Chapter 5270: Terrifying Strength

“It looks like there are many hidden experts. Interesting,” Lord Long Zhen remarked with a smile, though he didn’t talk too much about it. He didn’t seem interested in this matter.

He turned his sight toward the formation and assessed the other three fields, but there was completely no information on them at all.

“Is it impossible to see what’s happening on the field before the commencement of the tower duels?” Lord Long Zhen asked.

“Yes, Lord Long Zhen. Something seems to be amiss though. Under normal circumstances, the other three fields should have already proceeded to the tower duels, but the event has been delayed for some reason,” the elder said. 

They had known that the opening of the Saint Dragon Ancient Remnant would hinder their control over the formation, so they had encoded the formation to trigger events once certain conditions had been fulfilled. This should have ensured a smooth transition in the tournament.  

“What are the trigger conditions? “Long Zhen asked.

“The formation has to sense eighteen qualified individuals before it would trigger the tower duels,” the elder said. 

“How does the formation deem an individual to be qualified? Are the conditions predetermined, or does the formation simply choose the eighteen most qualified individuals from the field?” Long Zhen asked. 

“In order to ensure the trial progresses without a hitch, we have set the formation to choose the eighteen strongest individuals in the field,” the elder said. 

“If that’s the case, it’s good news to us that the tower duels haven’t been triggered,” Long Zhen said.

The Totem Dragon Clan wasn’t too concerned about who won the strongest title. Rather, it was more important to them that someone in each of the four categories cleared the test. The fact that the tower duels hadn’t begun in the other three fields suggested that the participants might still be undergoing the test in the Saint Dragon Ancient Remnant, which meant that there was still hope for them. 

“Lord Long Zhen, there has been no movements from the demon monk’s subordinate yet. Could he really be after the Trial of the Strongest?” the elder suddenly asked.

As a member of the Totem Dragon Clan’s upper echelon, he had heard about the demon monk’s subordinate slaughtering their clansmen too. 

“Heh…”

Long Zhen suddenly burst into laughter.

“Five of our Totem Dragon Clan’s Nine Flags Dragon Warriors are here today, including Lord Long Junlin. Putting aside the demon monk’s subordinate, even the demon monk wouldn’t stand a chance even if he’s still alive! I do hope that the demon monk’s subordinate will cause trouble now,” Lord Zhen said with a chuckle.

They had only dispatched three of the Nine Flags Dragon Warriors to deal with the demon monk back then, but there were five of them now, not to mention that Long Junlin was here too. Even the demon monk himself wouldn’t stand a chance against such a lineup!

“That’s true.”

The crowd burst into laughter. There was indeed nothing for them to fear here. 

Weng!

Weng!

Weng!

The mark of the tower duels suddenly appeared in the three empty fields.

“The tower duels have been triggered in all three fields at the same time!” the elder exclaimed in surprise. 

However, Long Zhen’s face scrunched in nervousness upon seeing that. The triggering of the tower duels meant that the Saint Dragon Ancient Remnant’s tests were over. If the test of any of the three fields remained uncleared, it would mean that their Totem Dragon Clan’s three-thousand-year-old plan had ended in failure. 

“Lord Long Zhen!”

An elder suddenly rushed into the room with frenzied joy on his face. He cried out, “Good news, Lord Long Zhen! The other three tests have been cleared too. We have successfully cleared the first trial of the Saint Dragon Ancient Remnant!” 

Long Zhen widened his eyes in disbelief. “Are you certain about it?”

“Yes, I’m absolutely certain about it, Lord Long Zhen. You can have a look at it yourself!” the elder said. 

“Go!” Long Zhen rose to his feet, and the elder quickly followed him. 

The others managing the formation were unable to leave the room, but they had heard their conversation loud and clear. Beaming smiles appeared on all of their faces. 

All of them knew what the Saint Dragon Ancient Remnant meant to them. 

Lord Long Zhen returned to the underground palace, where he saw that the four mechanisms of the ancient sphere had been unlocked. It unfurled like a flower and revealed a floating sphere. 

Lord Long Zhen shuddered at the sight of the floating sphere. It was much smaller than the ancient sphere, being only the size of a man’s fist, but it was glowing with incredible luminosity. 

