paranoianovel Chapter 116 The Ferocious Dragon Awakens
Chapter 116 The Ferocious Dragon Awakens
Chapter 116 The Ferocious Dragon Awakens (5K)
The rift valley is trembling.
It wasn't a tremor, it was the entire earth groaning.
Scalding hot air gushed from the gaps in the giant scales beneath my feet, scorching the soles of my boots.
This creature, which has been dormant for thousands of years, is turning over, and every movement is affecting the rock structure of the entire rift valley.
Large swathes of dark green ice collapsed from both sides of the valley wall, crashing onto the surface of the giant scale and exploding into dust.
Xu Hao retreated to the foot of the valley wall, where a dull pain throbbed from the fracture in his right arm.
He switched the Sea-Devouring Blade to his left hand and looked up at the valley entrance.
Bone Lady stood at the edge of the valley entrance, her black robe fluttering in the surging air currents from the valley floor.
Her purple eyes looked down at Xu Hao as if he were a worm that had crawled into a bowl.
"Do you know what this thing is?" Bone Mother's voice echoed down the valley wall, drawn out by the echo, "Before the Martial Ancestor shattered the void, there were six world-suppressing ferocious dragons on the Heavenly Soil. The Martial Ancestor killed five of them, but this one, he didn't kill, and couldn't kill."
She held up a finger and pointed to the undulating scales at the bottom of the valley.
"He can only keep it here. And this plaque in your hand is one of the six dragon-suppressing nails."
77
Xu Hao glanced down at his sea of consciousness.
The scroll painting of the blessed land has already swallowed the metal nameplate, and new seal characters are still emerging, too numerous to examine closely.
"So you set up your operation from Shengzhou to Mingzhou, sacrificed three thousand Hengshui naval soldiers, raised molting ghosts in Wanghailou, and stockpiled snowfield behemoths in Juejing City," Xu Hao said calmly, leaning against the valley wall, "all to act as a midwife for this worm."
Bone Girl smiled.
The laughter was faint and devoid of warmth.
"Midwife? No, I'm here to welcome the Lord back to his throne." She tilted her head slightly. "Once the Chongyuan Dragon Lord is fully awakened, the 300,000 iron cavalry of the Zhenbei Army will be nothing more than breakfast. The remnants of your Great Heng's national fortune won't even be enough to fill its teeth."
The scales beneath my feet moved again.
This time it's not a comeback.
The giant's breathing shortened from three breaths to two.
The dark golden beams of light emanating from the cracks in the scales grew denser and denser, and the temperature rose sharply.
Xu Hao's protective aura membrane sizzled and smoked from the heat.
He quickly scanned his surroundings.
The valley entrance was sealed off by a skeleton, and the valley walls on both sides were vertical and smooth, with an ancient ferocious dragon awakening below.
A classic dead end.
But he noticed a detail.
The bone maiden was standing at least five steps away from the edge of the valley entrance.
She was afraid.
It's not that I'm afraid of Xu Hao, it's that I'm afraid of the dragon below.
If Chongyuan Longjun truly submits to her after waking up, what reason does she have to back down?
"You're afraid it won't recognize you when it wakes up," Xu Hao said, his tone certain.
Bone Lady's smile froze for a moment.
"A blood sacrifice of three thousand armored warriors opens the gate of the returning phoenix, welcoming the master back to his throne." Xu Hao patted the bone fragment in his arms. "Where did you dig this ritual out of? If it really works, you can come down and remove the dragon-suppressing nail yourself. Why wait for me?"
The sound of the wind at the valley entrance could not drown out the two breaths of silence from the Bone Maiden.
Xu Hao's lips twitched.
Bet right.
This woman had no confidence in controlling the awakened Chongyuan Dragon Lord.
She needs someone to pull out the nails for her and wake the giant, then she tries to establish a connection with it through a blood sacrifice ritual from a safe distance.
Success! She is now the master who controls the world-suppressing, ferocious dragon.
If she loses, the unlucky guy at the bottom of the valley will die first, while she still has time to run.
