The disastrous defeat of the first suppression campaign back then was precisely the key to the evil flood dragon’s rise to fame and the reason no one dared to touch Evil Dragon Pool afterward.
The saying “strike while the iron is hot; once the momentum fades, it weakens” applies perfectly here.
“Nearly wiped out. The sole survivor had his Dao heart shattered and went insane. He must have witnessed something during the suppression that completely overturned his understanding.”
Lin Que stroked his chin in thought. At the time of the campaign, the flood dragon’s cultivation had only been at the late Nascent Soul stage. In a direct confrontation, there was no way it could have defeated a team backed by a peak Nascent Soul expert. Even if it relied on poisonous miasma to stall and maneuver, it would still have been extremely difficult to annihilate a force of that scale.
“Did the flood dragon possess some kind of soul-attacking technique… or was there a problem within the team itself?”
In the cultivation world, methods that directly target the soul were relatively rare. Most originated from the Western Region, such as gu poison or illusion arts. For an evil flood dragon of the Eastern Region, acquiring such techniques would not have been easy.
That made internal betrayal an even more plausible explanation. It was possible that someone within the group, motivated by personal gain or ulterior motives, had defected at a critical moment and turned on the others. Such treachery would explain why the lone survivor’s Dao heart shattered and his mind broke. He had been witness to the betrayal of his own comrades.
As for what the Little Demon had said, that the dangers within Evil Dragon Pool were not limited to a single flood dragon….that was equally unsettling. Did that mean there was more than one dragon in the pool? Or were there other lurking threats… such as the traitor from that suppression team, still hiding within Evil Dragon Pool to this day?
Lin Que considered the worst-case scenario. If both possibilities were true, then what he might have to face would not be just one flood dragon, but perhaps an entire brood of them, along with one or even several malicious cultivators.
Their cultivation might be at peak Nascent Soul… or perhaps they had already broken through to the Soul Transformation stage.
If that were the case… the difficulty would be far higher than originally anticipated.
Lin Que frowned and raised his right hand.
In the firelight, his broad palm opened. Then his long, strong fingers slowly curled into a fist before gradually loosening again. The tremor from before was clearly much less noticeable now.
“One strike should be fine.”
Lin Que sat down cross-legged and began to regulate his breathing, steadying his state of mind.
Another night passed.
Morning.
Lin Que exhaled a turbid breath and opened his eyes, withdrawing from his meditative state. He rose to his feet, just about to call for Jiang Moqing, only to find that she was already standing behind him.
“Junior Brother, let’s set out,” Jiang Moqing said.
“Mm.”
Lin Que nodded, then looked at her with slight curiosity. “Senior Sister, did you not sleep well last night?”
Though subtle, there was indeed a trace of weariness in Jiang Moqing’s eyes. It didn’t seem like physical fatigue, but rather a kind of mental exhaustion.
After all, in terms of physique alone, a cultivator at peak Nascent Soul could go without sleep for a month and still remain full of energy….unless something was weighing on their mind.
Hearing Lin Que’s concern, Jiang Moqing’s gaze flickered. She seemed a little guilty and avoided meeting his eyes, merely shaking her head lightly.
“I’m fine.”
“Alright.”
Since she was unwilling to say more, Lin Que did not press the matter. Before setting out, he gathered the information he had obtained from the Little Demon the previous night and went over it once with Jiang Moqing.
“More than one flood dragon… and possibly cultivators as well?”
Jiang Moqing nodded, her hand tightening slightly around the spirit sword at her waist. “I’ll stay on guard.”
As for the possibility that there might be more than one flood dragon in Evil Dragon Pool, Lin Que himself didn’t seem particularly troubled. On the contrary, he even felt a hint of unexpected delight.
He had originally thought he would only obtain materials from a single evil flood dragon. If the harvest turned out to be several times that… that truly counted as a pleasant surprise.
Placing an anti-miasma pill in his mouth, Lin Que and Jiang Moqing mounted their swords and flew into Evil Dragon Pool.
It looked much the same as when they had observed it from outside. The interior of Evil Dragon Pool was a vast swamp.
The mud on the ground bubbled like boiling water. Most of the trees were long dead, their leaves fallen, their withered branches stretching out like the arms of desperate souls trapped in the mire, trying to drag everything down with them.
The miasma was equally strange. Once inside, visibility dropped sharply. Even with a cultivator’s keen eyesight, one could see no more than about thirty meters. Their spiritual sense was also heavily suppressed, restricted to less than three hundred meters.
“Senior Sister, there are too many unknowns in the pool. Don’t stray too far from me.”
“Mm. I will never… leave your side.”
“What?” Lin Que almost thought he had misheard.
“I mean… alright.” Jiang Moqing covered her small mouth, her brows knitting slightly.
The two advanced from the outer perimeter at a measured pace.
