man. She smiled and asked, “Okay then. Elder Fate, can you please tell me what dangers lie in the Palace of Heaven?”
“Hmm? Young girl, you’re quite good at finding loopholes, aren’t you?” Elder Fate replied calmly. “However, your question is misdirected. What I predict is the fortune of a person, not a place. I can help you predict what dangers ‘you’ will face when you go to the Palace of Life.”
Xu Xiaolan thought over this for a moment. The dangers that she faced were perhaps also the dangers that An Lin would face. This wasn’t far off from what she wanted to know. Thus, she nodded and said, “Okay, then help me predict this!”
“Pay up first. Predicting this will cost thirty thousand spirit stones.” Elder Fate extended his hand toward them.
An Lin: “…”
This old man was the most base fortune teller that he had ever come across.
Xu Xiaolan pursed her lips. She took three vital stones out from her storage ring and handed them to Elder Fate.
Elder Fate tied a white thread onto Xu Xiaolan’s wrist then closed his eyes. The oracle bones and copper coins on the table started to move by themselves.
After a short while, he looked toward Xu Xiaolan in astonishment. “You have an intense link to the Palace of Heaven. Such powerful karma is alike an indestructible barrier, and it’s blocked my visions. You… What’s your relation with Lord Dragon Shen Yin?”
Xu Xiaolan blinked in confusion. “There’s no relation… Anyhow, what dangers will I face when I go to the Palace of Heaven?”
Elder Fate shook his head. “Unreadable, unreadable…!”
Xu Xiaolan: “…”
An Lin: “…”
“Say, can I get a refund?” Xu Xiaolan asked expressionlessly.
An Lin also looked toward the old man coldly. This dude is definitely a fake.
Damn, dude! You predicted nothing at all, and you still have the face to accept money? You’ve got to be a robber, right?!
Elder Fate felt awkward under their intense gazes, and he hurriedly explained, “I need to expend huge amounts of energy to fortune tell. These spirit stones are used to replenish my energy, so I can’t refund them! If I return them, then I won’t be able to fortune tell next time…”
Elder Fate was full of emotion as he spoke, and even his eyes reddened. This quelled An Lin and Xu Xiaolan’s anger quite a bit.
“Okay then, how about you tell my fortune as well… We’ll do something simple. Help me predict when I’ll get a girlfriend!”
An Lin had initially wanted to have Elder Fate fortune tell what dangers he would face when he headed to the Palace of Heaven. However, he was afraid that he would use the same excuses as he did against Xu Xiaolan. Thus, he decided to choose something more straight forward.
“What’s a girlfriend?” Elder Fate blinked his eyes in confusion.
An Lin came to his senses and corrected, “Help me fortune tell when I’ll get a Dao partner!”
Hearing this, Xu Xiaolan’s pretty face blushed slightly, and she shifted her gaze.
Elder Fate laughed heartily. He was an expert at this and he immediately replied, “No problem, no problem. This only costs ten thousand spirit stones.”
An Lin nodded and handed him one vital stone.
Elder Fate tied a white thread onto An Lin’s wrist and started fortune-telling.
A short while later, he broke into a cold sweat.