Half an hour later, the entire Wood Spirit Spring had been completely absorbed into
The Gold-Munching Mouse King stared slack-jawed, full of admiration. "Incredible, incredible! Truly worthy of being the King of Beasts, the royal bloodline of the beast race. That ability to swallow heaven and earth — it's absolutely unmatched among all beasts. Young Master Long, old Jin is truly impressed."
The Gold-Munching Mouse King's personality was somewhat similar to
These words were obviously nothing more than flattery, designed to win Long Xiaoxuan's favor.
In terms of strength and bloodline, Long Xiaoxuan was indeed far superior to the Gold-Munching Mouse King. But in terms of age, Long Xiaoxuan wasn't actually that much older than
The difference was that while still inside his dragon egg, he had been nurtured by the Wood Spirit Spring. Before he even hatched, some of his inherited memories had already awakened.
In other words, Long Xiaoxuan's inherited memories had been awakening for several hundred years, but his actual hatching and the gradual formation of his true dragon body were events of only the last thirty years or so.
On top of that, dragons were naturally proud creatures, and their emotional intelligence had never been particularly high.
So when the Gold-Munching Mouse King laid on the flattery, Long Xiaoxuan immediately felt a pleasant sense of floating on air. That sleazy Mouse King clan suddenly didn't seem quite so repulsive anymore.
Jiang Chen understood all of this perfectly well, but saw no reason to expose it.
"Brother Long, have you mastered the basics of the Transformation Art?"
Long Xiaoxuan didn't respond with words. Instead, his magical form shimmered, and his massive body was suddenly cloaked in a faint halo of light.
Under that halo, Long Xiaoxuan's body began to shrink — smaller and smaller.
In moments, it had contracted to the size of a mustard seed.
"Excellent! Concealing your form like this — truly worthy of the orthodox dragon bloodline." Jiang Chen clapped his hands and laughed, genuinely stunned by the cultivation talent inherent in the dragon bloodline.
This ability to conceal one's form was something human martial artists, even those who had reached the Emperor-level, probably could never truly achieve with their physical bodies.
At best, they could cultivate certain concealment techniques to mask their magical form. But actually shrinking their body to the size of a mustard seed — even Emperor-level powerhouses likely couldn't pull it off.
By now, the water at the bottom of the Wood Spirit Spring had been completely drained, and all manner of rare treasures and exotic treasures gradually revealed themselves.
The Gold-Munching Mouse King's children and grandchildren didn't dare hoard any of it for themselves. One by one they brought everything up and presented it to Jiang Chen.
These treasures were actually Long Xiaoxuan's companion treasures — items that had formed alongside him.
A dragon's entire body was treasure. Even the secretions of a dragon being could, over time, become valuable artifacts, let alone items that had been nurtured within the Wood Spirit Spring itself.
Countless Ling Shi were piled up like mountains. All manner of Spiritual Medicines lay spread out in dazzling abundance.
"Brother Long, do you still want any of these treasures?" Jiang Chen asked, deferring to Long Xiaoxuan's opinion.
"I already collected anything useful." Long Xiaoxuan was utterly dismissive of the rest.
Dragons had exceedingly high standards — Jiang Chen knew that well. Long Xiaoxuan's reply was exactly what Jiang Chen wanted to hear, so he was more than happy to claim everything for himself.
These Ling Shi and Spiritual Medicines represented an absolutely staggering fortune.
Though Jiang Chen had recently escaped his resource crisis, once you'd been poor in the martial arts world, no one ever wanted to be poor again.
Martial cultivation demanded ever-greater resources the further one progressed.
So when it came to resources, no one ever complained about having too much. Only too few.
This was also why, the stronger a martial artist became, the fewer such powerhouses there were. The total pool of resources was finite, and not everyone could have enough. In the end, it all came down to strength, luck, and wits to seize what you needed.
After sweeping through the area one final time and confirming nothing of value remained, Jiang Chen decided it was time to leave.
Long Xiaoxuan concealed his form and departed the mountain alongside Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen could sense the tension in Long Xiaoxuan's mind. Though the dragon was immensely powerful — even an ordinary Emperor-level expert might not necessarily defeat him — he had never once left this place since awakening his inherited memories.
Suddenly having to venture out, it was impossible for him to feel absolutely no apprehension.
"Brother Long, don't worry. The outside world may be dangerous, but with our combined strength, unless we run into one of those reclusive old monsters, there's nothing much to fear."
Jiang Chen communicated through divine sense.
Though anxious inside, Long Xiaoxuan would never admit it verbally. "You're overthinking things. I'm simply reluctant to leave this place — a touch sentimental, that's all. Who told you I was worried?"
Jiang Chen smiled and didn't press the matter. He understood that everything needed time to adjust.
Once they left the deep cavern, the path out was completely unobstructed. It wasn't until they approached the Magma Zone that Jiang Chen realized Mu Gaoqi hadn't made it out. He was trapped in the Magma Zone, unable to cross.
The Magma Lord was evidently very vindictive — after all these days, he was still holding his ground in the Magma Zone, waiting patiently for their group to return.
When Mu Gaoqi saw Jiang Chen approaching, he scratched his head with some embarrassment. "Brother Chen, this Magma Lord seems to have gone crazy. My strength is too low — I don't have the confidence to make it across. I had no choice but to wait here for you."
Jiang Chen nodded. Mu Gaoqi's strength had improved dramatically, but the marrow-cleansing benefits of that process were, for human martial artists, destined to be nowhere near as exaggerated as for the Gold-Munching Mouse clan.
After all, most humans had no inherited power. Without the awakening of an inherited bloodline, one's cultivation couldn't suddenly surge overnight.