Rumble~
At that moment, more than nine thousand nautical miles southeast of Penglai Immortal Island, the seawater spun rapidly, forming an enormous whirlpool. Black clouds churned above it, and bolts of lightning struck down into the sea.
Whoosh! Suddenly, four streaks of colored light shot out of the whirlpool and sped into the distance.
Roar! Roar!
Immediately afterward, two ferocious Golden Flood Dragons burst out of the sea as well. As they crossed in midair-crack!
Space itself was shredded by their twisting bodies, forming two pitch-black rifts. Powerful currents erupted from within, throwing the sea for a hundred miles around into turmoil.
"Damn it!" The rearmost of the four streaks of colored light glanced back at the Golden Flood Dragons pursuing them relentlessly, then transformed into a middle-aged man. Holding an immortal sword, he shouted to the other three streaks, "Sisters, hurry and leave! I'll hold them off!"
"Hah!" With that, the man turned and charged straight at the Golden Flood Dragons. He knew that unless he did this, neither he nor his three sisters could escape the dragons' speed.
"Brother!" Hearing the middle-aged man's words, the other three streaks of colored light immediately stopped and transformed into three exquisitely graceful immortal maidens. They turned back and shouted to him.
"Go, now! I can't hold them off for long. Stop wasting time!"
"No! We live together or die together!"
"That's right, Brother! We can't leave you alone!"
"Brother, we're coming to help!"
With that, the three immortal maidens retraced their path and joined the man in facing the two Golden Flood Dragons.
"Y-you... why put yourselves through this?!" the man cried sorrowfully as he looked at his three sisters, who had flown back to his side.
The bond between siblings might move even immortals, but... we simply couldn't win!
Alas!
Meanwhile, on Penglai Immortal Island.
Gungun lowered its paws from its ears and poked its head out from behind Hou Yi. Looking toward the direction from which the sudden Dragon's Roar had come, it asked him, "Great Shaman, the ones making that noise... they're Quasi-Saints, right?"
"Yes, and those are the roars of flood dragons. The only Quasi-Saint flood dragons in the East Sea are those two Golden Flood Dragons."
"Oh, so it's them!" Hearing Hou Yi's answer, Gungun nodded. Its little eyes then darted about a few times, though no one knew what it was thinking. It tugged at Hou Yi's clothes and suggested, "Great Shaman, judging by those roars, the dragons seem to be fighting someone. Why don't you take this chance to go over and quickly steal... er, bring back the Dragon Pearl?"
"Well..." Hearing Gungun's suggestion, Hou Yi frowned, somewhat hesitant.
To be honest, Hou Yi was unwilling to fight the two Golden Flood Dragons head-on. Taking that risk for a Dragon Pearl wasn't worth it. But if someone was already fighting them, seizing the Dragon Pearl while they were off guard was something he could consider.
It was just that... avoiding a direct confrontation and resorting to theft didn't quite fit the Witch Race's spirit of striving, loving battle, and acting openly and honorably!
"Forget it. Since the Great Shaman is unwilling to cooperate, I'll take my leave. Fellow Daoist Gungun, may fate bring us together again!" Just then, Ao Yue, who had been looking southeast with his sword-like brows slightly furrowed, suddenly turned and spoke to Gungun. With that, the dragon vanished from the spot.
Gungun blinked at where he had stood, then tugged harder at Hou Yi's clothes and said, "Great Shaman, Ao Yue must have gone to deal with those two flood dragons. Do you think he wants them so he can help the Demon Race subdue them?"
"Hmm?" Hou Yi's expression changed at Gungun's words.
"The Demon Race has the Demon-Summoning Banner. With just a wisp of someone's true spirit, they can use it to enslave them. If Ao Yue really helps the Demon Race subdue those two flood dragons, won't they gain another fighting force capable of contending with a Quasi-Saint? Great Shaman, I think this matter..."
"Brother Gungun,
let's go! We absolutely cannot let Ao Yue succeed!" Before Gungun could finish, Hou Yi, whose brows were drawing ever tighter, suddenly swept out his hand, picked it up, and chased after Ao Yue. "Huh? You can go on your own! Why are you bringing me?" Carried in Hou Yi's hand as they traveled through the void, Gungun was initially dumbfounded, then began struggling fiercely with all four limbs.
Why had it given Hou Yi the Treasure Map? Wasn't it because it wanted the Dragon Pearl but was too lazy to go itself?
Now look what had happened. Hou Yi was willing to hunt for treasure on its behalf, but the bastard had actually picked it up and brought it along! I... really wanted to curse this shaman!
"Brother Gungun, Ao Yue's cultivation is higher than mine. If he really intends to subdue those two Golden Flood Dragons, as you guessed, lend me a hand. Use that great cauldron you captured Bifang with and take the two flood dragons before Ao Yue can. Then we'll bring them back to Mount Buzhou and give them to the Ancestral Witches as mounts!" Hou Yi held Gungun tightly as he spoke.
"Use the Spirit-Washing Cauldron to capture golden floo... no, flood dragons? It can't do that, Great Shaman! My Spirit-Washing Cauldron can only capture resentful qi and souls, not anything with a physical body!" Seeing that struggling was useless, Gungun simply gave up and looked up at Hou Yi as it spoke.
"I remember that a hundred thousand years ago, we marched against the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow clan and obtained their clan-protecting treasure, the Heaven-Swallowing Bottle. We of the Witch Race have no primordial spirit and cannot activate it, so the Ancestral Witches ultimately bestowed it upon you. Brother Gungun, you can use the Heaven-Swallowing Bottle to capture those two flood dragons."
"The Heaven-Swallowing Bottle..." Gungun's mouth twitched, and it said irritably, "Great Shaman, its name certainly sounds imposing, but it's only a mid-grade houtian spirit treasure. How could it possibly capture a Quasi-Saint? It couldn't even capture me!"
"Then do you have any other treasures that might be useful?" Hou Yi asked.
"No."
"..." Hou Yi fell silent. Only after several seconds did he say, "I remember that when Primordial Phoenix and Ancestral Dragon fought their decisive battle, the Vermilion Bird Banner ended up west of Mount Buzhou, and you picked it up."
"How do you remember that so clearly?"
"Also, Primordial Qilin's Qilin Seal fell into the Iron-Eating Forest back then and was obtained by the Iron-Eating Beast clan. By now, it must have found its way into your hands too, right?"
"I..."
"Oh, right, the World-Destroying Black Lotus..."
"I really don't have that one! Who told you I did?!" Gungun exclaimed agitatedly.
"You really don't? All right, then I guessed wrong," Hou Yi said evenly upon hearing Gungun's answer.
"You!" Gungun pointed a paw at Hou Yi. What should I do? He suddenly seemed to have turned wicked. I really wanted to claw him!
"Alas, Brother Gungun, I know you don't want to take part in a battle between Quasi-Saints. But for the sake of the Witch Race, if you really have any magic treasures that could help, please bring them out, all right?" Hou Yi sighed, lowering his head to look at Gungun dangling from his hand as he spoke earnestly.
Gungun looked up and met Hou Yi's eyes without answering, while Hou Yi kept looking at it without averting his gaze.
After a dozen or so seconds, Gungun lowered its head.
"All right. I have a Heaven and Earth Bag. It's one of the prides of my collection." Speaking helplessly, Gungun opened the little world it carried with it and took an exquisite box from the mountain of treasures inside. It opened the box, revealing a golden bag lying quietly within.
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