Celestial Dragon Sword Venerable-Chapter 116: Space-Time Soul-locking Tower and Little Dragon Girl
Inside the faint blue ring of light was a region containing a Blood-Colored Ice Lake.
The world was incredibly dim. The gloomy atmosphere and frigid environment made the area feel somewhat oppressive.
The moment Ye Tianling entered, he immediately activated his Turtle Breath Technique.
His lingering afterimage was instantly enveloped by the Xuanwu Sword Soul and quickly vanished.
However, Ye Tianling still felt a slight sense of apprehension. Wan Xuegui hadn’t discovered his presence, but Fang Qingxue had clearly frowned slightly.
This meant that she had very likely already discovered he had followed them in.
Ye Tianling made no sudden moves. He remained quietly concealed while he began to observe his surroundings.
In this area, the icy, oppressive atmosphere made Ye Tianling somewhat uncomfortable.
He could feel that his strength was affected to a certain degree.
The effect wasn’t particularly huge, but it was enough to reduce his Battle Power by about fifty percent.
This Blood-Colored Ice Lake was at least ten thousand meters in both length and width. In the current dim environment, even Ye Tianling couldn’t see its edge.
Ye Tianling projected his Soul Talent onto the Blood-Colored Ice Lake, and a stream of complex Rune information materialized within his Talent’s perception.
’What is this?’
Ye Tianling mentally asked the Dragon Soul Celestial Ladder Treasure Tower deep within his brow.
"A ’what.’"
A very simple piece of information came in response from the Celestial Ladder Treasure Tower.
"Right, what is it?"
"Mhm, it’s a ’what.’"
"I’m asking what the Rune is! Little Dragon Girl, are you messing with me?"
"The Rune *is* ’what.’ Are you an idiot? You can’t even understand that?"
Little Dragon Girl’s childish, singsong voice made Ye Tianling’s face darken.
"Fine, I’m an idiot. Little Dragon Girl, my Little Fairy, please teach me about Runes."
Ye Tianling started trying to fish for benefits.
The Dragon Soul Treasure Tower Celestial Ladder immediately fell silent.
Little Dragon Girl was playing dead again.
’You win.’
Ye Tianling grumbled to himself.
"It’s not that I’m being difficult, it’s that I don’t understand Runes either. I have far from enough data collected."
Little Dragon Girl sent another message.
This message was still the same mechanical type, devoid of any emotion or audible voice.
This mechanical reply left Ye Tianling speechless.
Answering like this was worse than not answering at all. If she hadn’t answered, he could have still held out hope of effortlessly reaping the rewards, of a pie falling from the sky, and directly receiving an inheritance to become an Array Dao Grandmaster. With this answer, that idea had clearly become a wild fantasy.
"Collected data? What in the world are you?"
"I am not a ’thing.’"
"If you’re not a thing, then what are you?"
"’Not a thing’ means... I am not a living being as you understand it. I am a ’Mechanical Heart.’ As for the specifics... you wouldn’t understand even if I told you. There is a Spirit Medicine here, the ’Creation Ice Blood Lotus,’ which is excellent for refining Dragon Blood. Also, I need to collect data, a massive amount of data. You need to learn more—learn other people’s Sword Dao, Cultivation Techniques, Alchemy, Artifact Refining, Refining Arrays, and other abilities. Develop in all areas."
"That sounds exhausting. I just want to chase girls all day."
"That’s fine. I’ll just find another Inheritor and take the Dragon Blood, the Xuanyuan Dragon Soul, and Dugu Qiubai’s Fighting Inheritance with me."
"No, wait! I’ll learn. Don’t threaten me. I’m your Master, after all."
Ye Tianling had to admit defeat to this "childish-sounding" "Little Dragon Girl."
If you called her a Puppet, she clearly had feelings and emotions and could even get angry.
If you said she wasn’t a Puppet, she acted like a pre-programmed one, her actions too "formulaic."
As for what a "Mechanical Heart" was, Ye Tianling was utterly clueless.
’It’s probably the heart of a Puppet, something like a Sword Spirit,’ Ye Tianling thought.
As Ye Tianling was pondering this, he saw Wan Xuegui set Fang Qingxue down, then channel a special Rune Power into the Blood-Colored Ice Lake.
