The Ink Dragon’s Pledge

The Flood Dragon’s wings spanned two zhang, a size not truly immense, yet its powerful aura was twice as formidable as that of the crocodile beast.

Without a second thought, Lin Tian fired a shot. A bullet imbued with tenfold power struck the Flood Dragon, causing it to yelp in pain, but it remained unharmed.

Witnessing this, he dared not linger. He swiftly affixed two Thousand-Mile Talismans to his legs, then circulated his spiritual energy, executing the Cloud-Treading Steps as he fled.

With a single flap of its wings, the Flood Dragon pursued relentlessly. Lin Tian continued to fire shots behind him as he ran, but his speed was still insufficient.

Just as he was about to escape the illusion array, the Ink Dragon caught up. Its twin claws clamped onto Lin Tian’s shoulders, sinking deep into his flesh.

The Ink Dragon dragged Lin Tian into the sky. He swiftly moved his fingers, and ten Thousand-Jin Talismans flew from his storage bag, adhering to his body.

The power of these talismans could stack, but one had to be able to withstand the physical burden. If one’s body was not robust, the sudden weight could potentially rebound and injure them.

At that moment, he had no time for such concerns. As soon as the talismans were affixed, he gripped the two large claws on his shoulders. The Flood Dragon cried out in agony from the sudden force, feeling as if its bones were snapping, and immediately released its hold.

Several explosion talismans then flew from Lin Tian’s storage bag, sticking to the Flood Dragon’s belly. He delivered a powerful kick, sending himself plummeting towards the ground.

The ground was still ten zhang below, a fall that would surely result in severe injury, if not death. However, he quickly retrieved the flying shield artifact from his storage, placed it beneath his feet, and soared out of the illusion array.

“Boom!!”

No sooner had he flown out than all the explosion talismans in the air detonated.

The Flood Dragon was left numb and disoriented by the blast. It shook its head and continued its pursuit.

****

In the misty mountain forest, the Flood Dragon passed through the blinding array, appearing out of thin air, searching everywhere for Lin Tian’s tracks.

“Over here, you silly dragon,” Lin Tian provoked from a short distance away, applying medicine to his clawed shoulder, seemingly unperturbed.

The Flood Dragon’s intelligence was clearly inferior to a human’s. Without a second thought, it flapped its wings and charged forward.

“Hmph~” Lin Tian smirked, his hands rapidly forming a seal.

“Form array!”

The Five Elements Array instantly materialized, trapping the Flood Dragon within its confines.

“Kong! Kong!”

The trapped Flood Dragon desperately slammed against the array’s walls. Lin Tian remained calm; this array was small, but incredibly sturdy.

“Little thief! Return what you took!”

“Oh? You can speak!” Lin Tian was momentarily stunned. The voice was the same as the child’s voice he had heard earlier.

“I thought it was some Core Formation senior. To think it’s just a beast! These things aren’t yours anyway, so what does it matter if I took them?”

The Flood Dragon suddenly ceased its attack. It gathered a mouthful of spiritual energy, then spewed a ball of green liquid that shot directly through the array, sticking to an array flag. Like sulfuric acid, it began to melt the flag.

With one of the five flags gone, the array instantly crumbled. Lin Tian inwardly cursed his misfortune, injecting spiritual energy into a grenade and throwing it.

Having poured a full twenty percent of his spiritual power into it, he had no doubt about the grenade’s might. He immediately turned and ran down the mountain, moving at his fastest possible speed.

The Flood Dragon had no idea what he had thrown. It flapped its wings and flew after Lin Tian. Just five zhang away, the grenade behind it suddenly exploded.

Reacting with the air, the TNT ignited the spiritual energy like fuel. The force of this explosion was so immense that even the sparse spiritual energy in the surroundings was set ablaze.

A thunderous boom!

A shockwave rapidly expanded, sweeping away all the mountain mist. The Flood Dragon tumbled several times in the air before crashing to the ground, blood oozing from its nose and mouth as it coughed up a mouthful of bloody foam.

Although Lin Tian had run far, he was still knocked over by the shockwave, rolling several times on the ground, his head ringing. The surrounding trees were all tilted outwards.

He hadn’t anticipated such immense power from a grenade infused with spiritual energy. Even at full speed, he hadn’t escaped the blast radius.

