Chapter 5: Dragon Blood Soul Tempering Pearl
The instant the bronze fragment embedded itself into the qingmu spirit pearl, the magma at the bottom of the dark river solidified.
Lu Qingyang’s pupils reflected the surging bloody Dragon shadow within the pearl, and the Three-Headed Flood Dragon’s inverse scales shattered inch by inch, transforming into crimson-gold fine sand that poured into his cracked Dantian.
Su Li’s cry of alarm was frozen in the temporal rift; the green light emanating from the Jade Slip at her waist actually resonated with the spirit pearl.
“This is… Dragon Marrow Transformation?” Lu Qingyang’s fingertip traced the rust on the pearl’s surface, and the mottled bronze green flaked off, revealing the Innatet Dao patterns circulating within.
The Three-Headed Flood Dragon’s remaining essence blood flowed along the Dao patterns, congealing into a bloody rain in the spiritual field space, watering all things.
The originally withered Dragon Tooth Grass grew wildly, and the scale patterns appearing on its leaves were identical to the Flood Dragon’s inverse scales.
Su Li suddenly grabbed his bleeding wrist and fiercely pressed half of the bronze fragment into the wound: “With blood as the guide, the Soul Pearl returns to its place!” In the midst of the intense pain, Lu Qingyang saw a nine-story bronze tower rise within the spirit pearl, with a Cultivator’s mummified corpse hanging from each eave—the one on the very top floor was none other than the Old Drunkard in his youth, with a broken sword engraved with the character “Ye” stuck in his glabella.
The Three-Headed Flood Dragon’s remnant soul roared at the base of the tower, shaking the dark river’s rock walls, causing stones to fall.
Lu Qingyang instinctively activated the fire control technique from the “Basic Qi Refining Art,” but what shot out from his fingertips was dark-red Dragon Flame.
Su Li’s skirt caught sparks, and in an instant, three coin-sized holes were burned through, revealing the Taiyi Pavilion’s secret Pattern embroidered on the lining.
“As expected, it’s a method of stealing from Heaven and exchanging for the Sun.” The cold sneer of the black-clothed Cultivator came from the top of the Cave, and seven Punish Evil Swords formed the Big Dipper Killing Formation, “The Ye Family traitor not only stole the qingmu spirit pearl, but even dared to secretly possess the sect’s most treasured Soul Nurturing Pagoda!”
Lu Qingyang dragged Su Li into the magma, and the green light emitted by the spirit pearl isolated the scorching molten rock three feet from their bodies.
Through the distorted heat waves, he saw that wherever the Punish Evil Swords pierced, the rock layers were cut open like tofu.
The bronze box in his arms suddenly trembled, and an ink-black liquid seeped from the box lid’s crack; wherever it passed, the magma actually solidified into profound ice.
“Nether Heavy Water…” Su Li’s voice trembled, and her fingertips traced an escape route on the ice surface, “Dive three hundred zhang to the southeast, there’s a teleportation Formation set up by an ancient Cultivator there!” Before she finished speaking, the Punish Evil Sword Formation had already broken through the magma and caught up, the lightning attached to the sword tips evaporating the Nether Heavy Water into pungent white mist.
Lu Qingyang bit his tongue and sprayed essence blood onto the spirit pearl; the bronze tower within the pearl suddenly projected the Old Drunkard’s phantom.
The phantom raised his hand and crushed the wine gourd at his waist; the spilled wine ignited a Deep Blue flame in the magma, temporarily blocking the sword Formation’s edge.
Taking advantage of this breathing room, the two awkwardly rolled into the shattered Formation eye of the teleportation Formation.
“We need a third-tier demon core as the Formation’s trigger!” Su Li rummaged through her Storage Pouch but only found two dim Spirit Stones.
The sword light of the pursuers had already cut through the last barrier, and Lu Qingyang suddenly pressed the spirit pearl into the center of the Formation pattern—the withered Dragon Tooth Grass within the pearl burned wildly, and the Spiritual Qi released perfectly completed the incomplete Formation.
