I'm in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have one equipment slot!

Chapter 41 The Black Dragon's Metamorphosis! The Hidden Moon Sect Withdraws!

"I never expected to be this unlucky—"

Zhou Yuan hid behind a mound of black soil, his brows furrowed.

He had not originally intended to confront the disciples of the Hidden Moon Sect brought by Nangong Wan.

But the timing was unexpectedly bad.

Just as he arrived, a large force from the Hidden Moon Sect appeared and trapped him inside!

At this moment, in Zhou Yuan's sight, the small green eyes on both sides of the head of the monster floating several feet above the ground flashed with a fierce light.

With one gulp, another thick, foul-smelling jet of inky black water gushed out.

The water column rushed straight towards the members of the Hidden Moon Sect!

"You beast! You're asking for death!"

Nangong Wan knew the power of the Ink Dragon. Even though the beast in front of her seemed to be very young, she did not dare to be careless. She quickly pointed at the Vermilion Bird Ring in the air, and the ring immediately shone with red light and flashed in front of everyone.

Immediately afterwards, a series of fist-sized, extremely hot fireballs flew out from the ring, precisely intercepting them in mid-air and colliding violently with the black water.

"Sizzle—sizzle—"

'

Water and fire clashed fiercely.

A large cloud of white mist rose up, filling half of the underground space.

"Seize, immediately, detain, imprison, and lock!"

Nangong Wan clasped her hands together in a half-moon shape, her expression solemn, and clearly uttered a five-word incantation.

As she finished speaking, the enormous Vermilion Bird Ring trembled rapidly in mid-air, emitting a deep hum.

It suddenly vanished!

The next moment, the buzzing sound reappeared, and the Vermilion Bird Ring appeared directly on the head of the Ink Dragon!

Before the monster could fully react, the ring suddenly sank and rapidly shrank.

In the blink of an eye, the Vermilion Bird Ring had already been forcibly fitted onto the middle of the Ink Dragon's body!

Crimson flames erupted around its body, instantly engulfing half of the black dragon's body in raging fire!

"Hurry up! I can't hold the black dragon for long!"

Although the Vermilion Bird Ring had temporarily locked up the demon beast, Nangong Wan showed no signs of relief. Instead, she anxiously gave instructions to the people behind her.

Although the disciples of the Hidden Moon Sect behind them did not know why the "Black Scaled Python" in front of them had suddenly become the "Ink Dragon" mentioned by their master, this did not hinder their already prepared attack.

"beat!"

Led by an older woman in white, more than a dozen beams of light, alternating between red and blue, shot out from the hands of the disciples of the Hidden Moon Sect with terrifying hissing sounds, striking the imprisoned demonic beasts with pinpoint accuracy.

"Boom boom boom boom!"

A series of loud bangs rang out. These beams of light, which contained the power of the combined attack formation, were blocked by the seemingly thin but actually tough black mist on the body of the black dragon the moment they touched it. They only erupted with intense energy shockwaves and failed to directly damage the main body.

"With continued attacks, the Ink Dragon's protective Ink Clouds won't hold for long!"

Nangong Wan, quick-witted and outspoken, gave the order again. At the same time, she fully activated the Crimson Flame Technique on the Vermilion Bird Ring, making the flames enveloping the demon beast burn even more fiercely and intensely.

Under Nangong Wan's series of orders, the disciples of the Hidden Moon Sect relied on their combined attack technique to relentlessly shoot beams of red and blue light at the demonic beasts in mid-air.

The beams of light struck the black mist on the surface of the Ink Dragon's body like raindrops, producing a continuous series of explosions.

Although the protective dark cloud layer remained stubborn and had not yet been completely broken, the continuous impact was clearly causing the dark dragon great pain.

It began to roar violently, its still movable head and tail thrashing wildly as it struggled desperately to break free from the Vermilion Bird Ring's restraints.

However, under Nangong Wan's full urging, the crimson ring magic weapon remained rooted to the spot, firmly locking its body in mid-air.

"Ugh—!"

Suddenly, the black dragon let out a long roar several times louder than before, its cry filled with intense pain!

Hiding in the shadows, Zhou Yuan stared intently and saw that the black protective cloud on the beast's body finally dissipated like melting snow under the continuous and fierce attacks!

On its body, covered in jet-black scales, a gruesome blood hole the size of a bowl had appeared, clearly caused by a powerful beam of light.

In excruciating pain, the black dragon struggled even more frantically, almost descending into madness!

"Evolve—don't just die like this—"

Zhou Yuan frowned slightly, thinking to himself.

He remembered that in the original story, the black dragon broke through the enemy's defenses under the pressure of fierce battle.

It has been promoted to a level two demon beast.

He now desperately hopes that the Ink Dragon can successfully evolve!

Otherwise, once Nangong Wan and the others from the Hidden Moon Sect successfully dealt with the Ink Dragon, they would be able to begin a thorough search of this underground world.

Exposing oneself is almost inevitable.

"Oh no, be careful!"

As if responding to Zhou Yuan's expectations, the next moment, a sudden change occurred!

