The Six Immortal-Grade Fierce Beasts had pressed their bodies against the cliff wall, all of them trembling with fear.
"Ah! They're coming!"
The youngest, the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, was horrified.
Even the towering, pitch-black Ink Jade Divine Bamboo shook the Aromatic Silk Beauty by the arm and cried, "Fragrant, hurry and think of something!"
But the handsome face of the Aromatic Silk Beauty was already twisted with distress and indecision.
He cursed inwardly: Think of something? What could I possibly think of?
If they left the valley, they'd be struck by lightning. If they stayed, they risked being refined.
They might have had cultivation of a hundred or two hundred thousand years, but their experience and physical resilience were nothing compared to the Ferocious Beasts that had fought their way through true hardship. How could they possibly withstand a tribulation meant to torment Ferocious Beasts?
Just then, the three outsiders had already approached, bringing with them the remnant souls of the Two Kings of Water and Fire.
The Holy Dragon King pointed at the Earth Dragon Golden Melon, then turned to ask, "Emperor, according to the principle of the five elements, earth generates metal. This humble king needs to fuse with this sacred earth-elemental plant to strengthen this metal-elemental body."
His current body had been constructed from the drop of Life Gold within a million-year-old Lovesick Heartbreak Red, after he found the Dragon Emperor's reincarnation.
Now that he had encountered an earth-elemental sacred plant like the Earth Dragon Golden Melon, he naturally couldn't pass it up.
The Goddess of Love also pointed at the Gazing Autumn Begonia and explained frankly, "I expended quite a bit of energy condensing my second mental-type ring. I need to replenish my mental power and further stabilize my soul body."
The Aromatic Silk Beauty hurriedly shouted, "Emperor, didn't you promise not to pick us?"
"That's right. I promised not to touch the six of you." The Dragon Emperor didn't deny it.
But the Six Immortal-Grade Fierce Beasts all understood the unspoken meaning: I promised, but the two beside me never did.
The Water and Fire Dragon Souls drew on the power of the Blazing Spring and the Cold Spring, using red and blue dragon qi to pin the six immortal-grade plants in place so they couldn't move.
"It's over." Despair showed on the faces of the Earth Dragon Golden Melon and the Gazing Autumn Begonia.
The other four Ferocious Beasts were already wondering how to extend their roots into the soil around their two old friends, so they could absorb the nutrients as soon as possible...
But the Dragon Emperor unexpectedly added, "And so I won't allow my subordinates to take you away."
"I'm the emperor. I never go back on my word, and I never play word games."
The situation turned around completely, and the tense atmosphere vanished in an instant.
The Six Immortal-Grade Fierce Beasts felt as if they'd been granted a new lease on life: Couldn't you have said that without making us wait for the other shoe to drop?
Xiao Qiu and Gua Gua, the two who'd been singled out, immediately showered him with gratitude. "That's right, that's right! You're the emperor! You truly are the emperor of us plant-type Soul Beasts!"
But drawing on his memories from traveling through the world, the Dragon Emperor poured cold water on them. "Then offer up some of your essence."
"I believe the two of you can produce essence like the Blazing Glue, Cold Dew, and Qiluo Heart made by the Infernal Delicate Apricot and Aromatic Silk Beauty."
The Gazing Autumn Begonia and the Earth Dragon Golden Melon stiffened, deeply reluctant.
Ten thousand years ago, the Infernal Delicate Apricot had been shut inside a furnace and refined until all her essence was extracted and turned into Blazing Glue. Even now, her body's foundation hadn't caught up with the pace of her cultivation.
But compared with being picked and devoured, the two immortal-grade Ferocious Beasts would rather damage their own foundations and save their lives.
The Earth Dragon Golden Melon turned and dove into its "melon house," making a racket as if it were tearing out the beams and pillars.
When it poked its head out again, a golden dragon pearl was already clasped in its dragon jaws.
As for the Gazing Autumn Begonia, it reached toward the top of its own body and, with great reluctance, snapped off one of the two autumn begonia leaves in its crown.
Then, with a pained expression, it offered the leaf to the Dragon Emperor, along with a pool of clear dew resting on its surface.
