Scaled Fear Crocodile

Chapter 41: Scaled Fear Crocodile

Dragon Clan Grand Hall.

"ROOOAR!"

The floating Kunpeng Bone Wings sliced through the flesh on Jin Ming's back like blades, exposing the golden lion bones faintly tinged with blood-red. The agony of having his flesh cut and bone scraped tore agonized cries from Jin Ming.

The Kunpeng Bone Wings adhered to the faint Blood Gold spine. A violent fusion force, like a blender, forcibly merged the Kunpeng Bone Wings with the Blood Gold Lion Bone spine.

Jin Ming's massive frame trembled slightly. It was hard to imagine the suffering he was enduring right now.

As the fusion began, the Spatial Power on the Kunpeng Bone Wings—which Yuan Gan had just sealed—now faintly leaked a trace under the strange fusion force.

Yuan Gan was slightly startled at the sight, but since the fusion had already started, he dared not intervene rashly. It was all up to Jin Ming now. Fortunately, the Spatial Power being released was still within Jin Ming's tolerance.

Under the fusion force, the Kunpeng Bone Wings' Spatial Power grew increasingly strained. Looking closely, the Kunpeng Bone Wings had already tightly connected to the Blood Gold spine.

"Whew!" Yuan Gan exhaled, but his focus didn't waver in the slightest; instead, it sharpened.

Time passed minute by minute. The Golden Sun Nether Lion phantom had long since retracted, but the Kunpeng Bone Wings remained exactly as before, with no further progress whatsoever.

Seeing this, Yuan Gan frowned deeply, but he had no solution. The secret of Bone Fusion was an innate inheritance of the Golden Sun Nether Lion Clan, with no records in any ancient texts or documents.

In the blink of an eye, seven days had passed. The Bone Fusion progress was exactly the same as the first day—no advancement at all.

On the high seat, Yuan Gan's hands clenched slightly, faint Purple Gold Yuan Power coating them. He now wanted to forcibly interrupt the Bone Fusion. With the Dragon Clan's foundation, he might be able to preserve Jin Ming's cultivation path.

Just as Yuan Gan pressed his palm against Jin Ming's forehead, the fusion light suddenly blazed, knocking Yuan Gan's hand away.

At the same time, the Spatial Power erupted, suppressing the fusion force in turn. The space around Jin Ming rumbled, and everything in the hall shattered like glass.

"Hmph!"

Yuan Gan snorted coldly. Everything that had broken in the hall restored itself. No matter how the Spatial Power scattered, it could no longer damage anything within.

Jin Ming's tightly shut beast eyes snapped open. The weakening fusion force surged again, once more suppressing the Spatial Power. This time, the fusion force slowly formed a thick, bloody energy membrane that wrapped around the Kunpeng Bone Wings.

Under the membrane's encasement, the Kunpeng Bone Wings gradually shrank, finally adhering to the Blood Gold spine like intricate secret patterns. The flesh the wings had cut open healed under the fusion force.

But the Bone Fusion was far from over. It had only just reached the stage of assimilating the Kunpeng Bone Wings into Jin Ming's own bones.

The dense fusion force, like silk threads, wrapped Jin Ming into a golden cocoon several meters in size.

When the golden cocoon formed, the strange fusion force completely retracted within it.

Seeing this, Yuan Gan slashed his hand, opening a spatial passage before him. With a wave of his hand, vast Yuan Power enveloped the golden cocoon. Yuan Gan stepped into the spatial passage, the cocoon following close behind.

When they reappeared, they were in a small world. Yuan Gan floated the golden cocoon in the air, gently stroking its surface with his fingers. The boundless Yuan Power of the small world slowly adhered to the cocoon's surface.

Yuan Gan estimated that Jin Ming's Bone Fusion and assimilation of the Kunpeng Bone Wings—which had passed the Triple Reincarnation Tribulation—would take at least twelve or thirteen years to fully integrate into his own bones.

Having done all this, Yuan Gan left the small world directly.

Half a month had passed in the Mountain Survival. Everyone in the Rock Mist Mountain Range had hunted several demon beasts. The group with the most kills was naturally Liu Qing's team, with a full twenty demon beasts. Even the lowest count was thirteen demon beasts and their Demon Crystals.

As for Long Jiuyao's group, they had exactly fourteen Demon Crystals, meaning they had killed fourteen demon beasts. Among them was a half-step Creation Realm Blade Tail Flood Dragon, which possessed one-third Flood Dragon Bloodline. Two obvious bulges on its head proved it was about to transform into a true dragon—but Long Jiuyao's group had cut short that hope.

However, this left all three with varying injuries. Long Jiuyao's arms were nearly crippled, his body covered in wounds. Lan Xinhuang's arms bore many blade scars, and her back had several deep, bone-deep gashes. Compared to them, Yuan Xin was relatively better off.

