115: Chapter 115 Dragon Corpse Mutation, Essence Blood Difficult to Obtain

"Dead... yet still moving?"

Lin Yue frowned, helping Star Radiance sit down at the edge of the platform.

Star Radiance closed her eyes to regulate her breathing for a moment. When she opened them again, the bloody tears in her eyes had stopped, but the brilliant galaxy deep within her pupils had dimmed significantly.

"My Star Gazing Pupil Technique is overdrawn... I need at least three hours to recover."

Her voice was weak, but her tone remained calm. "With that glance just now, I saw a massive dragon skeleton coiled within the dragon's nest. The bones had long lost their luster, the flesh dried up, clearly dead for many years."

"But strangely, something has taken over the inside of the skeleton."

"What is it?"

"Black... roots."

Star Radiance recalled the scene she saw. "Countless fine black roots emerged from the dragon skeleton's marrow, entwining every bone, manipulating it to move slowly. The aura of those roots... is exactly the same as the Spirit Devouring Clan's."

Lin Yue's heart sank.

"So, after that dragon died, its corpse was eroded by the Spirit Devouring Clan and turned into a Puppet?"

"I'm afraid it's more than just a Puppet."

Star Radiance shook her head. "The Spirit Devouring Clan's roots can devour everything from the host—flesh, bones, spiritual power, even... the residual dragon soul. That dragon skeleton is now a 'Spirit Devouring Soldier Nest.' It continuously absorbs the Spirit Devouring aura leaking from the Seal, nurturing even more powerful Spirit Devouring monsters."

She looked down into the darkness. "We must destroy it. Otherwise, even if we repair the Seal, it will continue to erode from within."

"But we need dragon blood."

Lin Yue looked at the intact dragon-head stone pillar. "If the dragon skeleton has been completely eroded, can its essence blood still be used?"

"Hard to say."

Star Radiance pondered. "Essence blood eroded by the Spirit Devouring Clan is inevitably mixed with devouring properties. Using it to repair the sealing pillar might backfire, contaminating the entire Seal."

"Unless..."

A flash of determination crossed her eyes.

"Unless we can extract the 'heart source essence blood' from the deepest part of the dragon skeleton without alerting the Spirit Devouring roots, before it's contaminated."

heart source essence blood, located at the very core of a dragon's heart, is the essence of all the dragon's essence blood.

Even if the dragon skeleton is eroded, as long as the heart hasn't been completely devoured, the heart source essence blood might still remain pure.

But the difficulty is imaginable.

To silently extract heart source essence blood from a dragon skeleton completely controlled by Spirit Devouring roots... "Someone needs to distract its attention."

Lin Yue looked at Star Radiance. "Your condition..."

"I can't fight for now, but I can set up a Formation."

Star Radiance took out twelve small silver flags from her storage ring. "These are Formation Flags for the 'Starlight Phantom Formation.' They can create three starlight phantoms within a hundred-zhang range, simulating a Cultivator's aura for ten breaths each."

"You can use the phantoms to distract the dragon skeleton's attention, while I sneak into the dragon's nest to locate the heart source essence blood."

"No."

Lin Yue refused without hesitation. "In your current state, sneaking in is too dangerous. I'll go get the blood; you assist by setting up the Formation."

"Your resistance to the Spirit Devouring Clan is stronger than mine, and you have the spirit slaying star scar to protect you, making you indeed more suitable for combat."

Star Radiance didn't insist. "But I must remind you, once the heart source essence blood is exposed, it will emit intense Dragon Qi fluctuations, which will definitely alert the Spirit Devouring roots. After you extract the blood, you'll only have three breaths to retreat."

"Three breaths... that's enough."

Lin Yue stood up, regulating his breathing to recover his spiritual power.

Star Radiance began setting up the Formation.

She inserted the twelve small flags into the platform ground in specific positions. Each insertion consumed a significant amount of spiritual power, making her face grow paler.

When the last flag was inserted, fine beads of cold sweat had formed on her temples.

"The Formation is complete. I'll activate phantoms at three different locations while you sneak into the dragon's nest, each lasting ten breaths. After three times, my spiritual power will be completely exhausted, and then... you'll be on your own."

Lin Yue nodded, handing her a "spirit recovery pill" given by the Qinglan Sect.

"If necessary, take it. It can restore twenty percent of your spiritual power."

"Thank you."

Star Radiance stored the Medicinal Pill and sat cross-legged, beginning to regulate her breathing.

Lin Yue walked to the edge of the platform, looking down into the darkness.

The spirit slaying star scar trembled slightly in his hand, the star patterns on the sword body flashing with vigilant light.

"Haotian, deduce the best infiltration route."

"Scanning..."

