Chapter 229
As the earth surged upward like a mountain, Baek-roe and Heuk-roe at the very front were swept away by the mound of soil.
Baek Cheong tried to make the puppets raise both arms and brace themselves, but the force surging up from below allowed no such resistance.
Bang!
Black soil and rocks burst out, sending Baek-roe flying dozens of zhang away.
Heuk-roe collided head-on with the yellowish scales, tearing away half its body.
Before the puppet, twisted nearly in half at the waist, could hit the ground, a long tail whipped sideways.
Crunch!
Baek-roe’s arms and legs scattered in every direction.
Heuk-roe also crashed into and brought down a stone wall before losing all movement.
‘My puppets!’
Suppressing the anger boiling inside her, Baek Cheong pulled Cheong-roe, Jeok-roe, and Geum-roe back.
Soil and stones rained against the Five Elements Shield wrapped around her entire body.
The earth that had surged upward showed no sign of sinking back down.
A massive creature rose, carrying a mound of soil on its back.
Its head alone was comparable in size to a small building.
Dozens of layers of yellowish teeth meshed and spun inside its round mouth.
Its segmented body was so long that its end could not be seen.
Most striking of all were the scales that covered it flawlessly from head to tail.
Soil and rocks were clumped together over every dark yellow scale, forming thick armor.
If the worms she had caught on the outskirts were insects crawling through the earth, the monster before her was closer to a dragon swimming through the soil.
‘So this is why it was the Earth Dragon’s dwelling?’
Baek Cheong spread her divine sense wide and gauged the Earth Dragon’s demonic qi.
Dense earth qi was surging through the Earth Dragon’s body like a river.
The flow extending from its demonic core spread through its scales and flesh into the surrounding earth.
While it remained underground, it seemed capable of drawing in the surrounding earth qi and recovering rapidly even after being wounded.
‘Early third tier.’
In terms of cultivators, it was a demonic beast equivalent to the Core Formation stage.
Even at the same third tier, demonic beasts were far more troublesome thanks to their innate bodies and powers; several Core Formation cultivators would have to join forces to hunt one.
As soon as the Earth Dragon rose upward, it twisted its body lengthwise.
Its rear segments emerged from the earth one after another, plowing through the spirit-herb field.
Thick roots that must have endured for tens of thousands of years snapped helplessly.
Amid the rain of stones and soil, its enormous head turned toward her.
At the same time, its round mouth opened wide.
Rooooar!
The cry sounded less like a beast and more like the earth collapsing.
Baek Cheong narrowed her eyes while holding the One-Star Sword upright before her.
‘If it’s only early third tier, I can handle it.’
Her three-layered core essence had reached the level of a half-step Core Formation cultivator in both quantity and quality.
She had the Five-Element Technique, several Great Perfection-level spells, Baekju, and the One-Star Sword, and only a few days ago she had corrected her disordered sword intent with the help of Sword Venerable Pacheon.
The Earth Dragon before her was the first suitable opponent she had encountered since honing her sword intent.
Perhaps sensing that something about her was unusual, the Earth Dragon did not charge straight at her.
It twisted its enormous body and drove its head downward.
It was trying to return underground and attack her.
‘Where do you think you’re going?’
The eight ice dragons circling above the spirit-herb field swelled to several times their size.
Four of them charged at the Earth Dragon’s nape.
The others wrapped around its head and front segments as they tried to reach the ground.
Crack-crack!
Blue ice pierced between the scales and seized the head just before it touched the ground.
When the Earth Dragon exerted its strength, two ice dragons burst apart from the body outward.
The scattered water qi was immediately sucked into the remaining ice dragons.
The Ice Dragon Shatter, which had reached Great Perfection, pulled at the Earth Dragon and slowed its descent back into the earth.
She could not hold it for long, but a single instant was enough.
‘Don’t let it return underground...’
Baek Cheong raised the Five-Element Banner in her left hand.
Its five-colored silks spread in every direction, deploying a formation across the earth.
At the same time, she rotated the Nine Palaces of the Heavenly Armor Formation Disc with her right hand.
