CHAPTER 589: CHAPTER 276: DRAGON SEEKING AND INCENSE LIGHTING_3

"The engineer seems to be imprisoned." Zhou Xuan saw the engineer trapped inside the gel, pointed to his eyes with his hand, then gestured with a wave.

That subtle action already indicated her current plight... She was imprisoned here by the Fengshui Array jointly set up by the First Generation Mountain Ancestor, Peng Hou, and the Star Lord.

"I’ll dig you out."

Miss Qiang was deeply distressed. She reached out to claw at the lump of flesh and blood, digging frantically while shouting, "We, the people of the Blood Flesh Divine Dynasty, are always kind-hearted. Why are we always imprisoned?

The Bone Elder Association kept me trapped for so many years because of the mystery of my flesh and blood. And now you’re imprisoned here too. What have we done wrong?"

She kept clawing at the flesh and blood, while the engineer continually waved her hand, signaling Miss Qiang to stop.

Zhou Xuan gently pressed Miss Qiang’s shoulder and said, "Stop digging. Your speed of digging won’t surpass the rate at which the flesh grows back. Besides, there are restrictions here. Even if you succeed in digging her out, you won’t be able to take her away. Instead, let’s listen to what she has to say."

Zhou Xuan spotted the branches of the Peach Blossom Ancestor Tree, trembling like the hands of someone fatigued beyond endurance. He realized the Ancestor Tree was nearly at its limit.

With Zhou Xuan’s reminder, Miss Qiang stopped her digging, placed both hands on the flesh and blood, and prepared to listen to the engineer’s words...

... After a string of incomprehensible words from the engineer, Miss Qiang kept nodding incessantly.

By the third nod, the Ancestor Tree finally gave way, its branches losing their strength, and the lump of gel-like flesh dropped into the earth like a ten-thousand-pound boulder.

Miss Qiang then turned back to Zhou Xuan and said, "The engineer has a way to get out."

"What way?" Zhou Xuan asked.

"Up above..." Miss Qiang pointed at the Heavenly Dome above the Great Mother Star Pit and said, "Up there, lies the Ancestor Dragon from Mingjiang Prefecture. This Ancestor Dragon coils underground beneath East Market Street, suppressing the engineer."

"Above the Heavenly Dome—aren’t we looking at the engineer’s flesh and blood body?" Zhou Xuan asked.

He had discussed the Blood Flesh Divine Dynasty with Miss Qiang before; the people of the Blood Flesh Divine Dynasty are consciousness entities, but they can generate flesh and blood, forming enormous corporeal bodies.

The entire Great Mother Star Pit is the engineer’s body.

"It’s the engineer’s body, yes, but also a coiled Ancestor Dragon suppressing her," Miss Qiang corrected.

"So, as long as we can get the Ancestor Dragon to nod, the engineer can be set free?"

"Yes."

"Who can make the Ancestor Dragon nod?"

"You," Miss Qiang said. "Your third Tangkou is the Dragon Seeking Incense, and now you’ve received blessings from two Ancestor Dragons. You’re the only one who can sway the East Market Street Ancestor Dragon."

"Doesn’t that seem like you’re overestimating me a little?"

Zhou Xuan cupped his cheek in thought. He hadn’t yet cultivated Dragon Seeking Qi, and obviously couldn’t compel the Ancestor Dragon to nod and release the engineer.

Moreover...

... Zhou Xuan felt this was far from simple.

After all, the engineer was suppressed by three God-tier beings. If she hadn’t committed some sort of crime, why would she be subjected to such punishment?

And even if the engineer had done nothing wrong, and the three God-tier beings merely disliked her and decided to suppress her, Zhou Xuan still needed to get to the bottom of the matter.

Releasing sealed catastrophes—such actions had played out numerous times in stories, but in Zhou Xuan’s reality, such mistakes were absolutely unacceptable.

He wouldn’t let the engineer go unless he was completely certain.

"So, here’s the deal. I need to finish cultivating the Dragon Seeking Incense before I can talk to the Ancestor Dragon. Until then, I’ll investigate thoroughly and uncover the truth of what happened in the past that led to the engineer’s imprisonment here."

