Chapter 539: Pool of Dragon Transformation (13)

"Huhu, why aren't you saying anything?"

"What exactly is in there?"

"Are you still afraid of that old fox? It's okay, he definitely can't get in!"

The young man asked naively and even offered understanding comfort, but every word that came out of his mouth made the Yellow Sand Tiger's body tremble.

A true tiger-body shudder!

Three sentences, and the Yellow Sand Tiger lost a hundred years of its lifespan.

Young Master, no, Ancestor!

Please stop asking!

I beg you, please, really stop asking!

"Why are you shaking so violently? Are you cold? Or..."

Zhang Mang was not stupid; he just hadn't thought in that direction at first, but at this moment, he finally sensed the problem from the Yellow Sand Tiger's eerie silence and trembling.

He lowered his voice and asked slowly: "Is there... someone else here?"

This was an unprecedented situation.

In the past, no matter who the other party was, Zhang Mang could always see their "appearance."

But this time, he could see nothing at all, only vaguely perceiving a mist-like black shadow before him.

Beyond that, he could detect nothing.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

The Yellow Sand Tiger nodded its head up and down violently, then completely entered vibration mode.

Click-clack...

Its upper and lower teeth collided slightly, but fearing that this sound would disturb that person, it forced itself to keep its mouth tightly shut, not letting its body make a single sound.

Then, it pressed both paws over its eyes, not letting itself take another look.

The main theme was manual self-seclusion: I can't see anything.

From the moment it saw that person, it had already given up resistance; it couldn't even muster the instinct to fight back.

A fear that came from the depths of its soul, hidden in its bloodline for generations.

"..."

And after realizing the situation, Zhang Mang acted much calmer than the Yellow Sand Tiger.

He first took a deep breath, suppressing the wild thoughts in his mind, then without hesitating long, he spoke respectfully toward that mass of "void": "This junior is blind and did not notice Senior was here; I hope Senior will forgive me!"

"This junior, Zhang Mang, was abducted by thieves along with my master's Spirit Pet, the Yellow Sand Tiger, and we stumbled into this place while trying to escape the thieves' pursuit. I ask for Senior's forgiveness."

Zhang Mang jumped off the Yellow Sand Tiger's back and bowed respectfully in the direction of that person.

"We have no intention of disturbing you, but we hope Senior will allow us to stay here for a while longer. Once that person leaves, we will take the initiative to depart and will not do anything out of line."

By the end, he lowered his head deeply and bowed respectfully.

Zhang Mang's voice was neither servile nor overbearing; he did not act obsequiously because of the situation before him.

He knew that in the current situation, begging was useless.

The strong would not care about the wailing of ants.

Rather than annoying the senior expert with wailing and getting kicked out, it was better to face it calmly and state his request completely.

Whether the other party was willing to show mercy was their business, but whether to speak or not was his own business.

If he spoke, there was a certain possibility.

But if he didn't speak, there was absolutely no possibility!

Furthermore, the fact that the two of them hadn't been kicked out the moment they entered already indicated something.

Either the other party didn't care about these two little bugs that had snuck in, or they never intended to punish them in the first place.

Zhang Mang remained bowed for a long time; in the entire space, only his own breathing could be heard... the Yellow Sand Tiger had already entered a state of suspended animation, not letting out a single breath, like a specimen.

He didn't keep it up forever; if the other party never responded, was he supposed to stay bent over forever?

The young man straightened his back, took the other party's silence as tacit consent, and turned to ask: "Senior, may I absorb Spirit Stones here?"

No response.

So Zhang Mang took the Spirit Stones he had swiped from Hu Yiyi and tossed them into his mouth like candy.

He didn't know if his constitution was special; those Top-grade Spirit Stones that Hu Yiyi said could burst him countless times could be easily absorbed by him and stored in his body.

Yes, he had been faking it before; even if plundered by Heaven and Earth, he couldn't possibly consume Spirit Stones that quickly—ninety-nine percent of the Spirit Stones had been swallowed by him and stored in his body as Spirit Qi.

