CH 141

With Qin Yanzhi taking the lead, all the cultivators on the stone steps, righteous or demonic alike, followed suit. They used the most primitive method to pull their companions back one by one.

When everyone landed on the stone platform, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Someone looked at a gray stone door at the end of the stone platform and asked, “Jing-laozu, do you know what's behind the door?”

Jing Yue, “If I’m not mistaken, it should be the Dragon Prison.”

“Dragon Prison?”

Jing Yue, “That's where the sinned dragons are being held.”

In fact, he didn't know the specific situation in the Dragon Prison. Last time, he was almost sucked dry by the Dragon Pillar in prison. After finally breaking free, the Dragon Tomb secret realm was about to close, so he had no choice but to leave in a hurry.

As Jing Yue replied, he slowly pushed open the stone door.

However, everything in front of him was very unfamiliar, not the Dragon Prison he remembered. There was only a dimly lit tunnel, and he had no idea where it led to.

Would the Dragon Tomb change on its own?

Jing Yue was more vigilant and dared not step forward on a whim, but at this moment, a strong flowery fragrance wafted over with a whiff of fishy smell in it.

It was the smell of Dragon Blood Flower!

Since they entered the dragon tomb, no one found any useful treasure, but the Dragon Blood Flower was a rare treasure that could restore a cultivator's blood energy in a very short time.

In other words, even if one fought to the brink of exhaustion, their stamina could be fully recovered with this flower.

As the name suggested, Dragon Blood Flower must be watered with dragon blood.

While Jing Yue pondered, a demonic cultivator suddenly passed him and rushed into the tunnel.

His purpose, of course, was the Dragon Blood Flowers blooming on the rock walls on both sides of the tunnel.

But just after the demonic cultivator plucked the flowers, barbs burst out from the rock wall, closed in immediately, and crushed him into mincemeat!

Such a bloody scene made Jing Yue and the others even more afraid to enter, but everyone soon found that their spiritual energy was restored again. Jing Yue thought about it and conjured a clone to give it a try.

He explored carefully and found that as long as he didn't touch the rock wall, there didn't seem to be any danger in the tunnel.

Since they had entered the Dragon Tomb, they didn't want to stop here, of course.

Jing Yue glanced at Qin Yanzhi but the latter stopped him, “I'll go first.”

Jing Yue, “No way.”

Seeing Jing Yue's insistence, obviously not about to agree, Qin Yanzhi said, “Then I'll go with you.”

Jing Yue, “But…”

Before he finished speaking, the female sword cultivator named Cheng Yun stepped forward. “Let me try.”

Before the two could respond, she had already stepped into the tunnel.

Cheng Yun walked quickly but was careful not to touch the rock wall. When her figure melted into the distance, there was still no change in the tunnel.

Jing Yue, “Let’s go too.”

Qin Yanzhi nodded.

As soon as the two moved, the other cultivators hurriedly followed. With the examples set by the demonic cultivator and Cheng Yun, everyone was very well-behaved and turned a blind eye to the Dragon Blood Flowers on the rock wall.

After all, no matter how valuable the flower was, it was worth less than their lives.

After walking a short distance, Jing Yue noticed occasional stars flashing on the rock wall. He got a little closer and realized that it was molted dragon scales glowing.

Qin Yanzhi frowned. “There are dragon scales and dragon blood on the rock wall. Where exactly is this place?”

Jing Yue said hesitantly, “The width of this tunnel seems to fit the body width of an adult dragon.”

He didn't answer clearly, but Qin Yanzhi still understood. “You mean…”

Jing Yue nodded. He guessed that this was indeed the Dragon Prison.

If a dragon entered this tunnel, their bodies would definitely touch the rock walls on both sides, and the rock walls would inevitably squeeze toward the middle. This crushing force was deadly to the human race, but the dragon race with strong bodies would feel pain at most.

The more painful it was, the more the dragons would crawl forward, trying to break free from the tunnel as quickly as possible, while the barbs on the rock walls would peel off their dragon scales.

It was just that in his previous life, the Dragon Prison Jing Yue saw was not like this. However, the Dragon Prison was very big, and what he saw back then was only a small part of it.

If this was really the Dragon Prison, all the punishments were aimed at the dragon race. As long as the humans didn’t violate the taboos, they should be able to pass smoothly.

In reality, this was indeed the case. They saw the exit without encountering any danger. Cheng Yun was waiting there and nodded slightly when she saw them. “It was safe the entire way.”

