The Savage Dragon's Tomb

It was a rare scene of carnage among ferocious beasts—the law of the jungle was utterly merciless.

Because this was within the territory of a Tyrant Dragon, the number of beasts was not great, and there were no overlord-level monsters like beast-kings. Otherwise, the conflict would have been even more brutal and cruel.

Blood was everywhere. The beast corpses strewn before him were shocking. They had apparently slaughtered one another over an ancient cave, most of the bodies lying before the entrance. It seemed this had been a sealed cave for ages; the boulder blocking the entrance had gradually cracked over the long years. Today the ancient cave had seen the light of day again, and it had drawn the beasts into mutual bloodshed.

The final victor was a Divine Wolf! Its blue fur shimmered with a crystalline luster, flowing with an uncanny energy, as if carved from a blue sacred stone. It was barely three meters long and a meter and a half tall—seeming quite slender compared to the other beasts—yet it radiated a soul-shaking ferocity and the thick, bitter aura of slaughter.

Most wondrous of all, it was born with a pair of blue wings. Spread, those wolf-wings were five or six meters across, and the blue light that flowed over them was even stronger than on the rest of its body. Moreover, this wolf actually had three eyes. The vertical third eye was as bright as a blue gem, but it gleamed with an eerie light—one look and you felt a profound sense of danger.

That it could survive such a slaughter among so many ferocious beasts was proof enough of the Divine Wolf’s savagery and dread.

It had already pried open the rocks blocking the cave mouth and was about to enter, when it suddenly seemed to sense something. It turned to glare toward where Xiao Chen was hiding. Its cruel eyes flashed with bloodlight, and the vertical eye on its forehead flickered with blue light—a wave of murderous aura flooded out.

Danger was converging on Xiao Chen. But as the Divine Wolf turned its head, Xiao Chen saw a horrific wound on the left side of its neck. Clearly, it had been grievously injured in the struggle. A massive gash ran from its neck down to its chest and belly, one blue wing hung limp almost torn from the body, white bone was exposed at the chest and stomach, and strange blue blood had spilled all over the ground.

“Aooo…”

The extraordinary wolf howled to the sky, then transformed into a streak of blue light as it charged toward Xiao Chen, carrying a brutal, bloody aura. But as it leaped and landed, its wolf-body trembled violently and nearly collapsed on the forest floor.

Xiao Chen relaxed. This Divine Wolf was no more than a spent arrow.

When the savage wolf opened its blood-frothed maw and lunged at him with gleaming fangs, Xiao Chen left an afterimage in place. He sidestepped, then swept his right leg in a fierce arc, smashing it against the exposed white bone of the wolf.

The Divine Wolf was indeed ferocious. Its body only shook a few times—it did not retreat a single step, let alone fall over. And Xiao Chen’s kick, strong enough to split stone, had failed to shatter the naked wolf-bone. That showed just how hard the Divine Wolf’s skeleton was.

“Aooo…”

The Three-Eyed Divine Wolf let out a pained howl. The excruciating pain unleashed all its savagery. Every strand of blue fur on its body stood on end, emitting a deep, eerie blue light that flickered and surged. It lunged at Xiao Chen again, its speed now extreme—moving like a streak of azure lightning. But mid-leap, it seemed to lose all strength and suddenly plummeted to the ground.

As expected, a mere final flare before the end. After its last burst of energy, it was completely spent. A shattered blue heart was coughed out of its mouth.

Xiao Chen was secretly shaken. If the Divine Wolf had not been heavily wounded, it would not have been something he could handle.

Looking at the bloodstained forest floor, the corpses of ferocious beasts, and the drifting haze of blood, Xiao Chen walked toward the ancient cave mouth. He wanted to see what secret had driven so many beasts to fight to the death.

The ancient cave was vast and spacious. If the sealed entrance were fully opened, even a colossal creature like the Eight-Armed Malignant Dragon could likely crawl inside. Suddenly, Xiao Chen’s expression froze. By the dim light at the cave mouth, he could see that deep in the cave there seemed to be… a massive creature crouching.

Peering closer, he saw a white expanse ahead—a huge white skeleton!

Fortunately, it was not alive. Xiao Chen walked forward.

