As they cautiously traversed the cavern, they came to a downward passage. Mo Rong exclaimed in surprise, stopping before the passage and reaching out to touch something in the air. Jiang Tang boldly took a step forward, only to bump his head against an invisible wall. A transparent door blocked their path.
Mo Rong clicked her tongue in admiration as she fumbled around on the door. After a moment, she muttered to herself, calculating the directions.
“Li, Kan, Xun, Dui.” Following the words she was saying, she pressed the door on the right, left, lower left, and lower right sides. A creaking sound came from above, and the transparent crystal door was lifted up.
The sound of rushing water came from the depths of the cave, which was an enormous stalactite cavern. Even the golden light released by Lei Hun could not fully illuminate it; all that could be seen was the winding stone path in the center, with clear underground river water on both sides.
"So beautiful." Gazing at this masterpiece of nature's artistry, Mo Rong couldn't help but exclaim, while Jiang Tang's mind raced with ideas on how to make a living using this giant stalactite cave. However, Li Jun and Lei Hun felt the ever-present pressure grow even stronger.
"Hurry up, there's no time for sighs." Tu Longziyun seemed unusually excited, feeling his blood being summoned by an inexplicable power, constantly boiling. He was the first to stride forward, with Lei Hun and Mo Rong following closely behind, while Jiang Tang quietly sandwiched himself in the middle.
"Whether there's danger in front or behind, it can't harm me," Jiang Tang thought smugly, winking at Li Jun behind him.
An invisible pressure made Li Jun shudder. He gripped his short sword tightly and looked around warily. But he couldn't see anything, so he had no choice but to quicken his pace.
The group practically jogged forward, and gradually the glowing cave entrance shrank and disappeared. They felt as if they were walking in complete darkness, unable to see the sky above, the ground below, or any horizon in any direction. This boundless feeling made Jiang Tang, who was still unsure of the purpose of their journey, begin to mutter to himself again.
"Where are we?" he asked Li Jun. "We can't see anything. This deal is going to be difficult."
“I don’t know any more than you do.” Li Jun was already used to Jiang Tang using business analogies to describe his situation. “Hurry up and leave, or you might as well be at the very back.”
Jiang Tang immediately quickened his pace, chuckling as he said, "I'm not afraid of being behind you. I'm only standing in front of you to protect you."
Finally, a faint light appeared ahead, and Jiang Tang cheered, but was quickly stopped by Lei Hun's stern gaze. Tu Long Zi Yun raised his shield and charged towards the light first.
The light was coming from another hole.
Li Jun finally entered the narrow ascending passage. When Jiang Tang, who was standing in front of him, poked his head out of the passage into the brightly lit outside, he let out a strange cry that Li Jun had never heard before.
"What's wrong? Did you see a ghost?"
Li Jun kicked him. He felt the powerful force that had been oppressing his mind coming from outside the tunnel. But he already knew there was no turning back, so he teased Jiang Tang. At the same time, he heard Lei Hun start praying loudly.
Li Jun pushed Jiang Tang, who was trying to pull back, out of the passageway. Only then did he realize that something was emitting light that illuminated the outside.
This was a hall over two hundred feet long, with the center piled high with glittering treasures, including legendary luminous pearls, red coral over seven feet tall, snow-white jade, large diamonds shimmering with seven colors, and a large number of other things that Li Jun couldn't name.
But these were not enough to attract Li Jun's attention. His eyes were focused on a white jade bed in the middle of the jewelry, on which a red dragon was coiled!
The roar, like thunder from the heavens, shook the entire hall. Li Jun could hardly believe that the dragon on the white jade bed could make such a loud noise. It seemed that the dragon was not as huge as the dragons in the legends, but that was enough. Who would want to face a living dragon?
"Who is it? Who is it? Who disturbed my recovery?" After the dragon's roar ended, it suddenly spoke in human language. Li Jun was not surprised by this; legend has it that dragons can transform into human form, so it was not surprising that they could speak human language.
"Hand over the Immortal's Staff, and I'll spare your life."
Lei Hun's voice pierced Li Jun's ears like steel needles. Jiang Tang's knees buckled, and he knelt on the ground, trembling as he pleaded, "Dragon... Dragon God, it's not my fault! This deal... this deal is theirs... Spare me..."
The red dragon's jade-like eyes didn't even glance at him; its gaze was entirely focused on Lei Hun's thin and pale face. It noticed the golden light emanating from Lei Hun and was quite surprised.
