Dragon Attracting Art

Entering the Inner Hall meant being surrounded by enemies on all sides. The humans would certainly not hesitate to wipe out every last demon king. Just then, the Nine Phoenix King, who had remained silent while concentrating on sensing the Heavenly Phoenix restrictions, twitched with a slight change of expression and exclaimed in delight, "I've found an exit!" With that, she flashed into an arc of light and sped away in another direction. The demon kings were overjoyed to hear this and immediately followed. Before long, the Nine Phoenix King lowered her light and landed upon a bare, rocky mountain. The rocky mountain was utterly unremarkable. Its slopes were gentle, standing less than a hundred zhang tall. Judging by the mountain's base, it ought to have been grand, but its summit seemed to have been sheared off by a sword—the entire upper half had vanished into thin air, leaving behind an exceptionally wide plateau. The plateau atop the summit was completely bare as well. Standing on the summit, the Nine Phoenix King looked up toward the sky above. The void was a patch of chaos, thick with chaotic energy that gathered into greyish-black clouds blotting out the sky and sun. After pondering briefly, the Nine Phoenix King forced out a drop of essence blood and merged it into the Heavenly Phoenix True Feather. Whoosh! Demon fire resurfaced, surging skyward. The Nine Phoenix King quickly formed seals, driving one incantation seal after another into the demon fire. The demon fire began to contract inward, gradually taking the shape of a fire phoenix. A strange aura radiated outward. The fire phoenix let out a clear cry. The Nine Phoenix King seemed to find it somewhat strenuous; the moment the fire phoenix took form, she immediately released it, guiding it with incantation seals. Spreading its wings, the fire phoenix soared into the sky. Under the tense gazes of the demon kings, the fire phoenix plunged into the cloud cover, until only faint sparks of firelight remained, flickering in and out of sight. In the next moment, the wind stirred and clouds churned. The clouds convulsed as the nascent form of a vortex appeared, expanding larger and larger. As ferocious gales raged, the demon kings circulated their true essence to protect themselves and turned to look at the Nine Phoenix King. Only when the vortex had grown to dozens of zhang across, its depths unfathomable and leading to parts unknown, did the Nine Phoenix King call out, "Go!" The demon kings flew into the vortex in unison. After a bout of dizziness where heaven and earth seemed to spin, the chaotic sounds around them ceased abruptly. The demon kings felt a sudden lightness wash over their bodies as they stepped into an unfamiliar domain. "Hiss!" Taking in the sight before them, the Flood Dragon King drew a sharp breath. The other demon kings also paled, their bodies tensing as they froze in place, not daring to make the slightest movement. At this moment, they stood upon a mountain surrounded by gusts of sinister wind and deep gloom. It matched the intelligence they had gathered earlier—this place was indeed the Inner Hall of the Hall of Seven Kills. Yet what made all the demon kings' hair stand on end was that floating all around them were spatial rifts of varying sizes, like bloody maws eager to swallow everything whole! These spatial rifts were irregular; the smallest were as thin as threads of silk, while the largest spanned the skies like stretches of sunset clouds. They even spotted a long, slender rift not far away, squirming like a python—a mobile spatial rift. And among all these, who knew how many invisible spatial rifts lay hidden? Those were the truly deadly threats. Seeing this spectacle, the demon kings felt their scalps prickle, possessed by a strong urge to turn right back around. In a godforsaken place like this, even beings as formidable as them were frightened out of their wits—one careless misstep, and they would lose their lives. The Flood Dragon King remained relatively calm. Looking around for a moment, he said in a heavy voice, "None of the terrain here matches anything in the reports I gathered. This mountain must lie beyond the scope of human exploration. With so many spatial rifts, it seems our luck is rather poor—we've ended up in the depths of the Inner Hall..." "Fellow Daoist, surely you don't intend to force our way through a place like this?" The carapace-backed demon's voice was dry, dread gnawing at his heart. "Let us first locate the True Dragon's remains. If the distance isn't too far, we must certainly give it a try. Look down there—the space near the ground is more stable than