Chapter 71: The Venerable One?

Hearing the tone of reproach in his voice, Sun Fu hurriedly replied: "The offerings here ran off, so I had no choice but to use the backup array outside to summon the Venerable one in. Did something happen outside? Are you feeling any discomfort?" His first choice for the sacrifice had been He Lingchuan and Mao Tao, but those two had seen the situation and slipped away, leaving him no choice but to use his backup plan, treating He Chunhua and the others as sacrifices, and then using his methods to summon the deity he had invited into this space.

Having to make an extra transfer was a matter of no other choice.

Nian Songyu said with a straight face: "There was a slight slip-up outside, which caused my power to weaken. This black flood dragon is cycling through rebirths, so this cannot be its true body. I need you to find the foundation of its life!" Having said this, he raised his hand and drew two circles over Sun Fu's head, as if sprinkling water.

Tiny specks of light leaked from between his fingers, like flying petals, like falling snow, fine and fragmented, landing all over Sun Fu's body.

To others, it looked as if he had sprinkled a lot of glitter onto Sun Fu, but only Sun Fu himself knew that this felt like a spring breeze bringing life to parched earth; not only did his mind and lungs feel refreshed and renewed, but even the wounds on his body were seven or eight parts healed.

Originally, He Lingchuan had set up siege weaponry and bombarded him with two rounds of wild fire, which was not something an ordinary person could endure. Sun Fu had exhausted all his life-saving ultimate moves, and with Nian Songyu’s desperate protection, he had barely managed to hold on, but his injuries were still very severe, and his internal injuries were several times worse than his external ones; being able to stand at all was already a miracle.

It was just that there were still over a dozen little thieves standing upstairs, so he had to force himself to keep up appearances.

Yet the Venerable one had smoothed over his injuries with such ease; this was not something a human could do, so naturally, Sun Fu felt even more awe and reverence.

"Please, Venerable one, enlighten me!"

He was unaware that the Venerable one before him was actually very dissatisfied. Divine descent was an extremely dangerous process, especially before entering the vessel meant to receive it, as the so-called will of the heavenly deity was easily injured.

In this process, Sun Fu had failed to provide protection from the side, which was already a major taboo.

However, the number of successful divine descents could be counted on one's fingers, and this secret was not something to be spoken of to outsiders; even if Sun Fu wore out the pages of the classics, he could never have known.

Fortunately, the Venerable one still needed him to resolve his own troubles, so he squeezed out a little extra divine power to soothe his injuries.

"Since it is the foundation of the black flood dragon's existence, it must be something that remains unchanged from beginning to end, and also something that cannot be destroyed by this great fire. By the way, it is also not the Great Square Pot. Since you were able to find your way here, you must have some insights."

The Venerable one provided a hint, and now it was up to Sun Fu to find a way to complete the task.

The latter nodded and hurriedly added: "Venerable one, what about my position as State Preceptor?"

Nian Songyu revealed a sinister smile: "If you can get out of here, you will get exactly what you wish for."

The heavy stone in Sun Fu's heart finally dropped, and he rushed into the ruins before the Great Wind Army could launch another attack.

The Venerable one had only given a small hint, but after Sun Fu pondered for a moment, he could not help but be moved.

"Find the black flood dragon's foundation of life"—translated into layman's terms, it meant finding the opponent's lifeline. However, the point of this statement was not just the information that "the black flood dragon's true body is not on the battlefield."

Sun Fu had the eye and the experience to have long ago seen that the reason the black flood dragon was undying and indestructible was that it had hidden its vital point beforehand and was using the power of the Great Square Pot to repeatedly repair its injuries.

For a monster like that, if its vital point wasn't hit, how could it die?

Yet the Venerable one’s words had a hidden meaning, and thinking about it carefully was terrifying.

Sun Fu had previously always believed that the black flood dragon was the artifact spirit secretly born from the Great Square Pot. If that were truly the case, and the Venerable one wanted him to find some "foundation of life," wasn't the Great Square Pot itself the black flood dragon's foundation of life?

But the Venerable one had specifically denied this point.

So, what exactly was that black flood dragon? Sun Fu ran for a while, even stopping in the ruins for a good long time, before a flash of inspiration crossed his mind.

Could it be?

He changed direction and headed due north.

The ruins of the city before his eyes were the true appearance of the ancient Panlong City after the allied forces had retreated years ago.

The previous peace, prosperity, and tranquility were nothing but a reflection of flowers in a mirror and the moon in the water.

But between these two states, there were always some things that remained unchanged.

Soon, Sun Fu passed by the Zhong residence with its high gates and large courtyards. This was what Zhong Shengguang had later bought from the Chen family and renovated; even the plaque on the gate had been changed.

However, Sun Fu did not linger; this was not the place he was looking for.

He walked straight through the government office, crossed a huge, dried-up trench, and finally found another patch of ruins—

The official quarters.

At least, they had been the official quarters of Panlong City before they were destroyed.

These official quarters had undergone huge changes compared to peacetime. But Sun Fu still quickly found his target among them.

It was a house with no distinctive features, consisting of only two rooms and a small courtyard.

There was a grave mound in the courtyard.

Sun Fu ignored the grave mound and instead turned into the two rooms that had become ruins, searching through them.

A large bed, a dressing table, a small bed...

He even pried open a secret drawer in the dressing table, only to find that the things inside had long since charred and melted into a lump.

These should not be the black flood dragon's foundation of life.

But the place was only so big, and there were only so many things; could his deduction be wrong? Sweat dripped down from Sun Fu's forehead.

Time was life; the Venerable one was there, fighting the Great Square Pot's monster with all his might. If he could not find the treasure to turn the tables as soon as possible, then never mind his future grand ambitions, even whether he could keep his own life was hard to say.

Sun Fu circled the house three times.

Perhaps blinded by anxiety, it was only after finishing the third circle that he suddenly turned around and rushed back to the main room.

The bed placed here had been burned down to nothing but a rotten frame, and the wall was only half-standing, also smoked black.

However, there was a gray-colored mark on this half-wall.

That was the original color of the wall.

It looked as if something had originally been hanging here, blocking the fire when it started, which was why that small patch of wall behind it hadn't been smoked black.

This shape...

Sun Fu muttered to himself: "A saber, I remember a saber hanging here."

That was right, this was the residence where Zhong Shengguang lived before he became the Commander; he had been here before and had found the grave of the Baling expedition team member here.

Furthermore, while waiting for Nian Songyu, Sun Fu had also thoroughly toured this house and had some impression of the furnishings inside.

In fact, the furniture in these official quarters was too simple, with only those few items appearing over and over again, making it hard not to remember them.

The wall was still there, the bed was still there, but the saber that had been hanging on the wall was gone.

The wall after the disaster proved that this saber had existed from beginning to end, fitting the Venerable one's description of "something the great fire could not destroy."

So it wasn't that his deduction was wrong, but that someone had taken it.

Sun Fu stood up, squeezed a name through his teeth, wishing he could tear those few characters to shreds: "He Lingchuan, you little brat!"

The usually calm and steady State Preceptor Sun finally couldn't help but curse.

When the four of them had first found this place, they had discussed it quite a bit before splitting up to act. Before that, the only person other than himself who had had the time to inspect the entire house was He Lingchuan.

The author's note frequency was off; the double update for today is finished.

(End of chapter)