Shrine (I)
They looked at each other and finally walked forward.
The black shadow moved, and a surge of demonic energy emerged, revealing its true form.
A huge tiger-skin python lay coiled up, its vertical pupils pointing directly at the two of them. Its tail curled up and stretched, and the hissing sound made Lin Zhuo feel a little uncomfortable.
The two men and the python looked at each other. Xie Zhitiao was the first to summon the Qingming Sword and took a defensive stance.
Lin Zhuo understood, and the next moment, the Tingyun Sword appeared in her hand. She rushed forward, ready to attack.
The tiger python dodged quickly.
"You really think too highly of your fellow monks, sending two of these people to deal with me."
The tiger python pretended to attack a few times and then quickly disappeared.
Lin Zhuo paused, stunned. She actually felt that his voice was familiar. Where had she heard it before?
Without further thought, she communicated with Xie Zhitiao: "Is His purpose really to lure us here?"
Xie Zhitiao held the sword and was speechless for a moment.
Even though he knew Qiu Ji's thoughts now, he couldn't show it easily. After all, in his opinion, they should know nothing.
He took a step forward and grasped Lin Zhuo's wrist. "The tiger python must not have gone far. Senior Sister, be alert."
He looked around, seeming very nervous: "My senior brothers and sisters have already rushed back to get reinforcements, I believe they will be here soon."
Qiu Ji narrowed his eyes in hiding.
Call for reinforcements? Didn't Soul Devouring Nightmare say those two had left? His divine power hadn't recovered much, relying entirely on demonic power to support him, unable to detect what was happening further away.
Could it be that they really went back to call for help?
He scoffed. It wasn't that he didn't believe in the Soul Devouring Nightmare, but it was a demon after all.
The Soul Devouring Nightmare did not set foot in the extremely cold land. Even though the divine realm had fallen and was covered in ice and snow, the land here still had consciousness and resisted all foreign creatures.
Qiu Ji rolled his fingers, and a thin, dark divine power overflowed from his fingertips and flew towards the two people in the white mist.
"Want to catch me? Come on..."
"What? This won't work?"
"You are just a cultivator, not even a Mahayana cultivator. You are truly a nobody in the human world."
He spoke sentence by sentence, trying to stir up the emotions of the two.
Lin Zhuo couldn't act it out and could only fight non-stop with his sword. Xie Zhitiao, on the other hand, was able to control his anger and act it out with ease.
The black energy circled around and around, and was finally split apart by Xie Zhitiao's sword.
Lin Swamp's spiritual seal fell, and the earth suddenly began to tremble. The two looked at each other, knowing that his goal had been achieved.
Use them to summon the Shrine.
As expected, the snow covering the ground trembled inch by inch, gradually cracking into multiple cracks. The cracks became more and more numerous and wider, and a palace rose from under the snow.
The shrine buried under the ice field appeared.
Qiu Ji clenched his palms and quietly withdrew that trace of divine power.
During the War of the Gods, he deeply offended the Heavenly Dao. If he did not withdraw that trace of divine power in time, it would be bad if the sleeping Heavenly Dao noticed it.
He looked at the majestic temple and curled the corners of his lips.
"The position of Divine Lord...can only belong to me."
With the reappearance of the shrine, Xie Zhitiao had achieved his goal. There was no need for the two of them to continue pretending with Qiu Ji.
Lin Zhuo dragged Xie Zhitiao in, startled, and asked her, "Senior Sister...? Why are you so anxious all of a sudden?"
Lin Zhuo turned to look at him and whispered, "Why don't we hurry in now and wait for Him to follow us in later?"
Xie Zhitiao raised an eyebrow. She had actually guessed His intention.
The two walked into the shrine and quickly closed the door.
Qiu Ji was blocked outside the door, still a little stunned. After a while, he let out a smile, which was actually because he was pissed off by the two people.
"Interesting, really interesting."
Seeing Qiu Ji being locked outside, Lin Zhuo felt a little nervous. Although it seemed that this temple would only allow people it approved of to enter, what if "He" could also enter?
Xie Zhitiao squeezed her hand soothingly: "Don't worry, Senior Sister, he can't get in."
He pulled Lin Zhuo inside and said, "Come on, you'll soon know what we've been hiding from you."
Lin Zhuo followed him obediently until they stopped under a tree.
That was the original body of the paulownia tree in the secret realm, a dead paulownia tree.
Lin Zhuo sighed softly, but didn't know what to say.
"Senior Sister, call Qingluan out. This time, she shouldn't ignore us." Xie Zhitiao said half-jokingly.
Lin Zhuo followed his instructions and sank into his sea of consciousness. Qingluan, rarely awake, was flying around excitedly. Lin Zhuo found it amusing and released her.
As soon as Qingluan came out, she flapped her wings and flew around the sycamore tree, feeling extremely happy. After the excitement, she finally stopped and landed on the ground.
The Qingluan flapped its wings and transformed into a human form. A young girl with black hair, bright eyes, and wearing green clothes came forward and hugged Lin Zhuo.
"Ashu!"
Xie Zhitiao grabbed her collar and pulled her back, preventing her from hugging Lin Zhuo.
"Qingluan, didn't I tell you not to hug anyone randomly?"
Qingluan was stunned and turned to look at him: "You..."
Xie Zhitiao raised his eyebrows: "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and complete the task He left for you."
Lin Zhuo was completely confused, pursed his lips, and stood behind Xie Zhitiao. It sounded like they did have some extraordinary identities.