Still, the three had found plenty of healing Spiritual Medicines in the Rock Mist Mountain Range, along with a Spirit Spring. But recovery would still take considerable time.

Lan Xinhuang wasn't worried about the scars on her back. A soak in the Spirit Spring would restore her skin without any marks.

Fortunately, most of their injuries were external. A few days of rest would heal them mostly. The Blade Tail Flood Dragon's corpse was over ten meters long, enough to sustain them for nearly ten days.

Long Jiuyao wasn't concerned about his arm injuries. After tempering his body with Azure Crackle Violet Lightning, his physique was incredibly powerful, and the Ancient Dragon Bone's regenerative ability was astonishing.

A few more days passed, and the Mountain Survival was already halfway through. Today, Long Jiuyao's group no longer stayed in their small territory. They packed up and headed deeper into the mountains.

Thanks to the Spirit Spring and Spiritual Medicines, their injuries had mostly healed. During their recovery, they hadn't been idle and had gathered information about the deeper parts of the Rock Mist Mountain Range.

They had also hunted all the demon beasts in their vicinity, leaving none. To hunt more beasts, collect Demon Crystals, and secure victory, they had to venture deeper.

Long Jiuyao packed the extra food into the Blade Tail Flood Dragon's shed skin. The half-step Creation Realm flood dragon's skin had immense capacity and was exceptionally tough. It could even shrink to the size of a washbasin without losing any storage space. This discovery thrilled Long Jiuyao—it made storing Demon Crystals and food safer and more convenient.

With Long Jiuyao carrying the skin on his back, Lan Xinhuang and Yuan Xin followed behind as they advanced deeper into the mountains. In the depths of the Rock Mist Mountain Range, the haze grew thicker, faintly blocking Spiritual Power, unlike the periphery where it was freely usable.

The two women's Spiritual Power wasn't as strong as Long Jiuyao's. With the dense, lingering haze, they had to hold onto Long Jiuyao's clothes to avoid getting separated.

This intimate gesture delighted Yuan Xin, while the aloof Lan Xinhuang's jade cheeks flushed slightly with shyness.

It was their first time venturing deep into the mountains, so they didn't move quickly. Instead, they advanced cautiously, step by step. The ancient trees here were thicker and denser.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Long Jiuyao stopped warily, and the two women halted as well. "Sounds like fighting up ahead. Let's go check it out."

A demon beast resembling a crocodile, about seven meters long, had four eyes on its head and limbs as thick as buckets. Its entire body was covered in black scales, each the size of a palm, looking extremely tough.

However, two of its four eyes had been gouged out. Many scales had been blasted off, revealing bloody flesh. Two of its limbs were bent at unnatural angles, clearly broken, held together only by skin and muscle.

"As expected of a Major Qi Creation Realm Scaled Fear Crocodile. Its defense is truly formidable," the bald big guy leading the group said in a loud voice.

The three men also bore varying injuries. Their robes were half-destroyed, with large gashes aplenty. The most severely injured was the green-robed man, whose chest was slightly caved in, his aura weak—likely from a full-force blow by the Scaled Fear Crocodile.

The three formed a triangle, surrounding the severely wounded Scaled Fear Crocodile. Even though it was already badly hurt, they did not let their guard down.

"ROAR!" The Scaled Fear Crocodile bellowed at the sky.

"Su Qing, Wang Li, watch out—this beast is about to go all out," the Bald Big Guy warned.

Hearing this, the two of them circulated their Yuan Power, staying alert for a sudden strike from the Scaled Fear Crocodile.

Meanwhile, Long Jiuyyao's group had stealthily arrived beside an ancient tree, quietly watching the other survivors' hunt unfold.

Long Jiuyyao noticed the scales on the Scaled Fear Crocodile emitting a dazzling Black Radiance. He knew this meant it was preparing to fight to the death. Facing a Qi Creation Realm demon beast's desperate struggle, even those three would have to pay a considerable price to kill it.

From Long Jiuyyao's perception, the Bald Big Guy was at the Major Form Creation Realm, while the other two were at the Minor Form Creation Realm.

Since Long Jiuyyao had seen this, he naturally wouldn't do nothing. Let them hunt this Scaled Fear Crocodile, and he would hunt them—truly the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

The thick haze was dispersed by the fierce battle and would not quickly reform, so there was no issue with visibility.

Long Jiuyyao took out three bone swords, crafted from the hardest bones of demon beasts he had previously hunted.

Weapons were not exclusive to Long Jiuyyao's group; the three fighting the Scaled Fear Crocodile also had theirs. The Bald Big Guy wielded a bone spear, Su Qing in green held a bone blade, and Wang Li in red also carried a bone sword.

Having weapons greatly aided survival and demon beast hunting. All survivors used the bones of slain demon beasts to forge suitable arms.