Chapter 66: Draconic Veins
Five days later, Xiao Nanfeng and the Lady Arclight finally understood why the spirits were all headed in this direction.
The two of them hid within a dense forest and glanced out at a large lake surging with spiritual aether in the distance.
The lake was calm and quiet, yet exceedingly dangerous. By the lake were dozens of Ascension-realm spirits, and more were making their way over even now.
These strong lifeforms jockeyed for the best positions around the lake.
A ten-meter tall giant purple bird spat out a mouthful of lightning at an elephant spirit, which didn't back down. It retaliated with a giant orb of frost. The two large spirits began to fight with each other, and all just for an advantageous spot near the edge of the lake. Despite their heated fight, neither was willing to approach the lake directly.
"There must be something good hidden within that lake," the Lady Arclight murmured, narrowing her eyes.
"Oh?" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.
Just then, the environment seemed to shudder.
"An earthquake?" the Lady Arclight wondered.
The spirits by the shore of the lake all stopped their squabbles and looked toward the water expectantly. The lake water frothed, and a golden glow seemed to be visible at the bottom of the lake.
With a huge splash, the golden light exploded into thousands of fragments that scattered all over. Dozens of spirits pounced toward the fragments as they gobbled them up. However, there were too many fragments even for the ardent spirits. The fragments rushed out beyond the surface of the water, then circled the lake as they danced through the air.
In order to swallow up more of the golden fragments, the spirits struck at each other as they fought with their lives on the line. Fireballs, shards of ice, lightning, and wind blades crashed into each other in a chaotic explosion of elemental energies.
"That's... a dragon?" Xiao Nanfeng cried out.
All the golden fragments were in the form of dragons, as though there were tens of thousands of little golden dragons fleeing through the air, which the spirits fought tooth and nail to devour.
"A draconic vein! Could there be a huge draconic vein at the bottom of this lake?!" The Lady Arclight was astounded.
"What's a draconic vein?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
"It's a special class of natural veins that can accumulate an endless supply of spiritual aether. Under specific circumstances, these veins can emit draconic aether, a form of incredibly concentrated spiritual aether that takes on the shape of dragons," the Lady Arclight explained.
Suddenly, her eyes brightened. "Look over there! Some draconic aether is floating to the shore, straight at us, and none of the spirits have noticed. Can you lure it over with your flying sword?"
Xiao Nanfeng manipulated his Immortal Cicada and sent it flying toward the golden dragon.
The blade skewered a small golden dragon, turned back toward the forest, and brought it straight toward Xiao Nanfeng.
The golden dragon was about a third of a meter long. It almost seemed to be alive, and was struggling to free itself from impalement.
"What do you do with this aether? Eat it?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
"That's right!"
The Lady Arclight drew close, opened her mouth, and began to suck at the golden dragon, which transformed into a cloud of mist that she absorbed. The Lady Arclight immediately made a satisfied expression. Her beauty was stunning; Xiao Nanfeng was caught a little off guard.
After quite some time, she happily opened her eyes, only to see that Xiao Nanfeng had lured another golden dragon over and was distilling its essence now.
As the draconic aether seeped into Xiao Nanfeng's body, it transformed into the purest spiritual aether, nourishing his physical self and partially transforming into spiritual power.
After a long moment, Xiao Nanfeng opened his eyes. "This is amazing. One golden dragon had as much spiritual aether as an Immanence-realm lifeform!"
"Consuming draconic aether is far superior to eating an Immanence-realm lifeform. The former can both augment your cultivation and fortify your physical body, eventually transforming it into one as strong and sturdy as a dragon's," the Lady Arclight replied, rolling her eyes at him.
"A true treasure." Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up as he stared at the lake.
"Unfortunately, it's hard to find such remnant draconic aether. The majority is in the lake, too far away for us to do anything about." The Lady Arclight sighed in unwilling resignation.
If not for her current weakness, she would be right there by the lake shore, sending all those Ascension-realm spirits packing! All that aether would have been hers!
"That's not difficult," Xiao Nanfeng replied, smiling. He sent the flying sword out of the forest and straight toward the lake. The sword quickly pierced through a golden dragon, then flew toward a second one, a third one, a fourth one, and a fifth one.
The Immortal Cicada skewered twenty golden dragons in a row before returning to Xiao Nanfeng with a full haul.
The twenty golden dragons were particularly eye-catching. A giant purple bird's eyes lit up as it flew over, but the Immortal Cicada quickly vanished through the trees.
The giant purple bird roared in anger, spitting out a bolt of lightning and charring a patch of forest into smoldering earth. Unfortunately, the Immortal Cicada and twenty golden dragons had already vanished from sight. The giant purple bird, realizing that it was wasting its time, returned to the lake shore and angrily began fighting for the remaining golden dragons.
The Immortal Cicada zipped toward Xiao Nanfeng.
"Just how much spiritual power do you have?" The Lady Arclight was startled by Xiao Nanfeng's display.
The distance between the lake shore and the forest where they were located was significant. For Xiao Nanfeng to be able to steer it there, agilely capture twenty golden dragons with it, then dodge the giant purple bird's attacks and return... no cultivator at the Heavenly Spring stage of spiritual cultivation could have that much spiritual power and control!
"Here, you take this. I'll get the next batch while the spirits are fighting among themselves. There isn't much draconic aether left," Xiao Nanfeng urged.
"You have enough spiritual power to do this again?" The Lady Arclight seemed even more shocked.
By the time the flying sword returned to the lake, there was little draconic aether remaining, and the competition over what was left grew even fiercer.
Just as the elephant and bear spirits were fighting over a few golden dragons, a beam of golden light flashed by and stole the aether they were fighting over. The two spirits immediately gave chase angrily, but the beam of light flashed away into the distance. At the same time, sensing another opportunity, it skewered the golden dragons that the wolf and leopard spirits were fighting over as well.
The four large spirits roared in outrage as they chased after the beam of light, but just as they were about to catch up, it shot into the forest and vanished from sight.
The spirits spat out blades of wind, flames, and chilly frost, destroying that patch of forest—but to no avail. It would take them a tremendous amount of energy to search through the depths of the forest, and they couldn't give up on the remaining golden dragons above the surface of the lake now. They roared once more in outrage before rampaging back.
The beam of light was none other than the Immortal Cicada, which had returned to Xiao Nanfeng with a dozen or so golden dragons.
"Phew! With four spirits giving chase at once, the Immortal Cicada barely made it back!" Xiao Nanfeng exhaled in relief.
Copying the Lady Arclight, he inhaled the golden dragons, filling his body with spiritual energy in incredible comfort. However, if he wanted to continue breaking through, he would need even more spiritual energy.
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