Through the winding tunnels, the “Blood Shadow Dharma Manifestation” proceeded at an unhurried pace.

Yet, within Nie Kong’s heart, astonishment grew. The longer he followed the “Blood Shadow Dharma Manifestation,” the more divergent paths he encountered, appearing in dense, overlapping clusters. Only now did Nie Kong realize with a shock that the little fellow had only been leading him around the periphery of this labyrinth until now.

Had he continued to let the little fellow search for the “Dragon Taming Herb” in the passages without manifesting this Blood Shadow Dharma Manifestation, he likely would never have reached the true depths of the maze.

In truth, on the journey to the Dragon Temple, Long Tiangong had explained the situation within the passages in great detail, intending to better prepare Nie Kong for the issues on Dragon Island.

Now, experiencing it firsthand, Nie Kong understood that Long Tiangong’s information was entirely obsolete. Previously, there were only ninety-nine bifurcations in the passages, but now, the branching paths numbered far more than nine hundred and ninety-nine. Though Nie Kong hadn't counted meticulously, he could definitively say the number was only increasing.

Nie Kong couldn’t help but marvel. The Dragon Ancestor, having not increased the number of passages in thousands of years, wouldn't suddenly have nothing better to do in recent decades. Clearly, this maze-like passage system must have been manufactured by that sentient “Dragon Taming Herb,” though for what purpose remained unknown.

Having been in the passages for so long, and considering his sparring experience from yesterday, Nie Kong had already vaguely pinpointed the prime culprit behind the troubles plaguing Dragon Island—ninety-nine percent certainty it was that Dragon Taming Herb.

When the Dragon Ancestor achieved the Spiritual God realm back then, he chose not to enter the Grand Supreme Spirit Realm, but instead transformed into Dragon Island itself. Though no longer possessing a human body, his life had not ended; his soul remained deep within the passages of the Dragon Temple. With his Spiritual God cultivation, his soul must be extraordinarily powerful.

If the Dragon Taming Herb could cause the Dragon Ancestor’s life force to wane, just how formidable was its own strength?

Heavenly Spirit? Or Spiritual God?

Thinking of this, Nie Kong couldn't help but chuckle inwardly. If the “Dragon Taming Herb” truly possessed Spiritual God strength, it could easily roam the Heavenly Spirit Continent and would have long since departed. Even if Long Tiangong discovered it and tried to stop it, the herb could reduce him to ashes in an instant. Why bother lingering here, wasting vast amounts of time and energy creating these dense passages and setting up such barriers at the entrance to block the Dragon Spirit Clan members?

Furthermore, a Dragon Taming Herb with Spiritual God power could instantly appear upon sensing an intruder and destroy him—though, with Tai Yan’s interference, its chances of success would be less than ten percent—there would be no need to conjure so many illusions of Dragon Taming Herbs to confuse him.

From this, it could be inferred that the Dragon Taming Herb’s strength likely remained within the Heavenly Spirit realm, at best not exceeding that of Dragon King Long Tiangong. Moreover, judging by the faint summons hinting at the Dragon Ancestor detected the night before last, the Dragon Taming Herb had not completely suppressed the Dragon Ancestor; they were probably locked in a struggle.

Nie Kong cultivated the “Crimson Star War Body,” and he had Tai Yan and Tai Yan at his side. An herbal spirit with only Heavenly Spirit strength that was temporarily unable to escape posed no threat that would cause him fear.

Of course, not fearing it didn't mean abandoning caution.

If he could successfully capture the Dragon Taming Herb for the little fellow to consume, advancing to the Seventh Order would not be an issue. With this thought, Nie Kong’s heart grew somewhat fervent.

“Hmm?”

Suddenly, Nie Kong’s heart skipped a beat. He looked intently and saw eight new passages suddenly emerge from the tunnel several meters ahead. At the corner of one passage, faint traces of yellow light flickered, the light piercing through the “Spirit Rhyme Battle Robe” covering his head and entering his eyes.

Nie Kong glanced at the “Blood Shadow Dharma Manifestation” before him and saw it glide directly into the passage emitting the light upon reaching the fork.

“We’re already here?”

Nie Kong felt a surge of joy, then quickly composed himself, following the manifestation with even greater care and caution. Soon, Nie Kong crept silently to the corner. That sliver of light was actually refracting from another bend dozens of yards ahead, where the light was significantly brighter.

After winding and turning this way eight times in succession, the light grew progressively brighter, and no new bifurcations appeared, further convincing Nie Kong that the Dragon Taming Herb was just ahead. When the ninth bend came into view, threads of gold began to pierce through the expanse of yellow radiance.

Soon, Nie Kong noticed that the golden-yellow light was flickering with an intermittent intensity—albeit a subtle variation, so slight that Nie Kong hadn't detected this minute difference when passing the previous eight bends.

“Buzz…”

As Nie Kong reached the bend, he vaguely heard a faint buzzing sound. Accompanying the fluctuations of this hum was a weak spiritual aura. A hint of pleasure crossed Nie Kong’s face beneath the covering of the “Spirit Rhyme Battle Robe”; this aura was quite consistent with the energy contained in the call from the night before last.

“This spiritual aura must come from the Dragon Ancestor!” Nie Kong mused silently.

Suddenly, a nearly inaudible, soft voice reached his ear: “Brother, may I speak?” It was Tai Yan’s two small hands gripping his ear, her little mouth directed right at his ear canal as she spoke. Nie Kong glanced sideways with his peripheral vision and could vaguely see Tai Yan’s pretty little face.

“Mhm.”

Tai Yan’s endearing action made Nie Kong feel a mix of amusement and exasperation. Girl, you are already speaking, do you still need to ask if you can speak? Thus, Nie Kong hummed a similarly faint sound through his nose, serving as his reply to Tai Yan.

Before manifesting the “Medicine King Incarnation,” Nie Kong had instructed Tai Yan, Xiang Xiang, and Qing Yue not to make any sound. In reality, the primary instruction was aimed at Qing Yue.

Because among the three little ones, Qing Yue, the smallest, was the most likely to reveal her presence.

The moment she appeared, she might be detected by the Dragon Taming Herb, whereas Tai Yan and Xiang Xiang were far better in this regard; they possessed no aura whatsoever. Even if they stood right in front of the Dragon Taming Herb, the herb might see their forms but could never sense their existence.

Receiving Nie Kong’s permission, Tai Yan immediately beamed and continued speaking close to his ear: “Brother, that soul is in extreme pain, so pitiful.”

“Oh?”

Nie Kong paused, then realized who Tai Yan was referring to. His heart gave a jolt. Could it be that the Dragon Ancestor was currently being tormented by the Dragon Taming Herb?

With that thought, Nie Kong followed the “Blood Shadow Dharma Manifestation” past the ninth bend, and the tenth bend came into view. At this turn, the golden light contained within the yellow radiance grew much stronger, and the fluctuation in intensity was more pronounced. Similarly, the intensity of the buzzing sound had increased slightly.

All these signs indicated the same thing: Nie Kong was drawing closer to the source of the light and the sound. Aided by Tai Yan’s prior prompt, Nie Kong tried to concentrate intensely but found he could still only sense that faint spiritual aura; as for whether it was suffering, he remained unable to discern.

In this aspect, Tai Yan possessed a significant advantage.

Thus, Nie Kong instructed Tai Yan to continue observing and stopped making such futile efforts, proceeding cautiously: Eleventh bend, twelfth bend… fourteenth bend, fifteenth bend…

…… ……RO