Chapter 13 The Dragon's Secret Realm (End)
That was not any of Jiang Gu's previous memories.
Countless scrolls, transparent glass cubes on all four sides, several figures whose faces are obscured, and slightly obsequious and ingratiating voices.
'...What are your requirements for your romantic partner?'
"No, no, no, you misunderstand. In principle, we cannot interfere with the choices of Heaven... but your tribulation is perilous, and the two lords mean to offer you some assistance within their capabilities..."
"...Originally, you were looking for a Daoist partner who also needed to undergo a love tribulation. The two of you could go down together to experience the tribulation and then ascend to immortality, returning as a beautiful story... Oh dear, Immortal Lord, please don't be angry, Immortal Lord, please don't be angry. Naturally, no one here is worthy of you, but..."
"...Rest assured, Immortal Lord, your father instructed that you should be chosen for an identity with the best aptitude...and your love tribulation partner should also be understanding, virtuous, and kind..."
'Of course, of course, the other party must be diligent and strong, otherwise they'll die before you can even remember a single thing and you won't be able to overcome this calamity... Hahaha, my mouth...'
"Immortal Lord, please wait... Immortal Lord!"
"Immortal Lord, look at this ascension chart. The combination of the Ruthless Path and master-disciple pairs achieves the highest number of ascensions..."
'...Killing one's wife to prove one's path is naturally...but...'
'Wishing you, Immortal Lord, a speedy tribulation and ascension to immortality!'
As the eternal silence faded, Jiang Gu slowly opened his eyes.
Many words in this short memory are blurry, but he finally vaguely remembers that he needs to overcome a tribulation of love in order to successfully ascend. Otherwise, even if he cultivates to the Dao Ancestor Realm, it will be of no use. The scar on his neck is the seal of this short memory. Jiang Gu intuitively felt that he had set this seal himself.
To avoid wasting his own time, he had more important things to do.
But apart from this short memory, he couldn't remember anything else. Perhaps it was due to the limitations of the laws of nature. He couldn't hear many key pieces of information in the conversation, and judging from the "best aptitude," these words were not entirely credible.
You should know that he was born with only five spiritual roots. If he hadn't lost one of his spiritual roots by chance when he was young, he would probably still be living a muddled life in a mortal city.
Jiang Gu's eyes sharpened at this thought. He covered his burning neck and turned his gaze to Wei Feng, whom he had dragged in.
This person was able to break his seal, so he must be the one destined to undergo tribulation. Just now, he plucked Wei Feng's protective scale, almost killing him.
If the object of one's romantic tribulation dies, then the tribulation will naturally fail.
Jiang Gu frowned. He cultivated the Path of Ruthlessness and had never thought of becoming a Daoist partner with anyone, especially since this person was related to his success in ascending to immortality.
He loathed the feeling of being controlled.
The boy with a human body and a shark tail lay miserably on the ground, his face covered in blood and tears. A large hole had been ripped out in his chest, and his chest was rising and falling weakly. The flesh on his right arm was torn open, revealing the broken forearm bone. The scales on his shark tail were broken by Jiang Gu's blood, and his silver-blue tail fin had lost its luster. If you looked closely, you could see that his spiritual root and dantian had also suffered severe damage, and his soul was full of wounds. He would be able to scatter his soul if he took a few more breaths.
"..." Jiang Gu fell into an eerie silence for a moment.
This situation is perfect for crafting puppets.
He looked at the Divine Kite Shark Scale in his hand, and without the slightest hesitation between returning it to Wei Feng to save his life and using it himself, he decisively put it away and put it into his storage bag. He then took out a magic treasure for nourishing vital energy and strengthening the soul, and painfully used it on Wei Feng.
Until a solution is found, this kid better stay alive.
But when he recalled the trick Wei Feng had used to ambush him, he couldn't suppress his killing intent. He roughly lifted the man up as if he were holding a bloody, sticky fish.
With the help of the magic weapon, Wei Feng finally woke up slowly. When he smelled the familiar scent on Jiang Gu, the entire shark bristled.
“If you want to live, turn on the bell,” Jiang Gu told him.