As his power surged in, a layer of shadowy, misty light above the Blood-Colored Ice Lake actually began to dissipate.
Once the misty light vanished, the Blood-Colored Ice Lake immediately revealed its true appearance.
It was like a region of magma. The vibrant, boiling lake water churned, and in an area a thousand meters across, a bright red lotus, like one rising from the mud yet unstained, quietly began to bloom with snow-white petals.
Only then did Ye Tianling realize that this Wan Xuegui was an Array expert.
"Little Dragon Girl, how exactly do I pick this Creation Ice Blood Lotus? What are its main effects? What’s its origin story? Tell me about it. Better yet, just pass on whatever inheritance information you have directly to me. It’s so hard to cultivate when I don’t know anything."
Ye Tianling started begging for benefits again.
The Dragon Soul Treasure Tower Celestial Ladder remained motionless, once again falling into a state of silence as if it were cut off from the world.
’Little vixen, just you wait until I get my hands on you one day. I’ll show you how formidable your Master is!’
Ye Tianling thought viciously.
"You can say that when you become a Holy Spirit. At that time, I’ll acknowledge you as my Master and even volunteer to be your Tripod Cauldron, letting you perform Absorption to your heart’s content. Right now, you’re just in a probationary period. Also, every time I communicate, I expend a huge amount of Energy. Any information I can give you will be displayed through your Soul Talent; you need to learn to use this information. Compared to the ’Opportunity Seekers’ of the past, you are, for now, the worst."
Little Dragon Girl’s childlike voice manifested once more.
And her words were a truly massive blow to Ye Tianling.
"Previous Opportunity Seekers? There were others before... What kind of people were they? Were you their ’Tripod Cauldron’ too?"
As Ye Tianling asked, he felt a green sensation, as if he’d been cuckolded.
"No. In the past, I was merely a ’chip,’ the ’Mechanical Heart.’ It was only after the era of the ’Mechanical Emperor’ and the era of the ’Thunder Inference King’ that I gained ’self-awareness.’ And whether it’s the ’Mechanical Emperor’ or the ’Thunder Inference King,’ you are far from being their equal."
Little Dragon Girl’s voice contained a special kind of emotion.
It was a sense of loss and confusion, as if for a fallen family member or a best friend.
"I’m that bad..."
Ye Tianling was mortified. He was being thoroughly despised.
"In terms of decisiveness in killing, you are a tiny bit stronger than them. But in terms of being shameless, lewd, despicable, vulgar, and evil, they don’t even measure up to one-ten-thousandth of you."
Little Dragon Girl replied.
"...So I have that many good qualities." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
Ye Tianling said sheepishly.
"Mhm, these are indeed your strengths, and they suit a person like you very well."
"Little Dragon Girl, since they were Opportunity Seekers, and now you’re looking for a new Inheritor, doesn’t that mean that even though they were so outstanding, they all failed? They perished?"
"They didn’t fail, and they didn’t perish. The one who failed and perished was me."
"I don’t understand."
"You don’t need to. Just get stronger by any means necessary. Be even more ruthless than you are now."
"They were that strong? Little Dragon Girl, how about you copy a peerless Divine Level Technique for me? Let my Battle Power break a hundred, so my little sister Long Tianyu will worship me."
"A Divine Level Technique? That’s just trash. As for Battle Power, it’s not as simple as you think."
"...In that case, I’ll take a dozen of that trash to start."
"The many Cultivation Techniques that surpass the Divine Level are all in the ’Space-Time Soul-locking Tower.’ For example, the Soul-Slaying Dao, Dao Generating One, the Nirvana Rebirth Skill, the Ten Thousand Souls Sword Dao, the True Void Heaven Forbidden Skill, and so on. You just need to slowly undo the Imprisonment on them and activate them.
You’ve currently activated the Ninth Layer. After you achieve Nine Bloods Unification and break the shackles of the Sword Spirit Realm, you will be qualified to step into the Sword Spirit Realm. Only then can you activate the Dragon Blood in the next layer of the Space-Time Soul-locking Tower.
I need to go into slumber now. Also, one more thing. I quite like the name ’Little Dragon Girl.’ From now on, that will be my ’name.’"
...
