“Qing Mo, there seems to be a pattern on the wall.”
“Isn’t it normal to have patterns?” Qing Mo said casually. After speaking, he took a long time to add, “I remember when we first came in, there should have been nothing on this wall.”
“Right.”
Qian Wanyu carefully felt the wall with her hands, and it even seemed a little familiar. Although she had limited contact with the Sleepy Dragon Seal, she was very familiar with the sixty-four images that Ninth Sister had given her. The imprint on the back of the images closely resembled the texture of the dragon seal itself.
“If I’m not mistaken, this place is indeed the center of the Ninth Dragon Valley.” Qian Wanyu rubbed the wall back and forth twenty times before she was certain, and then subconsciously asked Qing Mo, “Ninth Sister, could you be behind this wall?”
“It’s not a wall; it’s an iron gate.”
It looked similar to a stone wall on the outside, but ordinary stones couldn’t withstand the force of nine dragons. If it were a stone wall, the nine dragons would have escaped about a hundred years ago. He had seen an iron gate similar to this before. It also had a pleasant name, called Yushimen.
The door was made of Xuanwang refined iron, and the outside was made of the hardest jade. It was simply impossible to break it open with brute force.
“I can recreate the imprint of the Trapped Dragon Seal.” She had observed the Dragon Seal on Ninth Sister’s hand many times. If there were no issues, she could replicate the pattern of the Dragon Seal, but whether it could be opened was another matter.
“How do you plan to do it?”
Qian Wanyu quickly searched her space ring, and finally found a piece of black soil in the corner. This obsidian soil had been thrown into the space ring when she fell from a tree last time. She hadn’t expected to use it today.
“What a luxury…”
Using obsidian soil to make a key that might not even work, Qing Mo silently complained in her sea of souls that the two sisters were the same—reckless.
Mo Ce remained tense, watching the surrounding dragons warily. Fortunately, after the group of dragons found toys, they played and took their attention away from them. But who knew if these dragons would grow bored after a few minutes and start causing trouble again?
It was the first time Mo Ce had seen the Dragon Clan. He struggled to watch the spiritual power in Qian Wanyu’s hands. The spiritual power had gradually weakened. If this continued, they would surely perish when it ran out and the dragons focused on them again.
Qian Wanyu had to keep an eye on the movements of the group of dragons at all times while still attempting to recreate the dragon seal. “Qing Mo, I’m about to lose it…”
“I can help you resist them for an incense stick of time. If you haven’t finished the Trapped Dragon Seal within that time, I won’t be able to save you.”
“Alright.”
Just when Mo Ce showed despair, a brighter halo emanated from Qian Wanyu’s body. The halo was so dazzling that all the dragons in mid-air closed their eyes briefly, then looked at her curiously. Holding the formation stone in her hand, under the intense golden light, the formation stone changed into different colors.
Qian Wanyu sat on the ground and openly began to recreate the Trapped Dragon Seal under the watchful eyes of the group of dragons. She also took out the hairpin from her space ring, trying to bring the Sleepy Dragon Seal in her mind to its most realistic form.
Mo Ce watched as she quickly shaped a piece of black soil in her hand, and the soil took form under her skillful fingers. The prototype resembled the winding path in the Dragon Valley, complete with twists, turns, and complicated lines.
He looked on with curiosity.
It took Qian Wanyu less than an hour to complete the design. Because of the halo surrounding her body, the group of dragons couldn’t see what she was doing at all. With her quick hands and mind, she completed her task and then searched for the spot she had touched earlier, attaching the obsidian to the stone door.
There was no movement at the stone gate. The dragon blocking the exit was relatively close to the ground, so it could clearly see Qian Wanyu fiddling with the lock on the stone gate. The dragon’s eyes narrowed slightly, and it unexpectedly let out a roar.
“We’ve been discovered.”
Qian Wanyu carefully searched her memory of the Trapped Dragon Seal. Every time Ninth Sister suffered, the seal would emit a red light, signifying heat. However, she wasn’t a Fire Element Spiritual Master. How could she make a piece of damp and cold soil feel hot?
Mo Ce quickly pulled her aside as a long, thick dragon tail swept over, pressing the half-attached obsidian onto the stone door. The fake key and lock fit together seamlessly.
“Fire!”
“I need fire!”
As Qian Wanyu dodged, she kept thinking that without fire, this door might still be able to open.
“Wanyu, lightning can generate sparks. Try a few more times.” Qing Mo sounded somewhat weak.
