Those Japanese must know about this!
How did they find out?
Cui Jiuyang was still reeling in shock. Quick-witted as ever, Ninth Lady tugged his sleeve and said softly, "Jidu Shrine."
Cui Jiuyang understood at once. This Turtle Chancellor had been the chancellor of the Water Palace. Though he had no idea why the chancellor had ended up like this, he must know everything that had happened in the past.
Cui Jiuyang asked, "Your Excellency, as far as I know... even after the Ji River dried up, Jidu Shrine would still occasionally appear beside the Ancient Ji River's course. Might I ask why?"
The Turtle Chancellor blinked his tiny black-bean eyes. "Jidu Shrine?"
He began pacing back and forth, hands clasped behind his back. "Jidu Shrine... Jidu Shrine... could it be..."
Suddenly, wild joy spread across his face. He grabbed Cui Jiuyang's sock and shook it frantically. "Was it truly Jidu Shrine?"
Cui Jiuyang took out all the documents Fifth Master Yang had given him and spread them on the floor. "Beyond any doubt."
The Turtle Chancellor crawled back and forth over the documents. After reading them all, he raised his face and let out a long sigh, tears streaming down his cheeks. "If my suspicions are correct... a spark of my lord's spirit still survives!"
Cui Jiuyang's breath caught.
Then... was he dead or not...?
The Turtle Chancellor circled the floor. "After my lord died, the remnants of the Ji River's forces were divided into seven groups and imprisoned in the Seven Water Eyes of the Ji River."
"The Yellow River Water Lord divided my lord's remains into seven pieces and refined them into the Sever Heaven and Earth Seal, sealing the water eyes and cutting off the spiritual energy of the aquatic folk imprisoned within. Thus, the Water Lord could hardly return to life, and the aquatic folk would inevitably waste away in the water eyes."
"This was an unspeakable humiliation for us!"
After hearing this, Cui Jiuyang raised a hand. "Your Excellency... Your Excellency... please stop for a moment. Well, I'd like to ask why you... weren't imprisoned."
The Turtle Chancellor looked up at Cui Jiuyang as though he were staring at a stupid bighead carp. "...You're a cultivator yourself, and your cultivation method seems quite profound. Yet you don't even understand this? Only my demon soul is here. I detonated my true body in the battle against the Yellow River's aquatic folk."
Cui Jiuyang nodded hastily. "Oh, of course. Your cultivation was unfathomable, Your Excellency, and you fought valiantly. You have my admiration."
His true body exploded, yet his demon soul survived a thousand years and remained this lively... His cultivation must have been roughly at the Six Extremes level...
Holy shit. Back then, this Turtle Chancellor was only one level below Great-Grandfather in his youth.
Cui Jiuyang's praise for his unfathomable cultivation was entirely sincere.
The Turtle Chancellor had not spoken to anyone in a thousand years. Now that Cui Jiuyang had flattered him, he felt rather pleased with himself.
He bobbed his head, basking in the praise for a while, before returning to the subject Cui Jiuyang had interrupted. "Based on the memorials you have submitted, I believe Jidu Shrine's three appearances were very likely attempts to find a suitable person to conduct its rites."
They had reached the crux of the matter. Cui Jiuyang and Ninth Lady listened with utmost attention.
"Once my lord fell, Jidu Shrine should have vanished forever."
"Its three appearances now prove that a spark of my lord's spirit survives, seeking an opportunity to return to life!"
"When my lord still lived, Jidu Shrine was his greatest place of worship."
"If a suitable chief officiant can be found, they will surely be able to reconstruct the Water Lord's divine body! This is an undertaking spanning countless ages. No ordinary person could shoulder such a responsibility!"
Cui Jiuyang began counting on his fingers the three people who had entered Jidu Shrine:
Zhang Zeduan was a painter. Asking him to paint the Ji River would be easy, but asking him to conduct rites would be rather unfair to him.
Pu Songling... all that business with spirits and ghosts did seem right up his alley, but his ambitions apparently lay elsewhere. He preferred writing ghost stories at home.
The last one... no one knew who that person was. There had been no news for so many years. Who knew where they had gone?
A thought flashed through Cui Jiuyang's mind. The Japanese, too!
The Japanese were searching everywhere for clues to Jidu Shrine because they wanted to become its chief officiant!
That female Onmyoji!
Japan's Yin-Yang Way had begun developing after Chinese theories of yin, yang, and the five elements were introduced there. Later, it partially merged with Shinto and other traditions, calling itself the Yin-Yang Way.
In truth, what they practiced was merely the Five Elements Unification Method.
Rites of the water element were a necessary step in the rites of the five elements.
The Japanese had set their sights on the Ji River, one of the Ancient Four Rivers!
What a fucking scheme!
Then that great Iron Rhino and the Malevolent Flood Dragon must have been their chosen offerings!
They intended to sacrifice the Malevolent Flood Dragon to the Water God's Tomb, thereby winning the favor of the Water God's remnant spirit.
Unfortunately, they had miscalculated. This place was merely a cenotaph and could not receive sacrifices!
Too clever for their own good...
Cui Jiuyang sank into thought, only to suddenly feel the entire Divine Palace shaking...
A long cry like a dragon's roar sounded outside the palace, echoing on and on!
Fuck, that oversized snake was awake!
The Turtle Chancellor scurried about the floor in a panic before finally clutching Cui Jiuyang's leg. "What is outside the hall?"
Cui Jiuyang said, "You actually don't know?"
The Turtle Chancellor climbed up Cui Jiuyang's leg, burrowed into his robe, and poked his head out of the collar. "How would I know? I nourish my divine soul within the Divine Palace. I rarely venture outside."
