“Qiushui, Xiao Si, the support is up to you two!”
Zhang Huaiyu spoke thus. She then raised one hand and recited a series of incantations. A giant sword formed of spiritual light appeared in the air above her. With a wave of her single hand, the giant sword immediately stabbed vertically into the lake surface inside the cave, stirring up wave after wave of massive surges.
Along with those giant waves came a long, drawn-out roar. A huge black shadow slowly approached the water surface from the depths of the lake before bursting straight out. A Cold Water Flood Dragon, quite a bit larger than the one Fang Yuling had, opened its bloody maw and bit toward Zhang Huaiyu in the air.
Seeing the black shadow emerge, Bai Qiushui and the man attacked together. Bai Qiushui pinched a sword seal with one hand. Four deep-blue flying swords flew out from her storage pouch and simultaneously stabbed toward the Cold Water Flood Dragon’s abdomen. The man also took out a broadsword as large as a door panel and fiercely chopped toward the Cold Water Flood Dragon’s head.
The Cold Water Flood Dragon sensed the attacks coming from both sides. It immediately twisted its body in midair, using the scales on its body to block the attacks from both people. Although this managed to stop Bai Qiushui and the man’s attacks, it also gave Zhang Huaiyu above her the chance she needed.
Zhang Huaiyu waved both hands. Two short swords appeared in her grasp. She leapt down from her flying sword and charged straight toward the Cold Water Flood Dragon’s head in a spinning motion. At the same time, while thrusting forward, her dual swords each separated four small swords from their blades. All of them flew toward the Cold Water Flood Dragon together.
Boom!
Zhang Huaiyu quickly stabbed into the Cold Water Flood Dragon’s head. The violent impact sent both sides flying apart. A streak of crimson blood also appeared on the flood dragon’s head. The pain from above made it roar angrily. It then dove into the water and stared deadly at the three from underwater.
“Senior Sister!”
Seeing Zhang Huaiyu fly out, Bai Qiushui immediately rode her sword toward her and caught her.
“Whoa, this guy’s head is really hard. Stabbing it like that only left a single wound. If it were any other first-rank demon beast, I’d have definitely pierced its head! Sigh, my hands are numb from the shock too. Looks like piercing through to where its demon core is is out of the question. I can only attack its weak points honestly or keep hitting that wound.”
After being caught by Bai Qiushui, Zhang Huaiyu released her flying sword once more and stood atop it.
“Qiushui, Xiao Si, let’s slowly wear it down from above now. Wait for the right moment to attack its abdomen.”
“Understood.”
As soon as Zhang Huaiyu finished speaking, the two began flying rapidly over the lake surface on their swords. At the same time, they took out several talismans from their storage pouches and kept throwing them toward the Cold Water Flood Dragon underwater. The Cold Water Flood Dragon kept swimming low underwater, occasionally releasing water arrows with its water divine abilities to attack them. The two sides thus fell into a stalemate.
After Shucao arrived, what she saw was this scene.
Qiushui, why is she here?
Upon seeing Bai Qiushui’s figure, Shucao felt a bit surprised. But after thinking about it, as a Heavenly Spiritual Root disciple newly recruited by the Tianqing Sect, Bai Qiushui’s cultivation speed was definitely extraordinary. It was not strange for her to come here for training with her senior brothers and sisters after advancing.
Thinking this, Shucao looked again at the few people fiercely battling in the distance.
Hmm, that flood dragon seems to have a pretty big wound on its head. They must have injured it. Although they look like they’re in a stalemate, it seems like Qiushui and the others actually have the advantage. Right now, they should be looking for an opportunity to deliver a fatal blow to that flood dragon. If that’s the case, then I probably don’t need to step in and help them.
After briefly analyzing the current situation, Shucao thought further.
If I appear in front of them now, Qiushui would probably be very happy to see me. After all, my current appearance has some friendship with her. But those other two cultivators might not be willing to let a loose cultivator like me linger around here. Given the three sects’ attitude toward loose cultivators, they might even start a conflict with me because of Qiushui.
Therefore, she decided to take advantage of both sides’ attention being drawn away and sneak into the nest to search for the Dragon Blood Vine first.
After restraining her magic power somewhat, Shucao found an opportunity to slip into the water from a side lake surface and began searching for the Cold Water Flood Dragon’s nest.
After looking around for a while, Shucao discovered an underground river at the bottom of the lake.
