179. Submarine grotto

  Divine consciousness whipped back again. Right in the middle of the Water Carp Beast's primordial spirit, at the same time, the Golden Thorn of the Flying Heaven Dart fiercely descended!

  The Water Buffalo Beast let out a loud "Hulu" and started swinging its tail wildly, furiously pounding the defensive shield.

  The seven people supporting the reinforced defense array were suddenly injured, especially Xiang Zhiyang, whose face changed color, and a mouthful of blood spurted out. The defensive cover on his head also shook and shattered.

  Ren Yu Feng however happily said: "It's almost dead, just hold on a bit longer."

  Mo Tian Ge glared at him with some annoyance, as he was the only late-stage Foundation Building cultivator in the group. At such a critical moment, didn't he know to lend a hand? Even if his spells and artifacts couldn't harm the Water Carp Beast, he could still transmit spiritual energy to her or the other seven people.

  But it's not the time to turn against each other, she didn't say anything, and from the Qiankun bag, she fished out a Lingfu talisman given by Jinghe Daojun, with a flick of her hand, a defensive screen flew out through the gap.

  This talismanic seal, sealed the mighty power of a sharp weapon, lightly floating out of the defensive cover, silently and quietly transformed into a sword light. Lightly and sharply pierced into the body of the Water Carp Beast.

  Taking advantage of the opportunity, Feitian Shu broke out of its body, and the Water Qiu beast swung its long tail wildly, but it still couldn't hold on. With a low cry, it softened and fell down.

  Blood flowed out of the Water Buffalo's body and dyed a large area of water around it red.

  The scene was eerily quiet, with everyone still in a daze from the battle.

  Moye's song began with a wave of her hand, the golden pommel of the flying dart emitted a clear "ting" sound as it flew back into her hand. The others only then came to their senses as if waking from a dream.

  "Brother Zhiyang!" Ai Xian and Xia Houyuan shouted in unison, the two of them being closest to Xiang Zhiyang, and immediately rushed forward to support him.

  The blue defensive cover on his head burst open and he fell down together with Zhi Yang.

  Ren Yu and Feng rushed to check on Xiang Yang's situation, followed by a flurry of activity. Although none of the ten people had fallen, two mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators had lost half their lives and were almost unable to fight.

  Taking advantage of this break, Mo Tian Ge quietly asked Jiang Shang Hang: "Jiang Shixiong, what is in that secret place that makes you willing to look for outsiders and not tell anyone within the sect about it?"

  This time her tone was not distant, making Jiang Shanghang excited, and he leaned in to answer: "Ye Shidi, I once told you that there is a mysterious aura in this Dragon Hidden Land, isn't there?"

  "But didn't you say, Jiang Shixiong, that even Lian Yuanying senior wasn't clear about what was going on?"

  "That's right. It was originally like this......" Jiang Shanghang hesitated for a moment before saying, "This Hidden Dragon Realm, every time we enter the scene is completely different, but there is only one place that remains the same, and that is the Central Divine Dragon Stele. The text on the Divine Dragon Stele, nowadays no one can recognize it anymore, and the mysterious aura is transmitted from the Divine Dragon Stele. For thousands of years, the disciples of the sect have passed down the legend that this mysterious aura is the breath of the divine dragon......"

  "Breath of the Dragon God..." Mo Tian Ge repeated. Although it can't be confirmed as the Breath of the Dragon God, hearing these Orthodox Sect disciples call it by this name, one can tell that this mysterious aura is definitely not ordinary.

  "After all, we don't know either." Jiang Shanghang sighed, "For so many years, the Yuanying Shizu of our Orthodox Sect have been unable to penetrate this Divine Dragon Stele, only knowing that the power within is extraordinary and cannot be offended. It's also because our Orthodox Sect has not been passed down for long enough, maybe after passing down for tens of thousands of years, the collective efforts of several generations of disciples can decipher it."

  The Orthodox Church has been built for thousands of years, but it's actually not that long. The lifespan of a Yuan Ying practitioner is over 1,000 to 2,000 years old, and thousands of years have only passed down a few generations. Among the seven major sects of Tianji, only the Orthodox Church has been established for thousands of years, while other sects have inherited more than tens of thousands of years.

  "What does this have to do with the secret place you discovered?"

