Dragonblood: Book 2 of the Coiling Dragon Saga

by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi

  “Growl.” The Blackcloud Panther snarled unhappily.

  The Blackcloud Panther then stared at Bebe, and from its jaw came a series of strange growls. Bebe was startled for a moment, and then let out an enraged growl of his own.

  “Boss. This Blackcloud Panther can speak the tongue of us rodent-type magical beasts,” Bebe said mentally to Linley.

  Linley knew very well that Bebe was born understanding the rodent language. But the languages of other magical beasts were different; each different type of magical beast had their own language.

  Some extremely long-lived magical beasts, however, were skilled at communicating using the languages of other types of magical beasts.

  This Blackcloud Panther was a peak-stage magical beast of the ninth rank. Not only did it know many languages of other types of magical beasts, it also understood the human tongue. Only, it was unable to reproduce the human sounds due to physical reasons. Only upon reaching the Saint level, when it could begin to alter its body, could it speak the human tongue.

  “What did it say?” Linley asked.

  Bebe and the Blackcloud Panther engaged in a discussion through growls and angry snarls. Suddenly, Bebe and the Blackcloud Panther seemed to get into an argument, as the fur on both magical beasts stood up straight.

  “Growl!!”

  “Shkreeech!”

  The two magical beasts suddenly began to engage in a wild battle, as their shadows flashed against each other again and again. Fresh blood began to fly everywhere…

  Their angry growls unabated, the two magical beasts exchanged blows at high speed, and the trees and boulders nearby suffered the brunt of their fury.

  The trees toppled. The boulders shattered.

  Every place these two magical beasts crossed through turned into a debris-strewn area.

  Suddenly, the two beasts separated again. Bebe hunched down, growling as he stared at the Blackcloud Panther. The Blackcloud Panther stared at Bebe in the same manner, as though facing a fierce opponent.

  But the Blackcloud Panther’s body was covered in blood.

  With its defense lowered, it was unable to resist Bebe’s claw attacks. And in terms of speed, boosted by the Supersonic spell, Bebe was only slightly slower than it was.

  Bebe growled angrily towards the Blackcloud Panther.

  The Blackcloud Panther roared back towards Bebe.

  “Boss, this Blackcloud Panther isn’t willing to submit. It says that you simply don’t have the ability to defeat it on your own,” Bebe said mentally to Linley. “Boss, let me kill it.”

  Right now, the Blackcloud Panther was extremely frustrated.

  If it used its first two forms, its speed was inferior to its opponent and it would be trampled. But after increasing its speed by entering its ‘wind-style form’, its defense was lowered.

  The Blackcloud Panther knew that the human opponent was capable of flight.

  The speed one could reach flying was definitely greater than the speed one could reach through running on all fours. In terms of short term bursts, it could exceed Linley in speed. But if it were to flee, Bebe and Linley would definitely be able to easily catch up to it.

  “Blackcloud Panther, you think I can’t beat you?” Linley asked loudly.

  The Blackcloud Panther immediately raised its head arrogantly as it looked at Linley. In close quarters combat, the speed boost provided by the translucent wings couldn’t be put on full display. It didn’t fear Linley at all.

  “Fine.” Linley nodded.

  And then, Linley began to mutter the words to another spell as well, causing the Blackcloud Panther to be suspicious. But as a wind-type magical beast as well, the Blackcloud Panther wasn’t afraid of Linley having access to any particularly powerful wind-type spells. In addition, it knew that if it were to flee now, Linley wouldn’t be able to catch up to it.

  “Thruuumm.”

  Centered around the body of the Blackcloud Panther, a circular area a hundred meters in circumference suddenly began to glow with a layer of earth elemental essence. These earth elemental essences were throbbing with a certain frequency.

  The Blackcloud Panther suddenly felt a terrifyingly powerful gravitational force tug at it, causing it to hunch over. Even the blood inside its body as well as its heart were affected, causing it to feel rather dizzy.

  Earth magic – Supergravity Field!

