Chapter 234 Stingy Lin
Maybe time is the most powerful weapon in the world.
Time can change a person. People will forget about things and enemies may make up with each other as time pa.s.ses… Even a giant dragon can be killed by time.
“Miss Lin, are you saying that the dragon starved to death?” Rong Donglin touches the skeleton carefully. The bones of the dragon are so s.h.i.+ny that it seems to be alive.
Lin Luoran answers seriously, “Look at it. Does it look like it starved to death?”
The entire skeleton is strapped and fixed in two enormous pillars aside by a thick chain. The chain is still s.h.i.+ny though a long time has pa.s.sed.
The chain goes through the shoulder blade of the dragon’s skeleton. When Lin Luoran was a little girl, she loved to watch the TV series, The Tale of the White Serpent. In the series, a thick chain pierced through the hero’s shoulder blade. His screams scared Lin Luoran. Lin understood from then on that someone would only pierce his enemy’s shoulder blade with a chain because of deadly feud!
On the ground in front of the skeleton, there are many deep holes. Maybe the dragon tried to run away and dug these holes with its claws.
Lin knows what this place is used for as soon as she sees the skeleton.
This is a prison of the Shui nationality, which is the reason why Wakan is forbidden in this deep valley.
Even the giant dragon couldn’t make it out here. Do Lin and Rong have the chance to get out? Lin Luoran says nothing to Rong because she doesn’t want to stress him.
They’ve come to this place to find the treasures according to what is written on the bamboo sheets. They never saw any treasure at the location where the treasure should be. Instead, they accidentally fell into the prison of the Dragon Palace. Is it possible that the information on the treasures was leaked on purpose in order to attract treasure seekers here?
Lin Luoran is certain that her guesses are right. However, after the dragons left the palace, human cultivators also suffered a decline. Lin may be the first human cultivator who has come here after the dragons left!
What had the giant dragon done to be treated like this?
What is the intention of the people who lures them here?
Lin feels like being trapped by a conspiracy. Her head aches. Whatever. No matter who was the person that plotted all this, he couldn’t have imagined that the dragon would have become a skeleton when someone comes here… The dragon is not a threat anymore.
Lin Luoran has been keeping her guard on in case of “possession”. She checks every corner of the skeleton and finds no residual soul. However, she discovers some fluctuation at the belly of the skeleton.
Lin tells Rong to back off and climbs to the under of the skeleton.
A colorful bead is in some black goo. Lin takes the bead out.
Though her Wakan is out of use now, the second she touches the colorful bead, she feels the pure power inside of the bead. The bead is cold. Its power doesn’t belong to any of the five elements. Is the power higher than Wakan?
Dragon Orb! It’s the Dragon Orb! This is the Dragon Orb which contains the pure power of the dragons! For the moment, Lin’s hand is shaking.
Lin doesn’t even dare to sense the Dragon Orb with her spiritual mind. She directly puts it into her s.p.a.ce.
After that, the fire phoenix comes out of the log cabin when Lin is observing the skeleton.
It flies around the Dragon Orb and takes quite a while disputing with the silver fish to make sure it is real.
Lin Luoran goes inside the s.p.a.ce with a bone of the dragon in hand. The fire phoenix is heading to peck the Dragon Orb. Lin is furious. She forgets about everything else and rushes at it.
The silver fish is startled and it jumps up. The fire phoenix flaps its wings. It swallows down the Dragon Orb. Lin Luoran grips the phoenix and is brought up into the mid-air.
Sky in the s.p.a.ce is not so high. Lin holds onto the feet of the phoenix tightly and tries her best to dodge the branches of the apple trees or the spikes of the chestnut trees. The fire phoenix is furious, yet Lin refuses to let go.
The fire phoenix shouts angrily,
“You’re such a penny pincher! The Dragon Orb is useless for human cultivators! You should hurry up and go to collect the Dragon Marrow! Just let go of me!” The fire phoenix says in a crisp voice, sounds like enjoying tasty cashew nut.
While talking, it lands under an apple tree and prepares to hide into the log cabin.
Lin Luoran is stunned. Did the fire phoenix just talk? What is Dragon Marrow then? Is it the bone marrow of the giant dragon?
“I don’t care! You ate the Strange Fire of mine and swallowed my Dragon Orb! Spit it out! Now!”
Lin Luoran shakes the neck of the phoenix, like she won’t stop until it spits the Dragon Orb out.