  The river above the navigation path: "It's precisely because this divine dragon stele has never been able to be fully understood, and Master Yuanying and the others are all busy cultivating, so after a long time, we disciples basically don't go to look at the place where the divine dragon stele is located. Last time, the four of us entered the Dragon Hiding Land together, coincidentally went to the divine dragon stele, and suddenly discovered that there was an abnormality within."

  He paused for a moment, and as expected, he saw curiosity on Mo Tian Ge's face. Jiang Shang Hang continued: "The Dragon God Stele was not wrong, what was wrong was that next to the Dragon God Stele, an entrance to an underground palace appeared."

  "Dì gōng?" Mò Tiān Gē asked, "Shuǐ xià dì gōng?"

  Translation:

  "What's a Dìgōng?" Mo Tian Ge asked, "An underwater Dìgōng?"

  "Not bad." Jiang Shanghang continued, "We came in just after August 15th, so we should be the first batch of disciples to see this underground palace. After entering the underground palace, there is a breath inside that is exactly the same as the Divine Dragon Stele, and it's even more intense!"

  "What?" The so-called Dragon's Breath was bound to be vast and majestic, unmatched in power, but the Dragon Stele had already left the Yuan Ying cultivators helpless. This unknown underground palace actually had such a mysterious aura, and it was even thicker? To what extent, could they, the foundation-building cultivators, afford to offend?

  The stranger's expression changed several times, and finally said: "Brother Jiang, no matter whether this is the breath of the divine dragon or not, you say that this aura has extraordinary power and cannot be offended. What can we gain by entering the underground palace again?"

  Jiang Shang Hang bitterly smiled and said: "This question... I really can't answer, because at that time the only one who went in was Ren Shixiong alone."

  "...Then why did you advise me like that?" Mo Tian Ge furrowed his brow, suppressing the discontent in his heart. Jiang Shang Hang had previously sworn to guarantee that it wasn't too dangerous inside and that they could obtain treasure, but it turned out that even he himself was uncertain.

  Jiang Shanghang sighed, "It was Brother Ren who guaranteed this. At the time, as soon as we entered the underground palace, we were blocked by the guardian Water Carp Beast. Brother Ren used a talisman to temporarily trap it, allowing us three to deal with it, while he himself went in for a look."

  "What exactly did Master Ren say?"

  Jiang Shanghang hesitated for a moment, and said somewhat uncertainly: "Master Ren said that the layout inside is complex, he only had time to take a few glances, it seems there's also an alchemy room..."

  Although that's what he said, Jiang Shanghang himself didn't seem too sure. The alchemy room, since it was an underwater palace, how could there possibly be an alchemy room?

  "Yeshidi," Jiang Shanghang said, looking at her sincerely, "I've already told you the truth before. I'm just an ordinary cultivator in Zhengfa Sect. Ren Shixiong's cultivation is higher than mine, and he's also a direct disciple of Master Kundan. His status is much higher than mine. The reason I was able to enter this Longyin area with him last time was because of my relationship with Tang Fangshidi. Whatever he says, I can only follow. However, he doesn't have any reason to deceive us, does he?"

  That's also true... If there was no benefit, then it wouldn't be necessary for Ren and Feng to go through so much trouble to find people to come together and take risks.

  "Jiang Shixiong, since you were able to discover the underground palace, others can too. Someone might coincidentally visit the Divine Dragon Stele again. Can you guarantee that no one else will see it after you leave?"

  Mentioning this issue, Jiang Shanghao smiled and said: "Don't worry about this, when we left last time, Ren Shixiong and Xiang Shixiong used a special technique to hide it. Same-level disciples must not be able to see it. It's because the scene of Longyin changes every year that we don't have much time, so we came here in a hurry."

  Just then, Ren Yu and Feng seemed to have finished treating the injuries of Lu Rongsheng and Xiang Zhiyang, and walked over: "Ye Shimei, Jiang Shidi, what are you talking about?"

  Ren Yu's expression was very harmonious at this moment, as if successfully killing the Water Carp Beast had put him in a good mood.

  After this half-day encounter, Mo Tian Ge felt that this person not only had a bad temper and was very self-important, but also didn't have any leadership ability, and was just relying on his identity as the strongest cultivator. The things he did were really unpleasant. But since he was smiling at her, there was no reason to slap him in the face. So she also smiled politely: "About this Dragon Hidden Land matter, I'm still a bit unclear, so I'll ask Jiang Shixiong about it."

