The hall was left with only Lin Longtian and Gezi. They looked at each other, and Lin Longtian spoke first, "May I know the reason for your esteemed presence here?"
"You can tell I'm from another world."
Gezi was shocked. He hadn't revealed any information, so how did Lin Longtian know? Moreover, he had concealed his aura. Lin Longtian said calmly, "The energy of this world has been fused from three worlds, creating the energy we are familiar with. I did not detect any special energy on you, hence I concluded you are not from this world."
"Then I'll be direct. I can help your Lin family resolve this current crisis, but you Lin family needs to help me find something."
"This is a collaboration between your young master and me. I wanted to ask you, his father."
Gezi's words made Lin Longtian ponder. The crisis was imminent, and they couldn't find a way to deal with the entity. Since this being was a cultivator from beyond this world, perhaps he could help the Lin family overcome this ordeal.
Lin Longtian nodded and said, "Alright, but the prerequisite is that you help the Lin family resolve that matter."
"Fine, now tell me what difficulty your Lin family is facing that troubles you so much."
Gezi sensed that Lin Longtian was the most powerful cultivator in the entire family. If even he couldn't resolve something, it meant that entity was far more powerful than Lin Longtian, to the point where Lin Longtian couldn't contend with it. Lin Longtian sighed and said, "This all began from our ancestors."
"You must have heard our Lin family's history on your way here. This city was created by our ancestors. The Lin family's dominance over this city hides a shocking secret."
"Our ancestor was merely a wandering cultivator at the time. While traveling the world, he met a woman. That woman was a descendant of the then-declining Lin family. At the time, the ancestor and the woman did not know each other and did not intend to get involved in any disputes. Wandering cultivators avoid forming ties with factions."
"When the woman met the ancestor, she didn't ask him to save her but instead asked him to take a jade pendant and leave this place for good. As the woman was dying, her last wish was for the ancestor to look at the jade pendant. Although he wanted to refuse, he felt some pity and agreed. Upon arriving here, it was not yet a city but a vast desert. At that moment, the jade pendant flew into the desert, and a city emerged from beneath the desert, slowly rising. The entire desert transformed into a city. Thus, the Lin family was founded, and the ancestor was known as the first patriarch of the Lin family."
"By the time I became patriarch, it was the 301st generation. I discovered the Lin family's secret from our ancestor's notes, a sealed secret known only to the successive patriarchs. This secret is that an evil creature is suppressed beneath the entire city. That evil creature was once suppressed by the jade pendant. As the jade pendant transformed into the city, the evil creature was sealed beneath the city."
"I didn't believe it when I read this, until a few days ago when the ground began to emit strange energy. Beings affected by this energy, including humans, would turn into light and descend into the earth. That entity had planned this from the beginning, intending to absorb all the life and human essence of the city to strengthen itself."
"That is the situation. I hope you can deal with that evil thing."
"Then let me interject. Are you still hiding something from me? For example, why did the Li family hire assassins to kill your Lin family's young master, and what exactly is that entity?"
Lin Longtian was taken aback by Gezi's questions. He was momentarily unable to answer and after some thought, he said, "The Li family knows that our Lin family's treasury contains an astonishing treasure. Although I know this, our Lin family cannot activate that treasure, let alone the Li family."
"The Li family and our Lin family have been in conflict for several years. The Li family is one of the three major families in Guangyuan City, very close to our Lin family. They often come to provoke us. It's a pity that our Lin family is in self-preservation mode now and has no time to deal with the Li family. The Li family wants to take advantage of our weakness to obtain that treasure."
Gezi nodded upon hearing the explanation but remained silent. Gezi didn't dare to believe in treasures. Since they were going to cooperate, there should be no deception. Gezi looked at the ground, then spoke in a relaxed tone, "I'll go and retrieve it. The location has been found."
Gezi's figure transformed into a streak of light and plunged into the ground, burrowing downwards. Gezi's form became like a drill, speeding downwards. Gezi looked at the surrounding soil. This soil was reddish-yellow, which was very strange. Gezi sensed a scent from the soil, a very unfamiliar yet familiar scent.
