249: Chapter 249 Setting Off

"Let's go."

Gao De straightened up and placed the guixu token into the deepest part of his storage ring.

He turned around.

But the instant he stepped out of the palace gates—

His footsteps paused.

At the entrance of the main hall, a blurry figure stood there, appearing out of nowhere.

The person was dressed in grayish-white hemp clothes, their face as withered as a dried corpse. Their eye sockets were deep and hollow, devoid of eyeballs, with only two clusters of eerie green phosphorus fire flickering within.

In their left hand was a bone staff, from which three human bone bells hung.

The bells were silent.

Yet they were already vibrating slightly.

"Fellow Daoist."

The Bone Demon grinned, revealing uneven black teeth.

"Taking this old Daoist's things and leaving without even saying hello?"

Gao De did not look back.

He simply, calmly, and slowly tightened his grip on his storage ring.

Then, the thunder calamity law-breaking halberd was already in his palm.

"Ao Xue," he said.

"I am here."

"Do you remember what I told you back in the Dragon Palace?"

Ao Xue's blood-red eyes flashed.

"...'Live on'."

Gao De nodded.

"It's the same today."

He turned around.

Instantly, purple-gold lightning flames soared into the sky!

---

The corridor outside the hall.

Mysterious Turtle and Dragon Peach stood guard at the entrance of the fissure.

Following Gao De's instructions, they used the water patrol token and the Myriad Wood Senluo Great Array to seal the waters, preventing any aura from leaking out.

But just now—

Mysterious Turtle abruptly looked up.

The blue light of the water patrol token vibrated violently, as if sensing some extreme danger.

"Something... has gone in," he said, his voice dry. "Not under our noses, not within any of our senses... It's like..."

"It's like it was already inside," Dragon Peach finished, her expression solemn.

The two looked at each other.

In the next instant, deep within the hall—

Ding-ling—

The human bone bells rang.

The entire Dragon Palace ruins seemed to tremble slightly at that moment.

---

Inside the hall.

The Bone Demon tapped his bone staff lightly.

The bells rang a second time.

The Violet Extreme Thunder Strike that had just condensed at the tip of Gao De's halberd was suddenly frozen in mid-air!

It wasn't blocked, nor was it neutralized—

It was fixed there, like an insect trapped in amber.

"Fellow Daoist," the Bone Demon sighed, "this old Daoist has said that such insignificant tricks are useless against me."

His withered hand reached out, grabbing directly for Gao De's crown.

"Let this old Daoist see exactly what you obtained from that Dragon Lord's remains—"

Before his voice finished—

Buzz—!!!

Deep within Gao De's Dantian, the dragon pearl fossil suddenly erupted with a vast pressure!

That was not the pressure of a Fourth Stage.

That was—the final remnant soul that the Lake Dragon Lord had sealed within this pearl before his death!

The Bone Demon's reaching hand was forced to a halt before the aura of the dragon pearl!

The green phosphorus fire in his eye sockets suddenly contracted:

"...Lake Dragon Lord?! A thing that has been dead for tens of thousands of years, how can it still have a remnant soul left?!"

Gao De did not answer.

He took advantage of this moment of stagnation—

Lightning Evasion fully activated!

The thunder calamity law-breaking halberd pierced straight toward the Bone Demon's throat!

The Bone Demon let out a muffled groan, blocking with his bone staff, but he was knocked back three steps by the tip of the halberd!

"You—"

Gao De's halberd pierced again, lightning flames cascading like a waterfall!

"This is a place I stepped into even before my Dragon Transformation."

His tone was calm.

"I have paid my respects to the Dragon Lord's remains."

"I have refined the Dragon Lord's dragon pearl."

"The Dragon Lord's guixu token—"

He turned his hand over, and that greenish-black token hovered in his palm.

"I have taken it."

The phosphorus fire in the Bone Demon's eye sockets suddenly flared up!

It was undisguised greed and ecstasy!

"The guixu token... as expected, it is in your hands!"

He let out a sharp shriek, raising his bone staff high as the human bone bells rang four times—thousands of yin souls swarmed out from the head of his staff!

But Gao De did not retreat.

Instead, he took a step forward, his Dragon essence madly surging into another ancient talisman in his palm—

The prison dragon talisman!

A grayish-white pillar of light shot into the sky!

That was not an escape light that tore through space—

It was the Restriction that the Dragon Lord had set in this hall back then, integrated with the entire 'Prison' hall's Restriction—

The Evil-Slaying Demon-Suppressing Restriction!

The twelve Chi Dragon stone statues in the hall opened their eyes once more!

This time, it was not recognition.

It was killing intent.

The Bone Demon's expression changed drastically!

He abruptly pulled back his staff, his figure retreating rapidly—

It was too late.

Twelve dragon breaths, like a heavenly river flowing backward, crashed into him!

"AAAAAAAAAHHH—!!!"

The Bone Demon shrieked in pain, his grayish-white hemp clothes shattering inch by inch, and his withered Physical Body cracking with countless bloody gashes!

The two clusters of green phosphorus fire in his eye sockets turned crimson at this moment.

"...Lake Dragon Lord!" he rasped. "You old thing who has been dead for tens of thousands of years, how dare you—"

Before he could finish his sentence, his figure suddenly transformed into a streak of bloody light, breaking through the hall's ceiling and fleeing rapidly toward the lake surface!

Although the Restriction was strong, it was ultimately masterless.

It could not kill a bizarre existence at the Late Fourth Stage.

But it was enough.

Gao De did not pursue him.

He stood before the collapsed altar, gazing at the human-shaped hole in the ceiling.

Ao Xue flew to his side, her Blood Dragon true form ready to strike: "Shall we chase?"