Within the cave heaven, Haotian's main trunk vibrated slightly. Although the starlight spiritual fluid was nearly depleted, its basic perception abilities remained.

After a few breaths, a winding route map appeared in Lin Yue's Sea of Consciousness.

"The dragon's nest is located directly below, four hundred seventy zhang away, oval-shaped with three entrances. The eastern entrance has the weakest Spirit Devouring aura, but the route is the most winding, requiring passage through three areas dense with 'Spirit Devouring Fungal Carpet.'"

"The western entrance has the shortest route, but three Spirit Devouring Imprisoned Soldiers equivalent to the Late Golden Core Stage are patrolling there."

"The northern entrance..."

Haotian paused. "...has a faint 'Dragon Qi crevice,' seemingly an escape passage opened by the Dragon Clan back then, covered by fungal carpet. Entering from here leads directly to the core area of the dragon's nest, but the passage is extremely narrow, only allowing one person to pass sideways."

Dragon Qi crevice... Lin Yue's eyes lit up.

"We'll take the northern route."

"Understood. Route marked. Master, please be careful. The inner walls of the passage are covered with large amounts of 'Spirit Devouring Moss.' Touching it will trigger an alarm."

Lin Yue didn't hesitate any longer, leaping down from the platform.

He didn't fall directly but moved silently downward along the fissure's rock wall, using protruding rocks and broken stone pillars for support.

The further down he went, the thicker the Spirit Devouring aura became.

From the surrounding darkness, low roars and the sound of dragging chains occasionally came, clearly indicating many Imprisoned Soldiers active nearby.

Lin Yue suppressed all his aura, even reducing his breathing to the lowest frequency.

The spirit slaying star scar was sheathed, its light completely withdrawn.

One hundred zhang, two hundred zhang, three hundred zhang... When he descended to four hundred zhang, he saw the "Dragon Qi crevice" marked by Haotian.

It was a narrow, long fissure only one chi wide, its edges covered with thick black fungal carpet. On the surface of the carpet grew a dark red, vein-like moss that seemed to writhe.

Spirit Devouring Moss.

Lin Yue held his breath, slowly approaching.

He first took out a small bottle of "spirit cleansing dew" from his storage ring—this was a purification potion concocted by Elder Lin De using spirit radiance stone powder, highly effective against Spirit Devouring pollutants.

Carefully, he dripped the spirit cleansing dew onto the fungal carpet at the entrance of the fissure.

Sizzle... The fungal carpet quickly shriveled and dried up, revealing a gap barely passable.

Lin Yue squeezed in sideways.

The passage inside was so narrow it felt suffocating. The Spirit Devouring Moss on the rock walls on both sides almost brushed against his cheeks; those dark red "veins" slowly writhed, emitting a sweet, fishy smell.

He dared not touch them, moving inward at an extremely slow pace, inch by inch.

The fifty-zhang passage took a full quarter of an hour to traverse.

When he finally passed through the end of the passage, his view suddenly opened up.

This was the dragon's nest.

A massive cave, a hundred zhang in diameter.

From the cave's ceiling hung countless thick black roots, interwoven like a spiderweb, extending all the way to the center of the cave.

There, coiled a shocking dragon skeleton.

The skeleton was thirty zhang long, its entire body dark gold, still emitting a faint dragon's majesty even after years of death.

But now, the skeleton's surface was densely wrapped with black roots. The roots penetrated every gap in the bones, firmly controlling this massive body like parasitic vines.

Even more bizarre, at the chest cavity of the skeleton, those roots converged into a cluster, forming a constantly pulsating "black heart."

With each pulsation, large amounts of Spirit Devouring aura were inhaled, then transformed into purer black mist and exhaled.

"That's... the eroded dragon heart?"

Lin Yue's gaze sharpened.

He could sense that deep within the dragon heart, there was an extremely faint but exceptionally pure Dragon Qi fluctuation.

The heart source essence blood should be there.

"Star Radiance, get ready."

He transmitted the message via Divine Sense.

Star Radiance on the platform immediately responded, "Understood. First phantom, activating in three breaths."

Lin Yue hid behind a protruding rock, waiting quietly.

Three, two, one.

Hum!

At the eastern entrance of the cave, a strong starlight fluctuation suddenly erupted!

A phantom identical to Lin Yue's aura appeared out of thin air, holding a light sword, sending a Sword Qi toward the dragon skeleton!

Hiss—!

The dragon skeleton suddenly raised its head!

In its empty eye sockets, two clusters of dark red flames ignited.

It was clearly alerted.

But the black roots controlling it reacted even faster.

Dozens of roots shot toward the phantom like venomous snakes, instantly entangling and crushing it!

The phantom dissipated.

The dragon skeleton seemed somewhat confused, slowly turning its head to scan the cave.

