Chapter 45 White Dragon Swallows the Golden Toad

Seeing that I had no particular reaction, Zong Ren didn't seem anxious. "Young Master San, if you truly have a blood feud with the Thirteen Ghost Gates, I can offer you a solution."

"All you need to do is find a place to open a Ghost Gate, and the people from the Thirteen Ghost Gates will definitely come looking for you."

I glared at him. "Do I look like I have too much time on my hands, opening Ghost Gates for fun?"

"Hey, let me tell you, if the two of us really can't handle that old Taoist priest later, I'll have to open a Ghost Gate. You'd better think of something we can use as a sacrifice to the ghosts and deities. Otherwise, if they get unhappy, they might just eat us both first."

"I need to calculate that carefully." Zong Ren looked up at the sky. "Young Master San, the moon is out, and the Golden Toad will surface soon. Bring Ye Fau over here."

As we were speaking, the bright moon in the sky was reflected upon the water, and the previously calm pool inexplicably began to ripple.

As the reflection of the bright moon gradually shifted toward the center of the pool, a massive amount of bubbles surged from the bottom.

A moment later, the water in the pool churned even more violently. The edges of the pool began to collapse, and a large volume of water started pouring down the mountainside along the breaches. The water level in the pool dropped rapidly, and a giant boulder with a diameter of seven or eight meters emerged from the depths.

A Golden Toad?

Only when I looked closely did I confirm my judgment!

Although that naturally formed giant boulder had not been carved by craftsmen, it bore a nine-tenths resemblance to the legendary three-legged Golden Toad.

If I were looking at the pool from the opposite mountain peak, I might have truly mistaken it for a toad crouching in shallow water.

Not long after the Golden Toad emerged from the water, a massive sound like a landslide echoed from the distant White Dragon Cliff. The white rock face on White Dragon Cliff burst with spiderweb-like fine cracks in an instant, and sheets of stone skin peeled off from the mountain top like flying snow.

The White Python Shedding Its Armor?

I finally understood the Feng Shui formation before my eyes. Before the stone skin on the cliff shed, that place could at most be considered a python; now, with the snake scales shed to reveal the shape of a dragon, it was truly the formation of a dragon vein.

In less than half an hour, nearly a meter-high pile of stone chips accumulated beneath the cliff, and the rocks on the mountain revealed the majestic, awe-inspiring aura unique to a white dragon.

A white dragon lowering its head on the mountain, and sheets of snow falling like a blizzard at the foot of the mountain—this was clearly the White Dragon Sweeping Snow formation.

With the birth of the white dragon, the temperature on the mountain seemed to plummet by several degrees. A biting, piercing cold wind blew past, and the rippling pool water was covered with a thin layer of frost in the blink of an eye.

The Golden Toad in the water also experienced a violent tremor, as if it were about to sink back into the depths. Zong Zheng picked up an axe and repeatedly chopped into the snow.

The ropes that had been buried in the snow beforehand snapped instantly. As the broken ropes slid along the snow toward the distant woods, a strange, heavy swishing sound echoed from the forest.

More than a dozen sacks filled with quicklime were hurled into mid-air, bursting apart as they flew. A small portion of the lime was scattered into the air by the mountain wind, while the remaining major portion fell into the water along with the sacks.

The pool water immediately boiled endlessly, and the Golden Toad, which was about to re-enter the water, floated to the surface once more.

I had long heard Feng Shui masters on Taiping Street say that "Feng Shui has a spirit." In the past, I thought they were talking nonsense, but this time I truly witnessed the profound spirit of Feng Shui.

Legend has it that once a Feng Shui site is fully formed, it develops a spirit, and the habits of this spiritual entity closely resemble the object it manifests as.

Just like the Golden Toad before my eyes—not only did it know to hide when the water was shallow, but when faced with danger, it was even forced out of the water.

If this wasn't Feng Shui manifesting a spirit, then what was it?

While I was still marveling, a dragon roar suddenly exploded from the mid-mountain, and a breach slowly opened at the foot of White Dragon Cliff. At first glance, it looked as though the white dragon had opened its blood-red jaws, preparing to devour the prey it had awaited for years.

"Quick... activate the Black Tiger Menace..." Zong Zheng shouted while running wildly toward the foot of White Dragon Cliff. "Don't let the white dragon actually swallow the Golden Toad, or we won't get anything out of this."

I pulled the Soul-Suppressing Bell from my body and shook it in the air a few times. Ye Fau suddenly sprinted toward the water like a leopard, guarding the edge of the pool. He straightened up, and a tiger roar burst from his throat, shaking the mountains and rivers.

The Black Tiger Menace reappeared from Ye Fau's body. A gale whipped up under White Dragon Cliff, and the snow and water lifted by the wind converged into a single point, resembling a white mist sweeping from the side of the pool toward the mouth of the cliff.

Another dragon roar erupted from White Dragon Cliff, and layers of water waves surged backward, colliding head-on in mid-air with the gale whipped up by the black tiger. For a moment, the small pool was engulfed in violent winds, torrential rains, and towering waves.

Dragon and tiger alike seemed intent on devouring the Golden Toad, yet each remained wary of the other, standing in a stalemate across the pool.

I pulled out a dagger and threw it to Little Sprout. "Sprout, the moment I enter the mystic realm, you kill Ye Fau."

Little Sprout, who had originally intended to catch the dagger, drew his hand back in fright, causing the dagger to drop to the ground.

With a fierce look in my eyes, I said, "If you don't kill him, I will surely kill you. If you don't want to die, do as I say!"

I left Little Sprout behind, ran swiftly toward the base of White Dragon Cliff, and pressed myself against the rock face alongside Zong Zheng.

I pointed at the top of my head. "You go up first, I'll cover you."

"No, no..." Zong Zheng waved his hands repeatedly. "How could I possibly match Young Master San's martial arts skills? You go up, I'll cover you!"

I pressed the Drifting Snow blade directly against Zong Zheng's neck. "Don't tell me the Zong family has plotted for generations without making even the slightest preparation. If that's true, I really might kill someone."

With a miserable expression, Zong Zheng said, "Young Master San, if I were still in my original body, I would have gone up long ago. Zong Hanlin—he has never practiced martial arts! His physical fitness is, at best, mediocre. He simply can't climb this cliff! Even if the Zong family has a backup plan, we can't execute it right now!"

"How about this, I'll cede another ten percent of the profits to you. You go up first."

I reached out and squeezed his arm, realizing he wasn't lying to me.

Although Zong Hanlin was young, his arm muscles were slack. With this level of physical fitness, let alone rock climbing, even scaling a wall would be a struggle.

I looked up at the cliff above. "Once I'm up there, how do I pull you up?"

Zong Zheng took an incense burner out of his bag. "Light the incense inside here. It can hold off the nearby ghost immortals for the time of one incense stick. By then, you'll be able to pull me up."

"Fine!" As I took the incense burner and moved to tuck it into my clothes, taking advantage of Zong Zheng's inattention, I aimed a lit lighter directly at the gap in the burner.

The incense inside caught fire and burned immediately. By the time Zong Zheng noticed I was applying fire to the burner, the smoke from the incense was already drifting out.

Looking as startled as a cat with its fur bristling, Zong Zheng retreated more than a meter away. "Why did you light the incense right now?!"

I looked at Zong Zheng with a half-smile. "Since the incense can ward off ghosts and deities, why shouldn't I light it earlier? With my skills, it will only take me two minutes to climb into the mystic tomb; it won't delay pulling you up."

"Why did you back away so far? Could there be ghosts in this incense of yours?"