Chapter 69: The Dragonblood Lineage

Apart from Li Yanxing and Leng Yuexin, who remained utterly unruffled, Lin Huang and the three other noble youths seemed nailed to the spot, not daring to make the slightest move. Any action, however trivial, might trigger an attack from the Crimson Gold Armored Dragon.

“Are you going, or shall I?” Leng Yuexin turned to look at Li Yanxing.

“Of course I’ll handle it. How could I let a lady make the move?” Li Yanxing smiled faintly, and as he reached into the air, a black battle blade slowly materialized in his hand.

The Crimson Gold Armored Dragon was already displeased at having its meal interrupted. Now, realizing it was being blatantly ignored, it became utterly enraged. It turned, tail swaying, fixing Li Yanxing with a deadly stare, as if contemplating something. It could clearly sense that this man was the strongest among the humans present, and even felt a faint threat of death from him. Yet, as one of the apex rulers of this region, it could not allow itself to retreat without a fight. In its mind, only the weak would turn and flee before a powerful foe.

After only a moment’s hesitation, the Crimson Gold Armored Dragon launched its assault on Li Yanxing.

Despite the hundreds of meters between them, it closed the distance in just a few strides. Lin Huang instinctively wanted to dodge, but saw that Li Yanxing had already moved.

At some point, the black long blade in his hand had left its sheath, and his figure leapt into the air.

The Crimson Gold Armored Dragon lunged at him with its gaping maw. Just as he was about to be swallowed, Li Yanxing stepped into the void, and his body shifted in a bizarre fashion, vanishing and reappearing almost instantly behind the dragon.

Before Lin Huang could grasp what had happened, the dragon let out a pained howl and crashed to the ground with a thunderous thud.

Li Yanxing landed lightly, and a few drops of blood slid from the blade of his black sword to the earth. He returned the blade to its sheath, but suddenly frowned.

“Not dead?” the hooded youth remarked in mild surprise.

“I underestimated it a bit. I didn't use my full strength with that strike. Still, it won’t live for long.” Li Yanxing’s expression remained serene—he had no intention of striking again.

Lin Huang saw that the Crimson Gold Armored Dragon’s neck had been nearly severed, a great gash spewing blood. Its tenacity kept it alive, but it was clearly not long for this world.

However, since the dragon was not yet dead, Lin Huang could not store its body in his storage space.

He was torn—should he continue onward with Leng Yuexin’s group to the Six-Armed Enchantress’s stronghold, or stay behind to await the dragon’s death? The latter held much greater risk—not only would he have to travel alone afterward, but the scent of the dragon’s blood would soon draw other powerful monsters. Yet the lure of such a beast corpse was immense: it was worth at least a hundred million.

Lin Huang knew full well that staying behind was unwise. With his own strength, he could not hope to survive if swarmed by monsters.

Just as he hesitated, Li Yanxing suddenly spoke. “Let’s keep moving. You’ll reach your destination in less than an hour, Brother Lin.”

As he spoke, he smiled at Lin Huang, who caught the cold glint hidden in his eyes.

At that, Lin Huang grew wary. He began to suspect that Li Yanxing had deliberately left the dragon alive, hoping to tempt him into separating from the group. He surely knew the value of such a beast corpse and that Lin Huang would find it hard to refuse.

A chill ran through Lin Huang at the thought. He was about to abandon the dragon and follow after Li Yanxing’s group when, suddenly, Xiao Hei’s voice rang out:

[Detected dying dragon-blood variant monster. Meets the host’s requirements for dragon-blood beast soul fusion. Would you like to proceed with fusion and create a new dragon-blood monster card?]

At the prompt, Lin Huang’s eyes lit up.

He turned and called out to the others, “You all go ahead, don’t wait for me. I just need a moment, I’ll catch up soon.”

Leng Yuexin frowned slightly but said nothing.

Li Yanxing’s lips curled almost imperceptibly before he resumed his impassive mask and nodded to Lin Huang. “We’ll go ahead, then.”

Once they had left, Lin Huang immediately asked Xiao Hei, “How do I fuse it?”

[You must place your hand on the dying dragon-blood monster’s body for the beast soul to merge. During the fusion, you may choose whether to consume card fragments.]

[The higher the level and the greater the number of fragments used, the higher the chance of fusing a rare card. Regardless of the number of fragments, the resulting card’s rarity will never be lower than that of the beast soul and dragon-blood creature.]

Elated by Xiao Hei’s explanation, Lin Huang realized he was guaranteed at least a rare dragon-blood monster card, with a chance at something even rarer.

He quickly circled around to the dragon’s back. The colossal beast’s aura was now faint to the point of vanishing; it could die at any moment. Even aware of the tiny ant approaching, it no longer had the strength to resist.

Lin Huang pressed his hand to its back and gave Xiao Hei the instruction to fuse. “Use all remaining card fragments for beast soul fusion.”

