Chapter 144: Like a Blade to the Neck.
A dragon can survive without its Dragon Crystal.
Jie Jie didn’t understand the mechanics behind it, but the Dragon Crystal was a peculiar power source generated within monsters, akin to adding an extra hard drive to boost organ efficiency.
The horrifying injuries required to extract a Dragon Crystal might cause bacterial infections, which for a Corpse Suit Dragon would be laughable.
Yet oddly, microbial chaos harmed the Corpse Suit Dragon’s body in ways eerily similar to that joke.
Jie Jie had to guide the miasma in the right direction; otherwise, he’d end up as nothing more than a corpse dressed in a Corpse Suit Dragon costume serving time.
Meanwhile, he felt the good feng shui of the Corpse Suit Dragon’s nest.
Here, one could more acutely sense the contours of an energy field — the shape of the earth veins, the breath of the New Continent.
The cycle of life existed beneath death.
Jie Jie marveled at this, drawing in the rising part of his breathing.
Like the rock atop an underground river, he absorbed the water vapor from the flow without affecting the river itself.
Just a bit of moisture benefited him greatly.
As the microbes aligned with their proper paths, the Corpse Suit Dragon’s condition improved, its bodily functions restarting and spontaneously correcting the miasma.
Jie Jie knew it was time to leave. But before departing, he tore off what looked like a fine set of rotting meat from the Corpse Suit Dragon and hung it on himself.
With a leap into the nearby acid pool near the Corpse Suit Dragon’s nest, he swam into the underground acidic ocean.
Thanks to the Water Dragon Gem granting him swimming expertise, he dove deep, rocks above wanting to fall into the river below, soaking themselves in the current.
Would the rock sink to the bottom or be eroded into powder by the water?
A faint auditory hallucination freed him from the temptation of the blade-to-neck allure, allowing him to deeply breathe despite the pain caused by the corrosive liquid, which also brought clarity.
He recalled such temptations weren’t unfamiliar; a similar glow lingered in the old Steel Dragon’s memories.
That guy already had a blade to the neck, decades enough to truly pierce everyone’s throat.
An enemy of survival, one with infinite potential!
Jie Jie surfaced from the acidic sea, gasping for air on the shallow shore.
He noticed much of the tough rotten flesh on him had decomposed during the dive, exposing scales now marked with signs of corrosion.
Would they strangle him in the cradle? But where was his cradle?
Jie Jie looked toward a direction, knowing it led to the Dragon Crystal Land.
Other Ancient Dragons might have gone there, either as nourishment or to eliminate threats.
But he pondered if eliminating the threat wasn’t also part of the temptation, another ploy.
To go or not to go?
Go, but there was plenty of time before doing so.
Jie Jie wrapped himself in miasma and re-entered the Corpse Suit Dragon’s nest.
It had been quite some time since he left for the deep dive; the nest’s owner had gone out, letting Jie Jie reclaim this prime spot to safely absorb the splashes from the flowing earth veins.
As time passed, the heavily wounded Corpse Suit Dragon returned after a busy day but failed to notice the monster hiding in its home.
Jie Jie’s mastery over miasma surpassed the current Corpse Suit Dragon’s. Microbes could break down his scent molecules and form fungal filaments, burying his traces.
He could even hide under a pile of corpses, pretending to be one, darkly observing the resting Corpse Suit Dragon.
When the Corpse Suit Dragon went out, he stealthily followed, supervising this Market Administrator to ensure diligent work.
After feeling somewhat too creepy himself, he wandered around.
And during this wandering, he found Detel.
They resembled Ailu Cats, cat-like beastmen scattered across the New Continent. The ones living deep in the Valley of Miasma were the “Valley Raiders.”
Jie Jie transformed into a Sky Dog Beast, cautiously approaching two Detels he saw, gesturing to show no hostility.
But these beastmen living in harsh lands were highly vigilant. Upon seeing the Sky Dog Beast, they didn’t wait for his gestures and immediately ran away.
Jie Jie chased them, intending to find the Raiders’ base.
The two Detels seemed to realize something. One agilely leaped toward him, while the other fled into a cave.
“Meow?”
Jie Jie mimicked a cat call, carefully inching closer to Detel.
“Meow!”
The attacking Detel jumped from the ground straight onto the Sky Dog Beast, wielding a Raiding Knife with swift slashes.
Jie Jie scratched backward, but the nimble attacker bounced to another part of him, causing only minor damage.
He simply jumped, using his tail to balance like a roly-poly toy, violently shaking until he shook the Detel off.
Jie Jie extended his claw toward the shaken-off Detel.
Facing the incoming claw, the Detel’s Raiding Knife clashed against it, propelling himself away to avoid being caught.
“Ah.”
Jie Jie sighed helplessly, finding them much tougher than the Odd-Faced Tribe.
At least the Odd-Faced Tribe wasn’t this skilled.
Fine then, maybe next time.
As Jie Jie turned to leave, the Detel didn’t pursue him.
In the following days, Jie Jie shifted his focus from the Corpse Suit Dragon to Detel, recalling how in the game he interacted with Detel to obtain the Raiding Knife.
Detel chose to settle in the lower levels of the Valley of Miasma, where food was scarce. In the game, the Investigation Team lured them out with food after understanding their culture, collaborating through an Ailu Cat follower who learned the Detel language.
The Investigation Team provided food for the Detels, and in return, the Detels assisted the team’s activities in the Valley of Miasma.
They also gave away the legendary artifact capable of gouging out the Black Dragon’s eye.
Thinking about this, Jie Jie found a nearby Grim Claw Dragon, launching a surprise attack to snatch the meat from its mouth.
Grim Claw Dragons had the habit of storing meat, even marinating it, making their personally cured meat especially delicious.
Jie Jie sniffed the meat he held, almost drooling. After hesitating for half a second, he chased the Grim Claw Dragon he just drove away, punching his way all the way to its nest and stealing half of the stored meat.
“Bro Claw’s skills are truly amazing!”
Placing a piece of meat where Detel often appeared while under observation, Jie Jie began guarding, munching on the meat.
~~~
Chapter 145…
