When Golden Finger Meets Salted Fish

Jiang Mo grappled with the demonic energy for a while, and realized that this three-headed dog formed from demonic energy was even more tenacious than a cockroach. Not only could it not be killed, but it could also repair itself. In this battle of attrition, she was the only one being worn down.

She couldn't keep tangling with it like this; she needed to find a way to escape!

This thought quickly arose in Jiang Mo's mind, but despite several attempts to break free, the three-headed dog clung to her like a stubborn parasite. Although it was just one creature, it had three mouths, requiring extreme caution during combat. One careless moment could result in being bitten by one of the dog heads... Trust her, the consequences of being bitten by demonic energy would be far worse than being bitten by a dog.

Thus, the situation reached a stalemate, especially after Jiang Mo severely injured the three-headed dog several times with her experience and strength. The creature seemed capable of learning from experience, making it increasingly difficult to wound it again.

Gradually, injuries appeared on Jiang Mo's body, with black demonic energy clinging to her broken skin and flesh, making her increasingly anxious.

With another tiger's roar, accompanied by golden light, she charged toward the three-headed dog, simultaneously dispersing the thin demonic energy around. The three-headed dog was no longer as reckless as before. Seeing this, its three heads dodged to the side simultaneously, avoiding the direct impact of the golden light.

The White Tiger immediately struck out with a paw, golden light flashing on the enormous tiger claw, forcing the three-headed dog back again. The White Tiger appeared poised to press its advantage with a fierce posture, but suddenly retreated rapidly, grabbed her Senior Sister in its mouth, and raced toward the exit—this time her departure speed was much faster, with spiritual light flashing on all four tiger paws, clearly employing escape techniques.

The three-headed dog stood in place, momentarily stunned. When it tried to give chase, it discovered it couldn't keep up, finally realizing it had been tricked. Instantly, its rage soared to the heavens, and all three dog heads howled simultaneously, the sound sharp and fierce, striking fear into one's heart.

Jiang Mo naturally heard it but didn't look back, running as fast as possible with her Senior Sister in her mouth.

Although she had spent considerable spiritual energy fighting the three-headed dog and had been injured, the engagement wasn't without purpose. At least with the three-headed dog continuously absorbing demonic energy to repair and strengthen itself, it had consumed more than half of the surrounding demonic energy in one go. The escape route, previously obstructed everywhere by surging demonic energy, was instantly cleared, and even the exit, obscured by black mist, once again revealed a faint light.

That thin, faint light was their hope of escape... As the White Tiger ran closer, the originally bean-sized light gradually expanded, becoming as large as a bowl, then a bucket, then a water vat, until finally the outline of the well opening became visible.

Jiang Mo rushed toward the well opening, running faster and faster, her golden tiger eyes filled with bright light.

With the well mouth within reach and at the White Tiger's current speed, it would only take a moment to charge through.

Suddenly, a pitch-black tentacle shot out from the side!

Demonic energy contained the seven emotions and six desires, as well as all negative emotions in the world, so it knew to bully the weak and fear the strong—the White Tiger had displayed formidable strength, while Yun Qingyue, carried in its mouth, was considerably weaker. So the tentacle hiding in the darkness didn't target the White Tiger, but Yun Qingyue instead.

The White Tiger's heart sank, but fortunately, although her Senior Sister was treated as a soft target, she wasn't truly defenseless. Even in her undignified position being carried by the White Tiger, she immediately swung her sword to block when she saw the tentacle approach.

With a "clang," it sounded like metal striking metal.

The black tentacle's force was tremendous. Although Yun Qingyue blocked it directly with her sword, an enormous force was transmitted through the sword. Since she was being carried by the White Tiger, this force was transferred to the White Tiger, causing its forward charge to falter, even forcing it to retreat two steps to disperse the force.

Seeing this, Jiang Mo immediately knew things were bad. She had planned to charge out at full speed in one go, but now with this hindrance, not only was the tentacle troublesome, but more worrying was the three-headed dog pursuing from behind...

What she feared came true; just as Jiang Mo thought of this, she felt a fierce gust of wind attack from behind.

The White Tiger immediately leaped to dodge, and looking back, sure enough, the three-headed dog had caught up. Its three heads were now baring their teeth fiercely at her. On the other side, the attacking tentacle revealed its true form—its original shape was indiscernible, just a messy blob like a rag, yet it had seventeen or eighteen tentacles waving incessantly, looking like kelp that had gained sentience.

Although this demonic entity looked somewhat ridiculous, Jiang Mo couldn't laugh. Being attacked from front and back set off alarm bells in her mind.

The "kelp monster" guarded the exit, while the three-headed dog harbored old and new grudges—neither hesitated when facing Jiang Mo. Or perhaps there was competition between them, as they seemed to try to outdo each other in attacking her swiftly.

In an instant, Jiang Mo only had time to throw her Senior Sister into her Innate Space before being caught up in a bitter battle again.

༻༺❀༻✧⋆｡°✩☽༓☾✩°｡⋆✧༺❀༻༺

Above the dried well, the sky gradually darkened as the promised sixth day finally came to an end.