Seizing this opportunity, Lin Yue shot out like a ghost, heading straight for the dragon skeleton's chest cavity!

His target was that black heart.

But just as he was ten zhang away from the heart—

The roots on the heart's surface suddenly all stood up!

The tips of the roots split open, revealing densely packed fine teeth, like countless small mouths, simultaneously emitting sharp hisses!

Alarm!

These roots actually had autonomous consciousness and could distinguish real from fake!

"Second phantom, activate!"

Star Radiance's voice came just in time.

At the western side of the cave, a second phantom appeared.

This time, the phantom didn't attack but turned and fled, trying to divert the roots' attention.

But the roots only sent a small portion to chase, most still firmly guarding the heart.

Worse, the dragon skeleton itself began to move.

It slowly raised its front claw, swiping down toward Lin Yue's hiding spot!

Boom!

Rocks shattered, dust filled the air.

Lin Yue dodged sideways at the last moment, but his left shoulder was grazed by the claw's wind. His protective spiritual power instantly shattered, and a burning pain shot through his shoulder.

"Spirit Devouring corrosion..."

He looked down. The clothing on his left shoulder had turned to black ash, and fine black patterns appeared on the skin's surface, slowly spreading outward.

spirit cleansing dew!

Lin Yue quickly took out the medicine bottle, pouring all the remaining liquid onto the wound.

Sizzle... The spread of the black patterns slowed but didn't completely stop.

This corrosive power was stronger than expected.

"Third phantom... I can't hold on anymore..."

Star Radiance's voice carried exhaustion.

At the northern side of the cave, a third phantom barely condensed, but its light was dim, lasting only three breaths before dissipating.

Three chances, all used up.

And Lin Yue still hadn't touched the heart.

"Only a direct assault remains."

His gaze turned fierce, the spirit slaying star scar unsheathed.

The star patterns on the sword body fully activated, starlight illuminating half the cave.

The dragon skeleton seemed to sense the threat, emitting a low dragon roar—though dry and hoarse, it still carried a heart-palpitating pressure.

It opened its huge mouth, spewing a jet-black dragon breath!

Not fire, but highly concentrated Spirit Devouring corrosive liquid!

"Star Scar Barrier!"

Lin Yue shifted his sword stance, setting up a starlight barrier in front of him.

The corrosive liquid hit the barrier, emitting a piercing sizzle.

Cracks quickly appeared on the barrier's surface.

"Can't hold..."

Lin Yue gritted his teeth, suddenly withdrawing the barrier, and charged forward like lightning, heading straight into the corrosive liquid!

He was gambling.

Gambling that the spirit slaying star scar's Spirit Devouring suppression properties could briefly withstand the corrosive liquid.

Gambling that the residual effects of his Star Body could endure the erosion.

Gambling on that slim chance of survival.

Sizzle—!

The corrosive liquid poured over him.

His protective spiritual power instantly evaporated, his robes turned to flying ash, revealing the Star Pattern Inner Armor underneath.

The inner armor's surface flowed with starlight, fiercely resisting the corrosive liquid.

After three breaths, the inner armor's light began to dim.

After five breaths, fine cracks appeared on its surface.

But just as the inner armor was about to collapse—

Lin Yue charged to the dragon skeleton's chest!

The spirit slaying star scar pierced into the black heart!

The moment the sword tip entered, the heart trembled violently.

All the roots simultaneously went berserk, like countless black spears, frantically stabbing toward Lin Yue!

"Now!"

Lin Yue didn't dodge or evade, his left hand forming a sword finger, thrusting it deep into the heart.

His fingertip touched a warm, viscous liquid emitting vast Dragon Qi.

heart source essence blood!

Without hesitation, he wrapped it in spiritual power and forcibly extracted it!

Rip—!

The moment the essence blood left the body, the black heart emitted a shrill shriek, its surface roots rapidly withering.

And the dragon skeleton fell into complete rage.

It swung its claw down recklessly!

Lin Yue had no time to dodge, forced to take the blow head-on.

Boom!!!

He was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing heavily against the cave's rock wall, blood spurting from his mouth.

At least three ribs were broken, his left arm hung limp, clearly fractured.

But his right hand tightly held a fist-sized cluster of liquid emitting a dark golden glow.

heart source essence blood, obtained.

"Star Radiance... retreat!"

He struggled to stand, rushing toward the passage he came from.

Behind him, the dragon skeleton went completely mad, the entire cave beginning to collapse.

Countless roots surged like a tide.

Lin Yue mustered his last strength, charging into the narrow passage.

Behind, the pursuers had arrived.

And ahead, there was still a four-hundred-zhang abyss waiting for him to climb.

Time, only one hour left.