“Taichi, you need to be careful—you’re the weakest among us three.”
Hearing this, Taichi nodded in deep agreement. She’d already drawn her sword when Linglong warned them, ready for a fight at any time.
Longxueteng was aggressive, but it was still just a spiritual plant. Its movement wasn’t that fast, and there weren’t many attacking vines.
Hua Jian tried using her previous method on the Longxueteng here, but it was ineffective.
Her vine, after piercing Longxueteng, instantly felt an overwhelming rejection. Though she could still absorb some energy, her previous trick of infinite propagation failed.
Without Hua Jian’s support, the tiny roots left inside were soon corroded and withered.
“No more shortcuts. We’ll have to break through to the innermost area.” Hua Jian retracted her vine and reported her findings to Linglong.
“Mm.” Linglong nodded, but her mind was elsewhere.
Because ahead of them, a massive skeleton had appeared.
The bones stood about four or five meters tall and stretched unmeasurably long, countless blood-red vines coiled around it, as though binding it in chains.
At first glance, even without Linglong’s introduction, Hua Jian and Taichi immediately guessed the skeleton’s former identity.
“Dragonbone?”
So big, so long… plus Longxueteng’s habits, the answer was obvious.
Not a scrap of flesh remained—Longxueteng had devoured every part, even draining the bones of their spiritual energy.
It was completely and utterly consumed by Longxueteng.
“He has been dead a long time. There are other dragons here!” Linglong suppressed the sorrow welling up in her chest, coldly reminding Hua Jian and Taichi this was not the end.
Dragonbone couldn’t feed Longxueteng, so there had to be other living dragons in this Forbidden Land to serve as sustenance.
“No need to say it—I already see it,” Hua Jian said, picking up Linglong’s words.
Not far from the skeleton, a half-rotten dragon corpse lay on the ground, Longxueteng firmly rooted in it, thriving.
This dead dragon’s head was half consumed by Longxueteng, its body covered in gaping wounds.
Only the former blue color of its dragon scales could be discerned; everything else was unrecognizable.
“So… what are we supposed to do now?” Taichi clung to her sword behind Hua Jian.
This scene pushed the limits of her tolerance. The thought of fighting these things made her nervous.
What to do? The answer was obvious. Having come this far, Linglong had to figure out how to clear out the Longxueteng.
Best to take the two dragons’ remains with them, returning them to the Dragon Race’s ocean homeland for burial.
“If you want to fight this many Longxueteng… I advise you to calm down.” Even Hua Jian felt her courage waver.
There were just too many Longxueteng around—even a Ling King or Ling Emperor would lack confidence facing such a scene.
Let alone the three of them, mere Ling Masters…
Either call for reinforcements or think things through—charging in recklessly was not an option.
In Hua Jian’s opinion, now was the perfect time to call in the Hudaosi. Their fighting strength was lacking, but Hudaosi would be more than enough.
“I know. This many Longxueteng are beyond what I can handle.” Linglong made it clear she wasn’t foolish—she wouldn’t risk herself for the corpses of her kind.
“Let’s withdraw for now…”
A weak dragon roar interrupted Linglong’s command.
The three looked at each other. Well, now the situation had changed again.
In this Forbidden Land, there weren’t just two dragon corpses—there was a living dragon!
“We have to check it out!” Linglong’s eyes became resolute.
It wasn’t worth risking everything for dead dragons—but if there was a living one, she had no choice but to try.
“You two can leave if you want.”
“I don’t mind. After all, I still have that thing on me.” Hua Jian shrugged. The Life-Saving Jade Token from Fenghua Venerable gave her the courage to take risks.
Plus, she was Linglong’s hired companion, paid with a Flower Spirit Stone. How could she abandon Linglong now?
Taichi, seeing Hua Jian agree without hesitation, quickly wanted to volunteer as well: “I can also—”
“No, you can’t. Linglong, give her your Communication Jade Talisman. She needs to leave and contact Hudaosi, report what’s happened here.” Hua Jian interrupted.
She and Linglong both had life-saving treasures—Taichi did not.
If a fight broke out with the Longxueteng, Taichi, a mere Ling Master, wouldn’t be much help and might even drag them down.
Better for Taichi to leave the Forbidden Land and report to Hudaosi.
“Hudaosi? But…” Taichi knew of Hudaosi, but they were deep in the northern mountains. Would she even make it there in time?
“Here, this can contact Hudaosi directly. Once you leave the Forbidden Land, you’ll be able to reach them.” Linglong tossed her a jade talisman.
She’d just tried to contact Hudaosi from within the Forbidden Land, but the interference here prevented her message from going out.
Having Taichi report outside meant everyone had a job to do.
Linglong and Hua Jian—the fearless pair—would try to save the surviving dragon, while Taichi, at risk of dying, should quickly leave and call for help. The Protector under Hua Jian’s control outside could protect her.
Taichi caught the jade talisman. Though she had some objections to Hua Jian’s decision, she also understood that now wasn’t the time for stubbornness.
Now wasn’t the time to be difficult.
“You two be careful!” With that, she flew out of the Forbidden Land without looking back.
Some Longxueteng instinctively tried to block her way, but she dealt with them easily with her Black Sword.
Seeing this, Hua Jian felt reassured.
With the “likely-to-die” gone, it was time for the two “death-defying” warriors to get to work.
“Shall we just charge in?”
“Mm.”
Linglong gripped her sword and nodded.
The next moment, the two of them activated their movement techniques, flying past the rotting dragon corpses and straight for the core of the Forbidden Land.
It wasn’t far, really—just a minute’s flight brought them to a blue baby dragon, completely entangled in Longxueteng.
Compared to the two outside, this dragon was much smaller and far weaker—probably only Ling Wang Realm.