[This fusion will consume the host’s Undying Serpent beast soul and 3,057 card fragments. Proceed with fusion?]

“Yes! Don’t waste any more time, do it!” Lin Huang could scarcely contain his excitement.

As soon as he spoke, a beam of black light shot from his palm into the dragon’s body—he knew this was the Undying Serpent’s soul.

Moments later, the dragon’s body began to dissolve into white motes of light, which gathered in Lin Huang’s palm, slowly taking the shape of a card.

The card took form in his hand, but remained shrouded in a white glow, obscuring its color and markings. Only when the last of the dragon’s body had faded did the card solidify, the white light dispersing to reveal its true appearance.

At the sight of its color, Lin Huang was overjoyed. “A blue Epic! It’s really a blue Epic!”

It was his first time obtaining a blue Epic monster card, and the feeling was even more thrilling than drawing an SSR in “XX Master”!

He reveled in his excitement for a while before noticing the card depicted a winged black dragon—though it seemed rather small. He quickly flipped it over to check the details.

[Monster Card]
[Rarity: Epic]
[Name: Undying Wyrmling]
[Type: Dragon-blood (Primary)]
[Combat Level: Black Iron, Three Stars]
[Skill 1: Black Dragon Flame (Beginner)]
[Skill 2: Dragon’s Might (Beginner)]
[Skill 3: Rapid Regeneration (Beginner)]
[Skill 4: Elemental Immunity (Beginner)]
[Skill 5: Absolute Defense (Beginner)]
[Summoning Permission: Unlocked]
[Note: Upon advancing to Extraordinary, this monster will automatically evolve into an adult Undying Black Dragon.]
[Card Appraisal: Highly trainable]

Seeing the dazzling array of skills, Lin Huang couldn’t help but exclaim, “Damn, this is insane!”

He noticed the parentheses after Dragon-blood Type: [Primary], and asked Xiao Hei, “What does ‘Primary’ mean here?”

[It refers to the concentration of dragon blood within. Those with low concentration are called Lesser Dragons; only those surpassing that threshold count as true dragon-blood types. Dragon-blood types are extremely powerful creatures, and depending on blood concentration, are classified as Primary, Intermediate, Advanced, and Pureblood. Their corresponding card rarities are Epic, Legendary, Mythic, and Transcendent.]

“There’s a rarity above Mythic?!”

Xiao Hei’s explanation left Lin Huang wide-eyed; it was his first time hearing of a Transcendent rarity. Still, he knew obtaining a dragon-blood card at all was already a great achievement and put those thoughts aside as he began checking the detailed card skills.

[Black Dragon Flame (Beginner): A unique dragon-blood skill. The black flame possesses corrosive properties and burns almost anything.]
[Dragon’s Might (Beginner): A unique dragon-blood skill. Can intimidate most monsters up to one realm stronger than the user. Ineffective against monsters of significantly higher intelligence.]
[Rapid Regeneration (Beginner): Passive skill. Grants tremendous healing ability, even allowing for limb regeneration. Limitation: cannot regenerate if the head or heart is destroyed.]
[Elemental Immunity (Beginner): Passive skill. Automatically negates 80% of the effects of most elemental attacks.]
[Absolute Defense (Beginner): Passive skill. Automatically negates 50% of the effects of most physical attacks.]

Every skill made Lin Huang covetous. After reviewing them, he issued a new command, “Xiao Hei, I want to extract a card skill.”

[Skill extraction initiated… random selection in progress… selection complete. Congratulations, host, you have obtained the skill: Absolute Defense (Beginner).]

With a new skill in hand, Lin Huang immediately opened his personal card to check his profile.

[Host: Lin Huang]
[Gender: Male]
[Age: 15]
[Combat Level: None (below assessment threshold)]
[Skill 1: Blood Energy (Level 2)]
[Skill 2: Grand Desolate Blade Scripture (Blade Technique)]
[Skill 3: Strength (Intermediate)]
[Skill 4: Treading Snow Without a Trace (Movement Skill)]
[Skill 5: Devil’s Eye Intimidation (Intermediate)]
[Skill 6: Great Strength (Intermediate)]
[Skill 7: Absolute Defense (Beginner)]
[Summoning Permission: Unlocked]
[Summon Limit: 1]
[Appraisal: Hmm, quite a lot of skills. What more is there to say?]

Ignoring Xiao Hei’s final sarcastic remark, Lin Huang was in high spirits. Although what he wanted most was Rapid Regeneration, Absolute Defense was also highly useful for melee combat.

Recalling that Li Yanxing’s group couldn’t have gone far, Lin Huang decided not to summon the Undying Wyrmling for now—if they sensed the aura of a dragon-blooded monster, it would be trouble.

He put the card away, smoothed his expression into one of calm, and jogged off in the direction Li Yanxing and the others had taken…