  The Supergravity Field created by a magus of the eighth rank was able to increase the local gravity by a factor of eight. This increased gravitational field’s effect wasn’t as simple as say adding one thousand pounds of weight to a man who already weighed two hundred pounds. The eight-fold gravity also impacted the heart, the spleen, and the other internal organs.

  An ordinary person might be able to carry one hundred to two hundred pounds of weight.

  But under a double-strength gravitational field, his heart might not be able to stand the pressure and might break down.

  After all, although the external muscles were easily trained, it was very hard to train internal organs such as the heart. At the very least, the rate of training the internal organs was much slower than the external muscles.

  Suddenly ambushed by a field of eight-fold gravity, the Blackcloud Panther couldn’t help but feel dizzy.

  Not giving it a chance to recover, Linley, his entire body covered with earth elemental essence, charged in, and began to wildly unleash upon the Blackcloud Panther… vicious punches and kicks!

  Yes, he didn’t use the adamantine heavy sword!

  Only his fists and his feet!

  “Growl!” The body of a magical beast of the ninth rank was extremely sturdy, and very soon, it became used to the greater gravity. But under the influence of an eight-fold gravity, it didn’t even have half the speed it previously had.

  “Swish!” “Swish!”

  “Bam!”

  A kick landed hard against the Blackcloud Panther’s waist, and then Linley rushed to the opposite side, landing a vicious punch on the Blackcloud Panther’s body and sending it flying back in the other direction.

  In ten short seconds, the Blackcloud Panther had been thoroughly ravaged by Linley’s punches and kicks. Its current speed was simply insufficient for escaping the confines of the Supergravity Field. And what’s more, Bebe was watching intently from the side as well.

  “Do you submit?”

  “Do you submit?”

  While shouting loudly, Linley wildly continued to whale away at it with his fists and feet. Linley was beating this peak-stage magical beast of the ninth rank, the Blackcloud Panther, into a state where it couldn’t resist at all. One mouthful after another of blood was leaking from its mouth.

  “Grooooowl!” The Blackcloud Panther suddenly let out a howl of grief and anger.

  “Boss. He submits.”

  “Bam!” Linley’s fists were moving too fast, and he landed one final punch on the Blackcloud Panther’s skull, smashing it to the ground.

  Laughing, Linley looked at the Blackcloud Panther, which was on all fours, pressed against the ground. Under the influence of the eight-fold gravity, the blood flowing through the veins of the Blackcloud Panther had grown sluggish as well. And now, after having been beaten wildly by Linley in such a manner, the Blackcloud Panther had become quite dizzy.

  “Do you submit?” Linley laughed as he looked at the Blackcloud Panther.

  Although Linley was laughing, under the total Dragonform transformation, Linley’s eyes were still that calm, emotionless dark gold color. And how could one tell that Linley was smiling beneath all of those scales on his face?

  The Blackcloud Panther raised his head to look at Linley, paying particular attention to the translucent wings on Linley’s back. His heart trembled. He was afraid of being brutalized by Linley yet again. Immediately, it nodded. And in fact, he really had mentally submitted to Linley’s display of prowess. For a combatant to be so powerful as a warrior and as a magus was more than enough to force it to submit.

  Smiling, L
inley immediately began to set up a soul-binding magical array!

  97

  Leaving the Mountains

  Virtually all magi knew how to set up a soul-binding magic array. But in terms of actually setting one up, there were certain requirements. Generally speaking, only upon reaching the seventh rank as a magus did one have sufficient spiritual strength to set it up.

  A nearly translucent pentagram was floating in mid-air.

  And then, the pentagram magic formation flew towards the head of the Blackcloud Panther, who didn’t resist at all, allowing the magical formation to enter his mind. Suddenly, both Linley and the Blackcloud Panther could feel that their spirits were now interconnected.

  This was not the same as the ‘bond of equals’ which Linley and Bebe shared.

