Chapter 278: Yin Bao Tian Zun, Will You Block Me?

"The passage to Mingtu—looks like the only possible place is there."

Gazing at the deepest part of Yinling Town, at the three scattered grand buildings atop the towering great mountain, Baichuan—who had restrained his aura and searched every other place since entering—could not help raising his head and muttering to himself.

Thinking of this, Baichuan released his Zhenren Realm aura once more and swayed his body as he swam toward that place.

Needless to say, even as he swept overhead so brazenly, no one dared obstruct his Flight; in a place where True Lords did not appear, Zhenren were the strongest cultivators on the surface, let alone that the aura Baichuan radiated was a Zhenren Peak with a thousand years of cultivation.

"Boom—boom—"

Before he even drew close, Baichuan heard the rumbling and evil laughter coming from the vicinity of the grand building on the upper left, then sword light flashed, dazzlingly conspicuous in the night—that was—

The fluctuation of Spirit Qi.

These few fluctuations of Spirit Qi were so conspicuous in this place full of ghostly Qi, Yin Qi, evil Qi, and demonic Qi, just like a torch burning fiercely in the dark of night.

Not only that, Baichuan also sensed a familiar aura from the Spirit Qi fluctuations the other party sent over—an aura similar to that of creatures infected by his Dragon Blood, but the feeling within these few auras was somewhat fainter, as if from before he possessed Dragon Blood.

Without a doubt, the other party was undoubtedly a creature with a karmic tie to him.

Of course, this "karmic tie" meant that the other party had come into contact with things his dragon body had been in contact with for a long time.

Speaking of which, one must mention how powerful the change he now exerts on his environment is; back when he was weak, after countless evolutions, the genes in his body began to grow complex—just a few drops of his Dragon Blood, once they stained another creature's body or were swallowed, if the other party had no means of resistance, would invisibly alter that creature's body, causing it to transform toward the information contained within his blood.

This terrifying infectivity became even more terrifying after he truly became a dragon-type creature and possessed Dragon Blood; the domineering erosiveness of Dragon Blood combined with his own infectivity, along with Spirit Qi—this special Biological Energy—began to show extremely obvious changes; any thing he was in contact with for long would transform toward him as its source.

This was mainly shown in that if the thing contacted were flowers, plants, or trees, they would, in the process of contact with him, become Spirit Plants with potent medicinal efficacy bearing dragon-type Characteristics, such as Longxian Grass, Longxu Fruit, and so on.

And if it were animals, they would become dragon-type creatures possessing Dragon Blood; if it were flowing water or such lifeless liquids, they would gain Spirituality, granting change to creatures that drank it—as the saying goes: water is no longer deep because, when there is a dragon, it becomes spiritual; a dragon's entire body is treasure.

Of course, do not think that this kind of dragon creature would bestow all manner of opportunities upon all things in the world for no reason.

You must know there is no such thing as a free lunch under heaven.

Now likewise possessing Dragon Blood, barely able to be called a true dragon in this world, Baichuan clearly understands that fate has long since tagged a price behind every opportunity.

Those who receive the change, although they can obtain all sorts of benefits, continuously grow stronger and become more miraculous, also invisibly and continuously move toward the source of these opportunities; if not stopped, they will inevitably end up approaching the appearance of that existence, becoming its Juanzhu.

As the saying goes, those who learn from me survive, those who resemble me die; once those who received the benefits became the other's Juanzhu, naturally before that one they would also lose all resistance.

At that Time, life and death would be at the other's single thought.

This is the domineering aspect of dragon-kind, and also the basis on which dragon-kind forms its own race—one individual is an entire species.

As for why Baichuan knows all this, while Ao Qing, likewise a true dragon, shows not the slightest such miraculousness?

Isn't the entire dragon race still just a handful of big and small cats?

This is naturally because his Baichuan's Dragon Blood ability is complete, not incomplete like Ao Qing's.

You must know that back then this ability of his was born after he drank the wine Ao Qing gave him, combined under his own power with the mysterious panel ability and improved into existence.

Although the ability's grade is currently rather low, exactly the same as those incomplete ones, he himself is not subject to any shackles whatsoever; if in a world where no dragon appeared, then his situation would be the first dragon between heaven and earth.

Baichuan even has a guess: the source of this Dragon Blood ability, that mysterious dragon, perhaps also did not possess from the very beginning the miraculous ability named 【Dragon Blood】; the other party also, while weak, step by step transformed its own bloodline, until reaching a certain profoundly mysterious realm of life, thereby truly solidifying a certain Characteristic of itself into a mysterious and powerful ability.

Just as he once was, even before obtaining Dragon Blood, although his own blood had no effect on plants, the change it brought to animals was also exceptionally domineering—only this change still carried a certain uncertainty, with both good and bad within it.