With that said, she was the first to walk out of the tunnel.

The scene changed abruptly. Outside the tunnel was a spacious cave, the top of the cave several dozen feet high. Golden pillars covered with dried dragon blood stood all around.

Jing Yue frowned slightly and said to Qin Yanzhi, “I was here last time. Be careful. If you get too close to the golden pillars, you will…”

A scream interrupted his words. Jing Yue followed the sound and saw a cultivator bound to a golden pillar by a thick iron chain. The chain wound tighter, and the ribs of the cultivator rattled. Wounds cracked open on his body and blood gurgled out, all of which was absorbed by the iron chain.

Jing Yue, “…end up like that.”

Qin Yanzhi looked at the cultivator's tragic situation and said with some difficulty, “Last time, you…”

Jing Yue, “More or less.”

Qin Yanzhi suddenly held Jing Yue's hand. “You didn't have me in your previous life.”

Jing Yue was silent, thinking that might not be the case.

He knew that Qin Yanzhi felt uncomfortable at his painful experience, so he comforted, “Don’t worry. I escaped, didn’t I?”

After saying that, Jing Yue moved his other finger slightly. His spiritual energy transformed into a dragon as thick as a little finger and circled around the golden pillar that bound the cultivator. The iron chain on the golden pillar fell off with a loud clatter.

The cultivator fell to the ground groaning.

Jing Yue said half-jokingly, “If I hadn't come here back then, I wouldn't have learned to 'make dragons’.”

He could say that nonchalantly now, but it took him a long time to conjure a complete dragon shape and imitated Lei Jing's dragon energy before he successfully deceived the golden pillar and escaped with his life.

Qin Yanzhi guessed the difficulties but Jing Yue didn't mention it so he didn’t ask, and merely held the other party’s hand tighter.

Not far from the two, Lin Huaiyu stared at their held hands with a hint of realization in his eyes.

Lin Huaifeng followed his brother's gaze and said enviously, “Jing-laozu and Qin-zhenjun have such a good relationship, life and death acquaintances indeed.”

Lin Huaiyu, “…”

With the previous incident, everyone tried to stay away from the golden pillars as much as possible, and they moved forward without encountering any danger.

After walking for a long time, Jing Yue stopped abruptly, and the people behind him all gasped.

A silver-white giant dragon was tied to a golden pillar in front of them!

This was the Dragon Prison and only sinned dragons were kept here, but this was the first time they had seen a dragon since they entered the Dragon Prison.

It was a female dragon in front of them. Half of the scales on her body had been peeled off, and the thick iron chains were embedded in her flesh, draining her dragon blood bit by bit.

Jing Yue had reason to believe that the scales in the tunnel came from the other party.

The giant dragon's eyes were tightly closed and she looked like she was dead, but everyone knew that as long as the chain was loosened, the injured dragon would wake up!

Dragons that could be locked up in the Dragon Prison by the Dragon Palace had to be up to no good. Jing Yue and others didn't dare to take the risk. Everyone held their breath and avoided the dragon from a distance.

They gradually walked away, and no one noticed that the giant dragon on the golden pillar suddenly opened her eyes. Her vertical pupils shrank slightly as she stared at the backs of the group of people.

Further down was a place that Jing Yue had never been to.

Along the way, they gained nothing much, and many cultivators gradually became impatient. After all, they ventured into the Dragon Tomb for a chance encounter, but the current situation disappointed them.

Suddenly, the sound of a knife piercing into the flesh came from the crowd, and someone shouted angrily, “How dare you attack me?”

“So what if I attacked you? Didn’t you try to kill me before?”

The person who replied was a demonic cultivator. Jing Yue noticed that the man's eyes were red, full of brutal desire.

The righteous cultivator he attacked had his clothes torn at the waist, revealing a deep wound with his bone visible. If the cultivator didn’t dodge in time, he would have died.

When two parties disagreed, the nearby cultivators would disperse.

Jing Yue was wondering about this when several cultivators suddenly started fighting as if a mysterious power had ignited the spark of violence in the crowd.

The righteous and demonic paths came to blows again, pushing and stomping on each other, and even the sight of each other became the reason for them to fight.

Jing Yue and Qin Yanzhi were not idle either. In the face of a demonic cultivator's attack, Jing Yue defended himself and said, “Something is wrong with them and this place.”

