"Is this the mental check in Cangyuan?"
Looking at the phantom dragon head that seemed ready to swallow him whole in the next instant, Xu Yuan's eyes held a calm smile, showing not the slightest hint of surprise.
Just like how entering the nameless cavern on Tianmen Mountain required karmic fortune or else one would plunge to their death, entering these grotto-heavens and blessed lands devoid of wild mobs or bosses always demanded special prerequisites.
The requirements for Dragon Burial Valley were far lower than for the nameless cavern; it only demanded a mental check.
If a character's spiritual power exceeded a certain value, they would directly obtain this Dragon Transformation Essence. Even if they failed, the character wouldn't suffer an instant death like at the nameless cavern. Instead, they would enter a rhythm-game-like mini-game testing the player's reaction speed and hand dexterity as an alternative.
However, that branched into another path entirely.
On the mental-check branch, the dragon head did not speak. But if one cleared it via the mini-game, the phantom dragon head would speak, offering the player a quest:
Returning the Buried Dragon Home.
It would recount to the player its experiences when alive, telling of the fear and bewilderment when death arrived.
This young male dragon was actually quite innocent.
It had no idea what the struggle for the world meant, nor why those humans insisted on killing it.
It had harmed no one, merely wanting to slip out from home to see the outside world, only to be slain for no reason by those greedy humans.
Once all dialogue choices were selected correctly, the player would receive a "Dead Dragon's Gift" to refine their physique and catch glimpses of its memory fragments.
Those were the mundane everyday moments it had shared with its family back in Guyuan.
And those memory fragments served as one of the keys to unlock the Dragon Knight route—the easiest key to clear it, in fact.
Thinking of this, Xu Yuan slowly raised his gaze to meet those ferocious dragon eyes.
Going by experience, he should be able to converse with this young male dragon's lingering remnant just as in Cangyuan, gleaning a wealth of top-secret intelligence regarding Guyuan through the details in those memory fragments.
However...
"I don't particularly want to become a puppet of Guyuan, so..."
Recalling the details from Cangyuan, Xu Yuan smiled faintly and slowly raised the willow ghost blade in his hand.
"...Goodbye."
As the words fell,
The willow ghost blade sliced through the air, carving an eerie splash of ink-like sword scars, and the colossal phantom dragon head shattered amidst a shrieking cry of agony!
"..."
"..."
Consciousness returned, and the karst cave fell into stillness.
After staring at the pitch-black Dragon Transformation Essence in his hand for several breaths, Xu Yuan suddenly noticed a slender, graceful figure standing beside him. He asked softly,
"What is it?"
Tianyan floated down slowly to his side, casting her eyes down at the dragon corpse below. Her voice was cool and soft:
"Just because they can't sense it doesn't mean I can't."
"Ah?"
"A dead dragon's residual thought seemed to appear just now."
"A dead dragon's residual thought?"
"Mm... essentially a speaking phantom of a demonic dragon."
"..."
After a moment of silence, Xu Yuan showed a hint of surprise in his eyes.
"That thing just now is called a dead dragon's residual thought?"
"You really saw it?"
Hearing this, Tianyan's pupils shrank abruptly, her expression instantly growing grave as she spoke in a rushed tone, "You... you didn't agree to its promise, did you?!"
As she spoke, the girl reached out on her own to grab his wrist.
Xu Yuan didn't pull away, smiling as he watched the anxious look on her profile.
Sensing his gaze, Tianyan's hand paused immediately. She knitted her delicate brows and looked at him:
"You knew?"
"A little."
"From the Prime Minister's Manor?"
"Naturally."
"Liar."
"..." Xu Yuan was speechless.
Tianyan stared straight at Xu Yuan as if capable of seeing through a person's heart, snorting:
"It has been thousands of years since a dragon corpse fell into human hands. Where could your Prime Minister's Manor possibly have obtained such intelligence?"
"Did you forget that your Overseeing Heaven Pavilion has two Holy Venerables surnamed Luo staying in my manor?"
"..."
Tianyan's expression froze. Her dainty fist clenched slightly beneath her sleeve, and she said coldly:
"Two traitors."
Seeing this, Xu Yuan reached out and rubbed the girl's long hair, smiling gently:
"Traitors? Even if they didn't tell me, weren't you about to tell me just now, Saintess?"
"..."
At those words, a flicker of hesitation rippled through Tianyan's brilliant golden eyes.
She bit her lip for several breaths, then slapped Xu Yuan's hand away with a crisp smack. Lowering her head, she muttered:
"I... I'll wait for you outside."
With that,
The girl turned around in silence, flying dejectedly toward the passage at the karst cave's entrance.
"..."
"..."
Watching her silhouette vanish into the darkness, Xu Yuan sighed softly in his heart.
The Overseeing Heaven Pavilion and the Chancellor's Manor...
Forcibly pulling his thoughts back, Xu Yuan turned his attention to the Dragon Transformation Essence in his hand.
A dead dragon's residual thought was likely one of the most closely guarded secrets in the world.
Leave alone the Chancellor's Manor, even in Cangyuan there were no explicit records of it.
Xu Yuan had only discovered it during his playthrough because of a jarring inconsistency.
