When Xu Chuang saw the bodies of his companions, he rushed toward them, but I stopped him with a hand.
"Don't act rashly," I warned, my gaze fixed on the twisted face of Zhao Laowai.
I opened my spiritual eyes from the first to the third level, and through the agonizing pain, I finally saw something terrifying.
A gigantic golden dragon lay across the valley, its upper body raised high, spanning several nearby mountains. The dragon's head rested directly on the mountain beneath our feet.
I slowly exhaled, reminding myself that this was just the manifestation of earth energy, not a real dragon.
Even so, my heart was deeply shaken.
The old cypress tree was positioned just above the dragon's eye.
Zhao Laowai's body was perfectly placed to block the dragon's eye.
Following my gaze, Xu Chuang and the others saw Zhao Laowai hanging from the tree.
Xu Chuang cursed, "This old bastard! Why did he go and hang himself here?"
Huang Jiu said, "This isn't his choice to die."
I regained my composure, enduring the intense pain in my eyes, and turned my focus to the dragon's mouth.
The three bodies were stuck in the mud, like three nails driven into the dragon's mouth.
I then turned to look at the twenty-four mountains, and my expression slowly grew grim.
The twenty-four mountains formed a perfect circle, resembling a gigantic dragon pearl.
I said, "We were wrong. The dragon rising here isn't the dragon spitting water, nor is it sucking water. It's the solitary dragon raising water to spit the pearl."
"No, it's the double dragons competing for the pearl!" a sudden voice interrupted from behind.
I turned around to see Xu Dafang and the village chief following Hu Wenhui.
It was Hu Wenhui who spoke.
Seeing him, I secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
I wasn't sure of his background, but I knew he was a capable person.
But double dragons competing for the pearl? Where did the second dragon come from?
I cast a questioning glance at Hu Wenhui.
He replied, "You've learned a lot, but you've overlooked some basic knowledge."
"There are dark dragons and bright dragons in the world. Among the bright dragons, there are earth dragons and sky dragons!"
Hearing this, I suddenly looked up at the distant sky. The rolling peaks of the Wowo Head Mountains lined up on either side of the canyon, and the sky in the middle of the mountains resembled a giant dragon soaring in the air.
I remembered that there was something similar written in the notes Left Dao Ran had given me, but I hadn't paid enough attention to it at the time, so I didn't recall it immediately.
"Ah, double dragons competing for the pearl!" I sighed, unsure if it was the ingenious work of nature or the handiwork of human hands.
But upon closer inspection, I noticed that the sky dragon only had the form of a dragon, but lacked dragon energy.
Under normal circumstances, it would be suppressed by the hidden dragon, unable to form a real sky dragon. As the hidden dragon rises, the form of the sky dragon would vanish with the changing shape of the mountains.
But now, things were different.
I turned back to look at the three bodies in the dragon's mouth and Zhao Laowai's body. All four had died violently, leaving behind vengeful energy.
This created a deathly energy covering the eyes, with three more deaths sustaining the dragon's mouth. The suppressed sky dragon now had the power to retaliate.
In other words, it was because of these four bodies that the double dragons competing for the pearl had truly formed.
What Lai Youwei had done before was just a diversion, to create three freshly dead bodies.
And now, the double dragons competing for the pearl had become a battle between life and death, where only one could prevail.
One dragon is born, and the other dies.
If the sky dragon wins, it will absorb the earth dragon's energy, becoming a tangible and powerful dragon, reborn.
The power that would arise...
My face changed drastically as I quickly shouted to Xu Chuang and the others, "Quick, take Zhao Laowai's body down and pull the three bodies out of the mud!"
At this moment, I realized that Mr. Tang hadn't wanted to bury his son in the land of the hidden dragon; he wanted to use the power of the reborn sky dragon to revive his son.
Hu Wenhui saw that I understood quickly and nodded in approval, but he stopped Xu Chuang and the others.
"It's too late. If we had discovered this yesterday, we could have stopped it. Now that the double dragons competing for the pearl has formed, no one can stop it," he said.
As soon as he finished speaking, a rumbling sound echoed through the valley. A mountain that was the resting place of the hidden dragon collapsed with a loud crash. I hurriedly activated the third level of my spiritual eyes and saw that the golden dragon's body was dimming, transforming into streams of golden light, flying into the sky.
Then there was a muffled sound in the air, like the roar of a dragon.
When I looked again, the sky between the mountains had completely turned into a soaring dragon, now fully formed.
The dragon's mouth was directly aligned with the center of the twenty-four mountains.
I stood there, stunned.
This event had truly taught me a lesson.
All the plans and abilities had been completely crushed.
And it was a crushing defeat.
Looking back, I realized that when the little-footed girl saw them leaving, it was likely the old man had intentionally sent his ghost servant to mislead her.
He made me think they had left, allowing me to sleep peacefully through the night.
Only now did I truly understand a saying my grandfather once told me: "In the battle between feng shui masters, the winner is often determined before they even meet."
Luckily, I wasn't the one in the middle of this, or I'd probably be dead by now.
I admit defeat, but I'm not reconciled.
I'm not upset that I lost, but that four people died.
I looked at Hu Wenhui and asked, "Uncle Hu, they killed four people. Are we just going to let this go?"
Hu Wenhui gazed at the bodies of Zhao Laowai and the others, his eyes full of helplessness as he said, "You're still young, you haven't seen much yet. In time, you'll get used to it."
I furrowed my brow. His words made me look at him with a little less respect.
It wasn't until years later, after personally experiencing something, that I understood what Hu Wenhui meant.
Hu Wenhui noticed my disdain and, undeterred, said, "The person who set this trap is likely an elder from the Taoist sect. It's hard to believe, but even after living most of their life, they still didn't understand themselves. Let's go, we'll go see the Dragon Pearl."
Xu Chuang, seeing we were about to leave, hurriedly asked, "What should we do with their bodies?"
Hu Wenhui replied, "We'll collect the bodies when the sun rises and bury them today."
After a pause, he added, "Bury them at the dragon's mouth."
With the mountain collapsing and the hidden dragon gone, this place had become ordinary.
What use would it be to bury them here?
Thinking of how four lives had been lost, I felt uneasy. I turned to Xu Chuang and said, "Bury the three of them in the hollow of the mountain over there."
The Dragon Pearl is a treasure of the dragon's mouth. In the future, their descendants will be protected and will prosper.
By arranging this, I was giving myself peace of mind.
Hu Wenhui knew I was upset, and with a smile, he said, "Mountains and rivers change every few decades. Though the hidden dragon has lost its shape, the energy beneath still remains. One day, it will rise again."
I furrowed my brow.
Although I was uncomfortable, I understood that my skills were not on par with his. He also had spiritual eyes, seeing things I couldn't.
From what he said, the hidden dragon could rise again, and if so, the hidden dragon's lair was the most suitable place for burial.
After all, with the sky dragon having no place to rest, when the hidden dragon rises again, the sky dragon will no longer exist.
Xu Chuang, not knowing whom to listen to, looked at me with confusion.
After hesitating for a moment, I chose to trust Hu Wenhui and had him follow his advice.