Seeing the Flood Dragon lying motionless on the ground, Lin Tian patted the dust from his clothes and slowly approached. Its aura was weak, and it no longer posed a threat.

‘Though I don’t know what a beast’s inner core is for, it should be quite valuable.’

Hearing Lin Tian’s voice, the Flood Dragon’s form instantly transformed into that of a small boy, who knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.

“Senior Immortal, spare my life! I was blind not to recognize your eminence!”

Seeing that the youth before him had no intention of lowering his blade, the Flood Dragon gritted his teeth and shouted, “I can pledge allegiance to Senior Immortal as a master and follow you!”

“Oh? How can I trust you?” Lin Tian questioned.

“There’s a contract scroll in the cave dwelling!”

Seeing that the young woman before him had no intention of acting, Jiaofeng subtly exhaled in relief.

“Contract scroll?” Lin Tian naturally didn’t know what that was, but from the name, he could guess its general purpose.

“However, I would rather have the beast core.”

The small boy’s forehead broke out in a cold sweat. Just moments ago, Lin Tian had claimed not to know what the inner core was for, and now he said he wanted it more?

Left with no choice, he pleaded bitterly, “If Senior Immortal desires inner cores, you can hunt the nearby demonic beasts. I know many of them and can guide you.”

Lin Tian pondered for a moment before agreeing. “I’ll examine the contract scroll first.”

“Good, good, no problem.”

The small boy limped after Lin Tian towards the cave dwelling. Seeing the several grenades still hanging from his waist, he shivered. If he had been hit head-on by that blast, his life would have ended there.

Inside the wooden house beside the herb garden, the small boy produced a piece of beast hide paper, upon which rows of golden characters were carved.

A faint spiritual energy emanated from these characters, indicating that the Ink Dragon had not deceived him.

The small boy bit his finger, dripping a drop of blood onto the totem. The entire paper then shrank into a ball, transforming into a wooden plaque.

“This is my life token. My life is now in Master’s hands…”

Taking the token, Lin Tian closed his eyes and sensed it. It exuded the Ink Dragon’s aura. As stated in the contract scroll, Lin Tian also dripped a drop of his blood onto the token.

A connection suddenly formed in his mind. He could feel an invisible force linking him to the small boy.

With a thought, Lin Tian pulled at this connection as if absorbing spiritual energy. The small boy clutched his head, wailing.

“Master! Stop! Doing that will draw out my primordial soul!”

“Mm… acceptable.” Lin Tian lowered his guard and tossed him a bottle of healing pills.

“What is your name?”

“My name is Jiaofeng. My former master, who was also the owner of this cave dwelling, left over a decade ago, leaving me to guard the herb garden. But just recently, my contract with him suddenly broke. Unless he entered some forbidden zone, he could only have died.”

Lin Tian nodded, then sat down on the spot to heal his injuries.

****

The next day, Jiaofeng had also recovered some of his aura. Lin Tian instructed him to collect all the medicinal herbs. Although this was a rare resting place, it would be troublesome if the cave dwelling’s owner returned.

Lin Tian took out his small flags, but since Jiaofeng had damaged one, he couldn’t form an array.

The small boy collected all the spiritual herbs and glanced at Lin Tian.

“Master, there are array flags here too. I’ll go get them for you,” he said, then ran off into the distance.

Jiaofeng dismantled all the illusion arrays around the cave dwelling, and the mountain reverted to its original appearance, with much of the mist having dispersed.

Before long, Jiaofeng returned to the herb garden, carrying a pile of leftover spirit stones and about ten black flags, which clearly looked more advanced than those in Lin Tian’s hands.

This array only had an illusionary effect, so it didn’t consume many spirit stones; over a hundred remained.

In addition, Jiaofeng also had a pill refining book, which was precisely what Lin Tian needed. Having medicinal herbs without knowing how to refine pills would be too wasteful.

With everything tidied up, Lin Tian prepared to return to Mufu Mountain. Remaining on someone else’s territory always left him feeling uneasy.

“Where is Master going?”

“Mufu Mountain.”

Upon hearing this, Jiaofeng pulled a bag from his waist and tossed it to Lin Tian.

“This is a spirit beast bag. I could have flown Master there, but your weapon’s power was too strong; my internal injuries might require several months of recovery…”

Having said that, he dove into the spirit beast bag, resting inside to recover from his injuries.