Chapter 210: Earth Dragon, Treasure!

What kind of monster is this?

Everyone present felt a chill run down their backs, their hair standing on end.

Squish, squish, squish.

Accompanied by the sounds of swallowing and chewing, a gigantic creature crawled out of the burrow. It somewhat resembled a Chinese alligator, but it had already become something entirely different. Its body was at least twelve chi long, and the scales covering it gleamed with a metallic sheen. They were tightly interlocked, smooth, and completely seamless, as though the creature were clad in a suit of peculiar armor.

Li Yan had a feeling that this was what true invulnerability to blades and spears looked like. It could probably even deflect bolts fired from powerful crossbows.

However, even more horrifying was its head. Its shape bore some resemblance to that of a Chinese alligator, but it too was covered in smooth scales, and two horns grew from the top of its skull. They branched slightly, resembling deer antlers!

The monster opened its enormous, fang-filled maw and bit down on the two bandits who had just tried to flee. It tilted its head back, shook its neck, and swallowed them into its belly. Thick, scarlet blood trickled from the corners of its mouth.

Sha Lifei's mind went blank, his entire body turning cold as he screamed in fright, "D-Dragon!"

"Nonsense!" Wang Daoxuan snorted beside him and cursed, "Dragons breathe and draw upon the mysteries of Heaven, bringing blessings to all living things. How can something like this possibly be a dragon? Even if it is one, it's an evil dragon!"

"Right, this isn't a dragon!" Lin Yu's eyes were filled with disappointment as well. Gritting his teeth, he said, "This thing must be a Chinese alligator that absorbed dragon qi and transformed into a demonic creature."

Lu San gritted his teeth. "What are you arguing about that for? Hurry up and think of a way to save them!"

He rushed forward, simultaneously drawing his weapon from his waist.

Sha Lifei finally came back to his senses. "Right, right!"

He hurriedly opened the luggage beside him, took out two bamboo tubes, and fastened them to arrows. Those two bamboo thunder arrows had likewise been stuffed with coal essence. The power of the previous explosion had given him a little confidence.

Meanwhile, Lu San had already reached Li Yan's side and whispered, "What do we do... Should I try communicating with it using the spirit language?"

Just then, a weak voice came from the distance. "Don't act rashly!"

It was the cultivator of the Mount Mei Faith. He had already taken advantage of the earlier chaos to kill the bandit behind him, and was currently leaning against a tree, his face deathly pale.

Clutching his wound, he gritted his teeth and said, "This kind of beast is sensitive to astral or killing qi and can determine positions by sound. It's impervious to blades and spears. You're no match for it at all. Hurry and run. Leave this place and send word to the Taixuan Orthodox Sect..."

As they spoke, the gigantic beast had already torn apart and swallowed another bandit. Its cold, yellowish eyes turned toward them.

Li Yan kept his eyes on it as he said in a deep voice, "Save him! I'll hold it off for you."

Lu San wasted no words. He immediately rushed out, supported the cultivator of the Mount Mei Faith, and ran back.

The moment they started running, the creature was alerted. A deep rumble came from the monster's throat as foul-smelling air blasted from its nostrils. Its thick limbs pounded the ground as it charged toward them at a terrifying speed. Even the ground beneath their feet trembled from its steps.

They called it a Chinese alligator, but its agility was no worse than a lizard's. In the span of a breath, it was already upon them.

Li Yan felt his scalp go numb. Hidden force erupted through both legs as he leaped and dodged sideways. He moved incredibly quickly, tilting his entire body to the side as he darted to the side.

Even so, the creature was even faster. Li Yan felt the ground trembling behind him, every hair on his body standing on end as an enormous maw snapped at him.

Spying a tree ahead, Li Yan twisted around like a sparrowhawk and kicked viciously against the trunk, using the recoil to launch himself away.

Crack!

A deafening snap filled the air as the massive tree, thick enough for a man to wrap his arms around, was actually bitten clean through by the creature.

Three zhang away, Li Yan rolled to his feet. Watching the tree slowly topple, he felt a chill run down his back, cold sweat covering his entire body. One bite from the creature would probably be enough to take his life. No matter how powerful the Great Luo Dharma Body was, it would only mean surviving two bites instead of one.

How can such a powerful creature even exist?

