Chapter 122: Gui Xu, Swallowing the Dragon
The moment Lu Qingyang plunged into the Gui Xu Sea Eye, the Taixu Secret Canon in his embrace suddenly burst into a faint blue flame. The inky seawater was illuminated by the fire, revealing a thousand-mile-long pile of Yao Race skeletons below. In the center of nine Nine-Headed Serpent remains entangled with chains, stood a half-broken bronze stele covered with Zhenhai Curses. The blood-red crystal embedded in the stele's missing part actually resonated with the Taixu Key at his waist, causing the entire sea area to tremble as if an ancient beast was awakening.
“This deal was a huge loss!” He flung out three Stealing the Heavens and Switching the Sun Talismans. The Spiritual Qi bubbles formed by the burning talismans barely resisted the water pressure. However, the three Nascent Soul powerhouses chasing him triggered the underwater Restrictions. Fairy Leng Yuehan’s crystal coffin was entangled by tentacles reaching out from the skeleton pile, and the coffin lid was instantly covered with barnacle-like organisms that absorbed Spiritual Power. Yin Jiuyou’s burial sky coffin spewed out corpse Qi, only to be swallowed by a rotten Kun that emerged from the skeleton pile. Su Meiniang’s Fox Fire red silk, on the other hand, was absorbed by the bronze stele, turning into tiny sparks.
Taking advantage of this gap, Lu Qingyang bit his fingertip and drew an ancient 'Water Evasion' seal on the surface of the Key. The blood-red crystal suddenly burst forth with a radiant glow, paving a passage of luminous jellyfish before him. The moment he stepped into the crystal's recess, a roar of gears turning came from the bottom of the bronze stele. The Yao Race characters appearing on the stele and the 'Burning Rhinoceros' chapter of the Taixu Secret Canon reflected each other, actually condensing into a Gui Xu map covered with star markers in the air.
“Old Monster Xuanji actually came here…” he murmured to himself, his gaze fixed on the ‘Dragon Slumber Abyss’ marked on the map, as if he wanted to see the secret hidden deep within the abyss through the thin paper.
Suddenly, seventy-two bronze array nails flew out from his sleeve, sparkling with cold light in the air, like shooting stars. They accurately embedded themselves into the skeleton pile according to the star markers, making crisp impact sounds.
The moment the array nails embedded into the skeleton pile, something unexpected happened. Green fire suddenly lit up in the eye sockets of the Nine-Headed Serpent remains. The green flames burned fiercely, as if they were demonic fires erupting from Hell.
The chains wrapped around the Nine-Headed Serpent remains also seemed to be endowed with life, beginning to dance violently. They moved like giant pythons, tearing open a bottomless crack in the seabed.
The Spiritual Qi gushing out from the crack was like a torrent, continuously pouring outwards. This Spiritual Qi actually condensed into solid steps in the air, each step flickering with a faint light, with Restrictions composed of ancient Yao characters floating on them.
A sound of breaking water came from behind, as Leng Yuehan, having cut through the tentacles, pursued him. Lu Qingyang tossed out a fake Burning Rhinoceros Lamp. The lamp flame, upon touching the seawater, instantly exploded into countless phosphorescent lights: “Fairy Leng, do you know that the water of Gui Xu is most detrimental to Guanghan Palace Cultivation Technique?” Under the phosphorescent light, Leng Yuehan’s ice armor, which had condensed around her, actually began to melt, revealing new patterns of the Guanghan Palace Map faintly visible at her collarbone—the direction of these patterns perfectly matched the direction of the seabed crack.
Yin Jiuyou manipulated the rotten Kun to crash into the crack, but Lu Qingyang inserted the Key into the Nine-Headed Serpent's skull. The skeleton pile suddenly reassembled as if alive, transforming into a hundred-zhang-tall bone Puppet that swung its fist at the rotten Kun: “Elder Yin, your mount is well-fed, just right for my bone Puppet to sharpen its teeth!” Amidst the mud and sand stirred up by the impact, he flashed into the crack. The Taixu Secret Canon in his hand automatically flipped to the 'Beast Taming Chapter', where a cinnabar annotation at the end of the chapter was clearly Old Monster Xuanji's handwriting: 'Jiazi year, Jingzhe, use Nine-Headed Serpent bone as key, open Dragon Slumber Abyss Gate'.
At the end of the stairs was an altar constructed of coral. On the surface of a bronze casket suspended in the center of the altar, a coiled Chi Dragon relief with crimson eyes was depicted. When Lu Qingyang touched the casket lid with the Key, the Chi Dragon suddenly raised its head and flicked its tongue, its Dragon roar causing the entire Gui Xu to boil. Twelve Zhenhai Pillars rose around the altar, and the profound iron chains wrapped around the pillars suddenly tautened, suspending Su Meiniang, who was attempting to approach, in mid-air.
“Good little brother, quickly come help your Elder sister…” The fox Yao, Su Meiniang, called out coquettishly, her voice melodious and captivating, as if it could ensnare people’s souls. However, behind this alluring demeanor, her innate Fox Fire was secretly condensing into a poisonous needle, concealing a fatal threat.
Seeing this, Lu Qingyang’s mouth curved slightly into a sly smile. He quickly pulled out the Guanghan Palace’s secretly crafted Mirror of Shattering Illusions from his embrace. This mirror emitted a mysterious light, and the mirror light, like a bolt of lightning, refracted the runes on the Zhenhai Pillars, sweeping directly towards Su Meiniang.
“Sister, your ‘Thousand Charms and Hundred Allures Art’ is truly exquisite!” Lu Qingyang praised, “It’s just a pity, Sister, that when you looked in the mirror, you didn’t notice the corpse spots on the back of your neck.”