She placed glyphs that bound the earth in the Kun Palace and overlaid glyphs that drew in the weight of mountains in the Gen Palace.
As the flow of the Eight Trigrams shifted, the formation extending from the Five-Element Banner joined with the formation of the Heavenly Armor Formation Disc.
This time, she did not forcibly draw power from the old formation beneath the spirit-herb field.
Using her spiritual energy and the Five-Element Banner as the source, she held only the surrounding earth in a narrow area.
Rumble-rumble-rumble.
The soft earth beneath the Earth Dragon’s head rapidly hardened.
The cracks closed and rose up, while the worm tunnels collapsed from every direction and became blocked.
The Earth Dragon ground away at the earth with its round teeth, but it could no longer push its body inside as before.
Only the soil around its head broke apart into dozens of chunks and flew outward.
After burrowing several times, it abruptly raised its body.
It seemed to have realized that its path back underground was blocked.
The head that had pushed away the eight ice dragons turned toward her again.
Yellowish earth qi swirled inside its round mouth.
Its rear segments bent sharply, then straightened all at once.
Bang!
The Earth Dragon charged forward so quickly that its enormous size was unbelievable.
The weeds and stone walls blocking its path exploded before it even touched them.
A long furrow was carved through the hardened earth, and the entire spirit-herb field shook from side to side.
“Fool.”
Baek Cheong pointed her right hand toward the hilt of the One-Star Sword.
The sword path she had repeatedly engraved from her mental image unfolded clearly.
The sword intent connecting a point to a line transformed a single star into a galaxy.
“You’re trapped.”
The spiritual energy contained in her three-layered core essence immediately poured into the sword blade.
She swept away all the power threatening to overflow, leaving behind only the intent to cut.
Star River One Line.
A galaxy extending from the sword pierced through the Earth Dragon’s mouth in a straight line all the way to its tail.
Krrr-shing!
A thin silver line appeared between the dark yellow scales.
The line passed through the head and body without breaking, continuing all the way to the tip of the tail.
The Earth Dragon did not even realize it had been cut and could not slow its charging speed.
Its enormous body, split apart from the mouth to both sides, swept past her on either side.
Rumble!
The Earth Dragon’s corpse plowed through the spirit-herb field behind her and slid dozens of zhang.
Dark red bodily fluid poured out like a waterfall, covering the surrounding soil and undergrowth.
Thanks to the defenses she had prepared in advance, the area around her alone remained a clean, round space.
The stones that flew toward her shattered, while the bodily fluid veered neatly around her.
Only after quite some time did the Earth Dragon’s tail strike the ground for the last time.
Its remaining segments twitched before losing all movement.
“Phew...”
Baek Cheong shook off the One-Star Sword and examined the Earth Dragon’s demonic core.
A third-tier demonic beast’s vitality was tenacious, but it could not withstand a wound that cleaved its head and body completely apart.
The earth qi flowing from its demonic core also scattered rapidly.
‘I got it.’
She had consumed a considerable amount of spiritual energy by unleashing Star River One Line at full power, but nearly half remained in her dantian.
Thanks to her sword path and sword intent returning to their proper places, she did not stagger after finishing the sword technique.
‘If Master had seen that, he would have said I did fine this time, right?’
Feeling a little proud, Baek Cheong floated the One-Star Sword beside her.
Before going to the Earth Dragon’s corpse, she approached the spirit herb with nine jade leaves.
Although the surrounding area had been overturned by the battle, the blue jade-colored leaves were completely unharmed.
The medicinal essence flowing along the leaf veins had not scattered, either.
Rather, as the earth qi beneath the soil dissipated, the medicinal essence gathered in the roots became even more distinct.
‘This is the real thing.’
If she pulled it out in haste, its fine roots could snap.
She took out a small jade shovel and began clearing the soil around the spirit herb.
While examining the flow of the roots and earth qi with her divine sense, she carefully located the transparent, jade-like rootlets one by one.
Beneath the lower sections of the shallow roots, an enormous amount of medicinal essence had clumped together like tiny beads.
Only after freeing the final rootlet from the soil did she carefully lift the stem.
The nine jade leaves chimed against one another with a clear sound.