Wei Feng gritted his teeth and said, "Don't even think about it... Even if I... die together with you—"
"You think you're worthy?" Jiang Gu felt a surge of anger, having failed to kill the man and instead created more trouble. He found the man extremely displeasing. Behind him, sixteen flags and the phantom of a magic array appeared. He silently recited the incantation, and the illusion suddenly shrank and then expanded. The Eternal Sound-Eliminating Bell, which was said to be able to trap Nascent Soul cultivators, began to tremble violently, and spiderweb-like patterns appeared on its smooth and heavy surface.
Click—
The enormous bell shattered with a deafening roar, exploding in all directions.
The two groups of cultivators, Qi Fengyuan and Zhou Xiuyuan, who were in the midst of a fierce battle, suddenly felt a jolt in their souls and finally realized what their opponents were like.
That wasn't Jiang Gu at all; it was clearly the cultivator who had come to chase them down with them earlier.
"Oh no, we've fallen into a trap!" Qi Fengyuan was the first to react. When he saw Jiang Gu holding Wei Feng, his expression changed, and he shouted, "Everyone! The protective scales have been removed!"
Zhou Xiuyuan was a bit faster than him, appearing directly behind Jiang Gu on his sword. Jiang Gu effortlessly caught the attack while holding Wei Feng with one hand. Zhou Xiuyuan was stunned, "How could this be!?"
Jiang Gu coldly curled the corner of his mouth, "Haven't you felt it yet? From the moment you entered the array's core, you have been completely assimilated into the nutrients that maintain the illusion's operation. The more spiritual power you use now, the more spiritual power will be absorbed."
"As long as I kill you, that's enough." Zhou Xiuyuan turned to look at the corpses scattered all over the ground, and clenched his natal magic weapon tightly.
Qi Fengyuan, one of the surviving cultivators, rushed over and roared, "How could you be so despicable! You killed so many people, aren't you afraid of their sects and families seeking revenge?!"
"Me, despicable? That's not what you said when you thought it was perfectly justified to kill me." Jiang Gu smiled slightly. "As for revenge—if you're all dead, who will know it was me who killed you?"
Qi Fengyuan and Zhou Xiuyuan's expressions both changed.
However, Jiang Gu did not give them any chance to escape. The sixteen flags that had been scattered suddenly shrank and mercilessly crushed the corpses and cultivators whose spiritual power had been exhausted. Although Qi Fengyuan and Zhou Xiuyuan barely managed to dodge, they had unknowingly consumed too much of their cultivation power before. Now, Jiang Gu could deal with the two of them with ease.
Seeing that things were not going well, Zhou Xiuyuan summoned his natal magic weapon, the Burning Heaven Drum, to block one of the flags. He immediately turned around to escape, but Jiang Gu was even faster. In the instant he turned around, a cold white hand pierced through his chest.
Zhou Xiuyuan stared at the hand in astonishment and turned his head, "You..."
"Didn't the sect leader teach you when you were classmates? An enemy who turns his back on you will only face death." Jiang Gu mercilessly crushed his heart. "Goodbye and don't come back."
Hot blood splattered all over Wei Feng's face in his arms.
Just now, Jiang Gu forcibly broke out of the bell, and the violent cracking sound shattered Wei Feng's eardrums. Now his ears are full of blood and he can't hear their conversation at all, but the blood gives him the most real sense of touch.
Jiang Gu glanced at him, and even had time to use a water-drawing spell to wash his face.
Wei Feng was horrified by the washing.
"..." Jiang Gu met his terrified gaze and finally realized, belatedly, that killing while holding his "future Daoist partner" might not be a good way to cultivate feelings.
He frowned in annoyance, put Wei Feng down, and cast a barrier around him. "Wu Tuo, keep an eye on him."
After saying that, he went to deal with the remaining few highly skilled cultivators.
"Yes, Master." Utuo, dragging his heavy body, dutifully guarded the outside of the barrier.
Qi Fengyuan was a step faster than Wu Tuo. He drew his long sword and aimed it at Wei Feng's heart, saying sternly, "Wei Feng, don't blame me for being ruthless. You're a menace if you live. It's better for everyone if you die out there!"
Despite the incantation given to him for the Eternal Sound-Eliminating Bell being a one-way street, the kid still got incredibly lucky, and the Eternal Sound-Eliminating Bell was blasted into pieces by Jiang Gu.
Now that things have come to this, he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands.
