Everyone's hunting for treasure: I'll give you 100 times the loot and hand it over to the

Chapter 129 The Dragon King's Throne

Xiao Qianyu's gaze swept over everyone, finally landing on Lu Yan.

Lu Yan did not participate in their discussion. He was standing alone in the center of the altar, staring at the dimmed sacrificial array on the ground.

"Alright, pack up the spoils and hand them in together." Xiao Qianyu made the decision. "Let's continue exploring. Old Zhao, you and Xinglin keep your distance and be ready to provide backup at any time."

"clear!"

The team regrouped, but the atmosphere was different. That bloody battle, that unwavering determination to protect their teammates at all costs, had truly forged this already elite squad into an unbreakable fortress.

"Lu Yan, have you found anything?" Xiao Qianyu walked to his side.

"This doesn't look like a treasure trove." Lu Yan pointed to the huge magic array beneath his feet. "The location of the South Sea Dragon is right at the core of the array. It's not a guardian, but more like a prisoner bound here, or rather... a core."

His finger traced through the air, and a simple energy flow diagram was simulated by the [Disc of Nothingness].

"The true purpose of this sacrificial array is to draw upon the power of the dragon to maintain a certain seal. Our battle just now essentially depleted its energy prematurely."

"So that fake coral door was meant to lure outsiders into attacking the dragon and speed up the process?" Zhao Leiguang suddenly realized.

"More than that," Lu Yan shook his head. "It's more like a selection mechanism. Those who aren't qualified die at the hands of the dragon-dragon; only those capable of killing the dragon-dragon are qualified to touch what comes next. But either way, they've fallen into the designer's trap."

Lu Yan crouched down, his fingers gently tracing the dizzyingly intricate runes on the ground. They were not merely part of the sacrificial array; combined, they resembled an extremely complex combination lock.

"A trap?" Lin Chuxue leaned closer curiously. "What kind of trap?"

"Blood sacrifice." Lu Yan uttered two words. "After killing the dragon-dragon, the correct way to open it is to use a sufficiently powerful life form for a second sacrifice to unlock the true treasure vault. This place exudes an evil aura from the inside out."

A chill ran down everyone's spine. The difficulty of the S+ dungeon lay not only in the power of the monsters, but also in the ubiquitous, malicious traps that led people to their destruction.

"So what do we do now? We can't just sacrifice ourselves, can we?" Zhao Leiguang scratched his head.

Lu Yan didn't answer. His eyes were slightly closed, and a massive stream of data flashed through his mind. He disassembled, reassembled, and arranged the tens of thousands of runes on the altar. He was searching for the underlying logic of this "combination lock," searching for that one-in-a-million "backdoor" left by the designer.

Time ticked by, with only the faint sound of flowing water around them. The other members of the first team consciously spread out, securing the entire altar and creating an absolutely safe environment for Lu Yan.

After an unknown amount of time, Lu Yan opened his eyes.

(It's impossible for the male protagonist to get it right the first time, and he can speak the dragon language. It's written in a normal or coincidental way.)

He stood up, walked to an ordinary stone slab at the edge of the altar, lifted his foot, and gently stepped on it.

Click.

A soft sound.

Then, he walked to another part of the altar and pressed three times on an inconspicuous protrusion on the wall.

One light, two heavy.

Finally, he returned to the center of the altar, faced the empty ground, and whispered a phrase in ancient dragon language that the system could not recognize.

That was a syllable he had extracted from the fragments of the South China Sea dragon's soul.

hum-

The entire altar trembled violently. On the ground, the original blood-red sacrificial array lost its light, replaced by a deep, vast azure glow.

What was originally thought to be the core magic array turned out to be just a disguise covering the surface.

As the blue light intensified, the ground in the center of the altar slowly cracked open, and a stone platform rose from it.

On the stone platform, a fist-sized, azure crystal, seemingly containing an entire ocean, floated silently, emanating a gentle yet powerful life force. That aura surged like the tides; merely approaching it invigorated everyone, washing away some of the fatigue from the battle.

【Ding! 】

[Congratulations on discovering the highest-level item: Dragon King's Heart!]

【Heart of the Dragon King (Supreme)】

[Effect: Ocean Source Core. The holder can significantly accelerate their comprehension of the laws of water. It can serve as the core of 'Dragon Palace' type buildings, providing them with unlimited energy and unlocking the 'Aquatic Summoning' function.]

"Again...again, the highest level!" Lin Chuxue's mouth opened into an "O" shape, her eyes filled with stars.

A single Supreme Blueprint was enough to change the fate of China. Now, there is an even more terrifying Supreme Core!

Just as everyone was awestruck by this enormous harvest, a bottomless, dark tunnel was revealed beneath the raised stone platform. An aura, more ancient and vast than the South China Sea dragon, slowly seeped out from the depths of the tunnel.

It was as if some enormous creature was slowly awakening in the abyss.

"Let's go down and take a look." Zhao Leiguang was always the one rushing to the front.

"Wait." Xiao Qianyu stopped him. Her gaze fell on Shen Xinglin.

Shen Xinglin's face was still pale. Although his wounds had healed under Su Yunqing's treatment, the life essence he had lost from being hit by the S+ level BOSS's lock-on skill could not be recovered in a short time.

"Xing Lin's condition is not suitable for further exploration," Xiao Qianyu's voice left no room for doubt. "The gains we've made this time have been enormous enough; there's no need to take any risks. In the worst-case scenario, we'll abandon further exploration and retreat entirely."

"Captain, I'm fine." Shen Xinglin shook his head.

He took two steps forward and stretched his body. Although his movements were still a little stiff, he was fine.

He looked at the bottomless tunnel with a determined gaze: "I cannot let the country be delayed because of me."

One sentence silenced everyone.

Yes, they are not ordinary adventurers; they are soldiers. Every exploration of the secret realm concerns the future of the nation.

Lu Yan stepped forward, patted Shen Xinglin on the shoulder, and traded him an S-grade life recovery accessory that had just been dropped by the dragon.

"Let's go."

He gazed into the deep tunnel, his expression more solemn than ever before. The aura emanating from its depths carried a domineering and oppressive presence, far surpassing the dragon and serpent he had encountered before.

"We may have made a mistake." Lu Yan's voice came through the communication channel.

"The South China Sea Dragon, the Sea-Suppressing Dragon Soul, and everything else we encountered before were just the outer guards of this 'Dragon Palace'."

He paused, then spoke slowly and deliberately.

"This time, we may be facing the real Dragon King on the throne."