Chapter 789: Side Story 4: 26

Square Transmission Sect's underlings pulled up a cordon from afar; everyone was placed under supervision, not allowed to cross the cordon.

After Xiao Jiu ran a distance, she again saw a bolt of lightning strike toward the direction of Laojing.

After another bout of earth-shaking and mountain-swaying, a steady trickle of water began to seep out from beneath the ground.

Xiao Jiu was startled, instantly transformed into her phoenix form, spread her wings and flew high, looking down from above.

Upon seeing this, Xiao Jiu was startled.

She saw that Laojing had a history of at least three hundred years.

More than five years ago, Laojing had already endured many heavenly thunderbolts, undergone such a change, and today it was struck again and again by lightning, yet its mouth surprisingly did not collapse.

The rim of Laojing was carved all around with runes, which at this moment were flashing a bewitching light.

Radiating outward from Laojing in all directions were dense cracks.

Water was surging out wildly from those cracks.

Farther away lay a river.

Initially, Suedi suffered multiple riverbank breaches, nearly flooding the entire city.

A scene from history seemed about to repeat itself.

This also suffices to show that Suedi's fundamental problem was never thoroughly resolved more than five years ago.

Yet the entire water system did not completely collapse; back then it was thanks to the old turtle, and over the past five-plus years it has been thanks to Liu Junyan!

The reason Xiao Jiu dared to draw such a decisive conclusion is because she saw that within the mouth of Laojing, a brilliant Golden Light was emanating.

She was all too familiar with this Golden Light.

That Golden Light could only be emitted by Liu Junyan's Golden Scale, and Xiao Jiu could sense that familiar aura.

Xiao Jiu attempted to descend.

She wanted to fall into Laojing to verify with her own eyes whether beneath the well lay Liu Junyan's true self or merely a fragment of his Golden Scale.

But before Xiao Jiu could descend, another bolt of lightning fell again.

Xiao Jiu made a quick turn and swiftly dodged.

Had her movement been just a bit slower, she would have been struck by that lightning just moments ago.

Xiao Jiu steadied herself, looked downward again, and discovered that the water spraying from those ground fissures was tinged with blood in places, turned black in others, and continuously expelled black vapor.

Xiao Jiu suddenly realized.

These lightning bolts were aimed at the filth beneath and around Laojing.

And Liu Junyan, or perhaps his Golden Scale, was desperately guarding Laojing.

Laojing is the node of a fractured Dragon Vein branch, and it is a formation.

Or more precisely, Laojing is the Zhènyǎn guarding that node.

Laojing must not be broken.

Once Laojing is broken, all living beings within a radius of hundreds of miles will suffer devastation.

Next, the adjacent Branch Vein would suffer an impact……

The old turtle's unfinished business from back then was entrusted to Liu Junyan.

But how is Liu Junyan supposed to accomplish that?

He could guard Laojing with a fragment of his Golden Scale, but the scale's Mana would eventually run out, and then what would become of Suedi?

Unless…… Liu Junyan has the ability to repair this Branch Vein!

Thinking this through, Xiao Jiu was again startled by her own bold idea.

Does Liu Junyan have the ability to repair the Dragon Vein Branch?

Xiao Jiu dared not be certain, but she realized one thing: these repeated tectonic tremors were surely related to that Branch Vein.

If the break in the Branch Vein were about to collapse, it would surely come with overwhelming force.

Even if Liu Junyan were directly below blocking it, it would not be as relatively stable as it is now.

Then, is it possible that each tectonic movement is actually this Branch Vein slowly repairing itself?

The old turtle guarded it for so many years, yet the break in the Branch Vein showed no sign of repair, but after Liu Junyan took over merely five-plus years later, the Branch Vein began to slowly heal?

If that is truly the case, then over these past five-plus years, how much blood, sweat, and effort has Liu Junyan devoted to this matter?

No matter what, Xiao Jiu wanted to do something.

She wanted to help Liu Junyan!

Just as Xiao Jiu stared at the surroundings of Laojing, studying those fissures, to the west a sheet of water suddenly surged skyward.

All surrounding sounds instantly seemed to be paused, everything fell silent.

Immediately afterward, Xiao Jiu saw the surging water rolling toward Laojing.

Its speed was so great that it induced a sudden, inexplicable feeling of suffocation.

Xiao Jiu's gaze followed that wave forward a bit, then suddenly she narrowed her eyes and turned her gaze toward the distant river surface.

Something had been brought up from the river water by that very wave!

Xiao Jiu immediately spread her wings and flew toward that direction.

Before she had flown far, she felt a biting chill assail her, piercing straight into her bones.

In the blink of an eye, the river surface was covered with a layer of dead fish.

Those dead fish, while still intact when they floated up, instantly rotted and sank again the next moment.

As the water gradually receded, a group of people walked out from the river.

In the night, a heavy rain fell; the sky was too dark.

At first it wasn't very clear, but Xiao Jiu's eyesight was good enough to discern that they were several people carrying something on their shoulders.

Those few people walked with a certain stiffness; each step came down heavily, kicking up a spray of water.

As they drew nearer, the surrounding temperature kept dropping, and the raindrops seemed to freeze instantly.

They got a little closer, and Xiao Jiu finally saw clearly.

That was a walking corpse, also called a walking corpse.

As the name suggests, these things are zombies that can walk like humans.

They neither hopped nor jumped, walking step by step with heavy yet uniform steps.

And what they carried on their shoulders was, surprisingly, a bronze coffin!

Over the past few years, Xiao Jiu had seen too many zombies; she had even fought higher‑rank ones like the long‑white‑haired and golden‑haired beasts, so these eight mere walking corpses meant nothing to her.

A handful of Nirvana fire could burn them to charcoal.

But the key is whether the bronze coffin they carry on their shoulders holds a more powerful zombie.

They emerged from the river amidst heavenly thunder—but why?

Would acting rashly backfire?

Xiao Jiu kept her eyes on the line of walking corpses, constantly watching the movements around Laojing, her mind torn.

No matter what, we must not let that bronze coffin get near Laojing!

Xiao Jiu thought, if they came any closer and there was no other choice, she would have to strike first.

But she hadn't expected that, at that very moment, another group of people would appear from nowhere and rush straight toward the bronze coffin.

These people were clearly cultivators, quite skilled, and with one move they killed two of the walking corpses.

The bronze coffin wobbled, then was steadied again.

That group immediately split into two teams—one to kill the walking corpses, the other to attack the bronze coffin directly.

After one round of attacks, two more walking corpses fell.

The remaining four were obviously struggling to support the coffin's weight, each step forward becoming especially difficult.

At that moment, the few people attacking the coffin had already braced themselves against its lid; at a command, they all pulled on the ropes in their hands, dragging the lid backward.

With a boom, the coffin lid was pulled open a crack, and a gush of blood light shot up into the sky…