Chapter 367: Underground of Great Ruins
Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem
'Dragon Rearing Sovereign's spell to calculate the dragon's veins is pretty brilliant.'
Qin Mu looked at the dragon-shaped qi that was swimming in the golden cauldron. This kind of calculation skill of Dragon Rearing Sovereign seemed to be able to calculate some auspicious mountains and lands. For example, Great White Sword Sect was built on top of the dragon's eyes and it seemed to be located on an auspicious land. However, according to the picture in Dragon Rearing Sovereign's cauldron, this place wasn't an auspicious land. Instead, it was a land where a group of dragons seized fortune from others to support the true dragon lord!
Sects that resided nearby would have most of their fortune seized, causing them to go downhill and wither with every passing day.
'No wonder Great White Sword Sect had fallen to such a state today,' he secretly exclaimed in his heart.
Dragon Rearing Sovereign put away the golden cauldron, and Qin Mu immediately returned Dragon Rearing Scripture to him. The god shook his head and said, "Take it and study first. As a boy that raises dragons, you need to know the habits of all kinds of dragon well. There are also skills that deal with rearing dragons inside which you should comprehend carefully. I shall give you two days' time, and how much you can comprehend will depend on your comprehension. I will take the book back after two days."
Long Jiaonan's expression instantly turned black. Dragon Rearing Sovereign didn't know about Qin Mu's terrifying comprehension, but she knew it very well!
On the empty island on the east sea, Dao Master had shown the Fourteen Writings of Dao Sword to Qin Mu for ten days, and the youth's comprehension of Dao Sword was no inferior to that of Daozi Lin Xuan.
Even if Dragon Rearing Scripture was a technique of a god, it wouldn't be more difficult to comprehend that Dao Sword. Probably even easier. Dao Sword involved algebra, so the higher one's attainments in algebra were, the easier it would be to comprehend Dao Sword. However, how hard was algebra?
Dragon Rearing Scripture was more about raising dragons, controlling, and living together with dragons. The technique inside, Secrets of Dragon Control, was the unique studies of Dragon Rider Sect which consisted of the technique to molt and rebirth.
Even though Dragon Rider Sect was the sect that Dragon Rearing Sovereign had founded, the complete Dragon Rearing Scripture was never passed down. Even the Sect Master had only received an incomplete copy.
Yet even so, Dragon Rider Sect was considered an extremely powerful sect. Of course, it couldn't be compared to the three big sacred grounds, but it was reputable in the martial world. Otherwise, Emperor Yanfeng would not have let them lead an army by themselves.
Eternal Peace Empire originally had a dragon army, and Dragon Rider Sect led it.
Even though Dragon Rearing Sovereign had founded Dragon Rider Sect, it didn't receive the complete Dragon Rearing Scripture. Yet Qin Mu, this scum, did. This naturally drove Long Jiaonan mad.
How could it not when Dragon Rearing Sovereign trusted Qin Mu because of his honest appearance while not trusting Long Jiaonan. She felt helpless.
Dragon Rearing Sovereign didn't know what was on her mind. In the eyes of a god like him, keeping Qin Mu and Long Jiaonan by his side was an insignificant thing. It was like carrying two ants, and he naturally didn't need to know what those ants were thinking.
If it wasn't because Qin Mu was more useful, his attitude toward him wouldn't have been better than that to Long Jiaonan.
This was natural at the height he was standing.
He was a god and nothing could threaten him. A small ant like Qin Mu naturally didn't mean anything to him, so there was no need to put it to heart. He only needed it to help him, after which giving the little ant some benefit would make it even more willing to help him.
Even if the ant had ill intentions, it could be killed with just a flick of a finger.
Besides, from how Qin Mu and Long Jiaonan looked and handled things, it was obvious that Qin Mu was more reliable. The tiny human had a natural earthy and honest feel to him, so it was obvious that he was more trustworthy than Long Jiaonan.
