Liu Erlong found a nearby hotel, booked a private room, and locked the door.
She took the Soul Bones out of her Soul Tool. There were nine in all, each a different color. They had all been dropped by Soul Beasts killed by the Red Flame Earth Dragon over the years, and ranged in age from three thousand to six thousand years.
Black liquid surged from her chest, coalescing into a huge, pitch-black dragon's head. Its jaws snapped around a Soul Bone.
Crack, crack. Amid the chilling crunch of its chewing, the Soul Bone was ground up and swallowed whole.
"There's energy in them, to be sure, but compared with the ten percent conversion rate I get from devouring a Soul Beast's bodily energy, these only give me two percent."
"Better than nothing." Liu Erlong pushed the rest of the Soul Bones toward him.
The black Venom dragon head devoured the Soul Bones one by one. The crunching made her spine crawl.
"I've swallowed them all. They've added about a thousand years in total." Jiang Ce's voice held a note of satisfaction. "My age has now reached four thousand eight hundred years."
He had started at a thousand years. With Liu Erlong sharing her power and the eight hundred years gained from devouring the Red Flame Earth Dragon, he had reached three thousand eight hundred.
A thousand years wasn't much to him, but at least it was steady progress.
"It's probably because I'm still in my initial stage. If I evolve again, my conversion rate will increase dramatically."
"You can evolve again?" A spark of delight flashed in Liu Erlong's eyes.
Even as he was, Jiang Ce could triple all her attributes, letting her fight across an entire major realm.
If he evolved again, would he become even stronger?
"Exactly. The more I evolve, the stronger the boost I can give you."
Liu Erlong nodded instinctively.
"Wait—you can even read my thoughts?"
"We share one life." The Black Latex Suit on her suddenly surged, turning into tentacles that bound her tightly. Liu Erlong lost control of her body and slumped back into the chair.
Like a helpless young girl.
"You don't have any secrets from me."
"Don't squeeze so tight..." Liu Erlong had expected this sort of thing.
He could change his shape at will, and his consciousness was clearly male—
She just hadn't expected him to have so many tricks.
"Heh heh, I've got plenty of tricks. You'll find out soon enough. For now, let's go get that Thousand-Year Whale Glue."
The Venom settled back into the form of a skin-tight Black Latex Suit.
Liu Erlong's body went limp, and she fell onto the bed. Her cheeks were still flushed, and her thighs rubbed together involuntarily.
A moment later, she got up, straightened herself out, and headed straight for the auction house.
Liu Erlong showed proof of funds and entered. The dazzling hall was already packed with over a hundred people.
The auctioneer banged his gavel onstage. A Thousand-Year Soul Bone was up for sale, and bids rose one after another. The price had already reached six hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins.
Liu Erlong looked at the Soul Bone, then remembered the nine Jiang Ce had just crunched up like snacks. The corner of her mouth twitched.
She barely cared about the next few lots, until the auctioneer lifted another red cloth.
"Next up for auction—" A palm-sized lump of glue lay on the tray, pitch-black and gleaming with an oily sheen under the lights. "Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue. Its effects are... uh, revitalizing. Bidding starts at two thousand Gold Soul Coins."
The auctioneer gave a knowing smile, and the audience burst into laughter.
A man whistled from below. "Gets your blood pumping, doesn't it? That's what revitalizing means. One bite, and you'll be fired up all day."
His companion chimed in. "You still eat it? A hundred-year-old Whale Glue is enough to get your blood pumping. Could you handle a mouthful of one that's ten thousand years old?"
Liu Erlong raised her bidding paddle.
Two thousand Gold Soul Coins.
The men in the audience stared at Liu Erlong's outrageously curvaceous figure and clicked their tongues in wonder.
"Wait, that little girl's buying this? Did some noble send her to get it?"
"Probably. Why else would a girl buy something like that?"
"Just look at that figure. Those nobles have it good."
Several men muttered among themselves.
No one tried to outbid Liu Erlong—
In everyone's eyes, it was an aphrodisiac. Who'd spend two thousand coins on a lump of it?
A hundred-year-old one was enough. Who could digest one that was ten thousand years old?
One bite would leave your blood boiling for days. The stuff was way too potent.
Liu Erlong sat there, barely holding back the urge to curse.
If she hadn't been at the auction, she would've loved to beat the hell out of every last one of those damn men.
The auctioneer brought down his gavel, and Liu Erlong went backstage to pay. When she slapped two thousand Gold Soul Coins onto the counter, the manager gave her a second look.
A twelve-year-old girl, buying neither pills nor Soul Tools, but bidding on a lump of Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue—what was she playing at?
Then he slowly shook his head. It was probably another noble who wanted to toy with some neighbor's little girl.
Liu Erlong couldn't be bothered to explain. She put the Whale Glue in her Soul Tool and turned to leave.
As soon as she stepped out of the auction hall, Jiang Ce's voice rang out in her mind.
"Wait. Someone's watching you."
Liu Erlong kept walking, her pupils contracting slightly as she maintained a calm expression. "How many?"
"I've only spotted one so far, fifty paces to your right, by the pillar. Judging by his aura, he was probably sent by the group you beat up."
They still hadn't given up.
Without drawing attention, she turned into a dark alley nearby.
The footsteps behind her followed, just as expected. The mercenary tailing her hurried into the alley, only to find it empty. He froze.
"Huh? Where'd she go—"
A hand reached out of the darkness. Its five fingers clamped around his head like iron pincers and twisted his whole body around.
"Looking for me?"
The mercenary's pupils shrank. He opened his mouth to shout—
Black liquid surged from Liu Erlong, wrapping around him and sealing off every sound as it began to seep into his memories.
A moment later, the Venom withdrew, and the mercenary crumpled to the ground.
"Ma San's base is in an abandoned warehouse in the eastern district. There are another dozen or so men there. Their leader is his cousin, a forty-first-level Soul Ancestor."
"Forty-first level." Liu Erlong repeated the words, a cold smile curling her lips. "Let's go."
Abandoned warehouse, eastern district.
Ma San had a bandage wrapped around his head, a broken nose, and several missing teeth. His words whistled through the gaps.
His cousin, Ma Biao, sat across from him—
A forty-first-level Battle Soul Ancestor, he'd spent over a decade in Heaven Dou City's mercenary circles. He had more than twenty men under him and a little influence in the area.
"Brother Ma, that little girl went into the auction house. Zhao Qing's still watching her, so I came back first," a mercenary reported as he came through the door.
"The auction house? Where'd she get that much money?" Ma San cursed through his stuffy nose. "That bastard child probably stole it from somewhere."
"Maybe she got it by selling her body," another mercenary said with a whistle. "That girl's got one hell of a figure."
Several of the mercenaries joined in the laughter.
"Keep an eye on her. When she comes out, corner her somewhere deserted."
Ma Biao toyed with the dagger in his hand. "At twelve years old, she could easily beat a bunch of you Soul Elders. That means she's at least a Soul Elder herself.
"She used to be no more than a Soul Grandmaster, but her strength has shot up so fast—
"She must've stumbled upon some kind of opportunity. This time, we'll pry it out of her."
The men's eyes lit up. "Right! Brother Ma really thought this through—"
Boom!
Before you continue