The Quest for Immortality

In the Dragon King Temple, Mo Hua led the way.

But the team’s atmosphere was somewhat strange.

Gu Changhuai and Xia Canonical Official were on his left and right, guarding Mo Hua while also wary of Master Xiao.

Master Xiao still wore a fake smile, but now revealed his true colors, with only a superficial grin remaining.

Meanwhile, the others’ attitude towards Master Xiao was quite subtle.

Water Yama was clearly in cahoots with Master Xiao; the two had some interactions, whether openly or secretly.

Previously, when the water bandits were hunted on the island, Water Yama managed to escape from Gu Changhuai and Xia Canonical Official’s hands because Master Xiao saved him.

Thus, Water Yama was obedient to Master Xiao’s orders.

Yet, at the same time, he seemed to fear Master Xiao, exhibiting an unexplainable dread.

This was very rare for the murderous Water Yama.

Xie Liu also vaguely knew Master Xiao’s identity.

Among the few Golden Core cultivators in the Dragon King Temple, he had the lowest status, the weakest strength, and the smallest voice, so he could only follow behind, barely considered part of Master Xiao’s ”alliance”.

The strangest was Xiao Tianquan.

Xiao Tianquan and Master Xiao were both cultivators from the Xiao family, supposedly part of the same alliance.

But after Master Xiao’s betrayal, Xiao Tianquan kept silent, even deliberately maintaining a distance from Master Xiao, aligning himself with Xia Canonical Official.

”The Xiao family’s situation seems quite complex...” Mo Hua thought silently to himself.

As for Ouyang Feng and Hua Qianqian, they were now considered ”held hostage”.

Although on the surface, Master Xiao no longer troubled them.

Mo Hua knew that should anything change, Senior Brother Feng and Senior Sister Qianqian would still be used as ”bargaining chips”.

He had no good solutions for now, only able to act according to the situation.

Mo Hua’s eyes flashed slightly.

Thus, the hunt continued, and the group walked cautiously within the Dragon King Temple.

Mo Hua led the way, tracing the bloodthirsty monster’s trail, occasionally consulting Water Yama about the temple’s layout to confirm the route.

Among this group, only Mo Hua was a Monster Hunter.

The Taoist Court official, although adept at chasing, pursued humans.

An outlaw cultivator like Water Yama, though familiar with pursuit, was generally the one being hunted.

Only Mo Hua truly hailed from the Monster Hunter lineage.

Therefore, regarding the habits, behavior, and subtle aura of monster beasts, no one present was more skilled than him.

Of course, this monster might not be a monster beast, but the principles remained the same.

Mo Hua then glanced upward to the beams, extending his divine sense to follow the monster’s traces through clues.

But the Dragon King Temple was vast, the halls towering, the rooms many, with the surroundings oppressive and filled with a bloody aura; as the pursuit went on, the monster’s trail vanished.

Mo Hua could only guess and calculate, finding his way bit by bit... when suddenly, he stopped, his expression subtly changing.

Everyone else stopped as well.

Gu Changhuai asked, ”What’s wrong?”

Mo Hua replied, ”There’s something...”

Then he thought for a moment, and with a light flip, he gracefully turned onto the beam.

The beams were made from giant logs, extremely wide, and near the wall was a mess, with a large hole dug by some unknown entity.

The hole was large, but its entrance was shallow, revealing its bottom at a glance.

It seemed something had once resided here.

Mo Hua guessed it was highly possible that the monster used this as a temporary lair.

He walked a few steps closer, suddenly noticing a hint of blood in the lair.

The blood was cyan, its scent very faint, lacking the foulness of human or monster blood, instead carrying a light fragrance.

Fragrance?

Mo Hua frowned.

As he observed, he suddenly could not resist dipping his finger in the blood and tasted it.

In that instant, dragon roars sounded in his ears.

Mo Hua’s pupils trembled.

”Dragon...”

Though he had never seen a True Dragon nor heard its voice, at this moment he felt certain that the sound stirred his spirit, a clear resonance echoing like a Goldstone, undeniably, the sound of a dragon’s roar.

Dragon blood?

Mo Hua’s expression showed shock, unable to prevent himself from smacking his lips.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t discern the taste.

The blood was extremely faint, the residue nearly dried up, just the slightest aura remained, which Mo Hua tasted lightly, without picking up on any flavor.

Mo Hua’s expression showed regret, but soon his heart skipped a beat.

”The Dragon King Temple... could the monster be related to ’dragon’?”

Its scales, could they be... Dragon Scales?

Because they were dragon scales, swords and spells couldn’t penetrate, more robust than any metal he’s seen.

And the blood coursing through it... Dragon Blood?

”No, that’s not right...”

Mo Hua shook his head again.

A dragon is a Divine Beast, and wouldn’t exhibit such bloodthirsty tendencies.

Moreover, though the monster was strong, it was clearly nowhere close to the ”dragon” in legends.

It even consumed humans and drank human blood, surely its blood was polluted; thus, what flows in its veins couldn’t be dragon blood.

”It’s likely dragon blood is just a trigger.”

”The monster consumed dragon blood, refining it within, thus growing such hardened ’dragon scales’, possessing such deep blood qi and a robust physique...”

Mo Hua nodded slightly, finding this hypothesis fairly reasonable, while his eyes brightened.

Now it seemed the monster’s secrets were far more numerous than he imagined.

No matter what, the monster must be captured and carefully examined.

Of course, with his own capabilities, he surely couldn’t catch the monster.