Chapter 145: Dragon Tears

"Jiang Yu, don't go down, wait for me at the entrance," Jiang Tu's voice came from the bottomless abyss, while Jiang Yu's body was already falling uncontrollably.

And at the same time, the steps behind her snapped shut with a click.

Jiang Yu's protective spirit light shield, which she had deliberately supported with water spirit energy, inevitably cracked under water pressure; fortunately, she was already accustomed to the quirks of her discarded artifacts and had prepared many Water‑repelling Pearls.

After hearing Jiang Tu's transmission and knowing he was temporarily safe, she calmly took out another Water‑repelling Pearl, infused it with spirit energy to form a water‑blocking layer around herself, and in her other hand grasped a set of seven Throwing Darts, ready for battle.

In fact, when a Water‑repelling Pearl goes downstream, it's truly effortless, but upstream it still encounters resistance.

Fortunately, as the bottomless abyss sank deeper, the water no longer behaved as before; it pushed upward with a strong force.

Instead, there was a deep, tranquil feeling, as if walking on the sea floor.

However, this state did not last long; Jiang Yu felt a powerful oppressive pressure that prevented her from taking another step.

"Jiang Tu, are you okay?" she floated up a few meters, escaped the mysterious pressure, and let most of her consciousness sink into the Sea of Awareness, communicating with Jiang Tu via a soul contract.

After a long while without a response from Jiang Tu, she began to worry, thinking she had become greedy, not wanting to have achieved nothing after so much time.

So she decided that even if she saw someone pick up a special Dragon Tear, she would dive in to try.

In her haste, she retrieved from her storage bag the defensive artifacts given by Sect Master Lin Quan and True Lord Fu Ju.

A purple jade pendant capable of withstanding three early‑stage Golden Core strikes, and a piece of sky‑blue silk known as Smoke‑woven Silk draped on her body; both are top‑tier defensive artifacts.

Relying on her superior spirit awareness at the same level, she activated both items; just as she was about to continue sinking, Jiang Tu's voice came: "Jiang Yu, you followed down?"

She carefully discerned the direction of the voice: "Where are you? Are you trapped by something?

I sense a very strong oppressive pressure, similar to that of Dragon King Ao Yuan, but far stronger than his."

"It's Dragon Might. Stay where you are and wait for me; under no circumstances get closer yourself, it could be lethal," Jiang Tu's voice grew tense.

"Alright, I won't move," Jiang Yu looked around; apart from endless currents and darkness, there was no other danger.

She waited only twenty breaths (each breath three seconds, i. e., sixty seconds), then heard the rush of water growing louder; while staying on guard, she hoped it was Jiang Tu appearing.

Fortunately, her spirit awareness reached the source of the sound, and indeed Jiang Tu was swimming toward her.

Jiang Yu swam toward him joyfully, "Jiang Tu."

But when only a few dozen meters remained between them, a massive Dragon Turtle the size of a millstone suddenly swiped a claw at her.

With a crack, the Water‑repelling Pearl's light shield shattered instantly, yet a burst of purple light and a thin cyan veil rose in succession, providing effective protection for her.

Although Jiang Yu's body wasn't struck, the massive impact destabilized her form and her vital energy churned.

At such close range, despite the splashing water, she saw the opponent's true form—it wasn't Jiang Tu.

So, when the foe raised its claw again, Jiang Yu without hesitation hurled seven Throwing Darts, aiming at its foreclaw, both eyes, and its lifted neck.

Moreover, she didn't merely use plain darts; the moment a dart touched the opponent's massive paw without piercing, she chose to detonate the dart simultaneously.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Amid several successive explosions, Jiang Yu also chose to retreat swiftly, lest she be caught in the blast.

She didn't expect that just after pulling back a few meters, the great Dragon Turtle in her spirit awareness had vanished completely amid the explosions.

Yet two meters to her right, that figure reappeared.

Jiang Yu's heart tightened; underwater combat hampered the effectiveness of fire talismans, and she dared not use Heavenly Thunder, so she only threw a Small Thunderball at the opponent.

Then, she herself was injured by the blast for being too close.

The frustrating thing was that the foe kept being destroyed and reappearing, and she, by continuously bombing, ended up hurting herself the most.

When the third Dragon Turtle emerged, Jiang Yu decided to activate a Water Escape Talisman to get away.

However, a familiar roar suddenly rang out: "You bastard, how dare you hurt my companion!"

Jiang Tu responded to the voice, swooshing through the water to the Dragon Turtle's front, and with a swipe the Turtle's form vanished.

As Jiang Yu retreated swiftly, it shouted, "You really are something—can't even recognize me now?"

Huh, that's really Jiang Tu.

"A momentary lapse, then I realized they were just phantoms, causing me to lose a set of darts," Jiang Yu said, noting she had almost used the Hundred‑mile Water Escape Talisman, which she had barely drawn two or three sheets of.

Jiang Tu swam close to her; with a thought, the two of them flashed into the Dragon Pearl Space, "We've entered the Dragon King's Dragon Domain, which triggered the seal."

"Dragon King? There's a Dragon Turtle underwater?" Jiang Yu lay before the Dragon Monument, drying the water off her body, contemplating unknown dangers behind, and had only removed the Purple Jade and Sky‑blue Silk defenses without putting them back into her storage bag.

Moreover, she realized that using anything to strike the storage bag each time wasted time, so she shifted some offensive and defensive artifacts onto the storage bracelet.

It was a silver bracelet her master had given her; she kept it together with two hundred thousand spirit stones inside a bamboo hut on a sub‑peak of the Year‑Start Peak.

She glanced at the Dragon Monument, saw the Dragon Pearl swimming in the water, and the little companion remained silent, so she sat beside it and asked, "Can the Dragon Pearl still fly today?"

Jiang Tu's expression was downcast: "I don't know; I just tested it and it rose, perhaps because this is the Dragon King's territory."

Jiang Yu patted its head, and after a short while on the Dragon Monument, she saw in the dim water outside a white Dragon Bone over a hundred meters long.

The long skeleton showed several broken vertebrae.

"It can form a protective Dragon Domain; its cultivation in life was considerable.

Unfortunately, it fell here unnoticed, shedding a Dragon Tear at death.

Jiang Yu, I want to take its Dragon Bone away; it's too pitiful here, otherwise there wouldn't be a Dragon Tear," Jiang Tu looked up at her, brushed his claw, and placed a Dragon Tear into her hand.

It was the same size as the one Brother Guo Jue had found.

"Decide as you wish; the Dragon Pearl Space can easily accommodate it," Jiang Yu didn't understand why it kept asking her.

Jiang Tu added, "The pressure it exerts is too great; after I move it into the Dragon Pearl, you won't be able to withstand the Dragon Might before forming your Golden Core."

"Never mind, I don't have to rely on the Dragon Pearl Space forever.

Look, the Spirit Sword Space is sufficient for me," she said, snatching the sword behind her.

At that moment, the blade trembled continuously; she tapped with two fingers, "Senior Xuan Hall, I brought you along to help each other, yet when danger arises you don't warn me—why the excitement now?"

"He can only eavesdrop on our conversation now; you go in and ask him, while I move the Dragon Bone inside.

Then I'll send you out," Jiang Tu had already made the arrangement.

Jiang Yu nodded, "Are you sure the Dragon King has no lingering soul? Don't let a rogue Dragon Soul appear and possess you."