Blood streamed from its entire body. It kept clasping its claws together and waving them, its savage roars replaced by pitiful wails.
Ninth Lady remained unmoved. The sword in her hand blazed, shattering every dark cloud overhead.
Seeing that begging was useless, the Malevolent Flood Dragon's hideous head filled with venomous resentment. It opened its mouth and spat out its demon core. Billowing poisonous fumes, the core shot straight at Ninth Lady like a meteor streaking across the sea.
"Hmph, vile beast!"
Ghost-Mask Chi Dragon · River-Cutting Chant!
The sword fell. A dragon cried.
A sword beam spanning heaven and earth cleaved the clouds. The demon core held against it for only three breaths before shattering.
The sword beam cut into the Malevolent Flood Dragon's body. In horror, it watched its scales split as neatly as sheets of paper.
The demonic light it had gathered to protect itself melted away like snow in that sword beam.
At last, the supreme sword beam pierced the back of the Malevolent Flood Dragon's head and emerged through its mouth, pinning it to the water.
Half its head lay submerged, while its body still thrashed wildly, raising wave upon wave stained with its poisonous blood.
Daylight poured down upon Ninth Lady's upright figure, making her look like a deity descended to earth.
The Malevolent Flood Dragon struggled against the sword beam for a long time. Finally, its body collapsed, scattering one last rain of spray, and moved no more.
Cui Jiuyang landed amid the spray thrown up by the Malevolent Flood Dragon, then closed his eyes and fell.
Ha. I held out. I'm fucking amazing.
The Grand Formation stopped running, and its enclosed space shut down. A blue light flashed in the sky outside the Jidu Shrine, and the enormous corpse of the Malevolent Flood Dragon dropped from above, slamming into the ground hard enough to shake the shrine.
Ninth Lady landed inside the Jidu Shrine. The Nuo Mask fell away by itself, and she staggered over.
She lifted Cui Jiuyang into her arms, only to find him icy cold.
Cui Jiuyang's face was as pale as paper. Blood kept spilling from the corner of his mouth, and his breathing was almost imperceptible.
"Cui Jiuyang!" Tears streamed down Ninth Lady's face, her voice trembling. "How are you...?"
There was no response. Cui Jiuyang's face slowly turned from white to blue, and the rise and fall of his chest grew weaker...
Ninth Lady hugged Cui Jiuyang tightly. "No... please, no..."
The Turtle Chancellor hurried over, jumped onto Cui Jiuyang, and extended a claw to check his pulse.
His expression changed drastically. "I've lived for thousands of years, and this is the first time I've seen meridians shattered like this! Chief Sacrificer, what exactly did he do?!"
Ninth Lady was choking on her sobs. "I... I don't know. The spiritual energy pouring into me from the Grand Formation suddenly increased... I knew he must have been risking his life..."
The Turtle Chancellor's eyes darted about. Realization struck him, and he said urgently, "The boy poured the Ji River's spiritual power into himself, forcibly raising his cultivation, then went back to control the Grand Formation! Was he trying to get himself killed?!"
Ninth Lady wiped her tears and looked helplessly at the Turtle Chancellor. Before she could speak, fresh tears spilled down her face. "Chancellor, he's going to... he's going to..."
The Turtle Chancellor raised a claw. "Absolutely not! If he dies, won't that mean our Jishui Water Palace couldn't protect him? When he reaches the Underworld Office and the judge asks how he died, he'll say he helped the Jidu Shrine and the Grand Formation burst every meridian in his body. Won't the Underworld Office laugh at how far the Ji River has fallen?"
The Turtle Chancellor gritted his teeth. "The Ji River may have been dry for a thousand years, but even a starving camel is bigger than a horse! There's a magical treasure in the Jidu Shrine that can save him!"
Ninth Lady hurriedly asked, "What treasure?!"
The Turtle Chancellor stroked his chin. "The thing that damned loach was after-the Dragon-Transformation Wall."
"Back then, as one of the Ancient Four Rivers, the Ji River commanded the waterways of heaven and earth and shaped yin and yang. Its Water Palace was among the greatest in the world."
"There was a carp that rose from rotting grass and purple mud, attaining the heights of appearing and vanishing thrice. It charged the Dragon Gate eight times and finally became a dragon on its ninth passage. Before leaving, it placed the Dragon-Transformation Wall in the Water Palace as a remembrance of its origins."
"The Dragon-Transformation Wall holds the energy of that carp's transformation. If it could reshape even a carp into a dragon, what are a few shattered meridians?"
Ninth Lady was frantic and could not wait for the Turtle Chancellor to continue his leisurely explanation. "How can we take out the Dragon-Transformation Wall and save him?!"
The Turtle Chancellor looked into Ninth Lady's eyes. "As Chief Sacrificer, taking a treasure from the Water Palace is now effortless for you."
"Only... er..."
"Only what? Tell me, Chancellor!"
"Only... once the Dragon-Transformation Wall leaves the Water Palace, I fear the water energy and spiritual power gathered in the Jidu Shrine will no longer be sufficient..."
"With a Numinous Treasure gone from the Jidu Shrine, you will have to sustain this ruined shrine and keep our lord's spirit from dissipating. Chief Sacrificer, you will never again be able to set foot outside the Jidu Shrine for the rest of your life."
Without a moment's thought, Ninth Lady said, "I'm willing."
"Bring me the Dragon-Transformation Wall."
Her words were absolute.
Chapter 50: Dragon transformation
The Dragon-Transformation Wall was crystalline and translucent, floating above the Turtle Chancellor's hand.
"Chief Sacrificer, shall I begin?"
