Chapter 216: From Beyond the World
The blood dragon coiled around the giant purple rock gave off such intense killing intent that Xiao Nanfeng and Ao Zhou couldn't draw near.
"Where's the elder of spacetime? Isn't he going to claim the fruits of his labor?" Ao Zhou asked.
Ao Zhou felt as though its heart was dripping blood as it saw the treasures slip away from its grip. Better that the elder come sooner and claim them for himself quickly so he didn't have to look at them!
"He's tasked me with claiming the treasure," Xiao Nafneng replied.
"You aren't lying to me, are you? Does this elder really exist?" Ao Zhou frowned at Xiao Nanfeng.
It was naturally alert and wary. Although it did believe in the existence of the elder of spacetime, it hadn't met the elder in person. This was enough for it to retain a shred of suspicion.
Xiao Nanfeng narrowed his eyes at Ao Zhou and remained silent. After some time, Ao Zhou began to laugh. "Ha, haha, I'm just joking! You really can't take jokes, can you?"
Xiao Nanfeng: ... He knew that Ao Zhou was clearly suspicious, but didn't dare to make its suspicions known.
He continued trying to shift his body slowly to approach the giant purple rock. Suddenly, as though sensing his presence, the blood dragon twisted. Its head turned to Xiao Nanfeng.
The blood dragon roared in outrage. A wave of killing intent shot toward Xiao Nanfeng, who barely defended with a corroded Immortal sword. The blood dragon smashed into the sword and instantly knocked Xiao Nanfeng flying. He struck a wall and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Haha! It's not easy to claim this treasure, is it?" Ao Zhou laughed at Xiao Nanfeng's misfortune.
Xiao Nanfeng gritted his teeth. The blood dragon was astonishingly potent. It couldn't even get close to the giant purple rock.
Suddenly, he found the Immortal blade in his hand sizzling.
"Ah!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.
A few drops of blood from the blood dragon had splashed onto the relic, which were now corroding it further.
"The ancestral dragon's blood can corrode even an Immortal relic? It's that strong?"
He reached out and gingerly touched a drop of blood, but before he made contact, the blood suddenly flew toward his fingertip and seeped into his skin. His finger quickly decayed—no, transformed. It was drying up and growing into a sharp claw.
"What?!" Xiao Nanfeng cried out.
It took all his willpower to force out the drop of ancestral dragon's blood and slowly return his finger to normal.
"The ancestral dragon's blood was transforming my body into that of a dragon!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.
How could that be? The physical body of this avatar had been forged from a cursed effigy, a fragment of the red rope! This blood was far too potent for the likes of him.
The ancestral dragon's blood was able to corrode Immortal relics, and the blood dragon refused to let anyone draw near. If he wanted to claim the giant purple rock, he would have to absorb the ancestral dragon's blood—but if he did so, he would transform into the form of a dragon, much like Ao Zhou.
"Why are you staring at me?" Ao Zhou frowned.
Xiao Nanfeng shuddered. "How ugly!"
Ao Zhou frowned. Instantly upset, it roared, "Who are you calling ugly? Xiao Nanfeng, you have no sense of aesthetics!"
"Don't get so worked up. I'm not calling you ugly. I'm saying I'd be ugly if I were to transform my appearance into yours," Xiao Nanfeng explained.
Ao Zhou held its tongue while it processed Xiao Nanfeng's words, then frowned harder. Wasn't that the same thing? If you'd be ugly if you transformed into me, then you're just calling me ugly!
"Xiao Nanfeng, you're dead!" Ao Zhou roared.
"Stop! Calm down. The elder of spacetime is sending me a mental transmission. Don't interrupt," Xiao Nanfeng quickly said.
Ao Zhou immediately fell silent. It looked toward Xiao Nanfeng with furrowed brows. "Don't lie to me."
"The elder of spacetime told me he's giving me the ancestral dragon's blood as a gift."
"What? To you? What about my share?" Ao Zhou asked.
"Do you want some ancestral dragon's blood, too?"
"Of course! Are you going to give me some?"
"Try absorbing these few drops first." Xiao Nanfeng passed the few drops on the surface of the blade to Ao Zhou.
As Ao Zhou absorbed the blood, the surface of its body glowed with mysterious black light.
"How do you feel?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
"It's amazingly comfortable. It's purifying my body and refining my bloodline. This must be the equivalent of some immense treasure that can elevate my talent and constitution!" the serpent cried out.
"What else can it do besides transform you into a dragon?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
"Isn't that amazing enough?" Ao Zhou retorted.
Xiao Nanfeng: ...
He didn't want to transform into a dragon! He was perfectly happy with his human form. Dragons looked ugly, and with the red moon harbored in his mindscape, any body would corrode away sooner or later.
"I'll share half the dragon's blood with you. How about that?"
"Really?" Ao Zhou asked.
"I will, but you'll have to seal the other half away. I want to give it to the other elders of the Qitian Alliance as a gift," Xiao Nanfeng replied.
"Deal! It's settled!" Worried that Xiao Nanfeng would go back on its word, Ao Zhou leapt toward the blood dragon immediately.
Sensing another aura draw near, the blood dragon howled and charged forward. A wave of killing intent surrounded Ao Zhou, but it didn't relent. How could it give up on such treasure?
