Chapter 334: The Trapped Dragon's Struggle

The enormous head suddenly jerked upward into the high sky, and the connected body beneath it erupted with a burst of dark light, springing up from the lake of magma, coiling and twisting as it soared aloft.

The “arch bridge” that everyone had first seen also twisted and rose into the sky.

Only when it had fully ascended into the heavens did all present see its true form: the owner of that massive head was none other than a pitch-black dragon, ten thousand spans in length, wreathed in black flames.

Its head bore two sharp, thorn-like curved horns that flickered with a somber black light. Its colossal body coiled in the high sky, surrounded by billowing black smoke that nearly blotted out the entire sky, plunging the vast area centered on White Jade Peak into sudden darkness.

Even more astonishing was the dragon’s bizarre face—it was not a dragon’s head at all, but rather a human face magnified countless times.

Thousands of miles to the west, in the high sky, Bear Mountain and a dozen or so deputy dao lords saw this from afar and their expressions changed.

Among them, even those who had been in Candle Dragon Dao for the shortest time had been there for over a hundred thousand years; when had they ever heard of such a fearsome beast lurking beneath White Jade Peak?

“Could this be… the Candle Dragon?” Bear Mountain muttered, his eyes wide.

“Could the strange noises that used to come from deep underground in various parts of the mountain range have been caused by it?” another deputy dao lord asked in astonishment.

“That must be it. Years ago, when I went deep into the underground fire veins to collect Crimson Flame Essence, I sensed a faint, peculiar aura. I didn’t pay it any mind then, but now that I think back, it was almost identical to the aura of this beast,” a tall, thin old man said, slapping his palm in sudden realization.

“But why does this beast’s face…”

“Isn’t that face Dao Lord Baili’s?”

On Hope Gazing Peak.

Han Li gazed into the distance at the strange beast, and his mind quickly flashed through descriptions of the ancient wild beast Candle Dragon he had once read in old books. They indeed matched many features of the sky-covering beast before him.

Only in some minor details were there slight differences.

For instance, the description of the Candle Dragon’s face in the books merely said, “somewhat like a human face, covered with scales,” but the face of the Candle Dragon before him bore at least seventy or eighty percent resemblance to Baili Yan, the first dao lord of Candle Dragon Dao.

“Could it be… that this beast is Dao Lord Baili’s true form?” Han Li thought, considering a possibility.

But in the next moment, he dismissed the idea.

The strange dragon before him, with a human face and serpentine body, had no pupils in its eyes—only unfathomable rolling black flames. It was clearly not a being with strong spiritual intelligence. Even if it were related to Dao Lord Baili, it was more likely to be his avatar.

Moreover, for some reason, after this enormous Candle Dragon appeared, Han Li felt a deep sense of repulsion in his soul. He noticed that the black flames on the dragon seemed to contain an extremely dense aura of baleful energy.

Its intensity was unprecedented.

Meanwhile, in the void thousands of miles north of White Jade Peak, a giant blue flower floated.

Above the giant flower, behind Luo Qinghai, the originally calm members of the Cangliu Palace were also filled with shock, their mouths agape, speechless.

Luo Qinghai himself had risen from his golden chair, his gaze fixed on the sky-covering black dragon in the distance.

After a long while, he slowly spoke:

“I thought you were in seclusion merely to delay the Five-Decline Calamity, but I never expected you to have found another path and overcome the Fifth Decline. A pity, a pity… If you had another ten thousand years, what could this mere North Cold Immortal Palace do to you?”

“Master, what are we…” a man with a delicate, maiden-like face stepped forward and asked from behind him.

“All of you, watch carefully. This is a rare opportunity that comes once in ten thousand years. Even if the Immortal Palace succeeds this time, I’m afraid… heh heh…”

Luo Qinghai chuckled and sat back down on his large chair, looking up toward the battlefield deep in the sky.

There, Baili Yan, wrapped in multicolored arcs of light, held a crimson immortal sword in one hand and an octagonal fiery red mirror in the other, facing Xiao Jinhan from a distance of several hundred spans.

Around him, within a radius of two to three thousand spans, a nearly transparent hemispherical barrier of forbidden light enveloped him.

White light flowed over the barrier, and snowflake-like strange runes appeared everywhere, from which a chilling cold aura continuously emanated.

Led by Xue Ying, over a dozen Immortal Palace cultivators were scattered around the periphery of the barrier, each holding a white jade token that glowed with a bright white light under the impetus of immortal spiritual power.

More than half of them were Golden Immortal realm cultivators, and the rest were late-stage True Immortals. Although they seemed to have trapped Baili Yan here, they were not gaining the upper hand.

“Baili Yan, no wonder the Heavenly Court regards you as a major threat. You are indeed extraordinary,” Xiao Jinhan said, holding his sword in one hand and glancing at the Candle Dragon that had appeared in the sky.

“Among those who have reached our level of cultivation, who is ordinary?” Baili Yan sneered.

“Regardless, we came at the right time today. Otherwise, ten thousand years from now, it might be you, Baili Yan, coming to find us at North Cold Immortal Palace. And then, I doubt I would be capable of dealing with a Taiyi Jade Immortal,” Xiao Jinhan said calmly.