Gezi had already reached a depth of thirty thousand meters, and his figure continued to descend. He couldn't believe that the sealed location was nearing the earth's core. Below was a beam of light. Gezi sped up. As soon as he emerged, a beam of light directly attacked him. Gezi hastily dodged, and the adjacent wall was gouged out with a deep mark.
Gezi patted his chest, "This attack is incredibly powerful. I definitely can't withstand it now." Gezi's strength had not fully recovered and required time. Gezi looked at his opponent, his expression becoming grim.
He muttered, "This is going to be difficult!"
The reason was that the creature before him resembled the Nine-Headed Serpent that Gezi had encountered in books. It had nine heads, each enormous, with its body submerged in lava. Its entire body was covered in scales, and it even had nine tails. Each mouth was incredibly ferocious, and its eyes were all different colors. Gezi looked at the Nine-Headed Serpent. Even if Gezi were to slay each head individually, it would take a considerable amount of time. No wonder it was sealed within the jade pendant back then.
Perhaps the woman's identity was not simple. Gezi looked at the Nine-Headed Serpent, which in turn stared at Gezi as if he were prey. The first head slowly opened its mouth, and a fireball was shot out. As the scorching fireball approached, Gezi opened his palm, catching the fireball before him. He gradually felt the strain as the surrounding heat intensified the fireball's power. Gezi swept his palm to the left, flinging the fireball away. *Boom!*
The wall exploded, sending rubble falling. *Splash! Splash!* Several sounds of objects entering lava echoed. This was already the surface of the earth's core. Below was lava. The fire-attribute Nine-Headed Serpent was not afraid of lava; instead, lava made the Nine-Headed Serpent even more powerful.
Gezi's figure transformed into light. In the next second, a barrage of fireballs rained down from the Nine-Headed Serpent's heads. All nine heads fired fireballs simultaneously. Gezi dodged left and right, performing a somersault with a 380-degree spin, then tilted his neck back and spread his legs into a split, evading forward.
He moved at incredible speed, reaching the Nine-Headed Serpent's face. He swung his fists, striking one of its heads. Instantly, that head of the Nine-Headed Serpent turned silver. The silver sheen covered its head. Gezi's punch landed on the Nine-Headed Serpent's head, producing only a crisp clang.
Yes, it was just a clang. Gezi's full-powered punch couldn't even break through the Nine-Headed Serpent's defense. Gezi immediately retreated.
"According to the records, the Nine-Headed Serpent has nine abilities and nine lives. Each head represents one life, and the nine heads share their abilities."
"It seems I need to find the head with the defense and deal with that first."
Gezi observed carefully. Even with only a third of Gezi's power, the previous attack was not something ordinary beings could withstand. It could only be said that the Nine-Headed Serpent, being a creature below the Four Divine Beasts, lived up to its reputation. Gezi's actions seemed to anger the Nine-Headed Serpent. How dare a mere morsel fight back? Two of the Nine-Headed Serpent's mouths spewed out freezing currents and fireballs, attacking Gezi from both sides.
Gezi took out his Divine Spirit Shield and held it in front of him. The Divine Spirit Shield remained intact even under the Nine-Headed Serpent's attack. Seeing this, the Nine-Headed Serpent's third head unleashed a black gale. The tornado, freezing current, and flame, three elements, impacted the Divine Spirit Shield. With a *crack*, a shallow fissure appeared on the Divine Spirit Shield.
"If the Divine Spirit Shield could be fully restored, I wouldn't need to worry about defense."
The Divine Spirit Shield was missing several fragments, causing its defensive power to significantly decrease. However, it could hold on for a while. He drew his Divine Spirit Sword with his left hand, and its blade flashed. The tornado shattered, the freezing current turned into airflow, and the flame exploded before Gezi. Gezi slowly emerged from the explosion, his aura surging. Time was up, and his strength had recovered somewhat. Now, Gezi could fight the Nine-Headed Serpent on equal footing. To slay it, he would need to delay until all his strength was restored.
