Chapter 202 - A Horned Dragon!
Edited by RED
As per Xu Qi’s usual routine, he came to the mound where he had buried the ancient cultivators and bowed thrice after entering the plaza, then walked towards the four gigantic stone doors.
The rightmost stone door was where the Black Tortoise was sealed. He was lucky back then, and successfully subdued the Black Tortoise, but Xu Qi would never go through that door again. There was still the Ominous Beast, Primal Chaos, trapped behind that door.
Xu Qi came to the stone door directly next to the one leading to the Black Tortoise Cavern, unsure of what to do. He caressed the bronze ring he was wearing for a moment and flipped his palm, retrieving the same torn cloth from years ago.
In the beginning, the torn cloth only illustrated the method for Black Tortoise Unsealing. After successfully subduing the Black Tortoise, the illustration of a flying bird and the words “Opening Vermillion Bird” appeared on the torn cloth.
“Vermillion Bird? Who knows what its temperament is like? I’d better be careful. I won’t be so lucky this time if another Ominous Beast is trapped in there,” Xu Qi muttered to himself. Rainbow energy shone in his hand, and Xu Qi began drawing the talismanic pattern on the stone door as it was displayed on the torn cloth.
Soon, a rainbow-colored talismanic drawing shaped like a bird appeared on the stone door, and Xu Qi took two steps back.
Four streaks of rainbow light shone from the drawing on the stone door, slowly spreading outwards, forming a picture.
In the end, the four streaks of light converged at a point, and crimson flames erupted from the stone door, setting it on fire!
The crimson flames on the stone door gradually receded, leaving behind the picture of a huge flaming bird ablaze.
Rumble rumble, Xu Qi heard the sounds of the stone door opening. A slight vertical gap appeared in the middle of the stone door, turning it into a door hinged on both sides as it slowly opened wide.
“It seems like the Vermillion Bird is truly a fire bird,” Xu Qi muttered to himself again, and walked into the pitch-black cavern.
The stone door slowly closed itself the moment Xu Qi stepped beyond it. Xu Qi summoned the All-Tempering Flame in his hand and began venturing further within. As he went deeper into the cavern, he realized the surrounding temperature had decreased abruptly.
“Gods, why is it getting colder?” Xu Qi muttered as he enveloped his entire body with the All-Tempering Flame and continued walking deeper into the cavern.
With the help of the All-Tempering Flame’s light, Xu Qi discovered that huge ice blocks had begun to appear on the sides of the cave. Some of them were as tall as he was!
Xu Qi slowly felt a chill in his heart, followed by a bad premonition. He willed the Five Elements Wings to appear behind him in case anything happened, and started flying into the cave.
The cave grew narrower as he flew deeper in. On the other hand, the ice blocks were increasing in size. When Xu Qi finally saw a bright spot at the end, he knew that the so-called Vermillion Bird Cavern was right in front of him and increased his speed.
The bright spot gradually became bigger as he got closer. He came to the end of the cave and discovered that this was indeed the entrance to the sealing cavern. The difference between this cave and the Black Tortoise Cavern was that the entrance was sealed off by a very thin layer of ice. Upon taking a closer look, Xu Qi found that he couldn’t see what was beyond this thin layer of ice. He tried striking it with a few palm-strikes, but the layer of ice didn’t budge at all.
Xu Qi then manipulated the All-Tempering Flame to try melting the ice. However, he quickly realized that it took an incredible amount of energy to melt the layer of ice. The All-Tempering Flame that would usually burn all objects to ash only created a fist-sized hole after expending all his energy.
“What ice is this? Why is it so hard to melt?!” Xu Qi huffed, looking at the hole he had created. His energy was close to being fully depleted and he was left without a choice but to sit down and recover.
Just like this, Xu Qi kept repeating this process of melting the ice and recovering his energy. In the end, he finally managed to create a hole big enough for him to crawl through. Xu Qi was extremely cautious this time, and continued sitting in meditation to recover himself. When his energy was almost fully recovered, Xu Qi then crawled through the hole carefully.