Amidst the dizzying sensation, Lu Qingyang heard the black-clothed Cultivator’s roar: “You cannot escape the Karma of the Burial Dragon Abyss!” When he opened his eyes again, he was already in a desolate wilderness, and the night wind carried sand, striking the scabs on his face.
Su Li was using a silver needle to pick out fragments of Sword Qi from his shoulder blade, and each piece she picked out was thrown into the bonfire, causing bursts of phosphorescent fire.
“Ye Wuchen’s Soul Chasing Sword Qi.” She wiped the scorch marks on the bronze box, “When his uncle rebelled against Taiyi Pavilion back then, he used this Big Dipper Punish Evil Formation.” The firelight illuminated the brand that had reappeared on her collarbone, now with an extra circle of bloody Dragon patterns.
Lu Qingyang introspected his Dantian and found that the original pigeon-egg-sized Qi vortex had transformed into the image of a Flood Dragon coiled around a pillar.
The bronze tower in the spirit pearl space sank into the earth pulse, and a familiar rotten bone flower grew at the base of the tower—it was the poisonous grass he had used to deal with the Iron-backed Azure Wolf the day he fell off the cliff.
When he tried to activate the Dragon Flame, wisps of black Qi shot out from his fingertips, corroding the withered tree beside him into honeycomb-like holes.
Su Li suddenly squeezed his wrist, her Phoenix eyes gleaming with an unusual light: “You absorbed the Yin poison of the Nether Heavy Water?” Without waiting for an answer, she suddenly tore open the sleeve of her right arm, revealing a hideous old scar: “Help me remove this Soul Devouring Curse, and I’ll give you half of the map to the Burial Dragon Abyss.”
At dawn, the two found an abandoned mine tunnel to rest.
Lu Qingyang used the newly comprehended Yin poisonous spiritual power to corrode a ventilation opening in the rock wall, and unexpectedly discovered an ancient Cultivator’s remains embedded in the interlayer.
In the Jade Slip tightly held by the skeleton, a fragment of a Cultivation Technique called “Nine Revolutions Poison Dragon Art” was recorded—the opening line clearly stated, “To cultivate this divine achievement, one must draw Nether Heavy Water into the body.”
“It seems there is a destined number in the unseen.” Su Li played with the bronze key around the remains’ neck; the key handle was carved with the emblem of Taiyi Pavilion’s first sect master.
When she brought the key close to the spirit pearl, the rotten bone flower within the pearl suddenly grew wildly, and dense tadpole-like characters appeared on its petals, which were precisely the missing latter six volumes of the Poison Dragon Art Mind-Cultivation Technique.
Outside the cave, the sound of camel bells suddenly came, and a caravan composed of seventeen Dragon Blood Camels was resting at a spring.
Lu Qingyang disguised himself as a medicine-gathering Loose Cultivator and went forward to inquire about news, hearing the caravan leader arguing with a guard: “…The miasma of the Burial Dragon Abyss suddenly receded by seventy percent, and now various Families are recruiting suicidal Cultivators…”
His action of scooping water paused slightly, and the edge of the ceramic bowl reflected Su Li’s quietly approaching figure.
The woman’s warm breath brushed his ear: “It seems our tortoise shell map is going to increase in price.” However, the dagger she hid in her sleeve was pressed against Lu Qingyang’s lower back, and she said in a voice only they could hear: “The Ye Family’s key can open Taiyi Pavilion’s Forbidden Land, why do you think the Old Drunkard hid it in the mine tunnel?”
Under the scorching midday sun, Lu Qingyang chewed on the dried meat exchanged from the caravan, and his teeth suddenly bit into something hard—half of a Jade Slip carved with a birth date, with “Ye Qingyang” written on the front and the cloud pattern number reserved for direct disciples of Taiyi Pavilion on the back.
The bronze tower in the spirit pearl space suddenly hummed, and the Old Drunkard’s phantom on the top floor turned its head, meeting his gaze.