The Sleepy Dragon Seal slipped away quickly, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Little Color’s vines fumbled in the water for a while but couldn’t keep up. When it returned to Dongfang Minghui and Qian Wanyu, it shrugged helplessly. “It slipped away.”
The Sleepy Dragon Seal is a spiritual entity that can change its size. If something as small as a needle’s eye sinks into a deep pool and the water turns dark, finding it becomes as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack—perhaps even more so. Additionally, there were some places that Little Color couldn’t access.
Dongfang Minghui murmured, “It seems scared of something.”
She had felt the Sleepy Dragon Seal trembling behind her. This sense of fear struck her as strange. “Seventh sister, do you think the Sleepy Dragon Seal recognizes the person who just tried to break into the stone gate?”
Qian Wanyu’s eyes darkened, her expression solemn. She had just resolved the time-reincarnation issue, only for the Sleepy Dragon Seal to dampen her spirits. She felt restrained. “Little Color, stay with me above. We’ll see if we can seal off the deep pool.”
Little Color understood immediately.
Qian Wanyu took Dongfang Minghui back into the deep pool. Despite three searches, they couldn’t find the original location of the memory mirror.
Dongfang Minghui noticed that Qian Wanyu looked upset and tried to console her. “I think the Sleepy Dragon Seal is just scared. It might show up once it gathers its courage.”
“Afraid? Does it think the stone door won’t open if it hides?” Qian Wanyu felt intuitively that the stone door could open even without a key.
Dongfang Minghui was speechless and suggested, “Shall we continue searching?”
Maintaining a calm expression, Qian Wanyu led the way out of the water cover. “The memory mirror is here. If it wants to hide, I’ll give it nowhere to hide.”
As she spoke, she unleashed her water-lightning whip, sending ripples through the water with each strike.
“Don’t! If you do that, you’ll destroy the entire memory mirror!” Sleepy Dragon Seal suddenly appeared, visibly frightened.
Dongfang Minghui looked at Sleepy Dragon Seal with surprise and a touch of sympathy. Her Seventh Sister had successfully forced it out.
Qian Wanyu sneered, “Decided to show yourself?”
Sleepy Dragon Seal shook its head and nodded reluctantly. “I recognize the aura of that person outside; it’s the group of people from twenty years ago.”
After a brief moment of playing around in the Sleepy Dragon Valley, it encountered a group of Death Spiritual Masters whose dark aura could easily weaken it. It had been imprisoned until a man named Meng Ruoyu helped it escape.
“Twenty years ago? Meng Ruoyu!” Dongfang Minghui was shocked, then excitedly asked, “Where are they now?”
“They’re likely still in the valley…” Yun Longyin responded.
Qian Wanyu processed all this new information. “I might know where they’re hiding, but I can’t guarantee they’re still there.”
“Are they really still in the valley?”
Qian Wanyu recounted an old story involving the Qian family, a legendary holy medicine, and a Spiritual Saint’s legacy. The story ended with everyone being trapped in the sleepy dragon valley.
Dongfang Minghui was puzzled. “Meng Ruoyu is a wood-element spiritual master. Why would he turn into a Death Spiritual Master?”
Sleepy Dragon Seal chimed in, “He bears a strong death aura and has a large scar on his face.”
“Was he the one trying to open the stone gate today?”
“No…” the Sleepy Dragon Seal shook its head. “The aura is similar but stronger.”
Dongfang Minghui felt conflicted. “If he’s just an ordinary person with a fondness for plants, why would he become a Death Spiritual Master?”
“Ninth Sister, what are you pondering?” Qian Wanyu inquired.
“I just can’t figure things out. I’ll need more information before I do,” Dongfang Minghui said, looking at the deep pool. “Seventh Sister, why don’t we go see Toothless?”
“Good idea.”
This time, Qian Wanyu personally captured the Sleepy Dragon Seal to prevent another escape. The entity trembled, evidently fearful of Qian Wanyu, who also emanated an aura of death. As they entered the deep pool, they removed the water cover. From a distance, they could clearly see the phantom senior standing with his hands behind his back, as if he had always been there.