  In the ‘bond of equals’ between Linley and Bebe, both of their souls had become intermingled. This soul-binding magic array, however, was formed solely from Linley’s spiritual energy. When the Blackcloud Panther accepted the soul-binding contract, naturally Linley was the master.

  “Master.” The Blackcloud Panther was extremely respectful.

  Linley looked at the Blackcloud Panther. “What is your name?” Linley knew that some high-class magical beasts had names of their own. For example, that Armored Razorback Wyrm which Linley had encountered in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts’ Foggy Valley had been named Sartius.

  The Blackcloud Panther’s voice sounded in Linley’s mind. “Master, my name is Haeru.”

  “Haeru?” Linley memorized the name.

  “Haeru, tell me about your transformation abilities.” Towards this topic, Linley felt quite a bit of interest.

  The Blackcloud Panther nodded. “Master, it is because I am a dual-element magical beast of both darkness and wind elements. In my brain, I have two magicite cores; one is darkness element, the other is wind element. Normally, I am in my first form, where my defense, offense, and speed are all equal.”

  “When I rely primarily on the energy from my darkness magicite core, my body will increase in size and my attack power will go up, at the expense of speed. When I rely primarily on the energy from my wind magicite core, I will be in this form, the wind-style form, with great speed but weaker defense,” the Blackcloud Panther, Haeru, said honestly.

  Linley now understood.

  So Blackcloud Panthers were dual-element magical beasts of wind and darkness, and this current form was the wind-style form. The giant form was the darkness-style form, and only the original form was the ‘normal’ form.

  “I had originally thought that Haeru’s current form was his normal form.” Linley snickered to himself.

  Linley suspected that the person who had written the records which Linley had read regarding Blackcloud Panthers had only seen this wind-style form, and thus mistook this as the only form of the Blackcloud Panthers.

  “Growl!” Bebe ran over, growling in a low voice towards the Blackcloud Panther.

  The Blackcloud Panther began to chat with him as well.

  “Looks like our journey will be more interesting in the future.” A hint of a smile was on Linley’s face.

  Alongside his two magical beast companions, Bebe and Haeru, Linley continued his daily training regime. Linley immersed himself in the world of sword-training. Every so often, Linley would have some new insights regarding how to use his heavy sword.

  Spring left, autumn came.

  In the blink of an eye, another year had passed.

  That fall in the second year, the temperature had dropped to a murderous low. Linley was seated cross-legged beneath an ancient oak, training. The Dragonblood battle-qi had suddenly begun to boil, causing his blood vessels and his heart to once again begin to change and transform.

  In addition, within Linley’s dantian, the Dragonblood battle-qi had finally begun to change as well. Excited, Linley let out a laugh. He had finally broken past the late-stage of the seventh rank and reached the eighth rank. He had become a warrior of the eighth rank!

  As a warrior of the eighth rank, upon totally Dragonforming, Linley’s power was now at the peak-stage of the ninth rank.

  There was a significant difference between an early-stage ninth rank warrior and a peak-stage ninth rank warrior.

  “When I was in Hess City, it was hard for me to even break past the armor of an ordinary magical beast of the ninth rank. But now, even without using the adamantine heavy sword, I can kill most magical beasts of the ninth rank.” Linley was extremely confident.

  A peak-stage Dragonblood Warrior of the ninth rank could definitely vanquish a peak-stage magical beast of the ninth rank.

  Aside from Saint-levels, perhaps there was nobody in the world who could threaten him anymore.

  “Only, the higher level of using this adamantine heavy sword, this so-called ‘impose’ level… what is it?” Linley began to frown. Right now, Linley had completely mastered the technique of ‘wielding something heavy as though it were light’.

  He walked barefooted on the ground.

  Linley continued on his path of training, constantly harmonizing himself with the pulsing thrum of the earth and the indistinct ebbs and flows of the wind. In turn, Linley’s spirit became purified by nature, becoming more agile and graceful.

  Winter arrived.

  In the morning, a great blizzard had descended, covering the entire world with blankets of falling snow. Standing in the middle of the snowstorm, Linley stared up at the snowflakes falling from the sky. His heart was very peaceful.