Wei Feng couldn't hear what he was saying, but the murderous intent on Qi Fengyuan's face was so obvious that he instinctively wanted to dodge. Wu Tuo desperately bit Qi Fengyuan's calf but was kicked away. Just as the tip of the sword was about to touch Wei Feng, a huge flag crashed down. Qi Fengyuan tried to dodge but seemed to be firmly held in place by a hand and couldn't move.
He turned his head sharply and, sure enough, saw Jiang Gu.
Qi Fengyuan belatedly realized what was happening, "You deliberately used him as bait!?"
“Otherwise, how could I have lured you out?” Jiang Gu looked into his gray eyes. “You didn’t care about the Divine Kite Shark Scale at all. You wanted to kill Wei Feng but didn’t want to do it yourself. It wasn’t until now that you couldn’t hold back. Elder Qi, I’m suddenly very curious. Is it really true, as the rumors say, that only the Heart-Protecting Scale is a treasure of the Divine Kite Shark?”
He originally only wanted to obtain the Heart-Protecting Scale, but after carefully considering Qi Fengyuan's thoughts, he vaguely had other guesses.
Wei Feng had lived in Yanghua Sect for over a decade, yet Qi Fengyuan hadn't made a move. Instead, he waited until they were outside to reveal his killing intent. Jiang Gu had already sensed this during their last encounter. It seemed that Qi Fengyuan didn't intend to rescue Wei Feng, but rather to use someone else to kill him.
Why didn't you do it yourself before?
Why have you suddenly changed your mind now?
Qi Fengyuan gripped his sword tightly, his voice hoarse as he said, "A treasure? Ha, he's nothing but a menace, he'll kill everyone sooner or later. He's right, I really can't kill him..."
He glared fiercely at Wei Feng, who had fallen to the ground. "Wei Feng! If you have even a shred of the awareness of a Yanghua Sect disciple, then kill yourself right now. Falling into Jiang Gu's hands will only make you wish you were dead!"
Wei Feng stared blankly, only able to see his mouth opening and closing, unable to hear what Qi Fengyuan was saying at all.
Like a stupid, dumb fish.
Jiang Gu slowly walked up to him, shielding him behind him. He looked at Qi Fengyuan and asked, "Who is this 'him' you're talking about? Sixteen years ago, Mermaid Bay was wiped out, and you were here too. What exactly happened back then?"
He rarely pried into matters unrelated to himself, and he had never spoken so much to a dying man, for delay could lead to unforeseen changes. However, this matter concerned Wei Feng's true identity, and Wei Feng was his future Daoist partner, so he would likely be unable to extricate himself from the situation in the future.
That's the trouble.
Qi Fengyuan looked at Wei Feng and laughed, "Everyone only knows about the Divine Kite Mermaid, but they don't know that mermaids can also give birth to offspring. I once swore not to kill my fellow mermaids... but does his count? I shouldn't have softened my heart and brought him back to Yanghua Sect. I should have killed him long ago..."
Qi Fengyuan's gray eyes gradually elongated, and sharp fangs suddenly protruded from the corners of his mouth. His huge shark tail suddenly rose and lunged towards Wei Feng.
"Master, he's going to self-destruct his Yuan Dan!" Wu Tuo's anxious voice came, but it was too weak to transform. It only ran a few steps in this direction before being slammed into the mud and sand by the exploding spiritual energy.
With one hand holding Wei Feng and the other embracing the illusory images of the sixteen flags, Jiang Gu, a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, possessed immense power in his self-destruction. Jiang Gu was already severely injured and hadn't had time to cleanse his spiritual root. After enduring this attack, he was at his last gasp. With his soul shaken, he forcibly gathered the illusion, bringing the entire Mermaid Bay Ruins into his Purple Mansion before finally losing consciousness.
If you look down at the Chaolong Secret Realm now, you will find that the southeast corner of the entire secret realm has collapsed. The abundant spiritual energy in this area has been completely drained. Countless birds and beasts fled, but they were still unable to escape and disappeared on the spot.
The northwest corner of the secret realm.
The white-robed cultivator stood with his hands behind his back, looking towards Mermaid Bay with a rather amused smile. "It seems that Seventh Brother has already obtained the Divine Kite Mermaid Scale."
