Chapter 268: Huai River Dragon Lord Rescued, Zilan Fairy Flees

With a single step, Fang Longye's figure immediately appeared within the Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map.

Just like the Huai River Dragon Lord, as soon as he steadied himself, he saw a great river winding in nine bends, dim yellow and turbid, without beginning or end.

It came surging toward him.

"It seems this Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map is, after all, not the Nine-Bend Yellow River Array!"

Facing the Nine-Bend Yellow Springs rushing toward him, Fang Longye felt not the slightest bit of timidity or panic; instead, as he surveyed the gloomy, hollow space around him, he could not help but sigh with emotion.

As far as he knew, the Nine-Bend Yellow River Array did not possess a gloomy, empty space like this; the moment one stepped inside, it was as if one were placed within the Nine-Bend Yellow River itself.

How could it be like this, where, upon entering the Spirit Treasure, one still needed to rely on such a great river of Yellow Springs to carry out an invasion and sweep? "Perhaps it is because there is insufficient Ren Water of the Yellow Springs? Unable to fill the space of this Spirit Treasure?" Fang Longye shook his head and chuckled.

Just a jest!

Once it reaches the level of Innate True Water, its volume does not depend on the quantity.

Although the Ren Water of the Yellow Springs does not go so far as the Innate Ren Water, where a single drop can transform into rivers, lakes, and seas, to fill the space of this treasure map, a single drop would suffice.

"The refinement is still not quite at the right stage!"

While he was talking to himself, the Nine-Bend Yellow Springs had already reached before him.

However, wanting to deal with him like the Huai River Dragon Lord, sweeping him into the river of Yellow Springs with a single wave, was not that easy.

Fang Longye merely chuckled, and a streak of five-colored Dao Qi immediately shot up from the top of his head toward the heavens.

Countless seal characters rotated ceaselessly, possessing their own wondrous sounds, with indescribable subtlety floating within them.

Ang—

Accompanied by a dragon's roar, this five-colored Dao Qi rose and fell.

The part that rose ascended to the void above his head, swirling and gathering together. Red, yellow, white, black, and cyan—the five colors rotated, Divine Light shimmering, layers spreading out to form a Five-Colored Treasure Tree.

Thousands of five-colored rays of light hung down like a beaded curtain of tassels, or like a precious canopy, beautiful and magnificent, suffused with Dao Rhyme.

The part that fell descended to his feet, appearing like auspicious clouds and lucky colors, clustered in groups. After a series of gatherings and dispersals, it transformed into a five-colored Dao lotus, where seal characters of varying sizes could be seen rotating endlessly, both inside and out.

The entire Dao lotus revealed a sense of being immortal and indestructible, likewise granting him an impregnable defensive power.

For a time, the space was filled with light, and a vastness of power, impossible to imagine, radiated out, becoming the only thing that existed.

And just after he unleashed his divine ability, the next moment, the Nine-Bend Yellow Springs came crashing down with a boom.

However, with his divine ability protecting him, Fang Longye was not swept into the river of Yellow Springs like the Huai River Dragon Lord.

Instead, with the Five-Colored Treasure Tree like a canopy above his head and stepping on the five-colored Dao lotus, he hovered above the great river of Yellow Springs.

Even as the turbid waves of the Yellow Springs surged and crashed, he remained towering and motionless.

Fang Longye drifted with the waves, his eyes emitting piercing divine light; "Seeing Through Walls" and "Sun and Moon Golden Pupils"... various types of insight-based divine abilities were layered upon one another as he searched for the trail of the Huai River Dragon Lord.

"Could it be that this Xiao Huanglong is just gone like that? Logically speaking, that shouldn't be..."

"I have seen the Dragon Pearl at the Taiyi Golden Immortal level that he holds. That thing is quite extraordinary!?"

Fang Longye searched for a good while, but still saw no trace of the Huai River Dragon Lord, and he could not help but furrow his brows.

This was troublesome! He couldn't just dive directly into this great river of Yellow Springs, could he? Don't look at the words he said; they sounded like he looked down on this "Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map."