After a moment, Toothless emerged energetically, spitting fireballs at Senior Phantom and even leaping onto him. The fire was bright enough to illuminate their surroundings.
The phantom man wore gray clothes. Although the color was inconspicuous, he wore it as if he were a banished immortality.
Dongfang Minghui sighed as she observed Toothless attacking the opponent from all angles, yet failing to make him move. “Senior Phantom is too powerful. I don’t think Toothless will beat him even if he stays for another ten years.”
Doubts about the future crept into her mind.
Qian Wanyu watched the phantom intently. “Senior Phantom is training Toothless, who has improved significantly.”
She noted the benefits of facing masters. She felt she had improved after her short bout with Senior Phantom as well, although she had more pressing matters to attend to.
“Seventh Sister, shall we now explore beneath the abyss?”
“Um.”
Hearing her, Sleepy Dragon Seal trembled.
Qian Wanyu chuckled, “If you don’t want to go, I can turn you into a pure spirit body now.”
Sleepy Dragon Seal began to cry. Dongfang Minghui couldn’t bear to see its pitiful look. “Don’t cry. If that person breaks into the stone gate, you won’t escape as well. It’s better to be proactive.”
Sleepy Dragon Seal sobbed, “He can’t get in.”
It referred to the three locks on the stone gate.
However, reality soon proved it wrong.
“Why have you been down there so long?! The stone gate seems unstable…” Little Color said as its vines roamed the depths.
Dongfang Minghui didn’t want to admit that Seventh Sister had hit the nail on the head.
“Hurry!”
Startled, the Sleepy Dragon Seal followed Qian Wanyu.
As Little Color had noted, the stone gate roared again. Perhaps because they were deep in the pool, they hadn’t heard the commotion above.
Upon resurfacing, they saw the stone door slowly opening and a familiar face appearing.
Jing Ke entered through the stone door with a smile. The door remained open as if it was stuck. The dragons outside roared, and the chains holding them back swung loudly.
This was the first time Dongfang Minghui had ever heard the dragons’ angry voices and suspected the problem was with Jing Ke standing in front of them.
“Don’t you all recognize me?” Jing Ke scanned the area before his eyes settled on Sleepy Dragon Seal.
Not only did the three people present make him suspicious, but even Sleepy Dragon Seal, with its strange shape and bright colors, also caught his attention.
The Sleepy Dragon Seal instinctively shrank, as if the person staring at it was not a human but a poisonous snake.
“No wonder you were able to enter here smoothly. You must have found the key.” Jing Kewei said.
“Who are you?” Qian Wanyu asked, tossing the Sleepy Dragon Seal aside. It hid behind Dongfang Minghui as if her back were a safe haven.
“You’re not the real Jing Ke.” Dongfang Minghui said, holding a silk umbrella.
Jing Ke watched her actions with keen interest, smiling insincerely. “You must be the little doctor, with the silk umbrella and the vines.”
Qian Wanyu’s thunder whip swung mercilessly at Jing Ke, while Mo Ce’s curved sword targeted Jing Ke’s vitals.
Cornered, Jing Ke finally stopped dodging. “Why are you attacking? I mean you no harm.”
“You’ve tried hard to deceive us; the real Jing Ke might be dead.” Qian Wanyu sneered.
Jing Kewei smiled as the pool’s water suddenly turned into ice, launching icy projectiles at them.
“Watch out!” The Sleepy Dragon Seal warned, clinging to Dongfang Minghui’s back.
Reacting quickly, Dongfang Minghui opened her silk umbrella, deflecting hail-like projectiles. Both Qian Wanyu and Mo Ce were grazed by the icy shards.
Qian Wanyu felt cold air and black smoke emanating from her wound. “Since when did Jing Ke, a water-element Spiritual Master, become a dual-element master of ice and darkness spiritual master?”
Jing Kewei gloated over his newfound powers, transforming the pool’s water into icy projectiles imbued with dark energy.
“You two should leave.” Qian Wanyu said, destroying the icy projectiles with her whip.
Dongfang Minghui and Mo Ce exchanged confused glances, unsure whether to proceed deeper or exit through the stone gate.