Dragon Rearing Sovereign brought them upstream, and as they walked, they went farther away from the surface. The magma river was originally buried deep underground and spanned over several thousand miles. Upstream was its source, which was dozens of miles underground.
After walking for some time, they felt the surroundings becoming warmer. Qin Mu looked down at the river and saw more and more dragon scales on both sides. Besides them, there was also flesh and blood!
He saw them growing out from the dragon scales along with long blood vessels. Compared to the huge underground dragon's vein, those blood vessels were as thin as hair, but to Qin Mu, they were passageways that were thicker than a water barrel.
The blood vessels stretched in all directions as they followed along the river.
'There is blood flowing through them!'
He then discovered that the blood belonged to a true dragon. When the blood flowed, there would be sounds of mercury flowing rapidly.
"This dragon's vein has grown a heart," said Dragon Rearing Sovereign suddenly.
Qin Mu could also hear a faint beating of a heart. The heartbeat grew louder and louder, until they saw the heart in the center of a magma lake.
It was like a mountain which was hung in the air by numerous thick blood vessels. A good number of which were also rooted in the lake.
With the beating of the dragon heart, the magma in the lake would flow backward and circulate through the entire heart as though it was cleansing it.
When the beating stopped for a moment, the magma would fall back into the lake with splashes, waiting for the next time the heartbeat to flow in reverse again.
In the surroundings of the magma lake, there were huge chunks of diamonds hanging from the walls, some of which were like stalactites while others were pillar-shaped crystals. Other than diamonds, there was also gold sand, and chunks of solid gold lying on the ground.
Qin Mu and Long Jiaonan were dazzled by that sight.
Even though Eternal Peace Empire had mines throughout its land, they had never seen a mine with such fertile mineral resources. With the power of Eternal Peace, they could never mine to this place.
Their gazes were blank. Even though great abundance coins was the currency of Eternal Peace Empire, gold was useful as well. Besides, diamond was an extremely durable material for forging treasures, and numerous eminent monks in buddhism used them for that exact purpose. Thus, this kind of huge diamonds could be sold for a very high price!
'If only I could… what a pity,' Long Jiaonan thought in her heart.
'I'm rich!' Qin Mu's heart bloomed with joy. 'After getting rid of Dragon Rearing Sovereign, all this treasure will be mine!'
"If this was anywhere else, I would definitely think that this fire dragon's vein was the main dragon's vein of Eternal Peace Empire. What a pity that this is only a smokescreen designed by those old fogeys of Great Ruins!"
Dragon Rearing Sovereign paid no attention to the golds and diamonds lying around and sneered. "They might be able to deceive others, but they can't deceive me! Since Great Ruins is involved, the dragon's vein of the true dragon lord cannot be so weak and small."
He took out his golden cauldron and checked before saying, "There's another dragon's vein nearby!"
He lifted the golden cauldron up and moved quickly to the front of the magma waterfall. With a smile, he said, "Right here!"
Dragon Rearing Sovereign raised his hand to lift up the magma waterfall and saw another magma river on the other side.
"Man! I still need to cross a few magma dragon's veins to be able to find the one of the true dragon lord!"
Dragon Rearing Sovereign's spirit was roused, and he brought Qin Mu and Long Jiaonan through the waterfall. He said with a smile, "However, this makes it more interesting. This trip down to the mortal world is not in vain!"
The dragon's vein they were in was also extremely extraordinary, and even of a higher quality than the one earlier. Besides the dragon scales, blood vessels, and vein lines of muscles on the four walls, some places also had organs!
If it wasn't for the fire dragon's vein at the side, Qin Mu would have thought he had come inside of a true dragon!
'If the group of dragons is already like this, then what kind of dragon's vein would the true dragon lord be like?' Qin Mu was secretly astonished.
As they continued down and covered ten thousand miles, they came into contact with the third underground dragon's vein. Qin Mu frowned slightly. They were walking to the west.
Volcano County was at the outback of Eternal Peace Empire, the central region. If they headed west and walked such a long distance, they should be very close to God Broken Mountain Range.