“Right.”
Qian Wanyu glanced to the side and saw the lightning whip swept to the corner by the dragon’s tail. She shook off Mo Ce’s hand and quickly ran toward the corner. With a swoop, she firmly grasped the lightning whip in her own hands. “Whether this works this time depends on you!”
Bang—
The long tail viciously swept toward her. Qian Wanyu barely avoided it and threw the lightning whip beside the stone door. The purple lightning, so small it was almost imperceptible, burst forth.
The dragons were also afraid of lightning, especially when they saw continuous strikes. Their eyes shifted from the formation stone to Qian Wanyu.
“Roar–”
Qian Wanyu was almost defenseless, exposing her entire back to the dragons’ watchful eyes.
“Be careful!” Mo Ce saw the dragon’s claws attacking Qian Wanyu’s back and desperately blocked the fatal blow for her.
Qian Wanyu only felt a warm body leaning heavily against her before softly falling down. She didn’t even have time to turn around; she just stared at the stone door, “Fire! Fire!”
Clink—
The lock of the stone door made a faint sound, the noise only a small tinkle, but to everyone’s ears, especially the nine dragons, it was more irritating than the violent sound of thunder and lightning.
At this moment, time seemed to stand still. Qian Wanyu’s gaze was firmly fixed on that stone door, which would determine their fate.
Even the nine dragons remained motionless. This gate would decide whether they would continue to be joyful and content living dragons, or remain mere murals.
After a prolonged clink, there was no response for a long time.
“It seems to have failed.”
In the sea of souls, Qing Mo also sighed leisurely. He had never heard Wanyu’s tone of defeat before; it seemed as if life and death hung in the balance.
Boom—
Just as Qian Wanyu turned around to support the fallen Mo Ce, there was a loud noise from the stone gate behind her. This noise was undoubtedly a signal, and it had different meanings for people and the dragons present.
Qian Wanyu half-embraced Mo Ce, retrieved her lightning whip and waited until the stone door opened a gap. She quickly pushed Mo Ce in first, then squeezed in through the door herself.
Before the group of dragons with sharp teeth and claws could let out a scream, they were pulled back to their original positions by the chains. If Qian Wanyu had been outside, she would have seen countless iron chains on both sides of the stone gate retracting, forcing the nine dragons to return to where they belonged—the murals on the wall.
Cough.
Mo Ce spat out two mouthfuls of blood, which still had pieces of flesh in it.
Qian Wanyu watched the stone door close again, and before she even had time to look at the surrounding environment, Mo Ce coughed blood all over her, “There are a lot of pills prepared by Ninth Sister here. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”
She quickly crushed the hemostatic pill, but the porcelain bottle was quickly used up, and it still failed to stop the bleeding.
“Mo Ce, if you survive this time, I will give you your father’s letter…” Qian Wanyu’s hands were covered in his blood.
“Good.”
Mo Ce finished speaking with a smile and fainted after speaking.
“Qing Mo, I never thought that he would actually block that attack for me—” Qian Wanyu felt a little annoyed, trying to stop the bleeding for him, but the bright red blood couldn’t be stopped no matter what.
“I was surprised too.”
Qing Mo’s understanding of Mo Ce was that he was first and foremost a loner Spiritual Master and a killer of the Blood Fiend Alliance. A killer’s primary job was to eliminate targets; when did he learn to protect others? Even if he hadn’t rushed out to block the dragon’s claw, trying to save Wanyu’s life was already not something she expected.
Unfortunately, people’s plans couldn’t always outdo fate.
Qian Wanyu had been busy for a long time, watching Mo Ce lying on the ground gradually turning pale. Blood pooled on the floor around him, and his breath eventually faded away, “Mo Ce.”
She stared blankly at the blood all over the floor, murmuring, “I’m not a pharmacist, I can’t save him.”
Before this, Qian Wanyu dared to say that she had never felt ashamed, but this time, her own selfishness had led her to withhold information about Cheng Song, Xiao Zha, and Mo Ce’s life experiences. Yet, he still risked his life to save her.
She owed Mo Ce an explanation, and she owed Cheng Song an explanation as well.
“Wanyu, there are some things we can’t predict; you should find your Ninth Sister first.”
“Right.”
Qian Wanyu stood up suddenly, her body covered in blood. She walked around in a daze, taking a long time to refocus her gaze, “Mo Ce is dead. I must get Ninth Sister out of this place safely.”
