Chapter 135 – Monster Shadow
“Hong!”
The fireball exploded deep down in the hole. The flames rolled out and immediately illuminated everything near by.
Surprisingly, this hole was only a twisting tunnel, leading somewhere even deeper. All of the walls were made of soil.
With a leap, the Sea Race male jumped into it.
After slightly hesitating, the cute girl also followed along.
With his feet on the dirt ground of the tunnel, the Sea Race male produced a white, round pearl the size of an egg from his robes. He threw it up, and it transformed into a ball of white light. It floated above where he was and illuminated everything nearby, making everything visible.
The tunnel was circular and the air was thick with the smell of moist soil.
After taking a deep breath, he grasped the blade with one hand and carefully walked along the tunnel. The blue light barrier around him did not disappear from start to end, obviously due to the fact that he feared something would suddenly ambush him.
The two people continued to walk through the ever-twisting tunnel. After traveling down for around a hundred or so feet, the Sea Race male in front suddenly stopped. He started at a blood mark that had become slightly black. It was on the soil wall and his eyes flashed with interest when he noticed it.
“This…” The cute girl could not help but ask.
The Sea Race male did not immediately reply and instead moved his arms to grab a clump of dirt that was soaked in the black blood. He put it under his nose and sniffed gently.
“Yes, it was left behind by this Scarlet Dragon.” In the next moment, the Sea Race male spoke with great happiness.
The cute girl nodded her head and did not say anything more.
The brother threw away the soil in his hand excitedly and continued to travel with faster steps.
A little while later, a huge cavern opened up from the tunnel.
The Lan brother and sister became serious and started to walk extremely carefully.
When the Sea Race male walked into the cavern and swept his gaze over the area above him, he immediately became terror-stricken.
He saw in the area above him a scarlet red dragon that was over a hundred feet long, coiled up into a ball. He made out the huge ferocious head in the dark, which was currently staring viciously at the two of them.
“Not good. Sister, retreat quickly!”
The wrist of the Sea Race male trembled without even thinking. With a sway of the shiny blade in his hand, it immediately transformed into a glistening sword that was several feet in length. With a loud yell, he rushed at the Scarlet Dragon that was floating midair and tried to attack.
“Wait a moment before you attack, it seems like it is dead!” The moment the cute girl saw the scarlet-colored dragon, her face also became pale, but after concentrating, she immediately saw irregularities.
“Dead!” The Sea Race’s male paused after hearing this. Finally, he found that the dragon midair wasn’t even moving and its two wide eyes weren’t even blinking.
“Did this dragon already succumb to its wounds! I’ll test it!” The Lan brother became extremely shocked and surprised. With a slight pause, he flicked the blade in his hand, a cold light soared at the dragon.
“Peng!”
The cold light hit the dragon’s large body and bounced off. However, the dragon lightly floated back dozens of feet.
“That’s not right. It’s much too light for the Scarlet Dragon’s corpse!” When the cute girl saw this, her expression changed.
The Sea Race brother also observed this odd point, and without another word, he flew into the air. Immediately, he flew before the Scarlet Dragon and after some careful examination, he yelled out.
“This is merely an empty shell that was shed. The real scarlet dragon is not here!”
The cute Lan sister heard this and thought of something. With a twist of her body, she rose up and came closer to the scarlet dragon. What she found was a thin long crack on the back of the scarlet dragon.
Then, the cute girl stepped lightly on the scarlet dragon and made it shake a little. As expected, the weight was extremely light and there was not any flesh within the light shell.
“How is this possible? Where did that scarlet dragon run to and why hasn’t my technique felt anything.” The Sea Race male stared heavily at the dragon’s shell and his face became extremely ugly.
“A dragon molting would only happen in two circumstances. One of them is the dragon gaining a huge increase in cultivation, having their body hugely increase in size. It would have to shed its old skin in order to be able to accommodate a larger body. Another circumstance is for a pure-blooded dragon to have mastered an incredibly rare innate talent called “Returning Truth.” It is said that the technique can be used when a dragon is about to die to shed its dragon shell and reconfigure its entire body for a chance of rebirth. However, the price is that the dragon’s cultivation level will rapidly drop.” The cute girl slowly explained.
“With the severe injuries of the dragon, it definitely was not the first circumstance. If we think of it like this, then the scarlet dragon we are chasing is one of the rare pure-blood dragons that used the ‘Returning Truth’ innate talent to shed its skin. Is it possible that it completely healed and still kept its old cultivation level! How can I not feel where it is!?” The Sea Race male’s face changed a couple of times and took a deep breath.
