Went to the Wrong Place

To the people of this world, dragon slaying was absolutely the greatest honor. A dragon-slaying hero, no matter which country he was in—even among orc tribes hostile to humans or in elven realms—would forever be a respected powerhouse. Wherever his footprints went, he would be greeted and praised by the world. Bards would weave his deeds into poems and sing them to every corner of the continent.

Of course, slaying a dragon was not as easy as chopping melons and cutting vegetables. Basically, adult dragons were all classified by humans as level-nine Magic Beasts. Of course, that was only the human view. The noble dragon race, dragons who possessed tyrannical bodies and Dragon Language Magic, would absolutely never admit they were lowly Magic Beasts.

A dragon's blood contained powerful magic and could be made by apothecaries into wondrous potions that restored magic power; a dragon's scales and skin were incomparably hard and could be crafted into top-grade anti-magic armor; once processed in an alchemist's hands, dragon bones possessed magical might no weaker than a high-grade staff; and as for a dragon's crystal core, there was no need to mention it. Using it as the core of a Magic Spirit Gathering Array could increase a mage's cultivation speed by a dozen, even dozens of times, and a dragon's magic crystal also possessed certain special properties, such as resisting fire, avoiding water, warding off poison, and so on.

Not to mention there was also a dragon egg that was about to be born—or had already been born!

Just thinking about all this made Li Junshan's heart race and his lips go dry. Even if Anna had not agreed to let him come earlier, he would have slipped out anyway. It was just that now Sally and Xilu were by his side, which left him somewhat hesitant.

"Once we catch up to Uncle Hark and the others, I'll have Sally and the rest go back together. Fate and I will be enough."

Having made up his mind, Li Junshan endured the sand and gravel that came whipping into his face with the gale, narrowed his eyes, and looked ahead. All he saw was gray sand filling the sky; he could not even see the Xenomorph leading the way in front.

They ran for roughly half an hour straight, but aside from desert, there was still only desert. They had not run into a single person.

"Logically speaking, the Dragon Slayer Team didn't set out that long ago, and Xenomorphs are so fast that we should have caught up by now. Why haven't we seen a shadow of anyone?"

Li Junshan was muddled for a moment, then sent out a thought command for the Xenomorphs to stop.

"This isn't right." Fate spat out a mouthful of sand and leaned over. "How have we chased for half a day and still not seen even half a person?"

Sally opened her eyes wide and exchanged a glance with Li Junshan. The meaning was self-evident.

"We're lost." Li Junshan sighed and looked toward Xilu.

Xilu said in a muffled voice, "Don't look at me. I'm still familiar with the edges of the Falling Moon Mountains, but this desert is my first time here too."

"We can't keep blindly chasing like this." Li Junshan jumped down from the Xenomorph, and the few of them gathered behind one Xenomorph to avoid the wind and sand. Li Junshan said, "My Summoned Beasts' strength isn't endless either. They can't carry weight for too long. I think we should wait here for a while first. I'll have them split up in several directions and scout the way separately."

"Good idea." Fate nodded in agreement, and naturally Sally and Xilu had no objections either. Li Junshan kept only one Xenomorph behind and sent the other four out, telling them through thought that as soon as they discovered signs of people, they should quickly come back to report.

The four Xenomorphs hissed a few times and swiftly vanished into the windblown sand filling the sky.

"Everyone rest for a bit. I'll take this chance to meditate and replenish some spirit power." After giving them that instruction, Li Junshan sat down cross-legged.

Li Junshan's Xenomorphs had brought Sally and the others a deep shock. No one dared look down on him anymore. Afraid of disturbing him, the few of them shifted a little to the side, each harboring their own thoughts.

Li Junshan sat with his eyes closed, and before long seemed to have entered deep meditation. Yet he was not cultivating spirit power. Ever since receiving this news, he had not had time; he wanted to take advantage of this spare moment to hatch a few more Xenomorphs.

That was a dragon!

More than a dozen level-five Magic Beasts had been tossed into his Spirit Space. Li Junshan "looked" for a while, then considered for quite some time before choosing five Magic Beasts to serve as hosts for the Xenomorphs. The other four Xenomorph Eggs were kept in reserve; after all, he still had to leave himself some cards up his sleeve.

These five Magic Beasts were respectively: Crimson Flame Giant Python, Violent Bear, Purple-Eyed Golden Lion, Yellow-Haired Hyena, and Golden-Skinned Lizard. Whether in terms of strength or speed, these five Magic Beasts were all outstanding, and all of them could cast some magic.

Perhaps sensing the arrival of their doom, the five chosen Magic Beasts lay in a row under Li Junshan's spiritual restraints, trembling all over. Where was there still any trace of the arrogant air level-five Magic Beasts had shown in the past?

Receiving the spiritual message permitting them to hatch, five Facehuggers burst out of their shells and implanted embryos into the bodies of the Magic Beasts, who showed not the slightest intent to resist.

Before long, five more Xenomorphs descended into Li Junshan's Spirit Space.

Focusing carefully on the information prompts that appeared in his mind, Li Junshan was pleasantly surprised again.

From the Crimson Flame Giant Python, the Xenomorph obtained a ten percent speed increase, as well as the magical ability to attack with Red Poison Mist.

The Violent Bear's genes gave the Xenomorph a ten percent increase in strength, along with the magic attack Light Bullet and the ability of Hardened Cartilage.

The Purple-Eyed Golden Lion was somewhat more balanced. The Xenomorph that used it as host had both strength and speed increased by ten percent, and obtained flame attack magic.