"Young Master, should we—" The cultivator behind him secretly made a throat-slitting gesture.
Jiang Xiangyun glanced back at him, and the other man instantly fell silent.
"He got it through his own abilities, but it's just a scale." Jiang Xiangyun flicked his folding fan and said regretfully, "It looks like I won't see Seventh Brother for a long time. Who should I play with?"
The cultivator next to him shuddered violently.
"Ah, I really hope Seventh Brother can get rid of the remaining spiritual roots soon, otherwise he won't even have the strength to fight back after a while." Jiang Xiangyun strolled back leisurely, fanning himself. "He's the only one in the entire Jiang family who still has some interest."
“Jiang Gu is currently in a weak state, Young Master. If you don’t eliminate him now, he will surely become your formidable enemy in the future,” another white-bearded cultivator couldn’t help but advise.
Jiang Xiangyun closed his fan, pointed at the old man's nose without any politeness, and said with a smile, "If you say anything bad about my brother again, I'll kill you."
The white-bearded man's face immediately turned extremely ugly.
Jiang Xiangyun hummed a little tune and disappeared from the spot. The young cultivator said in a low voice, "Elder Hu, don't be angry. You know the eldest young master's temper. He probably just thinks it's new and fun. He'll be fine once this gets over. This Jiang Gu is just a good-for-nothing born to a concubine. The eldest young master has only met him twice. What kind of younger brother is he?"
The white-bearded monk shook his head. "You still don't understand."
"What?" the cultivator asked, puzzled.
The white-bearded man said solemnly, "Do you think Jiang Gu managed to make the Jiang family members call him Seventh Young Master whenever they meet?"
When he first saw Jiang Gu, he realized that sometimes character is more terrifying than aptitude.
——
Xuan Zhiyan dug Wei Feng out of a pile of ruins and mud.
"Wei Feng! Wei Feng, are you still alive?! Wake up, Wei Feng! Hey, don't scare me!" Xuan Zhiyan shook his shoulders hard.
"Cough cough..." Wei Feng was shaken awake by him, coughing up bloody mud and sand, staring at him with empty and numb eyes.
"Wei Feng? Wei Feng, say something!" Xuan Zhiyan carefully touched his blood-covered face, not daring to touch his torn arms and legs. "Ancestor, don't scare me. You haven't gone mad, have you?"
Wei Feng stared blankly at him for a long time before recognizing the person in front of him as Xuan Zhiyan. He stiffly looked around, but there was no old pervert who wanted to dig out his heart and peel off his scales, nor Qi Fengyuan who suddenly wanted to kill him for no reason, nor the terrifying illusion and the mermaids, only a large area of dry and cracked pits.
"Wei Feng?" Xuan Zhiyan waved his hand in front of his eyes, his hand still covered in mud and sand. "You scared me to death, you know? I shouldn't have helped you run away. If Master knew I secretly came back to find you, we'd all be doomed. Senior Brother and the others are waiting at the exit of the secret realm. Today is the day the secret realm opens, how did you get into this state? There was such a loud bang here earlier, damn it, I thought some powerful being had self-destructed. Can you even walk? It must be very dangerous here. We need to hurry and find Senior Brother to go back to Yanghua Sect..."
Wei Feng listened to his rambling voice, and what he used to find annoying was now extremely pleasant to listen to.
Xuan Zhiyan felt a chill run down his spine upon seeing his touched yet aggrieved expression, a sense of foreboding washing over him. "Ancestor, please don't—"
Before she could finish speaking, her wailing echoed throughout the entire pit.
Half an hour later.
Xuan Zhiyan carried the barely alive Wei Feng forward with difficulty. Even though Wei Feng was coughing up blood frequently, he was still cursing, "...That old pervert not only plucked my scales, but also wanted to kill me and turn me into a puppet! I was even touched when he used his heart's blood to heal my wounds before, of course, only for a moment, cough cough..."
He coughed up a lot of blood, which all flowed down Xuan Zhiyan's neck.
Xuan Zhiyan immediately retorted angrily, "Are you really going to vomit on me?!"
"My neck won't budge!" Wei Feng was even angrier than him. "I'm about to die, can't you just give in a little longer?!"
