Chapter 858

However, the situation did not develop in the direction that Liu Junyan and Xiao Jiu had analyzed.

Liu Junyan did not manage to intercept the primordial spirit of that ancient great demon.

The Linghai Dragon Clan was tightly sealed inside and out like an iron barrel, especially the Linghai Forbidden Ground side, where Zhong Susu had set up several protective formation arrays, and there was never any sign of intrusion.

Xiao Jiu dove down beneath the Linghai Forbidden Ground.

She saw that on Little Old Three's back, turtle shells were stacked layer by layer into a tower shape, already eight layers, and it was proceeding toward the ninth layer.

Liu Junyan had said that if Little Old Three could bear a nine-layer tower, it would already be quite an impressive existence.

But just then, Xiao Jiu discovered that Little Old Three's body had been continuously sinking.

As the ninth layer slowly took shape, Little Old Three's entire dragon tortoise body had already been buried underground, as if it wanted to merge with the earth veins, leaving only the nine-layer tower on its back standing upright in the Linghai Forbidden Ground.

Meanwhile, Liu Junyan did not wait for the ancient great demon's primordial spirit; instead, she felt a surge of murderous qi in the earth veins, as if it were rushing toward the Linghai Forbidden Ground.

This is extremely abnormal.

Logically speaking, even if a remnant of the earth's evil qi remained in the earth veins, it should have flowed toward Suedi.

It is obvious that all of this is aimed at Little Old Three.

At the same time, Xiao Jiu also discovered it.

A faint murderous qi lingered within the Linghai Forbidden Ground, and alarm bells immediately rang.

What's more frightening, Hui Moqiong hastily contacted Liu Junyan and Xiao Jiu, having found some information about the Dragon Shadow Society.

As for this so-called Dragon Shadow Society, no one knows how many members it actually has.

They appear and disappear without trace, spread across the whole country; the vast majority of them are exhausting themselves searching for heavenly treasures and earthly riches to offer to the 'Dragon God', but another small fraction exists that is quite special.

They might number only a dozen or so, guarding a single location for up to a hundred years; when they disappear, that place leaves behind a tower.

Such towers might be on mountaintops or under ponds, possibly just a single layer, or possibly four or five layers……

Time was too short, and the useful information Hui Moqiong could gather was extremely limited; even if he immediately asked Fang Chuanzong for help, he could only pinpoint three small towers.

These three small towers share a common feature: the top of each tower bears the same totem—a dragon tortoise.

Upon receiving the news, Xiao Jiu and Liu Junyan immediately went to inspect those three small towers.

Of these three small towers, two are on mountains and one is at the bottom of a pond.

The small tower at the pond's bottom has only a single layer; without sheer chance, it would never be noticed.

As for the two small towers on the mountains, one has four layers and the other five.

After hastily examining the three small towers, Xiao Jiu felt uneasy all over.

She felt that something was off, but she couldn't piece it together at once.

Obviously, Liu Junyan had the same feeling.

Not long after returning, Liu Junyan suddenly said, 'I need to go take another look; although these towers differ in number of layers, whether in appearance or material, they are far too similar to the tower on our Little Old Three's back……'

Before Liu Junyan could finish speaking, Xiao Jiu widened her eyes and said, 'Exactly, those towers are basically the same as the one on Little Old Three's back; if nothing unexpected happens, there must surely be a dragon tortoise body pressed beneath each of these three towers, fused with the earth veins, drawing in the surrounding evil qi to keep the region safe.'

Xiao Jiu's speculation was soon confirmed.

Liu Junyan and Hui Moqiong respectively discovered, in the two mountains and at the pond's bottom, dragon tortoise bodies that had merged with the earth veins yet still retained discernible shape!

Liu Junyan placed her hands on each of the three towers in turn, sensing whether the primordial spirit of the dragon tortoise bodies still remained.

The sole exception—none of them were still present.

The matter instantly became crystal clear.

Once, in the vast river of ages, dragon tortoise bodies like Little Old Three's had appeared.

They dwelled quietly in a mountain range or a water vein, cultivating in obscurity.

Due to differences in innate talent and postnatal environment, the heights they could reach varied.

Without exception, when they had fully formed, their primordial spirit was extracted, leaving only an empty shell bearing the imprint of a dragon tortoise totem.

Who is the culprit who extracted their primordial spirits?

Why did he extract these primordial spirits?

It becomes clear without needing to think too much.

Those primordial spirits were all devoured by that ancient great demon of Suedi.

'Perhaps at first he did not simply want to devour those primordial spirits,' Xiao Jiu said. 'He was sealed beneath the waters of Suedi, hoping to use others' primordial spirits to merge with his own, achieve primordial spirit invasion and fusion with a new host to gain rebirth—but unfortunately, dragon tortoise bodies are inherently rare, and the heights they can attain are quite limited, so that ancient great demon has never succeeded; failing, he instead devoured those primordial spirits to aid his own cultivation.'

'If nothing unexpected happens, Little Old Three is currently undergoing this process.'

Hui Moqiong puzzled: 'But he still hasn't shown up—how did he act against Little Old Three?'

The Linghai Forbidden Ground is now so sealed that not even a fly can get in.

'We were mistaken earlier,' Liu Junyan said. 'He doesn't need to rush out or act personally, for Little Old Three, upon entering this world, is destined to bear the duty of suppressing the earth veins' murderous qi; and before that, all the murderous qi in the earth veins of China had surged toward that ancient great demon's palace, which he was forced to bear.'

Xiao Jiu nodded: 'So he tried every means to prematurely extract his own primordial spirit, letting his true body enter dormancy; meanwhile, Little Old Three is rapidly growing, and the murderous qi flows back toward Little Old Three.'

"Holy shit, this thing is really damn!" Hui Moqiong cursed, muttering, "Little Old Three is currently in a semi-mature state, the weakest period; what if he can't hold up?"

Xiao Jiu's eye sockets were a bit red, and she couldn't go on.

Liu Junyan was surprisingly calm: "If he can't hold up, his primordial spirit unstable, that's actually a great opportunity for the primordial spirit of that ancient great demon to invade and devour Little Old Three's primordial spirit; once his primordial spirit becomes strong enough, returning to his true form, perhaps one day he could successfully transcend the tribulation and ascend to become a true 'Dragon God' is not impossible."

By then, what remains deep in the Linghai Forbidden Ground will be only Little Old Three's remains fused with the earth's veins, and the nine-story tower bearing the 'Dragon Turtle' totem mark.

But in fact, without this 'Dragon Turtle' totem seal, these towers and remains would have long turned to dust, buried deep in the river of history.

The reason that ancient great demon gave them the mark to seal and keep them is…… because…… to him, these are nothing but spoils of war……