Chapter 180: Bonds
Chapter 180: Bonds
Within the Hundred Thousand Mountains, in a seemingly very ordinary dense forest.
Whoosh!
The space that looked ordinary suddenly shattered, forming a small black hole. Immediately after, two escape lights shot out from within it and crashed heavily to the ground.
A moment later, the black hole slowly faded away and disappeared, as if nothing had ever happened.
Naturally, those two escape lights were Tang Jinbiao and the Azure Dragon transformed into the Big Yellow Dog, but both “people” lay quietly on the ground, obviously unconscious.
Buzz!
But just as the black hole was about to disappear, the originally buried Yin Pearl suddenly lit up and emitted a soft hum. With a whoosh, it flew directly into the black hole.
Whoosh!
After the Yin Pearl flew into it, the black hole vanished completely, as if nothing had ever occurred.
Tang Jinbiao and the Azure Dragon lay quietly on the ground, completely unaware of everything happening outside.
…
While they were unconscious, far away, thousands of miles to the east, within the Divine Wind Academy, in an ordinary courtyard.
Inside a secret room in this courtyard, two men clad in blue robes stood there discussing something.
“Young Master Ma, it’s been three months already, and there’s been no news of that kid at all. Could he really have entered the deep parts of the Hundred Thousand Mountains?”
The speaker was Jia Longwu, and now she had returned to the male attire she wore when she first met Tang Jinbiao.
“Hmm, I know this. It seems that kid really escaped into the Hundred Thousand Mountains. If that’s truly the case, for us, it’s both a good and a bad thing!”
Young Master Ma’s pale face showed no expression as he spoke faintly.
“Yeah, indeed. If he’s in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, once we have his trace, eliminating him won’t be difficult. What’s hard is figuring out how to find him in the first place!”
Jia Longwu nodded and said.
“Alright, regardless of whether he’s inside or not, you instruct those outside not to lower their guard. Meanwhile, you go recruit people. Three days later, we’ll also march into the Hundred Thousand Mountains!”
Young Master Ma nodded similarly, as if he had made a plan.
“What? We too are marching into the Hundred Thousand Mountains?”
Upon hearing Young Master Ma say they were marching into the Hundred Thousand Mountains, Jia Longwu was slightly shocked.
“Hmm, it’s a matter of three days. This morning, I received news from inside that those demon beasts seem to be launching a counterattack. Although our strength is weak, going to bolster the numbers isn’t wrong. Perhaps later, when the old fossils of the academy reward merits, we’ll get a share. You go prepare now. Those at Qi Condensation or Foundation Building are all acceptable. Organize a team of at least a thousand people. If you can’t find enough within the academy, then look in nearby cities. Even if it costs a large sum, it doesn’t matter.”
Young Master Ma’s pale face still showed no emotion, as if he were merely stating something utterly ordinary.
“What? A thousand-person team? That seems too excessive… Okay, no problem, I’ll go organize it now!”
Upon hearing about organizing a thousand-person team, Jia Longwu was startled. But upon learning that Qi Condensation and Foundation Building cultivators were acceptable, she let out a sigh of relief and directly agreed.
After Jia Longwu finished speaking, she left the room and walked out.
“Hehehe, the Land of Darkness, it seems you’ve still discovered it. But even if you did find it, it doesn’t matter because no one can come out alive from there. Aren’t you wanting a blood sacrifice? Alright, then I’ll send you cultivators—is a thousand enough? Hehehe!”
After Jia Longwu had been gone for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Young Master Ma’s lips curled into a cruel smile. He turned to look west and murmured to himself.
…
Three days later!
A thousand miles west of the Divine Wind Academy, in the wilderness, under the leadership of Jia Longwu, a group numbering over a thousand advanced grandly toward the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
Obviously, they were all riding enormous flying chariots; each of these flying chariots was far larger than the one Jia Longwu and Tang Jinbiao had ridden before, and a single chariot could carry a hundred people.
Over ten flying chariots followed closely, advancing majestically toward the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
As for Young Master Ma, he wasn’t with Jia Longwu but had blended into the group.