"No need." Gao De put away the prison dragon talisman. "He is severely injured; he won't dare return for a short while."

He paused.

"Moreover, he knows now."

Ao Xue's blood-red eyes narrowed: "Knows what?"

Gao De did not answer.

He simply lowered his head, looking at the guixu token in his palm.

"One who holds the token may enter the Gui Xu Eye."

"There are also... those who are suppressed."

He remained silent for a long time.

"He knows the guixu token is in my hands."

"He knows the ding xu stone has been used by me."

"He also knows—"

He put away the guixu token.

"The reincarnation mirror is still with the Heavenly Demon Cult Master."

"From now on, it won't be us looking for him, but him looking for us."

---

Qianjiao Cliff Water Mansion.

Dawn.

Gao De sat alone in a quiet room, holding the "return void secret records · Volume 1" he had obtained from Ghost Cry Gorge.

He flipped to the last page.

There, a line of small characters in fresh ink had been added—it was his own addition.

"The Three Keys of Guixu: The reincarnation mirror is held by the Heavenly Demon Cult Master; the ding xu stone has now been obtained by me; the guixu token was hidden in the Prison Hall of the Dongting Dragon Palace Secret Passage, guarded by the Dragon Lord's remains, and has been taken."

He gazed at it for a long time.

He picked up his brush and added another line below:

"The Bone Demon has discovered the traces of the guixu token. In a few days, the Heavenly Demon Cult Master will surely arrive in person."

"Cannot defend."

"Cannot wait."

"Must take the initiative to break the deadlock."

He set down the brush.

Outside the window, the first ray of morning light pierced through the clouds.

Gao De put away the Jade Slip, tortoise shell, guixu token, and ding xu stone.

He stood up and pushed open the door.

Outside the door, Ao Xue, Mysterious Turtle, Dragon Peach, Turtle Three Thousand, Green Edge, Iron Pincer... all the core members of Qianjiao Cliff were present.

No one spoke; they just watched him quietly.

Gao De looked around at everyone and spoke slowly:

"The guixu token has been taken. The local Heavenly Demon Cult will surely come in full force."

"Defending is impossible."

He paused.

"Therefore, we are going to the Gui Xu Eye."

The room fell silent.

Mysterious Turtle's pupils contracted: "Cliff Master—the Gui Xu Eye is a land of death! The Nine Nether Dragon Tomb is even more..."

"I know," Gao De's voice was calm. "But of the Three Keys of Guixu, we already have two. The Heavenly Demon Cult Master only has the reincarnation mirror; without the ding xu stone and the guixu token, he cannot enter the depths of Guixu."

"But if he tries to seize ours..."

"That is why he will definitely come to seize them," Gao De said. "If not today, then tomorrow. If not here, then at the entrance to the Gui Xu Eye."

He looked at everyone.

"Rather than being cornered at our doorstep, it is better to—"

The lightning flames in his eyes burned calmly.

"Beat him to it and enter the Gui Xu Eye."

"Get to the Dragon Clan's hidden legacy one step ahead of him."

"And then—"

He did not finish.

But everyone understood those unspoken words.

Then, they would use the Gui Xu Eye as the battlefield.

Use the Dragon Clan's hidden legacy as the bargaining chip.

And use themselves—this group of low-born demon cultivators who had crawled up from the bottom of Dongting Lake—

To face that Half-Step Fifth Stage branch leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult who plotted for the treasures—

In a fight to the death.

No one flinched.

Ao Xue took a step forward, her blood-red martial robes fluttering.

Mysterious Turtle's old eyes were cloudy, yet he gripped the water patrol token tightly.

Dragon Peach's root system burrowed into the earth veins, already connecting the entire Water Mansion with the earth veins of Lesser Qingqiu.

Turtle Three Thousand bowed deeply:

"This subordinate... wishes my Lord a triumphant victory."

Gao De nodded slightly. The Third-Tier Demon Kings would be of no use in the coming events; this time, he would rely entirely on the four of them.

Then, he looked toward the distant reaches of Dongting Lake.

Toward that vast, misty horizon where the water met the sky.

The Bone Demon had fled back to the Bewitching Ghost Swamp.

The Heavenly Demon Cult Master would soon know—

That the guixu token had appeared.

In whose hands the ding xu stone was.

In whose hands the guixu token was.

That Purple Lightning Flood Dragon—who had once survived a narrow escape in Cracked Wind Valley to break through and undergo Dragon Transformation, who had snatched chestnuts from the fire at the Dragon Palace birthday banquet, and who had slain Lord Mo Yuan's Divided Soul in a battle at Qianjiao Cliff—

Would never hand over these two keys.

So he would come.

Bringing the reincarnation mirror, bringing the Saint Infant, and bringing that terrifying pressure of a Half-Step Fifth Stage.

"Come then," Gao De whispered.

He raised his hand and pressed it against his Dantian.

There, the dragon pearl fossil pulsed gently.

The thousand years of mist on Lake, the Dragon Lord's dying wish, that black jade skeleton that had crumbled into bone meal, that dragon talisman held tight until death—

All resonated with him in this single pulse.

"Let me see."

Purple-gold lightning flames spread from beneath his palm, covering his entire body.

"You old dragon, exactly what did you leave behind?"

He took a step forward, transforming into a streak of lightning that soared toward the horizon.

Ao Xue's Blood Dragon true form followed closely behind.

Mysterious Turtle, Dragon Peach, and Turtle Three Thousand led all the elites of Qianjiao Cliff, a grand procession like a tide sweeping across Lake.

Their goal—

The deepest part of the Yunmeng Great Marsh.

The Gui Xu Eye.