‘I don’t know its name, but it must at least be a third-tier spirit herb, right?’
She took out a jade box capable of fully containing medicinal essence and placed the spirit herb inside along with the soil around its roots.
Using glyph talismans, she even carved a preservation formation into the lid to keep it from dying.
Only after placing the jade box inside her spatial dharma treasure did she look around again.
The area where the Earth Dragon had passed had been transformed into a battlefield.
The field ridges had collapsed, and the weeds had been overturned by their roots.
Countless holes left behind by fleeing scaled earthworms pocked the undergrowth.
Cheong-roe, Jeok-roe, and Geum-roe had escaped damage by retreating far away.
Baek Cheong also searched through the mound of soil and gathered the fragments of Baek-roe and Heuk-roe.
Their broken limbs and crushed torsos seemed as though they could be repaired if she brought them to Yuk-muk.
‘The repair bill is going to be pretty steep.’
At least, collecting the demonic core and scales of a third-tier Earth Dragon would more than make up for the loss.
While the remaining puppets removed the demonic core and usable scales, Baek Cheong turned her gaze toward the depths of the spirit-herb field.
Her divine sense could not extend beyond sixty zhang.
Moreover, the earth qi rising from underground and the tangled undergrowth confused her senses repeatedly.
But with her naked eyes, she could see the green stretching into the seemingly endless distance.
Beyond the undergrowth, a plant resembling a massive wisteria rose high into the sky.
Thick stems coiled around one another as they climbed, forming an enormous canopy.
A single gourd hung among the drooping vines.
Its surface alternated between pale golden and purple light.
Even from a distance, it was clearly no ordinary heaven-and-earth spirit.
‘What on earth is that?’
Baek Cheong unconsciously took half a step forward.
The gourd hanging from the wisteria might be an opportunity even more precious than the Heavenly Armor Formation Disc.
The temptation to go there and return just once tickled at the back of her mind.
However, the distance to the wisteria was far too great.
She would have to travel hundreds of zhang, not merely dozens.
Since an early third-tier Earth Dragon had appeared here, there was a high chance that a fourth-tier Earth Dragon inhabited the depths.
She could not even guarantee there was only one, and if she was unlucky, a late fourth-tier or even fifth-tier Earth Dragon might be guarding the spirit herb.
Fourth tier was the realm of a demon king equivalent to the Nascent Soul stage.
Even a grand cultivator who had reached quasi-fifth tier, like Profound Void Perfected Person, would have difficulty confronting one recklessly.
If it was a fifth-tier demon sovereign, she would not even get the chance to flee after encountering it.
Of course, she had the sword fragment Sword Venerable Pacheon had given her.
The sealed sword strike was powerful enough to cut through a Nascent Soul cultivator regardless of their cultivation level and inflict a fatal wound even on a Soul Transformation cultivator.
But the sword fragment would shatter after a single use.
Even if it cut down one fourth-tier Earth Dragon, it would be unable to stop a second and third from appearing.
And if a fifth-tier demon sovereign was guarding the gourd, she could not even be certain that the sword fragment would hit its target.
She also remembered her master’s warning not to leap into danger relying on the sword fragment.
‘I’m outnumbered.’
She withdrew both her thoughts and her steps from the gourd.
The gourd was tempting, but she was not desperate enough to stake her life on it.
She had already obtained the Heavenly Armor Formation Disc and more than twenty jade boxes of spirit herbs.
Having also collected the demonic core and scales of a third-tier Earth Dragon, she had more than enough spoils to take from these ruins.
It would be far more wasteful to let greed make her die and leave everything behind.
‘I can become stronger and come back someday.’
The spirit herb would not suddenly disappear merely because she could not take it now.
If the ruins had endured for tens of thousands of years, there was a high chance they would remain until she reached a higher cultivation realm.
Once she had made up her mind, she did not leave any lingering regrets behind.
She placed the three puppets and the fragments of the two damaged puppets inside her spatial dharma treasure.
She also immediately recalled the Five-Element Banner and the Heavenly Armor Formation Disc.
The commotion caused by unleashing Star River One Line at full power and the Earth Dragon’s rampage must have reached the depths.
