Dragon Fang

After running a long way, Bao Liang and the others finally made sure the Fire Sylphs, driven wild with bloodlust, were no longer chasing them. They slumped against a large tree in sorry shape, too exhausted to do anything but gasp for breath.

Jing Hongchen plopped down on the ground, too tired even to withdraw his Soul Power. Panting, he tipped his head back and stared at the sky. "Those little devils... they really know how to hold a grudge."

Bao Liang slid down the trunk as well. After taking a good while to catch his breath, he turned to Jing Hongchen, his mouth twitching. "Grandpa Jing, what you did back then was really pretty shady, wasn't it?"

Jing Hongchen shot him a sidelong glance. "What else could I have done? Our Sun Moon Continent doesn't have as many books on Soul Beasts as the Douluo Continent, and they aren't as detailed, either.

"Besides, the books only said Fire Sylphs lived in ore deposits. They didn't say how many lived in one deposit-what was I supposed to do?"

"That excuse of yours..." Bao Liang smacked his lips. "You make it sound pretty righteous."

"You bet," Xiao Hongchen added, twisting the knife. "Grandpa, you sure were quick with your hands back then. One swing at the ore and you wiped out a whole nest of two Fire Sylphs, without even noticing they were busy."

At that, Meng Hongchen covered her mouth and snickered.

With the two of them singing the same tune, Jing Hongchen's old face reddened. He changed the subject. "Cut the chatter! You brat, how many years old was the Soul Ring for your second Soul Skill? What does it do?"

Bao Liang coughed lightly and cleared his throat. "My second Soul Skill is called Molten Fire Thousandfold Forging."

"As for what it does-first, I can freely turn into an element, and turn people or objects into an element along with me. Second, I can gather other objects, even scattered Soul Power, and melt and forge them into whatever shape I want. Third, it can work in conjunction with all my Soul Skills and Soul Bone Skills."

As he spoke, he opened his palm, and a wisp of blue flame rose between his fingers. It wrapped around a palm-sized stone by his feet, which turned into a ball of shimmering blue fire with a puff. With a thought, he condensed it again into a lifelike little beast the size of his palm. Then the beast scattered into sparks and gathered once more, this time becoming a sharply faceted crystal.

Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen stared, transfixed.

"Fourth," Bao Liang said, dropping his playful manner and growing somewhat more serious, "the appearance of my Martial Soul and Soul Rings will change with the temperature my Martial Soul displays. That means from now on, no one will be able to tell that I absorbed a Soul Ring beyond my age limit."

Meng Hongchen's eyes lit up. "Doesn't that mean you can fool everyone? Even a Titled Douluo won't be able to tell?"

"More or less." Bao Liang nodded, then changed tack. "But the most important part is still to come-that Blueflame Dragon Fire Sylph didn't die."

At those words, even Jing Hongchen sat up straight.

"When it activated the External Soul Bone in my right eye, it also took up residence inside it." Bao Liang pointed to his right eye, where blue flames flickered. "As long as I use my second Soul Skill to shape a vessel for it, it can come out anytime and fight alongside me."

He paused, his brow creasing slightly. "But... there seems to be something a little special about it."

As his words fell, Bao Liang's right eye and his Explosion Martial Soul lit up at once. The dragon-shaped pattern of the Dread Blueflame Dragon Fire Spirit suddenly appeared between his pupil and his Martial Soul.

The next second, a streak of blue flame emerged from the Explosion Martial Soul and took solid form.

At the same moment, blue fire rose from Bao Liang's right eye as well.

What appeared before them was a Dread Blueflame Dragon Fire Spirit consisting of nothing but a skeletal dragon head, with blue fire bubbling from it.

It hovered in midair, tilting its bony dragon head as its blue-flame eyes silently swept over everyone, giving off an indescribably haughty air.

Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, their eyes full of curiosity, leaned in to look at it from every angle.

Meng Hongchen reached out and poked its cool blue-flame head. It puffed a wisp of fire at her, but instead of getting angry, she giggled.

Xiao Hongchen stroked his chin and muttered, "That dragon head looks pretty distinctive."

Jing Hongchen, however, fell into deep thought as he looked at it.

After a long while, he suddenly slapped his thigh-

"Whoa! A Fear Demon Dragon?!" Jing Hongchen's eyes went round. "It looks exactly like a Fear Demon Dragon! But that's not right... can Fire Sylphs do that?"

"A Fear Demon Dragon?" Bao Liang frowned in thought, then looked at Jing Hongchen. "Grandpa Jing, do you think... it's possible what they're like now has something to do with the scarlet flame dragon crystal?"

Jing Hongchen froze, his pupils contracting sharply. Then realization dawned on him. "That's it! Scarlet flame dragon crystal ore can't grow without being nurtured by dragon blood for ten thousand years! It probably mutated like this because a Fear Demon Dragon died there and it soaked up all the Fear Demon Dragon's blood!"

He grew more excited as he spoke and grabbed Bao Liang's shoulder, gripping so hard that Bao Liang bared his teeth. "Little Bao Liang, you've struck it big!"

