Chapter 44 Dragon Bone

Azure Dragon Bone.

The bone of a real, genuine Azure Dragon.

These weren't the most powerful species amongst the Dragon race, but even so, they were far stronger than any other Magic Beast. Any body part from one of them would be worth billions of Spirit Crystals at the very least, and here was a real bone from one.

The Divine Asura Eye did not lie—and Xuan could feel it as well. As he held the bone in his hands, he could feel something inside his body resonating with it, as if yearning for its power. The description of the item said as much as well—the bone was completely useless except for decorative purposes, unless the user had a special body constitution.

And—well, what other body constitution could it be referring to, except the Divine Dragon Body?

Xuan was tempted to use the bone right away and see what it did, but unfortunately, he was already sensing the presences of several people approaching. He did not want to be disturbed when doing his thing, so he packed up all five of the artifacts, sending them to his inventory, and calmly adjusted his clothes.

Soon, the dozens of footsteps grew louder and louder until they sounded only a few meters away, and they came to a gradual stop.

"Greetings, young man. I am Zhou Qin, the head elder of this family. This guest, may I ask what you are doing here? I heard you have my family patriarch's stamp."

Slowly, Xuan turned around to face the old man who'd said this, standing near their front, and narrowed his eyes.

"Patriarch Zhou sent me here to retrieve something for him—it is an urgent matter."

"What? What happened? Boy, can you tell us in detail?" Another elder asked; this one seemed to be somewhat younger.

Xuan knit his eyebrows, bringing his fingers up to his forehead and rubbing it in worry.

"Ah… about that. The patriarch didn't want me to say anything, which was why I told the guards what I told them, but… since all the elders are here and no one is an outsider, I suppose it is alright."

"What? Hurry up and spit it out, boy! What happened?!"

"Manners, Elder Po," Zhou Qin scolded, before turning back to Xuan. "Please, guest, do tell. We are very worried about him, especially with what happened to Zhou Hai, the poor boy…"

"Well…" Xuan scratched his head slightly, as if still hesitant. "I'm afraid Patriarch Zhou… has been captured."

At this, the elders' eyes all widened.

"Impossible! Captured? Who dares to capture my family's patriarch in this province?!"

"That's right! We will hunt them down!"

"With Stealing Heart Sect's backing, no one in Sky Province can think about laying a finger on our patriarch!"

"Er… actually, it was Stealing Heart Sect who captured him," Xuan replied quietly, still expertly continuing his act. "I'm not sure what the exact reason was, but apparently, something happened at the hunting party last night that made them unhappy."

"…"

The elders listened, slack-jawed, and were left at a loss for what to do for a moment.

"A-And? What do they want? If it is the Saint-Grade treasure, Azure Dragon Bone, we absolutely cannot give it away, even if the patriarch is in danger!" One of them suddenly asked, snapping back to reality. "And besides, why did the patriarch send you, of all people? Weren't you the one who the young master was chasing down before he… passed?"

"Ah, well, I do have some past grievances with your family, but that was with your son in particular. I do not hate the entire Zhou family or anything like that. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, so Patriarch Zhou asked me to retrieve and deliver the ransom that Stealing Heart Sect wanted in return for his freedom. After all, informing his own family of this matter is somewhat… shameful. And do not worry, I did not touch the bone in there. I figured it did not look very expensive, so naturally I cannot use it for ransom."

"This…" The elders were dubious, but for some reason, all of them glanced at one person in particular—an elderly woman amongst their group. Softly, she nodded her head, and Xuan chuckled in his mind.

'Oho… trying to lie detect me? Come back when your Soul Strength is not a mere fraction of mine.'

But just at that moment, the heavens suddenly ripped open, and a familiar hologram appeared in the skies.

<Congratulations! Player Zero has become the first player to acquire a Saint-Grade treasure!>

<Current Bounty: 800,000 Credits>

'… Oi, oi, oi. Why now, of all times? Senior Pan Gu and Senior Supercomputer, is this another test of yours?'

