The beautiful girl standing at the edge of the pit was of course Xinran.
She lent me a helping hand as I crawled back onto the surface with Rinser. When she saw the ugly marks on my chest armor, she couldn"t help but ask with a frown, "Big brother, your injuries… What on earth did this to you? And how did you fall from the sky? I thought you didn"t know how to fly yet?"
"You"re right. I was thrown down here by an enemy!"
"What? Thrown down? Enemy?" Xinran repeated in confusion.
It was at this moment a draconic roar entered our ears, and a gigantic creature dropped down from the sky. It was of course the ice dragon Kris, the dragon ruler of the deep sea!
Shock filled my expression. "f.u.c.k me, here it is again! This is the dragon who beat the s.h.i.+t out of me!"
"I see!"
Expression turning cold and murderous, Xinran jumped into the air and made a grabbing motion, red light condensing into the Dragonbone Spear in her palm. Then, she charged toward the ice dragon!
……
Rinser looked at the sky in astonishment. "Heavens, it"s that ice dragon sleeping atop the Ice Dragon Ridge? How on earth did you awaken her? This is terrible. If Lady Xinran wasn"t here today, she might"ve eaten me as her first meal!"
I shot him a glance before insulting him, "I don"t think that an ice dragon has the appet.i.te for sweet and sour ribs!"
"You brat!"
Rinser grabbed my neck and shook me back and forth as he shouted, "Do you know how important I am? Do you know how many rulers had asked me to join their empire and become their court master of arcane arts? I am the legendary undead holy magus, and you made me your fall mat and embarra.s.sed me in front of Lady Wind Singer? I"m going to f.u.c.king kill you!"
I pointed at his pants. "Hey teacher, your pants are torn!"
Rinser immediately looked at the hole in his pants before sighing in relief. "Thank heavens there"s nothing there…"
I gave him a s.h.i.+t-eating grin. "You can get one if you become an Asura!"
Rinser immediately started choking me again. "You dare make fun of me, you f.u.c.king brat? I"m a scholar of undead magic, I would never fall so low as to absorb another being"s undead soul spark! It"s beneath me, you understand? Or are you so blind you can"t see how n.o.ble I am?"
I replied immediately, "Oh really? Does that mean you"re willing to stay an incomplete man forever?"
Rinser couldn"t say anything to that.
……
Meanwhile, Xinran was swinging her s.h.i.+ning spear at the ice dragon"s giant paw. Despite how disproportionate their size was, Xinran"s tiny body seemed to contain an unimaginable amount of strength. She was actually able to knock the giant paw aside!
Bang!
There was a metallic clang, and the ice dragon let out a scream of pain. A b.l.o.o.d.y gash immediately appeared on her paw!
Xinran pressed her advantage and extended her left palm in front of her. When the b.l.o.o.d.y energy condensing between her palm suddenly turned into a gigantic projection of her hand, it fell on top of the ice dragon"s back and caused an earthshaking shudder. The ice dragon was sent flying toward the ground!
Boom!
The mountain-sized dragon landed right on top of the ancient temple Rinser lived in and crushed it into pieces. He immediately groaned at the same time as the ice dragon.
"NO…"
In the air, Xinran looked down on the ice dragon and asked in an angry tone, "Sinful dragon, what did my big brother do to you to harm him so? Tell me now, or I swear I"ll annihilate you where you stand!"
The ice dragon looked up angrily. She knew that her struggle was futile, but she still tried to take to the sky again and duel Xinran to the death.
Xinran"s power was absolutely dominant, however. She raised a hand above her head, summoned a b.l.o.o.d.y spear and tossed it at the ice dragon!
Puchi!
The spear pierced the ice dragon"s tail and nailed her to the ground. Xinran then summoned another four spears and nailed all her limbs to the ground, immobilizing her. It almost looked like a sealing ritual of sorts.
Finally, Xinran slowly descended to the ground and pressed her spear blade against the dragon"s neck. She said, "I have heard of you, Kris the Ice Dragon. You were once the ruler of the deep sea, but your home is long gone. Today, the continent you live in is the shared home of the humans, elves, dwarves, barbarians, succubi, and the good undead. If you insist on conquering Heavenblessed, then don"t blame me for delivering you to h.e.l.l!"
The ice dragon didn"t answer her. She kept groaning in pain as dark blue blood flowed out of the wound on her head.
Suddenly, the ice dragon started shaking all over, and Xinran withdrew her seal hurriedly. Eyes filled with shock and doubt, she looked at me and asked, "Big brother, did you damage Kris"s brain earlier?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I did. What about it?"