“The ‘Returning Truth’ innate talent is a talent that rarely occurrs even within the dragons. The knowledge that outsiders have is even less. All I know is that if the dragon really used this talent, it definitely doesn’t have a Crystal Level cultivation. No, maybe it doesn’t even have a Liquid Level cultivation. In addition, it is probably quite weak. Otherwise, it would have shown itself and killed all of us. As for why you couldn’t feel it, I don’t know what happened. Maybe it’s an added effect of the innate ‘Returning Truth’ talent or maybe the dragon has a technique that can stop you from sensing him.” The girl hesitated before speaking.
“So the scarlet dragon could recover its strength at any time and appear before us to kill everyone.” The brother’s face changed as he asked.
“Of course, we can’t deny such a possibility. For insurance, we should all quickly leave. Since this place has the shell of the dragon, it might come back to check on it.” The cute girl suggested with gravity.
“Okay, once I put away this dragon shell, we will leave immediately. Although we have not found the scarlet dragon, with such a large piece of dragon shell, it’s enough to make up for my loss after using the Sea Dragon’s essence blood. However, the shell is quite large so we need to shrink it a little. Since the Scarlet Dragon is with a fire affinity, the shell should shrink when meeting fire.” The Sea Race male thought a little and then made his decision.
Then, he made a single-handed technique to allow a couple of fireballs fly out. They all hit the dragon’s shell and the fireballs turned into a sea of fire that began burning the shell.
An incredible scene occurred.
After the dragon’s shell was engulfed by the sea of fire, flashes of red started appearing on the dragon’s shell as it became smaller.
In seconds, it was only three feet long.
“This size should be enough.” The Sea Race male muttered and the shiny sword in his hand flashed. It actually cut his wrist with a slight wound and with another push of his Fa Li, a miniature sea conch that was the size of a bean was forced out.
The conch was small and extremely delicately crafted. In addition, it emitted a white light around it.
The Sea Race male grabbed the conch and pushed his Fa Li within it. Immediately, it expanded to the size of a chicken egg while silver inscriptions floated on it.
“Thankfully, when we left our clan, both of us were gifted with a Sumeru Conch. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to sneak this past those human geezers.” The Sea Race male suddenly picked up the conch and smiled.
“The Sumeru Conch is a unique object that is born within the deep sea and not refined by a person. Even within our Sea Race, it is incredibly rare. If it weren’t for us taking this important mission, the elders of the clan would not have broken the rules to give them to us. Although the Crystal Level human elders have a lot of talents and techniques, they still can’t find the conch. Unfortunately, the space within is a little small. Once the dragon shell is placed within, there won’t be much more space.” The cute girl smiled and spoke.
At this time, a white frost shot out from the conch and covered the shrunken dragon shell. With a blur, the shell disappeared.
“Alright, let’s go!” The Sea Race male weighed the conch in his hand and showed an expression of content.
The cute girl made a slight smile and right when she wanted to reply to her brother, her expression changed drastically. Immediately, she turned around and yelled out, “Who’s hiding there, get out of there!”
As soon as her voice fell, the girl raised her hands and dozens of white lines shot out. It was in fact a Water Arrow Technique that was to Complete Spell Mastery.
“Pu, pu!” The white lines flashed and disappeared within the entrance. However, everything was quiet and nothing happened.
“Sister, what happened!”
The Sea Race male’s expression became solemn and hurriedly shoved the conch within his sleeve. He immediately rushed to her sister’s side and with his shiny blade, he also looked toward the entrance.
“I felt like there was someone over there. However, when I turned around, the person disappeared.” The cute girl said with a hard expression.
“What… Not good, he’s here!” The Sea Race male’s brow creased, but after he glanced around the cavern, his eyes suddenly focused on a certain spot.
The cute girl became shocked and looked to where her brother was looking at. As expected, she saw a dark shadow that was currently silently standing in a dark corner of the cavern.
However, due to the dark light, the two of them couldn’t make out the features of the person.
“Who are you and when did you come in? Did you hear what we said?” The Sea Race male quickly regained his composure. Staring at the black shadow, he asked with a hint of killing intent.
However, the black shadow stayed where it was without any intention of answering.
When the cute girl beside him saw this, her brows furrowed as she shook her sleeve. Immediately, a couple of shiny beads came flying out and after a twist, they all let out piercing white light.
In moments, the entire dark cavern lit up as if it had been exposed to sunlight and exposed the face of the black shadow to the Lan brother and sister.
“It’s you!”
When he saw the face of the black shadow, the Sea Race male’s could not help but yell out in surprise.
The black shadow slowly tilted its head to better reveal an abnormally white and young face before he smiled at the Lan brother and sister.