Xu Qi got on his feet after crawling through the hole. He felt that it was even colder in here, and hurriedly summoned the All-Tempering Flame to cover himself in flames before surveying the surroundings.
This cavern was very spacious. It wasn’t exuberant as the Black Tortoise Cavern, however. Everything was in ruins, and every object had been encased in ice.
There was a gigantic ice block in the middle of the path ahead of Xu Qi, some distance away. It was several zhang tall, and there seemed to be something within it.
Xu Qi summoned his Five Elements Wings and approached it carefully. He sucked in a breath of cold air uncontrollably when he saw what was encased within it.
A huge monster was actually sealed within this gigantic ice block. This mysterious monster’s body was fully black in color, with a blue horn protruding from its head. There was also a pair of black wings on its back, but there weren’t any feathers on it. It also had a long tail, ending in a sharp spike.
A dragon? An image surfaced in Xu Qi’s mind. It was exactly like a dragon as depicted from the western world in the plane he came from, with huge wings on its back! The only difference was this dragon had a blue horn on its head.
Xu Qi flapped his Five Elements Wings and flew up to where this monster’s head was. He saw that the dragon’s eyes were open, and its eye alone was as tall as he was.
Why would something like this be in the Vermillion Bird’s cavern? It seems to be sealed in ice, but from what I knew, the Vermillion Bird is attributed to the fire element. Why would a dragon be sealed here? Could I have gone to the wrong place? But the drawing on the stone door was indeed the Vermillion Bird!?, Xu Qi wondered, looking at the dragon sealed before him.
At this moment, Xu Qi saw the dragon’s eyes twitch. Initially, Xu Qi had thought he was imagining things, but he gradually realized that the dragon’s eyes were fixed on him.
“Not good! Dammit, it’s alive!” Xu Qi cried out loud. Rainbow energy instantly shone on his body and he flew straight toward the entrance. Sounds of ice cracking rang out behind Xu Qi, and immediately after, a deafening roar was heard!
Xu Qi couldn’t be bothered to check out the situation behind him. All that was on his mind was to quickly crawl out of the cavern! Curiosity was something present in everybody, but it was also something that could easily cause someone to lose their life. No matter when or where, ensuring one’s own safety was the most important issue at hand!
Xu Qi scrambled his way through the wall of thin ice and sat on the ground. He couldn’t help but let out a sigh in relief. At this moment, Xu Qi saw a gigantic dark shadow on the other side of the thin ice. Before he could react to it, the absurdly sturdy layer of thin ice suddenly shattered into pieces and fell to the ground. Xu Qi hurriedly flew backwards, hiding further back in the cave.
Xu Qi caught his balance and looked behind him. The ice-sealed dragon was now standing where the thin ice wall was before, its featherless wings flapping continuously, and its eyes looking viciously at Xu Qi.
Xu Qi immediately turned tail to run on seeing this. Moments after Xu Qi started running, he heard a sorrowful cry behind him. He quickly turned back to look, and saw an incorporeal rainbow energy wall densely packed with mysterious talismanic characters appearing at the same spot where the layer of thin ice was. The horned black dragon kept slamming itself against the rainbow energy wall, but was repelled by it every time.
Xu Qi immediately understood at the sight of this. It is the same as the Black Tortoise Cavern; a powerful seal was placed at the connecting point of the Four Divinities Cavern and the individual Divine Beasts’ cavern, and the dragon is unable to break through the seal! But why was I able to pass through the rainbow wall so easily? From the looks of it, perhaps it was related to the rainbow energy I possess?
Xu Qi mustered his courage and beat his Five Elements Wings, flying back towards the rainbow wall, stopping at ten meters away from the dragon. He truly didn’t dare to get any closer; his life was as good as forfeit if that beast managed to break through the seal by some chance!
