Escape from the Dragon's Jaws

Lin Qing tucked the jade box into his robes, securing it close to his body.

The Soul-Stabilizing Incense's blue smoke had thinned to a single thread. It would last a few dozen breaths at most.

He immediately activated Bamboo Transformation, shrinking into a short bamboo plant and climbing up along the cliff face.

He had moved less than two zhang when the poison dragon behind him stirred.

There was no roar, no earthshaking commotion.

Its body, enormous as a small hill, simply stopped breathing.

Its once deep, slow breathing vanished in an instant, and a deathly silence fell over the entire valley floor.

Lin Qing's heart tightened, but he did not run immediately.

He knew that, facing a Soul Beast approaching this level, the moment he turned around and exposed an opening, the poison dragon would spring into action.

Although on the surface, this poison dragon had only ten thousand years of cultivation,

dragons were the kings of all beasts, and their cultivation could not be judged by ordinary standards of age.

A hundred-year-old dragon could match a thousand-year Soul Beast, while a thousand-year-old dragon could tear an ordinary Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast apart.

And now, how could this poison-attribute dragon guard this Immortal Herb and keep Soul Beasts from daring to approach within several thousand meters?

The Soul-Stabilizing Incense had burned to the end, leaving only one last faint ember.

Lin Qing held his breath, carefully slipped the jade box into the leather pouch against his body, and fastened the clasp shut.

Then he slowly activated Bamboo Transformation, turning back into an ordinary green bamboo plant three feet tall.

Keeping close to the cliff face, he inched upward as he had on the way down. With every inch he moved, his heart pounded harder. The valley floor behind him was terrifyingly quiet. The poison dragon's breathing had not changed rhythm at all, as if it really were fast asleep.

Just as he was about to climb over the valley's edge, a weathered stone on the cliff suddenly came loose beneath his foot.

"Click."

The stone tumbled down and struck the rocks below with a soft sound. In the deathly still valley, it sounded like a thunderclap.

Lin Qing's scalp prickled instantly.

He whipped his head around and met the Nether Poison Dragon's open, slit-pupiled eyes. There was no sleepy confusion in those dark-gold eyes, only the fury of one offended by an ant.

The poison dragon had noticed him long ago. Like a cat playing with a mouse, it had merely been waiting for him to let down his guard.

"Roar-!"

A deafening dragon's roar tore through the entire valley.

Purple-black poisonous mist surged toward Lin Qing like a tsunami. The surrounding air warped violently, and even the cliff face shook.

Lin Qing abandoned his disguise, instantly resumed human form, and kicked hard against the cliff, shooting upward like an arrow loosed from a bow.

Bamboo Blade Storm erupted beneath his feet, and he used the recoil to leap over the edge of the valley.

But fast as he was, the poison dragon was faster.

A massive, pitch-black dragon's tail tore through the air, lashing viciously at Lin Qing in midair with a savage force that could crush all in its path.

There was no avoiding it.

Lin Qing gritted his teeth and unleashed his fourth bloodline at full strength. Bamboo Transformation! Layers of blue-green bamboo rapidly spread over his entire body.

At the same time, he drew on the Twin Ice and Fire Marks within him, forming a shield of intertwined ice and fire before him.

"Boom!"

The dragon's tail struck the ice-and-fire shield, shattering it instantly and sending ice and fire flying in every direction.

Then that savage force slammed squarely into his Bamboo Transformation armor.

"Crack!" The passive Bamboo Transformation had barely formed before it shattered on the spot.

Lin Qing let out a muffled grunt and was sent flying like a kite with its string cut. He smashed through three towering trees before crashing heavily into a pile of rotting leaves at the edge of the poisonous miasma.

Agony spread from his chest through every limb and bone. A sweet taste rose in Lin Qing's throat, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

He felt that at least three of his ribs were broken, and his internal organs were churning like rivers and seas.

If Bamboo Transformation had not protected him, that lash of the tail would have turned his body straight into a paste of flesh.

"Run!" Lone Bamboo's voice rang out urgently in his sea of consciousness. "Don't stop!"

