“How does it look, magnificent isn't it? Before you received our ancestors' inheritance this place was nothing more than a ruin but now it has regained its old luster!”

“It's… quite shiny isn’t it?”

Zhang Dong was now looking at a glistering palace that looked a bit tacky. It looked like something out of a fairytale. First off it was separately floating up in the air right behind the Azure Palace which was the bigger of the two. There must have been some kind of barrier placed on it as he did not feel the divine energies coming from it that he was feeling now.

“It was nothing more than a relic from the past floating behind the Azure Palace behind a mirage formation. Only I, the Azure Emperor, was allowed to know about it.”

Long Qing commented while they slowly floated towards the glistering structure. Even now the mirage formation was keeping anyone from being able to see it. Zhang Dong realized that this was only keeping people that were further away from peeking inside. Only when someone was really close to it would they be able to see anything. Without anyone besides the royal family able to venture to these parts the citizens were unaware of its existence.

The first thing that he noticed when he stood on the small floating island was that this palace was a bit different than the Azure one. The architecture here was composed of tall columns, intricate details, symmetry, harmony, and balance. It looked more that he would find in an old pantheon from Greek culture than the more eastern themes this world was composed of.

Yet the height of the palace was much greater than what the Greek architects of old were capable of. It looked like a mix of an old fantasy castle that was surrounded by many columns and arches of various shades of gold. To the sides, there were aqueducts that continuously shoved water out to the sides. The water did not go down all the way to the ground as it vanished after traveling for about a kilometer downwards.

‘Did someone really put an intricate teleportation formation beneath it just so they could have a fountain?’

It was clear that this flowing water was going back into the source it came from. It was a very pricey fountain system that recycled the used water by sending it back via a teleportation gate. The usage of spiritual energy must have been quite high to keep this thing running. Then there was the problem of it mostly being made of some sort of golden alloy.

After landing he approached one of the columns that looked to be made from this shiny yellow metal. From the outside, it did look like gold but after touching it he realized that it was something a lot rarer.

“Spirit Dragon Gold?”

“I see that you have a keen eye, yes this whole place is made from that precious metal, and to think that it was falling apart recently, not soon after we visited the old tomb that this palace started revitalizing itself!”

“Spirit dragon gold can retain its past luster if it absorbs a large quantity of divine energy, is there something inside that caused it to be restored?”

“Well that I would have to leave up to you, this ruined place has been closed off to anyone for millennia, not even I the Azure Dragon could enter it.”

“Not even you?”

“I could have of course forced my way in but that would be like spitting on our great ancestors!”

Long Qing laughed while looking at the large radiant gate that was before them. There was a giant golden eastern style dragon etched into it that looked like a variant of the more prevalent Azure Dragon. Zhang Dong could feel that there was some type of connection with this place and it was quickly confirmed by his Ai companion.

‘New domain discovered, do you wish to add it to your faction?’

The robotic text to speech like voice echoed through his head while a prompt appeared before his face.

Accept the ancient golden palace as part of your domain? Yes/No?

‘I see, so this is really something that was left for me the original system owner. Perhaps Wang Long could have also accessed it or he had something similar waiting for him at the Soaring Dragon Sect?’

There was no reason to refuse this large floating castle. After losing his previous home during the skirmish at his sect he had hoped to rebuild. This was a very high-quality estate made from precious metal that could easily take a hit from a nascent soul master without sustaining any damage. Perhaps he could move it at will after interfacing with it further, this he quickly pressed yes.

Long Qing was a bit confused at Zhang Dong who was pointing toward the large gate. To someone that couldn’t see the system prompts it was quite the oddity. Yet the moment the finger pointed out the whole floating island started rumbling and the gate had been closed for multiple millennia.

The moment a tiny crack opened up the two were greeted by a large gust of wind. This was no simple wind as it pushed these two powerhouse cultivators back and forced them to use their spiritual energy to stabilize themselves.

“Hoh, I think that this place is rejecting me…”

Long Qing called out as the initial hit from the wind had stopped when colliding with Zhang Dong’s body but continued to push the Azure Emperor back. The new owner of the palace was unsure how this place worked but it was probably rejecting anyone that was not him.