Ao Zhou's head clashed against the blood dragon's. The blood, seemingly having found an outlet, surged into Ao Zhou's body and caused it to radiate with light.
Ao Zhou was exhilarated at the thought of receiving the massive boon.
Xiao Nanfeng gave him a weird look. "I allowed you to absorb half the dragon's blood, not for you to kiss it! Aren't you being a bit wild with your lip-to-lip contact?
Ao Zhou's feeling of exhilaration was immediately wiped away.
"I'm not kissing it," Ao Zhou hissed. "I'm absorbing the ancestral dragon's blood! Can't you see?"
"I see it alright. Your saliva's leaking out. Disgusting!" Xiao Nanfeng cried out.
Ao Zhou: ...
Somehow, it wasn't feeling happy despite the boon it had just obtained.
"Forget it. I'll absorb it all first. I won't waste time bickering with a country bumpkin!" Ao Zhou cursed inwardly.
As it continued to absorb the ancestral dragon's blood, Ao Zhou's body began to grow larger. A pair of dragon's horns sprouted from its head at a rate visible to the naked eye. At the same time, its body began to molt as a layer of dragon scales formed around itself. It had even grown one size larger.
"The ancestral dragon's blood is causing my body to evolve, haha! My cultivation's growing stronger, too. I'll be able to evolve into Wingform-realm in no time!" Ao Zhou roared.
With Ao Zhou holding back the blood dragon, Xiao Nanfeng was able to close in on the giant purple rock.
He walked up to it and stroked its surface, then tried to move it.
However, the giant purple rock seemed to be incredibly heavy. Even with Xiao Nanfeng's Spiritsong-realm strength, he was unable to cause it to budge.
"Move it!" Xiao Nanfeng suddenly shoved the rock, but it remained immobile.
Xiao Nanfeng frowned. He felt at the surface of the rock with his hands and attempted to use spiritual power to examine its interior—only to find that his spiritual power was unable to seep into the rock at all.
"Just what is this rock made of? How could it behave so strangely? If only I could see what was going on inside..." Xiao Nanfeng frowned.
Just then, the resistance against his hand vanished. Xiao Nanfeng stumbled and fell into the rock.
"Ah? Where's Xiao Nanfeng?" Ao Zhou exclaimed from nearby.
As it continued absorbing more of the dragon's blood, it approached the giant purple rock, knocking on its surface. However, nothing happened. Xiao Nanfeng had vanished out of nowhere.
The interior of the giant purple rock was like a void. Xiao Nanfeng stared warily at his surroundings.
There was gray fog all around him, as well as pinpricks of purple light that illuminated the void in simultaneously dismal and mysterious tones.
Suddenly, a skeleton appeared beside him—none other than Madam Rouge.
Madam Rouge stared at Xiao Nanfeng with astonishment. With her signature black smoke, she asked, "How did you get in here?"
"What?" Xiao Nanfeng replied, confused.
"How did you enter the interior of this rock? That's impossible. No one has done it before!" Madam Rouge's exclamation mark was a clear sign of her shock.
"Aren't we in an illusory realm? How else are you here?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
"Of course not. The only reason you can see me is because I formed a projection of myself with my cursed spiritual power. How did you get in here?" Madam Rouge asked again.
"I don't know how, either. Perhaps it's because of the red moon, or because my avatar's body was formed from a length of the red rope.
"Impossible!" Madam Rouge replied.
"Oh?" Xiao Nanfeng replied curiously.
"The divine purple rock of the Eastern Sea Draconic Palace is well known. Ever since the ancestral dragon brought it back, all have tried to plumb its depths—but none have succeeded. The dragons' own analysis was fruitless, and they had to recruit experts from all over the world to help study it. However, no one could give a firm conclusion. All that's known is that this divine purple rock has a tremendous ability to suppress," Madam Rouge stated.
"To suppress?"
"If I'm not mistaken, beneath this rock are the cursed spiritual avatars of countless lengths of red rope. I'm also aware that even the red rope cursed effigy was no match for the divine purple rock back then."
"Oh?"
"That's why it's impossible that you're here because of the red rope," Madam Rouge concluded.
"Could it be because of the red moon?"
"If I'm not mistaken, the founder of the Taiqing Sect once came to the Eastern Sea Draconic Palace to investigate this rock as well, but he returned without any success. He was in possession of the same red moon, but he wasn't able to enter its interior. It can't be related."
"What other reason could there be? There's nothing else that's special about my avatar," Xiao Nanfeng murmured.
Madam Rouge was deep in thought. In the end, however, she shook her head. "This divine purple rock was found from beyond the world. It's not from this planet. That's why no one has been able to analyze it."
"From beyond the world?" Xiao Nanfeng stilled.
"Why would you be the exception? Could there be some other object beyond the world that you possess which would resonate with it? Are you still hiding some great secret?" Madam Rouge demanded.
Xiao Nanfeng was silent for long moments. He didn't possess an object beyond the world; rather, he himself was foreign to it. He came from Earth. In other words, his truesoul belonged to Earth, not to this world to which he had appeared in. Could the divine purple rock have responded to that facet of his identity?
"Could the rock have acknowledged me on account of my ravishing looks?" Xiao Nanfeng suggested a preposterous reason.
Madam Rouge stared at Xiao Nanfeng in shock and astonishment. It took her some time before she formed more words with her smoke. "You really are thick-skinned!"
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