Lin Qing forced himself to endure the agony. Without even time to wipe away the blood, he rolled with the impact, and two green-gold soul rings lit up: First Soul Skill, Lone Bamboo Pole Vault; Second Soul Skill, Bamboo Shadow Startling Swan.

With his current cultivation, he used his momentum to propel himself a hundred meters away, and the next second, the poison dragon's enormous claw slammed down on the clone he had left behind.

He activated Lone Bamboo Pole Vault repeatedly, and after fleeing several thousand meters, immediately activated Bamboo Sea Emergence.

He activated Bamboo Transformation again, becoming a small, withered bamboo plant and blending into the ordinary bamboo grove around him.

At the bottom of the valley, the poison dragon slowly raised its enormous body.

It did not give chase, because this kind of Soul Beast, comparable to a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast, was extremely territorial, and it had already grown accustomed to the scent of that territory.

But its slit pupils remained fixed on the direction in which Lin Qing had fallen. Its enormous mouth opened, and a glob of pure purple-black venom shot out like a meteor, sailing over the valley's edge and straight toward the bamboo grove where Lin Qing was hiding.

"Sizzle-"

The venom struck the ground and spread instantly.

Purple-black poisonous mist swept wildly outward, and vast swaths of bamboo forest dissolved into black liquid the moment they touched the venom.

An instant before the poisonous mist reached him, Lin Qing gritted his teeth and resumed human form. Bamboo Sea Emergence poured forth, and dozens of giant bamboo stalks burst from the ground to form a shield wall.

The poisonous mist corroded half the bamboo wall, but it also bought him a few seconds to escape with his life.

He turned and charged into the poisonous miasma of Sunset Forest, circulating Bamboo Breath for all he was worth.

The surrounding miasma had already been dense, and now, with the poison dragon's venom added to it, poison had been piled upon poison.

Although Bamboo Breath could purify all manner of poisons, these toxins contained high-level Soul Power. The savage Soul Power of a dragon ran rampant within them, and neutralizing it quickly was no easy task.

Black blood ran from Lin Qing's nose, but he dared not stop.

"Bamboo Heart!" he roared under his breath.

Inside his sea of consciousness, Bamboo Soul surged forward, blocking the waves of dizziness rushing straight at his mind.

He ran across the marsh and pole-vaulted three times in succession, not daring even to check his direction, intent only on putting distance between them.

The poison dragon did not continue its pursuit, seemingly disdaining to leave its territory.

That savage dragon's pressure gradually receded.

He did not know how long he had run before the last wisp of poisonous miasma disappeared behind him. At last, his knees gave way, and he fell heavily to them beneath an ordinary pine tree.

He gasped for breath, his mouth filled with the taste of blood.

The poisonous mist had eaten his clothes to tatters, and purple-black blotches covered his skin.

With a trembling hand, he reached for the leather pouch against his chest. The jade box was still there, and the Nine Nether Bamboo inside had a steady presence.

He let out a long breath of relief and collapsed onto the fallen leaves.

"You're lucky to be alive," Lone Bamboo's voice sounded in his sea of consciousness, tinged with lingering fear.

Lin Qing's lips twitched as he tried to smile, but the movement pulled at his broken ribs, making him suck in a sharp breath. This might have been the worst injury Lin Qing had suffered since coming to this world.

"If that dragon's tail had landed two inches farther over, you'd have had to use Bamboo Breath to collect your own corpse," Lone Bamboo said irritably.

"But it... didn't, did it?" Lin Qing closed his eyes weakly as Bamboo Breath circulated wildly within him,

and Untainted by Dust worked with Bamboo Breath, forcing the dragon poison that had invaded his body bit by bit toward the wound on his left arm.

Black poisonous blood slowly flowed out, and the purple-black wound gradually returned to its normal color.

Half a shichen later, Lin Qing finally regained a little strength.

He found a concealed giant tree and leaned against its trunk.

The Soul Beasts nearby had long since fled without a trace because of the poison dragon's lingering might, making this the safest place instead.