"Well…"
Xinran bit her lips before replying, "It looks like you damaged her brain core; her crystal core. Not even an ancient dragon like Kris can handle damage this bad. Therefore, she has to regress and regrow a healthy brain, from a chrysalis."
"What do you mean?"
"It means that she has to undergo a transformation…"
"Ah?!"
I stared in astonishment as the spasming ice dragon started shrinking visibly right before my eyes. New skin grew where her giant scales fell off on their own before shrinking again. The mountain-sized dragon had shrunk to a meter long in less than ten minutes, but the metamorphosis still wasn"t over yet. It shrank and shrank until finally, it curled into a ball and covered itself in ice. When the ice fell off, there was a coc.o.o.n where the dragon used to be. It had literally regressed all the way down to an egg!
"Gulp!"
I swallowed. Is it just me, or is this an Immortal Rank pet egg?
Seemingly noticing my thoughts, Xinran let out a giggle before pulling my arm, "Big brother, this ice dragon is naturally violent, so you mustn"t think of taking her as your pet no matter what. She would attempt to devour you the second she awoke from her slumber. It"s because she recognizes you as her nemesis, and that impression isn"t going to change anytime soon."
I couldn"t help but wring my hands in disappointment. What a shame!
However, Xinran still held up the ice dragon egg and said, "You should still take this pet egg though. You might not be able to use it yourself, but you can give it to someone else. Anyway, just try to avoid this dragon for now. You are still weak, so you won"t be able to fight this ice dragon on even footing."
I nodded in thanks. I supposed that it wasn"t a loss after all. This ice dragon was obviously insanely powerful, and even if I couldn"t use it myself I could gift it to others. Murong Mingyue had the Ironwing Dragon, and Beiming Xue had the Thunder Beast. They didn"t need to switch their pets. I suppose that means I should gift it to He Yi.
Suddenly, an idea flashed across my mind. No, wait, there"s one more person who could use this pet. Lin Yixin!
That"s right. Lin Yixin had just become a Divine General, so she could definitely use a powerful pet. An Immortal Rank pet would definitely suit her. With the ice dragon to support her, she should become even stronger than before, right?
Moreover, Lin Yixin had fallen behind a lot because Snowy Cathaya had stayed out of the war of Immortality City. She was definitely the best candidate to receive this pet egg.
I abruptly broke out of my train of thought and snorted derisively at myself. I could make up excuses all day, but the truth of the matter was that I really just wanted to give it to her. I"ve always felt like I owed her too much, even though I didn"t know what exactly.
……
I put the ice dragon egg away. When I first came to Ice Dragon Ridge, I never thought I would be leaving with the map"s very master in my bag. Although the process was hardly the cleanest, it was still absolutely worth it.
I glanced at Rinser when an idea suddenly flashed across my mind. I said to Xinran, "Rinser didn"t teach me a single skill after I entered the Earthfire Realm…"
Rinser"s face turned deathly pale when he heard my complaint.
Gaze sharpening, Xinran turned to Rinser and curled her lips. "Old man, did you hide something from my big brother?"
Rinser replied in fear, "Of… of course not. He is like a son to me, why would I hide a skill from him? I… I didn"t teach him my unique skill a few days ago because he wasn"t strong enough to learn it yet. Now that he"s here, I can teach him the skill right away…"
I smiled. I knew that the old fool was hiding something from me. How shameless!
Rinser walked up to me and raised his arm. A skill screen immediately appeared in front of me—
Book of Resurrection (Forbidden): Upon use, the user can revive immediately within 1 hour without any item drop penalty. Level Cost: 3. Level Requirement: 150. Race Requirement: Undead. MP Cost: 1000.
……
My eyes turned into saucers. What the f.u.c.k? Is this a joke? Revive once within an hour, but lose 3 levels as a result? I"d rather just die then! Do you know how hard it is to level up even once after Level 150?
However, I received a system notice right after stating that the skill could be merged with another skill!
Ecstatic, I immediately chose to merge it with an existing skill that shared similar effects to the Book of Resurrection, Immortality. Considering how OP Immortality was, it should be even better after fusing with Book of Resurrection, right?
I confirmed the two skills for fusion, and...
Ding~!
System Notice: Congratulations, your skill "Immortality" has successfully fused with "Book of Resurrection". You have produced a new skill—"Resurrection Art"!
……
"Resurrection Art?"
I hurriedly brought up the skill list, and I saw a new skill with the icon of nirvana attached to it. When I checked its details, I was absolutely overjoyed by what I saw—
Resurrection Art: 30% chance to revive upon death. If the skill is active and the pa.s.sive revival doesn"t trigger, forcefully revives the user with no item drop penalty. Active revival consumes 1 level upon activation, and user"s attack power is increased by 10%. The effect can be stacked endlessly.