Chapter 2472: Refinement Formation

The crowd was taken aback.

The Aurora Poison Dragon was known for his poisons, with his body containing incomparably lethal toxin. Even a droplet of his poison blood could erode one’s bones and even one's very soul.

Zu An opened his hand, and the light around the Aurora Poison Dragon’s explosion suddenly distorted as if there was a black hole there. The poisoned blood and flesh bits swiftly receded until they were all squeezed into a tiny ball in Zu An’s hands.

The Mermaid Queen and Peacock Princess exhaled in relief as they complimented Zu An’s methods. If not for him, they would all be goners.

Zu An was relieved that he possessed the Taotie’s Heaven-devouring Sutra and was adept at spatial manipulation. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to swiftly control the Aurora Poison Dragon’s self-detonation. He channeled his primordial ki and quickly cleansed that tiny ball of poison, leaving behind a pristine bead.

The Mermaid Queen was overjoyed. “That’s the Aurora Poison Dragon’s inner core! You can finally save your little sister!”

She had initially been worried when she heard that Zu An was looking for the Aurora Poison Dragon; the latter had always been elusive, with hardly anyone ever seeing him. There was also no guarantee that the Aurora Poison Dragon would have an inner core, considering how difficult it was to form one.

Who could have expected the Aurora Poison Dragon to deliver such a pure inner core on his own accord?

Zu An smiled as well.

Finally some good news. I wonder if Xiaoxi and the others have found the other ingredient.

The Peacock Princess alternated her gaze between the two of them.

To think that big brother has a little sister, and big sis queen knows that he’s trying to save her. I know far too little about big brother. Should I ask big sis queen for more details, or should I talk to big brother more...

Just then, the Mermaid Queen murmured worriedly, “But now that the Aurora Poison Dragon is dead, we might never find the Four Dragon Kings.”

With the Ocean races poisoned, they would be doomed if they lost the Four Dragon Kings too.

Zu An stowed away the Aurora Poison Dragon’s inner core and said, “Don’t worry, I know where he hid the Four Dragon Kings.”

“How do you know?” the Mermaid Queen and the Peacock Princess blurted out in unison.

Zu An chuckled.

The Aurora Poison Dragon is too naive. He thinks it’ll all be over just because he’s dead. Little does he know I’m the underworld’s master.

Much of his authority over the underworld was restricted, but he still had no problem tying down a deceased soul. His position granted him natural dominance over the dead. The Aurora Poison Dragon would find him a thousand times more terrifying than when he was alive. That fear originated from the soul, and there was no way to circumvent it.

Soon enough, the Aurora Poison Dragon revealed the whereabouts of the Four Dragon Kings.

Zu An brought the group to a cave around fifty kilometers away from the Dragon Palace. The cave was well hidden amid corals, so much so that it was possible to pass by this place a hundred times without finding it.

“Be careful. There are many vile traps planted in the vicinity,” the Mermaid Queen warned.

She could see through some of the traps and formations, though she couldn’t decipher all of them. Regardless, it was unlikely those traps and formations were there to welcome unwanted guests like them.

Zu An calmly instructed, “Don’t worry. Stay behind me.”

He strutted into the cave as if those traps didn’t exist.

The two women were taken aback. They hurriedly followed him, thinking they could at least protect his flanks.

Then, countless traps suddenly activated. Many skills were blasted in their direction, but they suddenly dissipated halfway through their trajectory.

The Mermaid Queen and Peacock Queen exchanged looks; they could see the awe in each other’s eyes. It looked as if Zu An was casually strutting around, but he had precisely stepped on every trap to trigger them in order to neutralize them.

This made them burst into laughter.

Indeed, we shouldn’t need to worry about someone of his caliber.

Behind them, the Xuan-Su Guards sighed. They had finally given up. The gap between Zu An and them was so huge that they couldn’t even gauge how far ahead he was.

No wonder our proud princess fell in love with him at first sight. Only someone like that is worthy of her.

For a moment there, they even wondered if their princess was worthy of him.

Soon, they were inside the cave. It looked small outside but was spacious inside. Four naturally-formed stone pillars were present in four different directions, seemingly propping up the ceiling.

The Four Dragon Kings were each bound to a pillar. They displayed none of their usual majesty. Their clothes were unkempt, their heads hung limply, and their faces were ghastly pale.

“Dragon King! Dragon King!”

The Ocean races’ experts rushed up to their respective Dragon Kings, but no matter how they called for them, the Four Dragon Kings’ eyes remained shut. Their faces were warped in pain as if they were in a nightmare.

The Mermaid Queen anxiously warned, “Be careful! There seem to be formations beneath us!”

That alerted the others to the crimson formation marks beneath the stone pillars the Four Dragon Kings were bound to. The formation marks felt malevolent, and they made the crowd feel uncomfortable.

“This...” The Peacock Princess narrowed her eyes. She faintly sensed the vileness of those formations.

“It’s a refinement formation constructed using the Four Dragon Kings’ blood to refine their primordial spirits into pills,” Zu An explained. “They're in pain because their primordial spirits are being refined, but they are still holding on thanks to their powerful cultivation. If we had failed to find this place, eventually, their primordial spirits would have been refined and their blood essences would have been made into pills.”

The crowd was taken aback. The Mermaid Queen exclaimed, “What a vile formation!”

“The Aurora Poison Dragon was ambitious enough, trying to refine the Four Dragon Kings into pills. Had he consumed those pills, his strength would have surpassed the Four Dragon Kings and perhaps even reached a level rivaling the Incestuous King.” Zu An was impressed.

The Mermaid Queen had previously told him about the Aurora Poison Dragon. The latter had been scorned in the Dragon race due to his unique constitution, so he'd received no resources and had to earn everything by himself. It had to have taken tremendous willpower and meticulous planning for an unaffiliated cultivator to come this far. It was unfortunate he had chosen the wrong path.

Zu An instructed the Ocean races’ experts to destroy the refinement formation and retrieve the Four Dragon Kings. After he fed the Four Dragon Kings pills that healed their primordial spirits, they slowly regained consciousness.

They bowed deeply toward Zu An to thank him. “We will never forget the grace you have shown us!”

They had still been able to perceive their surroundings despite being unconscious. They'd resigned themselves to having their primordial spirits refined into fodder for the Aurora Poison Dragon. At most, they could have only lasted half a day more.

Who could have expected Zu An to swoop in at the last moment to save them?

“You’re too polite.” Zu An supported them to their feet. “You should slowly recover after resting for a few days. The four of you are strong enough to survive the Aurora Poison Dragon’s poison formation, but the same can’t be said about the others. We have to save them right away.”