Crouching Dragon Ridge

The Mutated Blood-Sucking Mosquito King fell, and Diya fell as well, but the blood-sucking mosquitoes outside still did not dare approach. Within a radius of ten meters, all was silent; only beyond that ten-meter line did ring after ring of blood-sucking mosquitoes crowd around.

Time passed bit by bit. The setting sun sank westward, and night began to descend. Diya's fingers twitched. Several more minutes passed before a faint groan finally slipped from his mouth. Bracing himself against the ground with difficulty, Diya sat up, patted his head with both hands, and felt a wave of confusion.

It was as if something had slammed into his head. Bursts of violent pain still came crashing in wave after wave, making him feel terrible. He vaguely remembered that he seemed to have fled into the Twilight Rainforest, then run into a swarm of blood-sucking mosquitoes, and afterward fought the Mutated Blood-Sucking Mosquito King. It seemed the Mutated Blood-Sucking Mosquito King had released strange ripples, and then his mind had been struck. After that, he knew nothing.

Diya hurriedly stood up and looked left and right. When he saw the Mutated Blood-Sucking Mosquito King's body lying sideways on the ground, motionless and lifeless, he finally relaxed.

"Diablo, what happened just now?" Diya could not help calling out.

"Just now? You almost died," Diablo's voice sounded, lazy, as if he had not fully woken up.

"Almost died?" Diya was startled. "Tell me quickly. What exactly happened?"

"The ability this Mutated Blood-Sucking Mosquito King gained was spiritual power enhancement. Its spiritual power exceeded yours, and after fusing with its own sound waves, it formed a spiritual impact. You had no defenses up, so you were hit all at once. If I hadn't consumed part of my soul power and protected your soul in time, I'm afraid we both would have died," Diablo said slowly, sounding utterly drained.

"So that's how it was." Diya broke out in a cold sweat from fright. If he had died in such a muddled, inexplicable way, that would have been too stifling. "Then how did this thing die?"

"That was Radish's doing. You know, I used Hellfire just now and had to protect your soul, so I consumed too much. I had no choice but to let Radish take the initiative and control your body to instantly kill that mosquito with Nether Prison Thunder," Diablo said. Although he sounded weak and powerless, there was still a trace of smugness in his voice. After all, Radish and he were one and the same.

"Thank Radish for me," Diya said, then suddenly saw the dense masses of blood-sucking mosquitoes at the perimeter and jumped in fright.

"It's fine. They don't dare come close. Although the Mutated Blood-Sucking Mosquito King is dead, its aura is still here," Diablo said, making Diya's heart settle. "All right, go dig out the Hell Fragment."

The bright red stripes on the Mutated Blood-Sucking Mosquito King's body had already disappeared, leaving only a pitch-black shell and nine Flick Swords. Diya also discovered that on the mosquito's head, there was a wound as thick as a thumb, its edges giving off a faint scorched smell.

By now, the dizziness in his mind had almost completely vanished. Diya picked up the longsword from the ground, then pulled out the nine Flick Swords and put them away. After that, he hacked several times with his sword, dismembering and cutting open the Mutated Blood-Sucking Mosquito King. Suddenly, he saw an irregular fragment. Because the light was too dim, he could not tell what color it was. Beside that fragment was also a crystal the size of a little finger. Diya knew this was a Magic Core; all Magic Beasts could possess Magic Cores.

However, under normal circumstances, it was very difficult for a first-level Magic Beast to produce a Magic Core, while second-level Magic Beasts had a certain probability of having one. Those more special Magic Beasts had Magic Cores, and as for third-level Magic Beasts, every single one had a Magic Core. By the time a Magic Beast reached the ninth level, its Magic Core would evolve into a Magic Crystal.

A Magic Core contained elemental energy, while the elemental energy inside a Magic Crystal was even vaster and purer. They were usually used to be embedded in magic staffs, arranged in magic formations, and so on.

Moreover, a second-level Magic Core could still be sold for a decent price. "Now I've got a little income," Diya said, putting the Magic Core away. He sheathed his longsword, pinched that piece of Hell Fragment between his fingers, and felt the strange power fluctuations it emitted. His heart wavered, unable to decide.

"Better wait until you're somewhere safer before absorbing it. Besides, I'm not suited to help you melt it right now. I'll have to wait until my soul power recovers to its previous level," Diablo sensed Diya's hesitation and said.

"All right. How long will it take you to recover? After the fusion, will you fall asleep again?" Diya asked.

"In about four more days, I should be able to recover. Fusion will consume a great deal of my soul power, so falling into slumber afterward is inevitable. But every time you fuse with a Hell Fragment, your strength will increase by a portion. My remnant soul will also become a little more complete, and my soul power will grow stronger as well. Once all the Hell Fragments are collected and fused, my soul will become whole too," Diablo explained. "All right, I'm going to rest."

"Okay," Diya replied. He sat down where he was. By now, the sky was already late and the surroundings were pitch-black. Even with his sharp vision, he could not see more than a few meters ahead. Diya also did not know the full terrain of the Twilight Rainforest, so moving at this time was undoubtedly unwise. It seemed he could only wait until daybreak tomorrow before advancing into Crouching Dragon Ridge.