As the daughter of the King of Guyuan, the Little Dragon Maiden was among the hardest heroines to romance in Cangyuan.
Yet if one took the "Returning the Buried Dragon Home" questline, romancing her became absurdly easy.
The player didn't need any special tricks; simply clearing the quest step-by-step would max out her favorability.
At first, Xu Yuan thought this was just a gesture of goodwill from the developers.
After all, having retrieved and delivered the Dragon Transformation Essence, as well as delivering the last words her brother wished to tell his family before dying, wasn't it natural for the Little Dragon Maiden's initial favorability toward the player to be higher than in other routes?
And with high initial favorability, wasn't it natural for subsequent quests to yield higher favorability rewards?
Yet from subtle lines in casual conversations, Xu Yuan had suddenly realized something:
Throughout the course of the quest, the player was already being assimilated by what Tianyan called the dead dragon's residual thought.
The reason the Little Dragon Maiden's favorability climbed so high was seemingly because she had conflated her affection for the player with her affection for her younger brother.
When Xu Yuan uncovered these anomalies, he had planned to draw his blade and slay his wife to affirm his Dao.
As an exceptionally free open-world game, Cangyuan freely allowed players to suddenly go mad and backstab story characters.
Yet just as he drew his weapon to force an attack, Xu Yuan found that character control was stripped away completely. He could only watch helplessly as the character on screen quietly sheathed the blade again.
And the original open world had somehow turned into a linear track, leaving him no choice but to follow the plot and walk into the dark abyss with Guyuan until the bitter end...
With these thoughts,
Xu Yuan felt the thrashing, roaring dead dragon's residual intent sealed within the willow ghost blade, a bloody glint flashing in his narrow eyes.
He had not destroyed that residual intent outright; instead, he had temporarily sealed it inside the willow ghost blade.
Even knowing the dangers of the dead dragon's residual intent, he didn't intend to discard it for now.
For no other reason than—
Power!
The buff attached to this thing, "Dead Dragon's Gift," was truly delectable.
Once back in the capital, if he handed it to Dorae-Yao at home to tinker with, perhaps his physical constitution could climb another level.
Storing the Dragon Transformation Essence into his Sumeru ring, Xu Yuan glanced at the three women still standing frozen where they were, teasing them with a smile:
"This demonic dragon had an Origin Realm cultivation in life. Are you standing there dazed expecting an ordinary Body Integration expert like me to dissect such an enormous beast all alone? Relax, it doesn't have an aphrodisiac sac like that ink flood dragon. Hurry over and help."
As the foremost among all demons, the sheer physical toughness of the dragon race was naturally beyond question.
Without help from Ran Qingmo and the others, even though Xu Yuan was already a Body Integration expert, he would most likely end up like in Cangyuan, sitting on a treasure mountain unable to excavate an ounce of it.
Yet even with the three women joining in, dissecting this massive demonic dragon carcass remained an intricate and colossal undertaking.
The worker girls toiled up and down for two straight days without even finishing peeling all the scales off the dragon corpse.
Dragon scales were top-tier materials for armor crafting, capable of bearing exceptionally powerful formation arrays.
A single intact demonic dragon could equip several battalions of soldiers.
With the soul-evading effect inherent in the scales of this young male dragon, an entire army could march undetected under the scrutiny of Grandmaster experts.
To Xu Xinyao, the Dragon Transformation Essence was a supreme treasure for research, but to the entire Prime Minister's Manor, the corpse of the demonic dragon held far greater value than a single essence orb.
Thud—
With a deep, dull crash, an enormous teardrop-shaped dragon scale hit the ground.
Leaping down from the dragon corpse with the ink sword in hand, Ran Qingmo stared at the scale on the ground for several breaths, touched the Sumeru ring on her ring finger, and silently bent over to cradle the nearly five-foot scale, walking toward the man sitting by the campfire nearby.
Sensing footsteps, Xu Yuan, who was preparing ingredients, looked up and asked gently:
"What's wrong?"
Cradling the dragon scale in her arms, revealing only her eyes as she looked at him, Ran Qingmo said softly:
"Xu Yuan... the Sumeru ring is full again."
Xu Yuan looked slightly surprised.
On this trip, his primary goal had been wealth, so before departing, he had naturally asked his father for plenty of spare Sumeru rings to store loot.
Still, wasn't this Big Ice Block's work efficiency a bit too terrifying?
Over there, Succubus Su and Xiao Bai hadn't even filled a single Sumeru ring yet, while the Big Ice Block had already neatly packed two Sumeru rings full of dragon scales.
Even combined, Bai Muxi and Su Jinxuan hadn't done as much as she had on her own.
A truly chosen Pal, this Ice Block.
Reflecting on this, Xu Yuan rose from by the fire and glanced at the other two women acting as Pals in the dim karst cave.
Bai Muxi was doing well enough; the Five Elements Dao methods included no shortage of physical offensive arts, so she could utilize corresponding techniques to pry the scales off, only breaking into a light sweat at her temples by now.
Succubus Su, on the other hand, was having the absolute life drained out of her.
