The Gold Horned Beast circled the surging Nine Serpentine River, advancing cautiously as it infiltrated the area.

In the distant, deep darkness.

"That Gold Horned Beast is heading toward the Master's palace! We must stop it; it absolutely cannot be allowed to disturb the Master!"

"Yin Qiu, even I couldn't stop him; you won't be able to either."

"I can't stop him, but Hei Tian... you definitely can. Although your strength is similar to mine, your divine body is much larger! With such a massive divine body, if you truly entangled him, you could certainly hold him for a very, very long time! Yet, after being defeated just once, you immediately retreated? Don't you know the Master's majesty cannot be violated? You actually allowed the Gold Horned Beast to invade the Master's palace!"

"No, Yin Qiu, his strength is greater than you imagine. If he truly wanted to shake me off, I couldn't stop him at all."

"What? Even you can't stop him? Is he a Universe Master?"

"Even if he isn't a Universe Master, his strength is not far off," Lord Hei Tian stated. "Let's watch slowly. Let him go see the Master! Since he won't heed my warning, if he meets his end, it is not our fault... When he sees the Master and disturbs him, the outcome will surely be death!"

"Indeed." A second, cool voice rang out. "That Gold Horned Beast will regret this."

"Let's go."

Lord Hei Tian and the tiny figure attached to him swiftly vanished into the darkness.

Golden waves surged violently and advanced rapidly, sweeping through the void, obliterating all obstacles.

The Gold Horned Beast gazed distantly. Hei Tian's words had made him cautious. Besides, this was arranged by Teacher Zuo Shan Ke. The third black metal plate was with Venerable Qing Zhao Kou and Venerable Zi Zhao Kou! They were Universe Overlord level! The fourth black metal plate belonged to the Master of Craftsmanship! And this fifth and final black metal plate must also be extraordinary.

"To have Lord Hei Tian as a servant, this Master must be at least a Universe Master," Luo Feng mused inwardly.

Following the intense summons of the black metal plate, the Gold Horned Beast pressed on.

For a full half an hour... the path was completely unimpeded. It was apparent that those special lifeforms hidden in the dark had all given up trying to stop the beast after Lord Hei Tian suffered a defeat.

"Damn that Gold Horned Beast, daring to disturb the Master."

"His strength is immense; even Lord Hei Tian was defeated."

"Just watch; he will regret it when he meets the Master, but by then, it will be too late to regret."

The Gold Horned Beast vaguely sensed special lifeforms secretly observing it from afar, but since they didn't interfere, it naturally paid them no mind. After half an hour of progress... a corner of an immense palace faintly emerged from the distant black mist. This magnificent palace revealed just a fraction of its structure.

The incomparably majestic palace was entirely cast in blood-red hues; the mere corner visible was impossibly vast.

"A palace?"

The Gold Horned Beast controlled the Nine Serpentine River to advance swiftly, soon arriving at the main gate of the palace.

The gate's design appeared ordinary yet radiated infinite oppressive power. Above the gate were three incredibly complex, secret runic characters. Although unrecognizable, their meaning was directly transmitted into the mind: Blood Cloud Palace!

"Blood Cloud Palace?" The Gold Horned Beast, atop the surging golden river before the palace, showed shock.

"It's the Blood Cloud Palace? The legendary... Blood Cloud Palace? The fifth black metal plate is actually inside the Blood Cloud Palace." Luo Feng was immensely shocked. Simultaneously, his main body on Earth, on the distant Purple Thorn Island, received this information and immediately connected to the virtual universe to investigate carefully.

Luo Feng knew quite a bit about the Blood Cloud Palace.

The Blood Cloud Palace held immense fame among the super experts of the myriad races in the universe. Wherever the Blood Cloud Palace passed, it brought an ocean of slaughter! The Blood Cloud Palace Master had a perverse temperament; he would travel to a powerhouse's lair, or even deep into a race's territory, just because he disliked someone, determined to kill his target!

However, the Blood Cloud Palace Master's origin? Identity? Which race did he belong to? His true strength?

Everything was unknown!

All that was known was that the "Blood Cloud Palace" was a flying palace-type ultimate treasure. In the past, the Blood Cloud Palace Master rampaged through the universe, slaying countless beings, accumulating enemies with nearly every major power in the universe! Many Universe Masters wanted him dead. Though solitary, the Blood Cloud Palace Master was terrifyingly strong; two Universe Masters had already perished at his hands! The number of Universe Overlords he killed was frighteningly high... Furthermore, if he sensed the situation turning against him, he would swiftly depart on the Blood Cloud Palace.

Throughout the long ages, no expert had ever managed to trap the Blood Cloud Palace Master!

Moreover, if a force provoked a feud with the Blood Cloud Palace Master, he would relentlessly target that force like a maniac.

Evil! Madman! Powerful! Mysterious!

This was the Blood Cloud Palace Master!

No one knew where his lair was, nor the true limit of his strength; whether he was a special lifeform or from a certain race—all unknown. Because he always wore a blood-red robe and a blood-red mask, his true appearance was a complete mystery. In his most frenzied period, he caused the entire universe to hate this madman, yet he survived well, even causing the fall of two Universe Masters.