One by one, the blood-sucking mosquitoes left, returning to their little nests to rest. A moment later, the densely packed mosquitoes had fled without a trace, and silence returned to the surroundings. Only the cries of little insects in the stillness made the deep night seem even deeper.

The night passed without incident. Morning sunlight filtered through the dense branches and leaves, spilling bit by bit into the rainforest. The light gradually brightened. Diya opened his eyes and stood up. Sleeping against a tree trunk for an entire night really was uncomfortable. He twisted his body, and his bones gave off a series of crackling pop-pop sounds.

Looking at the dim rainforest, his eyesight could still barely make out things twenty meters away. Diya rubbed his stomach. He had not eaten for an entire day and was a little hungry, but there was nothing he could do. It was better to leave this rainforest first. If he got surrounded by blood-sucking mosquitoes again, he would be finished. Once he entered Crouching Dragon Ridge, would he still be afraid of not finding food?

In the rainforest, a figure advanced rapidly. If something blocked the path ahead, he circled around the large ones and directly chopped apart the small ones with his sword. The farther he walked, the brighter the light became. After roughly several hours, Diya could already see brightness like broad daylight. He had finally reached the edge on the other side of the Twilight Rainforest and was about to step into the territory of Crouching Dragon Ridge.

Diablo had long since fallen into slumber. With no one to chat with, Diya could only hurry onward at full speed. Having grown used to loneliness, he did not feel much about it. After crossing past the final giant tree, the blazing sunlight shone down until Diya felt a little dizzy. It was noon now, when the sun was at its fiercest, and after Diya had spent an entire night groping through darkness, suddenly standing beneath the sunlight and feeling somewhat unused to it was only normal.

At a glance, what lay before him was a mountain wall that rose upward, grayish green in color. Here and there, small thickets were scattered about, but even more numerous were huge boulders, extending upward as if there were no end in sight.

This was Diya's first time coming to Crouching Dragon Ridge. Everything he knew about it came from descriptions in books. Legend had it that dragons still existed on Crouching Dragon Ridge, but that was only a legend after all. Diya also did not believe that such a desolate mountain range would have dragons come to roost here.

One had to know that the dragon race was extremely picky. There had to be enormous caves, and there had to be glittering, shining things. Speaking of which, Crouching Dragon Ridge did not match even a single bit. However, it was said that at the mountaintop, there was a huge cave. Perhaps dragons really had lived there in the past; that was not impossible.

Crouching Dragon Ridge had an altitude of a thousand meters in total. As long as Diya crossed the summit, then followed the other side down, he would be able to leave Carlos City completely and arrive at the next city. As for where that was, Diya did not care in the slightest. His goal was to search for Hell Fragments, but he had no clues at all regarding the Hell Fragments. Everything still depended on Radish's senses. So it did not matter where he went, as long as he could raise his strength.

Facing the mountain wall, Diya began walking upward. Suddenly, his stomach let out a series of "grumble grumble" sounds. Waves of hunger swept through his entire body, making Diya feel weak all over. He had already gone more than a day without eating, had sprinted all the way, and had even fought several battles. It would be strange if he were not hungry.

Stopping, Diya swept his gaze in every direction, front, back, left, and right. His eyes narrowed slightly, missing nothing at all. On Crouching Dragon Ridge, there were still some ferocious beasts or small animals. As long as it was not a Magic Beast above the second level, Diya had confidence he could deal with it, then make it his lunch.

After several minutes, he found nothing. Diya could only give up and continue walking upward. He would walk a stretch, stop to observe for a stretch, then continue forward. The "grumble grumble" sounds from his stomach grew even more obvious and frequent. Diya could only tighten his belt and silently chant in his heart, I'm not hungry, I'm not hungry, while searching for food and moving forward.

Perhaps the heavens still did not want Diya to die like this. A roar came from behind a pile of huge rocks to the left. Just from the sound, he knew it belonged to a ferocious beast. Perhaps it had smelled a human scent and was hungry too.

Diya stopped, his gaze sharpening as he looked toward the rocks. At the same time, he readied his right hand, prepared to attack. A few seconds later, a strange wild beast fully the size of an adult boar walked out. Its entire body was azure, and it looked like a tiger, though there were some differences. Its belly was also shriveled.

Azure Tiger, an existence at the peak of ferocious beasts, had a certain chance of evolving into a first-level Magic Beast, the Azure Magic Tiger. But now, whether it was an Azure Tiger or an Azure Magic Tiger, the result would be the same when it ran into a hungry and thirsty Diya.

The moment the Azure Tiger saw Diya, it let out a loud roar, dropped to all fours, and suddenly kicked off with force, pouncing toward Diya with swift ferocity. Diya narrowed his eyes, staring fixedly at the Azure Tiger. Suddenly, his right hand flicked out from the left—

"Clang."

The longsword left its sheath. A streak of silvery light flashed, and the sharp longsword, amid a whistling sound of tearing through the air, thrust straight toward the throat of the Azure Tiger suspended in midair—