“It should be in here… was this his bed chamber?”

Zhang Dong was about to leave this place to go check on his family but was pulled away by his Ai’s prompt. Bob had discovered an item that fit the description of the sacred blade. Yet on the domain window, he could not really see anything of worth nor could he feel any strong holy energy from this place.

Behind the throne room, there was another set of corridors that led to some private quarters. It seemed to have been connected to the Golden Dragon’s private rooms. There was a mostly destroyed study with no books, a private washing chamber with still working water, and then this last area with a large golden bed in the middle.

“Could old Bob have become senile?”

He was not sure what from here could be the secret relic that the magical knights were willing to go to war for. It was also strange that Bob had only now detected the item and not instantly when he arrived in the now named Golden Dong Palace.

“Perhaps all of this golden metal is making his sensors go haywire? Where is that item anyway, you just said that it's in this room can you be more specific?”

“Negative, the signal is faint and distorted, the system has managed to reduce the search area to this chamber.”

“Fine then… I’ll just quickly go through everything, at least I won’t need to smile at those old farts from the Long Clan.”

While his position in the new clan was shaky that didn’t keep some of the cultivators from sucking up to him. All sorts of people appeared before him, some even offered their daughters up to him to garner good relations. He on the other hand did not want his wife to see any of this or he might have some explaining to do.

“I should get a move on, there is much work to be done…”

When stepping forward he could hear the pieces of dust crunching under his feet. The ceiling had crumbled and there was rocky dirt everywhere. Mostly anything that was not made from that special metal had mostly deteriorated. The floor was certainly made from some sort of panel that had broken apart in many places. Without the framework of the gold the whole structure might have already collapsed.

The first thing that he noticed was the golden bed in the middle. The fabric that covered the mattress was somewhat intact but it looked really dusty. The golden dragon patterns were everywhere here but whatever he tried to pick up almost instantly crumbled.

“I can’t even tell what this was…”

The fabrics crumbled and even some of the golden items started disintegrating before his eyes. The wooden furniture that from afar just looked dusty evaporated before his eyes whenever a little gust flew their way, soon enough there was nothing left for him to look through besides the large golden frame of the bed.

“I guess this was the most important part of this room?”

Thus he decided to touch the bed but as he had thought there was no holy sword here. Bob was not reacting but even then reminded him constantly that the item was in this very room.

“It’s not the bed then what? Do I need to dig underground or could it be on the ceiling?”

He started looking around but there was nothing on the walls, ceiling, or ground that looked promising. After circling around the room he decided to take a little break by sitting on the golden bed frame. Yet when he did that, the whole bed quickly collapsed. Luckily thanks to his quick reflexes he did not tumble down to the ground along with it.

“Damn it… hm? Wait, what’s that?”

After the little accident, he noticed something. The four legs holding up the bed had snapped quickly after he tried sitting down but one of them remained intact. When going closer to that part he attempted a small test by pushing the bed down with some force. To his surprise the bed wasn’t budging and when he increased the pressure even when the bedframe started bending the leg did not.

“Did the golden dragon turn the relic into a leg of his bed?”

With the help of his spiritual energy, he levitated the whole golden frame up and flipped it over. When checking all the other corners and this one he could see that this one remaining leg was a bit different. When straining his eyes he could tell that it had been attached later and did not originally belong to this furniture piece.

After identifying which was the added part to the frame Zhang Dong pointed out with his finger toward the bed frame. From his finger, a tiny beam of light escaped that was used to slice this golden egg from the rest that now fell down to the ground.

“So this is it?”

“Affirmative, item matching specifications identified.”

The item that he was holding looked like a peg leg that he could stick on a pirate. There was nothing special about it but it did seem to have been coated with some of that spirit dragon gold that the palace was filled with. Thus carefully he started to slowly remove the layer of the strong metal. At first, he was worried that he could have destroyed the item inside but quickly he noticed that the thing inside was incredibly hard.

“Hoh… so this is it?”

