Chapter 129: Dragon Essence [Bonus chapter for Alliance Leader Jun Mo Ran Qing Cheng]

The sudden sound made Zhou Yi shudder, causing the clay pot in his hands to slip. At that precise moment, his body seemed to move of its own accord, dropping horizontally to catch the falling pot. The impact left his back aching and his stomach bruised from the pot’s weight, but the vessel remained intact, which left Zhou Yi feeling somewhat irritable.

However, he remained deeply wary of the "Stone Egg," given that it had nearly killed him before. Then there were those stone statues—clearly the remnants of people who had once been possessed, the "trash" as the Stone Egg called them. They had been collected specifically to threaten him. In an instant, his irritation dissipated. That was the reality of the power gap: when strengths are equal, there is room for struggle, but when they are vastly disparate, resistance is merely a futile flailing. Knowing he lacked the power to fight back, he chose to play along; there was no shame in that.

Still, contemplating the Stone Egg's words, Zhou Yi felt a surge of curiosity. He reached out and pulled out a colorful stone. What was this "Dragon Essence"? Was it silkworm larvae? Or perhaps the spawn of a dragon? The few he had grabbed were rounded, and held in his palm, they felt ordinary. They weren't spirit stones, so why was the Stone Egg so jumpy about them?

"Do you want them?"

"..."

There was no answer. Zhou Yi found it even stranger. He had read reports of Buddhist believers revering sarira relics, but why had the Stone Egg stopped after just a brief exclamation? Could it be that it was afraid of these?

"Are you afraid of this?"

"...Not only trash... but stupid as well..."

Zhou Yi sighed. It clearly didn't want to engage with him. He remembered that when he first discovered these stones, the Stone Egg had seemed excited, urging him to collect and absorb them. Yet, touching them just now, he had felt nothing.

"Dragon Essence? Is this a natural gemstone? Or is it like a spirit stone, some sort of essence from a meteorite or a mineral deposit? The key is, I don't feel anything when I touch it."

Again, no reply. Zhou Yi sighed. The Stone Egg was a source of great dread, always popping up intermittently but staying silent at critical moments. He had no idea what its true intentions were. Regardless, he wasn't short on stone statues. Zhou Yi sat on the bed and grabbed a handful of Dragon Essence. Although the Stone Egg had only mentioned the name, Zhou Yi was already deeply intrigued. After all, everyone loves things that are rare and valuable. The fact that the old hag had hidden them like treasures under her bone bed, and that the Stone Egg had just yelled at him, had to mean something. It meant these things were precious—perhaps even more valuable than spirit stones.

Thinking this, he put back a few, kept two green Dragon Essence stones, and closed his eyes. After focusing for a while, Zhou Yi opened one eye, looking puzzled. Why was there still no reaction? The Stone Egg’s temperament was erratic; he never knew when it would feel like talking, but right now, it clearly didn't care to bother with him.

"How do I absorb this Dragon Essence?"

"...Together with the spirit stone..."

Zhou Yi smiled. It was true that money could make the devil turn the mill; when there was food to be had, the Stone Egg was quick to answer. It seemed this stuff was definitely the real deal. He took out a Water Spirit Stone, placed the two green Dragon Essence stones on top of it, and gripped them both.

Before he could do anything, a surge of numbing energy poured into his body. It was a feeling of such overwhelming intensity that he wanted to moan in pleasure. If the speed of absorbing spirit stones before was like a trickle from a faucet, this was like a fire hydrant bursting open. Stopping was impossible. Caught in a delirium of extreme pleasure, he could only tremble. Zhou Yi felt dizzy, but he did his best to relax his body and clear his mind.

This helped alleviate the discomfort, though his body now felt as if it were frozen. From his fingertips to his toes, he felt a sour, numbing cold, as if he had been thrown to the bottom of an icy pool. His entire body felt like it was turning to stone. As time ticked by, the sensation of being scoured like this nearly broke him.