Meanwhile, Li Yan's distraction had allowed Lu San to support the cultivator of the Mount Mei Faith back to where Wang Daoxuan and the others were gathered.

Seeing Li Yan now in danger, Lu San slapped the Demon Gourd hard.

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

A dense swarm of hornets came roaring over and started flying circles around the creature. Naturally, their stingers could not penetrate the sturdy scales covering its body, but the hornets were under Lu San's command. Some harassed it from either side, while others went straight for the creature's eyes.

The gigantic beast roared furiously, "ROAR!"

It squeezed its eyes shut, and snapped its jaws wildly. Dozens of hornets were immediately swallowed.

Unfortunately, that was a mistake.

Although the creature had undergone a transformation and now looked somewhat like a lizard, it was still similar to a crocodile in that its tongue was not particularly agile. It swallowed prey the same way a crocodile did, forcing it directly down its throat. Its throat was especially thick, with a hollow cavity inside.

The hornets might have been small, but the venom in their stingers was exceptionally potent. They immediately stung the inside of its throat more than a dozen times in succession.

"AWOOO!"

The creature howled in pain, thrashing and leaping about wildly. Its scale-covered tail whipped back and forth, sending dirt spraying everywhere. Several trees nearby were snapped clean through at the waist.

Of course, the hornets did not escape either. The creature's stomach churned violently, and the flesh it had just swallowed came spraying from its mouth along with its stomach acid. The foul-smelling slime splattered onto the ground, corroding the surrounding grass and trees as pungent white smoke rose into the air. The swallowed hornets were vomited out as well, already burned to death by the acid.

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

The remaining hornets continued harassing it. Under Lu San's command, they simply abandoned all attempts to penetrate its outer scales. Instead, they darted around from side to side, trying every possible way to get inside the beast's mouth.

The creature was now completely enraged. It shook its head from side to side and, by sensing the flow of killing qi, detected where Lu San and the others were hiding. Ignoring the hornets, it charged straight toward them.

"Die!"

Sha Lifei had already drawn his bow and nocked an arrow. The instant his fingers released the string, the bamboo thunder arrow screamed through the air.

The creature knew no demonic arts. It seemed as though all its innate gifts had been poured entirely into its extraordinarily powerful body. As the bamboo thunder arrow came whistling toward it, the creature seemed to sense the threat and suddenly twisted its head aside, trying to dodge.

Yet no matter how fast it was, it still failed to escape.

A deafening explosion erupted, flames scattering everywhere. The creature's enormous body was blasted off its feet. It rolled three times across the ground before shaking its head amid the thick smoke, completely dazed and disoriented. The scales on its neck had been blown away, leaving behind a bloody, mangled wound.

Staring at the sight, everyone didn't know what to feel. They had indeed injured it, but that arrow had been laced with gunpowder enhanced with additional ingredients. Yet all it had managed to do was blast open a bit of its hide.

Perhaps because this was the first time it had ever suffered such an injury, fear finally arose within the creature. Its two front claws frantically dug into the earth as it prepared to burrow underground.

The next second, its body stiffened.

Li Yan had already drawn near, and the Soul-Hooking Chain came whistling out.

At the moment, Li Yan's Soul-Hooking Chain was six chi long, but this creature was both agile and incredibly fast. Getting within thirty chi of it was probably dangerous. Had the gunpowder not thrown it into a panic, Li Yan would never have been able to approach.

Although the creature had been restrained, Li Yan immediately sensed that something was wrong, and cold sweat broke out across his forehead.

The Soul-Hooking Chain had indeed entered its body and suppressed its soul, but the creature's soul was far stronger than that of an ordinary person. It was like a violent, bloodthirsty wild bull. Not only was Li Yan unable to suppress its soul, but it thrashed wildly, nearly breaking free from the Soul-Hooking Chain's restraint.

Li Yan gritted his teeth and leaped directly onto its head. Twisting Earth Breaker sideways, he plunged it straight into the wound on the creature's neck. At the same time, lightning flickered across the hilt of the Earth Breaker.

Crackle, crackle!

All twelve bolts of Yin Lightning poured into it at once. The Earth Breaker was already a spiritual artifact capable of destroying demon souls and vicious ghosts. Combined with twelve bolts of Yin Lightning that was specifically effective against souls, its power immediately became apparent.

"Aruuug!" A mournful howl filled the air

The creature's body stiffened, then slowly collapsed to the ground and went completely still.

