Chapter 4568 — Pouring Out His Troubles

Though the Ghost Thing and Wei Zhao were communicating through spiritual sense, they had not deliberately shielded the fluctuations of that sense, so it was hardly surprising that the Five-Bane Dragon had picked them up. After all, the creature had encountered the Ghost Thing back in the mortal world, and that spiritual sense had left a deep impression on it.

When it had first met the Ghost Thing in the mortal world, it had trembled with such terror that it moved as though treading on thin ice. But now it was an existence of the Earth-Opening stage; sensing the Ghost Thing's presence startled it somewhat, yet it no longer held the same reverence as before. Its present station was no trifling matter—no existence, however fearsome or mighty, could do more now than make it wary. It would never again feel overawed.

"Not bad. Two years apart, and you've grown considerably," the Ghost Thing said with a cackling laugh. Even as he spoke, he suddenly appeared beside Wei Zhao—still, of course, in the form of a black mist.

They had crossed paths in the mortal world before, and to the Ghost Thing the Five-Bane Dragon counted as a fellow of the dragon clan. Now that the other had plainly shown no hostile intent, there was no harm in revealing himself. After all, though spirit beasts like the Five-Bane Dragon were highly intelligent, their natures remained simple and honest—one was one and two was two. They did not hoard malice in their hearts the way human cultivators did.

"Eh?" The Five-Bane Dragon stared blankly at the black mist before it and could not help exclaiming in surprise, "You... you're actually in primordial-spirit form... and you even carry the aura of our dragon clan..."

It was true they had dealt with one another back in the mortal world, but the Ghost Thing had never revealed himself so directly then. It had only felt the overwhelming pressure of the other's presence and had no idea at all that the Ghost Thing was merely a damaged primordial spirit.

"I was born of the dragon clan to begin with. Speaking of which—how is it that the aura on you feels different from before? Why does it seem to carry the breath of a flood dragon? And how did your strength rise so suddenly?" The Ghost Thing was equally puzzled.

At a distance he had not felt it, but now they were close as could be. He could distinctly sense that faint alteration within the other's aura. Though he had never seen a flood dragon, all dragon clans were one flesh, and he knew at once that this slight strangeness was in truth flood-dragon breath.

"That's a long story..." The Five-Bane Dragon hesitated at first over whether to divulge the details, but after a moment's pondering it said, "Never mind. There's nothing else to do anyway, and you two both came up from the mortal world, so you probably don't understand how things work here. I'll tell you about it—call it pouring out my troubles."

"Pouring out your troubles?" Wei Zhao's expression turned somewhat strange at these words. The Five-Bane Dragon was a ferocious, terrifying top-tier spirit beast, and moreover an exalted existence of the Earth-Opening stage—and now it was saying it wanted to pour out its troubles to him and the Ghost Thing. However one looked at it, this was bizarre in the extreme.

"This Five-Bane Swamp was in fact originally the territory of a flood dragon. Its name was the Five-Bane Flood Dragon," the Five-Bane Dragon said slowly.

"What? There really is a flood dragon?" the Ghost Thing exclaimed in surprise. He had expended great effort investigating this place before, yet had found not the slightest suspicious trace. Especially after seeing the flood-dragon-shaped five-element killing qi, he had been all the more convinced that those earlier sightings were simply the five-element killing qi misidentified—never imagining that the matter was actually true.

"Of course it's true. When I first came up from the mortal world, I was transported straight into this Five-Bane Swamp. At first I too thought there were no spirit beasts here—never expected that a powerful kinsman, the Five-Bane Flood Dragon, made its lair in this place," said the Five-Bane Dragon.

"You were transported here right from the start? Are all spirit beasts sent to this place, then? Wouldn't that be terribly dangerous?" Wei Zhao asked in wonder. Apart from special cases like himself and the Five-Bane Dragon, this place ought to be certain death for any other spirit beast. Any single wisp of five-element killing qi could easily take their lives, to say nothing of the fact that the five-element killing qi gathered here was beyond counting. No existence, however powerful, could withstand that.

"Not so. It must have been its attributes that brought it to this place—unless one possessed all five elements at once, one would not be transported here," the Ghost Thing explained.

"That seems to be so. In any case, after I was transported over, I was the only one. Caught completely off guard, I fell all the way down from the Five-Bane Swamp to this place below. But even though my strength was pitifully low then, I suffered no harm." The Five-Bane Dragon glanced at the Ghost Thing, somewhat astonished that this creature should know so much, but asked no further questions and went on: "After I came down, I met the Five-Bane Flood Dragon here. Seeing that I was of its own clan, it not only did me no harm but took me as a disciple and brought me along in its cultivation."

"So you really were lucky!" Wei Zhao could not help sighing at this.

According to what the Ghost Thing had said before, even among dragons there was no guarantee of such friendliness. If their strength was roughly equal, perhaps they could keep to their own waters; but where the disparity was vast, the weak would very likely become food for the strong. The law of the jungle was an eternal and unchanging truth. That this Five-Bane Flood Dragon should regard the Five-Bane Dragon with special favor was, one had to admit, an immense stroke of fortune for the latter.

"It wasn't only good luck. I think I can roughly guess what the Five-Bane Flood Dragon had in mind," the Ghost Thing said with a laugh, conjecturing, "Our dragon clan is few in number to begin with. Even if we are not exactly friendly with one another, by and large we are not as utterly unbridled in slaughtering each other as other spirit-beast races are. What's more, throughout the world, dragons capable of safely entering this Five-Bane Swamp can be counted on one hand—apart from the Five-Bane Flood Dragon itself, there might well be only the Five-Bane Dragon. So it must have been delighted at the find. If it did not take the Five-Bane Dragon as a disciple, it might well never have a disciple in its whole life."

"Exactly. My master said the same thing back then. Besides, it had cultivated alone here for who knows how many years, and having me at last to talk with and keep it company, it would never kill me, haha!" As it spoke, the Five-Bane Dragon glanced at the Ghost Thing again in astonishment. Why did this creature seem to know everything? Just what kind of being was it?

"And what happened after that? Oh, yes—why haven't we seen your master here? Has it gone out on some business?" Wei Zhao asked on. He had in fact been in this place for no short while, yet had seen neither the Five-Bane Flood Dragon nor the Five-Bane Dragon before. He could only conclude that the space below was truly vast; had he not ridden his spirit bird about in exploration, he would still think it utterly empty.

"My master, it..." The Five-Bane Dragon fell silent for a moment, then said slowly, "is already dead..." (To be continued..)