"You never intended to come down from the start." Xu Hao tapped the hilt of his Devouring Sea Blade against the valley wall. "Using me as exploratory material, you'd only get your hands on the dragon once it woke up. A clever plan."
Bone Lady suppressed her smile.
The languid look in his purple eyes faded, revealing a cold calculation beneath.
"So what if you see through it?" She raised her hand, and a jet-black rune flew out from her palm and stuck to the skeleton at the entrance of the valley.
The runes activated, and thick black gas surged from the gaps in the skeleton, sealing the exit completely.
"The Dragon-Suppressing Nail has been removed, and the awakening of the Chongyuan Dragon Lord is irreversible. You are at the bottom of the valley, and I am at the top. Once it fully awakens, not even a bone fragment will remain."
A deep roar came from below.
It was no longer breathing, it was roaring.
The entire rift valley's rock walls shattered simultaneously, and huge chunks of rock fell from a height of two hundred feet.
The dark gold light on the scales had merged into one, illuminating the valley floor and the outline of the incredibly massive body beneath Xu Hao's feet.
Between the scales, an eye is opening.
Vertical pupils.
Dark gold.
His pupils churned with a chaotic aura capable of destroying the world.
The mere act of lifting an eyelid caused the air pressure inside the rift to increase tenfold.
Xu Hao's eardrums were ringing, and blood was seeping from his nasal cavity.
The internal energy of a cultivator at the Tongqiao Realm was as fragile as paper in the face of this power.
The Bone Maiden began to sing at the valley entrance.
Ancient barbarian incantations echoed between the valley walls, each syllable resonating with the black runes on the skeleton at the valley entrance.
The black mist condensed, transforming into countless bone chains, which were projected towards the giant dragon at the bottom of the valley.
Blood sacrifice ritual.
She wanted to take advantage of the moment when the dragon was just awakened and its consciousness was in a state of confusion to establish control.
Xu Hao did not hesitate any longer.
He closed his eyes, his thoughts sinking into his mind.
The scroll of blessed land is expanding wildly, and the newly emerging seal characters after swallowing the fragments of the Martial Ancestor's scroll have finally taken stable shape.
A very short message.
It's not a martial art, nor a technique.
It is an order.
[Dragon-Suppressing Nail - Command: The holder of this command can briefly draw upon the remaining power of the seal. Cost: Consumes 70% of the Blessed Land Scroll's energy.]
Seventy percent.
If this attack is launched, the Zhenyuan will be paralyzed for at least half a month.
At the bottom of the valley, the dragon's vertical pupils opened completely.
The dark golden gaze swept across the valley floor, landing on a figure as small as an ant.
There was no anger, no murderous intent.
Only the bewilderment of awakening after ten thousand years of slumber, and the instinctive hunger.
Bone chains roared down from the valley entrance, accompanied by surging black mist.
The dragon's vertical pupils reflected the shadow of the bone chains, and its bewildered gaze finally focused.
This time, emotions were involved.
fury.
It opened its mouth.
Xu Hao felt as if the air had been sucked out.
This is not a metaphor; it refers to a vacuum in a physical sense.
All the gas within a radius of a hundred feet was inhaled into the dragon's belly with a single deep breath.
He issued the order.
The scroll of blessed land exploded in my mind, releasing energy like an explosion.
An ancient power, invisible to the naked eye, flowed from his palm, not to attack the dragon, but to act on the skeletal blockade at the valley entrance.
The residual power of the Dragon-Suppressing Nail recognized the structure of the seal.
The black runes that Bone Lady built using barbarian blood sacrifices were as crude as a child's scribbles compared to the Martial Ancestor's work.
The barrier collapsed instantly before the remaining power of the Dragon Suppression.
The skeleton exploded.
Shattered bones flew everywhere.
The valley entrance was wide open.
The bone maiden was thrown back by the shockwave and rolled several feet on the snow before regaining her footing.
Her blood sacrifice chant was forcibly interrupted, and the bone chains that had already been projected lost their traction, disintegrating into black smoke in mid-air.
And the bottom of the valley.
The roar of the dragon created a vertical column of air that shot from the bottom of the valley straight into the sky.
Xu Hao stood at the edge of the wind column.
