Chapter 877: …Dragons learn to change.
“You know, the next time you two decide to duke it out, you should invite the other members of the clan to watch,” Jinju Ren commented as she walked ahead of the two elderly masters. “That way we can have a more concrete pecking order beyond a pair of black eyes.”
“She is surprisingly impertinent.”
“Reminds you of your princess?”
“A bit.”
[Why do I keep forgetting my lord’s taste in women is genetic?]
Out of the five groups being sent to explore the [Monkey’s Temple], the one consisting of Patriarch Zhen Shi, Hermit Zhong Wei, Princess Jinju Ren and a special “puppet”, had arguably the hardest yet easiest treasure to acquire.
Easy in the sense that they didn’t have to deal with too many things on the way to the pond, hard in the sense that they were in a hell of a fight once they arrive.
“Damn…you weren’t kidding about this place being as serene as a grave. How unsettling.”
“Princess, I know you have a habit of making light if stressful situation, but-”
“I know, I know, Master. Just figured I would point it out.”
From the information extracted from the Three Eyed Nightmare Monkey beast, the path to the Tempering Spirit Pond was surprisingly peaceful.
To be more precise, everything within a certain circular radius of the pond was entirely peaceful.
Not a single monkey let out a cry, not a single bird sang a song and not even a single insect let out so much as a chirp.
It was a place of perfect serenity.
But alas, that serenity was naught but a lie.
The only reason why the area was silent was not because the beasts were at peace with one another, but because they were afraid of incurring the wrath of the Diabolic Onyx Dragon that had deemed the place to be its domain.
Knowing full well that walking through it’s territory in a blatant manner would just get them all eaten or worst, the group proceeded to use their own stealth based movement arts to make sure that the dragon was none the wiser to their prescence.
That said, there was something that had been bothering Jinju Ren since they had arrived here.
“So…while I am super happy that I get the chance to add a new dragon to my roster, why is there a Diabolic Onyx Dragon in a place like this?,” Jinju Ren asked Hermit Zhong Wei, since he was technically the more knowledgeable in regards to the wandering ruins they were currently in.
“From what we’ve seen so far, the most dominant type of aether beasts were primates. So why isn’t there a giant gorilla or a murderous monkey guarding the pond instead?”
“That…is a very good question. Hmm.”
When Hermit Zhong Wei initially received the information about a dragon guarding the Tempering Spirit Pond, he didn’t think too much about the implications.
The Pearl Scale Emperor was a dragon, and dragons were known to linger around places where powerful sources of aether could be harvested and used, so in his head, a dragon guarding a rare treasure was as natural as birds flying.
However, that sort of logic didn’t apply to the worlds of wandering ruins.
Having lived for decades, and having delve in many wandering ruins before, Hermit Zhong Wei knew that they tended to follow a certain rule to their reality. Something that made sense to them and not to many others.
For example, the hermit once explored a set of wandering ruins where the only aether beasts seen for miles were nothing but boars, boars and more boars. Even the insects were porcine in nature,which made for a rather unsettling sight.
With this experience in mind, Zhong Wei couldn’t help but to wonder as to why a dragon had appeared in a place like this…only to be provided with an answer that he had forgotten about a long, long time ago.
“[Mutation Inheritance].”
“Pardon?”
“[Mutation Inheritance],” Patriarch Zhen Shi repeated before elaborating for Princess Jinju Ren and Hermit Zhong Wei. “Wait a minute, Princess, you’re a direct descendant of the Pear Scale Emperor, meaning you’re dragon blooded. Didn’t anyone ever teach you about the [Mutation Inheritance] phenomenon?”
“Er…maybe? I didn’t really pay attention to classes that didn’t involve combat in some capacity,” Jinju Ren freely admitted. “Or history, but that’s more of a special interest of min.”
