Dragon Bone

Huang Fei usually spoke to him coldly, always sneering at him for being useless, yet when it mattered, she was willing to risk her life to protect him.

Even a Titled Douluo like Dugu Bo had only dared to probe cautiously when facing a hundred-thousand-year Taotie. When it charged at him, he had even stepped aside of his own accord.

Yet Huang Fei, a mere Soul Sage, had forcibly blocked the path of a hundred-thousand-year pureblooded Taotie with nothing but her flesh and blood.

Lu Mingfei clenched the dark-gold fur in his hand, his fingernails nearly digging into the Taotie's coarse, tough hide.

His eyes stung.

Warm, bitter liquid swirled in his eyes, on the verge of spilling over.

Since coming to this world, he had encountered much coldness and distance, but he had also met people who treated him well.

Lu Mingfei thought of Old Jack, of that stoop-backed village chief.

He thought of the neighbors in Holy Soul Village who had been kind to him. They were not well-off themselves, yet every New Year, they would still press two steaming buns into his hands.

Saying, "You're still growing, kid. Eat more."

He thought of Hui Liyi.

He thought of the girl in red shrine maiden robes.

She had looked at him with eyes as clear as mountain springs, then gently blown the cherry blossom petals in her hands toward him.

Lu Mingfei thought of Hui Liyi, who would risk her life for him. Now that he had come to Douluo Continent, there was another woman willing to risk her life for him.

The way she had risked her life had been so shocking that Lu Mingfei was still reeling from it.

Lu Mingfei had no idea how Huang Fei was doing now!

He had seen clearly when the Taotie bit down on Huang Fei's wing.

Those dagger-sharp teeth had sunk deep into Huang Fei's shoulder blade.

He had even heard the crisp crack of bone breaking.

Lu Mingfei did not know whether that slender body could withstand the full-force strike of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast.

Nor did he know what would happen after Huang Fei had lain on the ground and lost so much blood.

Lu Mingfei also did not know whether he would ever be able to return and see Huang Fei again, but he knew that if he could leave Dragon Valley this time, he would never forget the debt he owed her.

The Taotie ran with astonishing speed. The gray mist of the inner valley surged apart before it like waves cleaved by a blade.

The dense gray fog, nearly solid in substance, rustled as the dark-gold body crushed through it.

Lying prone on the Taotie's back, Lu Mingfei forced his eyes wide open.

Along the way, he saw countless dragon beasts prostrated on the ground, trembling violently, their postures twisted and abject.

Some had even pressed their entire bodies flat against the ground, limbs sprawled out like lizards that had been crushed flat.

Among those dragon beasts were some as huge as mountains.

Some had scales as thick as city walls.

Some radiated breathtakingly savage auras.

Yet before the Taotie, none of them even dared raise their heads.

They merely buried their heads deep in the soil, making faint, mournful whimpers in their throats as they assumed postures of almost devout submission.

As Lu Mingfei swept his gaze over those dragon beasts, he discovered in horror that the soul power fluctuations from several of them made his back turn cold.

The pressure they exuded was even stronger than what he felt when facing a Soul Sage. They were terrifying existences at least at the level of Soul Douluos.

Yet they lay prostrate on the ground as humbly as ants before a Dragon King.

Even their breathing was deliberately softened, as though they feared that any sound they made would offend the dark-gold giant beast rushing past.

After running for roughly half a shichen, the Taotie gradually slowed down.

The gray mist ahead suddenly thinned, revealing a scene utterly different from the rest of Dragon Valley.

The core region of Dragon Valley was steeped in desolation, filled everywhere with jagged strange rocks and twisted giant trees.

But this valley before them was completely different. It was a hidden sanctuary surrounded by towering cliffs.

The surrounding rock walls were covered in a strange moss that emitted a faint blue glow, like a sky full of stars that had fallen into the mortal world.

At the top of the cliffs was a crack that let in a single beam of light.

After passing through layer upon layer of refraction, that light became soft and holy, bathing the entire valley in a dreamlike radiance.

The air carried a crisp, ancient scent.

It was as though this sanctuary had existed for tens of millions of years, witnessing the rise and fall of countless eras, yet still retaining the purity and dignity it possessed at birth.

At the center of the valley stood a small stone platform.

The entire platform had been carved from some ancient dark-gray stone, its surface covered in densely packed talismans.

The style of those talismans was unimaginably ancient, so ancient that Lu Mingfei could not recognize a single one.

The inscriptions twisted like slithering snakes and layered over one another like spreading vines, glinting with a deep dark-gold luster beneath the blue glow of the moss.

The edges of the stone platform had been polished smooth as mirrors by time, yet the talismans upon it remained perfectly clear.

Every stroke seemed to have been traced over and over by some immense power, embedded several inches deep into the stone.

Suspended directly above the stone platform was a strange, completely transparent bone.

It resembled a section of a dragon's torso bone, yet it was far more exquisite than the torso bone of any dragon beast.

Every curve seemed to have been polished thousands upon thousands of times by the finest craftsmen with the most delicate techniques, displaying an almost perfect geometric symmetry.

Countless precise cross-sections covered the surface of the bone.

Each one was like a polished crystal mirror.

Under the faint blue skyglow, they refracted dim yet brilliant light, as though rainbows after a storm had been frozen within transparent amber.

The depths of the bone shone as brilliantly as if an entire galaxy had been compressed inside.

Countless tiny motes of light slowly revolved within it, forming a miniature universe almost impossible to perceive with the naked eye.

The Taotie stopped before the stone platform. Its enormous body lowered itself as it gently nudged Lu Mingfei off its back with the forelimb bearing its massive claw.

Its movements were unexpectedly gentle.

The Taotie carefully supported Lu Mingfei's waist and the back of his neck, steadily placing him on the ground.

Then it retreated several steps and quietly lay down beside the stone platform.

Its dark-gold fur gave off a soft sheen in the dim light.

The dark-green eyes beneath its armpits lowered respectfully, as though it were worshipping some existence far more noble than itself.

Lu Mingfei rubbed his aching waist and climbed to his feet. The coarse dark-gold fur had left a patch of red marks around his waist, and every section of his spine throbbed faintly.

He warily surveyed his surroundings, his gaze swiftly sweeping over every corner of the sanctuary.

He did not know where this was or why the Taotie had brought him here, but instinctively, he judged that this was not a trap...

If the Taotie had wanted to kill him, it could have done so long ago. There was no need to go to such lengths to bring him all the way to the deepest part of Dragon Valley.

Lu Mingfei looked at the transparent bone floating before him.