She cultivated illusion and charm techniques, devoid of physical combat arts, so peeling scales required her to force them off the dragon corpse using raw origin qi.
Her ravishing, gorgeous face was flushed red with exhaustion, drenched in fragrant sweat. Her heaving chest, wrapped snugly in a bright red silk dress, rose and fell with each breath, trembling continuously.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan felt a pang of guilt, thinking that even the blackest-hearted capitalist ought to give the poor worker girls a break.
Even so, Xu Yuan instinctively handed the Big Ice Block another empty Sumeru ring.
Ran Qingmo took it and silently went back to "mining."
Watching her leave, Xu Yuan stepped forward to hand Xiao Bai and Succubus Su each an embroidered handkerchief to wipe their sweat, along with a Source Crystal to replenish their energy.
Having done that, Xu Yuan said aloud:
"Once we strip these scales today, we can rest and have dinner—"
Midway through his sentence, Xu Yuan caught the sheer resentment in the gazes of Xiao Bai and Succubus Su. Realizing his blunder, he awkwardly coughed and corrected himself with an embarrassed chuckle:
"Ahem, mainly because this dragon meat is tough to simmer and will take some time to prepare. So... so you might have to wait a bit. If... if you want to rest, you can sit with me and chat for a while."
"..."
Xiao Bai lowered her head and rubbed the Sumeru ring on her ring finger for a moment, then quietly resumed working, continuing to be exploited.
Sweat-plastered strands of hair clung to Su Jinxuan's cheeks. Her autumn-water eyes glanced over at the overachieving girl darting up and down with the ink sword, swiftly prying loose scales and stashing them into a Sumeru ring. Biting her lower lip, she too resumed wrenching scales free with origin qi.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan stood where he was in mild embarrassment.
Just as he was considering lending a hand himself, a disdainful snort echoed through the dim cavern.
"Hmph. I leave for two days, and the three of you haven't even finished dealing with the dragon scales?"
Xu Yuan immediately looked back at the sound.
At the cave entrance, a girl walked in across empty air. As she strode forward, her magnificent golden eyes, glowing brilliantly in the dark, radiated a mystical radiance:
"Attract."
As the Heaven Character True Word fell,
After a heartbeat of silence, the qi dynamic convulsed, and the sizzling sound of flesh tearing from bone instantly filled the cavern.
In barely a moment, the remaining scales on the dragon corpse slid free one after another, crashing to the ground in a cloud of dust.
Having finished this, Tianyan gave a cold huff and glared back at Xu Yuan:
"What are you looking at? You only know how to waste time. Seeing how inefficient the three of them were, couldn't you have come outside to fetch me?"
"..."
Xu Yuan couldn't hold it in and almost burst out laughing.
Seeing his half-smile, Tianyan's face gradually flushed crimson, and she turned on her heel to leave again.
Xu Yuan hastily reined in his smile and used a Void-Stepping Slash to appear right in front of her, transmitting his voice:
"Wasn't I afraid of making you angry?"
"Out of the way," Tianyan snapped, glaring with her beautiful eyes.
Xu Yuan reached out and took her slender wrist, saying with a smile:
"Dragon meat is a delicacy rarely encountered once in a millennium. It will be of tremendous benefit to your cultivation. You should at least have a taste before leaving."
At times like this, one only needed to offer Tianyan a suitable step, and she would descend gracefully on her own.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, a flicker of hesitation appeared on the girl's stunning face. She pulled her hand back and brushed past him without a word.
Under the gaze of the other four, she kept a straight face as she walked over to the campfire and sat down beside the iron pot simmering dragon heart broth.
Yet this brief silence was ultimately shattered by a seductive chuckle.
"Heheheh..."
Tianyan's eyes instantly locked onto the source, bristling defensively:
"What are you laughing at?"
Su Jinxuan was dabbing away her sweat with the handkerchief Xu Yuan had given her, trailing down her cheeks, jaw, neck, and exquisite collarbones. The tugging lowered her collar, revealing a glimpse of soft cleavage in the shadows that swelled and dipped with her breathing.
Walking toward the fire, the little succubus smiled and said:
"Naturally, I am thanking the Saintess on Young Master Xu's behalf."
Tianyan narrowed her eyes slightly, glaring at those two lumps of rotten meat:
"You, thanking me on his behalf?"
"Well, you did relieve a heavy burden for us."
Su Jinxuan's eyes darted slyly as she feigned innocence:
"If I'm not laughing at that, could I be laughing at how the Saintess says one thing but means another?"
"..." Tianyan fell silent.
"All right, stop bickering, both of you."
Xu Yuan stepped in to halt their squabble. Sitting down by the fire with Bai Muxi, he chatted with the three women while subconsciously looking around for Ran Qingmo.
After scanning the dim cavern, he found that the Big Ice Block still hadn't stopped working.
While everyone else was talking, she had quietly used the empty Sumeru ring he gave her to collect the dragon scales that had fallen to the ground.
Only after finishing did Ran Qingmo brave three unfriendly glares to walk over to Xu Yuan. Holding out the Sumeru ring to him, she looked at him with downcast eyes and said in a small voice:
"Xu Yuan... for you. I... I collected them for you."
Chapter 597