Chapter 284: Scheming for the Hide

A forced advancement? Can things really work like this?

The True Dragon’s rumbling voice echoed once more. “Go on, be a tattletale. You carry my aura now. The moment you expose me, we’ll both be ruined. You were right. Why don’t we just each take what we need? What do you say?”

Chen Qingyang focused his perception. The Dragon Tendon was inside his Conscious Fish. He tried to shake it off, but it wouldn’t budge.

‘It… it actually just forced itself on me!’

After a long silence, Chen Qingyang said coldly, “Even if you leave this wisp of your Divine Soul, you’ll only be able to see what I see when I bring you in here. If I decide never to enter this place again, you will have lost for nothing. All you’ve done right now is offend me. Offend me completely!”

“This…” The dragon seemed not to have considered that possibility. An enormous dragon head materialized in the void, so immense that Chen Qingyang was but a tiny black speck in comparison.

Fine scales covered its entire face. Two majestic horns, giving off a menacing sheen, scraped against the rock ceiling. Within its eyes, an even more intense fire burned, a look of both confusion and extreme anger.

Chen Qingyang could feel its mood shift unpredictably for a while before it finally spoke slowly, “Little Qi Refiner, I’m only doing this for your own good. You wouldn’t hold a grudge against me for it, would you?”

Its tone softened, laced with a hint of sycophancy. “This Dragon Tendon has been implanted. It can’t be removed now. Little Qi Refiner, this… oh, what are we to do!”

Chen Qingyang felt the surging power of the True Qi within his Conscious Fish. A flame, even more potent than the Li Yang Earth Fire, was burgeoning inside him.

He knew very well this was the exact thing that Yun Ci, who practiced the Ice Skin Jade Bone Technique, had mentioned multiple times.

The Conscious Fish was now infused with Dragon Qi, causing the Flame Qi he cultivated to become even more potent. The benefits of the Dragon Tendon were self-evident.

“Then don’t remove it. Leave it in.”

“Do you really mean that?”

Just as the True Dragon was reveling in its delight, it heard Chen Qingyang add, “If you’re leaving one, you might as well leave a hundred. Therefore, I’ll need eight more Dragon Tendons just like this one. That will bring the total to the ultimate number of nine.”

“Otherwise, we can either perish together, or, after I leave, we go our separate ways and never interact again.”

His tone was resolute, leaving no room for refusal. ‘Since the Dragon Tendon is stuck with me anyway, I might as well maximize the benefits.’

He had calculated the number eight carefully; it was the current limit his Conscious Fish could handle.

But the dragon wasn’t stupid. “If I do this for you, will you ever appear before me again?”

Chen Qingyang replied, “If you don’t do it, I will *definitely* never appear again. I’ve already made a profit here, regardless. You, on the other hand, will have suffered a complete loss and gained nothing.”

“This is infuriating… To be out-schemed by a mere Little Qi Refiner…” The sound of a dragon’s roar reverberated through the space.

Chen Qingyang remained calm. “So you’re allowed to play dirty, but I’m not?”

“Little Qi Refiner, you’ve gone too far…”

Perhaps it had vented enough of its rage. The massive form suddenly vanished, and it fell completely silent. Even the faint connection that had formed in Chen Qingyang’s mind disappeared.

But Chen Qingyang wasn’t about to give it a chance to cool down and think. “In that case,” he said aloud, “let us sever all ties.”

Just as the Conscious Fish was about to depart, an overwhelming power descended and restrained it, rendering it immobile.

The power was so immense that for a moment, he thought the True Dragon was truly going to drag him down into mutual destruction. Then, he saw eight golden threads materialize from thin air and begin to drift slowly toward his Conscious Fish.

The True Dragon’s voice accompanied them. “You must understand, I am already in a weakened state. After this, nearly half of my life’s True Power will be gone. I am treating you so well—you could say I am pouring out my very heart and blood for you. I don’t ask for much in the future, I only hope that you will be a man of your word.”

Its voice was solemn, carrying a bit more sincerity than before, as well as a hint of weakness.

‘Heh.’ Chen Qingyang wasn’t fooled by this facade. ‘There are some people who play tricks on you when you try to reason with them. Then, when they realize they can’t outsmart you, they put on a sincere face and start preaching grand principles as if they’re a saint.’

‘After all, this is a dragon that has been in Cultivation for countless years. If it really loses this much power… wouldn’t I directly achieve Foundation Establishment?’

Chen Qingyang said nothing. He was only interested in the benefits.

The True Dragon released waves of fierce flames that enveloped him. Despite the many disciples of the Separation Dragon Pill Institute present, not a single one noticed the change that was occurring.

Chen Qingyang could only watch as the value next to the golden characters for the Nanming Red Emperor’s Method continued to climb.

