This world was cruel. Mo Tiange had never been naive enough to hope that kind-hearted people willing to help her were everywhere. Jiang Shanghang wasn't a good person either, but seventeen years ago, he had helped her, saving her from falling into that miserable situation. Just as he himself had said, they had once shared a life-and-death bond. For such a person, she still hoped he was the Jiang Shanghang of those days, and not merely driven by his own selfish interests.
Silence. Jiang Shanghang didn't speak, and neither did the others. The current situation was clear: they were forcing Jiang Shanghang to make a choice—to abandon Mo Tiange, or to save her.
No one spoke for a long time. After an unknown length of time, Mo Tiange heard a somewhat timid voice: "Senior Brother Ren, this... isn't good, is it?"
From the voice, it was that Tang Fang.
This still-youthful young man mustered his courage and said, "Junior Sister Ye is, after all, a disciple of a friendly sect. We..."
"Junior Brother Tang." Ren Yufeng's tone when speaking to Tang Fang was entirely different. It was unclear what status this Tang Fang held, that he could make someone as arrogant as Ren Yufeng speak so politely, even somewhat ingratiatingly. "You haven't experienced much of the world. You don't understand the relationships involved here. It's true that we and the Xuanqing Sect are friendly sects, but when major events arise, such considerations are set aside. Over a decade ago, during the beast tide chaos, while the seven great sects in Kunwu were nominally allies, conflicts and even mutual ambushes and killings occurred in secret. What was it all for? Benefit. Benefit is what matters most. Besides, we haven't taken action against Junior Sister Ye; it's just inconvenient to bring her along now—Junior Brother Tang, think about it. Junior Sister Ye is currently half-dead. If we take her inside, how can we search for treasures?"
"This..." Tang Fang couldn't refute him for the moment.
"Junior Brother Jiang," Ren Yufeng spoke again, his words now carrying a threatening undertone, "you'd better make a decision quickly. If you're late, we won't wait!"
Not long after, Mo Tiange felt Jiang Shanghang's hand finally steady. He spoke calmly, "Senior Brother Ren, I'll stay here and watch over Junior Sister Ye. Since I brought her here, I should see her back safely."
"Hmph!" Ren Yufeng snorted coldly. "Fine, then there's no need for further discussion. Fellow junior brothers and sisters, let's go!"
Then came fluctuations of spiritual energy—presumably they were opening the entrance to the underground palace. Following that was the sound of footsteps fading away. At the scene, besides her and Jiang Shanghang, there was no one else.
Jiang Shanghang slumped down, burying his head in his hands.
Mo Tiange opened her eyes and slowly sat up. "Senior Brother Jiang..."
Jiang Shanghang jerked his head up, startled. "Junior Brother Ye, you..."
"My injuries aren't that severe." She smiled, then her expression turned serious. "For this matter... thank you, Senior Brother Jiang."
Of course, Jiang Shanghang knew what she was thanking him for. At this moment, he felt both shocked and pleased, yet also dejected and regretful—a tumult of emotions. In the end, he only managed a strained smile. "Junior Brother Ye, I'm sorry. I made so many promises to you, but in the end..."
"This isn't Senior Brother Jiang's fault. I'm deeply moved that Senior Brother Jiang gave up the chance to enter the underground palace with them for my sake. However, doesn't Senior Brother Jiang regret it?"
Jiang Shanghang smiled bitterly. "Regret? A little... But between you, Junior Brother Ye, and that Senior Brother Ren, I still trust you more. That Senior Brother Ren is usually very harsh towards his fellow disciples. Now that he's schemed against you, Junior Brother Ye, I think, given his personality, he definitely wouldn't give me much of the loot later. It's better not to go in. Perhaps Junior Brother Ye, out of gratitude, might give me some treasure!"
These words were partly true and partly finding humor in hardship. Mo Tiange no longer felt the slightest bit of anger towards Jiang Shanghang. Hearing this, she laughed. "Why not?"