The Yellow-Haired Hyena's physical quality was relatively weaker. The reason Li Junshan had chosen it was because its magic attack was extremely fierce. The Black Mist it sprayed had extremely powerful killing force. When they caught it, one Xenomorph had been careless and had half its body enveloped by the Black Mist it sprayed. In an instant, it had turned ink-black and begun to fester and shed flesh. Sure enough, just as Li Junshan had expected, the Xenomorph that possessed the Yellow-Haired Hyena obtained this magic.

The last Golden-Skinned Lizard increased the Xenomorph's strength by ten percent and granted Hardened Cartilage. The Xenomorph also obtained the lizard's attack magic—Paralysis Lightning, which had a chance to slow the target's movements for anywhere from one to three seconds.

Opening his eyes, Li Junshan felt that he had gained a little more confidence. He had no intention of relying on these Xenomorphs to fight the Black Dragon head-on to the bitter end. A dragon-slaying force of more than three hundred people, no matter how useless they were, should at least be able to worsen that Black Dragon's injuries somewhat. When the time came, he could reap the profits like the fisherman watching the snipe and clam fight.

"One Summoned Beast is back." Sally had sharp eyes and pointed in one direction, saying happily.

Li Junshan naturally knew. That Xenomorph was closely connected to him spiritually; he had sensed it when it was still several hundred meters away.

After more than a month of adjustment and communication, Li Junshan could already carry out some simple exchanges with the Xenomorphs. Although the Xenomorphs could not speak to him, they could still understand the general idea.

Li Junshan also had no time to wait for the other Xenomorphs that had gone scouting to return, so he sent them an order to come back.

"Let's go. Those few will catch up on their own." Li Junshan rose and said to the others, then summoned two of the newly evolved Xenomorphs.

The few of them mounted the Xenomorphs and rushed out in the direction from which the reporting Xenomorph had returned.

"Master hatched several more Xenomorphs. He's too great. The speed and efficiency with which he summons Xenomorphs can simply compare to the greatest Summoner." Fate tucked his head behind the Xenomorph's skull and sighed with emotion.

"Xiaoshan is really amazing. He seems to have a lot of Magic Beasts like this. I wonder if he can give me one." Xilu thought cheerfully.

"Is this still that idle, grinning Xiaoshan in everyone's eyes?" Sally looked at Li Junshan in front of her, her mind in complete chaos. She had always felt that Xiaoshan was different from the others in town. He did not cultivate magic, nor did he learn Battle Qi or martial skills; every day he fiddled with things to eat and drink, without the slightest ambition.

From Li Junshan summoning five Magic Beasts the first time, to summoning two more just now, his powerful summoning ability left Sally unable to think it through. In the past, Sally had felt that she alone could knock over a dozen Xiaoshans. Now, she estimated that just one Magic Beast like this could easily tear her to pieces.

"Xiaoshan will definitely become the greatest Summoner in the future." Sally thought this in her heart, and a smile floated onto her face—the kind of smile that came from the heart, rejoicing for a companion.

The group ran through the wind and sand for quite a while. Halfway along, the three Xenomorphs that had gone out to scout also caught up. Li Junshan recalled them into the Spirit Space to rest and recover their energy, then continued racing under the guidance of the leading Xenomorph.

The wind gradually weakened, and visibility slowly improved. At this moment, they saw a mountain range appear in the distance, stretching in rolling waves for who knew how many li. It was also this mountain range that blocked the raging gale.

A team of three hundred people was not small. They looked as far as their eyes could in all directions, but still did not see a single figure. When they ran up to the front of the mountains and followed the foot of the mountain around a bend, Li Junshan and the others could not help but stare blankly.

This Xenomorph had not seen wrong. A basin had appeared at the foot of the mountain, with many man-made caves carved along the cliff walls, and over a hundred dwarves were busy in the open ground of the basin. That was right—dwarves, less than a meter tall, with bronze skin and fiery-red hair growing on their heads.

"How did we end up at the dwarves' place?" Fate cried in surprise. The few of them looked at one another, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"Since we're here, let's go over and ask. The people in town all used to say that Desert Dwarves are very familiar with the big fellows. They must know where the big fellows live."

Li Junshan jumped down from the Xenomorph. Seeing that the others had all gotten off as well, he recalled all the Xenomorphs into his Spirit Space.

"What if..." Sally was a little worried.

"What are you afraid of?" Xilu patted the giant axe on his shoulder and said, "If we can't beat them, doesn't Xiaoshan still have his magic beasts?"

Li Junshan gave Sally a chuckling smile without saying anything, then took the lead and walked down toward the basin. Sally was still somewhat worried; after all, she had never seen the Xenomorphs' combat strength. Seeing that Xilu and Fate had no objections, she could only follow.

When they got a little closer, a reek of blood assaulted their noses. Only then did they see that the busy dwarves were actually cutting up chunks of meat, with a pile of meat stacked beside them like a small hill. By the riverbank lay many corpses of low-level magic beasts and ordinary animals as well; some were being butchered, some washed, all in perfect order.

"Dwarves aren't big, but they sure eat a lot," Li Junshan muttered as he walked forward.

By now, the dwarves had noticed them. A sharp whistle rang out, and dozens of dwarves carrying iron hammers immediately surrounded them. These people all wore armor, and the iron hammers in their hands looked no lighter than fifty or sixty jin; clearly, they were dwarf warriors.