A sudden slap.
Caught Liu Erlong completely off guard.
Her eyes rolled back, and she staggered, nearly toppling from the tree.
Luckily, several tentacles instantly surged out of the Black Latex Suit and wrapped tightly around the trunk, keeping her from falling.
"You bastard—why'd you suddenly sneak up on me?!"
"This is training your endurance." Feeling the warm layer snugly wrapped around him, Jiang Ce sighed leisurely.
"You need to get used to it. Anti-Magic Ninjas can withstand a sensitivity test at three thousand times the normal level and keep fighting. You're already panting after just one touch. How are you supposed to fight?"
Liu Erlong's pupils contracted.
"Three thousand times? Who the hell could withstand that? Your brain would get cooked!"
After eating the Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue and being put through the wringer by this guy for a day and two nights, she already felt like her mind had gone blank and wasn't her own anymore.
Three thousand times—how was anyone supposed to fight after that?
It was practically pushing someone to the brink of a breakdown.
"That's why you still need training."
As soon as Jiang Ce finished speaking, several tentacles around her tightened sharply, squeezing her ample chest into a shape like the arm of a Michelin tire mascot.
Watching her proud assets get treated like that, Liu Erlong gritted her silver teeth, let out a muffled groan, and rolled her eyes.
"Get lost."
Liu Erlong gritted her teeth and adjusted her breathing. "Now let go of your tentacles."
"Tsk, tsk. They're getting bigger and bigger."
Before letting go, Jiang Ce gave the heaving swell another pat, then withdrew his tentacles with a cackling laugh.
Liu Erlong let out a long breath, got herself back in shape, and continued searching ahead.
Over the next several hours, whenever she sensed a fluctuation in soul power, Liu Erlong would pounce straight at it—
She caught it off guard, killed it with one blow, and then Jiang Ce devoured and absorbed it.
Earth-Walking Lizards and Rock-Armored Pythons ranging from a little over a thousand years to more than three thousand—none of the ones that entered her field of vision made it out alive.
She even went out of her way to take several detours, specifically searching for sound-wave-type Soul Beasts. She killed two close relatives of the Phantom Sound Bat and an Echo Bird.
Jiang Ce's fire resistance had reached forty percent, and his age had increased to six thousand five hundred years. He had also obtained several new skills from those Soul Beasts.
Most of the other skills were fairly ordinary, but two were quite useful.
One was Rock Scale Armor. Besides increasing physical defense, the scales on the body could also be detonated at will, spraying fragments at nearby enemies.
The other was the thing Jiang Ce liked best.
Fission.
It split off half of his cultivation age and created another body.
His consciousness could move freely between the split bodies, sensing and controlling them simultaneously.
This thing was practically tailor-made for him—
With Fission, he could parasitize new hosts and control even more female mounts.
Thinking about the wonderful days ahead, Jiang Ce let out a heartfelt string of cackling laughter.
At the same time, the soul power accumulated inside Liu Erlong finally broke through the threshold—level thirty-five.
She rose from beside the remains of a Soul Beast that had just been devoured, feeling the power inside her climb once more.
The feeling wasn't as exhilarating as the successive level-ups of the past two days,
but it was like adding water to a huge vat one ladle at a time. The accumulation visibly sped up, bringing a satisfaction just as addictive.
At this rate, it wouldn't be long before she broke through to level thirty-six. Nice.
The only thing that made her frown now and then was that Jiang Ce seemed to be training her endurance by moving without warning, making her body jerk and her breathing fall into disarray.
But with Jiang Ce cackling and urging her on, she could only grit her teeth, press forward, and look for the next prey.
She wanted to grow stronger—strong enough to trample everyone who looked down on her beneath her feet.
So what if she let this guy toss her body around however he wanted?
Jiang Ce sensed the thought and was extremely pleased.
No wonder she was the mount he'd chosen.
The search continued until dusk, when the mission target finally appeared in sight.
A fire-type dragon Soul Beast over five thousand years old—the Red Fire Earth Dragon.
It was slightly smaller than the Red Flame Earth Dragon from before, and its scales were a lighter color. It was lying at the entrance of a rocky cave, basking in the sun.
Another Red Fire Earth Dragon, almost exactly the same size, lay beside the cave entrance. Its scales were a little lighter, and its abdomen clearly showed the features of a female.
The two dragons lay shoulder to shoulder, lazily swishing their tails.
Liu Erlong lay in a thicket on a distant hillside, staring expressionlessly at the two enormous forms. She fell silent for a moment.
"What the hell are the people who investigate mission details even doing?" she cursed under her breath.
"Last time, an eight-thousand-year-old Red Flame Earth Dragon turned up as the target. This time, it's a whole pair! It's been like this two times in a row. Can those useless bounty posters do anything right?"
If she hadn't come herself this time, anyone else who saw this would have turned around and run.
After all, taking on two Red Fire Earth Dragons would require at least a well-coordinated team to kill them.
And the mission required the bodies to be intact and undamaged, which made it twice as difficult.
"Does it make a difference? One needs killing, and so do two. At least it's a male and female pair."
"So?"
"So their territory must have a dragon's lair.
And where there's a dragon's lair, there are treasures. Have you forgotten how you struck it rich overnight in the Red Flame Earth Dragon's nest last time?"
Liu Erlong's eyes lit up at once.
Right.
If it hadn't been for that Red Flame Earth Dragon,
she wouldn't have met Jiang Ce, her strength wouldn't have skyrocketed, and she might have died at the bottom of the cliff.
Not to mention that overnight, she'd become a wealthy woman with a million Gold Soul Coins in her hands.
"Let's go. We'll kill them."
She stood up and stopped hiding.
The male dragon noticed her first, its slit pupils immediately locking onto Liu Erlong as a low growl rumbled in its throat.
The female dragon also crawled up from the cave entrance. The two dragons stood side by side, staring at the girl who had emerged from the bushes. Flames poured from their nostrils, and the sharp stench of sulfur filled the air.
Liu Erlong didn't waste words.
The Fire Dragon Martial Soul appeared behind her. First Soul Skill, Tyrant Dragon Possession: dragon scales grew beneath her skin and spread across her entire body.
Second Soul Skill, Dragon Arm: dragon-scale armor covered her entire right arm, and flames blazed around her fist.
Third Soul Skill, Dragon Flame Blood Burn: dark-red flames surged from within her, doubling all her attributes.
Dark-red dragon wings snapped open behind her—
External Soul Bone, Red Flame Dragon Wings. Their wingspan reached four meters, their edges sharp as blades, and dragon flames surged across the wing membranes.
The male dragon swiped at her with a claw.
She dodged to the side and drove her Dragon Arm-enhanced right fist into its flank, the force of the blow punching through its scales and straight into its organs.
The male dragon let out a muffled howl as its massive body was sent skidding three meters sideways.
The female dragon took the chance to pounce from behind and to the side. Without even turning her head, Liu Erlong beat her wings and shot into the air, dodging the attack.
The male dragon opened its jaws and unleashed a breath of dragon flame—
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