Chapter 235: An, The Betrayer
With the flesh and blood rotten, the chain off appears to be directly locked on the dragon’s shoulder blade without any gap. The Bright Sword knocks Lin’s hands numb, yet the chain is unscathed. Lin doesn’t want to wound her sword so she gives up the shoulder blade and breaks the skeleton by the joints. She puts the bones into her space — if her space hadn’t grown larger, she wouldn’t have enough space for these bones.
Even so, the bones pile up in her space like a hill higher than the tallest apple tree.
The fire phoenix and the silver fish have talked to Lin, so they no longer need to pretend to be indifferent. They sit on the swing under the apple tree and whisper to each other, pointing to the dragon’s bones.
Lin ignores them and gets out of the space.
The shoulder blade of the dragon is still strapped by the chains. However, the fire phoenix told Lin to get the entire skeleton. Lin doesn’t know what the fire phoenix needs the skeleton for, but she is sure that the phoenix will make up to her if she gives it what it wants.
“How can I get it off?” Looking at the shoulder blade thick as the arm of an adult, Lin thinks.
Rong Donglin doesn’t want to look at Lin right now. She has overturned her image today by being reluctant to lose the last piece of bone, which stresses him.
Rong’s leg is not completely healed and the bag filled with pearls on his back is so heavy. He stumbles to the pillar to rest.
“Miss Lin, how about you break the pillar and take the bone with the chain?”
Take the bone with the chain? Lin Luoran is tempted by the chain that can strap the dragon.
It must be the perfect material to make weapons! Lin tries to calm herself down. She takes a deep breath. Rong just made a really good proposal.
Why not take the chain?
Lin starts to check on the pillar. The stone looks normal and dragons in clouds are carved on it.
Nothing is strange. Lin hits the pillar with the Bright Sword. There is no sound. Nothing happens to the stone pillar nor the sword. It’s like that Lin just hit some cotton. No matter what she plans to do, it disappoints her.
How about digging into the ground? Since the giant dragon was able to dig deep holes on the ground, it should be easier than breaking the pillar. Lin Luoran starts to dig immediately. Soon, she realizes that she has underestimated the power of the dragon. Even being imprisoned and strapped by the chain, the dragon was much more powerful than Lin Luoran, a human cultivator in the level of Laying Foundation.
Lin digs for a long time and gets nothing but sweat.
She is going back to her space to ask for the advice of the fire phoenix. Meanwhile, she senses the presence of another person with her spiritual mind.
She knows that someone just fell into the pond and they are heading this way.
The person is in the middle stage of Training Qi. It’s An… Lin Luoran puts her sword away. When An is halfway here, three more people fall into the pond. They must be Xin Yuanping, Elly, and Li Anping!
Looking at the chains, Lin is wordless. Why can’t these people come later? They even scrambled to be imprisoned.
With the help of a magic figure, An walks fast. Soon, he arrives at the “prison”.
His clothes are dripping water. An is shivering because of the coldness. Seeing the light, he looks up surprisingly and sees Lin and Rong. He is glad,
“Master Lin, so good to see you here.” An’s teeth are chattering. He seems to be harmless, yet Lin Luoran is not happy to see him. She hasn’t put the chain into her space and An has already led Xin Yuanping here. There is nothing for Lin to be happy for.
“What happened to you?” Lin asks though she knows the answer to the question. An must have been chased by Xin and he had no choice but to come here. Perhaps An and Xin had found something they both wanted and they fought for it.
An sticks a magic figure on himself. The water all over his body starts to vaporize. Within a few seconds, his clothes are dried.
This is the first time Lin Luoran has ever envied the Qingcheng Taoist Temple. Though magic figures are not perfect for combat, they do well in situations which other powers are out of use.
An finally stops shivering. He says, “Master, this is such a weird place. I can’t use my Reiki… Shit, the demonized woman is here.”
Lin smiles. What if Xin Yuanping is here? She believes that this place won’t restrict the power of demonized cultivators. Before Lin says anything, An says frightenedly, “Master Lin, the demonized woman is prepared. She won’t let us go easily. We should hide!”