“We can’t leave…” said the trembling Sleepy Dragon Seal, emphasizing its role as a second line of defense despite its fear.
“Don’t even think about leaving,” Jing Ke mocked.
Before Dongfang Minghui could react, the Sleepy Dragon Seal slipped away, heading for the stone gate. It managed to close the doors using its spiritual energy.
Outside, the dragons roared louder, their restraints barely holding them.
Once the stone doors were sealed, the Sleepy Dragon Seal ignored incoming ice projectiles, which halted mid-air behind it.
“I guess we can’t leave now.” Qian Wanyu muttered.
“Exactly,” Dongfang Minghui agreed, understanding the Sleepy Dragon Seal’s intent to trap them all, forcing them to confront each other.
Jing Ke laughed. “Thinking that a broken key could seal off Sleeping Dragon Valley is ridiculous.”
The so called Broken Key, the Sleepy Dragon Seal was now connected to the stone gate, and its face distorted with anger.
“Who are you?” Whoever had taken over Jing Ke’s body spoke arrogantly. Dongfang Minghui felt that the intruder’s arrogance and successful entrance into the stone gate resembled someone she had known in the past.
However…Meng Yixiao was dead.
Qian Wanyu pondered the same question. “He might be someone who has entered Sleeping Dragon Valley before.”
She quickly searched her memory but found no one who matched the personality of the person before them. The enemy’s icy projectiles seemed endless, continuously emerging from the deep pool to attack them, inflicting minor injuries.
Except for Dongfang Minghui, who was shielded by a silk umbrella, both she and Mo Ce were wounded.
Jing Kewei suddenly stopped. A wisp of black mist appeared at his fingertip. “Surrender now, and I might let you go.”
Qian Wanyu glanced at him mockingly and lashed out with her whip. Mo Ce also remained uncompromising. Together, they forced the impostor to retreat.
“Is there any way to prevent him from using the water in this deep pool?” Dongfang Minghui asked, navigating through the ice.
The environment was currently unfavorable to them because of the water providing him with infinite ammunition.
“Actually, there is!” Little Color chimed in.
“Really?”
“You have a fire lotus seed, don’t you? Its spiritual power could potentially melt the ice.”
Dongfang Minghui hesitated; those seeds were intended for Toothless. But she reasoned that if the ice melted and fire spiritual power remained in the water, Toothless who was underwater right now might benefit from it.
Taking quick action, she retrieved a fire lotus seed from her storage space and tossed it onto the ice. It radiated fiery energy immediately.
The Sleepy Dragon Seal eyed it greedily, tempted by the spiritual power but bound by its duty to guard the stone gate.
Dongfang Minghui and Little Color combined their efforts to detonate the fire lotus seed. A burst of potent fire spiritual power spread across the ice, quickly melting it within a one-meter radius. Even the black threads evaporated, leaving no trace.
Jing Ke was visibly shaken, thrown against the stone gate by Qian Wanyu’s lightning attack. Sleepy Dragon Seal, seemingly bearing its own grudge against him, lifted a leg and kicked him. The sensation appeared to be quite satisfying for the seal.
“This physique is really mediocre,” Jing Ke sighed, then calmly asked, “What do you want?”
“It’s simple,” Qian Wanyu said, activating her dark spiritual power to absorb the black mist from her wound. Now unobstructed, the wound was visibly gaping, blood flowing freely. Despite its gruesome appearance, the blood was a healthy bright red. “I have three questions. Answer them, and you live. Fail, and you die.”
Mo Ce cast a suspicious glance at Qian Wanyu’s arm. He had peeked at it earlier and noted that she had somehow managed to purge the black substance. Meanwhile, the black mist on his own hand seemed to be expanding aggressively, even attempting to consume his spiritual power.
Dongfang Minghui observed that all the ice in the deep pool had melted. She cautiously filled a porcelain bottle with the water, noting its clarity. “Is the fire lotus seed really so effective?” she mused.
Why hadn’t she known that fire lotus seeds not only contained fire spiritual power but also had the ability to purify black mist?
OOOOooo another chappie enjoy everyone <3 Ty for the support as usual~