Chapter 587: Fierce Nature (23)

"Roar—"

Ao Zhun is dying.

Blood.

His eyes are filled with blood.

Some is the enemy's, and some is his own.

This old Dragon King of the East Sea, who once guarded a region for the Demon Race and once brought disaster to a region, is about to meet his final death.

He was once glorious, becoming the Great General Suppressing the East Sea of the Demon Race.

He once betrayed them, declaring himself king and becoming the master of the East Sea Dragon Palace.

He once went mad; in order to achieve immortality, he cruelly used his own offspring as vessels for reincarnation.

All this betrayal, all this madness, was for only one goal—Dragon Transformation and ascending to godhood.

But in the end, he did not succeed.

Relying on the essence blood and remnant souls in the Dragon Transformation Pool to forcibly undergo metamorphosis, he ascended to the half-step Ascending to Immortality realm, becoming a half-dragon.

But two fists cannot fight four hands; under the siege of dozens of Asking Dao and Formless cultivators, even a half-immortal will meet death.

Each wound, each attack, made Ao Zhun increasingly mad while also making his soul increasingly weak.

In the end, his mad spirit had a moment of clarity.

That moment was very, very short, but it was enough for him to make the right choice: to escape from here. Although it would be pathetic, he could survive.

But Ao Zhun did not; he did not choose to escape.

In that moment of clarity, what Ao Zhun felt was not fear, but exhilaration.

Blood surged in his vessels, and surging Dharma Power coursed through his withered flesh; everything became so strange, yet so delightful.

Ao Zhun could no longer remember how many years it had been since he had fought so recklessly without regard for the consequences.

He had almost forgotten this feeling.

To survive, he began to avoid fighting others, preferring to smooth things over.

To survive, he began to reduce the number of times he struck, no longer intimidating those generals who harbored ulterior motives.

To survive, he even slept in dreams for years on end, just to hold on for a little longer.

He held on.

Zhongzhou has reappeared in the Earthly Realm, the recovery of Heaven and Earth is imminent, and the days of the immortals contending for supremacy are about to arrive—but he will likely not see it.

He was deceived by others, tricked into this graveyard to serve as a sacrificial offering.

He was cheated by others; the problems on those walls had nothing to do with the Seal at all!

He was plotted against by others; the essence blood and remnant souls in the Dragon Transformation Pool drove him into madness and exacted a heavy price.

By this moment, he understood all of this.

But at this very moment, those rights and wrongs no longer had any meaning.

They were gone.

Ao Zhun chose to charge into the battlefield once more. He did not know how many more people he could kill, did not know how many more people his mouth could bite, did not know how many more people his claws could tear to shreds...

He no longer cared.

At the very end, Ao Zhun had forgotten the conspiracies and schemes behind this, and he did not go to investigate why he had fallen into madness; none of that mattered anymore.

Fight.

"Roar!!!"

And so the Azure Dragon hissed, soaring into the sky with blood dripping from its entire body, circling in the high altitude and scattering scalding Dragon Blood.

"Not good! It's going to run! We can't let it run!"

"This beast is going to run!"

Run?

The Azure Dragon snorted in derision, mocking this group of idiots who understood nothing.

Hahaha!

A bunch of fools!

Fight!

"How could I run!?"

Then it dove down from the high altitude, crushing toward that group of little insects.

Fight!!!

"Go to hell!!!"

"Hahahahahaha!!!"

With terrifying momentum, the Azure Dragon descended from the sky like a meteor pulled toward the earth, taking away three Formless cultivators who could not dodge in time with its mouth, claws, and tail.

Boom!!!

The old dragon struggled to crawl up from the air, wanting to continue the slaughter, but one person had been waiting for a long time.

The massive figure of the Azure Dragon Lord appeared among the clouds, brandishing a long spear forged from lightning toward Ao Zhun, who was struggling to crawl out of the crater.

Ssh—

The lightning pierced the old dragon's brow, destroying his body, but it could not break his unyielding fighting spirit that lasted until the end.

Ao Zhun held his head high, glaring at the Azure Dragon Lord in the sky, and let out one final roar.

