NOVPUBThe belly of the fish in the sky emitted a dazzling glow.
The dawn had just begun to lift, and the two set off from Linhai City, heading towards the Endless Heaven Sea.
Along the way, they chatted intermittently; Li Zhizhong was very reserved.
Unless Xu Zimei initiated a conversation, he could remain silent indefinitely.
When they arrived at the dock by the sea, Xu Zimei saw the old man from before seemingly tossing a yellow sack into the sea again.
"Be careful of him," Li Zhizhong glanced at the old man and succinctly warned Xu Zimei.
Xu Zimei slightly furrowed his brows as he had also suspected there was something off about the elder before.
This time he was retrieving Taiyang Zuzhao and would not allow any accidents to occur.
He wondered if he should kill the old man in advance to prevent future troubles.
"Let’s go," Li Zhizhong, who was beside him, didn’t say much and directly stepped onto a small boat, speaking to Xu Zimei.
Xu Zimei pondered for a moment before boarding the small boat as well.
Watching the small boat gradually recede into the distance, the old man’s cloudy gaze was unfathomably deep, his thoughts unknown.
...
The sea was still calm, the deep blue water not exactly clear, but rather slightly murky.
"It’s really strange; there’s been no attack from the Evil Dragon Jiao," Li Zhizhong said, shaking his head.
Xu Zimei was startled for a moment. It was said the waters were fraught with Evil Dragon Jiao, yet he hadn’t encountered any during his visit the day before.
After reaching a certain part of the sea, Li Zhizhong surveyed the surroundings and slowly brought the boat to a halt.
Then he nodded to Xu Zimei and directly jumped into the sea.
Xu Zimei was taken aback and secretly guessed that the ice mountain might be underwater.
He had always thought that ice mountains floated on the surface, never considering that one might sink to the ocean floor.
Following Li Zhizhong’s lead, they entered the seabed but found nothing unusual.
Li Zhizhong lingered at the bottom of the sea for a long while before finally retrieving a small bug from his Storage Ring.
"This is the Crimson Fire Bug, highly sensitive to things with the Fire Attribute," Li Zhizhong explained.
Xu Zimei found everything quite interesting.
Once the Crimson Fire Bug made contact with the seawater, it began to struggle desperately, swimming quickly towards the north.
"The trail of this ice mountain is unpredictable, but it has always been within this sea area," Li Zhizhong elucidated.
After the Crimson Fire Bug had swum for half an hour, it appeared to be exhausted, noticeably slowing its pace.
Li Zhizhong then put the tired bug away and brought out a new Crimson Fire Bug.
Following the direction of these bugs, after a few hours more, the silhouette of a triangular ice mountain came into view.
As they got closer to the ice mountain, Xu Zimei could feel the Taiying Youying within him trembling.
Moreover, the trembling and shaking became more and more intense.
"This is the place," he affirmed to himself.
"Is this what you are looking for?" Li Zhizhong turned to ask.
Xu Zimei nodded slightly in confirmation.
The two ascended the ice mountain, which wasn’t particularly large in size and had a snow-white surface.
But when Xu Zimei touched it with his hand, he could feel a warm current.
In front of the ice mountain was a fiery red door.
The door was closed tightly, with a slot in the center that resembled a round sun, inscribed with numerous symbols Xu Zimei had never seen before.
Approaching the door, he could feel as if a force was boiling within him.
His Prison Suppressor Demon Body seemed eager to move, as if it wanted to awaken.
"How did you discover this place?" Xu Zimei asked Li Zhizhong, curious.
Li Zhizhong smiled, focusing his gaze on the endless expanse of sea, then fell silent.
...…
Decades ago in the winter, an abandoned infant was thrown by the side of the Endless Heaven Sea.
A fishing couple saw the abandoned infant and took pity on him, deciding to raise him as their own.
They named him "Li Zhizhong."
As the abandoned infant grew older, he consumed more and more food.
That year coincided with the Evil Dragon Jiao taking up residence in the Endless Heaven Sea, and the residents of Linhai City were feeling an acute shortage of food.
The kind-hearted couple could not bear to see the child starve. After trying countless solutions, they ultimately decided to fish in the Endless Heaven Sea.
They never returned, and the twenty-year-old abandoned infant braved the pouring rain to search for them.
Waves churned tumultuously on the sea surface, and the storm surged violently.
The sky seemed as if it could collapse at any moment.
The small boat was flipped over, and the abandoned infant fell into the sea.
When he awoke, he found himself lying on a warm iceberg.
His veins seemed to burn like fire within him, his strength becoming boundless.
He drifted at sea for several days, yet he still couldn’t find the couple.
When he finally returned to the city, he encountered an Evil Dragon Jiao.
In a situation where death seemed certain, he never expected that in his panic he would smash the Evil Dragon Jiao’s head with a single punch.
Taking the body of the Evil Dragon Jiao back to Linhai City, he became an overnight sensation and was hailed as the Hero Who Slew the Jiao Dragon.
After finishing his story, Li Zhizhong laughed and said, "Since then, I’ve been coming here often.
Because the closer I get to this door, the more my blood seems to boil within me.
But no matter what method I use, I can’t seem to open this door."
Xu Zimei nodded slightly; he placed his hand on the door, unable to discern what material it was made of.
Just then, the map that had guided him here, now in his Storage Ring, suddenly emitted a blinding light.
The light floated in mid-air, brilliant as a scorching sun.
It radiated a dazzling light, seemingly ready to soar into the heavens.
Eventually, the light turned into a stream and flowed into a circular slot.
With a "boom," accompanying a muffled sound, the door slowly began to open.
Within the door, there was nothingness; no one could see what lay inside.
But the moment the door opened, the entire iceberg seemed to tremble.
At that moment, a succession of dragon roars resounded all around.
Xu Zimei turned to look and saw the iceberg had been surrounded by a large group of Evil Dragon Jiaos.
There were at least hundreds of these Evil Dragon Jiaos, each with an imposing aura, among them not a few of Emperor Pulse Realm and Saint Vein Realm.
On the back of one black-purple Evil Dragon Jiao, sat a person.
An old man, the same elder Xu Zimei had encountered at the dock before.
"How many years has it been? Old man has waited so many years. Oh decrepit wood, this door has finally opened."
The elder sat on the back of the Evil Dragon Jiao, shouting wildly.
Seeing this, Li Zhizhong boiled with rage and bellowed, "So all these Evil Dragon Jiaos were raised by you!"
Only then did Xu Zimei recall seeing the elder tossing something into the sea earlier, which turned out to be food for the Evil Dragon Jiaos.
"Don’t be so angry," the elder laughed heartily.
"Even your arrival was personally arranged by me."
"What do you mean?" Li Zhizhong said, his face showing discomfort.