He used his remaining internal energy to protect his entire body, and with the help of the rising air currents created by the dragon's breath, he was lifted from the bottom of the valley to the valley mouth, which is two hundred feet high.
It's faster than taking an elevator.
The price was that his internal organs were displaced by the shock, and he had to swallow back the metallic taste that welled up in his mouth.
My feet stepped onto the gravel ground at the edge of the valley.
Bone Lady was getting up from the snow, her black robe torn, and for the first time, a disheveled look appeared on her pale face.
Her purple eyes were fixed on Xu Hao, filled with disbelief.
"You possess the remaining magic power of the Dragon-Suppressing Nail?"
Xu Hao did not answer.
He turned and walked towards the crevice in the sheltered rock, scooped up the curled-up black tortoise and stuffed it into his arms.
A second roar came from the depths of the rift valley behind them.
It was ten times louder than the first sound.
The snow on the horizon was shaken three feet high by the sound waves.
From the direction of the distant city of Despair, a warning horn could be faintly heard.
Chongyuan Dragon Lord is accelerating his awakening.
The Bone Maiden's ritual failed, but the dragon has begun to awaken.
There is no control, no shackles.
A world-suppressing ferocious dragon that even the Martial Ancestor couldn't kill a thousand years ago is about to return to the Heavenly Soaring Land.
Bone Lady stared at Xu Hao, and surprisingly, she laughed despite her disheveled state.
"You think you've won?"
She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, her voice hoarse but resolute.
"No ceremony is fine. It's enough that it's awake." The purple eyes turned to the depths of the rift, reflecting the increasingly bright dark golden pillar of light. "The first thing the Chongyuan Dragon Lord does upon awakening is to eat. It hasn't eaten for ten thousand years, and all living things within a thousand miles are its hunting grounds."
She retreated into the wind and snow, the tattered pieces of her black robe swept away by the cold wind.
"Desperate City, the Northern Army, 300,000 armored soldiers—"
The sound faded into the distance.
"Enough for it to eat for three days."
The Bone Maiden's figure disappeared at the edge of the vast white snowfield.
Xu Hao stood at the entrance of the valley, the black tortoise in his arms trembling violently.
The scroll painting of the blessed land in the sea of consciousness dimmed by 70%, almost losing its luster.
The sound of the Devouring Sea Blade weakened, and the fracture in his right arm worsened after the intense activity, leaving half of his arm hanging limply and unable to exert any strength.
In the rift valley, a dark golden beam of light pierced through the clouds.
The snow melted, and the permafrost cracked.
An aura belonging to an ancient overlord spread out in an overwhelming manner.
From the direction of Desperate City, horns sounded one after another.
Xu Hao gripped the black tortoise in his arms tightly, then turned and strode south.
Two lines of text weakly emerged from the scroll of the blessed land.
The object fixed to the dragon's body is the main nail. Removing the main nail will awaken the dragon. If it is a secondary nail, three of them must be removed.
[Chongyuan Dragon Lord: Peak of the Shattered Realm. Countdown to full awakening—three days.]
Three days.
He needs to find a way to stop this thing within three days.
Or someone who can block it.
My footsteps tread into the wind and snow.
From the rift behind them, a third roar tore through the sky.
The wind and snow never stopped.
Xu Hao ran for a full two hours.
With his right arm hanging down at his side, blood seeped out from the fractured bone with every step he took, freezing into a dark red ice shell.
The black tortoise in his arms had shrunk to the size of a palm, and the eerie blue light on its shell had almost disappeared, making it as weak as he was.
When the fourth roar came from behind, the snow beneath our feet collapsed by three inches.
The gray outline of Desperate City appeared on the horizon.
The firelight on the city wall was ten times denser than when he left.
The bugle calls rang out one after another, and figures thronged the city walls.
They heard it.
But hearing something and taking it seriously are two different things.
Xu Hao climbed over the gap that had been blown open in the north of the city.
The moment he landed, his knees buckled, and he only managed to stay upright by bracing himself with one hand.
Chaos had broken out in the throat area.