……
At the same time, thousands of miles away in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
Tang Jinbiao and the Big Yellow Dog—transformed from the Azure Dragon—had lain there unconscious for three days, without any sign of waking up.
Aow! Aow! Aow!
Suddenly, the Big Yellow Dog twitched its limbs, then opened its eyes. With a jolt, it immediately stood up, letting out a soft whine.
“What?”
Seeing that its body had truly turned into that of a dog, a flicker of shock appeared in the Azure Dragon’s eyes. It had thought it was a hallucination at first, but now that reality sunk in, after the shock came pure resentment.
“Huang Biaozi, you old charlatan, how dare you not spare me even after leaving!”
The Big Yellow Dog looked around, searching for Huang Biaozi’s figure, but found nothing except Tang Jinbiao lying on the ground nearby.
“It’s this damn brat!”
Upon seeing Tang Jinbiao, the Big Yellow Dog—transformed from the Azure Dragon—walked toward him with eyes full of resentment.
“Huang Biaozi, since you made me suffer, I’ll eat your disciple. Let’s see what you can do to me!”
The Big Yellow Dog walked toward Tang Jinbiao, resentment filling its eyes, and directly opened its mouth to bite him.
All these years, the Azure Dragon had endured much suffering following Huang Biaozi; outwardly, it constantly called him Great Immortal Huang and Lord Huang, but in its heart, it held only hatred for Huang Biaozi.
After all, it had once been a powerful Demon Emperor, degraded into a mount and repeatedly humiliated through endless days, reduced to groveling and begging, even denied suicide, living each day in misery and tears, so now that an opportunity arose, it naturally sought revenge.
Chomp!
The Azure Dragon opened its fierce mouth and bit down toward Tang Jinbiao’s head.
Bang!
But suddenly, just as the Azure Dragon was about to bite Tang Jinbiao, a blinding white light erupted from Tang Jinbiao’s body, shielding him within it, and the Azure Dragon’s body was flung backward.
“Owww!”
Being flung away was minor; it crashed heavily to the ground, letting out a mournful cry.
Most crucially, in that moment, it had an illusion—when it bit down, it wasn’t Tang Jinbiao’s head but its own head it had chomped on.
This illusion was proven true when blood started flowing steadily from a wound on its own head.
Thump!
Such a bizarre sight nearly scared the Azure Dragon half to death, but what terrified it more was yet to come.
Bang!
At that moment, the protective layer around Tang Jinbiao burst apart with a bang, forming a blue shadow, and Huang Biaozi’s figure slowly manifested in the air.
“Great… Great… Great Immortal Huang, your omnipotent magical power…”
The moment he saw it was Huang Biaozi’s projection, the Azure Dragon transformed into a big yellow dog wet himself in terror and immediately prostrated on the ground, begging in human speech.
“Hehe, Little Azure, when this venerable one tells you to protect this lad, you protect this lad. This is your only chance. If there’s a next time, I’ll make sure you experience my methods!”
Huang Biaozi smirked with a perverse expression on his face, looking at the Azure Dragon as he spoke plainly.
“Yes, yes, yes, little one understands, little one understands, little one dares not again, little one dares not ever again!”
The Azure Dragon kept knocking his head against the ground, pleading ceaselessly.
“Hmph, this venerable one cares not for promises. Prove it through your actions!”
Huang Biaozi snorted disdainfully, said one last line, and then his projection vanished with a poof sound.
Thump thump!
Even after Huang Biaozi disappeared, the Azure Dragon remained prone on the ground, whimpering constantly.
…
Half an hour later, the Azure Dragon finally regained some semblance of composure. He raised his head and looked towards the spot where Huang Biaozi had been.
“Damn it all! If not for suffering repeated blows, how could I, your father, be in such a pathetic state? Tang Ni, Huang Biaozi, and those two old undying monsters—I will have my vengeance!”
The resentment in the Azure Dragon’s eyes deepened. The humiliation and indignities he’d endured over the years were unimaginable to ordinary people.