Ninth Lady nodded without hesitation.
The Turtle Chancellor jumped onto Cui Jiuyang's abdomen and pressed his claw against his dantian.
A soaring dragon cry, brimming with fierce vitality, rang through the Jidu Shrine. In that cry, the carp's majestic disdain for the world after passing the Dragon Gate all those years ago was expressed to the fullest.
As the dragon cry rang out, the Dragon-Transformation Wall shone with flowing, mysterious light and slowly sank into Cui Jiuyang's dantian.
The instant the Dragon-Transformation Wall entered Cui Jiuyang's dantian, the entire Jidu Shrine fell into an uncanny silence.
The Turtle Chancellor's claw gleamed like green jade as he held it firmly against Cui Jiuyang's dantian.
He could clearly feel the Numinous Treasure moving through Cui Jiuyang's shattered meridians, just as that carp had once swum upstream and broken through the surging waves at the Dragon Gate.
"Gulp-"
Cui Jiuyang's body suddenly convulsed violently, and a dense web of ice-like cracks appeared across his skin.
Ninth Lady was about to cry out when she saw deep blue light shining through those cracks, like a frozen river thawing and surging through his body.
"It's all right. His energy is circulating through his meridians," the Turtle Chancellor reassured Ninth Lady.
Before he had finished speaking, Cui Jiuyang suddenly arched his body and spat out a cloud of bloody mist.
Deep within Cui Jiuyang's body, a breathtaking transformation was taking place.
His already shattered meridians were pulverized by the impact of a golden carp's phantom.
The Dragon-Transformation Wall hovered in the center of his dantian. With every revolution, it released a strand of dragon-transformation energy. This golden mist repaired his meridians on its own, making them broader and tougher than before.
When he had collapsed inside the formation, Cui Jiuyang had felt utterly exhausted, with darkness closing over his vision.
He had no idea how long he had slept before he dreamed of a fat carp wriggling in his arms.
He felt like a child in a New Year print holding a great carp, desperately clutching the slippery fish without letting go.
He only felt that if he lost this fish, he might never find it again.
Cui Jiuyang's body alternated between cold and heat. Pain and itching took turns coursing through him, sometimes numb, sometimes sharp.
At last, everything settled down. A cool presence hovered in his dantian, continuously releasing a soothing aura.
Cui Jiuyang felt comfortable from head to toe, as though he had taken a big spoon and devoured half an ice-chilled watermelon in the height of summer.
Then he sank into a deep sleep.
The Turtle Chancellor removed his claw from Cui Jiuyang's dantian and sighed.
Beside him, Ninth Lady nervously clutched the corner of Cui Jiuyang's robe. When she heard the Turtle Chancellor sigh, her face paled. "What's wrong?"
The Turtle Chancellor shook his head. "He survived."
Everyone around them let out a long breath. Ninth Lady's tears welled up again, and she hurriedly wiped them away.
The Turtle Chancellor glanced at her. "Chief Sacrificer, now... you must also remember your station. Your words and actions must be dignified and solemn. Crying at every turn undermines the Water Palace's authority."
All Ninth Lady cared about was that Cui Jiuyang had survived. What did authority matter? With no time to fetch a handkerchief, she gently wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with her hand.
This was the second time Cui Jiuyang had nearly given his life for her... At that moment, her eyes held nothing but that figure in his blue cloth robe.
"However..." The Turtle Chancellor suddenly raised his voice.
Ninth Lady turned, growing anxious again. "However what?"
"Still, I don't know whether this is a blessing or a curse... The boy's meridians are now as broad as great rivers, while his original spiritual power is little more than a trickling stream. Truly, I've never seen anything like it." The Turtle Chancellor stroked his chin.
"Moreover, the Dragon-Transformation Wall now hangs within his dantian and has become part of his internal energy circulation."
"His cultivation may prove quite difficult in the future. But if he succeeds one day... even 'unrivaled under heaven' may not be enough to describe him."
Ninth Lady and the Turtle Chancellor looked at Cui Jiuyang's face. Deep asleep, he gave a faint smile.
Everyone set to work, tidying up the Jidu Shrine after the chaos.
Only then did Ninth Lady have time to carefully sort through the information she had received from the Jidu Shrine.
After organizing everything in her mind, she discovered a few... interesting things.
She thought for a moment, then summoned Fifth Master Yang and Lu Zhongqian to the statue.
With the Water Palace's official seal at her waist and the Autumn Swan Three-Foot Sword in her hand, Ninth Lady radiated divinity within the Jidu Shrine. At her command, the two men naturally approached obediently.
"Kneel," Ninth Lady said coldly, standing beside the statue.
Fifth Master Yang and Lu Zhongqian exchanged a look.
Fifth Master Yang's eyes were full of bewilderment.
Lu Zhongqian, however, began to look frightened.
After a moment's hesitation, both men knelt.
Ninth Lady said, "Lu Zhongqian, will you tell him yourself, or shall I?"
Those words alone broke Lu Zhongqian's composure. He kowtowed three times to the statue, then three more times to Ninth Lady.
"I'll tell him myself... I'll tell him myself."
Utterly confused, Fifth Master Yang looked at Lu Zhongqian and thought, What's this old fellow going to say? Does the priestess of the Jidu Shrine have authority over traitors who sided with the Japanese, too?
Lu Zhongqian adopted a pleading expression. "Priestess, when I entered the Jidu Shrine back then and obtained the Treasure-Gathering Copper Coin, I made a solemn vow here. I said that once I prospered, I would build a temple for the Water God and erect a Golden Body thirty feet tall."
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