Bing Lin furrowed her brows. She hadn't expected Chen Tong to give her the source of his power. Though she was moved, she was also a little angry. "Do you know this is the source of your power? Without it, you'll become a cripple!"
"I know!" Chen Tong said casually. "But so what? You're the one I'm giving it to."
Bing Lin looked at Chen Tong with mixed emotions. "If you give it to me, what about you?"
"The situation inside isn't suitable for me to go in." As he spoke, Chen Tong deliberately avoided her eyes. "I'll wait here. Once you find your sister, come right back out."
"Fine!" Bing Lin didn't refuse again. She took the divine essence in her hand. "I'll give it back once I've rescued my sister." With that, she headed toward the stone cave.
"Wait!" Chen Tong suddenly called out. Bing Lin's delicate body trembled, and she turned around to look at him in confusion. "What is it?"
"Um..." Chen Tong awkwardly tossed a storage ring to Bing Lin. "There are some people inside. Could you please rescue them too? There are some girls' clothes in this ring! Heh... heh. Go on!"
Bing Lin glanced at the ring, then gave Chen Tong a long, searching look. Without asking anything, she charged into the cave.
"Sigh, why do I feel like something bad is about to happen?" Chen Tong muttered to himself, now and then glancing toward the distant west.
"Kid, are you insane? You actually gave that girl your divine essence, something as vital as your life! Are you trying to get yourself killed faster?" Death Underworld Dragon's furious voice rang out from the Sea of Consciousness.
When Chen Tong had taken out the divine essence, it had wanted to stop him, but that damned Chen Tong had sealed off his consciousness at the time. Now that it was unsealed, how could it not be furious? Its life was tied to Chen Tong's, after all.
"Aren't you still here? How could I die so easily? Besides, she needs power more than I do right now, so of course I have to help her."
"Help her? Hmph!" Death Underworld Dragon was fuming. "Don't forget, you're on that guy's turf. Without your divine essence, even a cat or a dog could knock you flying."
"Tch!" Chen Tong scoffed. "I'm not as weak as you think."
"Oh... is that so?" Death Underworld Dragon let out a furious roar in the Sea of Consciousness. Its mighty dragon's cry burst out from that world, plunging the outside into chaos.
"Y-you damned dragon, what are you doing?" Chen Tong panicked.
Heh heh... You said you weren't as weak as I thought, didn't you? Then let's test it! Let's see how much strength you have without your divine essence.
"Y-you despicable, shameless, filthy, lecherous, disgusting idiot of a dragon!"
"Go ahead and curse. Even if you curse until the sky falls and ghosts wail, you won't stop this venerable one's beautiful dragon's cry. It's already alarmed the whole West Phoenix Mountain. Heh heh! Kid, if I were you, I'd find somewhere to hide right now."
"You...!" Chen Tong was frantic. "Death Underworld Dragon, don't forget—if something happens to me, you won't survive either!"
"You're wrong. As long as you don't die, this venerable one can survive. Don't worry, you won't die. When you're down to your last breath, I'll come save you. All right, I'm going to sleep."
"You...!" Chen Tong was furious. Damn it, was this what it meant to have a system that dragged its master into trouble? One system was bad enough, and now he had a stupid dragon too.
"Quick! Children, hurry to the back mountain! There's something going on back there!"
Although Chen Tong had lost his divine essence and couldn't use his spiritual sense, his hearing was still good. He could hear the monsters gathering from far away.
"Damn it!" Chen Tong couldn't decide whether to run or stay. He looked at the dark cave entrance, gritted his teeth, and plunged inside. He hoped Death Domain was a passive skill, or he might end up dying in there.
He knew the sinister energy here had grown dense enough to take shape. Without his divine essence, barging in would surely be suicide. But he had no choice—the outside was swarming with monsters. Even if they didn't kill him, they'd definitely beat him up!
He was a Grand Unity Divine Immortal, someone who could stand against beings like Tathagata and the Jade Emperor. How could he live it down if a bunch of little monsters beat him up? Entering the cave was his only hope.
The moment he reached the entrance, a gust of baleful wind stabbed straight into his soul, making him tremble in pain!
Damn that dragon! Just you wait. I'll settle this with you after the autumn harvest. Chen Tong had lost count of how many times he'd cursed Death Underworld Dragon in his head. He'd already cursed its ancestors for eighteen generations.
"Ding!"
Just then, the other familiar troublemaker's voice rang out!
[ Ding, host has not completed Mission 4. Please proceed to Fire Cloud Cave, stop Tathagata, and save Sun Wukong. ]
"Get lost!!" Chen Tong wasn't excited by the system's mission. Instead, he roared in anger. "Save him, save him—why don't you save me?"
He was struggling through the pain, leaning against the stone wall like an eighty-year-old woman and inching farther into the cave at a snail's pace. He couldn't have been more pathetic.
[ Ding, host dissatisfaction detected. System warning! Warning! ]
"Warn your sister! Get lost! I don't want to deal with you."
Every transmigrator treated their system like a beloved father or mother, but Chen Tong was being exceptionally tough, as if he were determined to pick a fight with it.
[ Ding, system has detected that the host has no hope. The system has decided to eliminate him. ]
"Thump!"
With a sharp sound, Chen Tong dropped to his knees without hesitation, abandoning his earlier defiance and anger. With snot and tears streaming down his face, he sobbed, "System, I was just practicing a martial art! This is how you have to practice it to master it. System, please understand! Don't worry, I'll go complete the mission right away."
[ Ding, host remorse detected. The system has decided to give him one last chance. ]
The system fell silent again.
Chen Tong let out a breath of relief. "Phew—finally talked my way out of that. So, Fire Cloud Cave! Tathagata!" He endured the pain and thought it over. It seemed he'd have to get out first if he wanted to complete the mission.
Chen Tong glanced toward the cave entrance, his eyes filled with confusion. Wasn't Tathagata at Spiritual Mountain? Why had he gone to Fire Cloud Cave? Was he going to fight the Three Sovereigns? No, with the Three Sovereigns there, the monkey should be fine. Why did I still have to stop him?
A flood of questions battered Chen Tong's mind. Just then, hurried footsteps and voices rose outside the cave entrance!
"Commander!"
"Well? Did you find where that sound came from?"
"It should have come from somewhere around here, but I've already searched everywhere nearby and found nothing."
Listening to the voices outside, Chen Tong's expression grew darker and darker. "Damn it, I wonder if Bing Lin has found her sister yet."
"Commander, are you going into the cave?"
At last, the voice Chen Tong had feared most came from outside. He endured the pain and continued deeper into the cave, hoping Bing Lin would hurry back.
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