What he was looking at was a handle, it fit into his hand but had no blade coming out from it. There were some symbols on it that he could not understand. They did not belong to the empire’s language or any that he knew. If this was from the magical kingdom that belonged to a different system setting this would make sense.

“Could this be it?”

There was no crossguard but the hilt was thicker at the top part. It was nicely crafted with some blue and golden tint to it. Yet there was something missing, at the top of the hilt there seemed to be a small round spot with a slight indentation. It was as if he could put something in there, like a small orb or gem.

“Hm…”

After examining everything with his spiritual sense came his system, there another oddity arose. He could not identify the item, his system was showing him nothing but question marks as it could not rate the thing he was holding. The metal was also unknown to him but it was certainly sturdier than the dragon gold that was here.

Before making any assumptions he performed one last test. He was someone versed in holy and divine energies, perhaps if this sword was meant for a hero it would react to them. Thus his hand started glowing golden as he tried to prod the relic into life.

“Hoh?”

To his surprise he could see the hilt starting to react, it was as if small wings wanted to form. He could see an outline forming that took the shape of a crossguard and was composed of divine light. Yet they quickly started to fade away and when trying to continue with the test he noticed his spiritual energy being drained quite fast. Even when he tried to inject some mana instead it did not help, it was as if this blade was out of focus and could not present its full form.

‘It might be missing something but perhaps that something isn’t even in this empire…’

If this was really a blade from the other empire then perhaps they had something to unlock its properties. Perhaps a new system holder was needed for it and neither he nor Wang Long was ever qualified to wield it. He might need another source of energy besides his holy aspect as well, perhaps this sword required high knowledge in wind elements of water which he was not a grandmaster in.

“Even if I can’t activate it… or know if this is the actual sword that they are looking for, it should be enough for now.”

The main reason for searching for this relic was to stall the invasion and get some allies. If he could present them with something close to their fabled sword then perhaps they would put some trust in his god will. If they allowed for conversation then at least some lives would be saved and there was hope for the invasion in that area to stop. This would at least turn one aggressor into something more neutral and let him focus on other things.

“Found anything else interesting in here Bob?”

“Negative.”

“Good.”

Zhang Dong nodded while throwing the sword hilt into his spatial ring. Now that he had the potential holy blade he was feeling much better. Yet he still needed to be vigilant, this could be something not related to the knights. Perhaps he would need to figure out a good speech to prolong their good relations.

“Would be nice if they just understood my good intentions but I’m not sure if that Lucius guy won’t change his mind after having some time to think…”

After rummaging through his new Golden Dong Castle he finally bolted for the exit. Thanks to his system he would be able to return here at no teleportation cost. He wanted to start spending his spirit points already but this was not yet the time. Cleaning this place came first as it also used up a lot of points that he did not want to waste. His sect members could be called soon but first, he needed to check up on his family.

‘Everything should be fine right? I’ve been gone for like an hour… just smile a bit and survive…’

This reminded him of some old family get-togethers where he was mostly sitting in the corner and trying not to talk to people. Here on the other hand he had his own wife and kids with him that he needed to pay attention to. The gates soon slammed open and he went out, where his older brother was waiting for him.

“I see that you have mastered the Golden Palace already! But I think I should call it the Golden Dong Palace from now on! Now even those old masters will have to accept you.”

Long Qing was all smiles, it seemed that some people were still on the fence about his identity. Now on the other hand he had been accepted by the castle the ancestor lived in and even his name was on the entrance. No one could deny that he was part of the Long Clan and was accepted by their old treasures.

“I guess I am…”

The name rang in his head but at this point, he was already used to being called things like Dong’er and Long Dong. This was nothing out of the ordinary and thus he just floated back towards his brother while smiling.

“Yes, my new home needs some renovation but I will be sure to invite you in after it's been renovated!”

“Hah, I will hold you to that. Now come, let us go back!”

“Yes, let us.”

He nodded and soon the two descended back into the palace where everyone was waiting for them.