Aside from the frenzied beasts, everyone else clearly saw what had happened. Behind that large tree was a barrier, and passing through it would lead them straight to the Dragon's Lair!
Jiang Ye and Rong Xuan exchanged a glance, their excitement unmistakable.
The Dragon's Lair! A place said to be where dragons hide their treasures.
Countless rare herbs and precious elixirs were within their reach, just waiting to be harvested. How could they not be thrilled?
Jiang Ye immediately sent out a signal, summoning all the disciples of Qionghua Peak to return quickly.
Once everyone had gathered, a disciple noticed that someone was missing.
"Meng Shuying seems to be absent…" The disciple hesitated, glancing toward You Wen.
Jiang Ye, however, snorted coldly. "If she's not here, it means she's deserted. Leave her be."
Rong Xuan, being a Golden Core cultivator with sharp eyesight, had already seen that the person sent flying by the Azure Dragon was the quiet disciple from Qionghua Peak.
He originally thought that Jiang Ye had planned this, but now, hearing her words, he found the situation a bit odd.
However, whatever the truth was, it didn't concern him.
Moreover, there was a more pressing matter at hand.
As the disciples from Bai Zhan Peak and Qionghua Peak quietly made their way toward the barrier's entrance, the Golden Flame Eagle circling overhead noticed something unusual.
In the eagle's mind, human cultivators were always cunning. They must be plotting something by staying hidden, though it had been too focused on the battle among the beasts to pay much attention to them earlier.
It didn't know what these human cultivators were planning, but that didn't stop it from causing trouble for them.
Suddenly, the Golden Flame Eagle folded its wings and dove down from the sky. The sharp sound of it cutting through the air caught the Azure Dragon's attention. The dragon turned its head and cast a cold, indifferent glance at the human cultivators before turning back to deal with the three beasts.
But that single glance was enough to make all the cultivators tremble.
It was a look of supreme arrogance, as if it regarded all living beings as beneath it.
As if it could wipe them out with just a breath of dragon fire.
"Hurry! Move quickly!" Rong Xuan urged the disciples to run forward, constantly glancing back at the Azure Dragon, fearing it might change its mind and pursue them.
Jiang Ye led the Qionghua Peak disciples ahead, diving headfirst into the barrier before Rong Xuan.
Seeing the human cultivators disappear behind the tree, the Golden Flame Eagle suddenly understood.
So that was their plan.
What fools. If entering the Dragon's Lair were so easy, why would it and the three beasts still be fighting the Azure Dragon?
The Azure Dragon was a master of formations, and whatever awaited them beyond that barrier wasn't likely to be endless treasure.
It could very well be a death trap.
Su Luo had long read about Azure Dragons in the "Beast Compendium" and knew they were skilled in formations.
So, unlike Jiang Ye, she wasn't so optimistic.
However…
Su Luo's eyes darkened.
Although she didn't know why the Azure Dragon suddenly attacked Meng Shuying, Su Luo clearly saw that the dragon had used its full strength in that strike.
With such a powerful blow, even Su Luo wouldn't be sure she could escape unscathed.
Meng Shuying had only recently reached the Foundation Establishment stage and was still fragile. If she encountered any further danger after being severely injured, she might not survive.
If Meng Shuying died, Su Luo's mission would fail as well.
Su Luo kept convincing herself that she was willing to risk her life to save Meng Shuying simply because she didn't want the mission to fail.
Yes, that was the only reason.
She didn't want the mission to fail.
The sudden panic and inexplicable worry were emotions she shouldn't have.
The relationship between her and Meng Shuying, if it had to be defined, could only be described in one way.
She needed Meng Shuying to live so she could complete her mission and return to her original world.
So she had to find the Dragon's Lair and bring Meng Shuying out.
With a splash, something fell into the pool of water, sending ripples across its surface.
The water was clear and cold, its depths unfathomable.
After a long while, a pale hand emerged from the water, struggling to break through the shimmering reflections and reach the shore.
The person, soaking wet, collapsed onto the ground as soon as she reached the edge. She lay there for a while before mustering the strength to roll over and face the sky.
A sharp pain shot through her chest and abdomen.
Meng Shuying painfully raised a hand to cover her eyes.
The Azure Dragon's tail strike had been merciless, breaking two of her ribs.
The combined pain of her injuries and nearly drowning was unbearable, making even breathing difficult.
Despite the pain, Meng Shuying tried to stand, but the blood rising in her throat forced her to double over, coughing violently.
Luckily, she had already reached Foundation Establishment; otherwise, that tail strike would have ended her life.
After lying there a bit longer and regaining some strength in her limbs, Meng Shuying ignored the cold seeping into her bones and began to slowly walk along the edge of the pool.
As she fell, she had sensed a strong concentration of spiritual energy not far away.
The pool twisted and turned from west to east, with green trees and vines casting overlapping shadows.
The source of the pool's water was unknown, as it wound its way into the distance.
After walking along the edge for a while, the path suddenly opened up.
It was a broader area of water, with a jagged rock in the center, and atop that rock grew a spiritual herb, its branches and leaves swaying gently in the wind.
The strong spiritual energy emanated from the herb.
Meng Shuying's pupils contracted.
The Nine-Transforming Spiritual Herb!
She had guessed correctly—the Azure Dragon had hidden the herb.