  "Oh, I see. Actually, Ye Shimei just needed to ask me, and Jiang Shidi wasn't very clear about it either." Ren Yu Feng waved his hand with a seemingly pleased expression.

  After he finished speaking, Jiang Shanghang looked at her with some helplessness and said: "Ye Shijie, you chat with Ren Shixiong, I'll go take a look at the situation of the two Shixiongs."

  Jiang Shanghang didn't want to offend Ren Yu Feng, nor did he dare to. Mo Tian Ge also didn't keep him around, anyway she wasn't afraid of Ren Yu Feng either. From what was seen earlier, Ren Yu Feng's underwater escape technique was top-notch, but his methods were really not worthy of being called a great door sect's foundation period elite disciple. Even if Ren Yu Feng had some tricks up his sleeve that he hadn't used yet, Mo Tian Ge was confident that she wasn't inferior to him. If they were to fight, she would have more than an 80% chance of winning.

  Jiang Shang walked away. Ren Yu Fang turned to Miao Tian Ge and said, "The magical instrument in Ye Shi Mei's hand is not ordinary, and she has several treasures on her body. I think she must be an elite disciple? Jiang Shi Di once said that he was just a nameless disciple of a small sect in Kunwu Mountain back then. How did Ye Shi Mei get to know him?"

  It turned out that he had come to inquire about the relationship between the two. Mo Tian Ge smiled calmly: "I met Jiang Shixiong at a time when I was not yet a disciple of Xuan Qing Men."

  "Oh?" Ren Feng exclaimed in surprise, "Junior Brother Jiang arrived at our Zheng Fa Sect over a decade ago. At that time, Junior Sister Ye wasn't even a disciple of the Xuan Qing Gate yet?"

  "Not bad, after parting with Jiang Shixiong, he came to Zheng Fa Zong, and I just went to Xuan Qing Men."

  Having obtained Mo Tian Ge's acknowledgment, Ren Yu Xing was even more astonished: "I heard that Jiang Shi Di said he only started building his foundation after arriving at Zheng Fa Zong. I suppose Ye Shi Mei didn't have a foundation back then either? In over a decade, Ye Shi Mei went from cultivating Qi to building her foundation and now she's already in the middle stage of foundation building. This cultivation speed is truly unimaginable! Ye Shi Mei is indeed a genius!"

  "It's just good luck, and I'm grateful for Master's favor. I don't dare to be called a genius, if one day I can refine the elixir, then I'll dare to accept this title."

  Although it was a humble statement, it also revealed Ye Dan's confidence. Ren Yu looked at her with a mixture of envy and jealousy, forcing out a smile as he said: "As soon as I saw Ye Shijie, I felt that she must be a talented and intelligent person. I didn't expect that Ye Shijie would exceed my expectations. Just now, when we killed the Water Carp Beast, it was all thanks to Ye Shijie's magical artifact and the Ling Symbol. With such treasures in her possession, it seems that her master is no ordinary person... but which True Person could it be?"

  She asked about her master, and the Xuanqingmen and Zhengfamen were friendly factions. This was originally nothing that couldn't be said. Mo Tian Ge answered: "My master's surname is Ma, and his Daoist name is Xuan Yin." She told a lie for two reasons: first, Jinghe Daoren had reminded her to conceal her name and origin when going out; second, Jinghe Daoren was too famous, and Zhengfamen was a friendly faction. If she revealed her true identity, it would be hard to keep it hidden. By saying that her master was Xuan Yin Daoren, she was indeed taught by this Xuan Yin Shifu, who had just been promoted to Yuanying and was always low-key. This half-true, half-false statement was easier to get away with than a pure lie.

  "Ma Xuan Yin?" Ren Yu Feng muttered to herself, and her gaze immediately changed, "Could it be the Daoist Master Xuan Yin?"

  "It's really him." Mo Tian Ge smiled slightly, looking pleased for his master. "Our Master got married just a few years ago, and I didn't expect that even you, Eldest Martial Brother, had heard of his name."

  "A few years ago, the grand ceremony of Xuan Yin Daojun's ascension shook the heavens, who didn't know about it?" Ren Yu Feng's tone became even more polite, "I didn't expect that Ye Shimei would be Xuan Yin Daojun's senior disciple, I'm truly sorry."