Chapter 179 Misty Rain Pavilion (Part 7)
The closer they got to the Floating Spring Ancient Temple, the more humid the air became. A hazy, damp mist rose through the trees and leaves, obscuring everyone's view.
“The ruins of the Floating Spring Ancient Temple should be just ahead.” Wu Ren, who was walking at the front, lowered his voice and said, “There are usually Class A spirit beasts guarding the entrance to the temple. Try to hide your presence and don’t get noticed.”
A concealment array slowly rose around the group, and the mist was swept away by their robes, quickly dispersing to reveal a magnificent temple before them.
Jiang Gu sensed a strong metallic spiritual energy, along with several strands of incredibly powerful divine energy. Looking up, he saw a temple over a hundred feet tall, its imposing presence reaching the heavens. It was covered with dense vines, and the walls near the ground were covered with green moss, with glimpses of gray-black walls peeking out from the cracks. Unlike the ancient temple ruins Jiang Gu had seen before, which were full of broken walls, the Fuquan Ancient Temple was clearly much better preserved. The characters "Fuquan" carved in ancient script on the stone wall were still clearly visible, and if one looked closely, one could faintly sense the power of the laws of heaven and earth.
The temple gates were tightly shut. Wu Yi, who was at the front, summoned the divine artifact, the Tiger Hook. A soft, pale white light slowly emanated from the artifact, which then transformed into a pillar of light and knocked on the temple gates.
Buzz—
With a loud buzzing sound, the temple doors, which had not been opened for tens of thousands of years, emitted a rumbling sound as the stones rubbed together. A damp and stuffy atmosphere rushed out from inside the doors, and one could even faintly smell a stench of decay. Through the gradually widening cracks, one could vaguely see the flickering candlelight.
Everyone held their breath, as the divine power within the Tiger-Hook continued to flow into the gate. The gate was almost wide enough for one person to pass through. Lei Jiu San couldn't wait any longer and approached the crack in the gate. But just as he took half a step forward, a claw taller than a person tore through the void and came crashing down on him. Hu Jing Chen, who was beside him, reacted quickly and grabbed him, pulling him back. The claw crashed to the ground, and the stone slab at the entrance of the hall instantly sank, extending into countless bottomless cracks.
Its fiery red fur fluttered in the mist, and the ferocious spirit beast tore through the void to reveal itself, letting out an angry roar at the few tiny humans who had outmaneuvered it.
"Damn it, it's that beast again! Is this never going to end?!" Lei Jiu San cursed angrily.
Feng Yisanjiu had one eye gouged out by it, and now seeing it made his scalp tingle. Even Wu Ren and Wu Yi secretly thought that something was wrong. The other party had gained intelligence and had a high level of cultivation. It was obviously here to seek revenge.
"Find a way to get into the temple!" Wu Yi continued to pour divine power into the entrance gate, and the gap at the door was slowly widening, but it was completely blocked by the huge body of the ferocious beast.
The ferocious beast seemed to understand Wu Yi's words. It stood guard at the door without moving, but pounced on the Tiger Hook that was suspended in mid-air with one claw. Wu Ren and Jiang Xiangyun made their moves almost at the same time. A chain wrapped around the beast's claw, while Jiang Xiangyun summoned the Netherworld Bone and struck the beast's leg bone. The beast roared and raised its other hand, bringing a surge of spiritual power as it pounced straight down on Jiang Xiangyun.
"Seventh Brother!" Jiang Xiangyun shouted.
Jiang Gu responded immediately, drawing his Crimson Snow Sword and slicing it across the beast's fiery red fur. The beast instinctively turned to bite, but its sharp fangs were blocked and severed by an even more ferocious black mist just before they touched Jiang Gu's flesh. The shattered teeth scattered in the air like snowflakes. Taking advantage of the moment, Jiang Gu leaped into the air, his longsword condensing into a Dharma image, and struck the beast's brow.
The ferocious beast staggered back a step, and Wu Ren seized the opportunity to yank the chain back sharply, shouting, "Go inside quickly!"
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lei Jiusan, Lin Feibai, and the others rushed into the temple gate. Jiang Gu and Jiang Xiangyun followed closely behind. Wu Ren and Wu Yi loosened their chains and put away their divine artifacts at almost the same moment. The two brothers changed their shapes in perfect unison to distract the ferocious beast. The beast hesitated for only a moment before they successfully slipped into the temple gate.
Enraged, it slammed open the door and leaped to the ground, knocking down Feng Yisanjiu, who was running at the back. Hu Jingchen heard his scream and couldn't help but turn around. He saw the ferocious beast open its mouth wide and bite off half of Feng Yisanjiu's body. The Dharma image that Feng Yisanjiu had frantically summoned was also mostly destroyed, and his soul was completely annihilated.
He immediately broke out in a cold sweat and ran even harder. Wu Yi, holding the magical weapon, said, "Split up and run!"
The roads behind the ancient temple were interconnected, and Wu Yi clearly wanted to sacrifice an unlucky soul to lure away the ferocious beast. The remaining people naturally agreed to this approach, since being chased together would only lead to their deaths.
The Wu brothers, Ren and Yi, ran the fastest, leaving them far behind. Then Lin Feibai and Hu Jingchen ran into the nearest passage. Seeing this, Lei Jiusan gritted his teeth and followed them.
Jiang Gu and Jiang Xiangyun naturally ran together, but they hadn't run for long when the ground behind them began to tremble more and more noticeably. Jiang Xiangyun hurriedly turned around and saw the ferocious beast's fiery red fur. As he ran, he shouted to Jiang Gu, "So it was us who were the unlucky ones!"
