Chapter 492: Blood of a True Dragon
A spirit box and a small flask were placed on the table in front of them. Jiang Chen created several soundproof barriers, and also deployed the Lotus around them to ensure that no one was surreptitiously keeping an eye on them. “Lordmaster, this item is quite extraordinary.”
“Jiang Chen, what is this? I’m afire with curiosity even at my old age.” The lordmaster also asked.
“This flask contains two drops of dragon blood. The blood of a true dragon, and at that, from the noblest of dragons, the five clawed dragon. The box contains a dragon crystal.”
“What? True dragon?” The lordmaster’s face changed drastically. Ye Chonglou, a man who’d lived more than half his life with an unshaken bearing, almost fell to a sitting position on the ground. Now ashen faced and his throat dry, he stammered, “You mean, a true… true dragon?”
“Yes, a pure descendant of the dragons and not one of the variants. Its source is one that has a direct lineage of the dragons. As you can see, this is no ordinary matter.”
The lordmaster couldn’t speak for the longest time. He had sunk so deep into shock, he couldn’t extricate himself from it.
Dragons! They were a legendary existence. Even though he’d lived for so long, he’d only ever read about them in ancient books. The history of the Myriad Domain didn’t have any records of a living dragon either. But Jiang Chen had actually managed to lay his hands on the blood of a true dragon! No matter how much unconditional trust the lordmaster placed in Jiang Chen, he found this more than a bit difficult to believe.
Jiang Chen also knew that this was simply too stunning, but these two items would be very useful to the lordmaster. If his Five-Winged Lesser Phoenix-Dragon partook of the blood, it would surely waken more memories from its heritage, and its strength would advance in leaps and bounds instead. Then, if followed up with a baptism in the wood spring, the Phoenix-Dragon would absolutely become a force to be reckoned with in the Myriad Domain.
Ye Chonglou had spent many years with the Phoenix-Dragon that he too had the slight dragon aura about him. His strength would surely be reforged from inside out, completely remaking him into the epitome of someone coming late into their strength. All this was Jiang Chen’s expression of gratitude for the lordmaster’s help in previous years.
Jiang Chen knew that some things needed some time to digest as well, so he didn’t say anything and only waited for the lordmaster to come back to himself.
Ye Chonglou reacted after a long while. “Jiang Chen, do dragons really exist?”
Jiang Chen smiled faintly. “The lordmaster spends day and night with the lesser-dragon. You only need to open the flask to sense the two drops of blood to know if they’re real or fake.”
Ye Chonglou felt that Jiang Chen’s words made sense and carefully picked up the flask. He cracked the stopper open and was about to bring it close to him when his entire body trembled. His hand shook, and Ye Chonglou almost lost his grasp on the flask. An enormous and bizarrely strong force was making his heart speed up, and the blood in his veins began to rumble and boil. It was almost setting his body on fire!
“This… this…” Ye Chonglou was stunned senseless. The immense power and bafflingly aura had sent Ye Chonglou, an origin realm expert, into a daze. And all this from only two drops in the flask! It was easy to imagine how strong the source of the blood was.
“This really is the blood of a dragon! It’s true!” Ye Chonglou and the Phoenix-Dragon depended on each other, and though he wasn’t too familiar with the aura of dragons, the spirit creature still held hints of it. Although there were only two drops in the flask, that familiar and incredibly strong feeling was obviously more than a hundred times stronger than the phoenix-dragon. The purity of that strength had almost shattered Ye Chonglou’s blood vessels! It was truly astonishing.
“Lordmaster, in order to meld with the dragon blood, you must refine the dragon core first. Only when your body holds the mark of dragons can you successfully absorb the dragon blood. Otherwise, the blood will certainly make your veins explode and maybe even reduce you to a pile of ashes.” Jiang Chen was very familiar with just how domineering the dragon lineage was, thanks to his past life.
These words made Ye Chonglou so agitated that he didn’t know what to do. “Jiang Chen, how can I even thank you?” He smiled ruefully. “Even if I wanted to put up a front and decline your great favor, I can’t bring myself to do it at all. This temptation is far too great!”
“Lordmaster, it’s not big deal when you’re refining the dragon crystal, but if you wish to absorb the dragon blood one day, you must find a remote location. Otherwise, when others sense the aura behind this dragon blood, they will absolutely try to seize it, no matter the cost.”
One drop of blood from a true dragon was enough to send cultivators into a frenzy. An ancient race of royals, dragons had a lineage and heritage that passed unbroken since time immemorial. When one absorbed their blood, the higher their level of cultivation, the greater their gains might be. If those in the emperor realm obtained the dragon blood, they might even trigger memories from the heritage locked within and achieve an unexpected breakthrough!
This reminder was of grave importance. If news of the dragon blood was leaked, the best case scenario was assassination, and the worst case scenario would implicate the entirety of the Regal Pill Palace.
Ye Chonglou also had a grave look on his face. “Jiang Chen, I will certainly take good care of this precious dragon blood, and will definitely come discuss with you before I assimilate it.”
“That would be good as well.” Jiang Chen nodded. “I’m about to participate in the competition for a residence in the Sovereign Area. Once I succeed, a residence with a radius of a hundred miles of land will all become my private property. When the lordmaster wishes to assimilate the dragon blood there, no one will come interfere at all.”