He didn't know where his limit was, so he kept stuffing them in until he had eaten a third of Hu Yiyi's Spirit Stones, only then feeling barely full.

But this feeling of fullness was different from being overstuffed; he now felt tired and hungry, so he asked again:

"Senior, can I eat food here? I haven't eaten for a day and a night."

No response.

Having gradually adapted, Zhang Mang took out dry rations, not caring at all where he was, chewing bite by bite, and even washing it down with water when he choked, without a shred of crisis awareness.

He didn't just look after himself; he thoughtfully offered a portion to the Yellow Sand Tiger's mouth, but the specimen-tiger gave him no face at all, keeping its mouth tightly shut.

Gradually, Zhang Mang's courage grew, and he began to ask tentatively.

"Senior, what place is this?"

No response.

"Senior, is Zhongzhou really where the Heavenly Emperor lives?"

No response.

The entire space seemed to have become a one-man show for Zhang Mang, leaving only him asking questions incessantly like a "ten thousand whys."

"Ah, right!" After speaking for quite a while, Zhang Mang suddenly realized he still did not know the other party's name, so he asked respectfully:

"Senior, may I ask for your name? How should I address you?"

Still no response!

"Senior? Sir?"

Seeing that the person still had no reaction, Zhang Mang hesitated for a moment, then finally decided to use his identity as a child to ask weakly:

"……Uncle?"

Every sentence Zhang Mang had said before made the Yellow Sand Tiger's body tremble.

It had already become somewhat numb, but at this moment, it was still shocked beyond measure.

You!

You, you, you!

How dare you still make demands!?

Do you not want to live anymore!?

The Yellow Sand Tiger was terrified and wanted to stop Zhang Mang, not letting him commit such an act of disrespect again.

But when it wanted to use divine sense transmission to warn him, it found that it didn't even have the courage to do so.

Until this sentence came out, it completely lost its composure.

You really dare to call anyone anything!!!

Thus, the finally broken Yellow Sand Tiger followed its inner impulse... and sealed its own divine sense.

Hearing, smell, taste, sight... except for touch which remained, the other four senses were all sealed, forcibly isolating itself from the outside world, actively going offline.

Forget it!

You brat, go ahead and do your thing!

If you die, you die; just don't let me hear it anymore!

This Tiger King accepts its fate...

And after the Yellow Sand Tiger gave up, that figure standing with hands behind his back finally reacted, slowly turning his head around; without even glancing at it, his deep gaze fell upon Zhang Mang.

"……Uncle?"

He raised an eyebrow, looking at the child who had been standing in place without moving a single step, and asked with some amusement: "Are you calling me?"

Listening to that clear voice, which contained a hint of playfulness amidst its calmness, Zhang Mang felt relieved in his heart and nodded weakly.

"Yes."

This proved that the other party was capable of communication, and the previous lack of response was merely because he disdained to answer.

The man stared at Zhang Mang, sizing him up for a while, and became interested in this daring boy.

He had originally thought he was just a little bug who had luckily walked here; as long as they didn't get in the way, he hadn't intended to pay them any mind at all.

But he hadn't expected this fellow to be quite interesting.

"You say you don't know what place this is?"

"I don't."

"Then how did you get in?"

That mysterious person stood under the plaque of the "Dragon Transformation Pool," looked up toward the outside, and saw Hu Yiyi waiting outside with an angry face. "The Restriction outside is not something you can touch."

"I followed the lines."

Zhang Mang did not dare to play any tricks in this regard; he pointed to his own eyes and explained honestly: "I can see the routes on the ground. White is safe, red holds great Danger Star, black means ten deaths and no life, and the path to enter here... is a golden line."

"I don't know what place this is, but it should be a path of survival."

It was not just a path of survival.

If Zhang Mang had not guessed wrong, there should be a great opportunity here.

It was precisely because of this point that he had acted so brazenly before, even somewhat courting death.

"Heavenly Eye? No, that's not right..."

