chsdbacks Chapter 83: The Little Snake of the Past Has Now Transformed into a Giant Dragon
Chapter 83: The Little Snake of the Past Has Now Transformed into a Giant Dragon
"Your Majesty, Lord Li Zhan has led the powerful warriors of various races to Tiger Demon City."
As you venture deeper into the cave, a spacious cavern hall comes into view.
The rock walls are inlaid with shimmering metallic minerals and dotted with small holes, in which birds and beasts crawl.
At the entrance to the cave, the ground was covered with grass that was an inch high. In the middle of the grass, a ten-meter-wide mark was pressed out, and at the end of the mark stood a huge white jade disc.
On the disc, a huge dragon head rose from its coiled body, its golden vertical pupils looking down at the apes clinging to the ground below.
The ape trembled all over, its forehead pressed tightly against the ground, afraid to lift it.
The dragon's eyes shifted slightly, and its booming voice rang out: "How many tribes are going together?"
The ape's voice trembled: "The Dragon Palace spans a thousand miles; all the tribes have sent people there!"
"Hmph!" The dragon's giant eyes flashed with rage, and two streams of scorching white vapor suddenly spewed out from its nostrils, sending the ape flying a hundred meters and crashing into the rock wall.
The enormous dragon stretched out its body inside the cave, covered in dark green scales, with sharp claws. Its more than 300-meter-long body swam in the air, its head raised in anger.
"These restless creatures have forgotten who rules them! I am merely injured, yet that stupid bear dares to command all the tribes. Those who forget their place will pay the price!"
Enraged, the venomous dragon caused all the surrounding beasts to lower their bodies, not daring to make a sound.
They all knew that Lord Li Zhan was at odds with the Dragon King, and they were afraid that if they made a fuss now, they would become the target of the Dragon King's venting of anger.
……
"So, Li Zhan is considered the second-in-command of the Western Poison Forest?" Zhang Ping asked Mu Ya as he walked through the rapidly receding giant trees.
Muya nodded: "That's right. The War Bear Clan is the strongest clan in the Western Poison Forest. They have extremely high cultivation talent and can reach the Refining Realm upon adulthood. Li Zhan is the current clan leader. Although his strength is not as great as the Dragon King's, he is the strongest in the Western Poison Forest after the Dragon King."
Zhang Ping asked curiously, "Isn't the Poison Dragon all alone? Isn't he afraid the War Bear Clan will steal his position?"
"Of course I'm afraid, I've always been afraid." A memory flashed across Muya's eyes.
"It is said that every generation, the Dragon King holds a Dragon Gathering at the Dragon's Lair, inviting the chieftains of various clans. At the gathering, the Dragon King always challenges the strongest member of the War Bear Clan. Each time, the War Bear Clan is defeated, poisoned, and dies in their clan's territory within a few years."
"It's not just the War Bear Clan; any other clan that produces a Marrow Transformation Realm expert will also receive an invitation from the Dragon King. Those who willingly submit will be unharmed, otherwise they will be injured or poisoned under some pretext."
Zhang Ping's leaping motion slowed slightly. His understanding of Xi Du Lin was superficial; he hadn't expected such oppressive power.
"Won't those powerful beasts hide? How could the poisonous dragon know?"
"I don't know, but the Dragon King always manages to find those newly-broken-up experts."
"Have you never united to resist? How did Li Zhan survive until now?" Where there is oppression, there is resistance. Poison Dragon is clearly trying to suppress the strong of all races.
"He rebelled several times, but all attempts failed. The Dragon King also took the opportunity to mate with large, exotic beasts, fathering offspring and establishing the Dragonborn's power."
"As for Li Zhan... I heard that it was captured by humans when it was a child and sold to the Southern Frontier, where it became the battle pet of a powerful figure. Later, after that powerful figure died, Li Zhan returned to the Western Poison Forest and became the clan leader."
Muya only knew fragmented rumors, many of which she heard from her elders when she was young.
Zhang Ping gleaned a lot of information from this: the Poison Dragon's rule in the Western Poison Forest was not monolithic, and rebellious groups were secretly lurking in the shadows.
This is good news. He might encounter less resistance when attacking the dragon's lair.
……
Time slips away as we rush on our journeys.
