‘I can’t do this anymore. The stress is too much.’ Tang Wulin had already thought to press the escape button. At least there was still an opportunity to do so now.
Yet it was also at this moment he was shocked to find that his body was paralyzed. A burst of unusual energy radiated from the Overlord Dragon’s body and formed a strange connection with his blood essence reversal. Tang Wulin felt like he was hit with an immobilization spell. He was suspended in the air and could not budge at all. He was effectively rendered incapable of fleeing the spirit ascension platform now.
How did this happen?
He could not even make a sound. He could only gape speechlessly as he looked at the dragon’s mouth widening more and more right before his eyes.
‘He could kill me in just one gulp.’ Tang Wulin could not imagine how it would feel to be chewed up by such humongous teeth.
Meanwhile, the Overlord Dragon was moving. Its massive head suddenly thrust forward with its mouth opened wide.
‘It’s over!’ Tang Wulin’s mind was completely blank.
He could sense as a wave of tremendous power gushed forth, so strong that he was unable to breathe.
“Swoosh!”
Tang Wulin rose into the air and there was an indescribable uneasiness within his body. Despite this, his breathing had recovered, and he did not feel any pain.
He regained control of his body as he hastily shifted his soul power to slow his fall.
He could clearly see the Overlord Dragon closing its mouth as he fell. Its thick tongue had just retracted into its gaping maw.
In an instant, Tang Wulin’s entire body was drenched.
What…
‘It wasn’t trying to bite me but lick me?’ Tang Wulin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He felt relieved as if he had just miraculously escaped death.
The Overlord Dragon’s giant head jutted forward just in time to catch Tang Wulin as he fell from the sky. Tang Wulin landed right onto the diamond-shaped golden scale.
His hands pushed down to stabilize his body. Just as he pressed on the golden scale, the dragon raised its head and let out a deafening roar that shook the entire forest.
Tang Wulin could suddenly feel the creature’s emotions. It was cheering. It was thrilled and excited.
Out of nowhere, a golden color appeared on Tang Wulin’s body. The Golden Dragon Body was releasing a gentle gold-colored soul ring. The color spread to the scale on the Overlord Dragon’s forehead and then to the rest of its body.
The blood essence fluctuations in Tang Wulin’s body grew more and more strenuous. The fourteen seals that had yet to be opened were vibrating slightly. An unfathomable force radiated from the depths of his blood essence and released into his body.
The great Overlord Dragon seemed to sense the force as it slowly knelt, then lay prone on the ground.
Tang Wulin stood up subconsciously and then jumped down from the dragon’s head. After landing, he turned around to face the enormous creature and found that its entire body was now golden. What happened after that astonished Tang Wulin.
The Overlord Dragon slowly shut its large eyes, and Tang Wulin could clearly see that they were filled with relief as they closed. Soon after, its gigantic body started fading. A stream of golden smoke floated out of the diamond-shaped scale on its forehead and flew toward Tang Wulin.
The golden color filled the air and covered Tang Wulin’s entire body. He felt like a strange rush of power seemed to seep into him. He could do nothing as the force grew stronger and stronger. In an instant, clouds of golden smoke had completely surrounded him, and his body was absorbing them like the great sea.
Gu Yue had already walked out from the trees by the side earlier. She was slightly stunned upon witnessing the incredible scene happening before her. She muttered to herself, “How did I forget that the Overlord Dragon is lord of the Land Dragons because the Golden Dragon King’s bloodline courses through its body?! It isn’t pure, but it’s the only one.”
The golden smoke clouds lasted for more than ten minutes before they gradually vanished. His vision no longer obstructed, Tang Wulin was amazed to discover that the gargantuan Overlord Dragon had disappeared.
It was as though it had not been there at all, if not for the vast hind footprints that the dragon had left behind.
Tang Wulin felt that there was something different inside his body, but he could not explain it. He concentrated his inner sight, but he could not sense anything at all.
The remaining fourteen Golden Dragon King’s Seals were still firm as before and there was no change to his soul power. His blood essence was still exuberant but not enhanced. Without thinking, he released his soul ring, but there were no changes there either.
So, what happened to the golden clouds that fused with his body? What was that anyway?
Even though this happened in the spirit ascension platform, almost everything else was unreal. His spirit soul and soul ring were not enhanced. It felt like nothing had ever happened, yet Tang Wulin was almost absolutely certain that something had entered his body. Something he could not comprehend.
At least the crisis brought by the Overlord Dragon had passed.
Tang Wulin exhaled a breath of relief. The urge to vent that he felt earlier had dissipated due to the shock.
Once again, he had to come to terms with his own strength. He was still insignificant in this world, and still a long way from becoming one of the elites. That being said, he surmised that even Teacher Wu would flee if he had bumped into the Overlord Dragon. The creature was simply too powerful.
Tang Wulin turned around to look at Gu Yue standing at a distance and found that she was staring back at him too. He hastily ran to her side.
“Did you see that? How did the Overlord Dragon disappear? Do you know what happened? I don’t feel like anything in me has changed,” Tang Wulin said confusedly.
Gu Yue shook her head and answered as if deep in thought, “I only felt that it fused with you most willingly. Just like how the spirit soul and soul master reached an agreement when the spirit ascension platform was first built. It can only be completed when the two parties do it of their own free will. On the other hand, we already did it one-sided now.”
Tang Wulin laughed as he said, “It’s still impossible for it to turn into my spirit soul, right? I have yet to reach rank 40.”
Gu Yue smiled. “I don’t know about that either. Anyway, how did we manage to keep it from making a meal of us? Shall we rest awhile?”
Tang Wulin sat on the ground. “Of course we should. You don’t know how terrified I was earlier. I was petrified! We couldn’t even bear the sound of its roar, leave alone a full frontal assault. Let me rest for a while first. I doubt any other soul beasts would dare to come here after all of its furious roaring earlier.
“It sounds like the management of this spirit ascension platform is problematic! This is only an intermediate spirit ascension platform, so how did it…”
Tang Wulin was interrupted when he suddenly felt dizzy. It was as though the sky and earth were spinning, and the space around him seemed to have become twisted. Gu Yue felt the same. Both of them wore shocked expressions before everything faded to black as they lost consciousness.
The entire process seemed to be very brief. When they once again opened their eyes, they discovered that they were already at the Spirit Pagoda where they had entered the spirit ascension platform earlier. The hatch cover opened, and Gu Yue was climbing out from inside.
‘Have we been sent back?’
Tang Wulin turned over and sat up. He was startled to see that the place was filled with people standing around. They were led by Gu Yue’s teacher Leng Yaozhu, the Spirit Pagoda’s deputy master who was titled the Heavenly Phoenix Douluo.
Tang Wulin sat up and found that everyone staring straight at him. Leng Yaozhu’s gaze burned as she looked at him. “Don’t panic. There’s been an accident in the Spirit Pagoda. We’re going to investigate for a while. Come and follow me, both of you.”