Perhaps, that Characteristic of his might well be the embryonic form of the 【Dragon Blood】 ability.

Of course, currently all of this is merely a bold inference he made based on existing information; whether true or false is still unknown, so it will not be mentioned here.

So under these circumstances, Baichuan was also somewhat curious; logically speaking, the places he stayed after coming to this world were not many—when did the other party come into contact with him? Gaining his aura and becoming his half-Juanzhu?

Out of curiosity, he simply flew straight over.

Just then, the battle over there also stopped; in an instant, the fluctuation of Spirit Qi vanished completely under the night.

"Puff—puff—"

"Yo, which clueless—welcome, welcome, senior's grand arrival!"

Amid a few thuds, after finishing off those few sneaky little Laoshu who had crept over and casually tossing them on the ground, the rat-headed giant sensed the aura whistling toward him and was somewhat impatiently about to deal with it, but just as he raised his head, he discovered a snake-type thousand-year great demon with a powerful aura coiling Yin clouds as it flew over.

In an instant, having weighed the pros and cons, the rat-headed giant had no choice but to immediately soften his stance and reply respectfully.

To be honest, this really isn't him, Shubatian, being cowardly—this is called strategic deception. As long as the one coming wasn't one of his natural enemies—a snake-type great demon—even if the comer were another great demon who had likewise reached the limit of a Zhenren Realm, he, Shubatian, a mere great demon with six hundred years of cultivation, would not flinch in the slightest and would go straight up to fight; but unfortunately the other party was a snake-type great demon of the thousand-year Zhenren Realm.

In that case he, Shubatian, had to consider the gains and losses; once he fought the other party to a mutual ruin, the bargain would be picked up by those other shady rats who hide in the darkness and can't stand to see a rat prosper.

Truly not worth it, so this really isn't him being cowardly.

Thinking all sorts of things in his heart, on the surface Shubatian also kept a solemn expression.

"Heh, Shubatian, you truly live up to the name rat—'timid as a rat' really suits you."

"Welcome, fellow Daoist, to your grand arrival; may I know what business brings you here?"

At this moment a teasing, hoarse laugh came from the side, then a gray-robed old man with cunning green eyes turning walked out; but don't be fooled by that teasing, jesting tone—his face was utterly grave.

Where exactly did this great demon come from? Could that matter have been exposed?

With heavy thoughts, he also quietly exchanged a glance with Wulong Zhenren, who had walked out together, and the other party also quietly shook his head to indicate he did not know.

Yet Baichuan paid no attention whatsoever to the other's friendly gestures the entire time; he merely gazed at the few humans bound with strange ropes below—at this moment he finally managed to search through his vast, exhaustive memory and find out exactly who those people below were.

They were precisely those few humans he had once met at the broken god temple in the mountains, seemingly called Chen Ping and something Yu; he recalled back then the other party seemed to have wanted to say they were heading to the flood-stricken Cang Jiang area to rescue the victims—how had they ended up here now?

And compared to their once green naivety, they had now become much more mature; presumably they had experienced quite a lot and gained considerable growth, only that former rashness of theirs had not changed.

Looking at the few children not far from those two women below, trembling and holding back their tears, Baichuan judged thus.

"Fellow Daoist, would you like a few humans for a snack?"

Perhaps because Baichuan had stared too long, the green-eyed old man suspected he was some secluded cultivator who had run out from some remote mountain hollow, had not eaten human flesh in a long time, and now could not take his eyes off living humans; so, to avoid unnecessary trouble, he decisively proposed.

Who knew that Baichuan paid no attention to the other's proposal; after withdrawing his gaze, he did not look down again, but directly spoke: "I want to enter Mingtu—where is the entrance?"

Who knew that the moment these words came out, the green-eyed old man's mind shook violently, and a storm surged in his heart.

Sure enough! Sure enough that matter had been leaked by someone; otherwise it would be impossible for an unprecedented great demon to suddenly appear here out of nowhere and ask them where the Mingtu entrance is.

Where is the Mingtu entrance? Isn't it right there, on the third floor of that Yinbao Building.

But could the other party possibly be asking about that? The third floor of Yinbao Building has an entrance—pay and you can enter; this is common knowledge known to anyone who has achieved some cultivation.

Would that require coming to ask them? The other party's words carried a hidden meaning.

After all, he's already at Zhenren Realm—how could he possibly be asking only about that ordinary entrance into Mingtu? Wouldn't that be the joke of all jokes?

It's just that he was so confident, directly asking us outright — he clearly doesn't take us seriously!

