"Ye Fan, buddy! How am I supposed to live without you? Ye Fan!"
At the thought that he would no longer be able to mooch any Nine Marvels Immortal Medicine or Desolate Ancient Divine Spring, Jiang Zhu grew even more heartbroken.
Suddenly, Jiang Zhu felt the world spin around him. When he came to his senses, he found himself in the Crocodile Ancestor's hand.
Jiang Zhu raised his head and saw two crimson eyes looming in a bank of black mist, with monstrous demonic energy surging into the sky.
The Crocodile Ancestor looked at the little Divine Crocodile in his hand, somewhat puzzled. He was certain this was a descendant of his bloodline, yet he had never seen him before, which made it all the stranger.
"Could this be a contingency he left behind?"
The Crocodile Ancestor thought of his fellow prisoner, the divine remnant of a Great Accomplishment Sacred Body. On Mars at this moment, only he could pull the wool over heaven's eyes.
Although he had already followed the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin onto the Starry Sky Ancient Road, the Crocodile Ancestor remained deeply wary of him.
That almost tangible gaze vanished in an instant. Before Jiang Zhu could react, he found himself back where he had been.
Jiang Zhu suppressed his panic, certain that the Crocodile Ancestor could not discern his true origin. Otherwise, he would already have had his bones torn out and his soul extracted.
The Crocodile Ancestor stood atop the Five-Colored Altar and gazed north. Before long, he withdrew his gaze and headed straight toward the ruins of the Great Thunderclap Temple, with thousands upon thousands of little crocodiles following behind him.
Jiang Zhu looked at the altar beneath his feet. Plenty of blood remained after the blood sacrifice, and more exciting still, there was a small puddle of radiant demonic blood!
That was the blood the Crocodile Ancestor had shed when he attacked the Bronze Coffin. It had originally flowed like a small river, but only a little remained after the blood sacrifice. It floated amid all the other blood without mingling with it, still flowing with brilliant divine radiance, though much diminished.
The Crocodile Ancestor's demonic blood!
Jiang Zhu restrained his excitement and casually swung his tail. The moment it touched the blood, he activated the Demon-Refining Pot with his mind.
"Extract!"
The Crocodile Ancestor's blood several yards away vanished. The True Dragon Totem inside the Demon-Refining Pot abruptly lit up much farther along its length, its entire tail glittering with specks of starlight.
Jiang Zhu slipped into the main group and followed the Crocodile Ancestor.
They traveled onward until they reached the ruins of the Great Thunderclap Temple. The little crocodiles scattered, and Jiang Zhu found a secluded spot to wait for his tail's transformation.
A stream of origin blood flowed back from the Demon-Refining Pot, unceasing and unbroken. Jiang Zhu felt it tempering his body.
The tempering made his entire body feel as though it were burning. Even his scales turned crimson, as if a small sun were blazing inside him.
Jiang Zhu felt the origin blood inside him tempering his flesh as though roasting and forging it. Driven by the origin blood, his vital energy continually strengthened his physique.
This origin blood simply enhanced his reserves of life, burrowing straight into his flesh and bones and further strengthening his little Divine Crocodile body, especially his tail.
The agony from his tail seemed to penetrate his very marrow, waves of fierce pain battering his mind.
Looking over, he saw that all the scales on his tail had shattered. A new tail gradually emerged from within the old scales, while the old scales, blood, and broken bones sloughed off.
Jiang Zhu lay on the ground with his crocodilian jaws open, enduring it in silence.
After a long while, the origin blood's remodeling finally ended. Jiang Zhu felt as though a century had passed. His tail was far too sensitive during the tempering-it had not hurt this much even when the little Divine Crocodiles were eating him.
He moved his body, feeling the changes wrought by the origin blood.
His newly grown tail was as hard as refined metal, its overlapping scales packed tightly together like armor. It was black all over, every scale shimmering with an ancient, mysterious light.
With a gentle swing, it moved like flowing clouds and running water, displaying its agility and grace to the fullest.
Surging power, unlike anything he had ever felt, coursed through him. A slight flick of his tail whipped the air into a shrill explosive crack.
He lashed it against the ground with an explosive bang, carving a deep trench into the earth as web-like cracks spread along either side.
With a flash of movement, he broke the sound barrier. He estimated his strength at no less than several thousand pounds.
Excellent. He had not even begun cultivating, and only his tail had transformed, yet he already possessed one percent of a God King's grandeur. Once he embarked on the path of cultivation and his entire body transformed, who knew how many God Kings he could take on?