It took her the time of burning an incense stick to calm down. When she first arrived, she was shocked by the nine dragon heads positioned differently but hadn’t had the chance to examine them. Water still flowed from the dragon’s mouth, intermittently creating a clear stream.
The deep pool had two completely distinct sides. Qian Wanyu noticed that the water on one side was crystal clear, but in the middle, it became a fragmented world.
“The water is quite clear.”
Qian Wanyu stretched out her hand and scooped up a handful of clear water from the surface of the deep pool. Surprisingly, the blood on her hand stained the clear water red, polluting it. Before she could process this, she saw the patch of water that had turned red sway before her eyes, and the fragmented world below the pool flashed rapidly before returning to calm.
“It seems like there’s something under this water.”
“Do you want to go down and have a look?”
“Um.”
Qian Wanyu cautiously descended into the water, only seeing a statue clearly after diving to the bottom. She swam over curiously and suddenly realized that the so-called statue was the Ninth Sister she had been searching for! The surrounding debris appeared to float motionlessly underwater as if there was an independent space beneath the deep pool.
“Ninth Sister!”
Dongfang Minghui was currently examining the memory fragments, leaving her in a daze. She could barely distinguish between the real world and the memories. Fortunately, every night she would be forced to rest whether she wanted to or not. The one in the worst situation was actually Little Colour, who was so determined to understand the Dragon Seal more thoroughly that she watched memory fragments uninterruptedly for twelve hours a day.
After watching the memories with her, she would watch them again with the Trapped Dragon Seal. Fortunately, the memories in each fragment were different.
As a result, she now knew many things that Dongfang Minghui didn’t know.
“Ninth Sister.”
Dongfang Minghui saw Qian Wanyu in front of her as if she were a person from within the memory fragments, and only woke up after being called several times.
Seventh sister arrived! Her eyes widened instantly, her lips moving slightly.
“Why are you trapped inside? Seventh sister will definitely find a way to get you out.”
Qian Wanyu tried to carry her up and swim to the surface, but she struggled for a long time, unable to lift her.
“Wanyu, wait a moment. You can see that there is a thin transparent cover on your Ninth Sister, and the cover has a hint of blue. She is under the deep pool, so it’s clear that this is the water cover of the Shark Bead.”
“Yes.”
“This water cover has actually deformed.”
It was as if it had been tailor-made for Ninth Sister…
Qian Wanyu grew anxious, quickly floating in front of Dongfang Minghui, “Spit out the Shark Bead.”
Dongfang Minghui pushed it with her tongue, and it took her a long time to push out the Shark Bead, but the water cover still existed, unchanged.
“This situation seems to be caused by internal compression. Could there be something hidden under the deep pool?”
“It must be.”
Qian Wanyu floated in front of Dongfang Minghui, “Seventh sister will go down and have a look then come up soon.”
Dongfang Minghui was also so anxious that bubbles formed at the corners of her mouth. She thought she could use this method to trap the Sleepy Dragon Seal, but in the end, she couldn’t get out herself even if she wanted to, “Little Colour, think of a way quickly. Seventh sister wants to go down to the bottom of the deep pool. It must be dangerous down there.”
“There is no way to crack the Sleepy Dragon Seal, so don’t worry. Maybe your Seventh sister has the ability to get you out.”
Dongfang Minghui could only watch Qian Wanyu swim toward the bottom of the deep pool, but the deeper she went, the more strenuous it became, and the color of the water below also changed. The color grew darker as if it had been dyed by something.
“The water here has a purifying effect.” The blood on her body had been purified by the water in the deep pool earlier. “What is this?”
Qian Wanyu scooped up a handful of water, discovering that it was entirely different from the water above.
“Wanyu, I have a bad premonition.” Qing Mo fidgeted in the sea of souls, even standing up and pacing back and forth irritably with Little White beside him.
“This is the first time I’ve heard you say something like that.”
It has to be said that emotions were contagious, especially Qing Mo’s uneasiness which was directly transmitted to her in the sea of souls. Qian Wanyu has known Qing Mo for so long and they have encountered many big and small things. This was the first time she had heard Qing Mo saying something like this.
Could it be because of what happened to Mo Ce just now?
No, Qing Mo was the person about to become the head of the Qing Lan Sect after all; a single person’s death shouldn’t affect his emotions so easily.
“Qing Mo, I have to go down to see what it is. If something is really wrong, I’ll come back up immediately.”
“Since you have made up your mind, go down and have a look.”