Gezi had no other choice. The Nine-Headed Serpent was a creature below the Four Divine Beasts. The legendary Four Divine Beasts were: Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, and White Tiger.
Above the Four Divine Beasts were the Four Sacred Beasts: Ancestral Dragon, Phoenix, Sacred Elephant, and Unfolding Tortoise.
The Nine-Headed Serpent, due to its uniqueness, was the apex existence below the Four Divine Beasts. If the Four Divine Beasts were called legendary divine beasts, then the Nine-Headed Serpent was an epic divine beast. It was rare for even one to appear in the entire universe.
Moreover, dealing with a Nine-Headed Serpent that had passed its juvenile stage was not easy.
During their juvenile stage, Nine-Headed Serpents were at their most vulnerable. At that time, they needed to awaken their abilities and grow heads, lacking any combat power. After reaching adulthood, with their abilities and heads complete, they underwent earth-shattering changes, with their combat power increasing ninefold.
With the Divine Spirit Sword in hand, Gezi held the Divine Spirit Shield in his right, blocking in front of him. Seeing that its attacks were ineffective, the Nine-Headed Serpent attacked Gezi with its nine tails. The nine tails coiled around, carrying terrifying power. Gezi swung his Divine Spirit Sword. Each time the sword was about to strike a tail, the tail would turn silver. This sword strike only produced a pleasant sound.
Gezi knew the quality of his Divine Spirit Sword. To resist the blade of the Divine Spirit Sword, one needed sharpness that surpassed the Divine Spirit Sword. Could this creature's ability be absolute defense?
Gezi could only think so. The abilities awakened by the Nine-Headed Serpent were completely random; it was precisely this characteristic that prevented the Nine-Headed Serpent from being a true divine beast. Among the nine heads and nine abilities of the Nine-Headed Serpent, one or two abilities were often useless.
Randomly awakened abilities could also be powerful. For instance, the current tail turning silver. Gezi was completely helpless. The Divine Spirit Sword couldn't even break its defense; what was he supposed to do?
If he couldn't even break through its defense, how could he fight, how could he inflict damage, let alone kill it?
This kind of thing was truly difficult to deal with.
Gezi regretted saying that he would handle it. The price of resolving this would be too great.
Facing the attack of the tails, Gezi chose to dodge. He wouldn't even think about blocking with the Divine Spirit Shield. Gezi dared not receive the power of these tails. The fissures on the Divine Spirit Shield were slowly repairing.
If the Divine Spirit Shield were a bit more complete, Gezi might not be so flustered.
In the Lin family's treasury, a fragment slowly rose, its light shooting straight into the sky. The entire Lin family, no, the entire city, could clearly see a golden pillar of light ascending from the room into the sky. This pillar of light slowly dissipated. Outside the treasury door, Lin Longtian arrived.
Could that light just now be that treasure?
Lin Longtian began to get excited. No one had been able to activate that thing for thousands of years, and now it was reacting. He couldn't miss this opportunity.
The moment the door opened, a golden light shot out and then burrowed into the ground.
Lin Longtian watched this transformation. Could it be that this thing...
Lin Longtian's eyes darted around, plotting something, and it was certainly not good.
Gezi frantically dodged the tail attacks. The walls were already riddled with holes. Fortunately, Gezi didn't receive any direct hits. Whenever the tails approached Gezi, they would always turn silver.
Their strength doubled, which gave Gezi a terrible headache.
The tails completely surrounded Gezi, leaving him with no escape. This was not good.
Just as he was in despair, debris fell from above, pressing down on all the tails. A beam of light flew from above Gezi's head and entered the center of the Divine Spirit Shield. The chipped parts on both sides of the Divine Spirit Shield became more complete.
"This is, this is a fragment of the Divine Spirit Shield! How can it be here?"
Gezi couldn't believe that fragments of the Divine Realm would exist in this world.