Qin Yanzhi replied, “There seems to be some mysterious power in this space that can spark people's negative emotions.”

Jing Yue paused and suddenly realized, “It's the Dragon Resentment!”

They didn’t leave the Dragon Prison after all. The grievances of the sinned dragons over the years gathered here without dispersing. Over time, an invisible force naturally formed, affecting the creatures in Dragon Prison.

Clang!

A crisp sword sound resounded through this space, impacting everyone’s mind-soul.

Jing Yue felt his mind-soul swaying slightly as if he was injected with pure energy, and his emotions calmed down unconsciously.

Qin Yanzhi explained, “It's Cheng Yun's Pure Melody Sword.”

Jing Yue looked over and saw Cheng Yun retracting her sword. At the same time, many of the cultivators' eyes gradually regained some clarity, and their movements slowed down.

Their expressions remained stunned, and they didn't seem to realize why they suddenly turned violent just now.

At this moment, everyone heard the sound of the dragon's roar, deafening their eardrums, sharp and harsh, urging the blood in their bodies to boil again.

Jing Yue, “Oh no!”

As soon as he finished speaking, black mist surrounded him, twisted into countless black claws, and Jing Yue knew that this was the entity spawned by dragon resentment.

The claws appeared out of thin air and filled the space from top to bottom, from left to right. Once caught by the sharp claws, the dragon's resentment would invade the body, making people confused, killing indiscriminately, and eventually dying of exhaustion.

Some cultivators got hit and immediately started attacking the people around them. Even if the other party was a companion before, they would be regarded as a great enemy at this moment.

Lin Huaifeng was also accidentally affected by the dragon resentment, and subconsciously wanted to attack Lin Huaiyu, who was nearest to him. But perhaps their instinct to be close was greater than the dragon resentment, he still retained a trace of consciousness.

Lin Huaifeng arched his back, struggling with difficulty. His hands trembled as he squeezed out a sentence between his teeth, “Brother, stay away from me!”

Lin Huaiyu was anxious and in pain, and looked at the countless black claws. For some reason, he looked in the direction of Jing Yue.

As soon as his eyes reached Jing Yue, he heard the other person say, “We must purify the dragon’s resentment. I know a formation evolved from Buddhist teachings. Everyone, please help me!”

Lin Huaiyu perked up and immediately said, “Yes!”

The demonic cultivators looked at each other, wondering if Jing Yue also needed their help, and worried that they would be left behind, so they said, “Jing-laozu, we can also do our part. In such a crisis, we should put aside our grievances and fight the enemy together.”

Jing Yue smiled. “This fellow Daoist is right, so please step forward.”

The demonic cultivator was overjoyed and rushed to Jing Yue, followed by some rational demonic cultivators.

Although the demonic cultivators acted in a righteous and dignified manner, everyone knew that it was just a farce. Jing Yue was secretly on guard but said calmly, “This formation originated from the Buddhist formation of the Three Lives and Three Deaths, but after being evolved by Daoism, only Three Deaths remained, which was renamed the Three Destruction Formation.”

Someone had obviously heard of the Three Destruction Formation, and there was a flash of enlightenment in their eyes. “Jing-laozu, are you referring to the Three Destruction Formation that originated from the Four Elephants Villa?”

Jing Yue nodded slightly. Back then, Mo Qianyun, the owner of the Four Elephants Villa, wanted to create 18 hells, so he studied a lot of Buddhist formations, but later, most of them were brought back to Frostcloud Sect by Fu Xuan.

“This formation takes the center as the eye, and requires 84 people as support, of which 12 are in the first circle, 24 in the second circle, and 48 in the third circle, forming a three-ring encirclement.” Jing Yue explained the layout of the formation in detail and then said, “Of course, I’ll be the eye of the formation, and you shall follow my instructions later.”

The righteous cultivators agreed, but there was a demon cultivator who was worried that Jing Yue would make them cannon fodder. His eyes darted around before he said, “Can we occupy the inner circle?”

Jing Yue smiled subtly. “If you’re worried that I’ll harm you, you don't have to do this.”

The demonic cultivator laughed and said, “Jing-laozu, you misunderstood. I don’t mean that, but…”

Jing Yue said impatiently. “Say no more. You may occupy the inner circle.”

The demonic cultivator was relieved. “Thank you, Laozu.”

He lowered his head pretending to be respectful but missed the sly smile in Jing Yue's eyes.