Jiang Shanghang turned to look at her. "Huh? Does Junior Brother Ye really intend to give me a treasure?"
Mo Tiange smiled mysteriously. "Ren Yufeng plotted against me. There's probably something good inside. Since he is unrighteous, I need not be benevolent. Let's go steal his!"
She said it lightly, but Jiang Shanghang hesitated. "This... Junior Brother Ye, I know you're different from before, but Senior Brother Ren and the others aren't weak either. They have more people. In a fight, we can't win. Besides, I am, after all, a disciple of the Zhengfa Sect. Openly opposing them is somewhat..."
Mo Tiange raised an eyebrow. "What's there to fear? If we can't do it openly, we'll do it in secret. Senior Brothers Lu and Xiang are injured and not a concern. Apart from Ren Yufeng, whose methods I'm unsure of, the others don't seem difficult to deal with. If you, Junior Brother Jiang, are afraid of being punished by the sect upon returning, we'll just kill them all. Then you can say whatever you want."
Jiang Shanghang was greatly shocked. "Junior Brother Ye, this..."
"I don't provoke others unless they provoke me. The others aside, I am determined to kill Ren Yufeng. If I hadn't been cautious and wasn't truly severely injured, I would have lost half my life to his scheme just now. And he wanted to leave me here to fend for myself? Hmph!" As she spoke, Mo Tiange looked at Jiang Shanghang. "Senior Brother Jiang, in the past, you were also a decisive person who killed without hesitation. Why are you so indecisive today?"
Jiang Shanghang was taken aback and fell silent. She was right. Back in the Yunwu Sect, where he suffered constant exclusion, he wasn't like this. When Jiang Chengxian bullied him, he endured it. But when he got the chance, he killed Jiang Chengxian without hesitation and fled Yunwu Mountain. However, after arriving in the Extreme North, becoming an immortal master for a tribe, receiving the worship of the tribe's mortals, and then becoming a formal disciple of one of the seven great sects of Tianji, no longer bullied arbitrarily as before, he had begun to carefully protect what he had. Ren Yufeng was arrogant—he accepted it. Ren Yufeng was overbearing—he tolerated it. Because, unlike in the Yunwu Sect where survival was almost impossible, he had lost his former decisiveness. He had become more open-minded and broad-minded than before, but he had also lost his former sharpness.
Thinking of this, Jiang Shanghang slowly let out a breath and said sincerely, "Thank you for the reminder, Junior Brother Ye." It wasn't too late to realize this now. One's direction forward always needs constant adjustment. In the past, he was trapped by hatred. Now he had moved beyond that. Currently, he lacked decisiveness. In the future, he would remind himself.
"Alright, Junior Brother Ye. If you want to kill Senior Brother Ren, I won't interfere. But I hope you can spare Junior Brother Tang Fang. He and I have a good friendship. His nature is quite simple; he's not a bad person."
That Tang Fang had just spoken up for her. Mo Tiange remembered favors. She nodded immediately. "The only one I want to kill is Ren Yufeng. As for the others, as long as they don't provoke me, it's fine."
Jiang Shanghang felt relieved, a slight smile finally appearing on his face. "That's good then. Junior Brother Ye, we're tied together now. I still want to stay in the Zhengfa Sect. If you only kill Senior Brother Ren, I have my own ways to avoid blame. But the others are, after all, my fellow disciples..."
"I understand. Senior Brother Jiang was willing to stay just now. I remember this kindness and won't make things difficult for you." Having said that, Mo Tiange stood up and surveyed the surroundings. Where they had opened the restriction earlier, there was now a teleportation formation.
Mo Tiange pondered for a moment and asked, "Senior Brother Jiang, entering the Divine Dragon Stele requires opening a restriction. So how did they lure out that Water Carp Beast just now?"