<The Collector - Acquire a Saint-Grade treasure.>

<Obtained 10,000 Credits for being the first player to accomplish this achievement.>

Despite these unnerving thoughts, Xuan kept a cool facade and quickly dismissed the notifications, just before the eyes of elders slowly peeled away from the heavens and converged back on him once more. He gulped, ready to bolt the instant he deemed it necessary.

"… This friend. I am certain this is just a coincidence, but just to be sure, please allow us to check your Space Ring," Zhou Qin said firmly. "After all, if you really took the Azure Dragon Bone as well, then I'm afraid our family would be left without anything."

"Ahh… of course."

With a relaxed smile, Xuan slowly took out a Space Ring from his pocket, undid the seal on it, and handed it to the elders for inspection. Zhou Qin took it in his hands and opened it, revealing a not-so-wide-arrangement of items.

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"These are… a few thousand Spirit Crystals, the Trailblazer, the Head of Offense, the Scarlet Passion Sword, and the Eye of the Prophet… as well as a few normal Qi and Health Restoration pills," he muttered, before looking at the elders and shaking his head.

Xuan smiled. "Can I have that back please, now? After all, the patriarch's time is dwindling as we speak."

"… We understand. Then, we must trouble you to bring the items over to the Stealing Heart Sect," the head elder, Zhou Qin, said with a bow as he handed the ring back to Xuan. "You have our gratitude, young guest."

At this, Xuan hid a smirk in his heart, and continued to play with fire just to see how far he could go. "You don't want to go instead? To be honest, I am somewhat anxious about meeting those people from Stealing Heart Sect again…"

"Ahaha, no, no… if we were to show up, the patriarch will find out you told us, won't he? We wouldn't want you to get in trouble with him, haha…"

The elders all laughed dryly, and Xuan snickered under his breath.

'They're all scared of Stealing Heart Sect, huh? Even willing to hand over their own patriarch's life to a stranger's hands…'

"I understand," he said out loud, before turning around. "Then, I will be off."

"Yes. We await your news, young friend!"

​ Back turned to the group of old fools, Xuan smirked.

'Yeah… the news of Zhou Hai's death, that is.'

*****

Shortly after, Xuan arrived back at the alchemist guild, just in time before the last alchemist left and locked the doors. By now, the sun was setting, and the sky was getting dark. The huntress had sent Xuan a DM earlier saying that she was meeting with Elder Shuang to learn more about cultivation, and all the alchemists working here had gone home. Both Zhi Ruo and Grandmaster Dun weren't there either—presumably at Grandmaster Zong's funeral.

Speaking of which, Xuan should probably go attend it, but… on second thought, he didn't deem it a very high-priority task on his to-do list. He'd shared a nice conversation with the old man before he died—that was good enough. And so, instead, Xuan chose to take advantage of the alone time he had right now, and head up to his room before letting out a sigh.

"Thank god for the System's inventory item management features…"

When facing the elders earlier, Xuan had secretly made some blind operations behind his back using his Inventory, transferring items between two Space Rings. The ring he presented to the elders, was, of course, Zhou He's other one, and not his own. Thanks to his years of experience and proficiency using the System, he was able to pull something like this off, but still—it had been a gamble.

And now, it was time to claim the rewards.

After transferring all the items back to where they should be, Xuan took out the Azure Dragon Bone he'd obtained earlier, and clicked on <Use> through his inventory. Immediately, he felt the object in his hands become lighter, and float into the air. Using his Qi to control it, Xuan closed his eyes and let nature take its course.

His body was naturally attracted to the Dragon Bone, and vice versa. As such, without much effort at all, the bone dissolved into raw energy, and flowed into Xuan's body. In just a few minutes, the refinement process was complete, and Xuan re-opened his eyes to find a notification staring back at him.

