Chapter 48: Dragon’s Soul (2/2)
Suddenly, the voice resonated out again and Qin Mu looked towards the source of it. Other than this mysterious ice block, Qin Mu saw another mysterious ice block in the hall. This mysterious ice block was hidden behind the ice block that had sealed the young dragon, both blocks being linked together.
In this ice block, a white eyebrow elder in purple clothes was sealed inside. The clothing on the elder should be an official robe which was a twilight robe that was embroidered with nine ornaments. On the waist hanged gold and jade pendants as well as a sword. On his head was a nine tasseled imperial crown while he had a plucking pose.
With a black banner in one hand, his other hand was deep into the other block of mysterious ice and grabbing onto a green egg sized bead.
He didn’t know what was the green bead but the green bead had a small green dragon coiled inside.
”Was it this bead that had frozen the old man?”
Qin Mu blinked his eyes and walked forward to closely inspect the elder frozen in the ice, and then found the oddity. As his body moved, the eyes of the elder in the ice were actually moving as well!
”The voice really was his!”
Qin Mu was slightly frightened and turned his head to look at the dry corpses on the ground, instantly thinking of a possibility.
The elder in the ice should be the first person who had found Surging River Dragon Palace. When he found this bead in the ice and wanted to take away the bead, he was frozen in place.
To be able to survive in the ice for such a long time and not die was probably due to the black banner in his hand which had killed the practitioners that had entered the dragon palace after him and absorbed the essence and blood of them, therefore the practitioners had turned into dry corpses after their deaths!
Being sealed in the ice block until now, the amount of cultivation the elder could use shouldn’t be much. In addition, by bringing the khakkhara monk staff into the dragon palace, Qin Mu was able to survive from the peculiar powers of the black banner and escaped unharmed under the protection of the staff.
”So it was the khakkhara of the old monk from Great Thunderclap Monastery. No wonder you were able to defend against the fog’s peculiar power.”
The elder in the ice was unable to open his mouth but he was able to project his voice out by his throat vibration, ”You aren’t a monk of Great Thunderclap Monastery so why do you have the old monk’s staff?”
Qin Mu honestly answered him, ”Junior here had defeated his disciple and won it.”
”Won it?”
The elder gave a laugh from his throat, ”How would the old monk not be a sore loser? How old are you?”
Qin Mu replied, ”I would be twelve this autumn.”
The purple clothed elder praised, ”Twelve years old and you defeated the disciple of that old monk, truly outstanding.”
Qin Mu blinked his eyes innocently and asked, ”Why is senior trapped here inside the ice?”
The elder chuckled and said, ”There’s naturally a story behind this and it goes all the back to the beginning when… hey, don’t leave! Come back!”
Qin Mu stopped and said as if he was in a dilemma, ”Senior, I’m in a rush to go home and have no time for stories.”
The elder coughed and continued, ”Long story short, I had brought my various disciples to travel the Great Ruins and had stumbled upon this place by accident. Seeing the numerous dry corpses here, I knew it was this dragon bead causing mischief and having killed everyone that had entered here by absorbing their essence and blood, turning them into dry corpses. The reason for the bead doing this was to extend the lifespan of this young dragon! As a cultivator, I shall not condone this kind of behavior and was prepared to restrain this dragon bead in order to stop it from harming more people. However, I help made a mistake by not expecting this dragon bead to be the dragon bead of the dragon god, thus getting sealed here in the ice! None of my disciples were spared. Their essence and blood got absorbed by this dragon bead to extend the life of the young dragon!”
Hu Ling’er who was hiding in Qin Mu’s chest and peeked her head out, whispering, ”Do you believe his story, young master?”
Qin Mu hesitated. His guess was the direct opposite of what the elder had said. The elder’s story was that the mother dragon had used the dragon bead to harm people by absorbing their essence and blood to save her child by extending its life. Furthermore, the elder was the righteous one which got schemed by the dragon bead.
Whereas Qin Mu’s guess was that the elder was sealed by the ice and to extend his own life, he had used evil arts to absorb the essence and blood of the practitioners here.
Qin Mu couldn’t deny that both his guess and the elder’s story could be true, but which was the true scenario?
Qin Mu looked around and saw the fog swarming towards him again and he immediately slammed the khakkhara monk staff on the ground!
”So I have heard!”
The image of Buddha appeared behind him again as his Sanskrit voice resonated out, ”Since time without beginning, all beings have been undergoing death and rebirth over and over simply because they have not been aware of the pure understanding which is the essential nature of the everlasting true mind. Instead, the workings of their minds are distorted, and because the workings of their minds are distorted, they are bound to the cycle—, cycle—, cycle—, cycle—”
”The Buddhism of Great Thunderclap Monastery sure is skillful.” The elder in the ice admired.
”How may I address senior?” Qin Mu dispelled the fog and asked.
The elder in the ice replied, ”My name is Gu Linuan, tutor to the crown prince of Eternal Peace Empire and a lower first ranking official. If you can rescue me out of here, I can promise you endless wealth when we are back to Eternal Peace Empire!”