Passing through a misty swamp, the two encountered a clan of green-horned lizards. Zhang Ping casually slaughtered them, discovering a type of beast pattern on the corpses that granted them poison resistance:
[Poison Diluent: A natural ability of the Green Horned Lizard, it can dilute and expel highly toxic substances that have invaded its body, making it essential for its survival in harsh environments.]
Fortunately, the necessary materials could be found nearby. Zhang Ping was delayed for a day, but he successfully branded the beast pattern before setting off again.
……
Dragon's lair.
Giant Dragon Mountain.
A strong wind suddenly arose. Two small figures stood at the foot of the majestic mountain. Before dawn reached the foot of the mountain, all around was shrouded in darkness.
Zhang Ping looked up.
The golden rays of sunrise illuminated the mountaintop and a huge cave entrance, from which white gas was billowing out.
That is the dragon's lair where the poisonous dragon resides.
The foot of the mountain was unusually quiet; the powerful beasts had all gathered above the halfway point. Zhang Ping told Mu Ya to find a place to hide herself.
In his battle with the Poison Dragon, Muya would only be in the way.
Muya nodded, gave a word of caution, and quickly disappeared into the woods.
Only Zhang Ping remained. His gaze sharpened.
"The day to slay the dragon begins!"
Inside the dragon's lair.
A huge cauldron, tens of meters wide, was placed in front of the venomous dragon. Various medicinal herbs and bits of flesh and blood from strange beasts were thrown into the cauldron.
Its massive body was coiled in front of the pot, one front paw gripping a stone slab, muttering to itself:
"The prophetic stone tablet says that taking this medicine for half a month will cure internal injuries..."
"Five hundred years have passed since I transmigrated here... and I still haven't evolved into a true five-clawed pureblood dragon. Is it a limitation of this region? Where exactly is the 'Great Domain of Ten Thousand Spirits' mentioned on the prophetic stone tablet?"
Outside, it is a dragon species that mysteriously descended upon the Western Poison Forest, the king of the forest. No one knows that it was originally just an ordinary rat snake.
A soul from beyond the heavens has taken over this humble body.
No one knows that it once had a happy family and a fulfilling life. After becoming a rat snake, it lived in the shadow of predators every day.
A small, non-venomous snake struggles to survive in this world. Unable to catch any live prey, it can only eat carrion and compete with other creatures for long-dead rats.
It lived in constant fear. Over time, it almost forgot everything it had ever done for humans, leaving only the bloodthirsty instincts of a wild beast.
Until... it accidentally obtained this prophetic stone tablet.
A sliver of human wisdom allowed it to decipher the writing on the stone slab.
It was lucky; following the prophecy on the stone tablet, it found a mysterious cave and swallowed a gray stone bead.
From that time on, it began to devour other beasts to purify its own bloodline.
Guided by the stone slabs, it always manages to find a target to hunt. Although it is often covered in wounds, it manages to survive.
Bloodlines are slowly changing.
The non-venomous rat snake has grown deadly fangs. With its venom, hunting becomes easy.
Afterwards, its bloodline mutated and purified, and with the guidance of the prophetic tablets... it gradually arrived at its current position.
The hardships and displacement they endured are unimaginable to outsiders.
The outside world only attributes everything about it to the bloodline of dragons, calling it the only dragon species in the world. But how could there be a real dragon in this ancient land of Wei and Zhao?
The so-called dragon race is nothing more than something that has evolved step by step.
The dramatic change in bloodline came at a price. It was no longer human. Only the "poison dragon" remained within that dragon body.
All concepts, aesthetics, and ideas have been completely transformed into beasts.
The position of hegemon is certainly prestigious, but if given a choice... it would rather return to its original world and start anew.
The emotion and memories in the dragon's golden vertical pupils slowly faded, and its gaze refocused on the large cauldron in front of it.
The medicinal liquid in the pot boiled and turned reddish-brown.
"The Crimson Blood Reversal Powder... is finally complete!"
The dragon carefully swallowed the stone slab and hid it in its belly. Then, it stretched out its giant claw, steadily lifted the large pot, and was about to pour the scalding hot medicine into its mouth.
Just as it collapsed, the crimson liquid in the pot defied all logic, as if it had a life of its own, bypassing its gaping maw and splashing all over the ground with a whoosh!
"Um?!"