Rock Crystal Dragon

Early morning,

Lu Ran went downstairs, planning to look around Sea God Island first, but happened to run into the three of them,

Seeing him approach, Yan Shaozhe smiled. "We can set off now."

Then let's go,

The four of them set out for the Star Dou Great Forest.

Along the way, Yan Shaozhe and Xian Lin'er found fault with each other and argued without stopping, but they never went too far. After all, they had to make sure Lu Ran wouldn't misunderstand. If he thought Shrek Academy was deeply divided and rife with infighting, they'd be done for. The Elders would tear the two of them to pieces,

Mu En knew they understood their limits, which was why he'd let them compete on their own merits,

All Lu Ran saw was two people bickering with each other. They still seemed quite harmonious.

The Star Dou Great Forest was fraught with danger,

But with two Super Douluo accompanying Lu Ran, there was no need to worry. Their journey was completely unimpeded. Even taking into account that he wasn't used to it, Yan Shaozhe deliberately slowed their pace,

It was Lu Ran's first time looking down on the Star Dou Great Forest. The vast sea of trees rolled like deep-green waves, stretching without end. From beneath the boundless vegetation came the occasional roar of a Soul Beast, startling flocks of birds into the sky,

The magnificent sight left him utterly awestruck.

Yan Shaozhe explained, "The Star Dou Great Forest has a wide variety of Soul Beasts, but few have potential, and even fewer are suited to the earth attribute. Still, the academy has detailed records of many Soul Beasts. In the Mixed Zone of the Star Dou Great Forest, where we're headed, there's an earth-attribute Soul Beast with a powerful innate talent called the Rock Crystal Dragon."

"Rock... Crystal Dragon?"

"That's right, the Rock Crystal Dragon. Soul Beasts of this kind live extremely long lives and like to eat minerals to replenish and strengthen their bodies. Legend has it they possess a trace of the Earth Dragon King's bloodline, giving them talent far beyond that of Soul Beasts of the same rank."

Lu Ran nodded and thought, Oh.

As everyone knew, legends were true. If legend said it possessed that bloodline, then it really did. Simple as that.

The Star Dou Great Forest was vast, covering nearly a third of the Star Luo Empire. The group wasn't in a hurry, so they took their time and treated the journey as sightseeing,

They didn't arrive until the following day.

The Mixed Zone was extremely dangerous. What looked like ordinary fallen leaves could pierce you the moment you stepped on them, and poisonous crawling creatures might be hiding in the moss. Yan Shaozhe didn't dare let Lu Ran set foot on the ground, so Xian Lin'er carried him with a Flight Soul Tool the whole way,

It was a novel experience.

For a Super Douluo, finding a Soul Beast was naturally a piece of cake. They searched for less than two hours before Yan Shaozhe pointed proudly toward a steep mountainside:

"Over there."

As they moved forward, a roar suddenly rang in Lu Ran's ears,

Only when they got closer did they discover a huge Cavern in the steep mountainside. It was dark and deep inside, its end nowhere in sight. On the clearing in front of it,

two Soul Beasts were fighting—

One was a dark-brown rhino clad in thick armor, its horns split apart, and the other... a draconic Soul Beast, somewhere between a young dragon and a giant lizard in shape. Its amber-like scales gleamed with a gemstone sheen. Blood dripped from its hind leg, showing that it was clearly injured.

Xian Lin'er explained, "That draconic Soul Beast is a two-hundred-year-old Rock Crystal Dragon. It has a powerful innate talent. The Split-Horn Earth Rhino is five hundred years old and is also a formidable Soul Beast, fierce and powerful. Its strength far exceeds that of Soul Beasts of the same age, or it couldn't survive in the Mixed Zone."

As she spoke,

the Split-Horn Earth Rhino let out a muffled roar. A brownish-yellow phantom lit up around its massive horn as it kicked off the ground and charged at the Rock Crystal Dragon, sending gravel and dust flying. It seemed the very earth was trembling,

It was astonishingly fast.

But the Rock Crystal Dragon reacted even faster. It dodged among the jagged rocks near the Cavern, but the Split-Horn Earth Rhino's charge was simply too powerful. The shockwave grazed its right foreleg,

Its amber scales shattered and fell to the ground, losing their gemstone sheen. Even the scales on its body grew a few shades duller,

So that was the effect of a Soul Skill.