This meant that the place she had found herself in was the Dragon's Lair.
Dragons were known for their greed, coveting anything they desired. So, every dragon would build its own lair to hoard its treasures.
When Meng Shuying learned that there was an Azure Dragon in the Spiritual Herb Garden, she speculated that it would hide the herb in its lair.
Though her clothes were still wet, Meng Shuying jumped back into the water without hesitation and swam toward the jagged rock.
The Azure Dragon had never expected anyone to breach its lair, so it had set no traps within.
This worked to Meng Shuying's advantage.
She swam to the rock, gripping its rough surface tightly with her fingers and using all her strength to climb up.
With each step upward, the pain in her chest and abdomen intensified. The tail strike from the Azure Dragon had been sharp as a blade, and as she moved, it felt as though her wounds were tearing open.
In addition to her abdominal injuries, her hands were now covered in cuts.
The jagged rock had become incredibly hard and sharp after soaking in the spiritual spring for years.
The stones easily sliced through her palms, causing blood to drip onto the rock.
But Meng Shuying seemed oblivious to the pain. She kept her gaze fixed on the spiritual herb above her, climbing up step by step.
By the time she reached the top of the rock, her face was as pale as paper, and her vision was darkening. She lay on the rock, panting heavily, before using her wet clothes to carefully wipe her hands clean. Only then did she cautiously pick the herb.
The Nine-Transforming Spiritual Herb was a vivid green, with nine round leaves at the top that resembled small fruits, symbolizing that it had fully matured after nine cycles of blooming and withering.
This rare herb contained an immense amount of spiritual energy. Just holding it in her hands, Meng Shuying could feel the energy slowly repairing her body.
But she had no intention of keeping it for herself. Without hesitation, she took out a wooden box and carefully placed the herb inside while it was still fresh.
Once the box was securely stored, she let out a long breath, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
The only thing that had kept her going was her determination. Now, sitting atop the rock, with her nerves finally relaxing, Meng Shuying was hit with the full force of her pain and exhaustion.
Her broken ribs and the gashes in her abdomen were excruciating.
Compared to those injuries, the cuts on her hands seemed insignificant.
Along with the pain, a deep cold settled into her bones.
This place had once been a spiritual spring, but the herb had absorbed all the spiritual energy, leaving only the icy cold water behind.
Meng Shuying had been injured and had fallen into the pool twice.
Now, she felt as if she were standing on a glacier, her blood freezing solid.
The blood rising in her throat could no longer be suppressed, and her vision blurred. Meng Shuying knew she needed to leave before the Azure Dragon returned.
But her limbs felt as if they were filled with lead, making it impossible to move.
As she toppled toward the cold pool, her mind began to blur.
This time, it seemed she had been too impulsive.
If she… couldn't make it back.
Would her senior sister grieve for her?
Facing the powerful Azure Dragon in its true form, the three beasts gradually began to lose ground.
The Golden Flame Eagle noticed the three beasts starting to regain clarity in their eyes, and their attacks began to ease. Realizing they had lost the upper hand, the Golden Flame Eagle cursed under its breath and then spread its wings, flying off into the sky.
The first to regain full awareness was the Iron-Wood Ape, the most intelligent of the three beasts. As soon as it snapped out of its frenzy, it realized that its behavior earlier had been unusual. These beasts had lived for many years and had developed their own intelligence. With a bit of thought, the Iron-Wood Ape quickly understood that the whole situation had been orchestrated by the Golden Flame Eagle.
The eagle had manipulated them into joining forces against the Azure Dragon and had drugged them during the fight.
The powder that had fallen from the sky was from the Delirium Flower. The Delirium Flower grew only on steep cliffs, and when beasts inhaled its pollen, it made them excited and frenzied.
The eagle's true goal had never been the Nine-Transforming Spiritual Herb but rather the beasts themselves.
What the eagle hadn't anticipated was that the beasts would regain their senses so quickly, or that the Azure Dragon would be so powerful, holding its own against three frenzied beasts.
Once it figured this out, the Iron-Wood Ape immediately stopped attacking and turned to flee.
The other two beasts quickly came to their senses, realized they were no match for the Azure Dragon, and fled without hesitation.
The Azure Dragon was caught off guard by their sudden retreat.
It stood there, stunned for a moment, before realizing that its opponents had truly fled, leaving it alone. The dragon then shifted back to its human form—a small girl.
"Phew, this form is definitely more impressive," the little girl mused.
But maintaining her dragon form required an immense amount of spiritual energy, and with the current scarcity of spiritual energy in the Ten Directions Blessed Land, she couldn't sustain it for long.
Fortunately, her Nine-Transforming Spiritual Herb was almost fully matured. Once she consumed it, she would instantly reach adulthood and be able to leave this prison and explore the outside world freely.
The thought of it filled the dragon with joy!
As she happily hummed a tune, imagining her future freedom, she flew back to her lair.
The first thing she did upon returning was check on the Nine-Transforming Spiritual Herb growing in the pool.
But when she looked at the barren rock, the little dragon thought she must be seeing things. She rubbed her eyes, closed and reopened them, and even used her dragon race's innate "True Sight."
The truth revealed by her True Sight was the same—nothing was there.
A furious scream echoed throughout the entire Ten Directions Blessed Land.
"Who! Who stole my herb?!"