  Suddenly, Linley sat down cross-legged, placing the adamantine heavy sword across his lap. His upper body was still bare, and he still wore that ragged pair of hemp cloth pants.

  The snow settled on top of Linley’s body, but Linley didn’t notice it at all.

  Time passed. The snow continued to fall from morning until nightfall, covering the entire area with a layer of snow as thick as one’s foot.

  Bebe and Haeru had hidden themselves underneath a large pine tree, where they watched Linley.

  “Impose.”

  Linley’s eyes opened. Within them, there was a hint of a smile. Raising his head to stare in front of him, he saw that the snow had ceased to fall. Although it was almost dark, the entire world had been painted a light white color by the snow.

  “Grooooowl!” From far away, the roar of a magical beast could be heard.

  A Glacial Snow Lion was striding on the snow. Apparently having discovered Linley, it began to draw close to Linley, one step at a time. Watching the Glacial Snow Lion draw near, Linley didn’t seem to react at all.

  “Swoosh!” With a mighty leap, the Glacial Snow Lion pounced towards Linley.

  Linley watched as the Glacial Snow Lion pounced towards him. Very casually, he grabbed the adamantine heavy sword that had been lying in his lap and chopped directly towards the Glacial Snow Lion.

  “Rumble!” The moment Linley swung the adamantine heavy sword, space itself seemed to suddenly be compressed around the area of the sword, in the direction of the Glacial Snow Lion.

  Terrified, the Glacial Snow Lion wished to flee, but the entire area around it was compressed by that pressuring force. It had nowhere to run.

  Facing this heavy sword, it had no choice but to take it head on.

  “Bam!”

  The heavy sword slammed against the Glacial Snow Lion’s body. The Glacial Snow Lion’s entire body trembled momentarily, then suddenly disintegrated into a pile of flesh and blood.

  “So ‘impose’ refers to ‘imposing’ one’s will on the heavens and the earth, to the point where even space itself can become used to constrict someone. Haha…” Linley laughed.

  After having experienced that huge blizzard, Linley finally entered the third level of wielding heavy weapons; the ‘impose’ level. Only, Linley understood that he had just barely begun to grasp this level.

  “To be able to so quickly grasp the ‘impose’ level, I really must give thanks to my training as a stone sculptor as well as my insights as a magus.�
�� Linley felt very happy.

  Because he was a magus, Linley’s soul could more clearly sense the throbbing pulse of the earth as well as the flows of the wind. His soul was now capable of becoming one with nature. In addition, this entire time, Linley had been extremely focused on his training and had accumulated a great deal of experience. This allowed Linley to finally surpass that initial barrier and enter the ‘impose’ level of wielding the heavy sword.

  In terms of power, the ‘impose’ level was far more terrifying than the level of ‘wielding something heavy as though it were light’. It was also far more profound and mysterious.

  Spring. Year 10003 of the Yulan calendar. The northernmost edge of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts was only a few kilometers away from the North Sea. In fact, from the northernmost point of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, one could see the vast, endless expanse of water known as the North Sea.

  Between the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts and the North Sea, there was a corridor which linked the Holy Union and the O’Brien Empire together. Almost every day, large numbers of people passed through this wide road.

  Virtually everyone, be it the merchants of the O’Brien Empire, the merchants of the Holy Union, or others, passed through this corridor.

  However, the citizens of the O’Brien Empire, when facing the citizens of the Holy Union, felt a sense of natural superiority. This was because the O’Brien Empire was the most powerful empire in the entire Yulan continent. What’s more, it possessed the ‘War God’. In the war-loving O’Brien Empire, virtually every citizen was proud to belong to the O’Brien Empire.

  Right now, on the wide corridor, there was a merchant caravan with hundreds of people that were camping and resting. Many people were currently eating.

  “Old Hett.”

  A young man riding on a carriage chuckled at a chubby man next to him. “You’ve made a fortune on this latest deal.”