She had to get out before a fourth-tier Earth Dragon sensed the demonic qi of the corpse and came looking.
‘Let’s hurry.’
Baek Cheong quickly retreated toward the outskirts of the spirit-herb field.
Whenever she sensed a faint tremor underground, she took a wide detour.
She no longer felt any desire to follow the vibrations in search of spirit herbs as she had before.
The farther she went, the weaker the earth qi became, and the undergrowth gradually grew shorter.
Fortunately, there was no sign of anything pursuing her from the depths.
‘Isn’t it coming out?’
Even so, she did not slow her pace.
She moved along the outskirts, searching for the place connected to the Flood Dragon’s dwelling.
The Flood Dragon glyph that had appeared along the edge of the Heavenly Armor Formation Disc was clearer than before.
The flows of water and wind repeatedly lit up and went dark, as though Profound Void Perfected Person was touching the formations.
‘I really need to hurry.’
The Earth Dragon’s dwelling seemed to consist of nothing but an endless spirit-herb field, but dark yellow stone walls were hidden around its outskirts.
Thick roots and moss covered the walls, making it possible to recognize them as artificial structures only after drawing near.
After circling along the stone wall for more than half an hour, Baek Cheong discovered a pattern resembling the Flood Dragon’s claw.
When she brought the Heavenly Armor Formation Disc close, the wall opened, revealing a damaged teleportation formation.
The heaven-and-earth and Heavenly Dao glyphs were broken in several places, while the jade plates bearing the law glyphs had been mixed into the wrong positions.
The outer ring indicating the destination was engraved with water, wind, horns, and claws.
‘This really is the Flood Dragon’s dwelling.’
Baek Cheong restored the broken glyphs with her fingertips, then slid the law-glyph jade plates one after another.
Click.
When the final jade plate locked into place, the tangled strokes connected, and the teleportation formation regained its complete form.
Even after examining the inside and outside of the repaired teleportation formation, she saw no formation pattern leading to a trap, and the flow of the path back was also intact.
She could not know what might happen in the Earth Dragon’s dwelling if she delayed.
She took out a high-grade spirit stone from her spatial dharma treasure and inserted it into the socket in the center.
Dense spiritual energy rapidly circled the edge of the teleportation formation.
The heaven-and-earth glyphs gave off a blue light, while the Heavenly Dao glyphs were dyed gold.
When silver light spread from the law glyphs, the surrounding space rippled like a wave.
‘Just in case...’
Baek Cheong prepared for any possibility by wrapping herself in the Five Elements Shield and floating the One-Star Sword close at hand.
She also held the Heavenly Armor Formation Disc against her chest so she could check the surrounding formations as soon as she arrived at the Flood Dragon’s dwelling.
Before long, the sensation beneath her feet disappeared, and silver light swallowed her body.
***
As soon as she arrived at the Flood Dragon’s dwelling, an enormous gate filled her field of vision.
The gate, made of blue jade and golden metal, stood dozens of zhang tall.
A Flood Dragon rising through the clouds was carved into each of the two doors.
Every scale contained a small formation glyph, while the claws and horns were densely encircled by layers of Heavenly Dao glyphs.
The magnificent gate was tightly shut without a single visible gap.
And Profound Void Perfected Person was pacing in front of it.
With his sleeves rolled up, Profound Void Perfected Person examined the gate and floor in turn.
His robe, covered in all kinds of glyphs, was smeared with dirt in several places, and even his beard was more disheveled than usual.
He drew a formation glyph with his fingertip and pushed it into the gate, but when nothing happened, he stamped his foot in frustration.
It was a rare sight to see a quasi-fifth-tier formation master fidgeting so anxiously.
‘So he was stuck here.’
When Baek Cheong stepped off the teleportation formation, Profound Void Perfected Person turned his head.
His face, twisted with bewilderment, immediately brightened.
“Cheong-ah!”
Profound Void Perfected Person approached her with delight, but stopped when he saw the teleportation formation behind Baek Cheong fading away.
His gaze moved back and forth between Baek Cheong and the teleportation formation, mingling joy with puzzlement.
“But how did you get in here?”