Roar!!!

And then, there was no more movement.

He was dead.

In the end, Ao Zhun did not die of old age, but died in battle on the battlefield.

As a general, he was not qualified enough; he had a rebellious nature and ultimately betrayed his clan for his own selfish desires.

As the Dragon King, he ignored the affairs of the world, spending his days seeking Chang Sheng and cultivating, leaving the East Sea to fall into chaos.

As a father, he was the most unqualified of the unqualified; he never truly loved his offspring, never bestowed upon them the slightest bit of affection, and even treated them as spare vessels for soul possession.

But as a cultivator struggling against Heaven and Earth and all things, he was qualified, fighting until the very last moment of his life.

The Azure Dragon Lord took away Ao Zhun's remains, taking them away in their entirety.

Afterwards, he would strip the tendons and peel the skin, and refine all the essence blood within its body.

But before that, the Azure Dragon Lord would not be stingy about showing his respect to such an existence.

Ao Zhun had won the respect of the Azure Dragon Lord.

Even if the price was his death.

……

……

Eastern Wasteland, Flame Mountain.

A massive pill furnace, fully ten zhang tall, was built right atop the volcanic crater; the earth fire erupting from the volcano burned more than half of the furnace until it was red and glowing, and one could even vaguely see the shadow inside constantly struggling.

That monster, which could barely be recognized as human, had its arms tightly bound; it struggled violently, trying to break the chains, while constantly roaring in pain.

But it failed; the gradually heating chains instead caused its body to burn.

The interior of the pill furnace was filled with a charred stench and the smell of blood, but even after enduring such great pain, it remained full of vitality, revealing astonishing life force.

Every time it desperately tried to drill its way out, the surrounding air seemed to be filled with its Evil Qi, and the entire pill furnace was shrouded in its fierce might.

Although this monster suffered inhumane refining, its aura became increasingly tenacious, still roaring furiously like a warrior who refused to submit, its battle intent never dissipating even in the depths of despair.

"Roar!!!"

Accompanied by a painful roar that did not sound human, a heaven-shaking thumping sound came from within the huge pill furnace.

The monster being burned and refined in the furnace had not died; at least for now, it was very spirited, even using its head to slam against the furnace walls.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Every impact caused the entire pill furnace to shake, as if it would break out of the furnace the next moment.

And the few people guarding outside the pill furnace had different expressions regarding this situation.

"Listen to what a beautiful sound this is! Such a robust physique, such enviable vitality!" One gloomy old man, far from feeling panicked, was instead extremely excited.

He twitched his nose, smelling the stench in the air, and took a satisfied breath, letting the gas flow into his lungs before slowly exhaling it through his nasal cavity, "This is the scent; I smell the scent of life!"

But the others were somewhat disgusted by his fanatical appearance and silently moved a few steps away from him; the old man noticed this but did not care at all.

He and these people were only temporarily partnered together to capture that monster; once the spoils were divided at the end, they would go their separate ways.

"It doesn't matter, these guys are all dead weight anyway... hehehehe." The old man thought, suddenly letting out a sinister, strange laugh, leaped to the top of the pill furnace, pushed open a gap, and added other auxiliary materials into the furnace—some poisonous insects that looked ferocious and ugly.

Hiss!!!

Those originally dormant poisonous insects would wake up rapidly after falling into the high temperature, then begin to frantically bite everything they saw, and inside that pill furnace, the only living thing was the monster that was no longer human and nearly charred.

Crack.

Crack.

"Roar!!!"

The monster let out another painful roar; the sound waves rushed to the outside the moment the furnace lid was opened, shaking the surrounding people so that they all took a step back, and the most pathetic one even retreated three steps, nearly falling to the ground.

"Howl! Suffer! Your anger and pain will all become the best materials!" The old man nodded with satisfaction, the excitement in his eyes growing, and he reached out to take a new handful of poisonous insects from the pouch at his waist.

But just before he could add more materials, the pouch at his waist was snatched away. "Hey! You guy, don't add random things!"