Qian Wanyu continued to dive down, and when she was about ten meters away, she felt as if she was being suppressed by something and could not move, “It should be this thing that trapped the Ninth Sister, but it was reasonable to say that at the height of more than ten meters she should not be affected. The range shouldn’t be this big…”
“Are you still going down?”
“Um.”
The further she went down, the darker the surrounding water’s color became, revealing a biting coldness. It was bottomless, and Qian Wanyu was almost unable to move an inch.
“No, Wanyu, you can’t go any further.”
“I think I saw it.”
She took out a moonstone from her space ring, and the light illuminated a small area. Qian Wanyu saw that the water around her was as dark as ink, and there was still a faint fragrance in the water. She sniffed it vigorously, guessing that the fragrance should be coming from not far away.
She held up the moonstone and met a pair of large black eyes.
Ah–
Qian Wanyu turned around and went back up, realizing that those large black eyes could only be the big eyes of dragons. She swam halfway up before asking, “Qing Mo, why didn’t it come after you?”
“Huh? What do you want to say?”
“I want to go down again to confirm.”
“You… Wanyu, you’re crazy. If you offend it, you can’t leave. How about your Ninth Sister?”
It has to be said that Qing Mo knew Qian Wanyu’s weaknesses too well. As long as Dongfang Minghui was mentioned, the other party would probably compromise.
Qian Wanyu hesitated for a moment, “Yes, I’ll need to rescue Ninth Sister first, and then I have to find out.”
Hearing the first sentence, Qing Mo was still very satisfied, but hearing the latter sentence, Qing Mo was almost pissed off by her. Fortunately, this stubborn donkey finally got back on her feet.
When Dongfang Minghui saw Qian Wanyu coming back, she felt much more relaxed. However, seeing Seventh Sister accidentally shatter the memory fragments made her feel distressed. Those memories could be regarded as the wealth of Sleepy Dragon Valley.
“Ninth Sister.”
“Seventh Sister.”
The two faced each other, separated by a water shield, as if separated by a world.
Seeing Seventh Sister moving unimpeded in front of her, she was puzzled, “Little Color, why does Seventh Sister not seem to be restricted by this place?”
Little Color thought about it and finally fixed his eyes on Dongfang Minghui’s hand, “Perhaps, it’s not just your Seventh Sister who is out of control, you and I are just trapped by the Dragon Seal.”
Trapped Dragon Seal.
Dongfang Minghui moved her hand a little, from two fingers at the beginning to being able to make a fist. Before Qian Wanyu arrived, she always comforted herself like this. Every day she was getting better, and one day she would be able to move her whole body.
Fortunately, Seventh Sister was here.
Dongfang Minghui’s patience was also exhausted.
“What are these?”
As soon as Qian Wanyu’s fingers touched the memory fragments around Dongfang Minghui, they shattered into pieces with a bang.
Dongfang Minghui felt pain in her heart, liver, kidneys, and lungs, especially when she saw Seventh Sister clearing the scene, turning all the memory fragments around her into dust. She had a bitter face, “Little Color, will these memory fragments continue to exist in this deep pool once they’ve disappeared?”
Little Color glanced at her suspiciously, “Probably not.”
The memory fragments were broken; how could there be any more unless time went back and the fragments remained intact?
Dongfang Minghui didn’t feel it at all when Qian Wanyu swung the lightning whip for the first time.
When she hit the second time, she obviously felt that the whole deep pool seemed to shake for a while. She swallowed and looked around; it seemed that everything was safe.
When the lightning whip was swung for the third time, the whole space moved, but it didn’t change in the way they expected. Instead, the entire space became distorted.
“Ah–”
Qian Wanyu felt the Sleepy Dragon Seal in her hand flare up again, but this time, it was more unbearable than any other time in the past. She felt that her hand and all the nerves in her body were in unbearable pain.
“Ninth Sister!”
The water shield showed obvious signs of cracking.
Qian Wanyu didn’t stop until she heard the other party’s cry. However, to her surprise, the broken water shield was not caused by the lightning whip, but because the entire deep pool had become deformed, and she found that the person in front of her was also in a distorted posture.
The red light in her hand almost illuminated the deep pool like daytime.
Dongfang Minghui’s eyes were replaced by fiery red lines, and she spat out strange words, “You foolish humans have destroyed the memory space. I want you to experience the pain of remembering through countless reincarnations.”
After speaking, the entire deep pool shattered.
Oops looks like Wanyu dun fukd up! But she’s the protagonist so she’ll be fine, gotta grab her Minghui after all!