Chapter 345: Twelve-Story Tower

At the moment I fell into the water, I had no emotional fluctuation whatsoever, because I was certain that Liu Junyan would definitely be waiting for me underwater.

But I was wrong.

After the flood dragon's tail pulled me into the water, it did not transform into human form.

The long flood dragon's body kept extending downward into the water, with no head in sight.

And after I fell into the water, I immediately felt a repulsive force constantly pushing my body.

If it weren't for the flood dragon's tail coiled around my waist pulling me down, I would probably have been bounced upward like Liu Junyan initially was.

The Merit Light in the Soul-guiding Lamp illuminated the surrounding water, and the demonic face on the lamp chamber bared its teeth and claws, looking especially ferocious.

It seems the Yin Sha Qi in this water is indeed heavy.

I had seen the situation of the two underground levels of the tower in the video.

In the semi-arched caves on the surrounding tower walls, there should originally have been monks and oil lamps.

But now there is nothing at all.

The flood dragon's tail brought me successfully down to the second underground level, and when heading toward the third underground level, I clearly felt that repulsive force become somewhat stronger.

Moreover, the deeper we went, the stronger the repulsive force became.

From the first above-ground level to the third underground level, there are six levels in total; the tower's body is distributed in a conical shape, and the volume of the third underground level reaches its maximum.

Upon passing through the third underground level and entering the fourth underground level, the tower gave me a different feeling, somewhat strange.

I looked around and suddenly understood: the interior layout of the tower had changed.

The overall layout of the fourth underground level is the reverse of the six levels above!

The tower walls still have many caves, but the caves are opened upside down; of course, there are no monks or oil lamps inside either.

I couldn't help but speculate: perhaps the monks and oil lamps previously in these caves were also upside down.

My body was still descending, but the speed of descent had obviously slowed considerably.

Upon reaching the sixth underground level, which is the ninth level of the tower overall, I could barely withstand that repulsive force anymore.

I felt that every inch of my flesh and blood was being scraped against the reverse current, as if being scraped by a blade.

And on the flood dragon's tail coiled around me, those white scales, under this strong repulsive force, faintly turned outward, and even blood seeped out from the gaps.

Just as I was about to enter the seventh underground level, the flood dragon's tail finally could not hold on, being peeled off my waist inch by inch.

I only felt my waist suddenly loosen, and my whole body was flipped outward.

I clung tightly to the Soul-guiding Lamp, instinctively curling my body, continuously tumbling upward in the seawater.

A dragon's roar came from the water bottom, and the flood dragon's tail strained to chase after me upward.

But the rebound speed was too fast; in the blink of an eye, I was pushed out of the water surface, back to my original position.

Liu Junyan followed closely behind, standing beside me, drenched.

He asked, "Xiao Jiu, are you not injured?"

"No." I asked, "How are you? How many levels did you descend in total?"

"The eighth underground level, the eleventh level of the whole tower." Liu Junyan said, "This is not the final level; the tower's body is in an inverted buckle symmetry, and according to speculation, there should still be one more level below, making a total of twelve levels."

So that's how it is.

Liu Junyan continued: "Not only is the tower's body symmetrical, but its internal arrangement is the same; the three tiers at the tip are all carvings, while the middle part is where the monks are truly imprisoned. To break this strange layout… we should start with the monks."

"Monks?" I puzzled, "But just now underwater, I saw those caves were completely empty, with no monks at all, not even oil lamps."

Liu Junyan said: "The monks are gone, but the resentful qi they left behind after enduring torment remains; as expected, it is this powerful resentful qi that prevents us from sinking at all."

So that's how it is.

Then, to break these resentful qi, the best method is……

I lowered my head to glance at the Soul-guiding Lamp in my hand, then lifted my eyes to meet Liu Junyan's gaze.

He nodded and said, "Just as before, I'll go down first, use the flood dragon's tail to pull you, then you break the formation; we'll cooperate."

I agreed with his approach, so I nodded in assent.

Liu Junyan jumped into the water again, transformed into a white flood dragon, and kept rushing downward toward the bottom.

The flood dragon's tail coiled around my waist and quickly pulled me down to the first underground level.

I originally intended to hold the Soul-guiding Lamp myself and use its Merit Fire to burn those underwater caves.

But doing that would not only be slow, it would also consume a lot of the flood dragon's tail.

There are so many caves of various sizes on the tower walls; if I burned them one by one, would it take until the year of the monkey and month of the horse?

Thinking this, I broke my finger, immediately formed a sword-finger seal and pressed it against the lamp chamber of the Soul-guiding Lamp; the sword-finger sacrifice was issued, and the demonic face on the lamp chamber instantly became excited, breaking free from the lamp chamber like a wild horse freed from its reins, continuously shuttling among the various caves.

Every cave they passed through instantly lit up with a faint green light.

Those lights kept condensing; soon, in all the caves on the tower walls, the monks were again sitting cross-legged there.

They were no longer physical bodies, but rather humanoid forms condensed from resentful qi.

Next came the second underground level, the third level……

All the way down to the sixth underground level, everything was done in the same manner.

Liu Junyan said that the lowest three levels should also be relief carvings, which are not my responsibility.

So, at the sixth underground level, I suddenly formed a sword-finger seal, murmuring incantations under my breath.

Then I pressed the sword-finger toward the lamp chamber and shouted loudly: "Gather!"

Although it's hard to produce sound in water, with the aid of internal energy, the demonic face instantly sensed my summoning and returned to the lamp chamber in an instant.

As they returned, the monk-shaped resentful qi in the caves exploded with a bang.

Yes, they all exploded!

Almost simultaneously, the water level inside the tower plummeted sharply, forcing my body to levitate, then it fell uncontrollably straight downward.

Strangely, the speed of my body's descent was actually not as fast as the retreating water flow.

The flood dragon's tail had already been drawn back.

The tower body below kept shrinking, contracting inward, becoming ever sharper and smaller; the reliefs on its surface were dazzling to the eye.

Just as I entered the twelfth level of the tower, Liu Junyan lunged forward and grabbed me in an embrace.

Before I could speak, he took me, following the water flow, and suddenly burst out from the tower's tip.

At the moment we emerged, we were again swept into endless seawater, almost being sucked out by the current.

This process was very fast; fortunately the space was small enough, otherwise we would have kept rolling like a ball.

Until we were sucked out of that long water channel and fell into a broader expanse of water, that damned familiar feeling came over us.

I first saw the Sword Burial Mound, then farther down, I seemed to see the Dragon Transformation Cauldron in the distance.

But we weren't being sucked toward the Dragon Transformation Cauldron; instead, we headed deeper to the other side, continuously falling.

I don't know how many meters we fell, nor when I got separated from Liu Junyan; all I could see was the Soul-guiding Lamp in my hand being pulled into a deep abyss.

The inner core inside the lamp kept flipping, bursting forth with an alluring Golden Light.

I clung tightly to the Soul-guiding Lamp, and my body fell together with it into that abyss.

There, in the light of the Soul-guiding Lamp, I saw a tower tip...