Nangong Wan, standing ahead, cried out anxiously, "I can't hold it back anymore!!"

"That's great!" Zhou Yuan was overjoyed, and his spirits lifted.

At this moment, under the continuous concentrated attack of the Hidden Moon Sect members, three or four new bloody holes were added to the massive body of the Ink Dragon.

The bright red blood of the dragon, tinged with dark gold, gushed out like a spring, splashing onto the black swamp mud below, a striking sight.

"Roar—!"

The black dragon suddenly opened its blood-red maw, and its extremely shrill roar was like a solid sound wave, bursting out continuously!

The sound wave contained a strange vibrational force that instantly swept through the entire underground world, causing the rock walls to vibrate and hum.

Most of the members of the Hidden Moon Sect felt a strong wave of dizziness and vertigo!

Followed by.

An even stranger thing happened!

The Vermilion Bird Ring in the sky was still there, but the Ink Dragon inside the ring seemed to have evaporated and disappeared into thin air!

All that remained on the ring was a tattered, bloodstained, and scorched black snake skin.

At the crucial moment, this monster actually used a secret skin-shedding technique, like a cicada shedding its skin!

"There it is!"

A sharp-eyed disciple of the Hidden Moon Sect was the first to spot the "new" monster that was silently moving against the rock wall of the underground world's dome.

Now it has been completely transformed, and its appearance is completely different from before!

Its originally jet-black body turned snow-white and scaleless, gleaming with a cold metallic luster in the dim light;

Its height increased dramatically from three or four zhang to five or six zhang, and its body also became more than a size larger.

The previously injured wound now only has a few faint red scars.

Most astonishingly, it had a single horn about an inch long, jet black and shiny, with a faint dark luster growing from its triangular snake head!

Below the abdomen of the body, a pair of white claws appeared. Although they only had three toes, they were cold and sharp!

This beast had shed its serpentine form and transformed into a jiao! Its appearance was almost identical to that of the legendary jiao dragon, and a fierce and imposing aura, far surpassing its previous size, emanated from it.

"Retreat! Retreat immediately!"

Nangong Wan's voice suddenly rose, filled with an undeniable solemnity, "The Ink Dragon has completed its transformation and evolved to the second stage! Its strength is comparable to a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator, and all of us combined are no match for it! Retreat from here immediately; I can still hold it off for a short while, buying you an opportunity!"

After she solemnly finished speaking, she immediately waved her hand and brought the Vermilion Bird Ring back in front of her. The crimson halo grew several times larger and spun around.

They adopted a posture of full-force defense.

"roar!"

The newly evolved black dragon seemed to be in dire need of releasing its power and rage. It shook its head and opened its mouth again, but instead of a water column, it spewed water.

Instead, it was a vast expanse of thick, eerily deep purple liquid.

It poured down on the members of the Hidden Moon Sect like a waterfall!

"Be careful! It's a medicinal liquid, extremely corrosive; you can't withstand it head-on!"

Nangong Wan shouted urgently, urging the Vermilion Bird Ring to unleash a curtain of fire in an attempt to intercept them.

Most of the disciples of the Hidden Moon Sect reacted quickly, either hiding behind the defensive fire curtain cast by the Vermilion Bird Ring or retreating rapidly.

However, three people, confident in their superior magical artifacts or perhaps a little slower in their reactions, chose to unleash their defensive magical artifacts to withstand the attack head-on—

A small bronze shield, a jade inkstone, and a brocade umbrella—all three are top-grade defensive magical artifacts, gleaming with spiritual light.

However, when the purple elixir touched them, there were only a few soft "hissing" sounds, as if a hot iron had been placed into oil. The spiritual light on the three magical artifacts instantly dimmed and melted, and the artifacts were corroded with holes at a speed visible to the naked eye, and then completely collapsed!

The three disciples behind the magical artifact only had time to let out a short scream before they turned into three rapidly dissolving skeletons in the purple liquid.

Finally, it completely disappeared.

"Walk!"

Nangong Wan urged the remaining disciples sternly.

"Very good, the more you exhaust the Ink Dragon's strength, the easier it will be for me later."

Zhou Yuan hid in the shadows, observing coldly.

This black dragon has just broken through, and the amount of newly generated elixir in its body is limited. Wasting it on killing these disciples of the Hidden Moon Sect will weaken their strength and pave the way for its future actions.

Next, in Zhou Yuan's view, Nangong Wan, relying on the profound power of her natal magic weapon, the Vermilion Bird Ring, dealt with the newly advanced Ink Dragon, buying time for her disciples to escape.

The remaining disciples of the Hidden Moon Sect were terrified and fled without looking back.

Finally, seeing that most of the disciples had entered the passage, Nangong Wan gritted her teeth and carefully took out a golden talisman with an ancient aura from her storage bag.

She quickly made a hand seal, activated the talisman, and threw it towards the black dragon. The talisman transformed into an enormous net woven from countless fine and tough golden threads, which descended upon the black dragon!

Runes shimmered on the golden silk net, radiating a powerful binding force.

Caught off guard, the black dragon's massive body was instantly bound tightly by the golden silk net.