Qin Mu didn't know if Dragon Rearing Sovereign was familiar with the geography of Eternal Peace and Great Ruins, but since Heavenly Devil Cult was originally dabbling in the smuggling business, they had to cross God Broken Mountain Range. Qin Mu had also crossed it before and could determine it was right above them.
Meanwhile, the third dragon's vein was still stretching out to the west. If they continued to head in that direction, they would enter Great Ruins!
'It should still be night time in Great Ruins currently!'
Qin Mu suppressed the pounding of his heart. Would the underground of Great Ruins be dangerous at night? Would the darkness shroud them as well?
He couldn't be sure.
However, there was nothing wrong about sticking close to Dragon Rearing Sovereign. The abilities of this god were extremely powerful, and even if the darkness shrouded them, he could protect their lives.
They continued forward until the underground dragon's vein in front of them became dim. The place was originally brightly lit by the intense light from the magma, but by then even the light seemed to be consumed by the darkness, leaving only a weak glow.
Qin Mu gave the dragon qilin a kick, and the slow creature came to realization. He immediately came forward and didn't dare to stray far away from Dragon Rearing Sovereign.
Long Jiaonan saw this and instantly understood what it meant. She also came closer to Dragon Rearing Sovereign in a hurry.
'This woman is very quick-witted. It'd be best for me to get rid of her as soon as possible to prevent meeting with unexpected failure.' Qin Mu frowned slightly.
They didn't walk far before they saw a god statue erected upright in the center of the magma river. The god statue was giving off a faint glow and driving away the darkness in the surroundings.
"It's indeed the old fogeys of Great Ruins who had messed around!" Dragon Sovereign sneered and continued to walk forward. "If I had not come down to check on the dragon's veins of Eternal Peace Empire, I might have just been fooled!"
He held his aura, not allowing it to leak out as he walked from the stone statue. It seemed that he was afraid of waking it up.
This magma river flowed for a long distance, and every section of it would have a stone statue guarding the dragon's vein. It could be said how far they walked when they finally encountered the fourth dragon's vein.
It no longer belonged to Eternal Peace, but was a dragon's vein of Great Ruins!
Upon entering the fourth dragon's vein, Qin Mu calculated and realized that they had already passed by Border Dragon City and Disabled Elderly Village. They were getting closer and closer to the outback of Great Ruins.
The speed of the two flood dragons under Dragon Rearing Sovereign's feet was extremely fast. They were countless times faster than the fat glutton which was the dragon qilin. A journey that took the dragon qilin over a dozen days was covered by the two flood dragons in a day or two.
When they came to the fifth dragon's vein, the darkness had already withdrawn and day had arrived. When they reached the sixth dragon's vein, Qin Mu was sure that they were in the underground of Great Ruins' central region!
"We are close to the dragon's vein of the true dragon lord!" Dragon Rearing Sovereign's spirit was greatly roused, and he smiled. "How's Dragon Rearing Scripture? It's also time for you to return it."
Qin Mu handed back Dragon Rearing Scripture respectfully and said, "My aptitude is small and I only gained some little understanding. There are still some places that I don't understand."
"You're honest and sincere, lacking in sly intentions, and not clever enough; there's naturally some places which are harder to understand," Dragon Rearing Sovereign said. "As long as you serve my dragons well, I will slowly explain this Dragon Rearing Scripture to you."
Qin Mu was overjoyed.
Long Jiaonan saw the expression on his face and wanted to pounce on him and strangle him to death so he could maintain that honest smile on his face even in his death!
"We are at the main dragon's vein!" Dragon Rearing Sovereign's spirit rose and he smiled. "I shall take it away from these old fogeys and ruin their grand scheme that had lasted for ten thousand years in one day… Wait a minute, this is…"
He revealed a puzzled look as he walked out of the sixth dragon's vein. As he looked around, the puzzlement on his face grew even stronger.