The Longxueteng merely bound it tightly without dealing a killing blow. Perhaps because there was still another dragon corpse to eat, it hadn’t attacked this one yet.
But the long hunger and fear had utterly ravaged the little dragon. When it saw Hua Jian and Linglong, it almost thought it was hallucinating.
Until… it heard them speaking.
“Alive! And not even hurt!”
“The Longxueteng hasn’t attacked her—thank goodness.”
“Hey, dragon over there! Can you hear us?!”
The little dragon blinked rapidly, then kept blinking to signal that she could hear them.
But with her body completely locked by Longxueteng, she couldn’t respond verbally.
“Consciousness seems intact. So, how do we get her out?” The little dragon could still react—a good sign—but the main problem was how the two of them could handle the Longxueteng binding her.
Hua Jian weighed the Ling King Flying Blade she’d acquired, then compared it to the size of the Longxueteng. The size difference was laughable—her weapon looked so tiny!
Unlike her, Linglong had no such qualms. She flew up to the little dragon and started hacking at the Longxueteng with her sword.
Clang!
The Ling Sword struck the Longxueteng’s skin, sending off a shower of sparks.
The sound was like metal on metal—as if Linglong were striking wrought iron rather than a plant.
Sss!
The Longxueteng instantly retaliated. Several blood-colored vines shot out at Linglong’s head, forcing her to parry with her sword.
“So strong…” Watching Linglong get pinned by several vines, Hua Jian felt a headache. After eating a dragon and a half, the Longxueteng was hard to handle—already a match for a Ling Wang cultivator.
If it finished all three dragons, it might even reach Ling Emperor level.
Normally, spiritual items weren’t that strong in battle. Even aggressive types like Longxueteng were weaker than their rank suggested.
Ling Emperor-level combat power meant this Longxueteng might actually be Spirit Lord grade—a treasure precious even for Spirit Lords.
Whoosh! Hua Jian threw the Ling King Flying Blade, but it bounced off the Longxueteng’s skin with ease.
This probing attack caught the Longxueteng’s attention, and more vines turned to attack her.
Blood-red vines opened maw-like mouths, lunging at Hua Jian. She shot her own vines at Longxueteng, wanting to test its bite.
Her colorful vines entered Longxueteng’s attack range, and Longxueteng bit down hard.
But to its surprise, Hua Jian’s vines weren’t bitten through.
Longxueteng changed tactics. Rather than biting off the vines, it began swallowing them whole, like a snake, wanting to devour and digest them completely.
Faced with this, Hua Jian had no clever solution—if Longxueteng wanted to eat her vines, she’d just let it, and see who could outlast whom!
The vines she first released were for attack. But as Longxueteng started swallowing them, she shifted to absorption mode.
She couldn’t change the vines already inside, but as Longxueteng kept devouring, she grew more absorbing vines into its body.
With more of her vines inside, Longxueteng’s state grew stranger. Red halos of energy began transferring from other Longxueteng vines to help it digest Hua Jian’s vines.
“That means…” Hua Jian immediately threw another Ling King Flying Blade at a Longxueteng that had lost its red glow.
Ah!
This time, the blade embedded itself in the vine—it didn’t cut all the way through, but Hua Jian was thrilled.
She’d found a way to deal with Longxueteng!
Ultimately, Longxueteng was just a brainless spiritual plant driven by instinct. With the right countermeasure, it wasn’t so hard to handle.
“Linglong, come here to me!” Hua Jian shouted.
Linglong, tangled with several vines, didn’t hesitate and flew straight toward her.
She trusted Hua Jian—there was always a reason for her suggestions.
The Longxueteng pursuing Linglong followed as well, but halfway there, Hua Jian stuffed them with her vines.
And like their kin, they were instantly immobilized.
“This is…” Linglong stared, momentarily unable to comprehend.
“Their attack is eating. I fed them something, so now they have to digest it, right?” Hua Jian explained her method of ‘hard-controlling’ the Longxueteng.
It was like exploiting a bug. The Longxueteng ate her vines but couldn’t digest them, so they drew energy from other vines to try, weakening those others—giving Linglong a chance to rescue the little dragon.
Hua Jian had already tried pitting her vine against Longxueteng before. The result: the main vine couldn’t be harmed, but its offshoots were easily digested.
Now, Longxueteng was up against the main body of Hua Jian’s vine—meaning it was stuck, unable to move.
And while it couldn’t digest Hua Jian’s vine, her vine could absorb its power. The first Longxueteng to swallow her vine was already showing strange changes.
On its blood-red surface, a colored glow began to shimmer. Tiny buds sprouted from its skin, drinking in its energy and slowly growing…
Sensing something was wrong, Longxueteng sent out more vines to attack Hua Jian—but she was unafraid. However many came, she fed them all.
She could only control four vines at a time right now, but that wasn’t her upper limit. As long as she had enough spiritual power, she could send out countless more.
And against Longxueteng, she didn’t need fine control. She just shoved the vines into their mouths and let the rest take care of itself.
One after another, Longxueteng lunged at Hua Jian, only to be stuffed and immobilized.
The scene now looked less like Longxueteng attacking Hua Jian, and more like Hua Jian had become a weird plant draining their energy.
As more and more were controlled, the Longxueteng binding the little dragon was soon entirely drained of energy.
Linglong seized the opportunity and hacked through the binding vines, cutting them apart like vegetables.
“Tch!” The little dragon gave a delighted cry. Freed, she tried to take off, but she was too weak—she couldn’t even fly.
Can’t fly anymore? Linglong understood at once. With the little dragon watching in awe, she strode over, bent down, and lifted the dragon up in her arms.
“Tch?!”
“Hua Jian, let’s go!”
“Alright!”