Chapter 21: Misty Valley (Part 1)
To cultivate the "Dragon Blood Secret Codex," one must first awaken the Dragon Blood Warrior bloodline within the body. There are only two ways to do this: either the Dragon Blood Warrior bloodline within the body reaches the most basic threshold, or one must drink the blood of a living dragon to trigger it.
Drinking the blood of a living dragon is extremely dangerous.
Even pouring dragon blood over the body causes excruciating pain, let alone drinking it. However, every creature has its counterbalance in the world. The Blueheart Grass is the best plant to pair with living dragon blood. Yet Blueheart Grass is incredibly rare. Linley had inquired about its price before.
A single stalk of Blueheart Grass was worth tens of thousands of gold coins, and even then, it was rarely available on the market. Moreover, Delin Keowote had once said, "Living dragon blood is overwhelmingly potent. One stalk of Blueheart Grass is usually not enough. If you drink more dragon blood, you'll need even more Blueheart Grass."
If one stalk was already that expensive, could Linley afford it? The seventy thousand gold coins he had earned in over a month might only be enough to buy a single stalk of Blueheart Grass.
"Blueheart Grass, Blueheart Grass. Heaven truly favors me." Linley felt a surge of joy.
Linley pushed off the ground with force, leaping over ten meters to land on the opposite cliff. He immediately began chanting a magic incantation. In just a moment, his body was enveloped by wind-element energy, with currents of air swirling around him.
Fifth-level wind magic—Levitation.
Linley could only manage to make his body float, not fly. Levitation only allowed him to rise and fall straight up and down. Taking a step forward, Linley stood suspended in midair above the canyon, then began to slowly descend, gradually entering the Misty Valley. Bebe, envious, stood on Linley's shoulder and followed him down. Although Bebe was quite strong, he couldn't fly. He wasn't a flying-type magical beast, so the only way for him to fly on his own was to break through and become a Saint-level magical beast.
The Misty Valley was filled with swirling, rolling white mist. As he went deeper, Linley noticed the distance between the two cliff walls growing wider. By now, he had already flown next to the Blueheart Grass.
"Blueheart Grass has green leaves with a faint blue halo flowing around them. It feels cold to the touch. When you tear the leaves, a green liquid comes out, and it tastes refreshing when you put it in your mouth." Linley still remembered the most basic description of Blueheart Grass from the library of Ernst Institute.
Looking at this Blueheart Grass growing on the cliff wall, swaying gently in the breeze, Linley took a deep breath and carefully pulled it out.
"It really is cold." Linley grabbed the Blueheart Grass and felt it was as cold as ice. He immediately placed it into the pack on his back, then cautiously looked around. "I wonder if there are more Blueheart Grass!"
If one stalk could grow here, a second one could too.
Using Levitation, Linley carefully and slowly descended, straining his eyes to see below. The white mist churned and swirled, making everything blurry. Linley vaguely saw vines and creepers entangling the cliff wall.
"So big!"
The further down he flew, the more Linley realized how vast the bottom of this canyon was. At the top, the maximum distance between the two sides was only a few hundred meters. But now, Linley was certain the distance between the two cliff walls was at least several thousand meters, because he had been flying close to one side the whole time. By judging the angle of the cliff wall and the distance he had flown, he could deduce this.
"Roar~~~"
"Gah~~~"
Various low growls occasionally sounded from below, coming from different directions. Just from the sounds alone, Linley could tell there were at least a hundred magical beasts. His heart trembled. "Magical beasts. There are many magical beasts down there!" Linley easily judged this from the sounds alone.
Linley pressed himself close to the rock wall, grabbing onto the vines as he carefully and slowly descended.
"Boss, I sense danger down there," Bebe suddenly communicated with Linley through their soul link.
Linley felt his heart leap into his throat. The further down he went, the clearer the sounds of the beasts below became. Those low, powerful roars were definitely from large magical beasts. And generally, no large magical beast was weak. A powerful magical beast wasn't necessarily large, but a large one was definitely powerful.
"Blueheart Grass!"
Suddenly, Linley spotted a stalk of Blueheart Grass growing on the rock wall far below, surrounded by green vines and other plants. Linley wasn't a coward by nature. Seeing the Blueheart Grass, he grabbed onto the vines with both hands, controlling himself to float over.
However, at this moment, Linley didn't notice—
Among the green vines and plants around the Blueheart Grass, there was a giant green python, over twenty meters long and as thick as two men could encircle with their arms. The python's body was also wrapped in vines, and since it was green itself, Linley hadn't spotted this giant python in the hazy mist.
As he descended, Linley got closer and closer to the Blueheart Grass.
"Boss, be careful! It's a magical beast python!" Bebe suddenly sent an urgent soul message.
"Python?" Linley's heart shuddered.
Most snake-type magical beasts were extremely powerful. Even the weakest, the Triangular Poison Snake, was a sixth-level magical beast. Linley carefully observed the area ahead. At this point, he was less than a hundred meters from the giant green python. With a closer look, he finally spotted the massive serpent.
"Huff!" Linley sucked in a breath of cold air.
The python was a full twenty to thirty meters long, with a body as thick as a water vat. Linley's heart trembled. "Green Pattern Python, a seventh-level magical beast, the 'Green Pattern Python'." Information about the Green Pattern Python instantly surfaced in Linley's mind.
Linley now understood why this canyon was filled with so much white mist.
"Water Mist is only a first-level water magic. A seventh-level water magical beast like the 'Green Pattern Python' can create endless white water mist around it with its breath. For this canyon to have so much thick white mist, there must be more than one Green Pattern Python."
Linley deduced this in an instant.
The bottom of the canyon was dozens of miles wide and dozens of miles deep. For such a large canyon to be completely filled with white mist, one could imagine how many Green Pattern Pythons there were. The python hidden among the green plants on the cliff suddenly moved. Its massive head turned toward Linley, and its chilling eyes locked onto him.
"Hsss~~"
A terrifying hiss came from the Green Pattern Python's mouth as it shot forward at lightning speed.
"Roar~~" "Gah~~" "Owww~~" ... The bottom of the valley erupted with the calls of various magical beasts, accompanied by the heavy, rapid sound of running. Linley swept his gaze across the area and saw over a dozen large reptiles already approaching from below. And these were only a small fraction; even more magical beasts were hidden beneath the white mist.
"Go!"
Facing the Green Pattern Python's attack, Linley immediately flew upward at top speed, controlling the wind-element energy. When the lifting force far exceeded his weight, his upward flight speed became astonishing. As he flew, Linley saw another Green Pattern Python racing along the cliff wall from a different direction, its cold eyes also fixed on him, constantly hissing "Hsss~~"
"Gah-gah~~~"
Sharp cries rang out as dozens of large flying birds chased after him from the bottom of the canyon.
"Pterosaur, it's a pterosaur!" Linley's face instantly turned pale.