“Ah!”
Just then, Tang Jinbiao, who had been unconscious, showed signs of stirring. He groaned in pain.
“Ah, my head hurts so much! Damned Huang Biaozi, what did you do to me? Why is my mind full of so much chaotic nonsense?”
Tang Jinbiao pressed a hand to his head, groaning as he sat up, cursing Huang Biaozi loudly.
“Could we be comrades? Did I perhaps misjudge him?”
Hearing Tang Jinbiao curse Huang Biaozi the moment he woke up, the big yellow dog that was the transformed dragon showed a flicker of delight in its eyes. It then rolled its eyes as if hatching a peculiar plan, a cold smile curling at the corner of its mouth as it walked towards Tang Jinbiao.
“Damn it! Huang Biaozi, I curse your ancestors! Passing on that damned ‘Way of Deception’ and that useless ‘Beast Taming Art’ to me—my head feels like it’s going to explode!”
Tang Jinbiao sat on the ground, incessantly cursing Huang Biaozi for his unscrupulousness.
Thud!
Suddenly, Tang Jinbiao sensed a pungent, foul odor in the air and realized something was approaching him. He immediately twisted his head to look behind him.
“Holy shit!”
Seeing the large yellow dog advancing towards him, Tang Jinbiao shuddered and sprang to his feet.
Whoosh!
With a mere thought, Tang Jinbiao summoned the Frost Silver Spear, gripping it firmly in his hand.
“Dog demon, what do you want?”
Unaware that this big yellow dog was the transformed Azure Dragon, Tang Jinbiao only saw its ferocious appearance and massive size. He pointed the Frost Silver Spear at it and demanded loudly.
“Master, don’t be so agitated! I am your Ah Huang!”
Seeing Tang Jinbiao’s tension, the Azure Dragon immediately halted, lay down on the ground, and began wagging its tail vigorously, explaining in human speech.
However, the moment he spoke, the dragon regretted it inwardly: “Damn it, since when did I become ‘Ah Huang’?”
“Huh?”
Hearing this, Tang Jinbiao blinked in confusion, thinking: “Son of a bitch, since when did I become its master?”
“The Great Immortal Huang!”
“That old charlatan Huang Biaozi!”
Tang Jinbiao and the Azure Dragon almost blurted out simultaneously that this too was all Huang Biaozi’s handiwork.
The mention of Huang Biaozi reminded Tang Jinbiao that back in the void realm, Huang Biaozi had supposedly taught him a set of Beast Taming Art.
Thinking this, Tang Jinbiao involuntarily narrowed his eyes, focusing them on the big yellow dog.
“Indeed!”
Squinting, Tang Jinbiao saw clearly now: deep within the yellow dog’s mind was a small lock, and an invisible tiny sword seemed suspended above its head.
“What?”
But as Tang Jinbiao’s gaze drifted lower, he made a startling discovery—inside the dog’s body resided a fist-sized glowing sphere pulsating with a force bordering on annihilation.
“Dragon pearl!”
The moment he saw the sphere, the term sprang unbidden to Tang Jinbiao’s mind, as though he had an innate understanding of it.
“Kid Tang, what are you staring at? Never seen such a magnificent dragon?”
Realizing Tang Jinbiao’s gaze had changed, the Azure Dragon deliberately puffed out its chest and spoke with feigned annoyance.
“No, no, I’ve seen one. I met someone who called himself the Azure Dragon Demon King once. But that fool dared to covet me! Ended up dying a miserable death—dragged away by Huang Biaozi, that old charlatan. Yeah, actually, I think I even saw him just a moment ago…”
Tang Jinbiao only knew the dog possessed immense power within. It never occurred to him this beast was actually a dragon. His Spirit Eyes could perceive spiritual energy but not true forms. He was reminded vividly of the previous Azure Dragon.
“Woof!”
Just as Tang Jinbiao spoke, he failed to notice the intense malice on the countenance of the yellow dog. In an instant, the dragon in disguise lunged ferociously towards Tang Jinbiao…