It broke through the Fifth Realm and rushed toward the Sixth. In the end, it stopped just shy of the Seventh Realm. ‘The True Dragon’s power is definitely more than this,’ Chen Qingyang thought. ‘The beast is lying again.’

Chen Qingyang kept track of the time. Ten full days and nights passed. Finally, the True Dragon’s voice, now extremely weak, spoke. “It’s finally over. I need to rest. In two or three hundred years, you should be able to release me… Of course, we are now one body. There’s a part of you in me, and a part of me in you. Our lives are intertwined. Little Qi Refiner, don’t try to pull any more tricks!”

Even at the end, it didn’t forget to make its intentions clear again.

At that moment, only one thought occupied Chen Qingyang’s mind: how could he erase the part belonging to the True Dragon’s Divine Sense, leaving only its power behind?

“Rest assured,” Chen Qingyang said. “I’ve always been one to treat others with sincerity. If you had been this sincere with me from the beginning, Senior, we wouldn’t have ended up like this.”

The True Dragon fell silent and vanished. The Conscious Fish circled the area once more before starting to search for the path back, eventually arriving before the crystal-like barrier.

Just then, the True Dragon peeked out with one eye, apparently wanting to see how Chen Qingyang was going to leave.

“Be careful. You’re carrying my Qi Mechanism now, after all. The Demon Suppression Array will target you!”

Chen Qingyang ignored it. But as he tried to return the way he came, he found himself feeling an instinctive fear toward the crystal barrier.

‘I really have been affected by this beast!’

In the end, he moved with extreme caution, terrified of activating the Array and getting himself caught up in it.

The True Dragon watched as starlight shimmered around the Conscious Fish. As the fish drew close to the crystal barrier, it slowly began to merge with it.

Just as he vanished, it added, “I forgot to tell you, with nine Dragon Tendons inside you, it will become extremely difficult to advance your Cultivation through normal practice. Your Cultivation might even regress… So, it’s best if you come back once every six months. You can only improve by borrowing the power here.”

Chen Qingyang wanted to curse when he heard that, but before he could get a word out, he was already on the other side of the barrier. Looking back, he could only see a world of fire.

‘Six months? Doesn’t that mean this True Dragon will know everything that happens to me over the next six months?’

Having completely exited the True Dragon Cave and left the Array behind, the Conscious Fish returned to his body.

The first thing Chen Qingyang did upon returning to his small courtyard was to sit and meditate. He used the immense Perception Power of the Great Soul Scripture to examine the nine Dragon Tendons within his Conscious Fish.

As he fully immersed his mind, the Dragon Tendons seemed to lay themselves bare for his inspection. Beyond their immense power, he found fragments attached to them… ‘This must be the Divine Soul the True Dragon left behind.’

He tried numerous methods, but none proved effective. It was like a maggot burrowed into bone; to get rid of it, he would have to extract the Dragon Soul itself.

[Nanming Red Emperor’s Celestial Burning and Sea Boiling Daoist Truth: (42569/80000)]

The boost to his Cultivation was real and substantial, far outpacing the progress of his Danxia Nourishing Truth Sword Manual.

“Senior Brother, what have you been up to lately?”

All told, nearly twenty days had passed. Anyone else would have long since returned from a trip outside the Sect. Xu Baoling’s voice was filled with concern.

“I took a trip to the Separation Dragon Pill Institute and ran into a Disciple named Lu Junlin. He’s at the Essence Condensation Second Realm. It only took him four or five years to get his Cultivation from Qi Refining to that level. Tell me… do you think the Pill Institute’s Jade Gold True Monarch has been reincarnated?”

It was such an exaggeration that this was the only explanation Chen Qingyang could imagine.

Xu Baoling pondered for a moment. “Senior Brother, matters concerning a Golden Core True Monarch are always kept secret and rarely spoken of. I think you’d be better off asking Master.”

Chen Qingyang nodded. “You have a point. She has probably already finished the Elixirs I gave her. I’ll have to pay her a visit tomorrow and ask about this as well.”

After that, Chen Qingyang took the last of his selected ingredients and placed them all into the Pill Furnace. He should be able to Refine two Elixirs from this batch.

Tomorrow, in addition to inquiring about that matter, he also needed to ask for more ingredients and Immortal Grass.

He then summoned the Li Yang Earth Fire, which swirled around the floating Pill Furnace.

Others could only see the vibrant flames, but Chen Qingyang could see the form within them—a brocade koi whose scales were now as fine as a dragon’s, with two small bumps protruding from its forehead.

‘It’s about to transform into a dragon!’

Refining the Elixirs now became much easier than before, even when attempting to produce two in a single batch.

He slowly channeled his power. The expenditure of True Power wasn’t as draining as he’d expected. By the time dawn broke, the batch of Elixirs was successfully refined.