As descendants of the Dragon Clan, those in the room could sense that the light emanated by the floating sphere was no ordinary light. It was making their bloodlines quiver. If even the light it emanated had such an effect on them, what was hidden within the floating sphere was bound to be even more incredible. 

The realization of that made their eyes glow with conviction.

Beyond the light, they could tell that the floating sphere was covered in inscriptions of dragons densely overlapping on top of each other. Despite the small surface area of the sphere, there had to be at least ten thousand dragons there! 

“Milord, what do we do next?” someone asked.

The crowd instinctively turned toward Long Junlin, but the latter only frowned. 

“You should know that no one has ever managed to clear the first trial of the Saint Dragon Ancient Remnant, not even our ancestors in the Ancient Era. It can be said that we have made history today. Unfortunately, this also means that we don’t have any information to fall back on, so we can only slowly figure our way forward,” Long Junlin said.

The crowd understood what Long Junlin was driving at, so they began closely examining the floating sphere in hopes of uncovering a way to decipher it. 

Meanwhile, the mysterious woman continued observing the area, but her eyes quickly locked onto a certain location. She had sensed an unusual aura coming from the sky.

“Ling’er, you should leave first,” the mysterious woman said. 

“Young miss, what did you see?” Ling’er asked.

“I found the person who used the Heaven Capturing Truth Net.”

“Who is it?” 

“I’m not sure. I have only uncovered the person’s location, and I’m sensing a dangerous vibe. That person is attempting something frightening,” the mysterious woman said. 

“Is it the Totem Dragon Clan?” Ling’er asked.

“No. That person is either after the Saint Dragon Ancient Remnant or the Trial of the Strongest.”

“But the sect rules… Can’t we just wait and observe the situation? We can just step in if Chu Feng really encounters danger.” Ling’er didn’t want the young miss to interfere in this matter. 

“I would have done that under normal circumstances, but that person’s aura is simply too menacing. The consequences will be dire if that person succeeds in whatever he’s attempting. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to save Chu Feng if I don’t stop that person now,” the mysterious woman explained. 

“Young miss, are you really going to make a move?”

“It’s rare to encounter such an incredible prodigy. I don’t want anything to happen to him.”

“But young miss, you…”

From the mysterious woman’s words, Ling’er could already tell how powerful the person hiding in the sky was. That could very well be someone whom even Long Junlin couldn’t deal with. 

“I’m not strong enough to deal with experts in the highest tier yet, but you shouldn’t forget who my master is. I’ll still stand a chance if I step in now, but the same can’t be said if I continue to stall things out,” the mysterious woman said. 

“All right, young miss. I’ll take my leave first. Look for me after you’re done,” Ling’er said before leaving the area.

As worried as she was, she knew that she would only be a burden if she continued lingering in the vicinity. Since the young miss had already come to a decision, she simply had to follow it. 

The mysterious woman didn’t make a move right after Ling’er left. Instead, she took out a veiled bamboo hat to reinforce her concealment before making her way toward the person in the sky. 

It didn’t take her long to reach the innermost depth of the clouds. 

At first glance, it looked like there was nothing here, but the mysterious woman saw a formation space that contained a vast realm. However, this vast realm was shrouded in a gigantic mass of black aura. 

However, what was truly dangerous was not the black aura but a cauldron hidden in its depths. It was the source that was producing the black aura. 

A person was standing beneath the cauldron. He was in the midst of forging something, and he seemed to be on the verge of success. A terrifying force would emerge if he wasn’t stopped now.

“Hu…”

The mysterious woman took in a deep breath. Hesitation could be seen on her face. 

“I shouldn’t have interfered in such matters, but I believe that this is the right thing to do. Master, will you blame me for this?” she murmured.

She looked into the mirror, where Chu Feng could be seen standing above a tower. He was waiting for the other participants to finish their duel so that they could proceed to the next round. He looked confident of victory. 

The mysterious woman clenched her fists in determination.

“No, my master won’t blame me for this.”

The mysterious woman began gathering her strength to breach the formation and enter the formation space.

Weng!

All of a sudden, the formation space expanded. As a result of the expansion, the mysterious woman suddenly found herself standing in the depths of the vast realm, surrounded by the black aura. 

“He found me?” The mysterious woman was surprised.

She knew how formidable her veiled bamboo hat was, but the other party still managed to detect her and dragged her into this formation space.