“Ha-ha, young Taoist. The Dragon Palace is not so large. Where can you hide?”
Xin Yuanping shows up at the gate, followed by Elly and Li Anping, soaked.
Different from An, Xin’s clothes are pretty dry. She must have thrown Elly and Li Anping down here first and stepped on them.
Xin looks at Lin Luoran and then at the chain on the ground. The shoulder blade is also on the ground. Xin says surprisingly, “You took the Dragon Bones!” And the Dragon Marrow, and the Dragon Orb as well… Xin stops smiling when she realizes that Lin has already taken all of those things.
An has suffered a lot because of Xin. He stares at her warily and steps back.
“Give me the Dragon Bones. We had the agreement. You said you only wanted the Soul Wood and I can have anything else.” Xin flicks her hair.
Lin Luoran’s expression has changed when she knows that Xin realizes that she has taken the Dragon Bones.
There is not a trace of Dragon Marrow on the ground. Xin realized that there was a skeleton of dragon based on the only piece of shoulder blade left on the ground. Lin gets anxious because Xin knows the Dragon Palace so well. Is there a chance that Xin knew that a dragon was trapped here and she came for the Dragon Bones?
What about An? What did he come for?
Standing still, Lin Luoran suddenly feels uncomfortable for letting An standing behind her—
“Look out!” Rong shouts. Lin moves aside immediately but her left foot is numb.
Lin looks down. There is a piece of figure paper stuck to her left foot. She can’t move.
“Master Lin, this is just the Petrifaction Figure. It won’t hurt you if you don’t move.” An explains anxiously like he was forced to do this to Lin. The worry on his face can’t make Lin forgive him.
Ha-ha, what a nice figure!
Lin feels betrayed though she is not so familiar with An.
Four years ago, Qingcheng Taoist Temple protected the Lin family thanks to Master Mu and Master Guo… An went well with Luodong and he loved to cook with Mrs. Lin. Lin Luoran remembers that An once sent a book to her and he asked shyly whether she was “Sister Lin”.
Time has passed so quickly. An now calls Lin “Master Lin” and he treats her with so much respect. Still, he stuck a “Petrifaction Figure” on her!
Humans are too unpredictable… She still remembers that three years ago, An was caught by Xin Yuanping. Lin joined the fight because of this. However, Huizhu pretended to be losing and he let Xin take Lin to the blood pool in the dungeon! Lin suffered too much there.
Fine. Lin has been set up by the people from Qingcheng Taoist School twice!
“I’m not your master, An. What had Xin Yuanping promised you to get you to do this to me?” Usually, Lin wouldn’t even want to talk to An in this situation. However, she must talk in order to buy some time for herself and Rong.
An certainly gets the despise in Lin’s words. He is stunned. He struggles for a few seconds and finally steels himself.
The shy and innocent expressions on his face are gone. He answers indifferently, “Dragon Marrow.”
Master Huizhu would be so satisfied if he were here to see An like this. An has become the qualified successor of the Qingcheng Taoist Temple. He has abandoned the last bit of kindness in his heart.
He walks to Xin Yuanping. An is from the famous school in the world of cultivation, and Xin is a demonized cultivator who uses humans to make elixirs. The scene in front of Lin’s eyes is just so sarcastic.
Xin is smiling. She says, “Lin Luoran, everybody says that you’re a good person. So what? This young Taoist didn’t even hesitate to stick the Petrifaction Figure on you. You decent cultivators are much more ruthless than us demonized cultivators… How about you join me on the demonized path!”
“Join you? I don’t like your dirty blood pool. The pool is only perfect for a filthy person like you!” Lin answers carelessly. In fact, the numbness on her left foot is spreading to her entire body.
“Master Lin, I just want a little bit of Dragon Marrow. I’ll disable the figure as soon as you give me some Dragon Marrow.” An says.
“A little bit?” Lin twitches her mouth and thinks, “Stop lying.”
Xin laughs and says, “Taoist, you’re so innocent. Do you think she’ll do nothing after you disable the figure?”
An is stunned. Will Lin forgive this?