C587 The Old Dragon

In a different cavern, a towering elder with purple-hued skin and dragon horns perched atop his head sat regally in a purple-gold dragon robe. His eyes, large as gongs, shone with a cold brilliance as he gazed upon Yu Yuan, who lay on the ground, barely clinging to life.

Yu Yuan, hurled into this cave by Zhongli of the Ancient Desolate Sect, lifted his drooping head and glanced at the old man, his expression tinged with surprise. "What relation is Loong Tianxiao to you?" he inquired.

The figure seated in the cave bore a striking resemblance to Loong Tianxiao. "He's probably my son," the elder chuckled, "I have so many children; it's hard to keep track."

"Outside, he's been stripped of his blood and dragon soul by a venomous jade dragon," Yu Yuan informed.

"Oh," the elder responded, his tone detached.

Yu Yuan fell silent.

This purple-skinned elder, assuming a human guise, was none other than Loong Jie, the illustrious former patriarch of the Nagas, a name Yu Yuan had heard in his past life, resonating like thunder.

Loong Jie, known for his disappearance into the Outer Star River, had a reputation intertwined with his debauchery. His life, rich with romantic escapades, was legendary.

Rumors abounded that wherever Loong Jie roamed, he would unite with beautiful women, not confined to his own kind but extending to humans and demons alike.

In his youth, Loong Jie fathered numerous offspring. As his dragon blood matured and his realm ascended, his philandering ways persisted, though the number of children he sired dwindled.

Still, many individuals, dragons, and demons alike claimed lineage from him.

Upon arrival, Yu Yuan needed only one look to note the resemblance between Loong Tianxiao and Loong Jie, surmising that Loong Tianxiao, this "dragon man," was likely the result of Loong Jie's wanderings across the Profound Sky Continent, where he'd taken the form of a dashing youth and sired a child with a maiden.

Loong Jie, endowed with exceptional talent and reputed for his high emotional intelligence, was immensely favored by women. With the ability to transform at will, he could become the epitome of a woman's ideal, and with his silver tongue and sweet nothings, few could withstand his charm.

Forget the mortal women; even the fox demons of their kind and the so-called celestial maidens of the Heavenly Source Continent who had achieved a certain level of cultivation had their hearts ensnared by him, becoming chapters in his saga of conquests.

Loong Tianxiao, it seems, was the product of his dalliance with a human woman during his travels.

Given that Loong Tianxiao is this elder dragon's offspring, it's startling how Loong Jie could remain so detached upon learning that his progeny had been flayed of flesh and soul by a jade dragon.

Yu Yuan couldn't help but feel a sense of oddity at this reaction.

"I concern myself with their birth, not their upbringing."

Catching the puzzlement in Yu Yuan's eyes, Loong Jie huffed, "With the multitude of descendants I have, if I were to look after each one, I'd have no time for anything else. As for that Loong Tianxiao, even if he is my son, his capture and torture by other Nagas is a consequence of his own incompetence."

"And who's to say that jade dragon isn't another one of my sons?"

Loong Jie looked up, his demeanor radiating supreme arrogance. "I've witnessed the infighting among my offspring for millennia. I'm aware of the dozens who have perished from such strife. And those who've fallen to outsiders? Undoubtedly, their numbers are even greater."

His tone was one of chilling indifference.

Yu Yuan inhaled deeply, straightening up within the confines of the cave, and addressed the old dragon, whose reputation was known to all practitioners across the Boundless Land. "Zhongli sent me. He seeks a drop of your dragon blood."

"I'm well aware of his identity. Your presence reeks of that detestable aura from his Ancient Desolate Void True Spell!" The old dragon scoffed. "His desire to escape the Sword Prison through you, to regain his freedom and return to the Boundless Land, is his own affair. As for me, I'm quite content here in the Sword Prison. I'm in no rush to leave."

With a dismissive wave of his hand, Loong Jie said, "Return from whence you came."

Yu Yuan stood there, dumbfounded.