"The Immortal's Staff is over there." The red dragon nodded, gesturing towards the pile of treasure. Lei Hun caught a glimpse of a staff peeking out from among the treasure, but he didn't focus all his attention on it.
"Mr. Long, so our Yue people's treasure, the Gongshu Hammer, is also with you?" Mo Rong asked, mustering her courage. Although she had prepared herself for danger, any human would be afraid of a dragon.
"Here I am." The red dragon roared again, "Greedy people, come here and pay the price for disturbing me."
"Really?" Tu Longziyun was so excited that his blood seemed to be boiling. He showed the emblem on his shield to the red dragon. "Take a closer look and see who will pay the price."
"Dragon Slayer!" The red dragon's roar turned into a raging howl. It raised its forebody, and all the scales under its neck stood on end. Tu Long Ziyun knew that those were the legendary reverse scales, the most fatal spot for dragons.
Lei Hun and the others, who did not have the blood of the Dragon Slayer, felt very differently from the Dragon Slayer Ziyun. When a dragon raises its scales, it is actually demonstrating its power to its opponent and unleashing the powerful mental magic "Dragon's Wrath". People with little courage may even go mad and die under the coercion of this magic.
Lei Hun chanted incantations loudly, and the golden light blocked part of the dragon's fury, but the magic power that penetrated the golden light still made the four people's hearts pound wildly. Jiang Tang almost collapsed to the ground, unable to move anymore.
"What...what should we do?" Mo Rong asked, trembling.
“Kill it.”
"So... you came to kill a dragon..." Li Jun said with a wry smile, trying to hide his fear. "Alright, then let's fight the dragon."
Despite his words, Li Jun had absolutely no confidence in how to fight the dragon. Even the dragon-slaying bloodline of Tu Longziyun and the dragon-slaying techniques that hadn't been practiced for dozens of generations were probably insufficient to deal with this red dragon. It was truly a headache.
Chapter Four: Invincible General
Section 1
"Very good, very good!" The dragon's roar shook the hall, and the power of its rage formed a strong spiritual energy that filled the entire air. The pressure was like eternal darkness, swallowing everyone up.
Tu Longziyun was the one least affected by the Dragon's Fury. Even outside the golden light of the Thunder Soul, the bloodline of the Tu Long clan was enough to make him immune to the Dragon's Fury. He could almost feel his blood boiling, and his body was beyond his control.
How many generations did it take for the Dragon Slayer to wait for a true dragon?
Tu Long Ziyun had no time to ponder these matters; the red dragon's claws were raised high. It wasn't a giant dragon, but compared to a human, it was large enough to swallow a person whole. Tu Long Ziyun lunged towards the enormous white jade bed, meeting the dragon's claws head-on.
A storm arose from between the red dragon's claws. Violent air currents swirled between its claws, coalescing into a howling whirlwind. At the same time, the red dragon's body soared into the air. Unlike the dragons of Xiguang Ezhou, the dragons of Zhongping Shenzhou did not have wings, but they could still fly using their powerful spiritual energy.
A storm, as if brought to life, swept from the red dragon's claws towards the group. Tu Long Ziyun used his shield to protect himself, but was still caught in the storm. Lei Hun quickly stepped forward and enveloped Tu Long Ziyun in golden light. The storm had no effect on this invisible barrier; it could only futilely circle the golden light, gradually turning into a small wisp of air before disappearing. Only the scattered jewels on the ground testified to what had happened there.
The red dragon took a deep breath and spewed flames at those rapidly approaching it. The flames were so powerful they seemed capable of melting metal. Lei Hun pointed a finger and uttered a "Hurry!" A blue light spread out in front of everyone, forming a water curtain that blocked the flames.
Tu Longziyun bypassed the turbulent water and fire directly in front of him and rushed towards the red dragon. Lei Hun was focused on testing his spiritual power with the red dragon. Li Jun kicked the trembling Jiang Tang and commanded, "Shoot the dragon's eyes!"
Jiang Tang's hands trembled as he grasped the bow, but he couldn't nock an arrow no matter what he tried. Li Jun stamped his feet in frustration. The red dragon, noticing that Tu Long Zi Yun was close by, stopped spewing flames and slammed its claw into Tu Long Zi Yun's shield, the immense force sending Tu Long Zi Yun tumbling to the ground.
Freed from the pressure of the flames, Lei Hun shouted at Li Jun, "Go help him!" Then he began chanting incantations, casting various magical defenses on Tu Long Zi Yun.