Chapter 443: Tie It Up First
“This sound, could it be…”
This dark jade dragon was that old dragon, Senior Mo, who made his escape from the underground cave beneath Jade Dragon City. He only knew Transformation, which allowed him to take on a smaller size, but not a human form, since that required mastery over Transfiguration.
He had undergone many trials on his journey here to Maple City in search of Lin Jin.
Thankfully, he managed to reach here in one piece.
However, when he arrived at Maple City, Senior Mo felt a lingering sense of hesitance. He was here to seek refuge with Lin Jin because he was nearing the end of his life. Having lived for several hundred years now, he didn’t know many spells, not even Transfiguration. For that, he considered himself a failure, but Senior Mo was young at heart. He still wanted to play around.
He knew that he didn’t have much talent and flying by the seat of his pants clearly didn’t work anymore. One more attempt and it just might be his last.
That was the primary reason why Senior Mo came over so shamelessly. However, now that he had left the Jade Dragon Lair, he started to worry about his upcoming meeting with Lin Jin, whom he feared would reject his request.
If the man rejected him, what should the old dragon do?
With such thoughts in mind, Senior Mo had remained in hiding in Maple City for several days now. He had only emerged after hearing this dragon cry and it was a voice that he was so familiar with.
Senior Mo immediately darted out of his hiding place and rushed toward the Beast Appraisal Association, toward the direction of the ruckus.
Lin Jin was unaware of the uproar this dragon’s cry had caused. He quickly steadied himself. This Rank 5 ice jade demon was no easy foe, but no matter how strong it was, it couldn’t escape the immortal binding rope.
“Go!” Moving swiftly, Lin Jin tossed out the immortal binding rope and invoked a spell.
In an instant, the rope glowed with a golden light as it darted forward with lightning speed. As if it was able to sense an impending threat, the ice jade dragon immediately flew up in an attempt to dodge it.
But how could it ever escape?
This item was a magic treasure.
Magic treasures could only be crafted by immortals. Although no immortals were left in this world, their magic treasures remained. Even if Lin Jin’s mana wasn’t sufficient to draw out even ten percent of the treasure’s potential, to bind the ice jade dragon wasn’t too much of an issue.
The immortal binding rope immediately wrapped around the body of the ice jade dragon, and after about eight loops, it tightened its hold.
The ice jade dragon began struggling madly in an attempt to break free from the rope. Lin Jin smiled confidently, knowing that it was an exercise in futility. Speaking of which, all Lin Jin could do was just bind his target. Unlike Insect Taoist, he couldn’t suppress the target’s strength with the rope yet.
According to White Ape’s report, he was still in his giant ape form when he was caught by the rope, and it was able to suppress his monster energy and turn him into a tiny little monkey.
Insect Taoist could probably achieve this because he had been using the immortal binding rope for a very long time. As it had merely been days since Lin Jin obtained the rope, to be able to bind targets at will was already impressive enough.
The ice jade dragon was still struggling but it made no progress.
In Lin Jin’s plan, binding the ice jade dragon was step one, and step two was the critical step. He would use the Demon Slayer to slay the demonic nature of the ice jade dragon.
The Museum of Deadly Beast’s Demon Slayer Hall had recorded only two golems thus far. One came from Du Li’s obsession, and the other came from the tiger monster, Hu Yuzhen, of Mount Cangliang.
Because Lin Jin slew their demons, he gained the golems.
This ice jade dragon was the same. It was on a rampage precisely due to its obsession and agony caused by its demonic nature. Once slain, this ice jade dragon would regain mental clarity once more.
If it insisted on fighting still, Lin Jin didn’t mind killing it once and for all.
Being struck by his Thunderfire Needle meant certain death, even for Rank 5 beasts if the attack was critical.
Lin Jin brought out the somewhat surreal Demon Slayer sword from the Demon Slayer Hall.
This sword didn’t actually exist and was only a Sword Intent. Lin Jin could use the method from the Divine Blade Scroll to exercise it.
Using his fingers as a blade, Lin Jin channeled the Sword Intent before swiping down.
“Slay!”
An invisible blade slashed into his enemy. To Zhao Jingyan and Elder Mo, Lin Jin was just waving his finger around; they couldn’t see anything. The ice jade dragon, on the other hand, saw a razor-sharp blade imbued with a forceful aura coming down mercilessly onto itself.
It wanted to escape but couldn’t.
In an instant, the blade sliced through it from the tip of its snout to its toe.
A bundle of dark energy was forced out of the ice jade dragon’s body by the Demon Slayer. Once this demonic energy left its host, it let out a harrowing screech like that of a ghost’s wail. Even Zhao Jingyan and Elder Mo heard it.
Lin Jin could tell how overbearing this demonic energy was. For some reason, the depth of its obsession was so profound it even exceeded Hu Yuzhen and Du Li’s demonic nature.
Leaving Hu Yuzhen aside, one had to keep in mind the fact that Du Li was an immortal. Could this ice jade dragon’s demonic nature be stronger than an immortal’s?
It seemed impossible.
It wasn’t long before Lin Jin understood the reason for this. It was exactly because Du Li was an immortal that even after demonification, he was able to suppress this undesirable nature. Hence, the first time Lin Jin met him, Du Li seemed like a normal person. As Du Li’s cultivation level was exceptionally high, even after demonification, he was able to retain a somewhat clear state of mind.
However, there was nothing to control the demonic nature of the ice jade dragon.
Still, it didn’t matter how overpowering it was.
After being swept out by the Demon Slayer, Lin Jin only needed to spend a little more energy to absorb it into the sword.
During this process, dark shadows kept darting around in the cave, letting out strange cries. When all demonic energy has been absorbed into the blade, these formless shadows disappeared.
As if all energy had been drained from its body, the ice jade dragon immediately fell limp and its violent thrashing finally stopped.
Or rather, it was no longer influenced by the demonic energy, and it was aware that further struggles were futile. Lin Jin wasn’t making wild assumptions but could actually tell from the ice jade dragon’s eyes.
Once, its eyes contained madness, fury, and bloodlust. Now, it looked calm, composed, and it seemed to possess the desire to communicate.
Lin Jin was really able to tell that much from its eyes.
Just then, Lin Jin sensed something and he turned to the entrance behind him. He first noticed Shang’er standing there, but there was something else. A dark jade dragon with four limbs.
Shang’er held onto the dark jade dragon by its neck, just as one would hold up a large lizard.
Lin Jin found the dark jade dragon to be oddly familiar.
No doubt, it was Senior Mo. Sensing an opportunity, Senior Mo broke the awkward silence, “Appraiser Lin, it’s me, Old Mo. The one from Jade Dragon Lair, do you still remember…”
Before he could finish, Shang’er strengthened her grip until Senior Mo could speak no more.
However, his words rang a bell in Lin Jin’s mind. He was immediately taken back to the time when he helped He Yu choose her dragon back in the royal capital.
“Senior Mo? What are you doing here?” Lin Jin was surprised to find him here of all places.
Seeing how Senior Mo was unable to speak, Lin Jin signaled Shang’er to loosen her grip.
Shang’er, who followed Lin Jin’s orders to a T immediately let go of the dragon as instructed.