But deep down, he had self-awareness; the "Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map" was indeed inferior to the Nine-Bend Yellow River Array described in his memories, but that did not mean he could treat it as nothing.

Even without any Nine-Bend Yellow River Array, the Ren Water of the Yellow Springs alone was enough to give him a hard time.

Just like how he had never intended to enter the Nine-Bend Yellow River Array to clash head-on with that Zilan Fairy.

Since some threats could be avoided, why would he take the risk to show off? He hadn't even seen a person yet, and he was going to dive into this river of Yellow Springs? Wasn't that just increasing the difficulty for himself? Just as he was about to search for the Huai River Dragon Lord more carefully, he saw the turbid waves of the Yellow Springs surging even more violently, whipping up giant waves a thousand or ten thousand feet high, wanting to drag him into the mire.

"Zilan demoness!"

Fang Longye raised his eyes to look at the void, as if he could pierce through the obstruction of the Spirit Treasure and see Zilan Fairy in the real world.

He had long anticipated this.

Facing him, who had entered the "Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map," this demoness called Zilan Fairy could not possibly remain indifferent.

She would certainly be in the outside world, exerting all her strength to drive the Spirit Treasure "Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map," seeking to make him perish here.

Within the great river of Yellow Springs, filth and turbidity boiled, carrying endless human sins and worldly karma, roaring and rolling, whipping up a thousand layers of spray.

The view was entirely dim yellow.

Greed, anger, ignorance, hatred, love, hate, and enmity—all kinds of worldly karma originating from immeasurable sentient beings filled every corner of the great river of Yellow Springs, every single drop of water.

As the dim yellow, turbid waves constantly churned, surged, and collided.

With every wave that rose, countless faces appeared; within them, he seemed to hear the suffering of immeasurable sentient beings.

All sentient beings suffer; all sentient beings are sinful.

Birth, old age, sickness, death, separation from loved ones, meeting with those one hates, not getting what one seeks, greed, anger, ignorance, and the loss of glory and joy.

The suffering of the human world is like a purgatory.

Once this kind of Yellow Springs water touches the body, even with Fang Longye as a Golden Immortal at perfection, he would not get off easily.

After all, even immortals and gods treat the human world as a place to undergo Calamity, which shows how it is.

Whether in his past life or this life, the human world is like mud and turbid water.

Those who enter this place have their bodies stained, their spirits injured, their hearts destroyed, their Dao extinguished, and they fall into eternal reincarnation, suffering constant misery, unable to transcend.

All kinds of negative emotions surged continuously from the great river of Yellow Springs, impacting Fang Longye's mind.

They wanted to make him sink into this suffering of the human world, unable to extricate himself.

However—

These did not seem to be very effective on him.

His eyes were deep and cold, emotionless, staring at the Nine-Bend Yellow Springs below, which had accumulated infinite sin and karma, looking down from high above.

He let these negative emotions wreak havoc, let the wind blow and the waves strike, but his heart was like a bright mirror, unstained by dust.

He merely watched coldly from the sidelines.

The divine light radiating from his entire body was dazzling and eye-catching.

Shining upon the countless "figures," "corpses," and "ghostly entities" bobbing and sinking on the river surface, it was just like the great sun melting snow.

It turned these evil things into streaks of light that drifted upward. In an instant, they vanished without a trace.

The protective divine light, bolstered by the extraordinary treasure 'Creation Purifying World Bead', was truly effortless when dealing with existences like Yellow Springs sins and mortal karma.

"Woo, woo, woo—"

There was just one point: compared to the Nine-Bend Yellow River, which stretched across the void with an unknown length and width, the area that Fang Longye's protective divine light could illuminate was clearly somewhat insignificant.

Furthermore, his targeted protective divine light seemed more like it had provoked the karma and sins within the Yellow Springs.

The various evil things manifested through evolution let out bursts of roars, one after another.

They then swarmed toward him, and even though they were illuminated by the divine light, they still came wave after wave. Clearly, they were unwilling to be extinguished just like that. They struggled violently and incessantly, stirring up bursts of waves; the scene was horrifying.