“Then let’s try,” Baili Yan said unhurriedly.

…

Above White Jade Peak.

With a sky-shaking roar, the Candle Dragon’s massive body coiled and twisted as it rose into the high sky, as if trying to fly toward the void where Baili Yan was.

Just as its enormous body was about to pierce the high clouds, the already shattered earth below trembled violently, and a huge formation phantom emerged, shining with a dazzling golden light.

Seven golden pillars suddenly rose from around the Candle Dragon, swelling to ten thousand spans in height within a few breaths. Golden dragons coiled around them, dense runes covered them, and they continuously reflected awe-inspiring golden light.

Atop each golden pillar stood a Golden Immortal from the Immortal Palace, hand seals forming, secret incantations chanting, driving the great formation.

Gu Jie, who had been pierced through by Hu Yan’s sword earlier, was also among them, guarding one of the golden pillars.

At the same time, above the Candle Dragon’s head in the high sky, the figure of the woman in pink palace attire suddenly appeared, with the white ancient qin still floating before her.

“Rise!”

Her jade fingers plucked the strings sharply, and she let out a crisp shout.

On the eight golden pillars, a strange Buddhist chanting sound arose. The eight enormous golden dragons coiled around them suddenly twisted their heads with a clang and “came to life.”

“Roar…”

A chorus of dragon roars sounded one after another. The eight golden coiled dragons shot out from the pillars, pouncing with claws and teeth, diving into the black flames and biting at the Candle Dragon’s body.

Within the black flames, the eight golden dragons twisted their bodies, winding around the Candle Dragon’s form, opening their massive jaws and biting down fiercely.

The golden dragons’ sharp teeth clamped down, though they could not penetrate the Candle Dragon’s scales, they locked firmly onto its body.

“Roar!”

The Candle Dragon shuddered violently, letting out a sky-shaking roar, its body twisting wildly as it struggled frantically.

Its enormous body shook the golden dragons coiled around it violently, repeatedly crashing into the golden pillars with earth-shaking booms.

Yet the golden pillars seemed rooted in the earth, completely unmoved.

The binding power they contained surpassed even the Golden Scale Locking Dragon Formation that had trapped Baili Yan earlier, so the Candle Dragon could not break free.

Lu Yue’s eyes focused, and his figure shot straight into the sky, turning into a dazzling golden light that flew into the high air.

With a wave of his hand, a black ox-horn great bow appeared in his palm.

The bow was simple in design, as if casually bent from a piece of mountain ebony, with no decorative patterns on its surface, not even runes carved on it. It merely reflected a faint black light, looking very ancient.

Lu Yue looked at the still-struggling Candle Dragon, stepped forward into a bow stance, spread his arms, hooked one hand onto the bowstring, and slowly drew it back.

The muscles on his arms bulged and trembled, showing great strain.

The bow itself also bent backward slowly, gradually changing from a crescent shape to a full moon.

When the bowstring was pressed tightly against his face, between his hands holding the bow and pulling the string, strands of silver light began to shine, intertwining and condensing into a slender, gleaming silver arrow aimed at the Candle Dragon’s head.

Lu Yue’s fingers were cut by the bowstring, oozing traces of blood, but they were all absorbed by the bow’s silver light without a single drop falling. He kept his aura restrained, standing motionless, holding back without releasing.

At the same time, a grain of rice-sized silver light condensed at the arrow tip. Initially faint, it gradually became more solid, emitting strange fluctuations of laws.

Bound by the formation, the Candle Dragon’s massive body twisted wildly but still could not break free, becoming extremely enraged.

Its head suddenly turned back, its mouth wide open, and black flames surged out, burning toward the golden dragons on its body.

Rolling black flames gushed forth, instantly engulfing the golden dragons.

Compared to the black flames wreathed around the Candle Dragon’s body, the flames spewed from its mouth were even hotter and contained even more baleful energy.

In just a moment, the eight golden dragons were scorched until their golden light dimmed and their bodies shrank, as if about to melt.

The eight people standing on the golden pillars felt an unbearable heat around them, as if the blood in their veins had accelerated several times, and their hearts were filled with oppression, as if they were being roasted in a purgatory.

“Pfft…”

Finally, a Golden Immortal at the early stage could not bear it and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Then, Gu Jie, not far away, who had been severely injured by the earlier sword strike, also trembled and spat out a mouthful of blood.

With these two unable to stabilize the formation, the entire great formation shook, appearing on the verge of collapse.

Just as the surrounding stone pillars seemed about to give way, the bearded giant Dong Jie suddenly appeared in midair. With some unknown spell, his body erupted with black light and swelled to a thousand spans in height.

He held a heaven-splitting great axe, leaped through the air, and swung it down toward the Candle Dragon’s neck.

A series of runes carved on the axe blade flashed with black light, emitting a strong tearing force that even slightly distorted the void.

Just as it was about to break through the black flames and strike the Candle Dragon’s neck, a sudden change occurred.

Above the Candle Dragon’s head, a flash of crimson fire shot out like lightning, rapidly expanding in midair, instantly turning into a hundreds-of-spans-long crimson giant sword that slashed onto the axe blade.