Mount Liu Erlong! (Revised)

At the bottom of the cliff.

Liu Erlong smashed a waist-high granite boulder with a single punch.

She flexed her fingers, her joints popping crisply.

The sensation of venting her strength was incredibly satisfying.

"Don't just stand there, try something else."

Black liquid writhed on her right arm, solidifying into a short black blade in three seconds.

She backhanded the shattered rock, slicing it in two; the cut was as smooth as a mirror.

"Blade."

The short blade melted, reshaping into a diamond-shaped small shield that covered her forearm.

"Shield."

The shield's surface extended into a whip, the tip lined with barbs, which she lashed against the cliff wall, carving a deep trench.

"Whip."

The whip retracted, and a pair of three-meter-long black wings suddenly unfurled from her back.

Combined with the black skin-tight leather suit hugging her curvaceous, hourglass figure and the pitch-black wings behind her, she looked bewitching and dangerous—like a fallen angel flown straight out of hell.

Black wings.

With a single flap, all the loose gravel was blown away.

"It can fly too. Not for long right now, but eventually, it will be all-weather."

She tested the camouflage next—the pitch-black liquid surged.

The combat suit could switch into any style at will, and it could even mimic the appearance of others.

After testing her abilities, Liu Erlong fell silent for a moment before speaking.

"What is your level right now?"

"In terms of myself, I am at the level of a thousand-year soul beast, but the stronger the host, the stronger I become. There is no upper limit."

"What is the price?"

She was not a child raised by a sect; she never believed in free lunches.

If you want to live, you have to pay the bill—she had understood that truth since she was ten.

"It's very simple. You belong to me."

"I agree."

Someone who had died once did not want to be helpless and alone again.

She wanted power; she wanted to grind the faces of those who looked down on her into the dirt.

The price was sharing her body with a puddle of black sludge? It was worth it.

"Very well. Let's go settle the score with that lizard."

The Red Flame Earth Dragon was still prowling above the cliff.

The mother dragon was irritable, sweeping boulders off the cliff with its tail and snorting sparks from its nostrils.

Liu Erlong climbed up from the side of the cliff, coming face-to-face with it.

The mother dragon froze.

The next second, Liu Erlong charged, moving so fast she left a trail of afterimages.

Just as the Earth Dragon opened its mouth to breathe fire, she had already cut to the side of its neck, aiming a punch directly at the thinnest joint of its scales—

BOOM!

The five-meter dragon body went flying sideways.

Before it could react, Liu Erlong vaulted onto its back, her hands turning into black liquid spikes, and plunged them deep into the dragon's eyes, driving them straight into its brain.

The Earth Dragon let out a howl.

Its struggle went from violent to weak, and finally, it collapsed to the ground with a thud, motionless.

Liu Erlong stood on the dragon's back, panting, her eyes filled with exhilaration.

She had just been relentlessly hunted by this damned Earth Dragon, barely escaping with her life.

Killing it now felt absolutely incredible.

She brushed the blood-stained hair from her forehead and looked down at her feet.

A purple soul ring rose from the corpse, hovering eerily.

Liu Erlong jumped off the dragon's back and stared at the soul ring.

"What a pity. Level twenty-nine, not level thirty. Even if you could absorb it, an eight-thousand-year spirit ring—the continent's standard is yellow-yellow-purple-purple. Who has ever touched an eight-thousand-year ring for their third?"

"Who said it wouldn't work?"

Black liquid surged from her skin, transforming into countless threads that pierced into the dragon corpse.

The threads burrowed beneath the scales, coiled around the flesh, and began to devour.

"The enhancement I gave you isn't just for strength and speed. Your mental power, meridian toughness, and bone density have all been reforged. Just because others can't handle it doesn't mean you can't."

The threads tightened.

Wrapped in the Venom, the five-meter dragon body rapidly collapsed and dissolved. Scales, flesh, fascia, and marrow were all broken down into raw energy, surging back wildly along the threads.

Liu Erlong's body shuddered as a scalding torrent flooded her limbs and bones, her spirit power surging.

Level thirty.

At the same time, Jiang Ce's main body was also digesting.

The "Fire = Agony" code within the symbiote's genes was being overwritten by the essence of the dragon's flesh, and the resistance factors of the fire-attribute spirit beast were integrating into every cell.

The residual dragon breath circulated within him, no longer triggering a stress response, but instead bringing a warm sense of comfort.

Devouring fire-attribute spirit beasts granted fire resistance.

If he devoured a few more dragons, the fatal weakness of fearing fire would sooner or later be completely sealed away.

"Can you absorb it now?"

Liu Erlong reached out and touched the purple spirit ring.

Energy poured in violently, far more intense than a hundred-year spirit ring.

Her body, reinforced by the Venom, easily swallowed the impact.

The purple light solidified beneath her feet, growing steadier by the second. Her spirit power climbed once more—level thirty-one, thirty-two.