<Divine Dragon Body — Rank Up!>

<Lv. 1 -> Lv. 2.>

<New Ability Unlocked: Dragon Sense — Sense nearby Dragon body parts to further advance the Divine Dragon Body.>

<Unlocked: Blood, Bone | Locked: Heart, Talon, Eye>

"Oh… I see…"

Dawning in realization, Xuan rubbed his chin and nodded in understanding. Basically, to progress through the Divine Dragon Body, he needed to find more genuine Dragon body parts. He already obtained Blood when he consumed the Qi around the Divine Dragon Egg not long ago, and now he had Bone as well. He was just missing Heart, Talon, and Eye—each one would help him advance one level, which would mean the max was… Level 5.

Xuan wondered what kind of abilities he would be able to unlock down the line… but just as he was thinking about this, he remembered the new ability his Divine Asura Eye was capable of using, now that it had become a Heaven-Grade artifact.

"Okay… let's test it out."

Activating his Divine Asura Eye on the notification panel, the words began to scramble, and after a few seconds, several new lines of information were displayed:

<Divine Dragon Body Lv. 3 — Dragon Might — Command any Beasts below the Ninth-Order using your authority as a Dragon.>

<Divine Dragon Body Lv. 4 — Draconic Transformation — Partially or fully transform your body into a dragon, though maintaining an overall human shape.>

<Divine Dragon Body Lv. 5 — True Dragon — Acquire a true Dragon form that can be summoned at will.>

"Oho…" Xuan smiled, rubbing his chin in thought before closing up his System for good. "Not bad, not bad at all. Dragon Might in particular will be quite helpful…"

Then, he turned his gaze to the other four artifacts he'd robbed from the Zhou family treasury, laid out on a desk. A sword, a spear, a mysterious nameless book, and a Saturn-esque amethyst orb surrounded by an ornate purple frame. After using his Divine Asura Eye to check each each of them individually, Xuan was left slightly disappointed.

<The Trailblazer — Artifact (Origin-Grade) — With each swipe, cut, and stab, the Trailblazer leaves behind a trail of napalm-hot flames in its wake. Best suited for cultivators who practice the affinity of fire.>

<Head of Offense — Artifact (Origin-Grade) — When used to thrust, Head of Offense utilizes a powerful gust of wind to knock targets back. These gusts also gnaw away at armor, shields, and skin. Best used as a tool to lead a charge with by destroying defenses with a follow-up stab.>

<Book "Nameless" — Technique (Soul) — A book containing the secret technique of the Zhou family. It is not meant to be cultivated due to its nature, but Zhou Hai ignored the rules…>

<Eye of the Prophet — Artifact (Origin-Grade) — An artifact left behind by one of the Ten True Gods, The Prophet. Grants the user the power to randomly receive visions of future events, but at the cost of being unable to cultivate and grow stronger again for the rest of their life.>

Out of all of these, the only one who interested Xuan in the slightest was the 'Nameless' technique. The rest were either incompatible with Xuan, or he already had a better weapon of that archetype. The Eye of the Prophet was cool and all, but the cost was far too large. In the end, he settled to simply keep the three items for selling in the future, and instead focus on the book titled 'Nameless'.

The reason that the System designated it as much was simple: the book's front cover page had a blank title. There were no words where the title header should've been, and after flipping through all the pages, Xuan was confused to find each and every one empty as well.

'What is this…?'

So much for the 'secret technique' of the Zhou family. Was this supposed to be a joke?

'No… there has to be something hidden here. After all, the System does not lie… it classified this as an Origin-Grade item, so it has to be worth that much. The only question is… how do I trigger it?'

After pondering for a while, Xuan once again looked at the item's description.

'… It is not meant to be cultivated due to its nature, but Zhou Hai ignored the… ah. I see.'

Now that he thought about it this way, it all made sense.

Taking out his Scarlet Passion Sword—his new weapon—Xuan made a small cut on his finger, letting a single drop of golden blood fall onto the book's pages.

The effect was immediate.

Like magic, golden words appeared from what was once blank space, and the title listed on the front cover page now wrote 'Blood Art: Vampire Transformation'.

'So this is how he first came into contact with blood techniques…' Xuan mused, thoroughly intrigued. 'Well… now that I have my hands on this, why not study it?'

With a devilish smile on his face, Xuan turned the pages of the book, and began his comprehension.