Chapter 330: Dragon Spine Tea!

Tea fragrance wafted, white smoke like mist.

"Young man, don't let your fire be so big, it's easy to hurt your liver."

Chen Rang chuckled, his pair of withered wrists trembling slightly as he steadily pushed the purple clay teacup toward Su Ming.

The water surface didn't even ripple.

"This tea is called 【Dragon Spine】; it's also the only thing I can bring out in this broken courtyard."

"Don't disdain it, have a taste?"

Su Ming's eyebrows twitched slightly.

Dragon Spine?!

This is getting interesting.

The name exudes an unstoppable domineering aura.

His gaze focused, a line of golden small characters instantly appeared.

【Name】: Special Supply·Dragon Spine Tea

【Quality】: Epic

【Effect】: After drinking, instantly compensates for mental power loss, slightly and permanently increases mental power!

【Note】: Grown beneath the ten-thousand-year ice and snow of Kunlun Xu, born from absorbing dragon vein earth energy! A sip worth a thousand gold!

Good stuff!

Su Ming's eyes lit up.

The effect of this thing is wonderfully similar to his 【Source Blood】.

Afterward, he didn't stand on ceremony.

He lifted the cup.

He tilted his head back.

Gulp!

He downed it in one gulp.

Just like drinking a bottle of some iced tea for a few bucks at a roadside stall.

Beside him, Zhao Lao, who was lowering his head to fiddle with the chess pieces, twitched his eyelids hard and the corner of his mouth twitched.

Damn, drinking tea like this?!

This is Dragon Spine!

Are you using it as mouthwash?!

"Tsk..."

Su Ming smacked his lips, then set down the cup.

He pressed his tongue against his cheeks, looking unsatisfied.

"A bit bitter, but the aftertaste is okay."

"It's just that this cup is too small, not enough to quench thirst, drinking it isn't satisfying."

Saying that, he leaned back in the chair with a relaxed, sprawling posture.

He crossed his legs, lifting them up.

"Alright, tea drunk, intimidation shown, this pretentious act is rounded out."

Su Ming's body suddenly leaned forward.

Those originally lazy eyes instantly became sharp as a blade.

"Director Chen, shouldn't we talk about something serious?"

"For example..."

"Your physique..."

"How many more days can you sustain that thing?"

One sentence, Shi Potian startled!

Whoosh!

The laughing Lao Li, his laughter like a strangled duck's neck, cut off abruptly.

His whole body's muscles instantly tensed, the killing aura that had slaughtered out of the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea surged again, locking firmly onto Su Ming.

Plop.

Zhao Lao's chess piece in his hand fell onto the board, rolling two turns.

His eyes widened in shock!

After a long while.

Chen Rang's slightly cloudy eyes gradually brightened.

Like a candle in the wind reigniting its flame.

The temperature rose.

"Since you can see it, I won't beat around the bush."

"As you see."

"I am that lock."

A lock?!

What does that mean?

Before Su Ming could think it over.

Chen Rang slowly rolled up his left sleeve.

At a glance, his pupils contracted slightly!

This…

It's not a normal human's arm at all!

No skin, no hair.

Only layers of keratin that flip up like fish scales, showing a sickly bluish‑purple hue.

Like old skin that has been necrotic for years.

And in the gaps between those scales, there is no fresh red flesh.

Instead, a dark, ink‑colored viscous substance that resembles both oil and tar drips slowly.

A sight that shocks the eyes!

You can even see tiny protrusions crawling wildly beneath the skin.

They seem to be trying to burst through that hide!

"Shall we guess again?"

"Guess what this is and how it was made!"

Chen Rang's voice was light.

Light as the locust‑tree leaves drifting in the wind down an old alley.

He didn't lower his sleeve.

That arm, covered in bluish‑purple scales and oozing black oil.

Lay bare beside the exquisite purple sand teapot.

Visually, it was shocking and absurd.

Su Ming didn't reply immediately.

He fished a cigarette from his pocket.

He didn't light it, just twirled it between his long fingers.

A faint glow swirled deep within his eyes.

Honestly, this thing looks far too familiar.

That twisted pattern, that chaotic aura that seems ready to devour anyone at any moment…

Just like the corrupted monsters he saw earlier in the Sakura Country dungeon…

They were practically cut from the same mold!

But it still doesn't add up?!

That old man even went to Sakura Country himself?!

"Caused by the altar?"

Su Ming stopped twirling the cigarette, lifted his gaze, and asked tentatively.

"Old man, you couldn't let it go, offered a sacrifice, and got burned back by the black light?"

That's the most reasonable explanation.

In an era where altars are everywhere and monsters swarm like dogs.

Even the chief of the Abnormal Bureau.

Always walking by the river, how could his shoes stay dry?

Making a deal with a demon and paying a little interest—nothing more normal than that.

"Ha ha!"

Upon hearing that,

Chen Rang smiled.

It wasn't the embarrassed grin of being exposed, nor the inscrutable, lofty sneer.

It was a bitter smile tinged with helplessness and a hint of relief.

He turned his head toward the other two.

"Listen."

"Even this kid's thoughts are still trapped in here, unable to break out!"

Clack.

Zhao Lao Jiang picked the black piece back into the chess box and rose slowly.

"Normal."

"Since, in ordinary people's eyes, our ghostly appearance truly doesn't look human."

"Now that the conversation has come this far, let's be frank with each other."

His words hung in the air.

Zhao Lao leisurely unfastened the immaculate collar button of his Zhongshan suit.

One, then two.

As the lapel opened, Su Ming's pupils suddenly contracted.

This elder who oversees the entire Dragon Country Abnormal Bureau's funds and logistics.

His chest…

Is empty!

Beneath those ribs, filling the cavity, is not a beating heart.

But a huge, slowly rotating…

Golden abacus?!

No!

That's not an abacus!

Those are countless tiny, golden rune coins.

They interlock and rub against each other, forming a heart‑like pumping structure!

With each rotation, golden powder rustles down.

It merges into the long‑dried vessels, sustaining the body's last vitality.

Money as the heart, calculation as the blood!

"I'll join the fun too."

Beside him, hot‑tempered Li Lao also grinned.

Splash!

He was even more direct, ripping off the bracer on his left arm in one go.

On that forearm, thick as iron.

Starkly embedded were three rusty, thumb‑thick…

Black‑iron bone‑piercing nails!

The flesh around the nails had long since necrotized.

And those bone‑piercing nails still trembled faintly.

They seemed to be siphoning power, firmly suppressing the arm's instinct to resist.

In the courtyard, the wind ceased.

Only the pot of Dragon's Backbone tea continued to emit a wisp of steam.

Three old men.

Three heavyweights, each essentially perched atop their own domain.

At this moment, they resembled three demons that had just crawled back from hell.

They tore away the glossy human skin.

They showed Su Ming their most ferocious, most wretched side!