Chapter 83: Beneath the Ancient Tree.
As the Golden Thunder King’s fur brushed past, with the golden lightning being drained away, the final strike from the battle-worn Thunder Wolf Dragon’s crippled claw also dissipated.
Was it truly because the golden thunder was gone, leaving no strength behind, or was it due to the leniency given during the lashing of the golden thunder?
The battle-worn Thunder Wolf Dragon didn’t know; it had already passed out.
Jié Jié looked at the battle-worn Thunder Wolf Dragon, then at the golden thunder carried by the Thunder Light Bugs.
In the young Thunder Wolf Dragon’s confusion, he transformed into a Male Fire Dragon.
The crackling golden thunder struck his body, causing him pain all over, but the rootless golden thunder rapidly faded.
He relished the joy of nurturing young dragons, much like enjoying raising kittens or puppies, a subjective happiness.
But the entanglement with the Thunder Wolf Dragon clan in the form of the Golden Thunder King was never something he willingly accepted.
The Thunder Wolf Dragons didn’t need him, a leader who kept changing forms and was rarely around.
Not to mention, the real Golden Thunder King wasn’t dead yet, leading the Thunder Wolf Dragon clan elsewhere, migrating to unknown destinations and settling down somewhere else.
The Male Fire Dragon flapped his wings as Jie Jie found the abandoned luggage, returning to the side of the fire dragons. Amidst their chaotic cries, he resumed gnawing on the Swift Dragon meat that was left unfinished.
After finishing the last piece of Swift Dragon meat, he led the baby dragons towards the Ancient Tree.
The fire dragons he raised would learn to fly atop the crown of the Ancient Tree; the starting point should be there.
…
As they approached the Ancient Tree, Jie Jie detected a significant radiation field of Earth Pulse Energy.
Following the direction of the energy field’s radiation, a raging Savage Jaw Dragon charged towards Jie Jie but was subdued by the Fire Dragon’s pounce and dive.
He applied his entire weight through his claws, pinning down the Savage Jaw Dragon’s neck.
The Fire Dragon’s gaze locked with the Savage Jaw Dragon’s, followed by a high-pitched roar.
The Savage Jaw Dragon’s eyes instantly cleared after enduring the close-range sonic blast, and its body struggled even more wildly.
Jie Jie took flight, ceasing to suppress the Savage Jaw Dragon, merely watching as it fled disheveled and disappeared from sight.
He redirected his attention back to this astonishing anomaly.
The massive roots of the Ancient Tree partially flipped up due to crustal movements; from the traces, this had happened quite a while ago.
The soil beneath the roots had been smoothed out by time, becoming flat.
But the positions once filled by the Ancient Tree’s roots remained hollow, forming deep tunnels.
Inside these tunnels, light bugs and glowing moss emitted light, like the tunnel’s eyes, flashing invitingly to passing travelers.
The tunnels were spacious enough for the Male Fire Dragon to enter, but the Sky Dog Beast could go inside too.
Picking the glowing moss, he squeezed it into a ball in his hand as a makeshift light source.
Seeds of plants were blown out, growing slender yet numerous in the nutrient-rich soil despite the lack of sunlight.
Large yellow spiders wove webs among the plants, which Jie Jie swatted away, pushing aside vines and continuing downward.
As the depth increased, exposed mineral veins appeared on the edges of the tunnel, seemingly in an outward-growing state.
Growing upward from the bottom of the tunnel, they covered half of it before piercing through the top.
“Bang!”
The Sky Dog Beast smashed the mineral veins with his fist, clearing the path forward.
“Aoouugh.”
The baby dragons behind him seemed restless and uneasy; they, who should rule the skies, ought to soar under vast skies, not buried so deeply underground.
Jie Jie extended his palm to stroke their heads, offering comfort.
Finally, they reached the end of the tunnel, arriving at the great cavern beneath the Ancient Tree.
This place was a paradise for various insects, different kinds gathering around the edges of the glowing moss, using their front limbs to tear pieces off and send them into their mouths.
There were also insects pulling those feeding on the glowing moss away from it, sending them into their own mouths.
These insects were not small; Jie Jie could even feel army ants crawling across his feet, biting his fur.
“Snap!”
He snapped his fingers, and the fire dragons behind him spat flames, igniting the bugs with crackling sounds, fully illuminating the underground cavern.
Bats hanging from the top of the cavern caught fire, screeching chaotically as they spread the flames elsewhere.
Casually slapping out the flames on himself, he discovered under the firelight that this underground cavern connected to other tunnels, forming a network.
Leaving a mark in the tunnel they came from, Jie Jie crushed the glowing moss in his hand, leaving a thin but luminous trail on the ground as he moved.
A damaged mask of the Odd-Faced Tribe was picked up; the formation of these tunnels might have involved the Odd-Faced Tribe.
Numerous creatures that had died here formed a Bone Tomb, but after digging a few times, only giant beetles were unearthed.
Lifting his foot, he crushed the giant beetle, its bodily fluids splattering, attracting smaller bugs to come and lick.
Apart from the mineral veins, there was nothing else in this underground cavern.
The Sky Dog Beast’s body twisted left and right, with Jie Jie evaluating which tunnel was worth exploring more.
He finally chose the one that looked like it went downward, just like in some pixel game where the deeper you go underground, the more likely you are to find diamonds.
But the last silhouette of the fire dragon didn’t disappear long in the tunnel before being pushed out again with the others.
“Sometimes, tunnels going downward get narrower and turn into dead ends.”
Supplementing a bit of glowing moss from the wall, Jie Jie switched to another tunnel and continued downward.
As the depth increased, the familiar sensation gradually intensified until Jie Jie discovered ahead was a dead-end sealed by numerous crystallized mineral veins.
The Sky Dog Beast raised his fists, one punch, two punches…
Only a little of the mineral vein was shattered.
“Aoouugh!”
Iron Pot gathered a bit of heat, but closed its mouth again when Jie Jie tapped his head.
Who knows what kind of chemical reaction these mineral veins might have with fire? Using physical means was the best approach.
The Sky Dog Beast slightly crouched down, then surged forward with force, ramming the mineral vein with his shoulder.
“Bang!”
A large amount of mineral fragments fell to the ground, but through the gaps in the crystals, it could be seen that the entire tunnel was sealed by crystallization.
The energy radiation field felt here was already very strong, indicating that the goal was right at the end!
Even within these crystals, Earth Pulse Energy could be felt, but the energy was too weak and in a non-circulating condensed state, making it hard to absorb.
He grabbed a large piece of hard mineral vein as a tool, knocking each crystal one by one, finding the Earth Pulse Crystals he needed after breaking through the crystalline blockade.
Jie Jie relaxed his body, ignoring the sharp mineral fragments on the ground, directly crouching on the Earth Pulse Crystals that flowed like liquid.
Suck it up!
After immersing his mind, he realized this Earth Pulse was still a tributary, even a broken tributary that no longer entered the Earth Pulse cycle.
That’s why the outer layer had solidified extensively, existing in a solid crystalline state. Even in a few years, this broken tributary would completely solidify.
Even so, this Earth Pulse was deeper than the one he absorbed in the forest before, with more abundant energy.
Chapter 84
