Chapter 501: Chapter 455: Nine-Headed Flood Dragon
Jiang Yuebai calmed her mind, carefully sensing her surroundings. It seemed her rash intrusion didn’t cause any changes; everything around her remained silent.
Recalling that glance, she saw nine gigantic dragon heads. No, they looked like dragons but without dragon horns, only to be considered flood dragons.
However, those nine flood dragon heads clearly bore the features of the Nine Great Divine Dragons, and the nine heads grew on a single flood dragon body, coiled within the abyss, bound by lock chains, identical to those on the black coffin.
Initially, Jiang Yuebai thought the lock chains were to bind the black coffin. Now, it seemed likely that the black coffin and lock chains were suppressing the Nine-Headed Flood Dragon.
By this reasoning, if the person suppressing the Nine-Headed Flood Dragon was Zhur Jiuyou, and she cultivated the Chaos Nirvana Skill...
Is it only the same cultivation technique aura that can unlock the chains and let the Nine-Headed Flood Dragon escape?
"Escape?"
Jiang Yuebai’s hand tightened with a swoosh, her eyes flickering rapidly.
Lu Nanzhi woke from meditation. Jiang Yuebai used the secret hand signs she had invented to communicate with Lu Nanzhi, who frowned with a troubled look.
Jiang Yuebai smiled, "If we don’t try, anyway, we’re doomed."
Afterward, Jiang Yuebai closed her eyes and entered meditation, concentrating her divine thought onto the White Vine root system, approaching the barrier within the black fog.
The White Vine transformed into Jiang Yuebai’s appearance. She took a deep breath and said to the inside, "Great one, the outside era has changed. No one can cultivate that technique anymore. Trapping us here is just a waste of five hundred years, squandering a chance to escape."
A low hissing sound came from within, accompanied by the sound of chains.
"Learn my cultivation technique, and you may leave."
Jiang Yuebai raised an eyebrow; it was still the same line. Does it need to devour the soul, suggesting its divine soul isn’t strong enough?
From Zhur Jiuyou’s time until now, just how many millions of years has it lived?
"Great one, you should see that I’m not a deceitful and sinister human clan member but a simple and honest demon clan member. I don’t want to be trapped here waiting for death. You also long to escape. I think we can help each other."
No response, only the sound of chains.
Jiang Yuebai guessed that previous captives must have spoken to it as well.
Judging by the outcome, it wasn’t easy to persuade.
"Great one, please be reasonable. Chaos Qi can’t be found in this world anymore. That cultivation technique can’t be mastered by anyone. Even if you wait for another million, ten million, or a hundred million years, when you turn to dust, you’ll still have no way out."
"Even if someone had heaven-defying abilities to find Chaos Qi, do you know that entering this place requires Nine Dragon Essence Blood? The Dragon Clan is nearly extinct. Xingchou and I are the last people who can unlock the Nine Dragon Forbidden Technique."
"After our deaths, perhaps the next visitor you wait for will be a Mahayana Immortal Monarch here to destroy you! It would be a blessing if they simply destroyed you. The worst might be forcing you into servitude, making you a mount, pulling carriages, climbing swords, descending fire seas, doing dirty, hard, and exhausting work, even forcing you to breed!"
"When you grow old and useless, they’ll peel your scales and skin, refining them into various magic treasure elixirs. Your nine heads might be hung in human palaces, becoming others’ boasting achievements. Think carefully, wouldn’t you be outraged to end up like this? Why, as part of the demon clan, must we be subjugated by the human clan? Don’t you want to rebel, to vent your anger?"
Roar!!
A massive white flood dragon head suddenly broke through the black fog, appeared in front of Jiang Yuebai, bared its bloody mouth, and snarled, spewing saliva at her.
Helplessly, bound by chains, the flood dragon head struggled to move forward, only able to thrash and roar continuously.
Gazing at the gaping maw with its protruding fangs, Jiang Yuebai raised her hand, causing a fist-sized Cloud Mushroom to grow from her arm. She gritted her teeth, plucked it, and tossed it into the flood dragon’s mouth.
Ugh!
The flood dragon head choked, and the roaring stopped, swallowing the Cloud Mushroom with a gulp.
"Eat up. I may not be very capable, but the medicinal power of my body is decent. It should relieve your weakened divine soul. Look at the scars around your neck from the chain, so pitiful."
The potent medicinal effect of the Cloud Mushroom quickly manifested. The scars with exposed flesh beneath the chains healed visibly, with new scales growing bit by bit.
Experiencing a relief akin to rain after a long drought, the flood dragon head reveled in the nourishing medicinal power.
Looking at the white flood dragon head before her, Jiang Yuebai remarked, "Your head seems to be evolving into a Winged Dragon, doesn’t it?"