"Then hurry up and wake that powerful aquatic guardian of the Divine Tomb! The one reciting poetry just now!" Even inside the palace, Cui Jiuyang could already hear the wind stirred by the Malevolent Flood Dragon as it spiraled upward.
The Turtle Chancellor gave an embarrassed smile. "Oh, that... When I sensed someone entering the Divine Tomb, I used the resonance of the palace's spiritual power to project that imposing aura... hoping to frighten the intruders away..."
"There is no powerful aquatic guardian... only me. Still, that poem was quite good, wasn't it?"
Cui Jiuyang's eyes widened. Through gritted teeth, he forced out two words: "Useless bastard."
Chapter 38: Hidden treasures
Cui Jiuyang and Ninth Lady came to the palace doors and peered outside, keeping half their bodies concealed behind the doorway.
Outside, Divine Attendants lay sprawled across the ground, while more kept climbing over the edge of the stone platform.
Where was the Malevolent Flood Dragon?
There was no sign of the Malevolent Flood Dragon on the stone platform outside. Clinging to Cui Jiuyang's collar, the Turtle Chancellor stretched his head out as far as he could to look.
"You still haven't told me what sort of monster is causing that racket outside."
Cui Jiuyang lifted his head slightly and steadied the chancellor's shell to keep him from falling. "A Malevolent Flood Dragon on the verge of becoming a dragon. Looks like it fought the Divine Attendants. No idea where it went."
The Turtle Chancellor nodded. "That explains it. Even in my prime, subduing a Malevolent Flood Dragon on the verge of transformation would have taken some effort."
"Wait! A Malevolent Flood Dragon! How did it get here?" Suddenly realizing something was wrong, the Turtle Chancellor's voice began to tremble. "Then... then wouldn't that adopted son of mine have died at its hands?"
Ninth Lady looked at the Turtle Chancellor in confusion. "Adopted... son?"
The Turtle Chancellor beat his chest and stamped his feet. Had Cui Jiuyang not kept hold of him, he would have fallen out of the collar. "Yes! There's a Little Turtle in Lake Taibai. Surely you saw him?"
Thinking of the Giant Softshell Turtle that had been like a dump truck underwater, Cui Jiuyang said, "He may indeed be dead, but the Japanese probably killed him-the two who followed us into the Divine Tomb earlier."
The Turtle Chancellor's black-bean eyes opened wide. "Japanese?"
Cui Jiuyang said, "Oh, people from the Land of the Wa. I suspect they want to preside over the rites at Jidu Shrine..."
The Turtle Chancellor burst into curses. "Lowly Wa people from that tiny speck of land think they deserve to serve my lord? And they dared kill my son?"
Ninth Lady asked timidly, "Your Excellency, you're... a turtle, and he was a softshell turtle. He was your... son?"
The Turtle Chancellor shot Ninth Lady a sideways glance. "Same thing. We both have shells!"
Cui Jiuyang stepped cautiously through the doors. Standing outside the palace, he looked left and right at the Divine Attendants struggling to rise. "Did the Malevolent Flood Dragon leave? Which way did it go?"
The Turtle Chancellor said, "There is no other way out besides the path you came in by."
No other way?
Then where had it gone?
Then a drop of water fell from above, landing just three paces in front of Cui Jiuyang.
The moment it struck the ground, it gave a faint hiss... and a wisp of green smoke rose.
Cui Jiuyang and the Turtle Chancellor looked up together.
The Malevolent Flood Dragon was coiled against the vaulted ceiling, its enormous body filling the top of the underground cavern. A massive head, half dragon and half snake, stared down, its interlocking fangs savage beyond measure. That drop had been its venomous drool.
It undulated across the ceiling, its oppressive presence like a mountain, making Cui Jiuyang look like a little plastic figure standing before a toy house...
"It's huge," Cui Jiuyang and the Turtle Chancellor said in unison.
When the Malevolent Flood Dragon first woke, it had not even figured out what had happened before a crowd of Divine Attendants surrounded and attacked it.
After driving back those undead creatures that could never be killed off, it had simply coiled against the cavern ceiling to search for a way out.
Now that Cui Jiuyang appeared outside the palace, its vicious nature instantly found a target on which to vent its fury.
It let out a long roar. The force of the wind made Cui Jiuyang raise an arm to shield his face, while the foul stench that followed forced him to hold his breath.
Then the Malevolent Flood Dragon swooped straight down, aiming directly for Cui Jiuyang!
Ninth Lady had been half a step behind Cui Jiuyang and had not left the palace doorway, so she escaped the wind from its roar.
Now she hurried forward and pulled Cui Jiuyang back. In her panic, however, she lost her footing, and both of them tumbled into the palace in a tangled heap.
The Malevolent Flood Dragon missed. Its sharp claws shattered several stone slabs before the hall, sending fragments flying.
Sitting on the floor, Cui Jiuyang had no time to savor the warm, soft beauty in his arms.
Drenched in cold sweat, he helped Ninth Lady sit up with one hand and pulled the Turtle Chancellor from his robe with the other. "Can you kill it?"
The Turtle Chancellor answered without hesitation. "Yes! A thousand years ago!"
"What about now?"
"Considering how you are holding me in such contempt of my dignity, if I could kill it, you would die before it did!"
Cui Jiuyang set the Turtle Chancellor down and turned toward the palace doors.
Through the hazy moisture veiling the doorway, he could vaguely make out a serpentine eye only slightly smaller than the door itself, peering inside...
"It cannot enter. This is the Water God's palace, after all. For now, it lacks the nerve to destroy the palace doors." The Turtle Chancellor remained perfectly composed.
"Then doesn't that mean we can't get out either?!" Cui Jiuyang asked.
Before you continue