"The Earth Dragon Pearl, offered to my emperor by Gua Gua."
"The Begonia Tear, offered to my emperor by Xiao Qiu."
As soon as the golden dragon pearl and clear dew were in their hands, the Holy Dragon King and the Goddess of Love skipped the absorption process altogether, fusing the essence straight into their bodies or soul bodies.
While his two subordinates cultivated, the Dragon Emperor kept busy as well.
The medicine garden around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was filled with dazzling immortal plants that hadn't developed intelligence. Aside from the Six Immortal-Grade Fierce Beasts, there had to be at least one plant suited to him.
But guided by the Two Kings of Water and Fire, the Dragon Emperor headed in the opposite direction, toward the pool at the heart of the spring.
At first, the Dragon Emperor had said with disgust, "I'm not Tang San. I have no interest in bathing in the two of your corpse water."
But at the Two Kings of Water and Fire's fervent pleas, he still walked toward the spring.
As soon as he reached the bank, the remnant souls of the Two Kings of Water and Fire flew from the Dragon Emperor's shoulders and plunged into the surface of the pool behind the spot where the Lovesick Heartbreak Red had once stood.
Though speaking was difficult for the two remnant souls, they still raced around the inner wall along the bank, sending out waves of urgent thoughts.
The Dragon Emperor bent over the pool, bracing himself with his strong core and leaning his upper body over to peer at the inner wall.
There, on the boundary between the red and blue waters, a cluster of faint purple-green light caught his eye.
It was a cluster of mushrooms, each with a purple cap and green leaves, their stems and roots all intertwined, huddled together like a clump of purple-green cloud mushrooms.
"Purple-Green Dragon Mushroom? And an eleventh-grade one, at that."
It was important to know that the Soul Power of the Douluo Plane had emerged when the Dragon Clan had perished in ages past. Divine power had spread across Douluo and combined with the energy of heaven and earth, giving rise to Soul Power.
Thus, every Soul Beast and Martial Soul had a chance of undergoing Dragon Transformation. That was why anything related to dragons enjoyed an innate advantage in the Douluo Plane.
With the Dragon Emperor's experience, he could naturally see that this plant had once been a Nine-Grade Purple Mushroom, transformed into a "dragon" after absorbing enough water and fire dragon qi.
After its transformation, like a fish leaping through the Dragon Gate, the Dragon Ganoderma had grown green leaves resembling scales.
Those green leaves had appeared once before, twenty thousand years ago. They'd been Tang San, the founder of the Tang Sect's, secret weapon for cheating.
It had happened during the final championship match of the Soul Master Tournament hosted by Spirit Hall.
Tang San and the Shrek Seven Devils had secretly taken advantage of the break before the match to flagrantly ignore the tournament rules. They'd taken seven Dragon Ganoderma Leaves in advance and claimed the ultimate victory.
The Dragon Ganoderma Leaves consumed by the first Shrek Seven Devils had come from the Purple-Green Dragon Mushroom's auxiliary plant: the few green leaves growing beneath its mushroom caps.
"This might be the very same Purple-Green Dragon Mushroom from back then. Looks like it wasn't given to the Divine Master Yu Xiaogang afterward, but instead was replanted from a seed." The Dragon Emperor felt relieved.
Otherwise, with the Purple-Green Dragon Mushroom improving his Martial Soul, Yu Xiaogang, the Golden Sacred Dragon Soul Master of that era, might have had the potential to become a god.
He reached out and picked the cluster of Purple-Green Dragon Mushroom, with the Water and Fire Dragon Souls swirling around him.
His pure-gold pupils reflected the purple and green hues. At such close range, pure dragon qi, free of any trace of water or fire, drifted in wisps into the Dragon Emperor's nostrils.
Once the Nine-Grade Purple Mushroom successfully transformed into a dragon, it became a tenth-grade Purple-Green Dragon Mushroom.
But when a Purple-Green Dragon Mushroom produced offspring and grew into a cluster, quantity turned into quality, elevating it into an eleventh-grade peerless immortal herb.
But the Dragon Emperor sighed. "What a pity."
Please see the author's note.
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