Chapter 448

It turns out that for the Linghai Dragon Clan's Dragon Gate to appear, there are conditions.

The Linghai Dragon Clan once, in order to maintain the stability of the Linghai Forbidden Ground, regularly sacrificed white dragons into the forbidden ground.

White dragons are inherently rare; those capable of transforming into a golden dragon have, over three thousand years, been only Liu Mu alone.

Liu Mu slew the little white dragon and died for love; their bodies both fell into the forbidden ground's abyss, after which the Dragon Gate rose up from the ground.

Li Qingying had described the Dragon Gate to me: towering and sacred, its whole body flashing with golden light; water poured down from the Dragon Gate, forming a water column, within which vast flames burned.

She personally watched those brothers and sisters leap onto the Dragon Gate in succession, only to be sucked into the water column in an instant and vanish without a trace.

However, the Dragon Gate I see today is not the same.

There is no golden light, no flames.

The Dragon Gate forged from the pale white dragon bones, stained with blood, rises bit by bit, soaring toward the horizon.

Beneath the Dragon Gate's lintel stand eight door pillars, each constructed from piled white bones of various creatures.

The pillars sink deep into the seawater, their bottoms unseen.

"Here it comes." Hu Yulin narrowed his eyes, gazing into the distance, his tone especially complex: "It has finally arrived."

As his words fell, I saw all the Linghai Dragon Clan members present kneel, including the Linghai Dragon King.

While I was still stunned, Hu Yulin grabbed me and pulled me down into a crouch.

As he moved, his eyes remained fixed on the distant sea surface, holding his breath and focusing.

I followed his gaze as well.

At first, I only saw the shimmering ripples on the sea surface, thinking they were the Dragon Gate's reflection cast downward.

But as that light drew nearer, I finally saw clearly what it was… I snapped my gaze to Hu Yulin, heart guessing but not daring to confirm: "What is that?"

"Dragon Qi." Hu Yulin stared at me solemnly: "Xiao Jiu, Seventh Lord is preparing to ascend the Dragon Gate."

Indeed.

That was the Dragon Qi sent out from Longling, heading straight for the Dragon Gate.

Even before that Dragon Qi approached the Dragon Gate, the area around it was already boiling; countless fish leapt from the water surface, continuously tumbling and falling, so densely packed it made one's scalp tingle.

As for the frenzy beneath the sea surface, we cannot see it, but we can easily imagine it.

When that Dragon Qi touched the first pillar, it actually transformed into a transparent dragon, coiling upward from the pillar's base, mighty and unstoppable.

Then came the second, the third…

In the blink of an eye, the eight pillars were entwined with eight giant dragons formed from the Dragon Qi.

The eight giant dragons raised their heads in unison, gazing at the Dragon Gate's lintel.

Upon witnessing this magnificent, grand scene, everyone exclaimed in excitement and admiration.

Yet, for some unknown reason, when I saw those eight dragons all lift their heads toward the same spot, my heart began to pound.

This arrangement… is ruined!

I sprang to my feet; Hu Yulin couldn't even hold me back.

This is the formation of the Nine Dragons Coronation!

No wonder the Linghai Dragon Palace never dared to move the Pagoda Formation inside the forbidden ground, preferring to grit their teeth and sacrifice white dragon after white dragon, while the guardians in Longling's tomb remain unmoved no matter how chaotic the outside world becomes.

All the endurance and buildup have been waiting for this very moment.

Heaven's timing, earth's advantage, and human harmony—none can be lacking!

Now, the momentum of the Nine Dragons Coronation lacks only that one dragon head atop… Will it appear? When will it appear?

Who will it be?

What will it bring once it appears?

Everything remains unknown.

"Āyàn, come back!"

I can no longer worry about all that; I have a premonition that something bad is about to happen, and it is aimed at Liu Junyan.

But Liu Junyan only glanced back at me once, then signaled Hu Yulin with her eyes; Hu Yulin immediately seized my arm to prevent me from acting rashly.

My heart instantly turned cold; it seems that what will happen next, Liu Junyan roughly knows.

He will rise to meet the challenge.

At that moment, a rumbling roar came from beneath the water, shaking the entire ground.

Not long after, a bone-white bone ladder emerged from the sea, continuously extending toward the Dragon Gate.

At the same moment, a golden light shone down from the Dragon Gate's lintel, as if the whole world were instantly plated with a layer of Merit Light.

Splish… splish…

A burst of iron chain collisions sounded as they struck the water flow, and immediately we saw a tall man walking up step by step from Underwater.

He was about 1.9 meters tall, wearing a grayish-white robe, his head slightly bowed, one hand held palm-up before his chest, he was barefoot, with long iron chains attached to his ankles, and he stepped and knelt, moving upward along the bone ladder.

He seemed oblivious to the outside world, his whole person immersed in the atmosphere of pilgrimage.

At the moment this person appeared, I thought it was Dihuan coming out.

But I have seen Dihuan before, and the appearance of this person before me is obviously superior to Dihuan in every way.

Furthermore, under the Merit Light, I clearly saw two forked dragon horns growing on either side of this person's forehead!

That pair of dragon horns looked older than those of the Linghai Dragon King, and had more forks.

This indicates one thing: this person, who is currently engaged in "devout pilgrimage", is very likely a dragon whose cultivation surpasses that of the Linghai Dragon King!

Moreover, he emerged from the Pagoda Formation in the depths of the forbidden abyss, and his identity was all but revealed……He is the White Dragon!

Back then, he inadvertently cultivated Dībā pò, but thought he was ill, was hoodwinked by Dihuan, and nearly had his Dībā pò subjected to Body Seizure by Dihuan, the White Dragon.

But the next moment, I again realized that my speculation might not be rigorous.

Because when the man knelt again on the bone ladder and devoutly bowed down, the golden Merit Light shone through his body.

I don't know if I'm seeing things, but at that moment I seemed to see many things from his body…… The most striking was his entire spinal column, which, under the shroud of Merit Light, glowed with a translucent red, making me immediately think of cinnabar spirit bone!

And at his chest, several pieces of Golden Scale were tightly attached!

First, Merit Light is like a demon-revealing mirror, able to see through this person's body, which shows that he is not entirely solid.

Second, the seven pieces of Golden Scale that Liu Junyan had lost back then were given to him by Liu Mu.

Those were the seven pieces of heart-protecting armor that Liu Mu personally plucked from her own chest!

At this moment, four pieces have returned to the Ancient Bronze Sword, while the other three have left no trace.

We also once suspected that the remaining Golden Scale might be in the Linghai Forbidden Ground.

But we also felt that if they were there, Liu Mu should have noticed.

Now it seems we were just being overly presumptuous.

It's not that they aren't there; rather, someone has the ability to conceal the aura of the Golden Scale for their own use.

And this person is the White Dragon's Dībā pò stained by the bird!

So the one who walked out of the Pagoda Formation was not the White Dragon's true self, but his Dībā pò.

This Dībā pò uses an entire spinal column of cinnabar spirit bone to support its body, protects its heart vessels with three pieces of Golden Scale, and that heart beating in its chest…… originally did not belong to it!

So, in a certain sense, this…… is also a patchwork monster!