The dragon stopped slamming itself against the rainbow seal after seeing Xu Qi had flown back, and spoke, “Human, you have that woman’s scent on you! Who are you?!”
Xu Qi was someone who had seen other monsters speaking before, and was unfazed by it. He replied, “Erm, you don’t have to care who I am. I’d like to ask, who exactly are you? Why are you here?”
The dragon seemed to have an ill temper, however, and threatened Xu Qi, “Answer my question! Or I’ll eat you up!”
Even so, Xu Qi didn’t yield to the dragon. He slowly landed on the ground and walked in front to the rainbow energy wall. They were only inches apart when Xu Qi smiled and said, “Eat me? Are you sure you can come over to this side? Are you taking me for an innocent child? This seal must have trapped you for a very long time, huh?”
The horned dragon was immediately enraged, seeing as Xu Qi held it in contempt. It opened its mouth wide and shot out blue mist at him. When the mist came into contact with the rainbow seal, it slowly transformed into thin ice.
Xu Qi immediately understood that the thin ice wall from earlier was actually the handiwork of this dragon. Though, the dragons he had heard about in legends usually spat fire. Why would this fellow be spitting ice?
Just as the thin ice was formed, it was quickly shattered to pieces by the dragon’s claws, causing cold sweat to pour out from Xu Qi’s back. I spent half a day’s worth of effort to burn a small hole in it with the All-Tempering Flame, yet this guy shattered it to pieces with just a swipe of his claws! It seems like this dragon isn’t to be trifled with! Then, the dragon spoke again, “Human, get me out of here and I will fulfill all your requests!”
“Oh, are you giving in now? How do you know if I can get you out of here?” Xu Qi chuckled. It seems like this fellow here has discovered the rainbow seal and my rainbow energy are of the same origin.
At this moment, a crisp bird’s cry rang out from behind the dragon. Xu Qi saw a mass of crimson flames behind the horned dragon sweeping towards him.
Chapter 202 - A Horned Dragon!
Edited by RED
As per Xu Qi’s usual routine, he came to the mound where he had buried the ancient cultivators and bowed thrice after entering the plaza, then walked towards the four gigantic stone doors.
The rightmost stone door was where the Black Tortoise was sealed. He was lucky back then, and successfully subdued the Black Tortoise, but Xu Qi would never go through that door again. There was still the Ominous Beast, Primal Chaos, trapped behind that door.
Xu Qi came to the stone door directly next to the one leading to the Black Tortoise Cavern, unsure of what to do. He caressed the bronze ring he was wearing for a moment and flipped his palm, retrieving the same torn cloth from years ago.
In the beginning, the torn cloth only illustrated the method for Black Tortoise Unsealing. After successfully subduing the Black Tortoise, the illustration of a flying bird and the words “Opening Vermillion Bird” appeared on the torn cloth.
“Vermillion Bird? Who knows what its temperament is like? I’d better be careful. I won’t be so lucky this time if another Ominous Beast is trapped in there,” Xu Qi muttered to himself. Rainbow energy shone in his hand, and Xu Qi began drawing the talismanic pattern on the stone door as it was displayed on the torn cloth.
Soon, a rainbow-colored talismanic drawing shaped like a bird appeared on the stone door, and Xu Qi took two steps back.
Four streaks of rainbow light shone from the drawing on the stone door, slowly spreading outwards, forming a picture.
In the end, the four streaks of light converged at a point, and crimson flames erupted from the stone door, setting it on fire!
The crimson flames on the stone door gradually receded, leaving behind the picture of a huge flaming bird ablaze.
Rumble rumble, Xu Qi heard the sounds of the stone door opening. A slight vertical gap appeared in the middle of the stone door, turning it into a door hinged on both sides as it slowly opened wide.
“It seems like the Vermillion Bird is truly a fire bird,” Xu Qi muttered to himself again, and walked into the pitch-black cavern.