Barbarian hunters rode snow wolves into the depths of the northern city, while fallen warriors fled in groups of three or five to the southern city. Several Jianghu figures with faces resembling those of Daheng stood in the middle of the street, looking around in bewilderment.
Nobody knows what happened.
All I could tell was that the sky to the north was trembling, the earth was cracking, and there was a sense of oppression in the air that made it hard to breathe.
Xu Hao passed through the Broken Throat Road and headed straight for the South City.
The door of Lao Xiong Ji Fur Shop was tightly closed.
He kicked it away.
The shopkeeper squatted behind the counter, clutching a short dagger used for shaving bones, his face ashen.
When he saw Xu Hao kicking the door open, he was first stunned, then his eyes widened in surprise.
"You're still alive? What's going on in the north—"
Do you have paper and a pen?
The shopkeeper pulled out half a charcoal stick and a piece of coarse paper used for wrapping goods from under the counter.
Xu Hao took it with his left hand and quickly sketched on the paper with the charcoal stick.
A cross-sectional view of a rift valley.
A rough outline was marked at the bottom of the valley—a curled-up body, scales, and vertical pupils.
Five words were written next to it.
Peak of the Shattered Realm.
The shopkeeper leaned over for a look, and the short dagger he used for shaving bones fell to the ground with a clatter.
"Who is this picture for?"
"Someone who can be delivered to the Zhenbei Army." Xu Hao folded the coarse paper neatly. "Are there any Zhenbei Army spies in Desperate City?"
The shopkeeper swallowed hard and hesitated for three breaths.
"In the southeast corner of the south city, there's a coffin shop. The owner's surname is Sun, and he has a tumor on one leg. He used to be a scout for the Zhenbei Army. After retiring, he opened this shop, ostensibly selling coffins, but actually—"
"That's enough." Xu Hao picked up the paper and left.
"Wait!" the shopkeeper called after him to the door. "What's that thing to the north—?"
Xu Hao didn't even turn his head.
"Something that can't be escaped."
The coffin was laid out at the end of a dead-end alley.
The storefront was even more dilapidated than Lao Xiong Ji's. Two of the four characters "Sun Ji Shoucai" on the signboard were missing, leaving only "Sun Ji" recognizable.
The door wasn't locked.
Xu Hao pushed open the door and entered, the room filled with the smell of pine and tung oil.
Seven or eight coffins were stacked against the wall. Next to the innermost coffin sat a gaunt old man with his left leg severed at the knee and an iron crutch beside him.
The old man was painting a coffin without even looking up.
"Buying a coffin?"
"Send a message to Zhao Poyue, the deputy commander of the Iron Curtain Strait Water Fortress." Xu Hao slapped the coffin with a piece of coarse paper.
The old man put down the oil drum and picked up the paper, unfolding it.
His gaze swept over the cross-sectional diagram of the rift valley and those five words, and he stopped painting.
He looked up at Xu Hao.
His gaze shifted from casual to scrutinizing.
"Who are you?"
"Just passing by." Xu Hao pointed to the diagram on the paper. "This thing will fully awaken in three days. After it awakens, there will be no living creatures within a thousand miles. You're a member of the Zhenbei Army; you should know what that means."
The old man stared at him for five breaths.
"Even if I could get the letter to Commander Zhao, it would take at least four days to transfer troops from the water fortress to Desperate City," the old man said in a hoarse voice. "You said three days."
"So it's not about mobilizing troops." Xu Hao tapped the counter. "It's about having Zhao Poyue pass the message up to the Prince of Zhenbei. Martial law is in effect throughout Mingzhou, and all roads leading to Yanzhou are blocked, which means the Prince of Zhenbei knows about the unrest in the northern frontier. What he doesn't know is that the source of this unrest isn't the barbarians, but an immortal dragon that even the Martial Ancestor suppressed a thousand years ago."
The old man remained silent for a long time.
"I can deliver the letter." He folded the coarse paper and stuffed it into the hollow tube of the iron crutch. "But whether the Prince of Zhenbei believes it or not, and whether he mobilizes troops or not, is not something you or I can decide."
"I know." Xu Hao turned and walked out. "That's why I have other plans."
"What are your plans?"
Xu Hao did not answer.