Seeing its attack miss, the Split-Horn Earth Rhino immediately wheeled around. Its enormous hooves stamped deep pits into the ground. Unable to dodge, the Rock Crystal Dragon was struck hard in the chest and sent flying more than ten meters like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily to the ground,

Only then did Lu Ran notice that the Split-Horn Earth Rhino wasn't unscathed. There was a clear wound on its flank. So the Rock Crystal Dragon hadn't been completely overpowered.

The Rock Crystal Dragon struggled to its feet. It had been driven to the edge of the Cavern, with an unfathomably deep cliff behind it. The echo of falling stones lingered for a long time, making it clear how far the drop was,

It glared fiercely at the Split-Horn Earth Rhino, blood dripping from its mouth, and retreated step by step to the cliff's edge. Then several thick stone pillars suddenly jutted out from the cliff face,

After slowly shifting downward, they soon disappeared into the cliff.

Watching the Rock Crystal Dragon vanish, the Split-Horn Earth Rhino impatiently pawed at the ground, producing a muffled, drumlike rumble. Its massive body trembled, and heavy breaths blasted from its nostrils, but it didn't dare approach. Its heavy body made it clumsy, and the cliff was extremely dangerous for it. One misstep, and it would be dead,

After pacing back and forth in agitation,

it moved forward slowly, its gaze full of caution. It cautiously peered over the cliff's edge, then let out an angry, drawn-out howl that echoed through the unfathomably deep Cavern.

Unwilling to accept its failure, it turned and left, breathing heavily through its nostrils,

Lu Ran had just turned to ask a question,

when the Rock Crystal Dragon suddenly leaped up from below the cliff and charged with all its might,

The Split-Horn Earth Rhino sensed movement behind it and spun around abruptly. Its massive horn glowed with another phantom as it tried to unleash a fatal blow.

But the Rock Crystal Dragon had been ready. Its speed suddenly surged, yellow light flaring from its claws and teeth. It feinted a pounce, tricking the Split-Horn Earth Rhino into raising its horn to defend itself, then lowered its body and shot forward like a yellow bolt of lightning, sinking its teeth into the wounded flank,

The Split-Horn Earth Rhino was in unbearable pain and tried to strike back, but the ground suddenly shook beneath its feet. Several Rock Spikes burst from the earth, throwing it off balance. The Rock Crystal Dragon seized its chance and tore off a huge chunk of its armor,

The Split-Horn Earth Rhino was driven into a frenzy. It roared and slammed the Rock Crystal Dragon more than ten meters away, sending it crashing into a pile of stones. Its scales shattered, its breath grew feeble, and the gemstone sheen vanished entirely from its scales, leaving only bloodstained amber and the rocks beneath it, soaked in blood.

The Split-Horn Earth Rhino charged furiously. It was going to crush the Rock Crystal Dragon and tear it to pieces!

But its body was already at the end of its strength. Blood kept pouring from the wound in its abdomen. After only a few strides, it slowed down, then its huge body crashed to the ground. No matter how hard it panted and struggled, it couldn't get up. A broad pool of blood seeped out beneath it as well,

A moment later,

everything fell silent.

The Rock Crystal Dragon lay among the stones, taking its final breaths. Suddenly, several figures appeared in its field of vision, walking toward it from the shadows. It was already too weak to stand and could only let out a faint, feeble hiss.

"Do you want to get back up?"

The boy spoke.

It hissed.

"Do you want to get back up?"

The boy asked again,

"If you die here, will you be content?"

It struggled furiously. How could it be content? If it hadn't been ambushed, how could it have been injured?

It didn't want to die. It wanted revenge!

This was its territory! It was the king! The king of the Cavern!

The Rock Crystal Dragon's luminous yellow eyes fixed on Lu Ran as it hissed furiously. Summoning every ounce of strength, it trembled as it tried to stand. It had to survive and take care of every human in front of it!

With a thud, it collapsed completely,

It had no strength left,

Before losing consciousness, the Rock Crystal Dragon saw the boy reach toward its forehead. His hand was warm beyond words, glowing with light.