Chapter 47: Mountain Dragon King

"Damn it!"

Yu Tianyun couldn't help letting a profanity explode in his mind, "Indeed! I shouldn't have been so happy so early!"

Fortunately, the force that hurled him away wasn't too great; with Yu Tianyun now in a Complete Dragon Transformation state and his body's qualities vastly enhanced from earlier dragon‑cloud absorption, his defense was already extremely strong.

Though the whole process seemed somewhat grandiose, it actually caused him no substantive damage.

"It seems I've been thinking far too simply and naïvely; trying to obtain the soul bone so easily is nothing but a fool's dream!"

Yu Tianyun's expression grew a bit gloomy, but he soon kindled a spark of hope again.

"Perhaps that soul bone can only erupt this once? I can't just give up like this! Let's try again!"

Clinging to a sliver of luck, Yu Tianyun took a deep breath, rallied his spirit, and approached the soul bone once more, cautiously reaching out to touch it.

The instant his fingertip brushed the soul bone, the black soul bone suddenly burst forth a wave of black energy.

Even though Yu Tianyun was mentally prepared, it was to no avail; his whole body was again smashed against the cliff wall like a cannonball.

Yu Tianyun slid down the cliff wall in a sorry state, his clothes torn and ragged, looking messy and disheveled.

Fury roared inside him like a volcano about to erupt: "Did the Dragon Valley expedition end like this? No, I must try again; maybe this soul bone can only erupt twice!"

Yu Tianyun mustered confidence, reignited the flame of hope, and stretched his hand toward the black soul bone again.

As expected, he was once more mercilessly flung away.

"No, it's only being flung away, not causing real damage. I won't give up so easily! I'll keep trying!"

Yu Tianyun clenched his teeth, steadied his resolve, and reached for the black soul bone again.

Bang!

"Try again!"

Bang!

"I won't believe it!"

Bang!

Gah!

After thirty‑six attempts, Yu Tianyun collapsed like a puddle of mud before the soul bone, his expression full of despair and dejection!

"Thirty‑six times already and still nothing! Could this soul bone only be looked at, not touched?"

Yu Tianyun's face grew exceedingly ugly under the string of setbacks.

"What should I do? Must I really leave empty‑handed?"

Yu Tianyun frowned, scanning the many true‑dragon skeletons around him; his gaze gradually shifted from initial bewilderment to unwavering determination:

"There are so many true‑dragon soul bones here—can we only satisfy our eyes? No! Even if this one fails, there are thousands of true‑dragon skeletons, i. e., thousands of true‑dragon soul bones! I won't believe there isn't a single one I can get! I must try before I'm satisfied! Damn it!"

Yu Tianyun refused to return empty‑handed after entering the treasure mountain; returning empty‑handed is not his style!

He skirted the true‑dragon soul bone that had flung him thirty‑six times and approached another true‑dragon corpse skeleton.

The other bones of this true‑dragon skeleton were pristine white, while the entire torso bone displayed a fresh, subtle blue hue.

Judging by the color, Yu Tianyun concluded it was a wind‑element true‑dragon skeleton. He walked slowly to the soul bone, reached out, and, unsurprisingly, was again violently flung away! "Hmph! This one won't work either! Next!"

Yu Tianyun sneered inwardly and, without hesitation, switched to another skeleton to try.

This time he chose a skeleton bearing a golden head soul bone; Yu Tianyun pressed his palm onto the soul bone, "Bang!"

Again, unsurprisingly, he was smashed away! Yet he did not give up, maintaining steady, resolute steps, his gaze fixed on the next true‑dragon skeleton. There are thousands of true‑dragon carcasses, and he's only tried three so far!

Yu Tianyun touched the soul bones of a dozen skeletons nearest to him, but the result remained unchanged.

Still, his steps stayed steady and resolute, each footfall firm as he pressed onward.

On the first day, he tirelessly touched two hundred fifty‑three true‑dragon soul bones, each one inevitably flinging him away.

On the second day, he moved faster, touching over three hundred soul bones in a row, still being flung away; among them, two blue‑purple soul bones gave him a hint of familiarity—he guessed they might be Blue Electric Tyrannosaur soul bones! Yet they were only familiar, offering no backdoor.

On the third day, after two days of continuous failure, Yu Tianyun grew increasingly restless and anxious, which oddly spurred his speed even higher.

That day he touched four hundred and one true‑dragon soul bones without a single pause, but the result was the same as the previous two days.

Having touched more than half of the true‑dragon soul bones, Yu Tianyun felt a shade of despair.

Staring at the remaining half of the skeletons, Yu Tianyun clenched his teeth and vowed silently: "Even if I can't take them, I'll at least get a taste! I'll become the man who's touched over a thousand true‑dragon soul bones!"

On the fourth day, Yu Tianyun, revitalized and ambitious, resumed his bone‑touching quest; when he finished the one‑thousand‑four‑hundred‑and‑first soul bone, he suddenly stopped.

Because he saw a massive skeleton ahead.

This skeleton towered into the clouds, stretching a kilometer outward; its bones were a deep, heavy brown, starkly different from other true‑dragon skeletons, exuding an incomparable, massive, weighty aura that made gravity noticeably stronger within a radius of several thousand meters.

This true‑dragon resembled an earth‑dragon, lacking dragon wings, but its body was extremely robust, especially its limbs, which were as massive as pillars supporting the heavens.

Yu Tianyun instantly guessed the dragon's identity—it was the Mountain Dragon King!

He walked forward slowly, each step unusually heavy, feeling the powerful energy waves radiating from the Mountain Dragon King's massive body; Yu Tianyun sensed an indescribable odd feeling throughout his whole body.

Compared with other dragon bones, the aura emitted from the Mountain Dragon King's skeleton was far stronger—an unparalleled fury and endless resentment.

Yu Tianyun quietly circulated his spiritual energy, shedding the Mountain Dragon King's emotional imprint, and stepped even closer, his heart a little uneasy: "If such terrifying energy waves can fling me, how powerful must the force be? Maybe I shouldn't touch it… but there's only this last soul bone left; not touching it feels unsatisfying, yet touching it might kill me!"

Yu Tianyun wrestled with his thoughts; although he doubted he could obtain the Mountain Dragon King's soul bone, having come this far made him unwilling to leave it untouched.

After a short while, his reason finally overcame the lingering greed and resentment!

"I'll just look, not touch!"

Getting closer, Yu Tianyun finally saw clearly a massive crack running through the Mountain Dragon King's huge skeleton, from head to tail, a horrifying sight.

In other words, its enormous body seemed to have been split in two by a sharp weapon.

"Could this have been cut by the Asura God?"

Yu Tianyun muttered to himself; the Mountain Dragon King is the most defensively powerful among the nine great dragon kings, and the only one capable of inflicting such damage, Yu Tianyun thought, could only be the Asura God!

After all, that's the ruthless one who can cleave a dragon god in two!

Thinking of this, Yu Tianyun couldn't help but exclaim, "Mountain Dragon King, you're truly brave!"

(End of chapter)