After leaving the coffin shop, he turned into a quiet alley and squatted down against the wall.
The fracture in my right arm continues to worsen.
The crack widened due to the frantic running and continuous movements.
If it's not treated soon, it's only a matter of time before this arm is ruined.
He took out a bottle of bone-setting powder he had bought from Baihua Island from the storage room, bit off the stopper, and poured the powder directly onto the wound.
A searing pain shot through his bones, but he gritted his teeth and didn't utter a sound.
In his mind's eye, the scroll of the blessed land, now seventy percent dimmed, slowly emerged.
At the edge of the scroll, the new seal script created after the Martial Ancestor's fragments were incorporated finally stabilized completely.
Xu Hao leaned closer to take a closer look.
It's not a martial arts technique, it's a diagram.
The diagram shows six nails, distributed in six locations on the Sky-Supporting Land.
One of them was located in the rift he had just been in—the nail pattern was broken, indicating that the Dragon-Suppressing Nail had been removed.
The remaining five are scattered throughout the vast land, and the patterns are intact.
There is a line of small text directly below the image.
"Six nails suppress one dragon. If one nail is removed, the seal will loosen. If the dragon is the master, it will slowly awaken. If three nails are removed, the dragon will awaken immediately. If all six nails are removed, the dragon will escape."
Xu Hao stared at the words, a cold sweat breaking out on his back.
Although he only pulled out one, it was the master nail.
The dragon will awaken, but slowly; it will take three days to fully awaken.
If Bone Girl finds the location of other nails, she'll pull out two more—
It wasn't three days.
It means immediately.
He continued reading.
At the very bottom of the image, there is another line of text, the handwriting of which is more hasty than the other seal script, as if it was hastily carved.
"As long as the beacon fires burn, the spirit of the army will never dissipate. Offering the spirit to the nails can mend a gap."
Beacon towers.
Xu Hao suddenly looked up.
Thirty li north of the Iron Gate Pass lies an abandoned beacon tower.
A hundred men died in battle, but their resentment lingered and their spirits remain, guarding the battlefield in the form of an army formation to this day.
This is a special blessed land on the scroll that he hasn't had time to bind to yet.
Offering a soul to a nail can mend a gap.
Using the spirit of the hundred soldiers of Fengsui Fortress, a Dragon-Suppressing Nail was re-formed to fill the gap he had removed.
The seal has returned to a state of being loose but not broken.
The awakening of Chongyuan Dragon Lord was suppressed again.
It's not a permanent solution, but it can prolong life.
Xu Hao stood up, and the bone-setting powder in his right arm began to take effect, with a slight tingling and numb sensation coming from the bone joints.
Three days.
To get back to Fengsui Fort from Juejing City, including the 300-mile snowfield and the land route through Mingzhou, it would take a day and a half for someone at the Tongqiao Realm to travel at full speed.
Upon arriving at Fengsui Fortress, binding the blessed land, suppressing the core of the vengeful spirits, and incorporating the military souls—based on the usual pattern of the blessed land scroll—would take at least half a day.
With only one day left, we must rush back to the Rift Valley and nail the newly formed Dragon-Suppressing Nail back in.
The timing was just right.
The premise is—no mishaps on the way.
Xu Hao took the black tortoise out of his pocket and patted its shell.
"Wake up, let's get going."
The black tortoise poked its head out, its two beady green eyes filled with resistance.
"Run south, not north." Xu Hao stuffed it back into the package. "This time it's really not suicide."
He fastened the straps again, tightened the gray wolf fur cloak, and put on his goggles.
As he walked out of the alley, a figure wrapped in a black robe brushed past him on the Broken Throat Road.
Xu Hao didn't stop walking.
But he smelled something.
bone meal.
The fine powder made from burned human bones is almost undetectable when mixed with snowflakes.
This smell has been found in the lair of the molting ghosts beneath the Wanghailou Tower.
He didn't turn around.
The black-robed figure behind them did not stop either.
The two walked in opposite directions, disappearing into the wind and snow.
On the northern horizon of Desperate City, a fifth roar pierced the clouds.
This time, half of the snow on the city wall was shaken off.