Don't know the location? Bella also hesitated. She very much wanted to bring the Divine Dragon along as backup to beat up the Hand, but if she couldn't fulfill her promise, it would be troublesome later.
After weighing her options, she decided to focus on the immediate situation first.
This revenge had to happen! Without revenge, she wouldn't be able to rest easy.
"You should know the general area, right? I know divination magic. With you leading the way plus my spells, it'll take some time, but we can still find K'un-Lun."
The two quickly reached an agreement. The Divine Dragon wouldn't participate in Ashina's mortal warfare—Bella still had to resolve that herself. However, when Bella fought the Hand, the dragon would provide whatever assistance she could. According to K'un-Lun's rules, divine dragons should remain detached from worldly affairs, not participating in human grudges and conflicts. But since this involved the Divine Dragon herself, she used helping Bella as an excuse to convince herself.
Revenge! Beat up Madame Gao! Finish off that old woman!
And Bella would afterward take the Divine Dragon back to her homeland of K'un-Lun.
This was even more thorough than the Return (Dragon's Homecoming) ending with Sekiro and the Divine Child—this could be called the True Dragon's Homecoming ending!
Now Bella needed to end the war first, cut through the mess quickly, resolve the situation, then have the Divine Dragon open the barrier so they could sail home.
After everything was settled, the Divine Dragon hesitated before raising a new issue.
"What? You can't leave this tree? And you were just talking so enthusiastically?!"
Bella's voice was somewhat loud. Knowing she was in the wrong, the Divine Dragon hung her head sheepishly.
Bella observed the connection between the Divine Dragon and the ever-blooming cherry tree. Perhaps because the life force within the Divine Dragon was too abundant, her severed limb had now grown together with the tree.
As a psionicist, as a spellcaster, this wasn't difficult.
But just after resolving the physical adhesion issue, the Divine Dragon threw her another problem.
"...Are you trying to annoy me? ...Can't you just shrink? Dragons can be large or small." Bella looked at the hundreds-of-meters-long Divine Dragon speechlessly. With such a massive body, how could she take her out? There was nowhere to hide in modern society either.
The Divine Dragon was even more distressed than Bella: "My arm was severed and my body broken. I've lost the ability to transform. Otherwise, I'd just stay here..."
The Divine Dragon's lack of motivation and desire to back out gave Bella a headache.
What to do?
Not only could the severed arm not be found, even if found, this level of damage couldn't be reattached.
In the Divine Dragon's own words, she wasn't a three or four-year-old little dragon. By dragon standards, she was nearly five years old!
Her body had already taken shape. Damage was damage. There'd be no upgrades later, and she couldn't shrink now.
Fortunately, Bella's knowledge in this area was truly extensive. She put her mind to work and actually thought of a solution.
"Why don't you just re-transform into a dragon? A snake cultivates for a thousand years to become a python, a python for a thousand years to become a boa, a boa for a thousand years to become a jiao, and a jiao cultivates another thousand years to become a dragon. You can regress to a jiao, take the opportunity to restore your body, then accumulate energy and transform into a dragon again. You're still young anyway. This process presents no obstacles for you because you're already a dragon."
The nearly five-year-old Divine Dragon thought about it. The more she thought, the more sense it made!
She also had ambition. What was the point of returning to K'un-Lun as a crippled dragon? Spend some time, fully restore her limbs, and she could go even further in the future.
This was theoretically possible, though it required certain prerequisites. She thought about it: "Regressing to a jiao isn't that easy. I need large amounts of snake flesh and blood."
"Leave it to me." Bella took on the responsibility without hesitation.
Other places she couldn't say, but in Ashina? The Great Serpent—the giant White Snake—could be found the moment she left. That snake was even called a mountain god by locals. Providing life force for the Divine Dragon's transformation to jiao would be more than enough.
"Prepare yourself and wait for me. I'll be back soon."
Bella left the Divine Dragon's space and returned to the Fountainhead Palace.
By now, the Okami clan within the Fountainhead Palace had been completely cleared.
Her group of subordinates was handling the aftermath.
Most Okami clan members left no bodies. After death, their bodies dissolved like water on the spot.
Somewhat like the mutant-modified senator in X-Men 1—cells reaching the Hayflick limit, bodies decomposing directly at the genetic level.
Though bodies were gone, clothes, weapons, and ornaments from life remained.
The Snake Eyes clan piled these items together and burned them to ashes.
Pyramid Head was also an exemplary worker who loved his profession. Now officially on duty, he placed his great blade before him, sat cross-legged on the ground, palms pressed together, silently chanting sutras for these people. Salvation!
Arin continued plucking her shamisen, the tune mournfully bleak, making listeners want to cry. This was an authentic funeral dirge.
Jason was responsible for smashing the pot and scattering ashes! All ashes were scattered into the great lake at the Fountainhead Palace's center. Didn't the Okami clan love water? They could stay with water after death.
Salvation, funeral, scattering ashes! Emerging from the Divine Dragon's space, Bella didn't know what to say seeing her subordinates' one-stop service.
She didn't disturb her subordinates' refined interests. Even the Vengeance Ghost Alliance was a cultured organization with humanitarian concerns. This current situation was excellent—worthy of praise!
She rode her flying carpet alone, leaving the Fountainhead Palace to search for traces of the White Snake among Ashina's mountains.
Ashina had legends of White Snake worship. There really were White Snakes here—very, very large ones. Two of them.
These creatures were hundreds of meters long and seven to eight meters in diameter, covered in white scales. They loved roaring at mountain peaks when idle. They also wanted to advance further but lacked the opportunity.
Bella looked down from above and quickly found traces of one White Snake. After some provocation and drawing its attention, she headed toward the Fountainhead Palace.
She sat on her flying carpet, flying at a moderate height, occasionally casting spells at the pursuing White Snake.
Upon entering the Fountainhead Palace's range, the sky filled with dense clouds. The White Snake felt some fear—it sensed an extremely high-level presence. The suppressive force left it barely able to muster the will to resist. After long hesitation between advancing and retreating, it finally decided to turn and flee.
"Crack!" Lightning struck it squarely. Then a jade-green ceremonial sword fell from the sky, with three branches on each side of the blade. This was a divine artifact from Baekje—the Seven-Branched Sword.
The Divine Dragon had picked it up in passing when traveling through Baekje.
The Seven-Branched Sword traced an arc, piercing precisely into the White Snake's vital point just behind its head. The massive snake, no smaller than a mountain ridge, thrashed and wailed continuously on the ground.
After a full half-hour, when the Flying Dutchman came drifting downstream, the White Snake still hadn't completely died.
Bella didn't care. Leading her subordinates, they swarmed forward, binding the White Snake to the stern, then dragging it back to the Fountainhead Palace.
This White Snake's weight had to be measured in tons. Even relying on the ship's hull to drag it, progress was extremely slow.
Finally, the Divine Dragon had to use her spatial abilities, extending a claw from the sky. Working together, they barely managed to haul the White Snake inside.