As that dragon's roar echoed across the entirety of Julong Mountain, two massive gates became visible in the distance, slowly creaking open.

One was just ahead, a stone gate roughly thirty zhang wide, revealing an interior of impenetrable, bottomless blackness.

The other was set high upon the cliff face above, three hundred zhang higher than their current position. Previously invisible, it only became apparent at the very moment it swung open for all to see.

Coiled around the entrance were nine colossal dragon statues, radiating an aura of profound solemnity mingled with a chilling austerity.

And in the next instant, the voice of Xuan Taiji resonated everywhere: "This Dragon Gate was left behind by the Martial Saint Long Ying of the Cloud Barrens before his departure, intended to strengthen the martial path of our Cloud Realm and benefit all. Therefore, regardless of lineage or sect, all are permitted entry for viewing. Today, I, Xuan Taiji, offer but one directive: may all who enter henceforth bear the words 'Harmony is Precious' in mind!"

As his words faded, those like Si Long immediately ascended into the air, riding their artifacts. Dozens of streaks of light followed, plunging into the inner gate one after another.

Just as the twentieth person entered, the stone gate slammed shut with a resounding boom.

The eighth-rank powerhouses gathered there breathed sighs of relief, smiles touching their lips.

Zong Shou sneered internally, fully aware that the experts from these established great sects weren't merely there to maintain order.

A significant portion of their motivation was to secure those initial twenty slots and prevent others from rushing in ahead of them.

The rest of the crowd surged toward the outer gate below. Most were barred, though those who had secured entry tokens beforehand needed only present their tally plates to pass straight through.

While the outer gate had no formal restriction on numbers, the sequence of entry still mattered.

As the master of this domain, Zong Shou needed no introduction; he bypassed any need for the little wooden tokens the Cangsheng Dao had procured for him. He and his companion walked boldly to the entrance, and no one dared to stop them.

This was, in fact, a slight disappointment to Zong Shou, whose original intention had been to sell some of those slots, leveraging his status as host to bring a few extra people in and rake in a small profit. But for some reason, no one had approached him.

Feeling a touch of curiosity, he then asked Jin Buhui, "I thought Brother Jin would be entering directly through the inner gate this time."

"My Haoxuan Sect was only allocated two inner slots this time. Even the seventh-rank senior brothers weren't enough to go around, so where would someone like me, Jin Buhui, fit in?"

Jin Buhui looked thoroughly disgruntled, then pulled ten tokens for entering and exiting Julong Mountain from his robes, grumbling fiercely, "I've taken a massive loss this time. I paid a king's ransom previously to acquire these tokens from several martial uncles. I heard this trade used to be red-hot, but this time they won't sell at all—"

Zong Shou secretly admired the kindred spirit. After a moment of contemplation, he said thoughtfully, "Too many people have arrived; the various sects can't hold the line for long."

"Precisely! In years past when the crowd was smaller, the sects could handle it as they pleased. But now, even the Haoxuan Sect doesn't dare easily offend so many peers. No one is foolish!"

Jin Buhui wholeheartedly agreed, a flicker of shrewdness in his eyes, "These people aren't truly here for the Martial Saint's residual presence—"

Zong Shou smiled and stepped forward, yet his inner surprise deepened. What exactly was drawing such a crowd?

Crossing a long corridor, they were met with exactly nine diverging paths, some wide, others narrow and low.

Without exception, each was shrouded in a potent martial intent. Upon reaching this spot, Zong Shou’s spirit felt a faint pressure.

He was unsurprised; this Martial Saint's intent was known to grow stronger against the strong and weaker against the weak. If he had been a complete invalid with zero cultivation, the pressure would likely have been the same.

As he studied the fork in the paths, wondering about hidden mechanisms, Jin Buhui’s laugh sounded beside him: "No need to hesitate here; just pick one! All parts of this cavern network communicate with each other. Though many have tried to uncover its secrets over these ten millennia, none have succeeded."

He then handed over several scrolls, "These are maps drawn from memory by several of my senior brothers and uncles after previous excursions. The terrain here, I hear, shifts completely every century. Each time the Dragon Gate opens, the layout is different. But I expect some familiar elements might remain."

Zong Shou unrolled one scroll. It depicted a dizzying network of paths, impossibly complex, peppered with various notations such as ‘Sword Enlightenment Spot,’ ‘Incomplete Sword Art Fragment,’ and ‘Suspicious Area.’ Many sections were blank, presumably unexplored.

After quickly memorizing the map, Zong Shou looked up to find Jin Buhui already walking ahead, stopping at the entrance to one of the grottoes. Zong Shou paused, slightly taken aback. "Brother Jin, where are you headed?"

"To seek my own destiny, naturally."

