Chapter 2899: Golden Fish in the Golden Lake

“Ah ow…”

As soon as Fang Bai’s figure settled, he heard a roar that shook the heavens and earth.

Immediately afterwards, a beam of golden light, carrying a terrifying divine power, charged towards him at high speed, causing the space it passed through to surge violently like a tide.

It was a leopard with a body over three zhang long, its short fur radiating a golden glow, as if wrapped in a golden armor.

“Golden Leopard?”

When Fang Bai was in the Divine Realm, he had seen similar leopards and knew they were extremely powerful Divine Beasts, born with Divine King Realm strength. As they aged, their strength would rapidly ascend.

The Golden Leopard before him possessed high-rank Divine Emperor Realm strength, its combat power far surpassing practitioners of the same realm. Had Fang Bai not advanced recently, he might have struggled to counter it.

However, now that this high-rank Divine Emperor Realm Golden Leopard faced Fang Bai, who was already a half-step Divine Emperor, it wasn’t of much concern to him.

“Scram!”

With a mere thought, Fang Bai condensed a giant palm ten zhang ahead, its fingers spread wide, meeting the charging Golden Leopard, grabbing its neck firmly, and then flinging it away.

The massive body of the Golden Leopard was sent flying back even faster than it arrived, crashing into a mountain a thousand zhang away, causing a landslide.

Though the Golden Leopard wasn’t severely injured, it was greatly frightened, knowing it was no match for Fang Bai, this human clan expert, and immediately fled with its tail between its legs.

“This beast runs fast enough!”

Fang Bai originally intended to kill the Golden Leopard and take its beast core, but unexpectedly it fled at the slightest disadvantage, in an instant vanishing a thousand miles away, so Fang Bai didn’t bother wasting energy on pursuit.

After all, a beast core from a high-rank Divine Emperor Realm Divine Beast wasn’t of much use to him now.

If it were a Divine Emperor Realm Divine Beast, Fang Bai wouldn’t have let it go by any means.

Fang Bai knew that where a Divine Beast guarded, there were bound to be Divine Medicines, so he flew down to the resting place of the Golden Leopard and indeed found a high-level Divine Emperor Realm Divine Medicine with tens of thousands of years of medicinal age.

Although Divine Emperor Realm Divine Medicines no longer offered him much assistance, refining Divine Elixirs to give to other experts in the Emperor’s Palace would greatly aid their cultivation.

Just having arrived in Golden Valley and already gaining something was a good omen, filling Fang Bai with expectations for this journey.

Fang Bai was naturally not the only one searching for cultivation resources in Golden Valley.

After flying for a moment in Golden Valley, Fang Bai encountered several groups of experts, among them a Divine Emperor Realm expert.

These experts mostly came from Golden City, but some hailed from other regions as well.

Almost all the experts from Golden City recognized Fang Bai.

So upon seeing Fang Bai, they warmly greeted him, even hoping to accompany him.

As for the experts from other regions, though they didn’t recognize Fang Bai, upon discovering he was a half-step Divine Emperor Realm expert, and seeing how respected he was, didn’t dare look down on him.

Fang Bai naturally declined those wishing to accompany him, as he didn’t want unrelated experts sharing in his gains.

Thus, after exchanging greetings, Fang Bai parted ways, each seeking their own fortune.

Soon after, Fang Bai appeared by a large lake.

This enormous lake was boundless and unfathomably deep, its waters resembling molten gold, sparkling with golden brilliance and dazzlingly eye-catching.

On the mountains surrounding the lake, many experts stood proudly, their eyes fixed on the smooth, mirror-like surface of the lake, with a hint of tension.

It was Fang Bai’s first time in Golden Valley, and he was unaware of what was in the lake that attracted so many experts.

“Greetings, you two.”

Seeing a man and woman standing side by side in the air to his left, Fang Bai flew over, clasped his hands, and smilingly asked, “This is my first time here, may I ask why there are so many experts watching this large lake?”

The two, the man handsome and the woman beautiful, were both high-rank Divine Emperor Realm. After giving Fang Bai a glance and realizing they couldn’t discern his cultivation level, they knew his strength exceeded their own and didn’t dare be neglectful.

“Greetings, Upper God.”

The male expert returned the salute to Fang Bai respectfully and said, “This Golden Lake is said to have existed since the Beginning of Chaos. Golden Fish reside at the lake bottom caves and occasionally surface to play…”

The female expert chimed in, “Golden Fish have tender, rich meat containing extremely dense Chaos Divine Power. It’s said one is equivalent to a Divine Elixir of the Emperor Realm. These many experts are waiting here, hoping to get lucky and capture one.”

The male expert nodded and added, “However, the Golden Fish themselves are extremely fast, and whenever they frolic on the surface, two Golden Dragons always guard them. So if one wants to catch a Golden Fish, one must certainly battle the Golden Dragons.”

The female expert added, “Those two Golden Dragons are no simple matter; though they’re just half-step Divine Emperor Realm, their combat power is even stronger than typical early-stage Divine Emperor Realm. If they join forces, it’s even more formidable. Thus, over the years, those who’ve successfully captured Golden Fish are extremely rare…”

After Fang Bai carefully listened to their detailed description of the Golden Fish’s appearance, he nodded, thinking it was curious that a small Golden Fish could match a Divine Elixir of the Emperor Realm.

But capturing such Golden Fish was precisely what Fang Bai needed for cultivation. If he could catch more of them, perhaps he could truly enter the Divine Emperor Realm.

At that moment, Fang Bai focused intently, staring at the surface of the Golden Lake, while his Divine Sense diffused, probing toward the lake’s bottom.

Fang Bai was surprised to find that the Chaos Divine Power contained in the Golden Lake was even more dense beneath the surface, and the deeper it went, the more it intensified.

One could say the deepest part of the Golden Lake’s bottom was an excellent cultivation holy land. If he dived into the lake for cultivation, it might yield unexpected effects.

Unbeknownst to him, because of his unique physique and Qi Sea, his Divine Sense could penetrate several hundred meters underwater.

Other experts’ Divine Sense couldn’t do this, and they could only search visually around the lake surface, waiting for the Golden Lake to surface.

Fang Bai’s Divine Sense reached several hundred meters into the Golden Lake, continuously searching for any movement in the lake, hoping to spot the Golden Fish first and act swiftly.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Fang Bai suddenly noticed tiny points of golden light emerging from the depths, stirring his heart.

Those golden lights gradually ascended, and when they came within the coverage of Fang Bai’s Divine Sense, Fang Bai finally saw clearly that they were indeed fish with golden scales.

From those Golden Fish, Fang Bai truly sensed an extremely pure and intense Chaos Divine Power.

Fang Bai was overjoyed, and if not for the concern about the Golden Dragons in the lake, he would almost have rushed into the lake to seize them first.