Chapter 387 — The Art of Stealing Fortune
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
Shen Mu refined spirit pills and fed the dragons. The Dragon Qilin ate a few mouthfuls too, found the taste somewhat off, and quietly peeled open one Crimson Fire Spirit Pill — its face went black. A Fire Element Divine Yuan Pill was tucked into the center of the Crimson Fire Spirit Pill; no wonder it had tasted a little spicy on the tongue!
"Sect Leader, there's something wrong with these pills!" the Dragon Qilin cried. It peeled open several more and tossed the Fire Element Divine Yuan Pills into the river, eating only the outer skin.
Shen Mu blew on the golden flute and made a green flood dragon give the Dragon Qilin a beating. The Dragon Qilin howled piteously, and never dared to be picky about its food again.
As Lord Dragon-Rearer swam toward the Desolate Ruins, it taught Shen Mu a deeper level of the Dragon-Riding Art. The Dragon-Rearing Scripture it had given him had indeed held something back — many crucial points had not been recorded in it. Shen Mu studied with all his heart and played no tricks.
Half a day later, he had learned the Dragon-Riding Art in full, and then asked how to summon the power of the True Dragon Lord. Lord Dragon-Rearer said, "The True Dragon Lord was refined into a treasure by someone or other, and has already become a treasure of fortune. It can never become a true dragon again. But if you place this treasure within the True Dragon Nest, the True Dragon Lord can draw in the dragon qi of the Nest, and with a special cultivation method, draw in the fortune of the True Dragon Lord. Whoever wears the True Dragon Lord will see his cultivation advance by leaps and bounds, a thousand li in a single day! But I have never learned such a method. I imagine the being who took the True Dragon Lord must have imprinted that method into it. Once you have seized its fortune, you will be the True Dragon Lord!"
"A special cultivation method?"
Shen Mu was briefly startled, then hastily described the Nine Dragons Emperor Art he had learned from Emperor Yanfeng, and asked, "Is that a fortune-seizing method?"
Lord Dragon-Rearer pondered a moment, then shook its head. "That method seizes only qi; it relies on dragon qi for cultivation, and is not a fortune-seizing method. We dragons are born of heaven and earth, and from birth inherit the energy and information of the cosmos, which we turn into speech — the dragon tongue. Every dragon, once born, is naturally proficient in the dragon tongue and has no need to learn it. The writing on the True Dragon Lord and on the Nest is our race's script. I have seen only the writing on the True Dragon Nest, never that on the True Dragon Lord. But from what I saw on the Nest, it does contain a fortune-seizing method, though it is incomplete."
Shen Mu's heart stirred. The complete fortune-seizing method could only be learned by bringing the Jade Tablet of the Heavenly Emperor and the True Dragon Nest together.
Legend had it that a god had bestowed the Jade Tablet of the Heavenly Emperor upon the ancestors of the Ling family, as a symbol of imperial authority. The Ling family's Nine Dragons Emperor Art had come from that Tablet, a method comprehended from its contents.
And Emperor Yanfeng, a talent granted by heaven, had perfected the Nine Dragons Emperor Art, raising it to the point where it could stand against the Great Yu Hidden Demon Scripture and the Thunderpeal Mahayana Scripture!
One could well imagine what a terrifying method would emerge when the Jade Tablet of the Heavenly Emperor and the True Dragon Nest, those twin treasures, were joined as one!
"Dragon Lord, teach me the dragon tongue!" Shen Mu said abruptly.
Lord Dragon-Rearer taught him the dragon tongue as it knew it, and said, "The dragon tongue of our kind is hidden in the bloodline. The purer the bloodline, the more of the dragon tongue one knows. I am no true dragon; there are words in the dragon tongue whose meaning even I do not know."