Chapter 71: Venerable One?

Hearing his tone of reproach, Sun Fuping hurriedly replied: "The offerings here ran away, so I could only use the backup array outside and summon the Venerable One in. What happened outside? Are you feeling any discomfort?" His first choice for the sacrifice was He Lingchuan and Mao Tao, but those two fellows had slipped away when they saw the situation, so he could only use the backup plan, using He Chunhua and the others as offerings, and then using means to summon the god invited out to here.

Having one more transfer was something that couldn't be helped.

Nian Songyu said with a straight face: "Something went wrong outside, causing my power to weaken. This Black Flood Dragon is cycling through rebirths; it must not be its true body. I need you to find its foundation of life!" After saying this, he raised his hand and drew two circles over Sun Fuping's head, as if sprinkling water.

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

To others, it seemed like he had sprinkled quite a bit of glitter on Sun Fuping; only Sun Fuping himself knew that this felt like spring breeze and rain, not only refreshing his mind, heart, and lungs, but even healing seven or eight out of ten of his injuries.

Originally, He Lingchuan had set up siege ordnance and given him two rounds of bombardment; that was not something an ordinary person could endure. Sun Fuping had used all his life-saving ultimate moves, plus Nian Songyu's desperate protection, to barely hold on, but his injuries were also very heavy, and his internal injuries were several times more severe than his external ones. Being able to stand was already a miracle.

It was just that there were still over a dozen little thieves standing upstairs, so he had to forcefully maintain his momentum.

The Venerable One, however, easily smoothed out his injuries. This was not something human power could achieve, so Sun Fuping naturally felt even more awe and admiration.

"Please instruct me, Venerable One!"

He didn't know that the Venerable One before him was actually very dissatisfied. God-Inviting was an extremely dangerous process, especially before entering the skin-bag that would receive it; the so-called will of the Heavenly God was easily injured.

During this process, Sun Fuping had not provided protection from the side, which had already committed 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 told to outsiders. Even if Sun Fuping flipped through all the classics, it was impossible for him to know.

Fortunately, the Venerable One still needed him to settle his own troubles, so he squeezed out a little divine power to smooth out his injuries.

"Since it is the foundation of the Black Flood Dragon's life, it is something that remains unchanged from beginning to end, and also something that cannot be burned by this great fire. By the way, it is not the Great Fang Hu. Since you were able to find your way here, you must have some insights."

The Venerable One gave a hint, and next, Sun Fuping had to find a way to complete it.

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

Nian Songyu revealed a gloomy smile: "If you can get out of here, you will get what you want."

The stone in Sun Fuping's heart finally fell, and he rushed into the ruins before the Great Wind Army attacked again.

……

The Venerable One only gave a hint, but Sun Fuping pondered for a moment and couldn't help but be moved.

"Find the Black Flood Dragon's foundation of life"—translated more colloquially, it meant finding the opponent's lifeline. However, the point of this sentence was not just the message that "the Black Flood Dragon's true body is not on the battlefield."

Sun Fuping had sharp eyes and insight; he had long seen that the reason the Black Flood Dragon was immortal was that it had hidden its vital point in advance and was using the power of the Great Fang Hu to repeatedly repair its injuries.

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

However, the Venerable One's words had hidden meanings, and thinking about it carefully was terrifying.

Sun Fuping had always believed that the Black Flood Dragon was an artifact spirit born from the Great Fang Hu. If that were true, what "foundation of life" did the Venerable One want him to find? Wasn't the Great Fang Hu the Black Flood Dragon's foundation of life?

But the Venerable One had specifically denied this point.

So, what exactly was this Black Flood Dragon? Sun Fuping ran for a while, even stopping in the ruins for a good while, before a flash of inspiration crossed his mind.

Could it be?

He changed direction and headed due north.

The ruins before his eyes were the true appearance of the ancient Panlong City after the coalition forces retreated back then.

The previous peace, prosperity, and tranquility were nothing but a mirage.

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

Soon, Sun Fuping passed the Zhong residence with its high gates and courtyards. This was what Zhong Shengguang had later bought from the Chen family and rebuilt, and the door plaque had also been changed.

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

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

Official quarters.

At least they had been official quarters of Panlong City before being destroyed.

Compared to the peaceful era, these official quarters had undergone huge changes. But Sun Fuping still quickly found his target among them.

It was a residence with nothing special about it, only two rooms and a small courtyard.

There was a grave mound in the courtyard.

Sun Fuping ignored this grave mound and instead turned to the two rooms that had already become ruins, searching through them.

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

He even opened the secret drawer of the dressing table, only to find that the things inside had long since turned black and charred, becoming a lump.

These shouldn't 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 from Sun Fuping's forehead.

Time was life. The Venerable One was fighting the Great Fang Hu's monster with all his might there. If he couldn't find the treasure to turn the tables as soon as possible, then let alone his grand ambitions for the future, whether he could even save his own life was hard to say.

Sun Fuping circled the residence three times.

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

The bed placed here had been burned until only a rotten frame remained, and the wall only had half left, and it was smoked black.

However, there was a gray-bottomed 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, so that the small piece of wall behind it hadn't been smoked black.

This shape...

Sun Fuping muttered to himself: "A blade, I remember a blade hanging here."

That's right, this was the residence of Zhong Shengguang before he became the commander. He had been here before and had found the grave of the Baling expedition member here.

And while waiting for Nian Songyu, Sun Fuping had also thoroughly toured this residence, so he had some impression of the furnishings inside.

In fact, the furniture in these official quarters was too simple, with only a few items back and forth, so it was hard not to remember.

The wall was still there, the bed was still there, but the blade hanging on the wall was gone.

The wall after the disaster showed that this blade had existed from beginning to end, consistent with what the Venerable One said: "cannot be burned by the great fire."

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

Sun Fuping stood up and squeezed a name out through his teeth, wishing he could tear these few words to shreds: "He Lingchuan, you little brat!"

The usually calm and steady State Preceptor Sun finally couldn't help but burst out with profanity.

Back then, the four of them found this place, discussed it thoroughly, and then split up. Before that, the only one who had the leisure to inspect the entire residence besides him was He Lingchuan.

The author's note frequency jumped; two updates finished today.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 72 =====