Chapter 218: Times Change, Worlds Shift

"You, let your spirit enter my Sea of Awareness and borrow my body to perform the technique?" Although Jiang Yu had learned the Mountain‑Moving Technique, which includes incantations and seals, it still requires intricate hand movements.

Jiang Tu's claws, after all, aren't human hands; even after practicing many times, the pinching can't be precise, "Will it damage your body?"

"Within a quarter of an hour there should be no obstacle, and I'm also by your side," Jiang Yu said. Since Jiang Tu rarely desires something, Jiang Yu will try to help it fulfill it.

Jiang Tu thought for a moment, then looked at the palace again with preference, "If you notice any anomaly, you must quickly seize back control of the body."

Jiang Yu nodded heavily, followed it back into the Dragon Pearl, and when she herself flashed out, the voice had already become Jiang Tu's: "Wow, Jiang Yu, having hands and feet feels so strange."

While speaking, the body actually seemed unsteady on its feet.

Jiang Yu's spirit, within the Sea of Awareness, said, "Just get used to it, begin."

After Jiang Tu adapted, he performed the hand‑pinching technique while chanting the incantation, and countless streams of water formed lines that tightly bound the entire palace.

"Rise!" With all his magical power unleashed, he shouted and pulled the palace.

As the rushing water cascaded down from the hall's ceiling, the palace buried in the mud began to be pulled out.

Jiang Tu—no, Jiang Yu—had a swollen, flushed face, and the spiritual energy in the dantian burst out instantly, "Ha!"

At the moment of a loud roar, the palace slowly rose out of the sludge, and the surroundings were filled with splashing murky water.

Jiang Yu stared around, guarding against sudden ambushes; fortunately, aside from them, no living creature had appeared.

Boom—

Jiang Tu used her body to execute the intricate Mountain‑Moving Technique; with a flick of her divine thought, the palace completely rose out of the mud and she flashed into the Dragon Pearl Space.

Thud—

When she finally hit the ground, Jiang Yu's body could no longer withstand the sudden drain of strength, and she instantly collapsed, several of her blood vessels rupturing.

Jiang Tu hurriedly flew out of her Sea of Awareness and returned control of the body.

Over there, the Dragon Soul, in an ice cave, saw the palace falling from the sky, opened its mouth wide and said, "It really happened; those two are truly reckless.

Others come in to snatch treasure, but they take an empty hall back.

Ah, no, that's not right; there are treasures inside the palace too, but once it leaves its original spot, the Demon Soul fears it can't be restrained.

When Jiang Tu returned to her own body, she heard its self‑talk, but Jiang Yu was still lying there bleeding, and Jiang Tu couldn't attend to a Dragon Soul.

"Jiang Yu, don't scare me."

"It's fine, I'm using spiritual energy to heal," Jiang Yu said, having regained control of her body, circulating water spiritual energy throughout.

Jiang Tu fetched a Rejuvenation Pill, Hemostatic Powder, and a Minor Restorative Pill, and forced them all down Jiang Yu's throat.

Jiang Yu was about to say it was redundant, but suddenly heard a sound outside the Dragon Pearl, "Someone?"

"Let's go," Jiang Tu carried her to beneath the Dragon Tablet; the two saw, just below the palace, a stream of black vapor rising, making the water plants rustle with a swishing sound.

Upon closer inspection, it wasn't black vapor at all but a demon with horns on its head, its form ethereal.

It stared with protruding large eyes, looked around, then furrowed its brows and chattered incoherently.

Jiang Yu: "Demon Race language? Do you understand it?"

"I don't, but a Dragon understands," Jiang Tu zipped to the ice cave and instantly brought the Dragon Soul back.

"See, I told you earlier, there's a Demon Soul trapped below.

But it was badly wounded before, now it's even weaker than me."

Ao You, using your spiritual fire to kill it would be easy, the Dragon Soul said, its words carrying a tone of encouragement.

Jiang Yu immediately said, "You may not go; the Dragon Pearl is concealed, and even if you follow the Demon Soul, you can't discern anything."

At this moment, the Demon Soul outside, eyes full of doubt, flew up onto the water's surface.

"We'll sneak into the place it emerged from and wait for a chance to ambush," Jiang Tu actually wanted to see if the Demon Soul's lair held treasures better than the palace.