Li Yan raised his left hand and pulled. A mass carrying an icy, bloody scent was dragged from the creature's body and bound within his palm by the Soul-Hooking Chain. This beast's soul was exceptionally powerful. Even after being struck by the Earth Breaker and Yin Lightning, it had merely been damaged rather than dispersed.

"Daoist Wang, capture its soul!"

Wang Daoxuan immediately understood. "Coming!"

He quickly pulled the Wandering Soul Jar and his ritual implements from his luggage and rushed over. He knew Li Yan possessed the ability to restrain souls. Back when they had passed through the Qinling Mountain Range near Capital Passage City, Li Yan had similarly suppressed a Spirit Soldier and allowed him to subdue it.

One could easily imagine how formidable the soul of such a creature would be.

Without the slightest hesitation, Wang Daoxuan took out a one zhang long yellow silk already covered in cinnabar talismans. Stepping according to the ritual pattern and forming a hand seal, he swept the silk around Li Yan's hand.

Although Wang Daoxuan could not see the beast's soul, he immediately felt the yellow silk turn icy cold. He hurriedly tied it into a knot, wrapped it with red cord, and stuffed it into the Wandering Soul Jar.

After sealing the lid, he threaded Evil-Repelling and Blessing-Invoking Coins onto red cord, then wrapped them several times around the Wandering Soul Jar together with a Soul-Suppressing Talisman.

Once they were done, the two exchanged a glance and simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Yan's Summoning Writ could call forth troops from the Underworld. It was their final life-saving trump card, meant to deal with large groups of enemies. They had nearly been forced to use it just earlier.

Sha Lifei had rushed over as well and clicked his tongue in amazement. "Good grief. What the hell did this thing eat to grow this big?"

The fat Lin Yu crouched down and felt the creature's scales. He immediately said anxiously, "This creature is extraordinary. Its hide can be made into top-grade spiritual armor. We have to work on it immediately. Once the killing qi dissipates, it'll become ordinary material."

Li Yan nodded. "Then I'll have to trouble Brother Lin to help. Don't worry, our rule is that everyone present gets a share. Once we take the hide, you'll get a portion too."

Lin Yu's eyes immediately lit up. "Great!"

He took a leather pouch from the bag on his back, pulled out the stopper, and poured out a thick oil. The oil was clear in color and gave off a peculiar fragrance.

After pouring it over the beast from head to tail, Lin Yu changed into a pair of deerskin gloves and rubbed his hands all over the creature, spreading the oil into every corner.

Sha Lifei asked curiously, "Brother Lin, what's that stuff?"

"Mink oil!" Lin Yu replied as he worked. "My master left this to me as well. It was consecrated in a Buddhist hall for ten years and is specifically used to preserve the hides of spirit beasts and demons. It's difficult to make, but using it on the hide of this Earth Dragon certainly isn't a waste..."

Just then, a weak voice came from behind them. "Earth Dragon? That name is pretty fitting."

The group turned to find the cultivator of the Mount Mei Faith rising to his feet. Although injured and visibly weak, he still stood straight.

With a solemn expression, he cupped his hands. "I am Tian Qilang from the Mount Mei Faith. My thanks to all of you fellow Daoists for saving me."

"Li Yan of the Guanzhong Plains."

After everyone had introduced themselves, Li Yan got straight to the point. "To tell you the truth, we also came here to investigate after accepting the bounty from the City God Temple. We simply didn't expect to run into something like this."

Tian Qilang breathed a sigh of relief and said with a bitter expression, "I was unlucky as well. I fell into their trap..."

Only after hearing his account did everyone learn the full story.

Tian Qilang had accepted the task and arrived at Mount Qinglong that very day to lie in wait. Many members of his lineage were demon hunters, so patience naturally wasn't an issue. He had remained in the mountains for several days. Back then, he never saw the creature, but had instead discovered a zombie attacking people.

Although he had no idea where the old zombie had come from, such creatures were also among their hunting targets. He immediately laid a trap and prepared to kill it. However, he had then been captured by those people from the Heavenly Saint Cult.

Had the Heavenly Saint Cult not wanted to make use of his experience to hunt the creature, they would have killed him long ago.

Li Yan could not help asking, "I heard them say they wanted to resurrect the Heavenly Saint Duke?"

