Lin Mu and Elder Niji followed behind Lanbao the mermaid, who soon took them to the depths of the city where they chanced upon a large temple.
The temple was unlike what Lin Mu had ever seen before. With its size and eloquence, it looked more like a palace rather than a temple. It had tall coral pillars that had various patterns of beasts carved on it.
Then there were the many statues that were erected on the edges of the roof, looking like eternal guards that would watch the temple's safety.
The dense runes that were hidden within them showed that these statues weren't just for show and could actually transform into puppets that could show great strength. Lin Mu couldn't sense the energy within the formations, making him think that these were all immortal formations.
'Each of the statues also seems to be equal to an Immortal realm expert as well. Though I can't tell what stage…' Lin Mu thought.
~SHUA~ SHUA~
And when they were just on the precipice of the temple, a thin membrane opened up.
"A spatial barrier?" Lin Mu was surprised.
It wasn't his first time seeing a spatial barrier, but he was more shocked by the fact that he hadn't sensed it at all.
"It's an immortal grade spatial barrier, your spatial perception might not sense it until it is actually activated. When it is in the neutral state, it blends in with the spatial fabric of this area, making it look normal.
One can even enter it directly, but they would soon find that they aren't in the temple but a small pocket of space and be imprisoned there." Xukong explained.
"That's a rather ingenious way of doing this…" Lin Mu couldn't help but feel impressed by the ancestors of the Haima tribe.
Lin Mu could also see that all of this was under the control of Lanbao right now. She was making all these changes and allowing them in. Without her, even Lin Mu might not be able to find a way in, directly.
"It's here." After they were finally inside the temple, Lanbao spoke.
Elder Niji and Lin Mu gazed at the structure in the center of the temple hall, finding it to be a seven-sided platform. And on this platform, a small shrine was placed that had a blue glow to it.
"Elder Niji needs to put his brand on the core which is inside the shrine. Even I can't open it, only a Haima member can do that." Lanbao instructed.
"Even you can't open it?" Lin Mu was surprised once more.
Narrowing his eyes, Lin Mu used his spatial perception. At the start, he didn't see anything, but after a few seconds, he saw faint strands of energy that were hidden within the fabric of space.
'Another spatial restriction… this one is fused with an array though.' Lin Mu analyzed.
"I'll do it then." Elder Niji walked unto the shrine and placed his hands on the doors.
~HONG~
A humming wave of energy spread from the shrine and covered Elder Niji. It made the man freeze in place for a minute, making Lin Mu feel uneasy.
"Is that normal?" Lin Mu asked Lanbao.
"I don't know… this is the first time it is being transferred after all. Before this, the Deep Sapphire Island had always been under the ownership of Ancestor Muxuan." Lanbao replied having a confused expression on her face too.
~HUALA~
Finally, the energy wave dissipated and allowed Elder Niji to move again.
"Haa…. That was scary…" Elder Niji said. "That energy probed my bloodline and verified it." He revealed.
"No wonder Lanbao can't open it. If it directly analyzes the bloodline, she as an artifact spirit can't open it at all. She doesn't have a physical body." Lin Mu replied.
"You should open it, I want to see what's inside it." Lanbao urged.
"Mmhmm…" Elder Niji nodded his head and exerted a little force on the doors.
They were actually quite heavy and wouldn't be opened by an average cultivator.
~THUD~
A few seconds later, the doors were finally opened up, allowing them to observe its insides.
"This… This is the core of the entire island?" Lanbao was stunned.
Lin Mu gazed at the 'core' and recognized it.
"A scale…" he muttered.
"It's the scale of the Great Ocean Hippocampus… not just that it's the origin scale that has the essence of the ancestral beast within it." Elder Niji could feel his bloodline resonating just by being in its presence.
Lin Mu and Lanbao watched with bated breaths as Elder Niji placed his hands on the large scale. It was about the size of a small house, being nearly ten meters in size. And yet, the energy contained within it was almost blinding.
Even Lin Mu could feel his heart beat faster the more he gazed at the scale.
~HONG~
As soon as Elder Niji placed his hand on the scale, a large reaction happened. The scale let off a massive wave of energy, that spread all the way to the edge of the Deep Sapphire Island.
A blue streak of energy rose from the scale before entering Elder Niji's body at the same time. It bypassed his defenses as if they were non-existent and directly reached his Dantian.
There the blue streak of energy rushed into the man's Nascent soul, forming a large-scale imprint on the chest.
Elder Niji found it a little hard to breath, as if a heavy weight had just been put on his chest. The feeling lasted for about thirty seconds before the process was complete.
"Huh… I didn't need to do much, it worked automatically?" Elder Niji could sense that his true soul, Nascent soul, and the scale all had an imprint on it.
The scale or the core had his own imprint, while his souls had the scale's imprint.
~HUMM~
Another wave of energy spread, but this time from Elder Niji's body. At the same time, elder Niji felt a new stream of information appearing in his head.