above. As long as we are careful enough and don't fly through the air here, we can surely make our way out..." The Flood Dragon King pointed toward the foot of the mountain. The demon kings focused their gaze and saw that spatial rifts were indeed fewer down there, but yin energy permeated the area, which was riddled with swamps where flashes of restriction light flickered from time to time. It was evidently no pleasant sanctuary either. "Fellow Daoists, please protect me while I cast." The Flood Dragon King made his decision, preparing to execute the Dragon Attracting Art. They were currently standing before a stone cliff, which was the entrance to the secret realm. While they were not obliged to leave through this exact spot, the Nine Phoenix King was nonetheless busy making various arrangements. The other demon kings dispersed in different directions to keep guard. Once all the demon kings were in position, the Flood Dragon King gripped the dragon bone and silently chanted an incantation, activating the Dragon Attracting Art. Golden light emanated from his palm, slowly sinking into the dragon bone. As the secret technique progressed, the dragon bone shone brilliantly, as though coated in a layer of gold. Right then, the Flood Dragon King's eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to spit out a streak of golden haze that sank into the bone. In an instant, the golden haze and golden light fused and flared, faintly echoing with the roar of a dragon. The demon kings had prepared in advance and acted to conceal the phenomena, yet a wave of ripples could not be masked. Fortunately, the surroundings remained utterly quiet, and the fluctuations did not attract any ferocious beasts. Clutching the dragon bone, the Flood Dragon King kept his eyes tightly shut, putting his full focus into sensing the location of the True Dragon's remains. Time slowly slipped by. With every passing moment, his complexion worsened and his aura weakened, showing that this secret technique took a heavy toll. Finally, the Flood Dragon King snapped his eyes open, a brilliant glint flashing across them. The dragon bone in his palm was twitching, seemingly trying to break free of his grip and soar into the distance. He reined in the technique, the golden light gradually fading away as the dragon bone settled down. "Found it!" The Flood Dragon King turned his head toward the direction indicated by the bone, saying in pleasant surprise, "Just as expected, there is indeed a dragon corpse in the Inner Hall, and it isn't too far away! What's more, from what I can tell, that direction leads toward the exit of the Inner Hall. It seems the spot where that Nascent Soul cultivator found the dragon bone was near the corpse. The further forward we go, the less dangerous it will become." The demon kings had made a point to study the terrain of the Inner Hall beforehand. The Inner Hall was vast, and the humans had only explored a small portion near the entrance. Although the humans treated the Inner Hall as their private reserve, a considerable amount of information had still leaked out, enough to piece together a rudimentary topographical map. The Flood Dragon King spoke the truth: that direction indeed led toward the Inner Hall's exit, which was also the safest area in the entire Inner Hall. The demon kings were tempted. As long as they did not venture further into the depths, even if they might run into human Nascent Soul cultivators, the danger was far smaller. For the remains of a True Dragon, the risk was well worth taking. The Flood Dragon King and the Nine Phoenix King had not hesitated to risk never being able to return, smuggling themselves across to the Canglang Sea. Why should the rest of them hesitate and look over their shoulders? "According to our agreement, we will take turns scouting ahead. I assume none of you object, Fellow Daoists?" the Flood Dragon King asked. The demon kings exchanged glances. The carapace-backed demon shook his head and said, "Agreed! You just cast that secret technique and haven't recovered your true essence yet, so I'll take the lead for this first stretch." With that, the carapace-backed demon took the lead and began walking down the mountain, while the remaining demon kings prepared to assist him. "Many thanks, Brother Hei!" The Flood Dragon King cupped his hands. Noticing the Nine Phoenix King's concerned gaze, he sent her a voice transmission: "No need to worry. My injuries have already healed, all thanks to the spirit herbs you brought back from the Hall of Seven Kills last time." Just then, a signal came from the carapace-backed demon, and the demon kings set off one after another.