Tian Qilang frowned as well. "Those people have completely lost their minds. I've heard of people returning from the dead, but actually resurrecting someone? I've never heard of anything like it!"

"What did they come here looking for?"

"I heard the barbarian cultivator leading them say that the area around Azure Dragon Mountain was once a sacred site where the ancient Chu shamans performed their rites. They were looking for something called 'Dragon Essence' to resurrect the Heavenly Saint Duke. From the way they spoke, it sounds like there are quite a few spiritual treasures they still need to find..."

While the two were talking, Lin Yu, with help from Sha Lifei and Lu San, had completed skinning the creature. The scales on the Earth Dragon's hide were so tightly interlocked that cutting through them from the outside was virtually impossible. But starting from an existing wound and following the grain between hide and flesh allowed the skin to be smoothly peeled off.

Once its armored hide was removed, the Earth Dragon immediately became a huge, bloody slab of meat, with none of its earlier ferocity or imposing presence remaining.

At that moment, Lu San's little white fox, his hawk, and even the hornets from the Demon Gourd were all sprawled over the corpse of the beast, feasting to their hearts content. Lu San also cut off chunks of meat and tossed them into the Demon Gourd.

This flesh was beneficial to demons and spirit beasts. They should eat as much as they could while the yin killing qi within it had yet to dissipate. Humans, on the other hand, would only end up vomiting their guts out if they ate it.

By the next day, it would be no different from ordinary meat.

Tian Qilang watched with envy in his eyes and could not resist offering some advice. "The most valuable parts of this Earth Dragon should be its pair of horns. You should also check beneath its jaw. If there's a spirit core there, don't overlook it. Aside from that, its bones can be used to craft artifacts. If its liver and heart give off a clean fragrance, they're top-grade ingredients for replenishing blood and qi."

Hearing the man, Li Yan immediately got to work.

Just as Tian Qilang had said, the horns were indeed extraordinary. They were as tough as hundredfold-forged steel, and even with the Earth Breaker, Li Yan had to expend considerable effort to chop them off.

Unfortunately, that was where their luck ended. There was no precious core in the Earth Dragon and its internal organs reeked horribly. Only the little fox and hawk ate them with relish.

Looking at Tian Qilang, Li Yan suddenly had an idea. "Fellow Daoist Tian, we'll be leaving tomorrow. How about I leave this skeleton for you? You can handle it all."

Tian Qilang froze for a moment, then hurriedly shook his head. "I didn't contribute anything at all, and you even had to save me. How could I have the nerve to take anything else?"

Li Yan smiled and shook his head. "You can't put it that way. Brother Tian's sense of righteousness has earned our admiration. Besides, there are certain matters we'll need your help covering up."

Tian Qilang glanced at the ground in the distance where the explosion had occurred and immediately understood. He nodded. "Brothers of the jianghu carrying a few things to protect themselves is nothing unusual. Don't worry. I won't let anyone find out."

He paused, then added, "Also, there's plenty left of this carcass. The skull is of great use to me, so I'll shamelessly accept that much, but I wouldn't dare be greedy for anything more. As for the rest, I'll send it to the City God Temple for safekeeping. Whenever fellow Daoists have the time, you can go there and retrieve it."

Seeing the sincerity on his face, Li Yan knew Tian Qilang would refuse to take any more no matter what he said, so he simply let the matter drop.

By the time they finished packing everything away, it was already deep into the night.

"Look!" They had only just lit a campfire when Lin Yu suddenly became excited. Pointing at the night sky above, he exclaimed, "The dragon treasure aura has appeared again!"

Everyone looked up, but there was nothing at all in the night sky.

Sha Lifei mumbled speechlessly, "Young Master Lin, you've got to be kidding us. How are we supposed to see it?"

"Sorry, sorry..." Lin Yu immediately looked embarrassed. But then his eyes widened again, and he exclaimed excitedly, "It really is about to emerge! Hurry, follow me!"

He threw caution to the wind as he ran forward.

Li Yan and the others were curious as well. They wanted to know just what kind of heavenly treasure could warrant the protection of such a creature and prompt the Heavenly Saint Cult to fight over it?

They hurried after Lin Yu, climbing onto a low hill. Lying prone among the grass, they peered down below, and their eyes immediately widened.

Streams of white spiritual light were rising from the ground in the clearing ahead. Like tiny lanterns, they floated up and down in the darkness...