The three of them and the dragon didn't understand, and all tilted their heads.

Jing Hongchen took a deep breath, unable to suppress the excitement in his eyes. "Fear Demon Dragons are pure spiritual-type dragon Soul Beasts! With it, your spiritual power is bound to grow like crazy when you train it from now on!"

"At the same time," he said, pointing at the skeletal dragon head, "all your attacks will also carry the same spiritual intimidation effect as a Fear Demon Dragon's-and on top of that, it's alive! You've made a killing!"

After hearing Jing Hongchen's explanation, Bao Liang and the other two were overjoyed.

The Blueflame Dragon Fire Sylph, meanwhile, was utterly bewildered.

It didn't understand what these two-legged beasts were so excited about.

Wasn't it obvious that it was a dragon?

Come to think of it, dozens of its own kind had been crammed together in that lousy ore deposit, fighting until their heads broke and blood flowed every day over a piece of marrow stone. Every so often, they also had to watch out for some old human geezer hauling them off to "take their rings."

Now it had followed this little two-legged beast. His brain might be a little slow, but at least it had escaped its family of origin, and it could sponge off the Ultimate Flame's fire every day.

Thinking about it that way, it didn't seem like a bad deal.

Just then, Bao Liang looked at the Blueflame Dragon Fire Sylph and smiled. "Right, since you're still alive and you've come with me, we're family now.

"How about I call you Dragon Fang from now on?"

Dragon Fang spat a puff of fire to show its satisfaction.

Dragon Fang: All right, I'll gratefully accept this name! Since you know what's good for you, I'll reluctantly let you be my host.

"Let's get along from now on, Little Blue." Meng Hongchen smiled as she stroked Dragon Fang's head.

Dragon Fang: What do you mean, Little Blue?! Don't you have any manners, you little female two-legged beast?! My name's Dragon Fang-are you deaf?!

Ignoring the three of them and the dragon as they played around, Jing Hongchen asked, "So, are you three planning to continue training in the Star Dou Great Forest, or go home now?"

The three exchanged glances and answered in unison, "We're staying!"

"Good! That's what I'd expect from children of the Hongchen Clan!" Jing Hongchen nodded with satisfaction, then changed tack. "But you can't spend too long training out here-your golden cultivation period mustn't be wasted, after all.

"So... heh heh heh, I'll just have to turn up the intensity for you."

And so, over the next week, Bao Liang and the other two fought from morning till night, with hardly any time to rest.

The depths of the Star Dou Great Forest became the perfect whetstone for them.

For the first two days, Xiao Hongchen repeatedly honed his third Soul Skill, Gold Condensation, with the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's right palm bone External Soul Bone. The more he fought, the better he became at combining metal condensation with his Soul Tool arrays. By the third day, he could form a dark gold barrier to withstand the charge of an eight-thousand-year Soul Beast while using Gold Boiling to reflect damage, combining the two as smoothly as flowing clouds and water.

Meng Hongchen repeatedly refined her Ice and Fire Poison Ring in actual combat, and the rudiments of her self-created Poison Repelling Ring gradually began to take shape. The double sustained damage caused by the clashing ice and fire poisons had even caught Bao Liang off guard once, leaving him chased for half a li.

With Dragon Fang at his side, Bao Liang found all sorts of ingenious uses for Molten Fire Thousandfold Forging's elemental transformation and Soul Power melting and forging.

The two worked together, Dragon Fang emerging from Bao Liang's right eye or Martial Soul with blue fire bubbling from its skeletal head to add the Fear Demon Dragon's spiritual intimidation to Bao Liang's attacks. The three of them and the dragon grew increasingly in sync when fighting groups of enemies.

On one occasion, Bao Liang used Molten Fire Thousandfold Forging to forcibly melt a pool of scattered Soul Power into a makeshift bomb. Using it together with First Bomb: Destruction Bomb's "similar values" rule, he blasted a thousand-year Soul Beast that had tried to ambush them into flying ash. Even Jing Hongchen couldn't help commenting, "That brat's getting more and more like the real thing."

Dragon Fang occasionally drifted over to Meng Hongchen and let her rub its head, though it bristled every time she called it "Little Blue." Xiao Hongchen, meanwhile, liked to pit it against his Gold Condensation, only for Dragon Fang to answer with a blast of blue fire.

What pleased Jing Hongchen most that week was how visibly the three of them had improved at working together.

Earlier, Bao Liang had charged head-on, Xiao Hongchen had watched both flanks, and Meng Hongchen had refused to be protected behind them like some "mascot," showing off her own sharp edge.

Now, Bao Liang could skillfully use Molten Fire Thousandfold Forging to control the battlefield, with Dragon Fang adding spiritual intimidation, Xiao Hongchen holding the front with Gold Condensation, and Meng Hongchen covering the area with Ice and Fire Poison Ring in a well-coordinated formation.

A week later, when they saw the Sun Moon troops stationed in the Ming Dou Mountain Range again, all three felt as though a lifetime had passed.

"Finally... it's over!"