"The starlight is dim," the White Deer said. "I can't fly for long."
"Go back to Chang 'an as soon as possible. Don't look for the item," Mo Rigen said. "After we get out of the city, I'll give you a ride."
In the blink of an eye, a cloud of black gas rose from the city and spun towards the White Deer. Mo Rigen turned around and roared, "Lu Xu! Be careful! "
The White Deer was caught off guard and was hit by the black gas. The black gas roared and shot towards the two. Lu Xu transformed into his human form in the air. Mo Rigen hurriedly turned around and hugged Lu Xu tightly. The two of them fell into the plains outside the city and into a forest.
The moment they crashed into the forest, Mo Rigen's right shoulder hit the ground first. His arm was immediately fractured. He roared in pain.
"Lu Xu! Lu Xu! "
Lu Xu was unconscious. The roars of demons could be heard from afar. Apparently, a large number of demons in Youzhou City had discovered the enemy's tracks and were chasing after them.
The Grey Wolf carried Lu Xu on its back. Its front paws were curled up. It limped with its three paws and dragged its broken leg across the plains, escaping from Youzhou City.
The scorching sun was high in the sky. The sky was filled with yellow sand. In the land of dead silence, the corpse of an ancient dragon was buried in the sand.
Qiu Yongsi, Hongjun, and Ying Huo rode on Xuan Ming's head and arrived at the fourth floor of the Dragon-subduing Pagoda. It was a world of yellow sand.
"What's its name?" Xuan Ming flew around the corpse.
"I can't remember …" Hongjun was trying hard to remember, but when he saw the corpse, he couldn't remember anything.
"It's not important. It's already dead," Ying Huo said. "It's the oldest one. In the past, it even received the Xuanyuan family from Dinghu. Let's go."
Xuan Ming raised his head and moved his energy to his abdomen. Ying Huo also inhaled softly.
Qiu Yongsi put his palms together as a sign of respect. Then Xuan Ming and Ying Huo exhaled at the same time and let out a dragon's roar. The dragon's roar was clear but not harsh. It was like the dragons were singing a sad song for the old dragon's death.
The dragon's roar resonated in Hong Jun's chest. In the middle of the sand dune in the distance, the pillar of light that shot straight to the sky was getting closer and closer.
. and Xuan Ming dove in.
Another loud sound rang out as a gale swept over. Everyone shouted at the same time as they were flung out. Hong Jun didn't expect the wind to be so strong on this level. Even Xuan Ming was blown up and flung far into the air.
"Hongjun!" Qiu Yongsi shouted.
Hongjun didn't know where he was in the blink of an eye. Qiu Yongsi, Ying Huo, and Xuan Ming turned into black dots and disappeared in the wind. He shook off the Five-colored Holy Light, but he couldn't put his strength into it. He shot out a flying knife, but it was swept away by the wind. Hongjun hurriedly raised his hand to call back the flying knife, but his speed was faster than the flying knife.
Qiu Yongsi just waved his brush, but he found that he couldn't draw in the wind of this floor. There was nothing between heaven and earth. Above his head and below his feet, there was nothing but the void.
Ying Huo turned into a Fire Dragon King and breathed out flames. As soon as the flames left her mouth, they were swept to the other side of the wind. Xuan Ming rolled and breathed out ice breath, but the two Dragon King's dragon breaths were swept away as soon as they were released.
"Yongsi!" Hongjun shouted crazily.
The wind walls rolled over mercilessly. Hongjun felt that he had turned into a feather in the wind. He spun quickly in the wind and couldn't tell where he was.
Suddenly, the world darkened as if there were countless light dots. They swept over like shooting stars. Suddenly, it was bright in front of his eyes.
Hongjun's heart beat wildly as if it was going to jump out of his chest!
A dragon's roar came from nowhere. In the huge tornado in the middle of the fifth floor, a dragon's figure was faintly discernible. The black gas spread along with the tornado. The dragon roared, "You are just an ant. You don't know the immensity of heaven and earth …"
Hongjun turned around with difficulty. He saw thousands of shooting stars in the tornado. They were like hundreds of billions of white lines in the darkness. They were swept up and spun crazily in the dark tornado.