Along the way, they encountered many minor demon beasts that lived in the area. Most of them seemed disorganized and undisciplined.
Upon seeing the pair, they immediately fled. Few dared to attack. Quite a number secretly trailed behind to observe them, but each one was swiftly beheaded by Jiang Moqing’s single stroke of the sword.
As they ventured deeper, the miasma within the pool grew increasingly dense, and visibility dropped even further. The demon beasts they encountered were also of higher cultivation, with several even reaching the Core Formation stage.
However, each of them was casually slain by Jiang Moqing with a single stroke of her sword.
After all, there was an entire major realm separating their strength; such an outcome was hardly surprising.
In the world of cultivation, the hierarchy of realms was strict. The gap between major realms was nearly insurmountable, like a vast chasm. Even the most gifted prodigies found it difficult to transcend this rigid system.
Before long, the two arrived at the area where the miasma was thickest.
Jiang Moqing frowned slightly. Even with an anti-miasma pill, she could still feel her spiritual essence circulating somewhat sluggishly in this place.
The miasma had grown so dense that she could see no farther than three zhang. Fortunately, Lin Que remained clearly visible in her sight, so it posed no real issue.
Suddenly, Lin Que halted midair, his brows knitting together.
“Senior Sister, do you hear something strange?”
At his words, Jiang Moqing focused her senses and indeed detected the sounds of battle coming from afar, mixed with faint traces of a dragon’s roar.
“Is something fighting the flood dragon?” Lin Que raised a brow. Exchanging a glance with Jiang Moqing, the two suppressed their auras to the lowest level and moved in stealthily at low altitude.
Along the way, many trees had been severed, and the swamp was riddled with large craters blasted out by spells one after another. Clearly, the scale of the battle was anything but small.
Another hundred zhang ahead, Lin Que’s spiritual sense detected a group of cultivators besieging the vicious flood dragon. Sword qi crisscrossed through the air, spells bombarded relentlessly, and their coordination could not be called lacking. Even so, the group remained at a disadvantage.
The reason was simple: the flood dragon’s cultivation had reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage.
“Six Core Formations and one late-stage Nascent Soul holding the line, fighting a peak Nascent Soul flood dragon…” Lin Que stroked his chin. He did not step forward at once, merely observing in silence.
“They’re no match for it. What should we do?” Jiang Moqing asked.
Although Jiang Moqing held the senior position within the sect, when it was just the two of them, she would subconsciously rely on Lin Que.
“Nothing. They’ll come to us on their own,” Lin Que replied unhurriedly. Remaining concealed below, he continued to study the flood dragon’s attack patterns and the situation on the field.
Just as Lin Que had anticipated, the flood dragon soon broke through the cultivators’ encirclement. With a single sweep of its massive tail, it sent a Core Formation cultivator crashing into the swamp, their fate unknown.
The battle quickly devolved into a one-sided slaughter. In the end, all the Core Formation cultivators perished, and the two Nascent Souls began to flee in separate directions.
The flood dragon gave chase to the slightly weaker mid-stage Nascent Soul, gradually disappearing into the distance. As for the late-stage Nascent Soul woman, she steered her sword straight toward Lin Que and Jiang Moqing’s position, clearly having noticed them.
“Fellow Daoist, save me!”
As the distance closed, the late-stage Nascent Soul woman proved to be strikingly beautiful, with a touch of sharpness in her brows and eyes. Now, however, defeat had left her on the verge of tears, giving her a pitiful air that stirred sympathy.
She stopped before the two of them and reached out as if to cling to Lin Que’s arm, seemingly seeking support, only to have him sidestep her without the slightest courtesy.
Jiang Moqing caught sight of the woman’s movement and immediately frowned. The fingers gripping her sword turned faintly white, revealing the force she was exerting.
“If you have something to say, say it.” Lin Que’s tone was cold, edged with impatience, carrying the air of someone who kept others at a distance.
The woman did not grow angry. She merely gasped for breath, her chest rising and falling. During the earlier battle, the collar of her Daoist robe had been torn open by the flood dragon’s claws, leaving her in a state of partial exposure.
Lin Que’s gaze did not waver, remaining fixed squarely on her eyes.
“Fellow Daoist, we are disciples of the Tianyan Dao Sect. We came under orders from our sect to slay the flood dragon, but our leading elder was ambushed. We are the only ones left struggling to hold on. I beg you, please save us…”
However, before she could finish her words, a sword pierced straight through her throat.
Even Jiang Moqing, standing to the side, was momentarily stunned by the scene. No one had expected Lin Que to suddenly strike and kill the woman.
In the next instant, however, Jiang Moqing’s spiritual sword left its sheath as well, delivering the final blow and completely severing the woman’s last trace of life.
Lin Que flicked the blood from his sword and let out a cold sneer toward the swamp below.
“I thought you’d come up with something more convincing. Turns out this is all you’ve got.”
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