Chapter 484: Dragon!

All of a sudden, thunder-like cracks rang out from the shores of the lake. The several hundred stone stairs next to the lake’s surface trembled as the ground rumbled. The rumbling intensified, until the cavern itself began to quake. Enormous boulders shook loose from the rocky walls. It was a good thing that Jiang Chen and Mu Gaoqi were protected by the water curtain, which deflected all the rocks for them.

The hunchbacked expert had a dark face, shooting an intense glare of utmost killing intent at Mu Gaoqi. He knew that the last yell had still disturbed the great being, completely ruining his plans!

Whoosh!

A green light abruptly shot up from the ground in front of the lake, creating a frightening rift in the earth. A black tail suddenly poked out through the crack. It extended into the air, seemingly probing the air. After a moment, it slapped down audibly towards the hunchback.

The hunchback had been on his guard ever since the earth had started to quake. He immediately dodged towards the stairs when he saw the tail sweep at him. He produced a thin blood colored blade and chopped down on the tail as it drew close.

Jiang Chen quailed momentarily when he saw this odd tail. “The tales say that only the tail of a dragon is seen, the head is never glimpsed. This is a dragon’s descendent! A child of dragons resides here?!” His usually calm temperament was shattered by this revelation.

The power hidden in the bloodline of a dragon’s descendent was utterly horrifying. Even the most humble and diluted of dragon bloodlines was still a part of the dragon race. Without question, they were one of the strongest bloodlines in ancient times.

The hunchback’s strike landed on the tail and skittered off in a shower of sparks, leaving behind a clear, ringing sound.

Clang!

It actually hadn’t broken through any of the scales on the black tail! The hunchback was also immensely shocked.

Although he hadn't used his full strength, he had calculated his power precisely, as well as the location the blow would land. Even if he didn’t slice the tail open, he still should’ve broken through a scale or two!

But who knew that apart from a spray of sparks, this strike would not even leave behind a blemish on the tail! The hunchback broke out in a cold sweat at the sight. He swayed to the side and shot towards the rock wall next to him.

Slap, slap, slap!

The dragon tail seemed to possess a certain sensory magic that allowed it to predict the hunchback’s movements. It pursued him without pause, cleaving through the ground like a knife through hot butter. It easily left deep furrows in the walls and caused countless rocks to fall in its wake.

The rumbling of the rocks made it seem like the cavern would collapse at any time. Jiang Chen watched the fight with unblinking eyes. “The dragon has only revealed its tail, but that alone is enough to force a second level saint realm to scurry in all directions. It looks like the power of this divine dragon is quite terrifying!”

It would be false to say that he wasn’t the least bit frightened. However, he wasn’t willing to miss this level of a fight, and he absolutely wanted the divine dragon to win. Otherwise, once the Walkabout Sect sage realm killed the dragon, Jiang Chen and Mu Gaoqi would be next on his list.

“This hunchback expert keeps dodging to the left and right but refuses to leave. Does he have anything else planned?” Jiang Chen’s sharp eyes found an odd point. The battle situation was quite apparent. The Walkabout Sect hunchback didn’t dare take the tail head on, indicating that his strength was far below that of the divine dragon.

However, not only did the expert not attempt to escape, it even looked like he had something up his sleeves.

“Let’s see what this Walkabout Sect old fellow wants to do.” Jiang Chen couldn’t take a closer look as long as he was trapped in the water bubble, and so was clueless as to the hunchback’s plan.

However, of one thing he was certain, the hunchback was very set on the spring. He refused to back down even when he was facing a dragon.

The momentum of the dragon tail’s attacks were quite shocking. Each sweep of the tail left deep grooves in the rock walls. If it landed on a human body, then even one of the second level sage realm would likely have his bones broken and tendons snapped, dying after spitting out blood.

“Just what is this old man planning?” Jiang Chen still had no clue after observing for a while, but suddenly realized with a glance to the side that Mu Gaoqi’s face was turning purple. He was about to faint.

The water curtain maintained a vacuum, and although origin realm cultivators didn't need fresh air to live, the immense sealing abilities of the water curtain had an extremely strong corrosive effect, making the weaker Mu Gaoqi feel like he was unable to hold on.

Jiang Chen looked again at the water curtain, certain that it was impossible to break. However, that didn’t mean he didn’t know how to escape. He had laid out an escape plan long ago. He looked down at the ground and activated the Lotus.