"Fellow Daoist, where do you intend to go from here?"
A voice steeped in demonic menace abruptly entered his mind.
Startled by the sudden voice in his head, Jiang Zhu looked around. At some point, the Crocodile Ancestor had emerged from the ruins of the Great Thunderclap Temple and was now studying him with interest.
"Fellow Daoist, does this descendant of mine's body serve you well?"
The Crocodile Ancestor thinks I possessed his descendant? Jiang Zhu forced down his unease and pondered silently.
Crushing him would be easier for the Crocodile Ancestor than crushing an ant. If he discovered Jiang Zhu was merely a mortal, he would not be addressing him so calmly as a fellow Daoist.
A flash of inspiration gave Jiang Zhu a guess. Could he think I'm the divine remnant of a Great Accomplishment Sacred Body?
As far as Jiang Zhu knew, aside from the creatures within the Demon Sea Eye, there was no one else on Mars at this time whom the Crocodile Ancestor could calmly address as a fellow Daoist.
Having thought it through, Jiang Zhu opened his crocodilian jaws and spoke in human language. "Junior, what do you want?"
The Crocodile Ancestor sidestepped the question and asked instead, "Fellow Daoist, did you leave behind a wisp of your soul to claim a share of the spoils too?"
"A junior like you dares covet the Immortal Burial Ground in the Demon Sea Eye? You truly have no idea how high heaven is or how deep the earth runs!"
Jiang Zhu naturally knew what lay beneath the Demon Sea Eye at the north pole. It was the site the Undying Heavenly Emperor had chosen for his own nirvana, where he had trapped and slaughtered an untold number of supreme beings, seizing their blood essence to undergo nirvana and be reborn. Even now, a sphere containing the Undying Heavenly Emperor remained inside. Never mind whether the Crocodile Ancestor could get in-even if he did, he would only be delivering himself to the slaughter.
But he could not say that. With this bunch of iron-headed fools from Shrouding the Heavens, they would never give up without trying it themselves.
Otherwise, those famous scenes of Dao Palace cultivators attacking Qing Emperor's Tomb, Four Extremes cultivators fighting over an Emperor Weapon, and Immortal Second Realm Mighty Figures seeking to gamble their way into a lifetime as an immortal would never have happened.
Besides, if the Crocodile Ancestor thought he wanted a share of the spoils and killed him preemptively, he would truly have no tears left to cry.
"Old ghost, do you really think you're a Great Accomplishment Sacred Body? Once I retrieve the immortal burial's treasures and prove my Dao to become an emperor, let's see how you can still lord your seniority over me!" Boundless killing intent filled the Crocodile Ancestor's blood-red eyes. His tone was sinister, yet carried utter confidence.
So this is one of Shrouding the Heavens' iron-headed fools? Jiang Zhu silently scoffed, but his words remained forceful. "Once I possess that junior with the Sacred Body and reclaim the Dao Fruit of my previous life, I will prove my Dao with the Sacred Body, sweep across the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, and fight my way into the Immortal Domain. Then I will be a Great Accomplishment Sacred Body!"
Hearing that Jiang Zhu did not intend to compete with him for the opportunity in the Immortal Burial Ground within the Demon Sea Eye, the Crocodile Ancestor relaxed a little, and his tone softened somewhat.
"Do you mean there was a Desolate Ancient Sacred Body aboard the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin earlier, Fellow Daoist? But as far as I know, the Sacred Body's path has been severed in the Post-Desolate Ancient Era!"
"You needn't concern yourself with that. I have my own means of resolving it."
At those words, a ripple stirred in the Crocodile Ancestor's blood-red eyes. Didn't Shakyamuni cut away ninety percent of his cultivation? Yet this old ghost is still so confident. He grew even warier of Jiang Zhu's claims.
"Junior, let's move somewhere else first. You destroyed the Great Thunderclap Temple, and the Temple-Guarding Demon God is about to manifest."
Both of them had fallen silent for some time, and in the end, Jiang Zhu spoke first to break the deadlock.
He did not want to keep exchanging stares with the Crocodile Ancestor here, either. Besides, he needed to find a way to hoodwink the Crocodile Ancestor-scratch that, persuade the Crocodile Ancestor to take him away from Mars willingly.
Otherwise, with no cultivation method and nothing to eat or drink, he would not even last until Ye Fan returned twenty-odd years later.
The Crocodile Ancestor nodded. Being sealed beneath the Great Thunderclap Temple for two thousand years had left him with memories of his own, and he had long since come to loathe this place utterly.
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