That was … Mind's Lantern!
"Li Jinglong?" Hongjun said with a trembling voice. "Li Jinglong!"
His voice was drowned out by the raging wind. Black gas swirled, and the white line released by the Mind's Lantern forcefully twisted the direction of the tornado. It swept rapidly towards Hong Jun. The huge force from the eye of the tornado seemed to have pulled him into a tunnel, causing him to quickly slide into the tunnel with a whoosh!
In the darkness, he saw a stone pillar standing in the eye of the tornado. Li Jinglong's martial robe fluttered in the wind. His whole body was shining. His hand released thousands of rays of light. They were like solid objects. They were swept towards the tornado wall. The world was pitch black. It was like the end of the world. Li Jinglong stood tall like a god in the darkness!
Hongjun was sad and happy at the same time. He shouted, "Li Jinglong!"
Then, there was a dragon's roar. The power of the Mind Lamp wrapped around the black tornado collapsed in a flash. Hongjun saw that he was close to Li Jinglong, but he was swept away by a huge force!
In the blink of an eye, Li Jinglong stretched out his hand.
Hongjun stretched out his hand. The two of them grabbed each other in the short moment they passed each other!
"Li Jinglong!" Hongjun's tears flowed out and scattered in the wind.
"What are you calling?" Li Jinglong smiled. They had been separated for so long, but it was as if it was only a quarter of an hour.
The two of them held each other's wrists tightly. Hongjun gasped for breath in the wind. Li Jinglong said again, "What are you calling? Wrong name! I wasted so much effort to save you. Call me Big Brother! "
"Big … Big Brother …" Hongjun was really convinced. He shouted, "At this time, you still …"
Li Jinglong suddenly pulled Hongjun in front of him. Hongjun could barely stand. The stone pillar under their feet was constantly collapsing. In the blink of an eye, it was going to completely collapse. Li Jinglong shouted, "Hold on tight!"
Hongjun immediately hugged Li Jinglong's waist tightly from the side. In front of the stone pillar, a Dragon King with a snow-white body and a pitch-black forehead appeared. The Dragon King suddenly opened its eyes and roared at the two of them!
The tornado quickly closed in on the central stone pillar. At this moment, Li Jinglong's left hand clenched. A crescent-shaped bow appeared. His right hand pulled the string again. Three fingers bent and two fingers extended. He pulled the bow full. The light turned into an arrow.
Hongjun: "…"
Hongjun raised his head to look at Li Jinglong's side profile. The moment he shot the arrow, his side profile was so handsome that it made his heart beat wildly.
"Look at the enemy. Why are you looking at me?" Li Jinglong's mouth slightly curled. As if he could feel Hongjun's palpitating heart in that instant, the power of the heart's lamp increased again. With a whoosh, the arrow left the bowstring!
When the light arrow flew out, it did not go straight for the Dragon King's forehead. Instead, with a "boom", it turned into a strong light that filled the sky like a rain of flowers. It flew in all directions and then spun at high speed. The Dragon King seemed to sense the danger and suddenly turned his head.
Immediately after, Li Jinglong waved his sword finger. The overwhelming light shot toward the Dragon King's forehead at the same time. Hongjun only saw a flash in front of his eyes. Then, with a deafening dragon roar, the black energy on the Dragon King's forehead suddenly exploded. The tornado around them also disappeared.
"Success!" Hongjun shouted excitedly.
"Lower your voice …" Li Jinglong did not know whether to laugh or cry.
Hongjun: "…"
Hongjun hugged Li Jinglong's waist. Li Jinglong took a deep breath and turned to him. He lowered his head and the two looked at each other.
"I'm late." Li Jinglong was still a little nervous. He said, "You're not hurt, right?"
Hongjun shook his head. Li Jinglong then lowered his head and kissed him fiercely.
The tornado was cleared. The Dragon King flew out and was sucked into the wind wall. Xuan Ming and Ying Huo immediately transformed into their dragon forms and flew towards the wind wall.
"Wahhh —" Ashina Chong had already been spit out. However, just as he spat it out, he was swept away by the tornado outside the wind wall. Ying Huo flew over and caught Ashina Chong. She said, "Who is this?"