"Be careful," Jiang Yu said, accelerating the refinement of medicinal power; the wound needed time to heal.

"Your nerve is truly bold; be sure to keep yourself safe. I, the king, am still waiting to go out of the cave realm with you."

"Speaking of fate, we're quite connected; my Dragon Bone was actually found by you," the Dragon Soul said with a hint of nostalgia, scanning the sparkling Dragon Bone encircled by a formation on the mountain side.

Jiang Yu gave it a puzzled look and asked, "Your previous cultivation level, was it the Transforming God stage?"

"Sort of."

"Why?"

"I failed to advance beyond the Transforming God stage, was rescued by a cultivator and made a contract; he died, and I died as well," the Dragon Soul recalled, a fierce light flashing in its eyes.

It glared at Jiang Yu, "On what grounds can you humans decide the life and death of my Yao Race?"

Jiang Yu replied calmly, "When the great ancient demons roamed, they also made contracts with humans; times have changed, and humans have simply become stronger."

"Even now in the Spirit Realm, there are probably high‑level Yao Race that capture low‑level cultivators as servants."

The Dragon Soul paused upon hearing that, because Jiang Yu was entirely correct; it fell silent and stared at the shifting scene on the Dragon Tablet.

It was evident this was a narrow passage leading to the Demon Soul, only wide enough for one person.

Jiang Tu's Dragon Pearl took up no space, so she quickly traversed the passage and fell into a dim underground cave dwelling.

There was a jade bed with a straw mat, a stone table and stool, and two bodies behind them; under the dim yellow moonstone, the dried blood on their bodies could be seen.

The two faces were turned downwards; Jiang Yu couldn't see clearly at first, but when Jiang Tu flashed out to inspect, she exclaimed, "Senior Brother Tang, Deng Yuanwu?"

"Jiang Tu, are they still alive?"

"They're alive; this cave has no defensive formation," Jiang Tu said, and as soon as the words left her mouth, Jiang Yu, bearing the pain, flashed out of the space.

Without a word, she swished, swished, swished, deploying the Huangquan Guest‑Receiving Formation; she intended to trap the demon—if she couldn't kill it, she'd at least imprison it and summon someone to slay it. "Jiang Tu, use a Great Restorative Pill to revive those two."

Jiang Tu was reluctant to heal Deng Yuanwu, "Do they accept restorative pills? One Great Restorative Pill costs fifty thousand spirit stones."

"Record it with a Retaining‑Image Stone; they'll repay," Jiang Yu replied; she's not a spendthrift, her pills were also purchased with merit points.

"They won't die for now; we'll rescue them later," Jiang Tu said, unwilling to part with the pills; Jiang Yu thought it indeed better to treat them later.

At this moment, the Dragon Soul shouted from within the Dragon Pearl, "Wait, wait, wait, first secure the treasure."

"What treasure? The ice crystal jade bed?"

One must wait until after subduing and killing the demon soul before it can be collected.

You have no physical body—has your brain become stupid?" Jiang Tu dislikes others calling him stupid, and seizes any chance to retaliate.

What's an ice bed? It's the tree root in that corner—that's soul‑nurturing wood; it might even be able to grow as living soul‑nurturing wood." The Dragon Soul Heart said, the demon soul actually hides in the soul‑nurturing wood—no wonder it's stronger than my own soul power.

Jiang Yu glanced over—it really is soul‑nurturing wood—but she shook her head at Jiang Tu, indicating it cannot be used for now.

The two had just finished laying out the great formation when Jiang Tu sensed an aura in the passage; he and Jiang Yu immediately concealed themselves.

After the demon soul descended, it lunged straight at the two behind the table; unable to discover why the palace had vanished, it felt the place was no longer safe and decided to move at once.

To move, it was best to take on a human form, so this time it abandoned Senior Brother Tang, turning into a wisp of demonic smoke that shot toward Deng Yuanwu's sea of consciousness.

But the next instant, a mass of spiritual fire came flying at it; as it panicked and tried to dodge, the two cultivators disappeared from sight.

This was Jiang Yu waving the command flag, shifting the formation to move the two out, and then unleashing countless flames that instantly shot toward the demon soul.