The Rune of Heavenly Water was quite amazing and could even partially restrict the ground, but the Bewitching Lotus of Fire and Ice was a divine level treasure. The Rune didn’t have the same level of power underneath the ground. A lotus soon appeared beneath Jiang Chen’s feet after ramming its way through the water curtain.

Jiang Chen made a hand seal and created a copy of himself from the Lotus, placing it within the water curtain before allowing the lotus to bring him underground. Ever since he’d entered the origin realm, he’d fully tapped into the illusory arts of the Lotus. When he fought Yan Hongtu not too long ago, as well as one against four when fighting Xu Gang, Yue Pan, and the others, the copies had all been put to great use.

Jiang Chen repeated the same actions and saved Mu Gaoqi from the water prison as well.

“Brother Jiang Chen, where are we?” Mu Gaoqi slowly came to, but still felt rather groggy.

“We’re in the depths of the earth. Don’t fuss, the Walkabout Sect old thief is fighting a dragon. Although we’re quite a bit a ways, I can’t promise that we’re out of their perception range.”

Whether it was the second level sage realm hunchback or the mysterious dragon, both were existences far beyond the two of them. Mu Gaoqi was startled and tightly shut his mouth. He’d already caused trouble once with his speech, he’d finally learned his lesson this time.

Jiang Chen sat down cross legged. Even though they were hundreds of meters below ground, he could still feel the stunning battle taking place above them.

Enormous aftershocks kept rippling through their surroundings, and the two of them could feel the intense trembling even from deep within the ground.

Mu Gaoqi slowly recovered his senses and suddenly remembered Jiang Chen’s words. He was shocked, “Brother Jiang Chen, what did you say? Dragon?!”

Jiang Chen nodded, “Correct. Dragon.”

Any creature with the bloodline and form of a dragon could be called a dragon. Only when the bloodline became so diluted that their descendants could no longer shift into dragon form would they lose the right to be called a dragon. But even so, as long as a creature had the bloodline of a dragon, no matter how much their form had changed, they would call themselves the descendants of dragons. After all, even the slightest of association with the word “dragon” was a cause for pride. Since ancient times, it has always been one of the most noble of bloodlines, the truest king of beasts. Even the slightest drop of dragon blood meant that they were one of their descendants.

Currently however, judging from the dragon’s tail and scales, this creature was definitely a true dragon. Jiang Chen wasn’t sure of its particular bloodline, but it could definitely keep the true form of a dragon.

A dragon like that had a very pure bloodline no matter how far down in the world it had come. After all, changes to its body had to do with purity of its bloodline.

“Then… then can we get out?” Mu Gaoqi’s thoughts weren’t on the spring at all.

Dragon!

Dragons existed only in legends of the Myriad Domain. Even the premier experts of the Myriad Domain would pay solemn attention when they heard the legends of dragons. They were spoken of as invincible existences. Therefore, Mu Gaoqi had no thoughts of seizing a spring with wood spirit energy from a dragon. He only wanted to know if they could make it out alive.

“I don’t know. If the situation called for us to escape, that old thief from the Walkabout Sect should’ve ran long ago. However, he didn’t go, which indicates he must have noticed something. What reason do we have to flee since he isn’t doing so?” Jiang Chen had seen too many true dragons in his past life, and often saw ones with the highest of lineages. Therefore, he wasn’t the least bit afraid of dragons.

Even if the strongest of the ancient dragons might’ve been stronger than his father, the Celestial Emperor, he’d never seen one of that caliber in his past life, and those certainly didn’t exist in the current plane he lived in.

When he took into consideration his knowledge of the ancient beast language and his equal skill in the noble dragon language, he decided to stay. In contrast, he was more at ease if the dragon killed off the hunchback expert. Jiang Chen would rather have dealings with a dragon than his fellow man.

He could possibly communicate with a dragon, but he’d never be able to communicate with an evil heart.

“Gaoqi, you stay here and don’t move a muscle. I’m going up to take a look.” Jiang Chen was concerned about the battle situation and was likewise worried about the spring. If he turned tail and left, he would likely regret it for the rest of his life.

Only with great risk comes fortune. He didn’t wait for Mu Gaoqi to respond as he made a hand seal. One of the petals of the lotuses retracted and folded Mu Gaoqi in. He was now imminently ill at ease about Mu Gaoqi. If he didn’t restrict his movements, the fellow might run around haphazardly later and ruin things again.

It was better for Jiang Chen to restrict his movement now and have him just stay where he was. There were only good things to be had from training inside the Lotus, and the spirit pearl Mu Gaoqi had should resist the Lotus’ power.