Jiang Shanghang replied, "That's due to the Water Carp Beast's special ability. I don't know if this particular beast was mutated or had some fortuitous encounter, but it actually ignored the restrictions set up by our Nascent Soul seniors. Fortunately, it couldn't penetrate the special terrain of the Land of Hidden Dragons, allowing us to escape. When we left last time, Senior Brother Ren tore off one of its scales. He probably used that scale to guide it out."
"Oh?" Mo Tiange listened, her mind stirring. Demonic beasts didn't have magic treasures; their special abilities might be attached to their bodies. If that was the case, could the Water Carp Beast's corpse possibly be used to craft a treasure capable of traversing restrictions?
"Junior Brother Ye..." Looking at the restriction, Jiang Shanghang hesitated. "I suspect it must be quite dangerous inside. Do we two really want to go in?"
"Go in. Why not?" Mo Tiange, who originally hadn't been very interested in this so-called underwater palace in the Land of Hidden Dragons, was now resolute. For no other reason than that Ren Yufeng had schemed against her like this—she must settle the score!
"Alright," Jiang Shanghang nodded, making up his mind. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If you want opportunities, you have to take risks." Thinking back to when he was still in the Yunwu Sect, he wouldn't have cared about this. The smooth life of recent years had truly worn away his sharpness.
"Junior Brother Ye," before entering the teleportation formation, Jiang Shanghang confirmed once more, "your injuries really aren't a problem?"
"Of course. This is all thanks to Senior Brother Jiang's pills. Otherwise, I couldn't have recovered so quickly." The pills Jiang Shanghang had given her were even more effective than the Biyan Pill.
The Biyan Pill was a hereditary pill of the Yu Family from the Danding Sect. When she was with the Yu Family, the family head, out of gratitude, had given her a whole bottle. In Mo Tiange's estimation, the Biyan Pill was already an excellent healing pill before reaching the Nascent Soul stage. But the pills Jiang Shanghang had given her were even more effective than the Biyan Pill. She wondered what kind of miraculous pills they were.
Jiang Shanghang didn't elaborate further, and Mo Tiange didn't ask more. The two stepped into the teleportation formation. A flash of light before their eyes, and they had arrived in another place.
The moment she entered this place, Mo Tiange shuddered. This aura...
The surroundings were dim seawater, completely different from the azure blue outside—dark, gloomy, both oppressive and desolate. An aura surrounded them, majestic and sacred, vast yet silent, as if from ancient times, carrying the loneliness and boundlessness from time immemorial to the present.
Within this aura, Mo Tiange felt as if she had returned to antiquity, where winds and clouds gathered, spirit beasts congregated, and cultivators roamed freely—that distant era, that ancient aura, that sacred pressure!
The Breath of the Divine Dragon. No wonder it was called the Breath of the Divine Dragon!
Mo Tiange couldn't imagine any name more fitting than the Breath of the Divine Dragon.
Raising her head, in the center of the open space stood a tall stone stele. In the very center of the stele was depicted a vivid, lifelike Divine Dragon, surrounded by densely carved characters. The carving marks were still clear, but the dark color on its surface revealed the vast ages it had experienced.
This was the Divine Dragon Stele, passed down for thousands of years by the Zhengfa Sect.
Mo Tiange walked forward, unable to resist the urge to touch it—
"Junior Brother Ye, don't!"
The moment her palm touched the Divine Dragon Stele, the Breath of the Divine Dragon surged, gathered together, and violently rebounded.
"Ah!" Mo Tiange felt a sharp pain in her palm, and in an instant, her entire body was thrown back without any ability to resist.
"Junior Brother Ye!" Jiang Shanghang hurried over to help her up. "You mustn't touch the Divine Dragon Stele. If you don't touch it, it won't harm you."
Mo Tiange stood up and looked at her palm. There was no mark, but the pain from moments ago still lingered. She was secretly alarmed. The power of this Breath of the Divine Dragon was incredibly strong, rendering her completely helpless to resist, yet it hadn't actually injured her at all.