Despite its desperate struggle, the golden threads broke inch by inch, but it was temporarily halted.

"We have no choice but to give up here."

Nangong Wan glanced in the direction where the medicinal herbs grew abundantly, a hint of regret flashing in her eyes.

Without lingering in the fight, he transformed into a streak of light, following the last few disciples as they rushed into the passage and disappeared.

"It seems that without Zhou Qing, one of the 'Twin Beauties of the Moon,' Nangong Wan is not trapped here—"

Zhou Yuan understood.

In the original story, it was Zhou Qing who, in her panic, used a mid-level "Minor Five Elements Talisman," which accidentally triggered the ancient "Minor Five Elements Sumeru Restriction" of this place, causing the long passage to close instantly, leaving Nangong Wan alone in this underground world.

In the underground world, the black dragon angrily tore apart the remaining golden netting and roared as it chased after the passage entrance. However, it only roared angrily in place and did not immediately rush into the passage to pursue the enemy.

After roaring for about ten breaths, the black dragon suddenly stopped howling, turned its ferocious head back sharply, and scanned the empty swamp world with its cold green vertical pupils. Then, it let out an even more furious roar!

Because it saw that there was actually a damned human here!

Unbeknownst to them, this human had somehow appeared like a ghost in the place where the spiritual herbs it had guarded for many years grew, and was now harvesting those rare herbs at an astonishing speed!

It was Zhou Yuan!

This was the opening he had been waiting for!

The moment the members of the Hidden Moon Sect fled and Mo Jiao's attention was drawn to the entrance of the passage, he pushed the speed of his Cloud-Stepping Boots to the limit.

Using the Wind Control Technique, he moved like a pale blue shadow, traversing a hundred feet in a few flashes, and arrived beside the herb bushes.

The dozens of medicinal herbs growing here were being carefully and quickly picked and packaged one by one by him using a jade box that he had prepared beforehand, with the fastest and most skilled technique.

Among them are the Purple Monkey Flower, Jade Marrow Fungus, and Heavenly Spirit Fruit, which are required for refining the Foundation Building Pill.

And the years all look quite remarkable!

When the black dragon turned back from the passage, charging back with boundless fury, the patch of spiritual herbs was already empty; Zhou Yuan had taken all the dozens of rare spiritual herbs for himself!

"roar--!"

Seeing the treasure he had guarded for many years stolen, the black dragon went completely berserk. Its demonic energy surged like boiling black clouds, and with a shriek that tore through the air, it opened its huge mouth full of fangs and lunged straight at Zhou Yuan!

Zhou Yuan's eyes were cold. Facing the level-two demonic beast that was pouncing on him, he showed no fear and had no intention of fighting it head-on.

"go!"

He pointed his fingers like a sword, and his immense magical power surged forth without any stagnation thanks to the frantic replenishment from the four mid-grade spirit stones.

Three spells were cast in an instant!

hum!hum!hum!

Three sets of gleaming golden blades materialized out of thin air almost simultaneously.

Each group has twelve questions.

A total of thirty-six sharp golden swords.

Forming a dense and deadly rain of golden swords, carrying a sharp aura that could tear everything apart, it shot head-on towards the black dragon!

Although these golden swords might not be able to harm the thick-skinned, demon-powered level two ink dragon, they would be enough to interfere with it.

To slow down their momentum.

At the same time, Zhou Yuan's Cloud-Stepping Boots shone brightly with azure light, and his figure shot backward like lightning, instantly widening the distance between him and the Ink Dragon.

With the Wind Control Technique enhancing his movement and the extreme speed of the Cloud-Stepping Boots, his linear movement speed in a short period of time was in no way inferior to that of the newly advanced Ink Dragon!

With the help of the thirty-six golden swords blocking his way, Zhou Yuan successfully retreated to the vicinity of the passage entrance once again.

However, he did not choose to flee this dangerous underground world immediately.

Instead, he stopped, a flash of light appearing in his hand, revealing a talisman—a talisman obtained from spoils of war.

A mid-level "Minor Five Elements Talisman" similar to the one used by Zhou Qing in the original work!

Without hesitation, he activated the talisman and flung it into the deep passage!

The talisman transformed into a stream of light and disappeared into the darkness of the passage.

The next moment—

"Boom—!"

A deep, muffled roar, like ancient thunder, came from the depths of the passage, growing louder and louder as it approached!

The entire underground world trembled violently, and rubble fell from the rock walls.

P.S. I'm speechless. Yesterday I saw another comment saying that seeing the Ink Dragon made me not want to read anymore. If Nangong Wan is being targeted by the Dao Ancestor, why worry about reincarnation in a fanfic? What's the point? By that logic, the protagonist will also be a powerful figure in the future, and the future Dao Ancestor will also be watching this area. What's there to be afraid of? Besides, every time I write about the Ink Dragon, someone says the later plot will include the Lustful Sac and the two having sex—that's too cliché. Well, congratulations, you're wrong.

This underground world has spiritual herbs, treasure chests, and materials from the demonic beast Mo Jiao. It has treasures and the ability to retrieve them, so why not take them?

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