There aren’t any places elsewhere that look like a nest or a path leading to one. It must be here.
After flying into the underground river, Shucao followed the water flow forward. Soon, she entered a spacious area. In this slightly more open body of water, there were many bones that looked like those of demon beasts or animals. Above was the water surface.
Looks like this is that flood dragon’s nest. What’s above the water surface?
Whoosh!
As Shucao flew out of the water surface in the open space, she saw the appearance of this area clearly.
This was a huge underground cavern. The dome of the cavern had glowing minerals and some luminous plants above. The water surface Shucao had flown out from was the lake in this cavern. In the center of the lake, there was a small island with an ancient, simple small courtyard built on it. Many plants grew inside that small courtyard.
“This place is quite a hidden paradise.”
Shucao exclaimed. At the same time, An Qianhua suddenly spoke.
“I know this kind of place. It must be some expert’s legacy site with some inheritance. Shucao, let’s go take a look quickly!”
After hearing An Qianhua’s urging, Shucao also became somewhat expectant. After all, she also felt that there might be some treasures in that ancient small courtyard.
Shucao flew to the outside of that small courtyard and looked carefully. She discovered that this small courtyard was actually enveloped by an almost transparent light screen.
“Is this… an array?”
Shucao reached out and touched that transparent light screen. Suddenly, she found that the obstruction created by this small array felt as soft as cotton. This made Shucao feel puzzled.
“Such a strange array. It’s like it will dent inward if you pinch it with force.”
When An Qianhua saw this array, she also said somewhat disappointedly.
“I didn’t expect there to actually be an array protecting it. Sigh, no wonder this place looks like no one has been here before. After so long with no one exploring it, it must be because there’s something wrong with this small courtyard.”
Just as An Qianhua was still speaking her words, Shucao’s hand exerted a slight force and directly reached into the array.
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
A voice full of doubt echoed in this underground cavern, while another doubtful voice appeared in Shucao’s Heart Realm.
“This just passed through. There won’t be any problems, right?”
Seeing one of Shucao’s hands extend into the array, An Qianhua said doubtfully.
“I’ll try again.”
With that, Shucao exerted more force, and immediately her entire body passed through that soft, cotton-like light screen.
“Uh.”
After entering, Shucao quickly checked her own body. Finding no changes, she said to An Qianhua.
“It seems like it really was that simple to come in. How should I put it… such a cheap array…”
“Perhaps the array weakened after being open for so long. Anyway, since there’s no problem, let’s explore this small courtyard first!”
Shucao arrived at the place in the small courtyard where many plants were planted. The first thing she saw was the crimson vines hanging on the rack in the front, emitting a wonderful scent.
“Dragon Blood Vine! There really is one here. It seems the reason that flood dragon built its nest under this small island is because of the scent of this Dragon Blood Vine.”
Upon seeing the Dragon Blood Vine, Shucao estimated its length with her eyes. From its appearance, it should be over a hundred years old.
“Great, this way Wenqing’s request can be smoothly completed.”
Shucao took out a small knife, cut off a relatively thick section of the Dragon Blood Vine from the rack, and immediately stuffed it into a prepared jade box, leaving the roots so it could continue growing.
After taking the Dragon Blood Vine, Shucao looked at the other spirit herbs and spirit fruits in the small courtyard. The spiritual energy on them was so abundant it seemed about to overflow. They didn’t look like ordinary spirit plants. Thus, ensuring they could continue growing, Shucao directly took most of the spirit plants along with their seeds.
“These plants look really powerful. They must be able to sell for a good price.”
“This small courtyard really was left behind by some powerful person. With so many good things, we’ve definitely hit the jackpot this time.”
After a brief conversation with An Qianhua, Shucao immediately left the medicine garden in the small courtyard and came to the main house of the courtyard.
There wasn’t much furniture in the room. There was only a meditation cushion placed in the middle, as well as some tools that looked like they were used for alchemy placed on the room’s table. In the very center of that table, there was also an ancient-looking book.
Walking to the front of the table, Shucao picked up that book. Finding nothing unusual, she opened it.
“Cold Water Flood Dragon Observation Records? This must have been left behind by the owner of this small courtyard. So that flood dragon’s name is Cold Water Flood Dragon.”
Seeing Shucao open the book, An Qianhua said doubtfully.
“What useful information is written on it?”
“Let’s keep reading first.”