Jiang Gu had never held any hope for his luck. Years of bad luck had given him a wealth of survival experience. The instant Jiang Xiangyun finished yelling, he grabbed the other man's collar and pulled him into the black jade bracelet. Almost simultaneously, the red-haired beast pounced straight at them. The moment it pounced, the surrounding spiritual energy was completely blocked. If they had been even half a breath later, their fate would probably have been no better than Feng Yisanjiu's.
"That beast does have some tricks up his sleeve." Jiang Xiangyun said, catching his breath as he looked around. "Divine artifacts are indeed different; they shortened the time it took to get in compared to ordinary spatial artifacts."
If it were an ordinary Heaven-rank magic weapon, even he might not have been able to enter unscathed.
“The black jade bracelet will leak divine power. This spirit beast has gained intelligence but relies more on instinct. It will probably be able to pinpoint our location soon,” Jiang Gu said. “We must find a way to lure it away.”
Jiang Xiangyun raised an eyebrow and asked, "Use the Netherworld Bone again?"
"I won't fall for it again." Jiang Gu looked at the black mist that was obediently curled up in the corner and said in a deep voice, "Wei Feng."
Upon hearing the sound, the black mist condensed into a human form, then entered the wooden puppet's body beside it, and respectfully bowed, saying, "Master."
Jiang Gu found his bowing irritating and asked, "Do you have a way to distract it?"
"Okay." Wei Feng agreed readily. Before Jiang Gu could give him any more instructions, he transformed into black mist and emerged from the jade bracelet.
Jiang Gu's expression grew increasingly cold, while Jiang Xiangyun beside him looked on with a curious expression. "Your little apprentice seems to have become much more obedient, Seventh Brother. How did you train him?"
It would have been better if he hadn't brought it up, because mentioning it only made Jiang Gu feel worse. He was silent for a moment, then suddenly stared at Jiang Xiangyun, "How do you coax Lu Liyu when she throws a tantrum?"
This question struck Jiang Xiangyun like a thunderbolt, her eyes filled with shock and fear. "Lu Liyu? Throwing a tantrum?"
Jiang Gu frowned as he looked at him, somewhat impatient.
"Let alone whether that bastard Lu Liyu dares to throw a tantrum in front of me—if he dares to do something so disgusting, I'll kill him and then appease him—" Jiang Xiangyun said with a pained expression, "Why did you use Lu Liyu to compare Wei Feng?"
Jiang Gu said expressionlessly, "Isn't Lu Liyu your Daoist partner?"
"Then Wei Feng is your Daoist partner?" Jiang Xiangyun asked in return.
“Of course not.” Jiang Gu’s face became even more expressionless. “Close relationships always have commonalities. You don’t even know how to coax people.”
Jiang Xiangyun was looked at with a look that seemed to regard him as trash. He almost lost his composure and rolled up his sleeves to fight him. He smiled through gritted teeth, "Although I don't coax Lu Liyu, I do know how a master coaxes his disciple."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Gu's eyebrows twitched slightly.
Jiang Xiangyun smiled and said, "After all, I was once someone's apprentice. If you do as I say, you can't go wrong. I guarantee your little apprentice will be completely obedient to you..."
Inside the space of the black jade bracelet, Jiang Xiangyun described it vividly and fluently.
“Seventh Brother, you have never had a master, and all your experience comes from hearsay. It’s not as practical as my own experience. Coaxing a disciple and coaxing a Daoist partner are two completely different things.” Jiang Xiangyun put on a very reliable posture. “You have never asked me anything. I dare to swear to the heavens that if I can’t coax Lu Liyu even like this, then I’ll die.”
Jiang Gu ignored him and instead took out the black jade bracelet.
"Seventh Brother, be careful that the ferocious beast might come back!" Jiang Xiangyun chased after it in high spirits.
——
On the other side, Wei Feng's primordial spirit transformed into the original forms of the Divine Kite Shark and the Ghost-Faced White-Eyed Demon. Beside them lay the skin and bones of the red-haired ferocious beast, its flesh and blood completely devoured, with sparse bits of meat hanging on the white bones. Wei Feng was holding the beast's primordial spirit, a faint crimson glint in his white pupils. His long, forked tongue licked the crumbs from the corner of his mouth. The beast's primordial spirit struggled violently. Wei Feng impatiently slapped it, opened his mouth wide to reveal his fine, sharp teeth, and bit off its entire head, chewing it greedily.
Even so, he was still not satisfied and vented his anger by tearing at the beast's primordial spirit, his teeth grinding loudly. A red afterimage slowly stopped on the bluestone slab not far from him, curiously peeking out as if wanting to see what this big guy was doing.
Wei Feng seemed to sense something and suddenly turned his head, only to find the passageway completely empty.
He lashed out with his tail in a fit of rage, swallowed the last bit of the ferocious beast's primordial spirit, and smashed the unpalatable severed limbs and corpses into dust with a single swipe of his tail. He wished he could immediately pull Jiang Gu into his primordial spirit and lick it to his heart's content.
But he had to remain calm, otherwise—the Divine Kite Shark's vertical pupils sharpened, and it suddenly turned around. Out of the corner of its eye, it caught a red afterimage. The rich divine power emitted an alluring fragrance, and Wei Feng's appetite was instantly whetted. Its tail curled up the puppet's body, and it chased after it silently like a nimble fish.
At the same time, Jiang Gu wanted to recall Wei Feng, who had been absent for a long time, but when he saw the unresponsive communication talisman and the vanished primordial spirit mark, his face turned ashen.
Wei Feng dared to directly block his communication talisman and even erase the primordial spirit mark he had been branded with.
They're probably tired of living.
He skillfully summoned the Fire Rope and used his own primordial spirit to activate Qu Fengyu's search technique. In no time, he located Wei Feng's exact location and decisively gave chase.
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