Before he finished speaking, the mirror light of the Mirror of Shattering Illusions had already touched Su Meiniang’s skin. In an instant, Su Meiniang’s disguise shattered like torn gauze. Half of her face was corroded by a corpse Gu, covered with grotesque patterns, and her once beautiful face became twisted and terrifying—this was actually a Corpse Puppet Clone refined by Yin Jiuyou!
Just then, the real Yin Jiuyou suddenly attacked from the undercurrents. He wielded his Corpse King Claw, bringing a fierce gust of wind, and lunged straight at Lu Qingyang. However, Lu Qingyang remained calm. He threw the bronze casket in his hand like a meteor, landing precisely in the path of the Corpse King Claw’s attack.
The moment the claw wind touched the bronze casket, something unexpected happened. The Chi Dragon relief on the casket suddenly came alive, opening its large mouth and fiercely biting Yin Jiuyou’s right arm. Yin Jiuyou was caught off guard and, after being bitten by the Chi Dragon, immediately let out a painful roar.
Taking advantage of Yin Jiuyou’s struggle, Lu Qingyang unhesitatingly bit the tip of his tongue, spitting a mouthful of essence blood onto the Taixu Secret Canon in his hand. As the essence blood dripped, a Burning Rhinoceros illusory fire suddenly surged from the pages, like a fire Dragon, rapidly engulfing the bronze casket.
With a 'bang', the lid of the bronze casket sprang open. However, to Lu Qingyang's surprise, what lay inside was not the treasure he had anticipated, but half of a bronze tiger tally inscribed with the seal of 'Zhenhai Great Sage'!
The seabed suddenly shook violently. The moment the tiger tally appeared, the 'Sea Stabilizing Divine Needle', the sect's treasure of Penglai Immortal Island ten thousand miles away, suddenly flew out of its sheath. The Taixu Key in Lu Qingyang's embrace grew scorching hot, and blood-colored seal script appeared on a certain spot of the Gui Xu map: 'Tiger tally appears, Dragon Palace opens'. Before he could examine it closely, the bottom of the altar suddenly collapsed, and he plunged into a vortex filled with Chaos Qi.
When he opened his eyes again, he was in a crystal palace. Luminous jellyfish swimming between the columns illuminated the murals on the walls: scenes from ancient times where a great Yao Race Sage, holding a tiger tally, commanded thousands of sea beasts in a bloody battle against Human Race Cultivators. When he tried to touch the mural, the tiger tally in his embrace suddenly emitted a whale-song-like hum, and the sea beasts in the mural leaped out of the wall, materializing to surround him.
“So, it requires a drop of blood to acknowledge its master!” he said in sudden realization. He then cut his palm, and fresh blood immediately gushed out. He unhesitatingly smeared the blood on the missing part of the tiger tally. In an instant, the surging essence blood, as if attracted by an invisible force, rushed into the tiger tally.
The moment three-tenths of his essence blood was absorbed by the tiger tally, a strong sense of weakness, like a tide, swept over him, causing his body to tremble uncontrollably. However, just as this weakness struck, the entire crystal palace suddenly began to contract violently.
As the palace continuously contracted, the once magnificent structure gradually became smaller and smaller, eventually condensing into a pearl the size of a Dragon's eye. This pearl shimmered with dazzling light, as if containing endless energy.
After forming, the pearl, as if controlled by an unseen hand, slowly embedded itself into the groove of the tiger tally. The moment the pearl was fully embedded, a phantom suddenly appeared within the pearl.
This phantom was actually a powerful Yao Race being with a Dragon head and a human body. His voice, like thunder, boomed in Lu Qingyang’s ears: “Later generation boy, since you have obtained the Zhenhai Tiger Tally, then you should bear the Karma of my race…”
However, before this voice could finish, three Nascent Soul killing moves, like lightning, suddenly broke through space, chasing directly after Lu Qingyang. These three killing moves came from Leng Yuehan’s Ice Soul Sword, Yin Jiuyou’s Corpse King Claw, and Su Meiniang’s Fox Fire Silk respectively. Each contained terrifying power, enough to easily slay Lu Qingyang.
Facing these sudden killing moves, Lu Qingyang’s heart tightened, but he did not panic. He quickly activated the newly acknowledged tiger tally. The pearl embedded in the tiger tally’s groove suddenly shot out three dazzling Zhenhai Divine Lights, like three golden bolts of lightning, striking directly at the three killing moves.
Surprisingly, these three Zhenhai Divine Lights possessed incredibly powerful might, actually fixing Leng Yuehan’s Ice Soul Sword, Yin Jiuyou’s Corpse King Claw, and Su Meiniang’s Fox Fire Silk simultaneously in mid-air, preventing them from moving an inch further.
Taking this opportunity, Lu Qingyang unhesitatingly crushed three Ten-Thousand-Mile Escape Talismans. As the talismans shattered, the talisman ash quickly condensed into a teleportation array in the air. However, just as he was about to step into the teleportation array, something unexpected happened—due to the spatial vibrations triggered by the tiger tally, the teleportation array suddenly began to twist, as if being forcibly torn apart by a powerful force.
Lu Qingyang only felt a blur before his eyes, and his body was involuntarily swept into the powerful force. The next moment, he found himself in an unfamiliar sea area, and this sea area was precisely the 'Fallen Immortal Reef' sea area marked in the mural!
In the salty, fishy sea breeze, there was also a hint of sulfur. As Lu Qingyang climbed up from the shallow beach, the tiger tally and the Key in his embrace suddenly began to connect on their own. A light screen shot out from the connection point, displaying an array diagram composed of seventy-two underwater volcanoes. The array eye position read “Burning Sky Cauldron”, which perfectly matched the missing last page of the Xuanji Array Diagram…