“Don’t worry my brother, I will retreat for now, perhaps after you have managed to acquaint yourself with this relic of time past, you will be able to invite me in.”

The man blasted off into the distance after surrounding himself with a deep blue aura of might. It was probably possible for him to force his way inside but he did not. Zhang Dong had to give it to his older brother for not taking it as a hit to the face. Some other cultivators would have probably seen this as some kind of hit to their prestige but this Azure Emperor did not.

“I will.”

He just nodded while turning towards the gate, the cold wind that surrounded his body quickly evaporated into tiny sparkles of gold and he was allowed to step forward. The large gate soon slammed behind him and the inside of the ruin laid bare.

“Hmm… So is this supposed to help the system holder to win the war or something? The outside looks grand and all but the inside is kind of…”

While before entering this place he had his hopes up when he saw the actual inside of it his mind quickly changed. There was nothing in here the spirit dragon gold had managed to regenerate itself but the rest was in tatters. The floors were covered in dust and dirt, and crumbled furniture and decorative pieces were on the floor everywhere.

It looked like a tornado went through this place about fifty thousand years ago and destroyed everything. Only the walls that were composed of this fantasy metal looked to be in good shape, the rest would need to be cleaned out and replaced.

On the other side of the palace gate, there was a wide staircase that went up. To the sides were many golden columns that helped up a very high ceiling. The stairs led up to a higher floor and to a corridor that was the size of a tennis court. It felt like many people gathered here before venturing forward into the rest of this palace.

As he continued he also managed to find the source of water along with the large golden statue in the middle. It was a large fountain depicting a man who was probably the previous Golden Dragon before him. Around his body, he could see a large dragon that was probably his soul beast. The water was shooting out from the dragon’s mouth and then flowing to the sides and out through some kind of drain.

“I guess this guy really liked gold, almost everything is made from it…”

He continued with his exploration while also checking his faction tab in his system window. It was listed under the Ancient Dragon Palace and had a percentage number floating above it.

‘Thirty-four percent? I guess this place really needs some renovating but will my dear brother allow me to bring people from my sect to tidy up? Hm, but do I really need to ask him for permission?’

Considering that the Azure Emperor was not allowed to step into this place without his approval he might be able to just teleport his faction members inside now.

‘If that tacky fountain uses a teleportation formation for the water then perhaps there is a room fitted with the proper equipment.’

While the throne room was in an obvious direction he decided to check out the smaller ones before moving to it. Just as he had theorized he found many interesting locations, one was a treasury that was mostly filled with precious metals and another one was an armory. While most of the weapons had degraded by a lot, some of the higher quality items could still be used or reforged into something close to the original.

“These flying swords aren’t too bad… and there are a lot of them…”

It seemed that his predecessor was a sword fanatic as he found large quantities of heaven grade swords made from the same metal the palace was composed of. Thanks to this he just needed to feed them some of his own holy energy and he would have a large swarm of them aiding him in combat.

Regretfully while the spirit dragon gold was bountiful he did not find any spirit stones that he could use for more spirit points. Now after being unable to harness the elemental energies to increase his cultivation level he needed them to hatch this seed of his.

‘Can’t have it all I guess… the library is also nothing more than dust and the palace seems to be powered by that thing…’

At the end of his walk, he ended up in the ‘engine room’ of this flying castle. There he found a large spirit artifact that was radiating massive amounts of divine energy. There was a lot of juice left in it as it had probably been on energy saving more through the years of no Golden Dragon being around. It took the form of a large golden egg with various patterns, for a moment he thought it resembled an oversized Easter egg when he saw it.

‘Was this an egg from some kind of immortal beast? I can’t imagine it being from a nascent soul being, the holy energy would have not lasted this long…’

While he could not feel any life from within the egg, the immense holy energy it was giving off was somewhat constant. Without him being able to absorb it anymore it would probably remain here to power the castle at least until he found a better use for it.

‘I guess I should go to that throne room now, that’s probably the focal point of this palace…’