Chapter 367 — Lord of Dragons

Was it not because the Wasteland once had hundreds of dragon veins, its fortune flourishing, so that the dragon veins transformed into true dragons! " Shen Mu was shaken inwardly: hundreds of dragon veins, fortune flourishing, dragon veins transforming into true dragons! He had indeed seen hundreds of Dragon King temples in the Eastern Sea Basin of the Wasteland! Not only that—the Yong River also had Dragon King temples, and there were shrines to Well Dragon Kings and the like! Were these Dragon Kings all true dragons? "The true dragons transformed from the Wasteland's dragon veins submitted to the. .

.

heh heh! " The Dragon-Rearing Lord seemed to have some scruple and did not continue.

He said, "In Jingping Kingdom today, a dozen or twenty dragon veins still count as a minor phenomenon.

But to guard against trouble before it arises, we must find the primary dragon vein.

Otherwise, if Jingping is allowed to grow great, it may well become another catastrophe. To find the primary dragon vein and strangle it early—that is the proper business. " They walked deeper and suddenly heard muffled dragon roars. Shen Mu's spirit stirred: "Could this fire dragon vein truly have transformed into a true dragon? " When they reached the front, he saw that what emitted the dragon roars was not a true dragon but an underground river of molten rock several dozen li wide, its walls covered entirely in dragon scales, glittering gold, dazzling to the eye!

Here, Shen Mu sensed an extremely dense dragon qi. He had also cultivated the Ling family's Nine Dragons Emperor Art, and to a high degree.

He immediately sensed that the dragon qi here was almost no less than that of the capital! The capital's dragon qi was gathered from nine dragon veins, while here there was only one fire dragon vein, yet the dragon qi was so dense. Could this truly be where Jingping Kingdom's primary dragon vein lay?

"Strange.

. .

" The Dragon-Rearing Lord frowned, surveying the molten river upstream and downstream. "Odd.

.

.

the course of this dragon vein is somewhat wrong. .

. " The Dragon-Rearing Lord lifted his foot and stepped down from the backs of the two flood dragons. Shen Mu looked at his feet: they were not human feet but dragon claws.

The Dragon-Rearing Lord took out a small golden vat—small relative to him; relative to Shen Mu, this golden vat could serve as a great cauldron large enough to boil two or three people without difficulty. The Dragon-Rearing Lord scooped a vat of molten rock from the river, then took a bit of gold powder from a bag and sprinkled it into the molten rock, waiting quietly.

Shen Mu leaned in to look.

The gold powder merged with the molten rock and gradually began to change. The Dragon-Rearing Lord casually tossed him a golden book and a Taotie Pouch, saying, "There is something strange about this dragon vein; it seems not merely a dragon vein. I must perform a rite to examine what trick lies within. You first refine a few batches of pills to feed the dragons.

The book contains pill formulas—do not make a mistake. " Shen Mu assented and took the golden book. It was called the Classic of Dragon Husbandry. Shen Mu opened it and read through.

The golden book recorded methods of raising dragons, the various kinds and habits of dragons, ways to control them, and only at the end what each kind of dragon ate. Shen Mu paid little attention to the spirit pills recorded within; what intrigued him were the refining techniques. The Alchemist had taught him many kinds of pill-refining methods, but some of the medicine-refining techniques in the Classic of Dragon Husbandry the Alchemist had never taught him.

"Worthy of a god of dragon-rearing—even pill refining has so many intricacies. Judging by these spirit pill formulas and refining techniques, the Dragon-Rearing Lord's skill in the Dao of pill refining is perhaps only slightly weaker than mine. " Shen Mu grew wary: refining a deadly poison to kill the Dragon-Rearing Lord would likely not be easy.

He quietly dismissed the thought and continued studying the Classic of Dragon Husbandry.

Dragons of different attributes ate different spirit pills. The dragon qilin, for instance, was of fire attribute, and the Scarlet Fire Spirit Pill suited it well. But after examining further, Shen Mu learned that the Scarlet Fire Spirit Pill was not the most suitable for the dragon qilin—though for the dragon qilin species, the Scarlet Fire Spirit Pill tasted the best. For the dragon qilin, the most beneficial was the Fire Element Divine Essence Pill, which aided its growth and greatly increased its running speed. But the Divine Essence Pill did not taste good; it was somewhat pungent.

"No wonder this blockhead wants the Scarlet Fire Spirit Pills, and so many of them! " Shen Mu's face darkened.

He glanced at the dragon qilin, which was looking around curiously, and his expression turned somewhat sour.

"Slave girl, come here and help me refine pills.

" Long Jiaonan gnashed her teeth and stepped forward, wishing she could swallow him whole. Shen Mu kicked the dragon qilin.

"Fatty Long, have you heard of the Fire Element Divine Essence Pill?

" The dragon qilin said guiltily, "Never heard of it.

" Shen Mu snorted and opened the Dragon-Rearing Lord's Taotie Pouch; it was full of all kinds of spirit medicines.

Shen Mu sorted the kinds, then tossed them to Long Jiaonan, telling her to take the medicines according to the formula, and ordered the dragon qilin to breathe fire. He himself employed pill-refining arts, unleashing technique after technique in a dazzling display, and soon refined batch after batch of spirit pills. Many small dragons on the Dragon-Rearing Lord's body smelled the fragrance and immediately ran down from him, gathering around Shen Mu—the largest only a zhang long, the smallest less than a chi, dragons of every size, green and yellow and purple and blue and red and green, strange and varied in kind, craning their heads to look at him. Shen Mu's scalp went numb; he dared not move a muscle. Most of these dragons were flood dragons, but every one was incomparably powerful—killing him would be easy, effortless!

The Dragon-Rearing Lord was performing his rite, spewing mouthfuls of true essence that struck the golden vat, making the gold powder and molten rock within merge and change. He said, "Put the spirit pills in a basin; they will eat on their own. " Shen Mu looked at Long Jiaonan. She hurriedly rummaged through the Taotie Pouch and took out a large basin.

When she pulled it out, it was fully ten zhang across—hardly a basin at all, but a small pond! Shen Mu poured the refined spirit pills into the basin, and at once dozens of dragons pounced into it, burrowing among the pills, playing and frolicking.

The dragon qilin gazed at Shen Mu eagerly, wagging its tail. Shen Mu took out a large washbasin and poured in some Scarlet Fire Spirit Pills, mixed with a dozen or so Fire Element Divine Essence Pills. The dragon qilin was overjoyed and hurried over to eat.

Shen Mu immediately saw the creature quietly pick out the Fire Element Divine Essence Pills and secretly toss them into the molten river nearby. Shen Mu was furious and shouted, "Slave girl, this creature is a picky eater—beat him for me! " Long Jiaonan was enraged.

One punch knocked Shen Mu down, and she sat on him and beat him. "I've put up with you long enough!

I'll beat you to death! " The Dragon-Rearing Lord flicked a finger and sent Long Jiaonan flying; she struck several dragon scales and was shaken until she spat blood. The Dragon-Rearing Lord shook his head.

"You are at least a master—how can you be beaten by your own slave girl? What sort of propriety is that? " Shen Mu scrambled up, ashamed.

"I am still at the Six Harmonies realm, while she is at the Seven Stars realm.

Lord Dragon also bestowed the Dark Water Dragon Pearl on her; with it, she has brute strength. I cannot beat her.