Zhou Xuan had taken on the task and made his stance clear.

Miss Qiang naturally agreed and didn’t bring up the engineer topic anymore.

Zhou Xuan then walked over to the Peach Blossom Ancestor Tree and said, "Tree, I have good news for you today—I’m taking you back to Peng Town."

Upon hearing this, the Peach Blossom Ancestor Tree seemed truly overjoyed, shaking its leaves vigorously.

"Listen up, Tree. Sense my location later. When I tell you to emerge, you’ll rise, and I promise that as soon as you show yourself, you’ll be in Peng Town."

As Zhou Xuan spoke, he took out a pen to mark a stroke on the Wash Away Injustice Talisman, ready to leave the Great Mother Star Pit and return to reality.

Just as he was about to move his pen, a branch twisted around and grabbed it, preventing Zhou Xuan from proceeding.

"Tree, I need to head to Yunluo Mountain."

"Rustle, rustle..."

The Peach Blossom Ancestor Tree continued to sway, forming a sedan chair with its branches. It lifted Zhou Xuan and slowly raised its canopy.

Growing taller and larger, the Peach Blossom Ancestor Tree carried Zhou Xuan upward, all the way to the Heavenly Dome above the Great Mother Star Pit.

Meanwhile, an extra branch extended outward, pointing toward the dome’s surface.

"You want me to touch it?" Zhou Xuan understood and asked.

The Peach Blossom Ancestor Tree’s branches once again emitted joyful rustling sounds.

Zhou Xuan reached out to touch the dome. As his hand made contact, he felt a slightly sticky sensation, along with the pulsating of blood vessels. Since the dome itself was a part of the engineer’s body, these sensations were expected.

What wasn’t expected was how Zhou Xuan seemed to glimpse—through some mysterious connection—a colossal dragon straddling the heavens and earth.

Each scale of the dragon shimmered with flames, seemingly capable of burning through the fabric of this realm.

A mere trace of the dragon’s powerful Qi spread outward, causing the dragon scales within Zhou Xuan’s Secret Realm to multiply rapidly, showing signs of cultivating Dragon Seeking Qi,

"East Market Street... Ancestor Dragon?"

Zhou Xuan instantly understood why the Ancestor Tree had sent him to the dome.

"Tree, those tattoos you taught me worked perfectly for burning the second incense stick. Now you’re directly delivering me to light the third stick of Dragon Seeking Incense. You’ve been very thorough in your services."

...

East Market Street, inside Zhou Family’s Jingyi Shop,

Yun Ziliang paced back and forth inside the shop, glancing at the store’s clock every few steps.

"Will we make it today or not? Why isn’t Xuanzi here yet?"

Yun Ziliang muttered.

Peng Sheng reassured him, "Taoist Yun, stay calm. Let’s wait a little longer."

"Wait for how—"

Yun Ziliang hadn’t finished speaking when a sharp, commanding roar suddenly sounded by his ear.

The roar was piercing and imposing, but its tail end grew faint, as though lacking vitality.

"It’s the Ancestor Dragon of Mingjiang Prefecture!"

Yun Ziliang’s expression changed drastically. He rushed to the shop’s entrance, turning his ear to listen more carefully.

"The roar of the Ancestor Dragon seems weakened," Peng Sheng remarked, joining him at the door.

"The Ancestor Dragon is polluted," Yun Ziliang replied. "The Ancestor Dragon never roars without reason. There must be a cause. Could it be... that Xuanzi has cultivated enough Dragon Seeking Qi? But that’s impossible. He went to the Great Mother Star Pit to notify the Peach Blossom Ancestor Tree. How would he cultivate Dragon Seeking Qi in a place like that?"

Even as he spoke, the bricks of East Market Street began to hum without wind. The shop’s banners and curtains caught specks of golden dragon Qi. Suddenly, a powerful dragon roar erupted across East Market Street, its impact like war drums pounding or metal being forged with a hammer...