Encountering a Monk

The sounds of humans slaughtering one another on the plain grew fiercer, but Wentesi had long since left that place behind. He had hidden himself halfway up a mountain to examine the changes that had come over him after his dormant period.

After taking quite some time to recover, he had enough magic power to travel between worlds for the moment.

"This could be considered a rebirth."

Wentesi looked at himself in the cantrip [Mirror Image], thoroughly satisfied.

The transformation during this dormant period had filled Wentesi with pleasant surprise.

The Wentesi in the cantrip [Mirror Image] looked completely different from before.

First was his size.

Compared to the two-meter-long little thing he had been, he was like an entirely different dragon now.

Wentesi's dragon body was now a full seven meters long, with a wingspan of nearly twelve meters. His limbs were thick and knotted with muscle, and his dragon tail was long and powerful. Even a gentle flick sent it whistling through the air.

His claws had also gone from little chicken feet to true dragon claws, sharp and hard.

The dragon scales covering his body had changed from a crimson vermilion to a crimson-gold, a fusion of fire and gold that gave him a regal and majestic air.

The greatest change, however, was to Wentesi's head. His oversized baby face had finally slimmed into a tapered one, with sharply defined features and a heroic bearing.

His pair of dragon horns had changed a great deal as well. They gradually turned gold from the roots upward, while the crimson at their tips had deepened, giving them an aloof and noble beauty.

Among dragons, horns were an important measure of appearance. The more unusual, beautiful, and powerful a dragon's horns were, the more likely they were to attract the favor of the opposite sex.

Wentesi turned this way and that before the Mirror Image for quite a while, growing more delighted the more he looked. He had shed the big-headed hatchling look and finally had something of a giant dragon's bearing.

After admiring his appearance, he turned his gaze inward to examine his cultivation.

What he found brought surprise mixed with puzzlement!

"I didn't expect my life level to have really reached level nine!"

The result was much as he had estimated before his dormant period. Before falling asleep, he had been level six, far above the level four red dragons of his age, so he was bound to advance further than an ordinary hatchling after a dormant period.

He had merely estimated that he would reach somewhere between level eight and level nine.

But this time, his dormant period had sent him straight from level six to level nine. Such a rate of growth would have been impossible for any normal red dragon.

If one of his own kind saw his present form and sensed his presence, they would most likely take him for a rare aberrant dragon.

According to the growth pattern of red dragons, most ordinary hatchlings could reach level seven after one dormant period. After the second, they entered adolescence and reached level twelve;

After the third dormant period, they reached adulthood and could attain level sixteen. After the fourth, they entered their prime, with strength somewhere between level eighteen and level nineteen.

Only after the fifth dormant period, upon reaching the old dragon stage, could they break past the level-twenty threshold and become Legendary.

As he was now, he was far ahead of true dragons his age. Even gold dragons, the standard-bearers of the metallic dragons, could not compare.

"Not only has my life level risen, but my realm in the Purple Mansion Golden Core Dao has improved too. This is incredible."

Wentesi's crimson-gold eyes brightened slightly.

When he looked inward, he sensed not only that his life level had risen to level nine, but also that his Purple Mansion Golden Core Dao cultivation had advanced from the Second Level of Embryonic Breathing to the fourth!

He had only just broken through to the Second Level of Embryonic Breathing before falling asleep, yet a single dormant period had carried him across two minor realms.

Wentesi's thoughts raced, but he could not quite understand the key to it.

By rights, the transformation a dragon underwent during dormancy should not have advanced an immortal cultivation method along with it. After all, the two systems were as different as heaven and earth.

And yet, his Dantian and meridians were now brimming with Hairy Head Sun Law Power, his meridians were broad and resilient, and his control over Law Power had clearly risen another notch. By the standards of the Hairy Head Sun Method, he was indeed at the Fourth Level of Embryonic Breathing.

Could it be that every dormant period from now on will let me break through in both my life level and my immortal cultivation realm?

Wentesi could not help wondering. If that really was the case, he would reap twofold benefits from every dormant period to come.

As he pondered, a familiar connection surfaced, sending two strands of Greater Yang Qi into his body.

The familiar connection came from the two Golden Lands he had refined.

Wentesi sent his consciousness into the Golden Lands and could clearly sense both of them. With a mere thought, he could open a portal.

Those two Golden Lands were rather small, however. Given his enormous size now, he would probably need to use some kind of transformation Law Technique to enter.

Within the Golden Lands, two constantly circulating strands of Greater Yang Qi flowed through that invisible connection, pouring into his body without end and nourishing his dragon body.

"It's the immortal cultivation tax."

Wentesi understood. It was the one-tenth cultivation tax submitted by Walker and Kru.