"Qiong!" Qiu Yongsi was also dizzy from being spun around. He shouted, "Where's the Dragon King?"
"Take them all away!" Xuan Ming shouted. "Go to the sixth floor! Take that wind-blowing brat too! "
Hongjun and Li Jinglong were still standing on the stone pillar. The two actually ignored the fierce wind around them and hugged each other tightly. Their lips and tongues intertwined. Li Jinglong wanted nothing more than to hug Hongjun into his body.
"Stop f * cking kissing —!" Qiu Yongsi flew over on Xuan Ming and shouted, "Let's go —!"
Only then did Li Jinglong separate from Hongjun. He held him and jumped down from the stone pillar. Xuan Ming caught the two. Ying Huo spat out a mouthful of dragon flames at the unconscious Fierce Wind Dragon King in the wind wall. The Dragon King immediately woke up from the pain and roared loudly. Noticing the abnormality, he flew out of the wind wall and followed.
In the flash of light, the sixth floor was a vast forest.
Everyone finally reunited as if they had been reborn. Li Jinglong brought everyone to a pond in front of the forest. A Poisonous Dragon King with an injured throat was sitting there. When Li Jinglong and Ashina Chong entered the sixth floor, they used the Mind's Lamp to get rid of the parasitic monster in his throat.
"Your name is Shu Hai," Hongjun said to him.
The Poisonous Dragon King suddenly opened his eyes with joy. When he saw Ying Huo and the other Dragon Kings, he stood up and brought his companions to the lake.
"Rest for a while," Li Jinglong said. He then signaled the exorcists to sit on the other side of the lake.
Li Jinglong held Hongjun's hand the whole time. When Hongjun saw Li Jinglong, he finally felt at ease. He told Li Jinglong about what happened to him along the way. Li Jinglong listened attentively and glanced at Qiu Yongsi reproachfully from time to time. Qiu Yongsi could only smile bitterly.
Ashina Chong did not know whether to laugh or cry. "No one can be blamed for this. I can only blame myself for being unlucky."
"It's my fault," Qiu Yongsi said helplessly. When he found out that Xie Yu had escaped from the tower, he felt that the situation had become even more serious.
"I'm afraid that you won't be able to enter," Hongjun said to Li Jinglong. "What if I stay in the tower for a hundred days or so? It'll be over."
Li Jinglong said, "Even if I die, I have to enter the tower. How can I not come?"
Hongjun frowned and said, "What about the outside?"
"I don't care," Li Jinglong said casually.
Hongjun, "…"
Li Jinglong smiled and said, "When I came down to find you, I don't know why, but I thought that if we can't get out, it'll be God's will. God wants the two of us to stay in the tower for the rest of our lives …"
"Sigh — —" Ashina Chong said, "If you don't go out, I still want to go out. Chief, don't hurt my feelings."
Hongjun laughed, but Li Jinglong said, "Let me rest for a while. I'm really too tired. I can't take it anymore …"
As he said that, Li Jinglong snuggled into Hongjun's arms. Hongjun raised his arm and hugged him. Li Jinglong held on for seventy-two hours. He actually fell asleep as soon as he said so.
Hongjun touched his face, lowered his head, and gently kissed his lips.
"I can't take it anymore," Ashina Chong said, "Who cares about God? Let's sleep first."
As he said that, Ashina Chong also lay down on the ground and fell asleep just like that. Although Qiu Yongsi and Hongjun had rested, they were still exhausted. Not long after, they fell asleep just like that.
Xuan Ming, Ying Huo, and the newly joined Wind Dragon King called Fei Lian and Poison Dragon King called Shu Hai stood together and discussed in low voices.
"How many of them ran to the fifth level?" Ying Huo said.
After Fei Lian transformed into his human form, he was actually a young man about the same age as Hongjun. He was also the youngest among the Dragon Kings.
Fei Lian sighed and said, "One hundred and forty-one Flood Dragons. They all escaped to the ninth level."
"What about the Flood Dragons that crossed the seal and went to the ninth level?" Xuan Ming said.