The mysterious person squinted his eyes and sized him up for a while. Not knowing what he thought of, he sneered and shook his head, saying: "Heh, so it is a Hunyuan Body? I thought this constitution had already gone extinct in the Earthly Realm; I didn't expect there to still be a descendant capable of Bloodline Ancestral Return."

"Or rather, that fellow actually had descendants? Wasn't it said back then that he was single-mindedly Asking Dao and would absolutely never seek a Dao companion?"

"Heh heh, what's so rare about a Hunyuan Body? When it comes down to it, isn't it still human? Don't they have the same seven emotions and six desires?"

Zhang Mang blinked his eyes, his little face full of confusion. He had no idea what the other party was talking about. It seemed he was talking about his own ancestor? Did he know his ancestor?

However, although he was very curious, he remained silent.

Before the mysterious person spoke, he had asked whatever came to mind, seemingly without fear.

But once the other party truly responded, he honestly shut his mouth; he listened to whatever the other party said and would never ask more.

And after the mysterious person sneered for quite a while, he suddenly felt a bit sorrowful, shook his head with a sigh, and lamented: "Those people from back then, now, are all gone."

After the mysterious person sighed with emotion, he turned his head to look at the plaque overhead, shook his head slightly, and then asked without looking back:

"Do you know about dragons?"

"Uh... I, I know a little." Zhang Mang did not understand what mystery lay in the mysterious person's words and could only answer honestly: "True Dragons are the leaders of all demons, and like the Phoenix, Heavenly Fox, and other Demon God, they are all great beings of the Ascension Realm."

What is the meaning of asking this?

Could there be anyone in this world who doesn't know about dragons?

"Just this? As expected, you only know a little." The mysterious person shook his head, not understanding how people of later generations could not even understand this most basic knowledge. He stopped asking and began to explain directly:

"Dragons are divided into Innate Dragon and Acquired Dragon."

"The Innate Dragon is the first dragon born between Heaven and Earth; it is born of Heaven and raised by Earth, the only one in the world, and the ancestor of all dragons."

"And apart from that Innate Dragon of Heaven and Earth, all other dragons, including those so-called True Dragon Demon God in your mouths, are all Acquired Dragon."

"Acquired Dragon are divided into two types. One type is the offspring of the Innate Dragon, flowing with True Dragon blood, gradually activating the True Dragon blood, and finally transforming into an ancestor."

"The other type is evolved postnatally on its own; as strength increases, one can gradually draw closer to a dragon. This process is called... Dragon Transformation."

Zhang Mang was bewildered; he had never heard of dragons being divided into innate and postnatal, yet he did not doubt it, only feeling as if a brand-new door had been pushed open before his eyes.

"Then do you know what the requirements for Dragon Transformation are?"

Zhang Mang blinked, wanting to speak, but the mysterious person answered their own question, not expecting him to say anything at all, and gave the answer directly:

"There are no restrictions."

"As long as it is what the heart desires, all things can undergo Dragon Transformation."

"Demons, ghosts, monsters, birds, and beasts—as long as there is this intent, there is nothing that cannot become a dragon; all living beings can be dragons."

All living beings can be dragons!!!

Zhang Mang only felt a shock in his heart, his eyes widened, and his breathing even stalled.

"It is just that this path of Dragon Transformation is far too difficult, far less easy than for those who originally possess true Dragon Blood; even though all living beings can walk it, in the end, only a sparse few succeed and shed their forms to become true dragons."

Speaking to this point, the mysterious person's originally somewhat impassioned mood became calm, and they said indifferently, with no discernible emotion:

"Thus, some people thought of a shortcut."

"Since there is no true Dragon Blood, wouldn't it be fine to just add it?"

"They built a pool, submerged a dragon corpse at the bottom of the pool, and had the sin-dragon inject Dragon Blood into the pool; as long as one cultivates in this pool, one has a chance to obtain true Dragon Blood."

"They called this pool... the Dragon Transformation Pool."

Speaking to the end, the mysterious person turned their head back again, staring at the child who had already immersed his mind in this ancient secret, the corners of their mouth slightly curled up, and asked:

"Do you..."

"Also want to become a dragon?"