As the sunset began to blanket the earth, the monks who had gathered around the dried well to chant sutras all left, including the abbot—after sunset, yang energy gradually diminished, and yin and evil energy grew stronger. The temple, already contaminated by demonic energy, was no longer suitable for them to remain. Otherwise, they would quickly be controlled by the demonic energy and might even break the seal, which wouldn't be surprising. The main hall and monks' quarters were protective barriers they had established for themselves.

As the monks departed one after another, only Tan Xin, Zhu Baiyi, and Qingyu remained behind the pagoda.

A somber atmosphere spread among the three. Zhu Baiyi silently stood up and walked around the dried well, occasionally placing something down, casually setting up a formation. It was unclear how effective it would be against demonic energy, but it was better than nothing.

Qingyu didn't move, still sitting cross-legged by the well, but she had placed her sword across her knees, clearly prepared to act at any moment.

Tan Xin looked at one, then the other, finally letting his gaze fall into the dried well—he wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he felt that from not long ago, the demonic energy in the well had become much less active. Although he hadn't stayed here for many days, according to past experience, demonic energy would always be unusually active after sunset, but today it wasn't.

It just blocked the well mouth, not even attempting to pull at the seal!

Finding this abnormal, Tan Xin didn't relax his vigilance; in fact, he became even more alert—demonic energy wasn't without consciousness; it had developed intelligence over a long period. Perhaps its current docility was meant to make people lower their guard?

The young monk took out his white jade prayer beads, and after some thought, solemnly placed them on the barrier at the well mouth, with a serious expression.

The three did what they needed to do, and afterward, there was no further communication between them.

Tan Xin took out another string of purple sandalwood prayer beads and continued chanting his sutras. Qingyu remained seated cross-legged, her gaze fixed on the dried well. As for Zhu Baiyi, after setting up the barrier, she returned to Qingyu's side and sat shoulder to shoulder with her.

To outsiders, the two might have seemed to be sitting close, but in reality, Zhu Baiyi was leaning half her shoulder against Qingyu's... It was an intimate yet not overly intimate gesture. Qingyu appeared not to notice, and it was unclear whether she tacitly accepted it or simply had no mind to pay attention. Zhu Baiyi was satisfied nonetheless. Her gaze wasn't on the dried well but set farther away, watching the sunset glow at the horizon from brilliance to extinction.

Finally, the last glimmer of light at the horizon disappeared, and the earth was gradually enveloped in twilight until it lost all light.

A point of lamplight appeared at the right moment. Zhu Baiyi placed it on the edge of the dried well, casting the vague outlines of the three people's faces. The light passed through the well mouth into the well below; though feeble, it still indicated the way out for those below.

༻༺❀༻✧⋆｡°✩☽༓☾✩°｡⋆✧༺❀༻༺

At the bottom of the dried well, Jiang Mo had just experienced a transmission and was feeling dizzy and disoriented.

The story goes back to sunset. The Nameless Temple would appear in the cultivation world at every sunset, but its location was different each time, naturally for the purpose of suppression. The dried well in the temple wasn't so much a physical object as a form—as the sealing formation operated, wherever might become a breakthrough point for demonic energy, that's where the dried well would be.

At dusk, it was time for the formation to operate and the dried well to move, with the Nameless Temple shifting accordingly. This had no effect on those in the temple—Qingyu and the others weren't affected at all—but it was entirely different for the underground world.

Why didn't Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue just stay at the original falling point and wait, instead of searching so laboriously for so many days? Naturally, because the exit would change!

This time, Jiang Mo had finally found the exit; how could she let all her efforts be wasted just because time had passed? Fortunately, the demonic energy was even more concerned about the exit's location than she was. They seemed to have grown accustomed to these changes and found a way to deal with them.

One moment, the "kelp monster" and the three-headed dog were surrounding and attacking Jiang Mo. The next, they sensed something, their expressions suddenly changed dramatically, and they abandoned Jiang Mo in unison.

The "kelp monster's" flamboyant tentacles suddenly shot out together, but their target wasn't the White Tiger, but the well mouth above. The seventeen or eighteen tentacles seemed to have suction cups, sticking directly to the well mouth upon contact. The three-headed dog's reaction wasn't slow either. It rushed forward, and all three dog heads opened their mouths to bite three of the "kelp monster's" tentacles, though clearly controlling their force to avoid biting through.

Seeing this, Jiang Mo didn't understand but instinctively sensed something important was about to happen. Without hesitation, she also rushed forward and grabbed one of the "kelp monster's" tentacles.

Just like that, the three who had been fighting to the death moments ago suddenly became a single entity.

Regardless of whether the "kelp monster," burdened with this responsibility, was cursing in its heart, the White Tiger suddenly felt dizzy, as if transported to a different place—though still seeing only darkness, her body experienced a discomfort typical of being transmitted. And it wasn't the stable transmission of a teleportation scroll, but rather the discomfort of being thrown into a washing machine and spun hundreds of times, even making the tiger feel nauseous.

The three-headed dog and the "kelp monster" clearly weren't faring well either. Both appeared much more withered, especially the "kelp monster," which bore the brunt of it and seemed to have shrunk considerably.

Fortunately, since everyone was suffering, they maintained a brief period of peace, and Jiang Mo attempted to leave.

Unfortunately, the demonic energy recovered faster than she did, and fighting quickly resumed in the well.