Chapter 139: The Chamber of Uncommon Spirit Roots, The Birth of the Blood Jiao

“Feng Daoist, didn’t you say that the power of the Shadow Mountain Pagoda Mother’s spiritual root was difficult to manifest? How is it so terrifying now?” An elder clad in sturdy attire asked in alarm.

“This is merely her dying struggle. If everyone joins forces, we can surely slay her!” Xiao Ling also urged with a look of surprise.

Yet Han Chong noticed a faint sneer on the spider spirit’s face beside him, and an ominous warning stirred in his heart.

The mighty ones were unknowingly being used as pawns by these two demons.

As time passed, casualties increased, but the Shadow Mountain Pagoda Mother remained unscathed. If this continued, not only would they fail to locate the dragon vein, but they would all be buried here.

With this thought, Han Chong concealed his form and burrowed underground. At just three feet deep, he saw the earth filled with dense tree roots and rhizomes, so thick they outnumbered the soil itself.

Even the earth-burrowing technique became difficult to advance. Wielding the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Sword and empowered by immense strength, Han Chong hacked and dug, tunneling diagonally downward.

Above, the Pagoda Mother cried out in pain and trembled, commanding the underground roots to entangle Han Chong, but they only managed to defend without any counterattack.

“Hmm?” Xiao Ling and the two demons frowned, thinking that although the Pagoda Mother was injured and her yin energy depleted, she shouldn’t be defeated so quickly.

If so, their plan to trap and kill many human strongholds would fail, and they would only be shooting themselves in the foot!

Below, Han Chong finally reached the main roots of the Pagoda Mother, only to find hundreds of them sprawling atop a layer of stone emitting a grayish silver glow, unable to penetrate it at all.

What kind of stone chamber could block such a fierce demon’s assault?

Could it be that inside this stone chamber lay the dragon vein?

Wait, no.

As he continued hacking and digging, Han Chong discovered a pale silver main root hidden beneath many rootlets at one corner of the chamber’s ceiling, penetrating inside.

Could this be the spiritual root Xiao Ling mentioned?

His sword slash left only a half-inch notch on it, ringing with the sound of iron striking stone.

The Pagoda Mother above, startled and fearful at Han Chong’s strike, saw hundreds of serrated tongues freeze simultaneously.

Just as she was about to retreat underground, a flurry of consecutive sword strikes followed, nearly driving her into unconsciousness.

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The assembled warriors rejoiced and intensified their assault, determined to slay the Pagoda Mother!

At that moment, Xiao Ling, Spider Spirit, and Little Gray simultaneously launched surprise attacks against the surrounding warriors.

Many scattered cultivators fell one after another; within moments, only Mo Xiaoyao and the ever-unmoved masked woman remained.

Ouyang Jingguan, Zuo Lang, and the young Taoist retreated to one side, watching the four with caution.

“What are you doing? Why attack so many experts?” Mo Xiaoyao shouted in anger.

“Heh heh, the more people who know about the dragon vein’s opportunity, the smaller each share becomes. Naturally, it’s better to send them on their way early,” Xiao Ling said with a faint smile.

Below, after over a thousand sword strikes, Han Chong finally severed the Pagoda Mother’s spiritual root at the chamber’s ceiling. With a thunderous rumble, the Shadow Mountain Pagoda Mother collapsed, wilted and motionless.

From her trunk emerged the form of an old crone, her face full of pleading sorrow as she moaned weakly.

“Hmph, you old demoness. I have repeatedly negotiated with you, urging you to yield the dragon vein, but you always refused. Now defeated, and pretending to be pitiful—don’t you think it’s too late?” Xiao Ling chuckled lightly and plunged his sword into her heart, ending her life.

“Heh heh, this Pagoda Mother has killed countless cultivators. Feng Daoist’s righteous act today is truly gratifying!” Zuo Lang spoke with flattering words.

This man was adept at shifting with the wind, but Feng Daoist merely smiled coldly. Suddenly, his body swelled, transforming into a seven-zhang armored monster with three sharp horns atop his head, immediately targeting Zuo Lang!

Zuo Lang, furious and alarmed, fled toward the young Taoist.

The latter cursed silently at his comrade for dragging him into the fray. With no choice, they teamed up against the demon, but even together, they were no match and fled in disarray!

“Brother Ouyang, Brother Mo, please act quickly, or we will return empty-handed!” Mo Xiaoyao and Ouyang Jingguan’s eyes flashed with disgust, but what they said was true. These three demons were fierce, and with the masked woman’s unknown origins, only by joining forces could the four hope to survive.

Ouyang Jingguan summoned the Wood Thunder Divine Armor and flipped his palm to reveal a black iron pellet, which he hurled at the fierce demon. His hand formed a sword gesture, controlling the iron ball’s flight to strike—it was truly astonishing!

Mo Xiaoyao wielded a calligraphy brush and bamboo scroll, coordinating attacks.

Spider Spirit transformed into a three-zhang giant human-faced spider, its surface covered in white pupils, continuously spitting webs to ensnare the four.

This was before Little Gray and the masked woman entered the fight; even now, the four barely held on. It remained to be seen which side the masked woman would join.

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Yet the woman remained indifferent to the fierce battle, silent and inscrutable, leaving her true intentions a mystery.

Han Chong, however, had no time to watch above, for the moment the spiritual root broke, a terrifying suction force pulled him into the hole.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a narrow stone chamber, silver light dazzling to the point he could barely see. After a moment, his eyes adjusted.

In the center of the chamber’s floor lay a silver dragon corpse over a zhang tall and more than ten zhang long, with two horns on its head. Before its mouth was a clear, serene cold spring, like a bright pearl moon dish.

The underworld spring of Shadow Mountain indeed contained a dark spring!

The dragon corpse’s nostrils involuntarily inhaled and exhaled the dark spring’s yin energy, which then circulated throughout its body.

The broken end of the Pagoda Mother’s spiritual root seemed terrified of the dragon corpse, curling up in a corner on the ground.

Han Chong quickly collected it; such a resilient item was a top-tier material for forging battle armor.

Looking around, he saw portraits of past emperors of the Shadow Moon Dynasty adorning the rear wall, flanked by images of generals and meritorious ministers.

Though the dynasty had fallen, the emperor portraits still radiated a faint silver glow.

Finally, Han Chong focused on the dark spring. Approaching it, he felt strands of unknown pure energy seep into his body, refreshing and invigorating him.

Taking a small sip, the energy coursed through his organs, filling his abdomen with power surpassing even the energy replenished by his blood serpent after frenzied feeding.

Above behind him, the rumbling sounds of the fighters digging downward continued—it seemed they had slain the Shadow Mountain Pagoda Mother and now worked together to tunnel below.

Han Chong stepped into the dark spring, submerging his head, as endless pure energy poured into him.

For ordinary bloodline cultivators, leaping into this dark spring was akin to courting death; only few could withstand its immense energy.

Han Chong dared such recklessness because the blood serpent egg within him seemed to sense this, beginning to stir and emit hunger, voraciously absorbing the energy flowing into his body.

In just moments, the eggshell cracked with a cracking sound, and a somewhat ethereal young dragon hatched, instinctively devouring its broken shell, then continually sucking in the silver-white energy being poured into it.