“Makes sense,” Zhen Shi nodded, having gone through the same thing growing up. “Anyways, you should both be aware how when someone normally consume [Sacred Beast Essence], there’s a chance of rejection and the explosively violent consequences that can occur from doing so, right?”
“Yes…”
“Well, in the case of sacred beast essence extracted from dragons though, that explosive rejection doesn’t exist. Instead, there’s an accumulative effect that can cause a creature or warrior to transform into a dragon. Essentially, there’s a possibility this Diabolic Onyx Dragon, may have originally been a normal primate before [Mutation Inheritance] occurred.”
“Ah.”
“Oh…so that’s what happened to the them…interesting,” Jinju Ren commented while staring at the ancestral saber at her hip, more specifically, the jewels that represented the contracted dragon beasts who pledged fealty to her.
“Out of curiosity, future grandfather-in-law, is [Mutation Inheritance] a permanent transformation? Do those who steal a dragon’s blood truly become dragon in body, soul and mind?”
“Well…that should normally be the case, yes,” Patriarch Zhen Shi answered as he thought back on all of those books he read about the subject. “But…there are some who state the consumption of certain natural aether medicines and treasures can cause one to rebalance their bloodlines and allow them to achieve a form of breakthrough that’s even more absurd than [Mutation Inheritance].”
“Oh?”
“[Evolution Inheritance].”
“Evolution?”
As this moment of knowledge exchange between the younger and older generation occurred, a certain puppet made of crimson jade silently observed and took notes of everything she heard.
Of course, unlike most other people who needed to wait until they got somewhere safe to sit down and do research on these questions, she had a pair of know-it-all spirits who could confirm everything in a matter of seconds.
…
[Is everything that our Lord’s grandfather saying true? Can those who dragon blood actually become dragon themselves.]
=Short answer, yes.=
[How so?]
=To be more precise, the transformation into a dragon, [Mutation Inheritance], is actually a test imposed by the dragon’s blood itself to see if the consumer is able to become stronger and remember who they are. The rebalancing of the bloodlines, [Evolution Inheritance], is the reward for undergoing this trial.=
<=In other words, if one can learn to overpower and tame the dragon that is born from stolen blood, one will be able to gain power that exceeds both their original selves and the power they stole. Or so the records state.=>
…
“What is this [Evolution Inheritance]?”
“Well, it’s-”
Just as Patriarch Zhen Shi was about to explain what little he knew about [Evolution Inheritance], since there weren’t many books on the subject in circulation, a sudden surge in energy in the surrounding area set off his senses and caused him to immediately go on guard.
Evidently, he wasn’t the only one.
Hermit Zhong Wei and Princess Jinju Ren had both immediately prepared to defend themselves once they felt that same surge in energy, that same surge that was a mixture of dragon force and aether.
Even the aether “puppet”, took up a fighting stance.
“…”
“Let’s go.”
Knowing full well that talking about this sudden change in energy was going to be more of a detriment than an aid, they opted to focus on finding the source.
Needless to say, it was coming from the direction of the Tempering Spirit Pond.
________________________________________
Finally.
After so many, many years locked in this form, I am almost free.
The blood that had once blessed me with strength beyond all reason, that had turned me into a beast of isolation, has finally started to come to heel and become mine.
Just a little longer…
Just a little more…
…
“What the fuck…”
Due to the group prioritizing speed over stealth at this point, Zhen Hai, Zhong Wei, Jinju Ren and a certain red jade puppet had managed to arrive at the source of the energy surge in record time.
However, that might’ve not been a good thing.
For the source of this surge wasn’t a living creature, or at least one they could recognize. Instead, from what they could see and sense, the surge was originating from a strange, fleshy giant egg-like thing that was partially submerged in the Tempering Spirit Pond and was actively absorbing the power that originated from it.
While some would probably get pissed and annoyed at the sight of someone or something stealing a treasure that they were aiming to take, the observing warriors were more worried about the thing doing the taking for obvious reasons.
“Well…[Evolution Inheritance] is real…fun.”