The flood dragon head was basking in comfort when the medicinal effect suddenly diminished. It roared angrily, stirred the surrounding black fog, and attacked Jiang Yuebai.
Jiang Yuebai immediately ignited Phoenix True Fire on her body, illuminating the darkness and dispelling the black fog.
But the power of the black fog was evidently superior, relentlessly swarming forward, decisively smothering the Phoenix True Fire, turning into black chain fog, and tossing Jiang Yuebai directly into the flood dragon’s wide-open jaws.
Gulp!
Jiang Yuebai was swallowed down. The flood dragon head prepared to absorb her medicinal power, only to suddenly open its eyes wide, its pupils contracting into slits.
Hurk!
Jiang Yuebai was spat back out, her body covered in a purple powder that seemed highly venomous at a glance.
"I can’t defeat you. You can eat me anytime, but unless I consent, eating me means swallowing poison. Even if I can’t poison you to death, you can forget about getting any Cloud Mushroom medicinal power from me. That’s my value to you."
"I know this value is insignificant, only able to alleviate your weakness a bit. But if you’re willing to have a proper conversation and help each other, we might be able to escape together."
The flood dragon head flicked its snake-like tongue, squinting and scrutinizing Jiang Yuebai warily.
Ultimately, those vertical pupils gazed deeply at Jiang Yuebai for a moment, then withdrew into the black fog.
The Nine-Headed Flood Dragon wasn’t as easily deceived as Ao Juan. Jiang Yuebai wasn’t in a hurry and retreated temporarily.
She gave a slight nod to Lu Nanzhi and started attending to her matters.
Every day, she continued to cultivate, researched the Taiyin Wind within the Taiyin Fan, pondered where the power of the sun came from, and tried to use the Great Derivation Scripture to deduce the composition of the two forces.
She improved the Barbarian God Skill, learned the Golden Snake Sword Palm, organized the Dragon Bones in the Lotus Platform Cave Heaven, and contemplated the refining of the Dragon Armor Puppet.
Even with three clones, Jiang Yuebai found herself with too much to do.
It was a peaceful month, until one day, while Jiang Yuebai was practicing palm technique, the black fog from the abyss charged in aggressively, dragging her into the abyss in an instant.
Lu Nanzhi was startled, almost drawing her sword, but fortunately, Jiang Yuebai had warned her beforehand; what was taken was merely her White Vine Avatar.
Within the time of a single cup of tea, Jiang Yuebai crawled back from the abyss, with her body covered in slimy snake saliva.
She cheerily told Lu Nanzhi that the snake saliva was a valuable substance, containing faint Nine Great Divine Dragons Power, worth collecting for attempting extraction.
Afterward, over the next three months, Jiang Yuebai was ambushed sporadically, each time being swept away by the black fog, only to crawl back out herself.
"Try to endure it, Auntie. I can live over four hundred more years. Let’s see how long you can hold out!"
The Nine-Headed Flood Dragon, though resilient, engaged in a back-and-forth with Jiang Yuebai, holding out for an entire year.
Throughout this year, Jiang Yuebai and Lu Nanzhi attempted to combine the powers of the Three Paths of Human, Demon, and Devil into Chaos.
Not to mention Chaos, they couldn’t even merge ordinary Yin Yang Powers.
Jiang Yuebai theorized many possibilities and hypotheses, with the most likely being that Chaos must be formed by combining the power of Taiyin and the sun, which are innate Yin Yang Qi.
With their limited cultivation and capabilities, they couldn’t even form acquired powers, let alone innate ones.
That day, having just achieved entry level in the Golden Snake Sword Palm, Jiang Yuebai was preparing to practice further when the black fog ambushed her again, dragging her into the abyss.
The result was the same; venomous, she was spat out, and the Nine-Headed Flood Dragon, enraged, went after Lu Nanzhi, who was always by her side.
Yet when the black fog charged in, Lu Nanzhi had already been replaced by a White Vine dummy.
The real Lu Nanzhi was tucked away in the Lotus Platform Cave Heaven by Jiang Yuebai for temporary refuge. Her White Vine roots were constantly in the ground, readying herself at the slightest movement of the black fog.
"You know, wouldn’t it be better if you listened to my idea? This endless struggle benefits neither of us. I actually have a way that might form Chaotic Power, but it requires your cooperation. I can’t do it alone."
This time, the flood dragon head didn’t immediately retreat into the black fog but extended its massive head to the extent the chains allowed, its crimson vertical pupil staring intently at Jiang Yuebai, towering above, flicking its snake tongue.
"One chance, speak!"
Jiang Yuebai swallowed, seeing from that crimson vertical pupil that the Nine-Headed Flood Dragon’s patience had run out. If this fails, it might be enraged enough to simply swallow her.