Though shaken inside, the green-eyed elder's face showed not the slightest change, still wearing a cheerful look. He merely exchanged a silent glance with Wulong Zhenren, then stepped forward a few paces as if about to answer, and said: "The entrance is right at… right beneath — Yellow Springs!"

As he spoke, what appeared was a massive, sinister green-eyed wolf head. The wolf head opened its foul-smelling maw wide, suddenly let out a wolf howl, sending a strange ripple spreading outward.

In an instant, Baichuan felt as though he saw a white giant wolf, one that could swallow the moon whole, lunging to bite at his head. Its fangs seemed capable of slicing through metal and splitting stone — anything in this world would be bitten clean in two before them. At the same time, the Spirit Qi within his body began to show slight signs of stagnation.

That wasn't all. Accompanying the green-eyed elder's attack, Wulong Zhenren behind him — the long-whiskered elder in a green robe — also lunged forward abruptly, transforming directly into a centipede resembling a dragon, with a thousand legs like sharp blades dripping with an eerie green venom.

The centipede spewed lethal poisonous mist, its blade-like clawed legs constantly slashing as it lunged toward his seven-inch vital point.

This was clearly a coordinated front-and-rear strike, aimed precisely at his current serpent form's fatal weakness, intending to kill him in one blow!

"Sigh…"

Seeing this, Baichuan let out a long, quiet sigh, a trace of pity in his eyes — why bother?

All he wanted was to ask for directions — why force him to open a killing spree?

The next moment, amid a flurry of flickering shadows, the wolf and centipede both lunged at empty air, passing straight through the great serpent's water-rippling body and crashing to the ground.

"What?!!!"

In an instant, feeling their attacks miss, and recalling the strange change from their earlier strike — that helpless feeling of clearly seeing the opponent right there, yet hitting nothing.

The wolf and centipede, who were quite familiar with the most distinctive feature of the True Monarch realm — entering the void / becoming energy — instantly turned horrified.

That great serpent wasn't at the True Person realm — it was a True Monarch!!!

"Wait! Yin Bao Tian Zun! Mercy—"

"Whoosh… Rumble rumble…"

In a flash, the old wolf cried out the name of this place's master, then tried to beg for mercy; the centipede, without a word, immediately used its innate racial talent to burrow fiercely into the earth, attempting to flee amid a series of thunderous booms.

But it was all too late.

Violent Spirit Qi fluctuations suddenly erupted, and a serpent-dragon-like phantom silently roared in the air above. Then a towering Dragon Claw suddenly grew from beneath the phantom, transforming into a sky-shaking claw shadow that pressed down along with Spirit Qi.

Rumble rumble—

In an instant, the entire great mountain shook violently, causing all of Yinling Town to tremble along with it, countless rocks sliding and tumbling down.

The next moment, the old wolf was seen pressed flat on the spot, its four limbs shattered inch by inch. The centipede, which had just burrowed underground, scrambled out of the violently shaking earth in panicked disarray, transforming into a pale, withered figure — on closer look, one could even see the lower half of its clothing had turned a dark red.

In an instant, before anyone could react, the attack launched by the old wolf and centipede ended with both of them grievously wounded and unable to resist.

After finishing this, Baichuan's eyes moved again. The terrifying figure swimming above let out another silent roar, and terrifying Spirit Qi surged once more.

"No, no, you can't kill me! This is Yinbao Building — Yin Bao Tian Zun, save me!"

"I'll pay any price in Treasure Coin!"

Watching the terrifying great serpent about to strike again, the old wolf and centipede panicked and hurriedly cried out.

"Within Yinbao Building, combat is forbidden!"

Accompanying their cries, the next moment a solemn voice rang out directly, and a powerful aura suddenly Burst forth from the central Yinbao Building.

Clearly, the earlier commotion had also drawn that one's attention.

The powerful aura materialized in the void as a figure shrouded in light, and an invisible, terrifying pressure began bearing down on every living being here, making them unable to lift their heads.

The next moment, the light-shrouded figure slowly opened its indifferent eyes, and in an instant Baichuan's attack, which had been about to gather, was silently dissolved.

"You wish to stop me?"

Baichuan frowned slightly and spoke softly.

He couldn't quite figure it out — he was only asking for directions, so why did they attack him outright? Their movements clearly intended to kill him. Where was this rule of theirs before all this?

If it had been someone else, wouldn't they have died in vain from that strike?

Even if the rules were as good as nonexistent, he could simply counterattack with his own strength.

But after he struck back — and even though he had deliberately restrained his power to avoid drawing attention, using only methods he'd researched during this period, not exceeding the True Monarch level—

This was how they treated him?

Such blatant double standards? Just because those two had money or were regulars, while he was a stranger with no money, they thought he was easy to bully?

So shameless!

……

(End of this chapter)