Chapter Fifteen: Qi Condensation Nine Tribulations
The turbulent dark river, carrying the scent of sulfur, rushed towards them. Lu Qingyang, gripping Su Li's collar, used the rock wall to flip, as the Three-Headed Flood Dragon's sharp claws grazed his back, tearing open three bloody gashes. The qingmu spirit pearl in his embrace suddenly burst forth with a green light, and the hourglass suspended above the Medicinal Field within the pearl actually reversed, leaving afterimages—this was a sign of a Qi Condensation Ninth Layer Breakthrough.
"Don't bite off more than you can chew, Daoist Lu!" Su Li flicked out three Thunderstorm Talismans. The electric light that exploded when the talismans touched the Dragon's inverted scales illuminated the still-healing Soul-Chasing Mark on her collarbone. Lu Qingyang took the opportunity to snatch the jade pendant from her waist. As his fingertips touched the warm surface, he didn't forget to pinch some soft flesh: "Su Gu Niang, this jade material is worth three dragon blood grass. Consider it Mr. Lu's life-saving money."
The Three-Headed Flood Dragon's roar caused the magma on the dome to splatter. Lu Qingyang's coarse linen clothes were already scorched with honeycomb-like holes. He gnawed on a half-eaten rotten bone flower root, its poisonous juice mixed with blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, making him look like a ruthless ruffian in a street brawl. The spiritual power of Qi Condensation Eighth Layer surged wildly through his Meridians, yet this fellow still had the leisure to reach for the swollen part of the Dragon's belly—where a nascent Dragon Pearl was clearly hidden.
"Still thinking about fleecing at a time like this!" Su Li, angered, summoned her Natal Magic Treasure, the Glazed Lamp. Twelve ice shards, however, only managed to freeze the Dragon's tail for three breaths. Lu Qingyang seized the opportunity to roll under the Yao Beast's belly. As his medicinal shovel pierced through the gaps in the scales, he didn't forget to mumble: "A female Dragon will swallow Moon Dew to moisten her palace before laying eggs. This urine is probably more precious than a Marrow Cleansing Pill..."
The moment the Dragon Pearl entered his hand, the qingmu spirit pearl suddenly hummed like a Dragon's roar. Lu Qingyang felt a burst of intense fire in his Dantian, and the barrier of Qi Condensation Ninth Layer actually loosened at this critical moment of life and death. He stumbled into a rock crevice, pulled out his treasured drunken immortal brew from a secret pocket in his trousers, and gulped down three mouthfuls—this was a potent liquor made from Five-Poison Spiders steeped for three years, which he usually only dared to lick the bottle cap to satisfy his craving.
"Lu! Qing! Yang!" Su Li's shriek, mixed with the sound of the Glazed Lamp shattering, reached him. The Three-Headed Flood Dragon's vertical pupils locked onto the rock crevice, and a foul, poisonous mist spewed forth. Lu Qingyang pulled out a handful of blackened melon seeds and cracked them with a loud crunch. The discarded shells transformed into talismans and stuck to the rock wall: "What's the rush? Can't you see I'm having a Breakthrough?"
If it were an ordinary Cultivator, he would have long since sat cross-legged to circulate his spiritual power. But this fellow, relying on the qingmu spirit pearl's life-giving feedback, actually set up a simple Pill Furnace in the poisonous mist. Half a rotten bone flower, three drops of Dragon saliva, supplemented by years of treasured old pot ash, he managed to refine a 'Nine-Revolving Soul-Returning Pill' emitting green smoke—though it looked like a mud pellet dug out of a latrine.
"Catch!" Lu Qingyang flicked the Medicinal Pill into Su Li's mouth, and while doing so, he snatched the gilded hairpin from her hair. The girl choked, tears welling up, but she was astonished to find her depleted spiritual power instantly replenished, and even the burning pain of the Soul-Chasing Mark greatly reduced. The Three-Headed Flood Dragon's attack suddenly slowed, and a human-like fear actually appeared in the Yao Beast's golden eyes—that mud pellet was mixed with half a mace of Soul-Devouring Powder, originally a sleeping draught used in the black market to drug low-level Cultivators.
Taking advantage of the Yao Beast's daze, Lu Qingyang bit his tongue and sprayed out a mouthful of essence blood. The qingmu spirit pearl absorbed the blood-fiend Qi, and the rapidly growing bone-eroding vines in the pearl's Medicinal Field pierced through the Void Realm, wrapping the Three-Headed Flood Dragon into a verdant cocoon. He hummed a tune as he cut open the Dragon's belly, but what he pulled out was not the anticipated inner core, but a half-roll of yellowed "Taiyin Refining Form."
"Is this... a Dual Cultivation Technique?" As Su Li approached, Lu Qingyang tied her securely with Dragon sinews. This fellow sat cross-legged on the Dragon's corpse, the stolen goods piled up like a small mountain in front of him: "To each his own. The Dragon Pearl is mine, the hairpin is for the medicine money, and as for the Cultivation Technique..." He deliberately flipped to the page with the erotic illustrations, "Mr. Lu is untalented, but I am willing to discuss it with Su Gu Niang."
The earth veins suddenly trembled violently, and a bronze coffin emerged from the depths of the dark river. The turtle shell map in Lu Qingyang's embrace spontaneously combusted, and the ashes condensed into the three ancient seal characters "Burial Dragon Abyss" in the air. His eyes gleamed as he kicked open the coffin lid, but he sighed and groaned: "Another empty coffin? My reputation as a tomb raider is going to be ruined..."
Before he finished speaking, twelve white jade skeletons burst out of the coffin. Each skeleton held a soul lamp in its palm, and the remnants of Cultivators' souls struggled within the eerie blue flames. Lu Qingyang formed a hand seal with his left hand and scattered coins with his right. The copper coins landed to form a formation, actually activating the long-lost "Six Trigrams Immortal Trapping Array" using mundane divination techniques. Su Li saw clearly that the copper coins were engraved with the names of the courtesans from Yihong Courtyard.
"What are you looking at?" Lu Qingyang dodged the bone claws while stuffing soul lamps into his embrace, "Mr. Lu is robbing the rich to help the poor!" Before he finished speaking, a skeleton bit his waistband, revealing his patched underpants. At this moment of life and death, this fellow actually had the leisure to protect his money bag: "You can have my life, but not my money!"
The qingmu spirit pearl rolled to the bottom of the coffin during the chaotic fight. When it touched a certain protruding bronze brick, the entire Burial Dragon Abyss underground palace roared open. The star map on the dome revolved, with Magical Artifacts suspended at the positions of the Twenty-Eight Mansions, but on the central jade platform, there was only a chipped pottery bowl. Lu Qingyang's breathing suddenly became heavy—the sediment at the bottom of the bowl was clearly the crystallization of thousand-year-old spiritual milk!
"This item is fated with me..." He stepped on Su Li's shoulder and leaped up. As his fingertips were about to touch the pottery bowl, dense Sword Intent marks appeared on the four walls of the underground palace. The biting Sword Intent cut through his protective spiritual light, carving four bloody characters, "Visited Here," on his back. Lu Qingyang grimaced in pain, but when he landed, he clapped the pottery bowl on his head like a helmet: "What are you looking at? Haven't you seen this is the Legacy Treasure of an ancient mighty figure?"
The underground palace began to collapse. Su Li dragged him towards the escape gate. This fellow scooped magma with the pottery bowl as he ran, calling it "Artifact Refining divine fire," and incidentally took three jade finger bones from the skeletons. During this race against death, he didn't forget to mutter: "Finger bones make perfect dice. When I return to the Drunken Immortal Pavilion..."