“The Sovereign Area?” The lordmaster was stunned. “I’ve heard that that’s where the most premier geniuses of the Regal Pill Palace reside.”
“Indeed, it’s because this is where the most premier geniuses reside that I am guaranteed of my success this time.” Jiang Chen spoke with a confident and assured tone, not a hint of doubt in his words.
“Good, fantastic! Jiang Chen, I said before that the fortunes of the Precious Tree Sect might change with you in the mix. It looks like that was simply a foretelling of events writ in the heavens, hahaha! If you are able to secure a residence in the Sovereign Area, your name is sure to spread wide and far. At that time, the pressure on my survival may lessen slightly.”
Jiang Chen nodded, “Ah yes, Lordmaster, I’d like to see Tang Hong.”
“Of course, let me take you there.”
Tang Hong had long since broken through to the origin realm and had been made an inner disciple as soon as he’d entered the Regal Pill Palace. They naturally went to the area where the inner disciples resided.
Inner disciples were split into levels just as like the core disciples, however, their residential area was far inferior to the Rosy Valley. They lived in Mt. Great Drum, with tens of thousands of inner disciples living in a radius of a thousand miles in the area. Their living quarters were actually in groups, much like Jiang Chen’s during his trials in the Eternal Spirit Mountain. Only the most high level inner disciples had the right to a solitary residence with its own yard. But even these solitary residences weren’t even a tenth of the ones in the Rosy Valley.
Ordinary disciples lived four to a residence, or eight and sixteen, a clear delineation of their levels.
Jiang Chen was a core disciple, and the privileges of a core disciple let him easily enter the prohibited areas of Mt. Great Drum. When they saw his clothing, the guards all smiled ingratiatingly, almost wishing that they could carry Jiang Chen in on their backs.
The various encounters all made Ye Chonglou sigh with emotion. “Jiang Chen, do you know that this is the easiest time I’ve ever had trying to enter the mountain? I’ve always had to wait for half a day previously and be subjected to all sorts of difficulties and delays. Sometimes, I couldn’t even enter. These guards just wanted to scrounge all sorts of benefits from me. Except, the goods that our Precious Tree Sect could bring out were sometimes even below their regard.”
Ye Chonglou couldn’t help but be filled with mixed emotions at all this. At his age, he’d always have to sweet talk the guards whenever he tried to enter, and smile so much that his face ached. Yet nothing was as useful as Jiang Chen’s attire as a core disciple.
Jiang Chen didn’t even need to speak a single word before being personally shown the way in, everyone flashing him a smiling face. That feeling made even the reserved Ye Chonglou feel like he could walk with his head held high, washing away the endless eyerolls and difficulties.
When the guards heard that Jiang Chen was looking for someone, they immediately sprang into action and looked through their files, locating Tang Hong’s residence. The enthusiastic captain on duty very quickly brought the duo to the right location.
Jiang Chen offhandedly rewarded him with an Origin Fostering Pill. “Thanks for the effort. This Lordmaster Ye is my friend and will be passing repeatedly through Mt. Great Drum in the future…”
The captain’s eyes gleamed when he saw the pill. He nodded and bowed, assuring him repeatedly, “This little one understands, this little one definitely understands. When the lordmaster enters the mountain in the future, I promise his passage will be swift and speedy.”
Jiang Chen waved his hand when he saw that this captain understood very well what he meant. “Dismissed, I’ll go in myself.”
“Yes, yes.” The captain looked enviously at this yard. He thought that this core disciple had come to select a few followers from the inner disciples. Once selected, they would be able to cultivate in the Rosy Valley. Training there for one day was the equivalent of three to five days in the outside world. Which disciple didn’t yearn for the Rosy Valley?
When Ye Chonglou walked up and lightly knocked on the door, someone’s head poked out from inside. When they saw it was Ye Chonglou, their expressed chilled. “How dare you intrude on the prohibited areas of the sect?”
Although Ye Chonglou was of the origin realm, his clothing denoted that he wasn’t an important person in the sect, so these inner disciples would naturally not show him any pleasant faces.
However, that head immediately caught a glimpse of Jiang Chen behind Ye Chonglou.
What? A core disciple?
The owner of the head immediately rushed out and opened the door, a fawning smile on his face. “This senior brother must be from the Rosy Valley? What might you be looking for here? Tsk tsk tsk. I wondered why the magpies were chirping so loudly when I woke up this morning, so it was a vaunted personage gracing our courtyard! You bring luster to our humble house!” This fellow changed tack with the slightest breeze, and was quite glib with his ass kissing.
Jiang Chen smiled faintly and walked in through the open door. The core disciples didn’t even need to exert any aura when they appeared to produce a sufficiently dominating presence. None of the inner disciples dared be slow on the uptake as they hastily walked up to greet Jiang Chen.
“I’m looking for Tang Hong, where is he?” Jiang Chen glanced around but saw no sign of his brother.
When they heard the name of Tang Hong, a somewhat ugly expression crossed some of their faces. One or two of their expressions even involuntarily showed… a trace of fear.