A woman who looked middle-aged but had withered white hair gripped the old man's pouch containing the poisonous insects tightly and said with disgust, "He is not medicine for you alone; we also need to consume it, so don't add any more messy things inside."

"We only came here because we believed you when you said you could maximize the efficacy of his medicine; I warn you! Don't you dare think about playing any tricks, otherwise... Hmph! With the four of us together, you will surely die!"

Following the middle-aged woman's threat, the remaining three also walked slowly to the front of the pill furnace, forming a triangular encirclement.

The middle-aged woman's intention was actually that of the other three as well; they all did not want this eccentric Witch Priest to add anything more to the pill furnace.

Witch Priests were not rare in the Eastern Wasteland; if people like them wanted to harm others, there were simply too many ways to do so.

"Do you think I would harm you? Hehehe... You are overthinking it; those were just medicine primers; without them, the efficacy of the Great Pill would drop by thirty percent."

The old man was not surprised by their reaction, not panicked at all, and even allowed them to approach him with great ease, saying casually, "Let me explain with an example: if the original Great Pill could extend life by one thousand years, without adding them, it would be at least three hundred years less; three hundred years! Hehe... Little one, why don't you ask them if they agree or not?"

The middle-aged woman's expression shifted, and just as she was about to speak, she suddenly felt the other three casting questioning and resentful gazes at her.

!!!

You bunch of guys!?

Wasn't it you who insisted that I stop him just now?

Why have you suddenly defected?

Damn it!

People who form temporary teams really cannot be trusted!

The middle-aged woman knew she had become a scapegoat for the others; she did not offer any defense, silently lowering her head as if she had swallowed this bitter pill.

But when returning the pouch to the old man, her expression changed, and in retaliation, she threw the entire pouch in her hand directly into the furnace!

"Hmph! Is that good enough now? Are you all satisfied?" The middle-aged woman tilted her head, admiring the old man's changing expression.

Now you know how serious this is, right!?

"Damn it! What have you done!?"

The incident happened suddenly, and even the experienced old man did not react in time, missing the pouch; "Damn it! It's over!" Just as the old man was preparing to seal the lid completely, the change began.

Thump.

Accompanied by a muffled sound, the first person fell, followed immediately by the second, the third... Although their physical bodies were weak and they could not even mobilize their Dharma Power, their consciousnesses remained clear, their eyes wide open.

"What happened!? Poison!?"

In the end, the only ones who remained conscious were the middle-aged woman and the Shaman Priest elder, and even they could barely stand.

"Did you poison us?"

The moment the middle-aged woman realized the situation, she covered her mouth and nose and sealed every pore on her body to prevent the poisonous gas from entering her system, yet even then, she did not forget to blame and shift responsibility, sending a telepathic message to curse: "You old bastard! I knew you had no good intentions, I will definitely..."

Slap!

"Bitch! Who told you to put all those poisonous insects in there!? This is all your fault!!!" The Shaman Priest elder raised his hand and struck the woman hard across the face, then coughed up a mouthful of black blood himself.

Having been careless, he had actually been poisoned as well, though because his poison resistance was higher, he appeared to be in better condition; he growled: "Do you still not know the characteristics of that guy!? The more you poison him, the stronger he becomes..."

Crack!

Crack!

Crack-crack-crack-crack...

The rapid gnawing sound coming from the pill furnace interrupted their conversation, causing both of them to freeze.

They suddenly thought of a question they had previously overlooked:

This gnawing sound—was it the poisonous insects gnawing on the monster? Or... was that monster gnawing on the poisonous insects?

Crack!!!

Boom—accompanied by an unprecedentedly loud roar, a large hole was smashed through the entire pill furnace, revealing a monster that had forcibly torn off its own arm to break free from the chains, and then eaten the severed limb to make it grow back.

The charred monster walked slowly out of the pill furnace; in its hand was a bag of poisonous insects like snacks, which he tossed into his mouth, chewing them like treats.

Crack!

The monster's entire body was charred black by the furnace fire, but when it smiled, it revealed a pair of ferocious white teeth and a pair of golden eyes filled with violent killing intent.

"Roar!!!"