Qingluan was no longer vague. She circled around the Wutong tree again, stopped at a position, and waved to Lin Zhuo.
"Sister, come here for a moment."
Seeing that Xie Zhitiao didn't stop her and instead rubbed her hand, Lin Zhuo knew that Qingluan had no ill intentions. She walked over there and saw the protruding roots of the sycamore tree on the ground.
"Sister, take a drop of your blood and drop it here." Qingluan smiled, "Then you will know everything."
Lin Zhuo did as he was told.
The blood dripped onto the tree roots and disappeared in an instant. Seeing no change, Lin Zhuo felt a little puzzled. Qingluan pulled her back to Xie Zhitiao, saying nothing, just looking at the sycamore tree.
Xie Zhitiao held Lin Zhuo's hand and squeezed it soothingly. Lin Zhuo tried to pull her hand back, but was held tightly again.
"Why don't you let me hold your hand? Just hold it." Xie Zhitiao said confidently.
Lin Zhuo blushed and glanced at Qingluan. Qingluan seemed not to have heard him and continued to look at the sycamore tree.
She then whispered back to him: "If you want to hold hands, hold hands. Why are you pinching me?"
Xie Zhitiao smiled and squeezed her hand again: "I like you."
Lin Zhuo glared at him and was about to say something when a slight sound came from the paulownia tree, attracting her attention.
She turned her head and saw that the trunk of the sycamore tree had recovered its vitality. The marks of being burned by lightning were gone, revealing the original appearance of the trunk.
The branches are stretching out inch by inch, the dead branches are falling, and new leaves are growing.
It actually came alive.
Lin Zhuo was a little dazed, his eyes gradually became blurred, and he closed his eyes and fainted.
Xie Zhitiao caught her, held her in his arms and sat under the tree, put his hands on her shoulders and put his face against her fair face.
"Sister, take a nap. You will know everything after a nap."
————
You Jingjia and Ling Qingqiu returned to Xuanxiaomen. Canghe got the news from Xie Zhitiao, refused the call from the Immortal Alliance, and waited for them to return in the main hall.
After a long journey, You Jingjia wasn't as resilient as Ling Qingqiu and was truly exhausted. Seeing her drooping eyelids and tired look, Ling Qingqiu felt a little sorry for her:
"Jingjia, if you're tired, go back and rest. I'll go see Master."
You Jingjia shook her head: "No, I'll see my master first before going back."
As they were talking, the two had already reached the main hall. Cang He was holding the file, but he hadn't actually read anything. When he saw the two people come in, he put the file down immediately.
Ling Qingqiu briefly explained their itinerary. Knowing that it was Xie Zhitiao who had driven them back, and that the extremely cold land was indeed unsuitable for the two of them, Cang He didn't say anything.
Seeing the second disciple's exhausted face, Cang He felt a little soft-hearted and said gently, "Jingjia, if you are tired, just go back and rest. There is no need to come to see me."
Only then did You Jingjia regain some spirit, bowed hastily, and returned to his room.
Seeing that Cang He seemed to have something else to say, Ling Qingqiu took the initiative to ask, "Master, is there anything else?"
Cang He rubbed his nose: "Your uncle You said he would come in a few days..."
Ling Qingqiu:......
"Why didn't you tell Jingjia about this just now?" He was speechless and raised his hand to press his forehead.
"Master saw that she was tired, so he wanted to let her go back and rest first..." Canghe was a little afraid to face Ling Qingqiu's question.
Ling Qingqiu really didn't know what to say. He lifted his clothes, sat down behind the small table beside him, and took the file in front of Canghe.
"The Immortal Alliance must be anxious to find Master. Master, go and do your work. I will help you."
For the first time, Cang He felt that accepting this disciple was the right decision. Look at Qing Qiu, how much he feels for his master now.
After a while of sighing, Canghe felt that this was really not suitable for him. After handing him the unprocessed file, he got up and went to the Immortal Alliance.
Rong Si had been having a terrible headache these past few days. Putting all the sects on alert for no apparent reason naturally aroused the suspicion of many of the elders.
In the past few days, he was almost overwhelmed by the news from various sects, all asking him if something serious had happened.
He didn't respond, fearing it would cause a disturbance. The tiger-skin python had been incredibly difficult to tame back then, and it had cost the immortal world many cultivators. If these people knew about it, there would likely be a lot of trouble.
Seeing Cang He coming, he quickly pulled him to sit down and asked, "What happened? Did Zhao Zhao and A Tiao catch up with him?"
"Yes. The tiger-skin python is the reincarnation of the demon god, there is no doubt about that." Cang He took a sip of water, "He deliberately led Zhao Zhao and A Tiao to the extremely cold land."
"An extremely cold place?!" Rong Si raised his voice, "How can we let them go there alone?! You..."
He suddenly paused, suddenly remembering something, and asked, "Is the divine realm really hidden underground in the extreme cold?"
Cang He nodded, meeting his gaze without dodging: "Yes, so, only they will go this time, and only they can go."
Rong Si fell into a chair beside him and didn't speak for a long time.
"...How come you're so lucky? You were so unwilling to accept any disciples at first, but when you did, you accepted two geniuses. The two children you picked up are also extraordinary..."
Rong Si felt a little sour, shook his head, and got back to business:
"In that case, I will inform all the sects about the escape of the tiger-skin python. We must be prepared."
This battle must be fought.
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