The stone door slowly closed itself the moment Xu Qi stepped beyond it. Xu Qi summoned the All-Tempering Flame in his hand and began venturing further within. As he went deeper into the cavern, he realized the surrounding temperature had decreased abruptly.
“Gods, why is it getting colder?” Xu Qi muttered as he enveloped his entire body with the All-Tempering Flame and continued walking deeper into the cavern.
With the help of the All-Tempering Flame’s light, Xu Qi discovered that huge ice blocks had begun to appear on the sides of the cave. Some of them were as tall as he was!
Xu Qi slowly felt a chill in his heart, followed by a bad premonition. He willed the Five Elements Wings to appear behind him in case anything happened, and started flying into the cave.
The cave grew narrower as he flew deeper in. On the other hand, the ice blocks were increasing in size. When Xu Qi finally saw a bright spot at the end, he knew that the so-called Vermillion Bird Cavern was right in front of him and increased his speed.
The bright spot gradually became bigger as he got closer. He came to the end of the cave and discovered that this was indeed the entrance to the sealing cavern. The difference between this cave and the Black Tortoise Cavern was that the entrance was sealed off by a very thin layer of ice. Upon taking a closer look, Xu Qi found that he couldn’t see what was beyond this thin layer of ice. He tried striking it with a few palm-strikes, but the layer of ice didn’t budge at all.
Xu Qi then manipulated the All-Tempering Flame to try melting the ice. However, he quickly realized that it took an incredible amount of energy to melt the layer of ice. The All-Tempering Flame that would usually burn all objects to ash only created a fist-sized hole after expending all his energy.
“What ice is this? Why is it so hard to melt?!” Xu Qi huffed, looking at the hole he had created. His energy was close to being fully depleted and he was left without a choice but to sit down and recover.
Just like this, Xu Qi kept repeating this process of melting the ice and recovering his energy. In the end, he finally managed to create a hole big enough for him to crawl through. Xu Qi was extremely cautious this time, and continued sitting in meditation to recover himself. When his energy was almost fully recovered, Xu Qi then crawled through the hole carefully.
Xu Qi got on his feet after crawling through the hole. He felt that it was even colder in here, and hurriedly summoned the All-Tempering Flame to cover himself in flames before surveying the surroundings.
This cavern was very spacious. It wasn’t exuberant as the Black Tortoise Cavern, however. Everything was in ruins, and every object had been encased in ice.
There was a gigantic ice block in the middle of the path ahead of Xu Qi, some distance away. It was several zhang tall, and there seemed to be something within it.
Xu Qi summoned his Five Elements Wings and approached it carefully. He sucked in a breath of cold air uncontrollably when he saw what was encased within it.
A huge monster was actually sealed within this gigantic ice block. This mysterious monster’s body was fully black in color, with a blue horn protruding from its head. There was also a pair of black wings on its back, but there weren’t any feathers on it. It also had a long tail, ending in a sharp spike.
A dragon? An image surfaced in Xu Qi’s mind. It was exactly like a dragon as depicted from the western world in the plane he came from, with huge wings on its back! The only difference was this dragon had a blue horn on its head.
Xu Qi flapped his Five Elements Wings and flew up to where this monster’s head was. He saw that the dragon’s eyes were open, and its eye alone was as tall as he was.
Why would something like this be in the Vermillion Bird’s cavern? It seems to be sealed in ice, but from what I knew, the Vermillion Bird is attributed to the fire element. Why would a dragon be sealed here? Could I have gone to the wrong place? But the drawing on the stone door was indeed the Vermillion Bird!?, Xu Qi wondered, looking at the dragon sealed before him.
At this moment, Xu Qi saw the dragon’s eyes twitch. Initially, Xu Qi had thought he was imagining things, but he gradually realized that the dragon’s eyes were fixed on him.