Throughout his journey across the many caverns of the Sword Prison, he had encountered numerous formidable devils, each one desperate and hopeful for a chance at freedom beyond the prison's confines.

Yet, this was the first time he had met someone like Loong Jie, who showed no interest in such liberation.

He had no urgency to depart from Sword Prison, no desire for freedom, finding comfort within its confines. What was this situation?

"I need a drop of your dragon blood."

Yu Yuan paused briefly, then flashed a grin, extending his hand toward Loong Jie. "Your thoughts on the matter are irrelevant to me, but I require a drop of your dragon blood!"

A fierce glint suddenly sparked in Loong Jie's eyes. "Boy, are you courting death?"

Yu Yuan, battered and bloodied by Zhongli, barely able to sit upright, dared to address him with such audacity.

Why should this upstart demand a drop of dragon blood from him?

"Hehe."

Yu Yuan's sword sheath, aimed at Loong Jie from a distance, "You're no Zhongli. You lack the power to warp time and space, to evade the onslaught of sword intent and sword light here! True, in the past, you could remain unharmed as long as you stayed inside this cave, avoiding the sword intent seals among the stones."

"But now, things have changed!"

As Yu Yuan pointed the sword sheath at Loong Jie, he silently summoned the sword soul hidden within his arm bone, releasing a faint aura.

The instant that aura surfaced, the old dragon roared to life, nearly leaping in alarm, "That sword, its sword soul—it's present too!"

With the emergence of the sword soul's aura, the dense sword intent and sword light within the caves seemed to converge upon Loong Jie.

Loong Jie's scalp tingled, his vigor draining away, "Young man, don't be rash. Stay calm, please, just calm down!"

Mid-plea, a drop of purple-red blood detached from his chest.

The thumb-sized droplet of dragon blood, akin to purple-red agate, dazzled with a brilliance too intense to gaze upon directly, inching closer to Yu Yuan.

As the dragon blood departed, Loong Jie's towering frame noticeably shrank.

Even within Sword Prison, under the influence of the moon soul's refining chamber, he constantly bled away his life force and spirit.

Yet, due to the old dragon's immense strength and longevity, he managed to preserve a fragment of his power.

Dragon blood was the last vestige of his power; losing even a drop would weaken him significantly.

"Thank you, elder," Yu Yuan said, clasping his fists in a bow, his laughter booming. As the drop of dragon blood neared, he abruptly engaged the Evil Body Refining Skill, drawing it in with a powerful suction from his small world of blood and Qi.

Loong Jie's eyes, bell-like, flashed with a savage light, his face twisting into a fierce snarl.

Whoosh!

In a flash, the drop of dragon blood was drawn into Yu Yuan's dantian.

"You dare to covet my blood? You realize that despite my five-hundred-year confinement in the Sword Prison, which has sapped my strength, my blood is not something you can assimilate! I'll relish watching you die in agony," Loong Jie bellowed, but his roar cut off abruptly.

He couldn't finish his sentence, his dragon eyes bulging in disbelief at the sight before him. Yu Yuan, who had been on the brink of death, was now radiating vitality, his eyes gleaming, his skin tinged with an unusual purple-red hue.

He had completely lost the connection to the drop of dragon blood he had painstakingly refined.

"Forgive the intrusion," Yu Yuan said, bowing once more. He swiftly left the cave before the old dragon could even react.

Loong Jie stood there, dumbfounded. Moments later, he erupted in a furious roar, "Despicable whelp, return my dragon blood! Zhongli, you cur, was this your doing? No one, not even from the Ancient Desolate Sect or the Evil Sect, could refine a drop of my blood!"

Loong Jie had given the blood under the sword sheath with ill intent, seeking a different way to end Yu Yuan's life. As the former leader of the Nagas, a Ninth Level dragon, even diminished by his time in the Sword Prison, his blood should have been lethal.

Yet Yu Yuan had not only survived the infusion of his dragon blood but had clearly absorbed it—and swiftly at that!

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