Although the Nine-Curved Crystal Jade Tree was extraordinarily precious and a priceless treasure, Yang Kai didn't absolutely need to have it. So when he discovered the tree, he had only felt a brief flicker of excitement before quickly returning to normal.
But when he considered that the long bone before him might be the dragon bone of a legendary ancient dragon, he could no longer contain the excitement welling up from deep within his heart.
Dragons and Phoenixes were two of the most powerful beings in existence, entities born alongside heaven and earth from the very inception of creation. They were the natural sovereigns of the Monster Race by birthright, yet they existed only in legends—whether on the Tongxuan Continent or across the Star Domain, this much was the same.
No one had ever laid eyes on dragons or phoenixes, though descendants carrying traces of their bloodlines had survived through the ages.
For instance, on the Tongxuan Continent, the Monster Race's Great Venerable Lei Long carried a sliver of ancient dragon blood within him. And the Thunderwood that Yang Kai had previously obtained—its predecessor had been the tenth-grade demon beast Lei Luan, a Thunder Phoenix that bore a thread of phoenix bloodline within. After the Thunder Phoenix died, its essence, spirit, and vitality—even its demon core—had fused together, giving birth to that piece of Thunderwood, which had drawn sustenance from them.
The Thunderwood was still stored within Yang Kai's Black Book space, untouched to this day. It was far too precious, and Yang Kai couldn't bring himself to hand it over to Yang Yan for refining artifacts.
The Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress legacies that Yang Kai and Su Yan had each obtained also bore the shadows of these two supreme beings. This was why the Great Venerable Lei Long had once remarked that Yang Kai carried a faint aura of the Monster Emperor about him.
These two supreme beings could practically be called immortal—indestructible entities that could never be destroyed!
Yet the long bone before him bore a striking resemblance to a legendary dragon bone, and this left Yang Kai deeply puzzled, uncertain whether his guess was correct. If dragons and phoenixes were immortal beings, then where had this dragon bone come from?
If his guess was right, then could that pigeon-egg-sized sphere be a dragon pearl? And the small serpent coiled inside it—a remnant wisp of a dragon's soul?
Regardless, he would take them both first. There would be plenty of time to study them once he returned. Having made up his mind, Yang Kai drew a deep breath and reached out to seize the sphere before him.
But before his fingers could make contact, the small serpent, still writhing restlessly inside the sphere, opened its mouth and spat out a puff of cyan mist. The mist passed straight through the sphere and enveloped Yang Kai's outstretched hand.
He felt nothing unpleasant at first, but his expression changed drastically in an instant.
Once the cyan mist had shrouded his hand, he suddenly realized that his hand had gone completely numb. Worse still, a patch of wood-like grain was rapidly sprouting across the back of his hand, as though in the next moment his entire hand would transform into timber.
And the transformation was spreading—crawling from his hand up along his arm, threatening to turn his entire body to wood.
Yang Kai was horrified. He yanked his hand back at once and activated his Demonic Flames.
The black fire blazed to life. Yang Kai intended to use the Demonic Flames to disperse the strange energy, but what made his soul nearly flee his body was that even the terrifying power of the Demonic Flames couldn't immediately drive the cyan mist from his hand—it could barely manage to halt its advance.
The numbness in his hand grew worse still. Yang Kai's expression shifted between light and dark, and even the circulation of his Sacred Yuan was blocked and sluggish.
Fortunately, the Demonic Flames were no ordinary force—they could not be compared to the Sacred Yuan of common warriors. For a time, the black Demonic Flames and the cyan mist locked into a stalemate on Yang Kai's wrist. The cyan mist couldn't push forward a single inch, and the Demonic Flames couldn't vanquish it outright either, only holding it at bay.
After observing the situation for a while, Yang Kai allowed himself a small measure of relief. As long as the Demonic Flames could restrain it, that was enough.
Yet despite this harrowing ordeal, rather than growing angry or terrified, he found himself even more certain that his guess had been correct.
That small serpent's spirit was incomplete and fragmented, and it was incredibly weak. Otherwise, it would never have simply remained here without fleeing—its earlier chase and escape had surely pushed it to the very edge of collapse. And even so, a single puff of cyan light from its mouth had wielded such devastating power. If it had been at its peak, Yang Kai estimated that a single breath from the creature would have blown him to dust.
This was without question the remnant soul of an ancient dragon. How else could it possess such formidable might?
After that single blast of cyan light, the already weakened serpent grew even more feeble. Its head drooped limply, and its body flickered in and out of solidity, appearing half-transparent—as though it might dissipate at any moment.
Seeing this, Yang Kai didn't hesitate a moment longer. He reached in and swiftly extracted both the sphere and the long bone, tossing them into his Black Book space.
He had no mind left for mining sacred crystals. This trip to the underground had yielded not only the Nine-Curved Crystal Jade Tree, a supreme treasure of heaven and earth, but also what appeared to be a dragon pearl and a dragon bone. The haul from this single excursion was beyond imagining.
He sat cross-legged on the ground and began devoting all his power to resisting the cyan energy that had invaded his body.
His Sacred Yuan surged. Yang Kai drove his Demonic Flames toward his hand, concentrating them there. The roaring black fire blazed even more fiercely, its raging flames threatening to consume the very fabric of space itself.
The cyan mist, which had previously been able to stand toe to toe with the Demonic Flames, began retreating in rapid succession. Though the pace of its withdrawal was swift, it was still being steadily forced out of his body, drop by drop.
Cyan liquid dripped from Yang Kai's fingertips, striking the ground with soft, rhythmic patters.
Two days later, Yang Kai rose to his feet. He waved his hand experimentally and, finding it completely restored, gave a slight nod of satisfaction and relaxed.
He turned to look at the sacred crystal vein he had been mining, then set to work hollowing out the area before him for ten zhang in every direction, ensuring no traces were left behind that might give someone cause for suspicion.