One must remember that it is extremely difficult for Universe Masters to kill each other in combat.

The fact that he could kill two proved his formidable strength.

And there were rumors that the Blood Cloud Palace Master originated from the Human Race! Because of his erratic temper and countless killings, experts from the Ancestral God Religion, North Frontier Alliance, Crystal Race, Prison Race, Bug Race, Demon Race, Machine Race, and Star Beast Alliance had fallen under his hand—only the Human Race remained unharmed...

As for second-tier powers like the Nine Domain Alliance, they had naturally suffered great losses.

In summary, if a race's Universe Overlord was killed by him, enduring it might be acceptable, but fighting him would lead to greater losses. After all, even major superpowers like the Ancestral God Religion had failed to deal with this Blood Cloud Palace Master.

"It's the Blood Cloud Palace," the Gold Horned Beast looked up at the three characters above the gate. "The Blood Cloud Palace Master once dominated the universe, an absolutely mysterious and powerful existence. But after his most brilliant period, he went into seclusion and disappeared. In the years since, he has only acted twice... The last time he showed himself was over three million epochs ago."

"He has been gone too long."

"There has been no news; the major powers in the universe assumed the Blood Cloud Palace Master was simply an identity disguised by some powerful Universe Master. Now that he doesn't need the disguise, he hasn't appeared," Luo Feng concluded after reading the detailed information in the virtual universe, feeling only one thing.

This man was a madman! A powerful madman! Whoever provoked him, he fought!

He had no ties, traveling alone, and even major superpowers ended up losing out when fighting him.

"I never expected the Blood Cloud Palace to be hidden here, guarded by Lord Hei Tian!" Luo Feng marveled. "No wonder no expert discovered it. Universe Masters disdain bothering with the Primal Secret Realm, and how could ordinary Universe Venerables pass Lord Hei Tian's guard? The various races only knew this was Lord Hei Tian's territory, unaware that this was actually a lair of the Blood Cloud Palace Master."

"What should I do? Go in or not?"

The Blood Cloud Palace Master's renown was too great, and his strength too terrifying; having felled two Universe Masters, his strength was estimated to be close to that of City Lord Chaos! No wonder Lord Hei Tian had been so confident earlier. And since the Blood Cloud Palace was a "flying palace-type ultimate treasure," the black metal plate, according to the signal, was inside this treasure.

"Should I enter this ultimate treasure?" The Gold Horned Beast hesitated briefly, then quickly made a decision.

"Flying palace-type ultimate treasures are primarily meant to protect the owner! I've never heard that the Blood Cloud Palace can trap strong beings."

Whoosh! Without further hesitation, the Gold Horned Beast immediately shrunk the scope of the Nine Serpentine River domain and flew directly toward the gate. The gate was already open.

Upon entering the gate... there was a vast, open plaza with three palaces in the distance: a main palace in the center and two side palaces flanking it. He could faintly see more structures behind the main hall.

"It's in the main hall..."

The Gold Horned Beast clearly sensed the intense summons and swiftly flew toward the main hall.

The main hall exuded an endless aura of tyrannical killing intent. Upon entering, the eye immediately spotted the blood-colored throne within the hall, but there was no figure seated upon it.

"Where is the Blood Cloud Palace Master? Could he not be here?"

"He is the master of the Blood Cloud Palace; he should have noticed me the moment I entered. Why hasn't he appeared?" This thought crossed the Gold Horned Beast's mind, but its actions remained unwavering. Following the summons, it quickly proceeded to the rear chambers of the main hall! The main hall was divided into the Grand Hall, various side halls, and numerous rear chambers.

Following the corridors, the Gold Horned Beast moved rapidly.

"This is the place." It burst through the door.

Entering a secret chamber, the Gold Horned Beast was momentarily stunned. The chamber was filled with numerous items radiating powerful auras. Judging by the aura, there were massive amounts of precious materials—tens of thousands of precious treasures at a glance, along with a full hundred ultimate treasures, though based on Luo Feng's judgment, they seemed to be only ordinary ultimate treasures!

"Is this a treasury?" Luo Feng mused. "But the door opened so easily... No, this is the Blood Cloud Palace; the Blood Cloud Palace Master is very confident? And perhaps the items placed here are not particularly precious to him."

A hundred ultimate treasures, tens of thousands of precious treasures, and vast amounts of materials... the treasury radiated an overwhelming aura.

But the Gold Horned Beast's gaze settled on one item placed at the very top, in the absolute center of the pile of materials: a black, seemingly incomplete metal plate.

"The fifth piece!" The Gold Horned Beast felt a sense of strangeness. Was it really this easy to obtain?

Swish!

A strand of divine power shot out from the tip of the Gold Horned Beast's horn, directly piercing the metal plate. Immediately, the final segment of the Nine Tribulations Secret Codex flooded into Luo Feng's consciousness. PS: Chapter one ends!