Wind and Rain Tower

Deep in the South Sea, within a dark trench, the arrogant one-horned dragon had breathed its last.

Its massive corpse sank through the sea, dark dragon blood staining the surrounding water murky.

Terror and disbelief still lingered in its eyes from the moment before its death.

Chen Xia hovered before the dragon's corpse. Ignoring the chaos around him, he stared at its brow and found the Void Crystal he sought embedded there.

The crystal was dark yellow and the size of a goose egg. The dragon had evidently used it as an ornament, setting it into its brow.

Chen Xia had heard that some members of the Dragon Race liked shiny things. It seemed to be true.

The Void Crystal was of little use to cultivators, but it was a source of energy for technology. Hard and luminous, it was rather beautiful.

"The Federation survey team must have detected it while the dragon was traveling along the seafloor."

"Killing that dragon got me the Void Crystal."

Chen Xia had suspected as much when he first saw the dragon.

Even without the South Sea Dragon Palace, he might have come into conflict with it. Slaying it had accomplished several things at once.

He bent down, pried the Void Crystal free with his energy, and put it into his storage space.

Then...

He held two fingers together like a blade. A razor-sharp arc of energy swept out, easily splitting open the dragon's skull, which was harder than divine iron.

He sensed a pure energy pulsing inside its head.

Sure enough, deep within its brain floated an egg-sized crystal of profound blue. A nebula-like vortex seemed to turn slowly inside it.

It radiated an immense amount of pure dragon power.

"A Dragon Core... I can convert and absorb this."

A smile touched Chen