Of course, this was both the spontaneous resistance of the karma and sins in the Yellow Springs water, and the result of Zilan Fairy outside driving the 'Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map'.

As countless figures struggled more and more intensely, they kicked up muddy waves that filled the sky, rising tens of thousands of feet high.

Countless human figures surged out from the Yellow Springs, dense and packed, layer upon layer.

They all stretched out their hands, wailing, and reached toward Fang Longye. They wanted to drag him into the Yellow Springs to sink into it completely, never to be liberated. "Hmph!"

Fang Longye let out a cold snort and released boundless divine light; wherever it reached, the human figures were annihilated. The karma and sins were thus extinguished.

However, these karma and sins seemed endless, evolving into dense swarms of evil things that, like locusts, incessantly launched impacts at Fang Longye.

Although they were reduced to dust and smoke the moment they were touched by his protective divine light, they still came one after another, never dying and never resting.

Fang Longye had no choice but to endure the onslaught of these karma and sins while quickly roaming above the Nine-Bend Yellow River, searching for the trail of that pit-digging Huai River Dragon Lord.

With such back-and-forth, even Fang Longye was finding it a bit much to bear.

If it were only the true water of the Yellow Springs, it would be fine.

Relying on the extraordinary treasure 'Creation Purifying World Bead' and the trait of having refined Nüwa Blood Jade within his body, he could almost keep wearing down this Nine-Bend Yellow River indefinitely.

The key was that this Spirit Treasure was called the 'Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map', which possessed some traits of the Nine-Bend Yellow River Array.

A single scouring by the Yellow Springs was enough to permanently shave away ten thousand years of cultivation.

Although his true body had not yet been tainted by the Yellow Springs water.

His protective divine light, along with the Five-Colored Treasure Tree above his head and the five-colored lotus he stood upon, were all being constantly scoured by the Yellow Springs river water under this contention.

Even with the bolstering of various Spirit Treasures and an Innate Spiritual Treasure at his side, he could still feel a sense of attrition.

This attrition had not yet shaved away his cultivation or Dharma, but it caused the Dharma consumed when he drove the Spirit Treasures to increase significantly.

Once his Dharma was exhausted and the spirit pills and miraculous medicines for replenishing Dharma were all consumed, leaving him with no power to drive the Spirit Treasures.

Then he would truly be unable to help himself.

"Must speed up!"

Fang Longye thought to himself.

To be honest, if it weren't for the fear that breaking the 'Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map' would cause harm to the Huai River Dragon Lord, who was somewhere unknown.

He would have long since taken up the Zhanxian Gourd and delivered a strike in this broken map!

He simply didn't believe it! Could a remnant array map from the Conferring of the Gods era really compare to the 'Zhanxian Gourd', this top-grade Innate killing treasure?...

"Found him!"

After quite some effort, Fang Longye finally searched out the trail of the Huai River Dragon Lord.

He saw that within the rolling Yellow Springs, a dazzling and eye-catching Dragon Pearl, like a bright yellow sun, was constantly emitting glowing divine light.

And beneath the "great sun" was a mysterious yellow divine dragon whose body had shrunk to about three inches, protected by the "great sun" divine light, which kept it from sinking to the bottom of the Yellow Springs.

This bright yellow "great sun," under the dim yellow halo emitted by the Nine-Bend Yellow River, was somewhat obscured, making it impossible to see its full appearance.

However, it could still be faintly seen that its entire body had profound seal characters flowing across it.

Under the divine light, all human sins and mortal karma were blocked outside by it.

There was just one point, and he didn't know if it was an illusion caused by the obstruction of the Yellow Springs.

Fang Longye always felt that this Dragon Pearl from a Taiyi Golden Immortal had diminished somewhat compared to the beginning, and its light had also dimmed by three parts.

Shaking his head, why think about these things now? He immediately drove his Spirit Treasure, dove deep, and arrived beside the Huai River Dragon Lord.

With a wave of his hand, he took him, who had already been forced to transform into his original form, away from the Yellow Springs river.

