Chapter 365: Pearls of the Four Divine Spirits (1/2)

A tremendous clash of water and fire filled the void with aftershocks, but the sight of a nine-headed phoenix was still visible through the haze.

Can it be?

The figure of the mythical Nine-Headed Phoenix popped into Lu Yun’s mind. There was only one phoenix with nine heads ever spoken of in legends, and that was the legendary progenitor of all phoenixkind, born countless aeons ago with heaven-defying potential.

It seemed very likely that its body had been refined into the Nine-Phoenix Casket, which now lay in hell. I mean, how many nine-headed phoenixes can there be? Though the fabled one had interred the corpse of an unknown lord in his netherworld, for some reason, the nine-headed phoenix before him neatly overlapped with the skeleton that should be in hell.

Why is that?

Was it because of the Fire Parasol Tree?

Lu Yun’s mind was thrown into disarray and he couldn’t quite figure things out.

……

“Rooooooooooaaaar!”

The nine-headed phoenix’s appearance elicited a piercing cry from Ghost Dragon, and grayish-black scales flourished over his body. The water attribute treasure hidden in the void began manifesting as well, and its world-forming power gathered and intensified.

“Hold, Ghost Dragon,” a cool female voice interrupted the transformation.

The spectral body shook. Having already turned into a chimera of human and dragon, he tread a brackish wave as he scrutinized the phoenix before him.

The nine-headed phoenix was wreathed in flame, but its eyes were extraordinarily cold and emotionless.

“You are the parasite of the ghost tree.” Ghost Dragon grew in stature until he was at least thirty meters tall; he glared at the firebird with ferocious hostility.

Under the combined power of fire, water, and the luopan’s golden light, the place they were in seemed to begin drifting into an unknown reality.

“You summoned the Fire Parasol Tree here too… who are you? Why do you hate us dragons so?!” Ghost Dragon’s hoarse interrogation was accentuated by the hateful look in his eyes.

The phoenix ignored him, however. All eighteen of the bird’s eyes were fixed upon the baby dragon on Lu Yun’s shoulder. A moment of anguish and disquiet broke through its coolness.

“I am not the one who condemned your race. If I hadn’t suppressed the ghost tree’s power, the dragons would’ve gone extinct long ago,” the phoenix finally spoke. “But much of my kind undeniably perished at your hand.

“Ten thousand years ago, you fell into the Realm of Unearthly Water. After you became a half-ghost, you began cursing my phoenix bloodline.”

This was around the same time that Huang Qing had risen, and from all the signs that appeared with her, the phoenixes should’ve experienced a renaissance. Yet not long after the North Sea dragons were destroyed, she had died, alongside much of her kin.

“Wait, wait, wait-wait-wait. There isn’t just a dragon nest here. There’s a phoenix nest too!” Though he had been very quiet until now, Lu Yun chose this moment to speak up. Two black rays of light shot out of his eyes.

“The dragon above, the phoenix below… together, their nests make up the water and fire layout here. The two races are normally friends, but this particular layout makes use of their powers to curse each other! What a brilliant curse layout. The person who set it up is a genius!” The young man took a deep breath in appalled astonishment.

“Both of you are pawns in this scheme. However, Ao Lin isn’t supposed to be in the water layout, but took the place of the dragon on my shoulder!” He finally realized the truth behind everything he had seen thus far.

No wonder the ghost tree and the nine-headed phoenix were so focused on the small dragon! It had broken out of the layout, but the phoenix was still stuck within… and slowly being consumed by the tree.

As for Ghost Dragon… he would meet the same fate as the phoenix very soon. The awakening ghosts in the Unearthly Waters would make sure of that.