Chapter 40: The Deep Sea Dragon Whale
"Blue-banded Coral Serpent!" The second-rank demon serpent flashed through Lu Sheng’s mind, and he held not the slightest hope that it could keep any secrets for him.
In this world, beyond heart-controlling gu techniques that link minds, there also exist wondrous arts such as Spirit Communication and Beast Mastery—
They allow communication with other living creatures!
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Spirit Communication is a mystical art specially developed based on the innate talent of Spirit-bonded individuals to converse with other beings. Once mastered, it enables direct communication with other creatures. For those who are not Spirit-bonded, this art is extremely difficult to cultivate. But for Grandmasters, if they wish to learn, there is no mystical art beyond their reach—indeed, Spirit Communication is one of the essential disciplines for Grandmasters. Many Grandmasters have used Spirit Communication to converse with demon beasts!
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Beast Mastery, too, is a marvelous mystical art, created to command demon beasts. To employ it, the first step is to inscribe a beast-mastering sigil upon the demon beast. Then, a Martial Master or higher can inject their mystic energy into the sigil, allowing them to control the creature’s life and death. They can even use a trace of spirit contained in their energy to commune with the beast’s mind. This compels the controlled demon beasts to dare not conceal anything.
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Both Spirit Communication and Beast Mastery are mystical arts that, except for those with rare natural gifts, can only be learned by Martial Lords and above. Below that level, when communicating with demon beasts, most rely on Beast Speech.
Beast Speech encompasses many forms, created by those versed in Spirit Communication and those who control demon beasts with Beast Mastery, based on their experience conversing with demon beasts. These languages are extremely hard to learn, and their sounds are strange and exotic. But for Martial Masters and Grandmasters, who possess supreme control over their voices, producing sounds impossible for ordinary people poses no difficulty at all.
For example, Wan Gu Xiao, whom Lu Sheng slew, was a true master of vocal mimicry and Beast Speech. Because he possessed the Heart-controlling Gu and could link to the minds of other demon beasts, Wan Gu Xiao could easily sense the messages they sent, and his mastery of Beast Speech advanced at lightning speed. In fact, because he deliberately concealed his possession of the Heart-controlling Gu, many in the martial world suspected he was a Spirit-bonded individual, hence his rapid progress.
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"Spirit Communication, Beast Mastery, and Beast Speech—these are the means of conversing with demon beasts in this world."
"Fairy Mingyue became a Martial Master at seventeen, advanced to Martial Lord at thirty-five, and six years ago, when the Divine Ruins opened, she became a Grandmaster within!"
"Of these three techniques, it is impossible she is ignorant of all!"
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Thinking thus, Lu Sheng quickly gathered his belongings, left the underwater passage, and sought a hiding place in the ocean beyond, hoping to evade Fairy Mingyue’s possible pursuit. Yet, he knew well that if a Grandmaster wished to search for him, there would be nowhere he could truly hide.
Therefore, all he could do was hope that Fairy Mingyue had paid no heed to the Blue-banded Coral Serpent and would not question it for information. That was perhaps his only chance to keep the dragon's corpse safe.
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Fairy Mingyue indeed paid the Blue-banded Coral Serpent no mind, but Lu Sheng’s wish was not to come true—for someone else had already extracted information from the serpent.
"Sea Dragon Ginseng, Flood Dragon!"
"Aunt, this Blue-banded Coral Serpent says that within this mountain, a Sea Dragon Ginseng transformed into a dragon, and after its transformation, was slain. Four people are now fighting over the flood dragon’s corpse."
With the beast-mastering sigil Fairy Mingyue had placed on the serpent, Lei Xier easily took control of it. Inquiring about its former master, she gleaned this information. Even knowing the tremendous value of the flood dragon’s corpse, she still reported to Fairy Mingyue—for she knew that if her aunt gained, she herself would not be left empty-handed. But if the one who obtained the corpse escaped, she would get nothing at all.
"A flood dragon? A true flood dragon?" As expected, Fairy Mingyue was immediately captivated by Lei Xier’s words. She halted her dissection of the dragon-whale beast and pressed for details.
Though the dragon-whale she had slain possessed draconic blood, it was more whale than dragon. Even at the peak of the fourth rank, its value was far inferior to that of a newly ascended fourth-rank flood dragon. A flood dragon, even just transformed, was worth far more than any other demon beast.
Naturally, Fairy Mingyue was deeply tempted.
"Yes, and it was a Sea Dragon Ginseng that transformed!"
"Now, a youth named Lu Sheng has claimed it!" Lei Xier declared loudly. Since the Blue-banded Coral Serpent was under Beast Mastery, deception was impossible, and she had no doubt regarding the accuracy of the news.
Fairy Mingyue understood this as well, ceased her questioning, parted the waves, and dove toward the place where the chill had earlier erupted—she was determined to seize the flood dragon born from the Sea Dragon Ginseng!
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"Had I foreseen all this, I should have destroyed that Blue-banded Coral Serpent! Or used the Heart-controlling Gu to erase its memory!"
The Heart-controlling Gu, as its name suggests, is primarily used to control the minds of living beings, and after complete mastery, it can be used to erase memories. That serpent had long been under its total sway, and its memories could certainly have been wiped.
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"The Heart-controlling Gu exerts powerful control over the mind—"
"But if it cannot fully dominate the target’s spirit, it is of little use!"
"Otherwise, Wan Gu Xiao would not have let the Heart-controlling Gu depart him so easily!"
Previously, when Wan Gu Xiao realized the Heart-controlling Gu might not be effective on Lu Sheng, unwilling though he was, he had no choice but to withdraw it. The reason lay in the Gu’s extremely weak offensive power.
"Perhaps I can blend the Soul-reaping Gu’s sigil within—"
"That would grant it far greater lethality!"
This thought had come to Lu Sheng after he failed to find any Heart-controlling Gu cultivation methods among Wan Gu Xiao’s belongings: perhaps fusing other Gu from the Prime Gu Sect into the Heart-controlling Gu might enhance its abilities.
The transformation process of the Soul-reaping Gu had been fully recorded by Lu Sheng using his wishful artifact, so after expending some merit, fusing it into the Heart-controlling Gu posed no challenge.
"The Soul-reaping Gu can lock onto another’s essence, energy, and spirit, and does so in the most insidious manner!"
"And when the Heart-controlling Gu fails to completely subdue a mind, the Soul-reaping Gu can simply annihilate it—"
"That is the best way to keep secrets safe!"
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A sudden howl jolted Lu Sheng from his thoughts—the cry was nearly identical to the earlier strange beast’s! At the same time, the seawater around him began to swirl violently, and a powerful suction surged from ahead.
"Not good, another dragon-whale—it’s unleashing its Whalebite!"
Although the Blue-banded Coral Serpent had not glimpsed the full form of the beast that battled Fairy Mingyue, Lu Sheng, from its characteristics and the sound it made, had already identified the species.
Dragon-whales inhabit the deep sea and are a mutated whale breed. Unlike most whales, heavy and ponderous, the dragon-whale has a dragon’s slender, agile body. Some, upon reaching the fourth rank, can even awaken draconic gifts, enabling them to soar from the sea and break free of its bounds—the one that fought Fairy Mingyue earlier was such a dragon-whale. But those capable of flight are rare; most dragon-whales retain Whalebite as their innate gift.
Now, the rapidly surging currents and the cry he had just heard told Lu Sheng—
A dragon-whale had already begun its Whalebite, right beside him!
His situation had just become unimaginably perilous!