Shucao looked down. On the slightly yellowed pages, many characters were written. It recorded:
“Recently, I took a trip to the Tianhuang Immortal Dynasty in the south. On the way back to the Taiqing Sect, I accidentally obtained two Cold Water Flood Dragon beast eggs. It is said that this kind of demon beast is innately equipped with some flight ability and water-attribute divine abilities. On the way to growing to the second rank, it will also awaken ice-attribute divine abilities. With strong curiosity, I brought the two beast eggs back to the sect, planning to raise them and see.”
“After casually finding a place in the sect, I began using spiritual energy to warm and nurture the two beast eggs, looking forward to their birth. However, after a long period of time, they still showed no signs of breaking their shells. So I thought these two beast eggs probably needed a very cold place to possibly hatch. Thus, I hid it from my master and secretly ran into the Taiqing Secret Realm to dig a cave to raise them.”
Reading this, Shucao gained some information about the book’s author.
So this is the origin of this place. Looking at the wording, it should be notes left behind by a cultivator of the Taiqing Sect in the past. It seems this book has been left here for at least several hundred years.
Thus, Shucao continued flipping to the next page.
“Indeed. In this kind of place, the beast eggs hatched very quickly. One male and one female, they can continue producing Cold Water Flood Dragon beast eggs. However, the environmental requirements are still somewhat troublesome. In the future, I can try to modify the hatching conditions for their offspring.”
“In order to let the Cold Water Flood Dragons continue growing, I planted some plants in the courtyard to use for refining medicine for the Cold Water Flood Dragons to consume.”
“After more than ten years of care, the two Cold Water Flood Dragons finally broke through to the second rank. It wasn’t easy. During the process of raising them to the second rank, I discovered that when a Cold Water Flood Dragon at the peak of the first rank is about to break through to the second rank, it will slowly awaken an ice-attribute divine ability. Moreover, this ice-attribute divine ability, after injuring an enemy, will erode the opponent’s meridians, making spiritual energy circulation become extremely slow. This is quite useful in battles against people. Let’s call it Cold Poison.”
“After a few more years, the two Cold Water Flood Dragons also laid eggs. This time, I used spiritual energy to alter the nature of the eggs a bit, trying to see if they could hatch outside.”
“The result was of course successful. Now, four Cold Water Flood Dragons live under the small island. It’s practically a big family! When these two also grow to the second rank, I’ll have even more spirit beast combat power!”
Shucao slowly read on. The book also recorded many things about the Cold Water Flood Dragon’s habits and preferences. From this, it was clear the author quite liked these Cold Water Flood Dragons.
Unknowingly, Shucao flipped to the very last page.
“Bad news. Master has died. Now the entire sect is in chaos! The secret realm’s entrance is also going to be temporarily closed. It seems continuing to observe here is impossible. For now, I’ll take the two second-rank ones away. The other two first-rank juniors will be left here to grow on their own. However, the things planted in this small courtyard are hard to take away. Sigh, I’ve set up a Spirit-Sealing Array here. This way, living beings with spiritual energy can’t enter this small courtyard, and it can also prevent the two small Cold Water Flood Dragons from being attracted by the Dragon Blood Vine and rushing in.”
“If someone sees this notebook, it means you opened the array I set up and entered the courtyard. Since you have this ability and could find this place, we can be considered to have some fate. Then the things left in this courtyard are fine to give to you as well. Consider it this true person’s gift to later generations.”
The book’s content ended here.
Shucao raised her head and looked at the nearly transparent light screen outside the small courtyard.
So, the reason we could pass through that array is because the array only blocks people with spiritual energy, not because its power weakened after so long.
“Who would have thought a person without spiritual energy could run to this kind of place. It seems we just happened to hit this person’s blind spot!”
After putting down the book, Shucao looked at the other things in the room. Finding that there really weren’t any particularly special items, she left the small courtyard.
“Anyway, let’s go back first. I don’t know if Qiushui and the others have dealt with that Cold Water Flood Dragon yet.”
Shucao leapt into the lake. After finding the entrance she came from, she used magic power to fly along the underground river’s channel and returned to the initial cavern.
“This is?!”
Shucao, who quietly surfaced, looked toward the direction where Bai Qiushui and the others had been fighting earlier. She discovered that the cultivator who had been acting as the main attacker was now flying in the sky on a sword with a solemn expression. Her speed was clearly not as fast as before, and a wound on her shoulder that was emitting wisps of cold air was particularly noticeable.
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