Above the river surface.

Ang—

As soon as the Huai River Dragon Lord broke free from the Yellow Springs river, he could not help but let out a dragon roar, his true body growing incessantly until, in an instant, it became tens of thousands of feet in size.

Mysterious yellow Divine Light scattered everywhere, clouds gathered, and a divine dragon emitting mysterious yellow Divine Light roamed above the Yellow Springs river.

He stretched his body for a moment.

The Huai River Dragon Lord then transformed back into human form, holding that pure and mysterious Taiyi Dragon Pearl in his hand, a look of utter heartache appearing on his face.

"Enough!" Fang Longye rolled his eyes and transmitted his voice via primordial spirit: "Stop agonizing over your gear!"

"Get ready! I am going to break open this Spirit Treasure and get out! Don't let us get caught off guard by someone's head-on attack the moment we get out!"

Having said that, regardless of how the Huai River Dragon Lord prepared, he immediately offered up the Zhanxian Gourd, revealing a streak of brilliance, supporting an object that was seven inches long and had eyebrows and eyes.

He bowed and said: "Please turn around, treasure!"

Instantly, a clanging sound rang out, and an unparalleled Innate divine radiance leaped out; in just a moment, it had already struck the spatial barrier of the Spirit Treasure 'Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map'.

Boom—

"Eh?"

A strike actually didn't work? "The Heavenly Membrane of a Great Thousand World?"

Fang Longye, in addition to being surprised, stared at the space of the 'Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map' where the myriad cracks were rapidly healing, and feeling a vast and boundless Aura rushing toward him, he immediately understood.

The material used to refine this treasure map was actually the Heavenly Membrane of a Great Thousand World.

Indeed~

The original form of this Treasure Map is the array diagram used by the Three Xiao of the Calamity Sect to set up the 'Nine-Bend Yellow River Array'; it is only natural that it would have such a grand composition in terms of materials.

"However—hehe!"

Fang Longye sneered and immediately sacrificed the Zhanxian Gourd again.

At the same time, the Panlong Spear also released its suppressed divine might, displaying the demeanor of a top-tier divine weapon as it struck out in unison.

"Although there are various reasons, I truly cannot unleash the true power of the Zhanxian Gourd. But—"

"If one strike doesn't work, then two; if two don't work, then three. Let's see how many you can withstand?"

In the present world.

Above Pangze, Zilan Fairy was pushing herself to the limit, pouring all her strength into the 'Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map'.

From the very moment Fang Longye rescued the Huai River Dragon Lord from the Nine Bends Yellow Springs, she had felt that she was going to lose.

Yet, she did not give up immediately, instead persisting despite her exhaustion and injuries to see if there could be a reversal.

What kind of reversal? Naturally, reinforcements!

After Fang Longye and the other entered the 'Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map', she discovered their arrangements and immediately broke through that concealment.

She re-sent a distress signal to those two allies, Jin Zhong Dasheng and the Divine Turtle.

Therefore, she tried her best to stall for time~ anyway, if things truly went awry, she would at worst entrust her True Spirit to the Primordial One Qi and escape this place, seeking revenge on the two of them later.

The moment Fang Longye sacrificed the Zhanxian Gourd, her heart gave a frantic warning; she made a decisive choice, abandoned the 'Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map' without a second thought, and fled directly.

Just three breaths after her escape light rose, a ripping sound like tearing silk rang out, earth-shattering.

The 'Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map' was instantly broken from the inside by Fang Longye and the other, torn apart from the center.

With Divine Light shimmering like ripples across the sky, Fang Longye and the Huai River Dragon Lord soared out from the 'Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map'.

He glanced at the empty Zilan Palace below, then activated the 'Thousand-Mile Eye' divine ability, catching a glimpse of the faintly visible escape light.

Fang Longye immediately put away the 'Nine Bends Yellow Springs Map' hovering in the air and said to the Huai River Dragon Lord: "Pursue!"

Following that, his escape light rose, and he sped off in the direction Zilan Fairy had fled.

(End of this chapter)