The fire phoenix feels dizzy. Before it lashes out, the silver fish comes and says, “I think… You should just give it back to her…” The silver fish’s voice is soft like a little girl.
Did the silver fish talk too? G.o.d! What a strange day!
Being surprised, Lin Luoran nods. The fire phoenix is always proud, and it wants the Dragon Orb so much. This means how precious the Dragon Orb is. Lin doesn’t want to lose it.
“You’re so annoying. You owe me your life. I should have the Dragon Orb as a return.” Since the silver fish is here, the fire phoenix has to argue with the patient.
“I owe it my life? Is it talking about what happened when I was possessed by the white-dressed female body in the secret land?” Lin remembers. Still, she shakes her head,
“My life is not valuable as the Dragon Orb is. Whatever! Give me back the Dragon Orb! I’ll pay you back later!”
The fire phoenix finally understands how “cheeky” this human cultivator can be. It is going to lose its temper. It wants to shake off Lin Luoran and return to the cabin. However, it calms down when it sees that the silver fish is looking at it.
“Alright. What if I keep the Dragon Orb and give you something in return?”
Lin Luoran holds her smile back and nods “reluctantly”.
She says, “Take me into the log cabin!”
This is too much to ask. The fire phoenix was so furious that it just wants to throw Lin out of the s.p.a.ce immediately.
“That’s impossible! You can’t go in there. It’s not up to me… It’s not the time. You must wait.”
This is impossible? Lin Luoran rolls her eyes,
“Methods of cultivation, the origin of the bead, or the way to access the cabin… How about one of these?”
The fire phoenix sneers, “Even if I teach you my nation’s methods of cultivation, you will end up dead. Little cultivator, don’t be too greedy.”
The fire phoenix has denied every one of Lin’s requirements. Lin is disappointed. Thinking of Rong, who is outside alone, she lets go of the phoenix.
Seeing that Lin has stopped making requirements, the fire phoenix drags the silver fish and leaves. Halfway, the silver fish keeps staring at the phoenix, making the phoenix uncomfortable. In order to keep its promise in front of the silver fish, the fire phoenix turns around and says,
“I’m not stingy after all. If you have any questions, I’ll tell you whatever I know. How about this?”
“Wonderful!” Lin Luoran thinks secretly. This is a very important advantage for her. She smiles and says, “The Soul Wood! I’m looking for the Soul Wood!”
“Such a piece of cake…” The fire phoenix rolls its eyes and answers carelessly, “Alright, got it. What else?”
“What is the Dragon Marrow? Also, why can’t I use my Wakan in this place? Do you know the dragons? Do you know how to get out of here?” Lin bursts out of lots of questions. These questions put the honest silver fish in a daze and the fire phoenix absent—
What kind of person is she?!
*********
After spending a few days with Lin, Rong Donglin has got used to her sudden disappearance.
He knows that this is her thing so he never asks where she has been. He waits for half an hour for Lin to come back.
Lin is still holding the bone and she is smiling. She pushes the giant skeleton away and starts to sc.r.a.pe off the black goo on the ground and puts it in a jade box.
“Miss Lin, don’t you mind getting dirty?”
Lin answers without looking up, “Dirty? Do you know what this is? It’s the Dragon Marrow! This may be the last Dragon Marrow in the world! Why should I mind getting dirty?”
It’s the best ingredient to make boluses! According to the fire phoenix, even when the world of cultivation was prosperous, not many people were willing to use Dragon Marrow to make boluses. Lin thinks that she is so lucky.
The bone marrow of the dragon? Rong Donglin can’t understand why Lin wants this black goo so much. He guesses that maybe it is valuable to cultivators. Rong walks around and then sees Lin standing and murmurs to herself,
“There should be some Dragon Tendon. Where is the Dragon Tendon?”
Rong is astonished by the fact that Lin even wants the tendon of the dragon.
The black goo on the ground is completely taken by Lin. Rong doesn’t know why he wants to laugh. He says, “Miss Lin, why don’t you take the skeleton?” The skeleton of the dragon is meters long so Rong never expects Lin to actually take it. He is only joking, yet Lin gives him a supportive expression,
“Rong, this is such a good idea!”
The fire phoenix has told Lin that every part of the dragon is valuable. Thus, Lin Luoran never intends to leave the skeleton here. Since she can’t find the Dragon Tendon for now, she goes to pick the bones.
Rong Donglin almost tripped by the scattered dragon bones.
Is this really Miss Lin? She should be called Stingy Lin!