Chapter 1956: Goiter

Got it, the boomerang hit me myself. He Lingchuan said honestly: "Dragons differ from dragons. I only know black dragons don't grow this thing."

I've seen black jiao statues and markings, whether in Panlong City or in reality, no less than five hundred, maybe seven hundred times. I'm certain the black dragon's head is large and square, the crown very flat, with no such tumor.

Weng Xing saw it on the ground and exclaimed: "Such a huge piece of meat, enough to eat for many days."

Luo Xie beside him said: "Probably a tumor? This dragon grew a flesh wart?"

Weng Xing immediately mocked him: "What tumor! This azure dragon's cultivation surpasses ordinary immortals, you say it would randomly grow tumors?"

The speaker meant nothing, but the listener took it to heart. Fang Canran suddenly snapped his fingers, then pointed at Luo Xie: "Makes sense!"

Weng Xing: "... Huh?"

Can random talk actually hit the mark?

"This might possibly be a very rare thing, called 'dragon goiter.'" Fang Canran couldn't help pressing the flesh ball again: "You know, snakes, crocodiles, dragons—these scaled creatures, like mollusks, form pearls. I mean not just dragon pearls. Mollusks wrap invading foreign objects to form pearls; scaled creatures actually do the same."

"When I worked at Dunyuan's hair-cutting fair, I handled crocodile pearls, turtle pearls, python pearls, all formed this way." Fang Canran actually wasn't sure either: "But even as mighty as a azure dragon, having something embedded in its head that it can't dig out itself—I also find it bewildering."

"Let's cut it open and see." He Lingchuan said, then chopped open the flesh ball with one knife.

Without dragon skin protection, the flesh ball opened easily. Inside was no pus but a hard object, entirely black, very straight and long, with branches.

"Is this another dragon horn?" Speaking of it, the shape of this foreign object resembles a tree, like a persimmon tree. "Look at its grain—it also looks like wood grain."

He Lingchuan turned the knife's back and tapped it a few times.

Ding ding ding, the tone was very peculiar, dull yet with a hint of metallic crispness, echoing endlessly in this vast empty cavern.

Fang Canran couldn't suppress his curiosity, took out several bottles from his bosom, and poured a little liquid onto this thing one by one.

Every liquid dropped onto it changed color.

Fang Canran's face grew increasingly strange.

"What's wrong?"

"This……" Fang Canran organized his words: "It's hyperplasia of dragon bone."

The other three: "..."

He Lingchuan laughed helplessly: "After all this fuss, the azure dragon got bone hyperplasia?"

Interesting, the unlucky ones I know have this problem in their waist or feet; severe cases mean sitting or standing both hurt. Who would've thought even a mighty azure dragon couldn't escape bone hyperplasia—I wonder if it's constantly feeling a headache?

"So what is this, a bone spur?"

"You could say that." Fang Canran scratched his head: "But I tested it with reagents, and it also has wooden and metallic components, though I can't determine their categories."

"So it's dragon bone, also metal, also wood?"

"Or put another way, neither bone nor metal nor wood." Fang Canran wanted to break off a twig to check its cross-section, but it wouldn't budge, even though it's as thin as a toothpick: "Give me a hand?"

He Lingchuan backhanded a knife strike.

Ding—

The sound of metal and iron clashing, piercing yet loud.

The two below were struck by this unexpected sound wave attack, their heads dizzy and swollen, hastily covering their ears.

"Huh?" The branch remained unharmed—is this reasonable?

Anyway, the Floating Life Blade is the famed sword that slew Miao Zhantian—how could it fail to chop off a twig as thin as a toothpick?

Having suffered a loss before its master, the Floating Life Blade probably grew angry too; its blade flashed with light, suddenly surging with killing intent, forcing Fang Canran to retreat two steps.

He Lingchuan again mobilized his yuan power, swishing down a knife.

The feel was terrible, like chopping a steel pipe with a kitchen knife—two forces colliding.

Still, the Floating Blade was ultimately a bit sharper; the branch cracked and fell.

Fang Canran treated it like a treasure, picked up the branch, then took out a crystal convex lens from his bosom and examined it closely:

"Indeed there are wood fibers, look!"

Magnified thirty times, He Lingchuan could see the steel needle's cross-section indeed resembled wood's cross-section, with fiber pores; but simultaneously it also had some dark yellow substance, namely the metal Fang Canran mentioned.

"No matter what originally entered the azure dragon's brain, it was ultimately assimilated." Fang Canran tried to draw a conclusion: "But the dragon's own rejection trait still turned it into this so-called three-not-thing."

Not a single word wrong, not a single line missed, not a single shot fired, not a single inner thought omitted, not a single thing present, not a single one looked!

"This thing should be called bone-tree?" He Lingchuan noticed when digging out the flesh ball that the azure dragon's bones were actually azure too, but this bone-tree is dark black, truly a mutation.

After saying all this, the divine bone necklace is nearly burning a hole in his chest from hunger, obviously it's famished.

He Lingchuan pressed his hand on the bone-tree, only hearing a whoosh, and the thing before him vanished.

Both the flesh ball and the bone-tree were entirely devoured by the divine bone necklace.

The Great Square Vessel is truly greedier than he imagined.

However, the divine bone necklace's heating hasn't ended, merely the temperature dropped a bit. Obviously it still wants to eat something, just not as eagerly as with the bone-tree.

This time searching took little effort, because after he leapt onto the Sea Yaksha King, he confirmed the divine bone necklace's target:

The skull bead chain.

Human warriors also have this habit: taking the skulls of the defeated, shrinking them with medicine, stringing them into necklaces. The Flash Gold Tribe recently subdued by He Lingchuan explained to him that while outsiders see this as blatant flaunting of martial prowess, it actually carries another meaning:

Reverence and testimony.

Opponents worthy of being strung into a necklace are all respected enemies. Warriors wear them to jointly witness future victories.

Likewise, those qualified to wear the Sea Yaksha King's necklace on their chest are also former strong ones.

The Great Square Vessel's interest in these specimens is also natural.

After taking these two items, the Great Square Vessel finally settled down. He Lingchuan was about to jump down when Fang Canran pointed at the trident's broken halberd and said: "I suggest you take this too."

He Lingchuan's heart stirred—yes, this halberd could pierce the azure dragon to death, itself no small feat.

"The halberd shaft is broken, can't be used again." He walked straight to the dragon's head, then jumped onto the halberd's prongs: "From this angle, the other prong is also broken."

A trident, after all, has a thick middle and thin ends, three prongs in total.

This halberd originally had only two prongs left; He Lingchuan jumped up to examine closely, then discovered the other side's prong was also broken, twisted into a braid.

Probably after the Azure Dragon was stabbed in the eyes, the excruciating pain made it slap the halberd head. Though it didn't break it, the terrifying dragon force still twisted it out of shape.

"But it still has vitality." Fang Canran said with a solemn face, "After being underground for over two thousand years, the halberd tip still retains vigorous vitality. This is extremely rare."