The enormous skeleton was like a mountain of bone. It must have belonged to some savage dragon; no other beast could be that large. The intact remains stretched a full forty to fifty meters, resembling the ancient records of a Sword Dragon—a ferocious species of the dragon clan.

A faint, indistinct light flickered deep in the cave. As Xiao Chen drew nearer, he saw that it was a Dragon Crystal! As large as a human head, it shone even in the gloom of the cave. Xiao Chen was astonished—this crystal was far larger than the ordinary stones he had seen.

The Dragon Crystal was bright and translucent, radiating divine light. The closer he got, the brighter it became—a shimmering, splendid aura like celestial glow. Unquestionably, it was a supreme treasure among crystals.

No wonder the ferocious beasts had slaughtered each other—it must have been for this Dragon Crystal. This was the tomb of a Savage Dragon.

Xiao Chen hurried out of the dragon cave. He wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

Walking through the beast-blood-soaked forest, he picked up a dozen or so beast crystals from among the torn corpses, then flew away like the wind. Ordinary beasts did not have such crystals inside them—only unusual savage beasts produced them. Among the several dozen beast corpses, there must have been dozens of crystals, but Xiao Chen had no time to collect them all. The Dragon Crystal that so many beasts had coveted, if sensed by other forest monsters, would likely provoke another bloody slaughter.

Wrapping the radiant Dragon Crystal in his clothes, Xiao Chen swiftly returned to his temporary cliffside dwelling.

About half an hour later, roars echoed once more from that area. Xiao Chen saw several winged beasts from the cliffside rush toward the blood-soaked forest. Among them was a Divine Wolf! Its body was five or six meters long and nearly three meters tall, its whole form aglow with blue light. Its blue wings, when spread, were fully twelve or thirteen meters across, stirring up fierce gales. At the center of its forehead was also a blue vertical eye, even more cold and baleful.

This one was easily twice the size of the wolf that had attacked Xiao Chen! Terrifying howls rolled across the sky, carried by massive soundwaves like rolling thunder. It was likely the beast-overlord of some forest domain.

The dead beasts became food for those that arrived later. Not until night fell did the area gradually grow quiet, though many pale animal bones now lay scattered there.

When all was silent, Xiao Chen sealed himself in a cliffside cave with a huge boulder. He held the massive, sparkling Dragon Crystal in both hands and began to circulate his profound art, using the Heaven-Bestowed Qi-Refining Diagram to absorb the pure dragon essence within the crystal.

If anyone had witnessed the sight, they would have been stunned. The enormous Dragon Crystal needed both hands to hold—divine light and ten thousand rays of radiance, filling the stone cave with brilliant, dazzling color. The sacred glow seemed alive, surging into Xiao Chen’s body, while the huge Dragon Crystal slowly shrank. It was an exhilarating moment of harvest: pure and vast dragon essence streamed without end into Xiao Chen’s being.

Radiant light, like water, rippled through the cave and converged on Xiao Chen’s body. By the end of the first night, the Dragon Crystal had shrunk by more than half, and Xiao Chen was already shrouded in a haze of iridescent light.

By noon, the crystal had shrunk to the size of a fist—myriad auspicious rays lit the cave brilliantly. Another hour or so passed, and the crystal became no larger than a pigeon’s egg, a glittering translucent pearl.

Only then did Xiao Chen stop. He opened his eyes.

As expected, the vast dragon vitality had all gathered into the Shangqiu acupoint of his other foot. Not until the Dragon Crystal was nearly exhausted did the acupoint finally saturate, giving birth to a sparkling light point.

The light point and the acupoint had fused perfectly. The point was the acupoint, and the acupoint was the point—as if fully divinized. Compared to other acupoints, it shone like a bright lamp in the darkness of night.

A rare dragon egg had divinized the Shangqiu acupoint of Xiao Chen’s left foot, and a supremely rare Dragon Crystal had divinized the Shangqiu acupoint of his right foot. He felt deeply that his Qi-Refining Diagram was profoundly mysterious—such immense power had been entirely absorbed into just two acupoints.

There were three hundred and sixty-five main acupoints in the human body. If every single one could condense into a light point, and all three hundred sixty-five were completely divinized, what change would occur? Xiao Chen eagerly anticipated that day.