Gradually, Zhou Yi’s mind began to clear. At some point, the rushing sensation stopped. He tried wiggling his fingers and realized his sensation had partially returned. He opened his eyes to see the room filled with starlight; it appeared he had been practicing until nightfall. He quickly sat up, bracing himself on the bed, but the sudden change in position made him dizzy, his thoughts sluggish. Had he actually fallen asleep? And slept until now? Why hadn't those guys woken him up?

Wait...

Zhou Yi jumped up. He looked at his hands—they were empty. Aside from the indentations he had made on the bed, there was nothing there. That wasn't right. When he arrived at the villa, he had come upstairs to absorb the spirit stones, spoken a few words to the Stone Egg, and had been holding those two Dragon Essence stones along with the Water Spirit Stone. How could everything be gone? Had someone broken in?

Zhou Yi was startled and hurried out of bed to put on his shoes. The villa was dim, with only a faint light in the hallway; the other rooms were dark. He walked a few steps, then stopped. He was being too rash. Fatty and Cheng Zhi wouldn't dare, and Sophia certainly wouldn't. The spirit stones and Dragon Essence were useless to them. So, where had they gone?

Just as he was thinking, the door to the room diagonally across opened. Sophia was wearing a camisole nightgown, clutching her bathrobe tightly around her. Hearing Zhou Yi’s footsteps, she stood by the door, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

"What's wrong? Did something go wrong with your cultivation, or are you hungry?"

Zhou Yi shook his head. "My spirit stones are gone."

Sophia paused, then quickly rushed over to him. "Did someone come in?"

Zhou Yi shook his head, though in truth, he didn't know.

"There are no signs of anyone entering the room. Although I had already absorbed some of the Water Spirit Stone, there was still more than half left, and I didn't do anything special..."

As he spoke, his mind grew clearer. If there was one thing that was different, it was the Dragon Essence. Could its function be to open the floodgates? Zhou Yi thought for a moment. Sophia stood still, watching him quietly. In the face of that look of trust, Zhou Yi felt he shouldn't keep things from her. He reached out and pulled her into the room.

He took two pieces of Dragon Essence from his storage box and handed them to her. "I found these when I was at the Nether Mountains. The old hag hid them under her bone bed, very secretly, behind layers of traps. I knew they must be precious. But I've studied them many times and still don't know what they are; the clay pot they were in just had the words 'Dragon Essence' written on it. Just now, I held these two stones with the Water Spirit Stone and began absorbing. The speed was over ten times faster than usual. I don't know if it was because of the Dragon Essence, but I seem to have drained all the energy from the spirit stone."

Sophia looked at him in disbelief, as this was the first time she had heard of such a thing. She took the Dragon Essence and examined it carefully, but she couldn't make heads or tails of it. It looked like an unpolished raw gemstone, crystalline and shimmering.

"I can't see anything unusual. But who told you to absorb the Dragon Essence with the spirit stones?"

Zhou Yi almost blurted out "the Stone Egg," but he held his tongue at the last second. Who would believe him if he said there was a person living inside him?

"I just felt there was something special about them, so I wanted to try, and then I was blown away!"

Sophia walked over to the bed and sat down. Zhou Yi was stunned. He hadn't expected her to sit on his bed. Was she going to lose her mind in the middle of the night and offer herself to him? She was always like this; who could handle it?

But the next second, Sophia kicked off her shoes, sat cross-legged on the bed, and flipped her wrist to reveal an orange-red Fire Spirit Stone—the one he had given her a long time ago. Zhou Yi noticed the stone was still palm-sized, with no visible changes. However, as Sophia tucked the Dragon Essence into the gap between the spirit stone and her palm, a ball of energy instantly enveloped her. Her bathrobe, which had been draped over her shoulders, was blown off, leaving her in thin straps, revealing everything there was to see.

Such sparse attire was more provocative than wearing nothing at all. Zhou Yi cleared his throat, doing his best to keep his eyes from wandering downward. He stared intently at Sophia. Her expression was one of intense pain; it seemed this violent absorption was making her suffer.

Zhou Yi sighed. He had been too reckless! Why hadn't he waited for someone to finish speaking before jumping in? He hurriedly shouted at Sophia:

"Don't move around, and don't resist! Just try to relax—yes, relax even more. Try to feel it. How is it? Isn't it much more comfortable now?"