His earlier puzzlement was also cleared up. He could roughly sense that this dormant period had lasted about seven months.

Over those seven months, Kru and Walker had cultivated day and night, continuously supplying him with their cultivation. That, combined with his own transformation during dormancy, had driven his Purple Mansion Golden Core Dao through two levels in one go.

He could receive the cultivation tax from the Western fantasy world even while in the immortal cultivation world. That was quite nice.

Having thought it through, Wentesi was in an excellent mood. He also came to terms with having involuntarily traveled to this immortal cultivation world during his dormant period.

He withdrew his inward gaze and looked over the great plain before him once more.

The slaughter among the three mortal factions on the plain was nearing its end.

The mortal faction dressed in red had won. The victors were pursuing and slaughtering the last remaining elderly, weak, women, and children of the other two sides.

Dying wails and desperate roars rose and fell one after another.

Wentesi watched in silence, feeling only that the joys and sorrows of humans and dragons were not the same.

Just then, the two transmitted voices carrying faint Law Power appeared again.

"Brother Xu, those mortals down below are just about done killing each other. Let's hurry and collect the Blood Qi."

The cultivator surnamed Ye urged him on in a rough voice.

The middle-aged cultivator surnamed Xu sighed, his tone full of reluctance to part with something valuable:

"All right, let's hurry and collect the Blood Qi. I still have to return to my territory in the mountain hollow and catch some people to make up the numbers."

Everything the two men said showed their contempt for mortal lives, as though those slaughtering one another on the plain were not mortals, but spirit materials for them to pick at will.

Wentesi listened, his expression unchanging.

He was a red dragon. Meddling in others' affairs was not his style; he had to respect the fates of others.

Of course, if there was something to gain, he could meddle a little.

Right now, the most important thing for him was to find a safe place, wait until his magic power was fully replenished, and hurry back to his territory in the Western fantasy world.

Wentesi did not want to interfere, but someone else did.

Just as the two cultivators rose, preparing to go down and slaughter the defeated troops for their Blood Qi, a hollow, resonant invocation rang across the entire plain.

"Amitabha Buddha, what a sin! What a sin!"

A young monk with his eyes tightly shut descended from the sky for no apparent reason.

The monk was ordinary-looking and wore a loose monastic robe.

When the mortals fighting on the plain saw the descending monk, they all threw down their weapons and fell to their knees, palms pressed together, looking at him with devout expressions.

The young monk's voice was somewhat hollow and clear. After lamenting the sin, he spoke again in stern rebuke:

"How can you two immortals be so cruel? You actually incited mortals to slaughter one another, then collected their Blood Qi afterward. How inhumane!

"If you behave like this, how can you become immortals and seek the Dao? You deserve punishment! You deserve punishment!"

This time his voice was no longer so hollow and clear. Instead, it grew colder with every word.

It grew especially sharp at the words "deserve punishment."

The expressions of the two cultivators about to collect the Blood Qi changed dramatically, and they both cried out involuntarily:

"Not good! A bald donkey from the Buddhist sect is here! Run, quickly!"

The two flashed out of their respective hiding places halfway up the mountains. The cultivator surnamed Ye took out a Wind Evasion Talisman and slapped it onto himself, fleeing west at high speed.

The cultivator surnamed Xu took out a red pill and fed it into his mouth. His eyes instantly became bloodshot, and he raced east with all his strength.

But the monk seemed to have come prepared. Unhurriedly, he took an antique bronze bell from his robes and began to shake it.

Ding! Ding, ding!!

After three chimes, the two fleeing cultivators froze in their tracks.

Their bodies stiffened, and they stood motionless where they were, like statues, their eyes turning vacant.

"Alas, why go to such trouble? What you cannot escape, you cannot escape in the end!"

The closed-eyed monk sighed softly and walked barefoot toward the two cultivators.

Wentesi, who had witnessed it all, narrowed his dragon pupils. What kind of Law Treasure was that? A few shakes of a bell could actually immobilize people.

But after taking three steps, the closed-eyed monk suddenly stopped.

He turned his head directly toward Wentesi's hiding place, a faint, teasing smile appearing on his face, and said calmly:

"So there is another immortal here. You stood by and watched people die without helping, so you deserve punishment too. Come out at once!"

Wentesi: "?"

But after the closed-eyed monk finished speaking, he suddenly pressed his left ear to the ground, as though listening carefully to something.

A moment later, he rose, his tone suddenly becoming extraordinarily respectful and gentle:

"So it is an elder. This humble monk was presumptuous."

With that, he made a Buddhist salute toward Wentesi with utmost respect.

Wentesi: "?!"