Jin Buhui turned back, waving a chubby hand. "Old Jin here has always preferred going solo and eating alone. Everyone's fortune is different. I, Jin Buhui, have no desire to infringe on another's luck, nor do I wish for others to share what's on my plate. In short, let luck decide. Oh, right, I forgot to mention—legend says there are three hidden locations within these caverns that lead to the inner gate area. However, in all these ten thousand years, no one has managed it. Brother Zong can certainly try. Perhaps we shall meet there. Farewell!"

Watching the figure shimmer away in golden light, Zong Shou couldn't help but smile. Jin Buhui’s actions suited his own intentions perfectly. Though his words were sometimes abrasive, his bluntness was oddly pleasing.

He tucked the map away and, taking Zong Yuan with him, entered a different grotto.

Inside, the pathway twisted and turned. Just as Jin Buhui had claimed, the layout was entirely different from the last time the Dragon Gate had opened.

Aside from the initial nine entrances, everything else had changed.

However, upon closer inspection, faint traces could still be discerned—certain corridors and chambers seemed merely shifted in position, or perhaps slightly submerged or risen. The general structure was vaguely recognizable; it wasn't entirely disconnected from previous iterations.

Zong Shou felt a wave of gratitude. Without Jin Buhui gifting him this map, he would surely have been lost and utterly confused by the maze.

After traversing for half an hour, Zong Shou began to grasp some patterns.

"The location I seek should be not far from here—"

The place Zong Shou was aiming for was a stone chamber, marked on the map as an ‘Enlightenment Spot,’ a location supposedly conducive to comprehending the true meaning of the Sword Dao.

Zong Shou first knocked on the stone wall, eliciting a dull, muffled thud. Clearly, the walls were extremely thick.

When Zong Shou struck with his Thunder Wing Sword, it only left a half-inch scratch on the surface.

Moments later, the scratch began to slowly mend itself!

Zong Shou shook his head faintly. He had tried this many times before, always with the same result. The idea of simply blasting a hole through these cavern walls was clearly unworkable.

He wasn't disappointed; rather, he frowned, sinking into deep thought.

There must be some subtle mechanism at play that others had simply overlooked.

And it must be deeply connected to those nine entrance passages at the threshold.

"This is Julong Mountain, and beneath it converge nine Dragon Veins. Could the topography of this cavern be shifting based on these veins?"

Zong Shou couldn't recall the exact layout of the Dragon Veins beneath Julong Mountain, but he could calculate possibilities. He hurriedly flipped through all the maps Jin Buhui had given him.

A moment later, he let out a soft chuckle. His guess wasn't entirely accurate, but it wasn't far off. It couldn't possibly be as simple as he imagined; something crucial must be missing.

He felt a slight headache returning. He remembered that in the God Emperor game of the future, he despised having to pioneer new dungeons or maps.

Unless absolutely necessary, he would always wait until others had completed over seventy percent of the progression, formulating a complete strategy, before entering. While this meant benefiting from others’ work, it still meant falling behind them, though it saved time.

A place like the Dragon Gate of Julong Mountain would be classified as a large-scale instance in the God Emperor game of later eras.

He wondered how much he could truly gain here.

After a brief deliberation, Zong Shou continued forward. This time, it was almost as if he were walking familiar ground; within moments, he located the chamber marked ‘Enlightenment Spot’ on the map.

It was a stone room roughly five zhang square, matching the map’s notation perfectly.

Everywhere else in this area was pitch black, except for this room, where several night-luminescent pearls cast a soft glow, bathing the small space in light.

As he entered, Zong Shou was immediately captivated by a series of murals. The left and right walls each bore thirteen distinct paintings.

Zong Shou’s gaze locked instantly onto the seventh painting on the left wall: a depiction of two colossal dragons locked in combat within a sea of clouds.

The painting was rendered crudely; by the standards of ten thousand years hence, it bordered on what would be called ‘abstract art.’ Yet, as if possessing some inherent magic, it seized Zong Shou’s spirit. The scene before his eyes began to shift, feeling vividly real.

One dragon of ice, one of fire, they writhed and coiled in the vast cloud ocean. The interplay of cold flame caused the surrounding mist to suddenly freeze into falling frost, only to instantly evaporate into steam.

Fierce dragon roars assaulted his eardrums. Scales of blue and red were torn away, and drops of golden dragon blood spattered down.

Both dragons were terribly wounded, presenting a shocking sight.

Zong Shou was engrossed when suddenly the red dragon silhouette roared at him, abruptly disengaging the ice chī and diving straight toward him.

Zong Shou’s brow lifted slightly, followed by a cold laugh. He uttered a single word: "Scram."

The illusion before him instantly shattered into pieces. The two battling dragons vanished from sight.

The murals returned to their former, highly ‘abstract’ state.

Zong Shou examined the other paintings; they varied widely. Only a dozen or so could plunge him into a hallucination; the rest provoked no reaction.

However, without exception, every mural was related to the concept of ‘Dragon.’

And besides the image of the ice and fire dragons fighting, Zong Shou’s attention was drawn to another: a mural of a massive dragon wreathed in flashing lightning, coiled across the heavens. (To be continued)