Level thirty-two Spirit Elder.

She snapped her eyes open, a flash of fire dancing in her pupils.

The color of the flames in her palm had changed; they were now dark red with a molten, golden core, and the temperature had more than doubled.

She unleashed a pulse of spirit power.

Dark red flames erupted from within her, covering her entire body. Tongues of fire coiled around her limbs and torso, and the shattered rocks beneath her feet crackled under the intense heat.

Third Spirit Skill: Dragon Flame Blood Burn.

All attributes doubled—attack, strength, defense, attack speed, etc.

Grants Super Armor.

Dragon flames on the body surface deal burning damage; all fire attacks deal additional Dragon Flame burning damage.

Duration: two hours.

"This is not bad." Jiang Ce's tone was satisfied.

After he devoured the dragon corpse, the symbiote's replication ability activated, copying the Red Flame Earth Dragon's skills one by one into his own genes.

Dragon Flame Roar Bomb: Compresses fire-attribute spirit power to fire a high-speed flame impact projectile, causing an area-of-effect explosion and burning damage upon impact.

The dragon breath the Red Flame Earth Dragon used while hunting Liu Erlong was a weakened version of this skill.

Dragon Scale Hardening: Mobilizes fire-attribute spirit power to instantly harden the skin, significantly increasing defense.

This was the innate defensive skill the Red Flame Earth Dragon relied on to reach adulthood.

Liu Erlong nodded, ready to leave.

"Don't go yet."

"Why?"

"There's something good in this mother dragon's territory. There was a fight between spirit beasts earlier, and it happened to pick up a bargain—an external spirit bone."

Liu Erlong's breathing quickened.

An external spirit bone.

This was a priceless treasure.

Even Title Douluo would risk their lives to snatch one, as it could fundamentally transform a spirit master's combat power.

Moreover, this item could grow.

"Let's go."

She turned and strode toward the lair, her steps steady, no longer showing any signs of her previous distress.

The lair was a massive cavern half-buried in the mountainside.

The entrance was piled with shredded shrubs and dense claw marks, the air thick with the smell of sulfur.

The cave walls had been scorched repeatedly by dragon breath, melting the stone into a glassy, glazed surface.

Growing between the stone crevices were several dark red Dragon Breath Grasses—the very herbs she had been commissioned to collect.

Liu Erlong walked straight to the deepest part of the lair.

She saw a small mountain of gold soul coins and gemstones, glittering under the sunlight that spilled into the space.

Liu Erlong's eyes lit up.

Such a massive fortune was enough to sustain her cultivation until she reached the seven-ring Soul Saint level.

"There are plenty of other things over there, too."

Following Jiang Ce's prompt, Liu Erlong turned her head to look. She saw piles of human remains stacked together.

Among the skeletons were some bones of a peculiar color.

"Spirit Bones!"

Liu Erlong's breathing quickened. "I never expected to find so many Spirit Bones here."

She immediately set to work, quickly gathering the Spirit Bones along with the jewelry found on some of the remains.

After all, these pieces of jewelry were actually soul tools.

And within those soul tools, there were surely many more soul coins to be found.

"The most important thing, however, is the external spirit bone."

It was a pair of wing bones, half an arm in length, dark red throughout, and covered in natural scale-like patterns. They felt slightly warm to the touch, as if a ball of fire were trapped inside.

External Spirit Bone—a complete pair of dragon wing bones.

The earth dragon had dragged them back as a trophy to be pressed at the bottom of its nest.

"Red Flame Dragon Wings. Can evolve as the level increases; has a chance to undergo secondary mutation by devouring the essence of other dragon-type spirit beasts."

Liu Erlong took the pair of dark red wing bones out from her embrace.

The moment her soul power probed into them, the wing bones transformed into a stream of heat that burrowed into her palms, burning its way along her meridians and straight into her spine.

From both sides of her shoulder blades, the sound of bones stretching and restructuring echoed—

A pair of dark red dragon wings tore out from her back, spanning nearly four meters. The wing membranes featured translucent flame patterns, and the edges were as sharp as blades.

The soul power essence sealed within the dragon wings was released simultaneously, pouring into her meridians.

Level thirty-three.

The fusion was complete.

The dragon wings flapped slowly behind her, the dark red membranes shimmering with lava-like light.

External Spirit Bone: Red Flame Dragon Wings.

Dragon Wing Enhancement: Upon unfolding the wings, all attributes increase by 100%, with an additional 50% increase in fire-attribute damage.

Duration: two hours.

The wing bones themselves grant flight, wing-blade cutting, and dragon-flame attachment; they can grow and evolve with the user's level.

There is a chance for secondary mutation after devouring the essence of dragon-type spirit beasts.

"Level thirty-three, plus a pair of dragon wings that can fly and slash, and a buff skill that boosts all attributes."

"It was worth the trip."