Song Changsheng focused his gaze and, just as he had suspected, the attacker was indeed a second-rank, low-grade Earth-Dragon.
"Wretched beast, you dare!"
With a thunderous shout, Song Changsheng raised his finger, and a streak of crimson flame shot out, piercing straight toward the monster's foul, gaping maw.
"Ssszzz!"
The flame entered the Earth Dragon's mouth, instantly producing the sizzle of roasting flesh. But to Song Changsheng's surprise, a brownish-yellow glow suddenly shone from within the beast's mouth. With a snap, it swallowed the flame whole.
"You eat everything don't you worry about bursting? Try swallowing this!" Song Changsheng flicked his wrist, summoning the Soul-Slaying Gourd. The gourd emitted streams of yin and yang energy, descending upon the Earth Dragon like a curtain.
But the dragon abruptly pulled its head back and retreated into the tunnel. With a series of thunderous rumbles, it vanished, leaving behind a deep, winding passage.
Song Changsheng didn't hesitate. He leaped in pursuit as long as the Earth Dragon lived, the mine would never know peace. He had to eradicate it.
Besides, he was cultivating the Five Beast Body Tempering Technique, and it just so happened that he needed an Earth Dragon Pearl. Now that one had appeared, how could he miss this opportunity?
The Earth Dragon tunneled with astonishing speed underground. Though Song Changsheng was adept in spells, he was not skilled in earth escape techniques. For a time, he couldn't catch up, and the dragon was on the verge of vanishing from his senses.
"This won't do. Underground, I can't outrun it. I need to slow it down.
Gourd, sever its soul!"
The Soul-Slaying Gourd glowed faintly and spun rapidly before him. An invisible blade slashed through the air, shooting straight toward the dragon's sea of consciousness.
The Earth Dragon's massive body shuddered and began to thrash wildly as if the entire earth was quaking.
"Now's my chance."
The formation inside Song Changsheng's body activated instantly, sending out a stream of black and white energy that transformed into a giant pair of scissors aimed at the Earth Dragon.
The dragon's body radiated a layer of earthy yellow light, drawing in the surrounding earth spirit energy to form a suit of stone armor around it.
Earth-type beasts were renowned for their defense, but even this armor was fragile in the face of the scissors forged from yin and yang energies. Rocks shattered, and green blood gushed through the air as the Earth Dragon was sliced clean in two.
But the creature's vitality was terrifyingly strong. Being halved was no worse than a human losing a finger. The severed halves began to heal rapidly, yet it dared not linger. With a quick turn, it spat out a massive boulder and fled at full speed.
Song Changsheng activated his Protective Spirit Shield, and with a tremor, shattered the boulder to pieces. But by now, the Earth Dragon had slipped too far ahead to chase again.
Even so, he had already achieved half his objective.
He approached the writhing segment of the Earth Dragon's tail, drew a long sword, and cut it open, searching for the only real bone in its body its spinal column.
Due to the Earth Dragon's unique physiology, its body size grew with its cultivation. With each foot of growth, its spine would lengthen, and between each vertebra, a "spiritual pearl" would form condensations of its essence and cultivation, useful for earth-attribute cultivators.
While not particularly rare, obtaining them this way saved him a lot of trouble.
From this segment of the corpse, Song Changsheng extracted a three-foot spinal column, along with three translucent Earth Dragon Pearls enough for him to cultivate the Diagram of the Earth Dragon's Reversal, and still have some to sell for a good amount of spirit stones.
Song Changsheng casually tossed a fireball, reducing the Earth Dragon's remains to ashes, and then returned to the surface. Immediately, Song Xianhe and the others rushed up to him.
"Young Patriarch, the earth veins surged just now the mine collapsed in two places, and more than a dozen spots had cave-ins. Did you engage in battle down there?" Song Xianhe asked urgently.
Song Changsheng nodded and replied, "Yes, it was a second-rank, low-grade Earth Dragon. I fought it briefly and severely wounded it, but it managed to escape due to my inferior tunneling technique."
"What? Earth Dragons are notorious for holding grudges. If it returns for revenge, the mine will never have peace again!" Song Xianhe said worriedly.
"Elder, don't be concerned. Before I leave, I'll make sure to find a way to kill it."
Song Changsheng was never one to leave things half-done. Since the clan had sent him here, he would handle everything properly before departing.
"Young Patriarch, how noble of you. Your accommodations are ready I'll take you there now. The conditions are rough here, so I ask for your understanding."
"You're too kind, Elder. I'll be stationed here for the time being. If anything unusual happens, report to me immediately."
"Yes, sir!"
....
Thanks to Song Changsheng's presence, the mine entered a period of eerie calm, though he didn't let his guard down.
"I revealed my strength in front of others last time. The Earthfire Sect likely has a general idea of what I'm capable of now. Though they only sent Qu Jinshen on the surface, who knows what they're hiding behind the scenes? I need to stay on high alert," he murmured to himself.
With that, he took a deep breath, quieted his mind, and began to meditate on the Earth Dragon's Reversal Diagram in his mind. Originally, he had planned to follow the Five Elements sequence and start with the Azure Ape Howls in the Forest Diagram, but circumstances had changed, and boosting his strength took priority now.
The Earth Dragon's Reversal Diagram depicted a colossal Earth Dragon in the midst of flipping its body, tearing the ground open into deep, abyss-like cracks it looked like a natural disaster.
Song Changsheng took out an Earth Dragon Pearl, placed it in his mouth, and began to visualize the image in his mind. With the aid of this medium, the static picture in his head suddenly seemed to come alive.
He saw a massive Earth Dragon, as huge as a mountain range, slumbering deep underground. With each breath it took, the earth pulsed in rhythm.
Time passed seasons cycled, and stars shifted it seemed to sleep for countless eons. Suddenly, its enormous body stirred, as if a sleeping person had unconsciously turned over.
"Rumble…"
The earth trembled. Waves of earth's spiritual energy erupted, and the land cracked open, spreading far into the distance…
"This... there's no body-tempering technique shown?" Song Changsheng frowned.
Beasts naturally had bodies far stronger than humans. While part of that was innate, their body-tempering methods were key to their strength.
Different types of beasts possessed different refining techniques, and most body cultivation methods known to human cultivators were adapted from these best practices. So it made sense that the Five Beast Body Tempering Scripture required visualizing such creatures this didn't surprise him.
What puzzled him was that although the Earth Dragon in the image was immensely powerful, it remained asleep the whole time there was no clear indication of any body-tempering practice.
"But the Dao scripture wouldn't be wrong," he thought. "If I'm not seeing it, then I must be missing something."
He couldn't figure it out at first, so he repeated his meditations several more times and finally, he noticed something subtle.
While the Earth Dragon slept, its entire body subtly moved with every breath its muscles tensed and contracted in a rhythm, like a legendary breathing-based body refinement technique.
Realization struck. Song Changsheng's spirits lifted. He focused his senses and began to attune himself to the Earth Dragon's breathing pattern and soon began to reap the benefits.
He tried mimicking the Earth Dragon's breathing. At first, it felt incredibly awkward and even made him short of breath.
But before long, he started to sense the mysterious effects hidden within this strange breathing method…
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