"You're about to die and you still dare to argue with me!" Xuan Zhiyan carefully lifted him up a little. "Just wait and see how my master and sect leader punish you when we get back!"
When Qi Fengyuan was mentioned, Wei Feng suddenly froze.
Although he couldn't hear at the time, he personally witnessed Qi Fengyuan being cleaved in two by that old pervert's sword halfway through his self-destruction, and he still has Qi Fengyuan's blood on him.
"But... weren't you assimilated into a mermaid by resentment? Why did that old pervert pluck your scales?" Xuan Zhiyan asked, puzzled.
Wei Feng slumped his head weakly and muttered, "How would I know? That's why I call him an old pervert."
For some reason, when he recalled the look in Qi Fengyuan's eyes when he wanted to kill him, he instinctively didn't want to tell Xuan Zhiyan, and he even kept the fact that he was the Divine Kite Shark hidden.
This could cause trouble, implicating Xuan Zhiyan and even the entire Yanghua Sect.
So he decided to keep this matter to himself.
"Hurry up, I'm dying, I'm really dying..." Wei Feng urged him weakly.
"You're as heavy as a pig!" Xuan Zhiyan gritted his teeth and said, "I'm already walking very fast, ancestor!"
Wei Feng said in disbelief, "You're talking nonsense. I'm so light, that old pervert could pick me up with one hand."
"Ha, right, he can even rip your heart out with one hand." Xuan Zhiyan fed him another hemostatic pill.
Wei Feng chewed the pill, a slight bitter taste on his tongue. "But I still can't understand why he spared my life in the end. Do you think he really wanted me to be his furnace?"
After saying that, he felt a chill run down his spine and shivered violently. "No, that's absolutely impossible."
“Like you said, he almost killed you several times. Is that what you call showing mercy? It’s just that he didn’t have time to kill you.” Xuan Zhiyan sighed. “Wake up.”
“…Hmm.” Wei Feng leaned listlessly on his shoulder. “I quite liked his spirit pet. I wonder if it survived.”
Wu Tuo, whom Wei Feng longed for, had already been reduced to ashes.
It was already on the verge of death, and after Jiang Gu healed it mostly with his heart's blood, it was severely injured again. When Qi Fengyuan self-destructed, it was also affected, and its body turned into ashes.
However, Jiang Gu saved its primordial spirit, but its primordial spirit was weak and could only recuperate in Jiang Gu's sea of consciousness.
Utuo was flattered and carefully curled up in a corner. "Thank you, Master."
"No need to thank me, I saved you because you were useful." Jiang Gu stood in the concealment barrier, watching Wei Feng being rescued by his fellow disciples who rushed over.
Wu Tuo hesitated, wanting to ask what use it could be now that it only had its primordial spirit left, but it was clear that Jiang Gu's attention was not on it, so it wisely shut its mouth.
Jiang Gu looked at Wei Feng, but had no intention of chasing after him. He simply moved his fingertips slightly, and a thin strand of blood from his heart condensed into a red rope, which silently wrapped around Wei Feng's neck. It flickered for a moment and then disappeared.
Wei Feng scratched his neck, then turned his head as if sensing something, but saw nothing.
"What are you looking at? Are you still reluctant to part with it?" Xuan Zhiyan teased him.
Wei Feng scoffed, clenched his fist, and gritted his teeth, saying, "Reluctant my ass! I'll get my revenge one day—ouch!!"
"Aaaaaah! The flesh from your arm fell into my clothes!" Xuan Zhiyan screamed in terror, letting go of his arm and trying to tear open his collar. "Help! How disgusting!"
"Xuan Zhiyan, don't let go! I'm going to fall—ouch! My tail, no, my foot! It hurts!"
The two teenagers, barely out of school, fell into a heap, howling and screaming, completely oblivious to any danger. Wei Feng, in particular, was accidentally kicked into a mud pit by Xuan Zhiyan, his face covered in filthy mud, his voice hoarse from howling.
Jiang Gu felt a surge of anger; this was exactly the kind of love tribulation he had faced...
"Master?" Wu Tuo sensed his turbulent soul in his sea of consciousness and called out to him cautiously.
He had never seen Jiang Gu so angry.
Jiang Gu closed his eyes, unable to bear it any longer, turned around and transformed into a streak of light, leaving the Chaolong Secret Realm directly.
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