"According to the rules," Fei Lian said, "they must all be banished to the first level of the abyss."
"This way, there won't be many left in the tower." Ying Huo said calmly.
The four Dragon Kings were silent for a moment. After Xie Yu broke through the various barriers and killed Ye Ming, almost all the Flood Dragons broke free from the Dragon Kings' guard and rushed to the ninth level. They only wanted to wait for Ye Ming's death and break out of the prison when the Dragon Subduing Tower collapsed.
Logically speaking, they should all be thrown into the abyss.
The Poison Dragon King raised his index finger above his head, meaning that Ye Ming's dragon soul was still there and that he should be the one to decide.
"They are all injured." Xuan Ming said, "Ye Ming can no longer fight. Even if we want to throw them into the abyss, we can't."
The Dragon Kings were infected by demonic energy. Although the demonic energy had been removed, their vitality was greatly damaged. It was not easy for them to hold on. If the Flood Dragons attacked together, it was hard to say who would win. Without a Dragon King guarding each level of the Dragon Subduing Tower, the tower would definitely be in chaos.
"Maybe they …" Mars looked at the exorcists who were sleeping all over the place.
"We can't ask for help from mortals anymore." Xuan Ming said, "What does this have to do with them? To say the least, all the disasters in the world were caused by Xie Yu escaping from the tower in the past. In the end, it is all our responsibility. The few of us together will probably live longer than this world. How can we be at ease? "
All the Dragon Kings were embarrassed for a moment.
After sleeping for nearly ten hours, Hongjun was awakened by hunger again.
In fact, since entering the tower, Hongjun had not eaten anything — a full thirty hours. This was a new record for his hunger strike. The last time he went on a hunger strike was when he quarreled with Chong Ming and starved himself for twenty-four hours.
"I'm starving to death." Hongjun shook Li Jinglong and said, "Why don't we eat one of the Dragon Kings?"
Li Jinglong also woke up.
Li Jinglong: "…"
Qiu Yongsi said, "If it's really not possible, let's kill a dragon together. Dragon Subduing Immortal should be able to kill the dragon in the tower."
"No need …" Li Jinglong's eyes were still drowsy as he took out his pocket. The bag was filled with a lot of dried food. Just as he opened it, Hong Jun immediately snatched it away. His and Qiu Yongsi's eyes shone with a green light as they quickly stuffed the dried food into their mouths. Li Jinglong got up and washed his face. On the way, he got some water for Hongjun to drink.
Ashina Chong said, "I'll eat some too. I vomited all of it in the whirlwind."
After everyone had a simple replenishment, Li Jinglong only watched Hongjun eat. After Hongjun finished eating, he took out a piece, chewed slowly, thought, and said, "The Dragon King on the seventh floor is dead."
"Yes." Hongjun nodded. Li Jinglong said again, "But I haven't thought about how to fight the eighth floor. With several Dragon Kings, it shouldn't be difficult, but we can't underestimate the enemy."
Everyone got up. Xuan Ming was already exhausted. Fei Lian, whose forehead was bleeding, carried the exorcists and the three Dragon Kings to the seventh floor.
The seventh floor was raining heavily. The ground was like an ocean. Hongjun propped up the Five-colored Divine Light to shelter himself from the rain. They passed by the skeleton of another huge Water Dragon King and flew towards the light pillar in the distance.
"Two Dragon Kings died." Li Jinglong said, "This must be credited to Xie Yu."
"Whether you are a human or a dragon, you will die in the end." Ying Huo said, "You looked down on all living things in life. After you die, you feed the mortal world. What's the harm?"
"Why are you willing to come to the Dragon Subduing Pagoda?" Li Jinglong asked.
"There is no other reason. This is where we belong." Xuan Ming answered.
Li Jinglong seemed to have noticed something and asked, "The Dragon Subduing Pagoda … Could it be the Dragon Tomb?"
The Dragon Kings did not answer. Li Jinglong finally understood. After the dragons transformed into humans, they were not old, but from their words, they might have lived for nearly ten thousand years. Being willing to stay in the Dragon Subduing Pagoda was in fact waiting for death.