Chapter 1813 - 579: Panlong Palace, First Encounter with Xiahou Xuan (2)
Chapter 1813: Chapter 579: Panlong Palace, First Encounter with Xiahou Xuan (2)
"Newly appointed Jinbi Village Defense Envoy Xiahou Yong, here to pay respects to Mr. Cheng!"
"Newly appointed Dragon River Village Defense Envoy Jiang Yiqing, here to pay respects to Mr. Cheng!"
The two quickly followed the soldier to the heart of the lake, and their first order of business was naturally to greet Cheng He. But as they saluted, they also glanced down at the water surface ahead of them.
Upon seeing this, their expressions were first of shock as they swallowed hard, then their pupils involuntarily flickered with a hint of perplexity.
In the heart of the lake appeared a hundred-meter-wide ice pit. The ice had scattered haphazardly across the water surface, some cuts were straight and clearly man-made with sharp tools.
The ice of the Ice Abyss Waters was arbitrarily ten meters thick, some even countless meters beyond that, and these layers of ice had accumulated over the years, harder than copper and iron, definitely not easily broken!
Currently, Great Xia had control over numerous water bodies and had gained considerable experience in breaking ice, like the Xing River with its hundreds of kilometers long waters. Along the coast, the ice thickness typically ranged from ten to thirty meters, and attempting to break it with brute force required at least a strength level of Xianyang Level 3 jǔ and continuous striving impacts.
This refers to Xing River, while Chilong Lake, being such a confined body of water with long absence of human activity, would likely boast an even more exaggerated thickness of ice.
Yet at present, the ice chunks on the lake surface appeared perfectly broken, some ice chunk edges were exceptionally clean-cut. It seems as though... as though someone casually cut a few lines and then, with a single step, the ice surface broke...
This... how could this be possible...
The reason for the two’s shock and swallowed hard was because of this, and then the fleeting perplexity in their eyes was due to the scene beneath the waters.
Finally, they understood where that golden light came from!
Under the water, there was actually a palm-sized golden palace...
No, it’s not palm-sized; it’s that the golden palace is positioned so deep beneath the water, causing it to appear only palm-sized when viewed from the surface.
Due to light refraction, the palace below the water occasionally twisted along with the currents. The golden glow was already mysteriously alluring, and the slight distortion of light and shadow only added to its divine aura, causing Xiahou Yong and Jiang Yiqing to unwittingly show perplexed expressions.
"Both of you, rise! Since you’re already here, also help me come up with ideas. I’ve just dispatched soldiers below to explore. The depth of Chilong Lake is about 200 meters, according to a soldier, he was following the guidance of the golden palace and dove all the way to the lake bottom. The closer he got to the lake bottom, the larger the palace appeared in his vision, proving he was indeed nearing it. Yet every time he was within reach, the palace would vanish immediately..."
Cheng He’s expression was somewhat excited now, the golden palace’s appearance alone was enough to indicate its extraordinary nature, even though he knew it was likely related to the Red Blood Demon Dragon, yet this golden palace was discovered under his governance, so if it truly is any rare treasure, it would undoubtedly be a great achievement.
"Master, did you not find those who dove to the lake bottom?"
Xiahou Yong also understood Cheng He’s scheme, but he instinctively sensed something amiss, hurriedly asking about those who had entered the lake bottom.
Cheng He’s expression became somewhat grave upon hearing this, shaking his head, "You’re concerned about the neatness of the ice chunks on the lake surface, worried those who dove to the lake bottom are extraordinarily powerful, right? I’m worried too. But the problem is they can’t be found, the entire region surrounding Chilong Lake has been thoroughly searched, to no avail."
He paused and pointed towards the palace below the water, "According to a soldier’s eyewitness account, they broke the ice surface and dived into the waters swiftly before he could react, soon after, golden light erupted from the lake bottom, then the golden palace was seen..."
Hence, it’s almost certain those entrants are related to the golden palace.
After hearing this, Xiahou Yong’s expression became more serious, immediately shaking his head, "Sir should still be careful, first report to the Minister or even to the Lord, this palace is very likely related to the Demon Dragon, if handled improperly, it might cause a disaster."
Upon hearing this, Cheng He immediately furrowed his brow slightly; Xiahou Yong’s words were ones he could certainly understand. The problem was those intruders could not be found, and right now, this golden palace was right at the lake bottom, he only wanted to first figure out the origin of the palace.
"Soldiers have already surveyed the lake surface for three hours without discovering any deceitful object presence, it can be practically confirmed the golden palace has little relation to the deceitful monster. Also, no trace of Red Blood Demon Dragon’s body has been found at the lake bottom, it’s either already left or hidden within the golden palace. Regardless, the origins of this palace must be clarified first..."
At this point, Xiahou Yong said no more; Great Xia had recently unified the Southern Slope and defeated Cai Qiu, already with the air of a Feudal Town, anyone could see that recent shifts in authority were inevitable. There were just too many like Cheng He, eager to rise up, too many for him to continue speaking, otherwise, it would only draw displeasure from the other party.
"Here’s what we’ll do! I’ll personally go down to have a look..."
"Sir, you must not!"
As Cheng He spoke, numerous leaders immediately stepped in to stop him.
Xiahou Yong couldn’t help but want to speak, but Jiang Yiqing discreetly pulled him aside, and then stepped forward to cup his hands and speak, "Since Sir is so committed, how can lower officials sit idly by; my Brother Xiahou and I shall accompany you down, if we truly discover anything, we can at least have mutual support!"
Upon hearing this, Cheng He showed an expression of surprise, turned his head to look at the two, contemplated for a moment and then smiled, "Good, you two have courage; no wonder the Garrison Department recommended you to Qinghe Town, since that’s the case, join me and go down."