A quick, shrill series of clanks and clinks could be heard from the cave. Head strikes, kicks, punches, scratches, all kinds of violent moves made by Dragon Mother landed on the jade board like a storm.
The jade board was glowing splendidly. Strands of mist spiraled up from it, strongly defending against Dragon Mother's attacks. The weapons inside the nine pillars had been releasing shreds of sharp and cold shadows...Blade shadows, sword shadows, axe shadows...Fierce forces burst from the jade board from time to time and struck heavily on Dragon Mother's body.
Since this jade board had trapped Priest Tong Jiong for so many years, without a doubt, it must be incredibly strong. Dragon Mother bashed madly, but failed to leave even a mark on it.
Tong Jiong stood inside the jade board, laughing at Dragon Mother, "Try harder! Carry on! Come to beat me! Come to kill me! Don't hesitate! I ate your tenth son, so what? That's how ancient Pan Gu world was!"
"You kill me, I kill you; you eat me, I eat you. Large fishes eat small fishes, small fishes eat shrimps. But, every time big fishes grew fleshy and adorable, you dragons would eat them before me! Dragons can eat other creatures, so why can't I eat dragons? I'm priest Tong Jiong, not a human being, not a dragon, nor a phoenix. I'm not one of you, so I can surely eat you!"
"Eh, tell you what? I've tried almost all creatures in the ancient Pan Gu world, but of all, dragons were the chewiest ones, especially their tendons...Their crystal, elastic, strong tendons… Ahyaya, I am such a great cook. Back then, I made a sour soup with the water from the Bitter Ocean eye. Boiled in that soup, the dragon tendons turned soft and mellow...That's called delicious!"
Dragon Mother was infuriated. Red-edged dark scales grew out of her skin and straightened up. Every single scale was sharp as a dagger. She roared like a beast and bumped into the jade board over and over again, causing rumbling noises and making the nine pillars sparkle eye-dazzlingly.
While Dragon Mother was crazily striking the jade board, Ji Hao silently turned around and walked straight away.
Regarding which calabash was dead and which was leading, Ji Hao believed that unsolvable issue didn't exist in the world. In the worst case, he could give up on boosting up his power and cultivation with the spring in the living calabash.
Rather than focusing on the problem of differentiating the living calabash and the dead calabash, he believed that he should leave this place as quickly as possible now. Dragon Mother was already driven to madness, yet Priest Tong Jiong had still been stimulating her. If she failed to break the jade board and decided to vent on Ji Hao, he would seriously suffer.
Ji Hao told himself to leave now. He and Mr. Crow moved silently towards the entrance of the cave, but Bamboo Master made a sideways step and blocked their way. Bamboo Master smiled and shook his head to Ji Hao while saying, "My friend, please stay. You are Emperor Ji Hao, aren't you? Before we came, Dragon Mother said that she has to peel you and pull out your tendons. So, my friend, you can't leave now."
Ji Hao halted briefly. "Elder, are you going against the heaven? Attacking divine emperors is a heavy offense." With a bitter smile, he said to Bamboo Master.
Bamboo Master grinned brightly and said, "It will be a heavy offense indeed. But the heaven can't do anything to me. Divine Emperors are in high positions indeed, but we are beyond the noisy world. We can kill divine emperors, no big deal. Emperor Ji Hao, you have no idea how many divine emperors died a mysterious death since the heaven appeared, do you?"
Ji Hao took a deep breath. He waved the Tai-Yi magnetic force flag and the pair of calabashes in his hands, then asked, "Elder, are you really going to stand in my way?"
Bamboo Master smilingly glanced at the three treasures in Ji Hao's hands, threw a question back, "Emperor Ji Hao, do you really have the courage to use these treasures? Priest Tong Jiong's temper...You're young, my friend. I'm afraid you don't know much about him, do you?"
Bamboo Master's smile was getting warmer and warmer. He wielded the green bamboo stick in his hand and spread shreds of afterimages. Next, a boundless bamboo forest appeared around Ji Hao. A breeze blew across and rustled the bamboo leaves. Bamboo Master gradually disappeared from the bamboo forest while saying, "Priest Tong Jiong's three treasures were well-renowned back in the ancient time. Tong Jiong has eaten many things that he shouldn't eat. Without these three treasures, he would have been beaten into a meat pie by the dragon ancestor and phoenix ancestor!"
"So, elder Tong Jiong has truly tasted phoenix eggs, hasn't he?" Ji Hao recalled what Tong Jiong said earlier.
"What hasn't he tasted? Perhaps, human beings?" Bamboo Master's voice came from all directions, disabling Ji Hao from locating him through voice. "In the ancient time, you human beings were slovenly. You were dirty, really dirty. My friend Tong Jiong is edacious indeed, but he is scrupulously clean. He would never touch any dirty or stained food."
Ji Hao laughed. Back in the ancient time, human ancestors probably lived in caves or bird nests, and wore bloody hides. Perhaps, they wouldn't take one shower in half a year...Tong Jiong was a neat freak, which meant he wouldn't touch even a hair of human beings.
"Great, I like that." Said Ji Hao smilingly, "If Tong Jiong had eaten our human ancestors, I would have to avenge them...But, it seems that I can't rival him, so that would be quite embarrassing!"
Before his voice faded, tens of shreds of bamboo shadows flashed quietly towards Ji Hao from all directions.
The bamboo shadows were faint, seeming to be completely powerless when flying towards Ji Hao. But in fact, every single shred of bamboo shadow brought a tremendous force and struck on the Pan Gu bell. It was like a giant whale from the deep sea silently bumping against a ship. Every strike of bamboo shadow rippled the Chaos power streams released from the bell, and vibrated Ji Hao's body slightly.
"Elder, you have such a great strength!" Ji Hao said blandly, "But, I have quite some strength too, and I'm protected by a supreme treasure made from Buzhou Mountain. Elder, you have underestimated me. These little tricks can't hurt me."
"A supreme treasure made from Buzhou Mountain?" Bamboo Master exclaimed, "Saint Pan Gu's spine...Did you pull it out to make a treasure? No wonder the great Dao of Pan Gu world was disordered earlier...You daring little scums..." Bamboo Master clicked his tongue, "If I knew, I should have done it before you!"
Ji Hao gave a larger grin. "My Shifu is Priest Yu Yu, a true Pan Gu descendant. He had the guts to forge my treasure with Pan Gu's spine, and no one could say a word about it. Elder, can you do the same?"
"Eh." Bamboo Master immediately fell into silence. The boundless bamboo forest faded silently. Bamboo Master showed his face again, helplessly shaking his head towards Ji Hao while saying, "Priest Yu Yu? I'm afraid of him. I can't defeat him, and can't afford to offend him. So, you can go!"
Ji Hao was delighted. He bowed to Bamboo Master and prepared to leave, but suddenly, he heard a cold voice.
"What about Priest Yu Yu? I, Priest Sadness, am not afraid of him. Divine Emperor Ji Hao? Today, I will slaughter a divine emperor!"