Chapter 109: The Spirit Lizard Claims Its Master

If this giant lizard didn’t pay a heavy enough price, Yu Yan was ready to give up on life.

She despised these creatures with strong limbs but simple minds more than anything. Back in the desert oasis, even when chased relentlessly by mid-level fire toads, she had never suffered such severe injuries. Who would have thought she’d meet her downfall in a hidden alley, falling victim to such a clumsy and foolish dungeon monster?

Yu Yan sat cross-legged, her gaze fixed intently on the ground below as she popped a seventh-grade red fruit into her mouth.

She needed to recover her wounds and internal spiritual energy as quickly as possible!

Otherwise, in her current state, if the giant lizard wasn’t dead and burrowed out again, she would have no choice but to use her stockpile of fire rhinoceros horns. For a mere seventh-grade peak giant lizard to require the expenditure of two or more mid-level fire rhinoceros horns to defeat was a losing proposition for her.

One of those horns was eighth-grade—well, a nearly worn-out eighth-grade horn was still an eighth-grade horn!

That was undoubtedly a bad deal for Yu Yan.

A quarter of an hour later.

The earth below churned, sand and stones flying.

Yu Yan furrowed her brow, looking toward the rumbling ground.

Despite her twelve-grade spatial illusion lotus mark furiously refining the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, only about thirty to forty percent of her special internal energy had recovered. Her mental strength was similarly depleted. The most troublesome was her wind-element spiritual energy, indispensable in battle.

The spiritual energy for supernatural abilities differed from that required to unleash plant spirit techniques.

The latter could be constantly refined and replenished through the plant spirit mark.

The former could only be restored naturally by the body or by consuming spiritual fruits or meats of the same element.

She had been busy recovering her special energy first, and in the short quarter hour had yet to eat any wind-element spiritual fruits or meats. Seeing the giant lizard about to break through the earth, it seemed she would have to waste another seventh-grade fire rhinoceros horn.

With a slight thought, a fiery red horn with edges glowing a dark black shimmer appeared in her palm.

Just as she was about to channel the last faint trace of wind-element spiritual energy into it and hurl it out, the earth churned violently, revealing the giant lizard’s battered form. A huge bloody hole was blown open near the back of its neck, exposing jagged broken vertebrae.

Almost half its neck was shattered!

Since it was underground, the explosion energy couldn’t disperse and was confined to a very small space.

The giant lizard endured several waves of aftershocks from the explosion.

Its back was riddled with pockmarked wounds, all torn open by blasts.

Though not as shocking as the largest wound, the cumulative damage was also significant. The giant lizard lay weakly on the ground, its eyes vacant as it looked toward the woman standing coldly high on a tree branch.

A wave of submission spread through a mysterious, profound channel in the world and transmitted into Yu Yan’s sea of consciousness.

Hmm?

“Swearing allegiance?”

She’d never heard of a mid-level or higher dungeon monster doing such a thing!

All enhancers in her previous life knew a basic truth: dungeon monsters above mid-level could never be tamed. Those who attempted to tame seventh-grade or higher dungeon monsters usually ended up wounded by the monsters’ self-destruct mechanisms at death.

If luck ran worse, the monster’s body might crystallize spiritual veins.

When those veins exploded, the enhancer would be reduced to nothing but bones.

Yu Yan frowned, looking at the dying giant lizard.

With half its neck blown off, it shouldn’t survive without some special fate. Its death was only a matter of time—it knew that itself. Yet a pitiful thought came to her mind.

“Master, save me.”

Yu Yan: “...”

Who the hell are you calling master? Not long ago we were tearing each other apart in a life-or-death fight!

Is swearing allegiance something you can just force upon someone?

But she understood part of the reason why this giant lizard begged to swear allegiance.

For some unknown reason, it seemed able to sense the existence of the Illusion Lotus space. Otherwise, with Yu Yan’s mere fourth-grade peak strength, how could she possibly save a seventh-grade peak giant lizard? Then it wouldn’t have sent such a plea.

“Saving you isn’t impossible.”

Yu Yan pondered a moment, then made a decision. “But you say you want to swear allegiance. How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“What if I save you and then you bite me in the back? Wouldn’t I just become a huge grudge?”

“No.”

Just as Yu Yan was about to ask how it could guarantee that, a wisp of brilliantly colored soul fire separated from the giant lizard’s soul sea, wavering as it flew toward her.

It dashed straight for her face, but just before touching the plant spirit mark, it trembled in fear. Then, skirting the edge of the mark, it forced its way into Yu Yan’s sea of consciousness and settled timidly in a corner as a tiny little lizard no bigger than a fingernail.

At the center of Yu Yan’s sea of consciousness, a translucent spatial illusion lotus stretched out its tender form.

Four tender green lotus leaves absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, pure streams of energy passing through the leaves, traveling across the sea of consciousness, and nourishing every part of Yu Yan’s body. It seemed to sense the arrival of the giant lizard, and a murderous aura enveloped the tiny lizard.

The giant lizard shivered, curling into a ball.

Perhaps satisfied with the giant lizard’s attitude, or perhaps deeming it no threat to itself.

The spatial illusion lotus’s murderous aura receded like a tide, and Yu Yan felt the soul fire’s relief at having survived a catastrophe.

“Master, my life and death now lie entirely in your hands.”

You don’t have to worry anymore about saving me only to be devoured by your own servant.

Yu Yan naturally understood the unspoken meaning.

But its words alone weren’t enough; she still needed to verify for herself. With a thought, the dying giant lizard on the ground indeed struggled painfully. Fresh blood gushed from the many wounds that hadn’t healed, and it looked close to death.

Yet the giant lizard showed no sign of resistance or struggle.

It was like a pet raised and trained from birth, no matter how the master abused or belittled it, it could only curl up trembling in fear. It wouldn’t dare bare its teeth or claws at its master.

Gone was its previous fierce and terrifying demeanor.

Yu Yan moved her mind again, and the giant lizard ceased struggling.

“Wheeze...”

It breathed heavily, looking wronged and pitiful at its master.

Satisfied, Yu Yan flew down from the branch.

When she stood beside the giant lizard, the fire rhinoceros horn in her hand returned to the Illusion Lotus space. “Open your mouth.”

At the sound of her voice, the giant lizard obediently opened its mouth.

A seventh-grade peak giant lizard on the brink of death wouldn’t benefit much from a seventh-grade red fruit. Yu Yan hesitated slightly, then fed it all the eighth-grade red fruits she had left—about twenty pieces roughly the size of sugar cubes—sliding down its throat.

The giant lizard’s cold-blooded beast eyes flickered with a human-like expression of gratitude.

Then it closed its eyes and quickly absorbed the abundant spiritual energy from the red fruit.

Yu Yan didn’t idle either; she sat cross-legged and continued recovering her special spiritual and mental strength.

When her special energy and mental strength were nearly restored, she ate three fourth-grade Wenjing fruits. The gentle wind elemental energy of the Wenjing fruits was absorbed, rapidly replenishing her nearly depleted wind-element spiritual energy.

When her internal condition had recovered seventy to eighty percent, Yu Yan opened her eyes.

The giant lizard obediently lay beside her, its wounds healed. Only the deepest, most severe injuries left behind pits and indentations. The loss of flesh and blood was not something that could be restored quickly...

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