“Not good! Dammit, it’s alive!” Xu Qi cried out loud. Rainbow energy instantly shone on his body and he flew straight toward the entrance. Sounds of ice cracking rang out behind Xu Qi, and immediately after, a deafening roar was heard!
Xu Qi couldn’t be bothered to check out the situation behind him. All that was on his mind was to quickly crawl out of the cavern! Curiosity was something present in everybody, but it was also something that could easily cause someone to lose their life. No matter when or where, ensuring one’s own safety was the most important issue at hand!
Xu Qi scrambled his way through the wall of thin ice and sat on the ground. He couldn’t help but let out a sigh in relief. At this moment, Xu Qi saw a gigantic dark shadow on the other side of the thin ice. Before he could react to it, the absurdly sturdy layer of thin ice suddenly shattered into pieces and fell to the ground. Xu Qi hurriedly flew backwards, hiding further back in the cave.
Xu Qi caught his balance and looked behind him. The ice-sealed dragon was now standing where the thin ice wall was before, its featherless wings flapping continuously, and its eyes looking viciously at Xu Qi.
Xu Qi immediately turned tail to run on seeing this. Moments after Xu Qi started running, he heard a sorrowful cry behind him. He quickly turned back to look, and saw an incorporeal rainbow energy wall densely packed with mysterious talismanic characters appearing at the same spot where the layer of thin ice was. The horned black dragon kept slamming itself against the rainbow energy wall, but was repelled by it every time.
Xu Qi immediately understood at the sight of this. It is the same as the Black Tortoise Cavern; a powerful seal was placed at the connecting point of the Four Divinities Cavern and the individual Divine Beasts’ cavern, and the dragon is unable to break through the seal! But why was I able to pass through the rainbow wall so easily? From the looks of it, perhaps it was related to the rainbow energy I possess?
Xu Qi mustered his courage and beat his Five Elements Wings, flying back towards the rainbow wall, stopping at ten meters away from the dragon. He truly didn’t dare to get any closer; his life was as good as forfeit if that beast managed to break through the seal by some chance!
The dragon stopped slamming itself against the rainbow seal after seeing Xu Qi had flown back, and spoke, “Human, you have that woman’s scent on you! Who are you?!”
Xu Qi was someone who had seen other monsters speaking before, and was unfazed by it. He replied, “Erm, you don’t have to care who I am. I’d like to ask, who exactly are you? Why are you here?”
The dragon seemed to have an ill temper, however, and threatened Xu Qi, “Answer my question! Or I’ll eat you up!”
Even so, Xu Qi didn’t yield to the dragon. He slowly landed on the ground and walked in front to the rainbow energy wall. They were only inches apart when Xu Qi smiled and said, “Eat me? Are you sure you can come over to this side? Are you taking me for an innocent child? This seal must have trapped you for a very long time, huh?”
The horned dragon was immediately enraged, seeing as Xu Qi held it in contempt. It opened its mouth wide and shot out blue mist at him. When the mist came into contact with the rainbow seal, it slowly transformed into thin ice.
Xu Qi immediately understood that the thin ice wall from earlier was actually the handiwork of this dragon. Though, the dragons he had heard about in legends usually spat fire. Why would this fellow be spitting ice?
Just as the thin ice was formed, it was quickly shattered to pieces by the dragon’s claws, causing cold sweat to pour out from Xu Qi’s back. I spent half a day’s worth of effort to burn a small hole in it with the All-Tempering Flame, yet this guy shattered it to pieces with just a swipe of his claws! It seems like this dragon isn’t to be trifled with! Then, the dragon spoke again, “Human, get me out of here and I will fulfill all your requests!”
“Oh, are you giving in now? How do you know if I can get you out of here?” Xu Qi chuckled. It seems like this fellow here has discovered the rainbow seal and my rainbow energy are of the same origin.
At this moment, a crisp bird’s cry rang out from behind the dragon. Xu Qi saw a mass of crimson flames behind the horned dragon sweeping towards him.
