The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Chapter 944: Chapter 0941: Severing the Roots (Third Update, Alliance Hierarch Additional Update 22/147)

After searching for three more days, Liszt finally found a new natural node.

However, when the natural node opened, it appeared on Phoenix Tree Island, the seventh largest island of the Flame Islands—a vast expanse of swampland.

The swampland, with reasonable planning and construction of lakes and ditches to divert water, could quickly be turned into fertile land.

Yet this massive swampland was located on Phoenix Tree Island, and Liszt didn’t even have the energy to extensively develop Flame Island, let alone Phoenix Tree Island in the short term.

Besides, he planned to use the surrounding islands as fiefdoms, to be granted to his future followers for them to develop.

“This place shall be called Yunmeng Marsh.” Leaving behind something akin to a “XXX was here” marker, Liszt mounted the Formless Dragon Bard, ready to leave Phoenix Tree Island.

However, he suddenly noticed an area within Yunmeng Marsh that displayed several layers of faint but not weak colors within his Crystal White Trajectory vision. Following the principle of never leaving empty-handed, he and Bard charged straight towards the source of the light, which turned out to be a dry patch in the middle of the swamp.

The area wasn’t very large, at most the size of a soccer field.

Sparse shrubs and many half-human tall weeds grew there.

The luminous light came from six spots in total; he rushed to each one and found that they were six Bloodline Fruits, all nearing maturity. Several Magical Beasts were guarding nearby. With a display of Dragon Might, he easily scared away the Magical Beasts and casually placed the six Bloodline Fruits into his Space Ring.

After busying himself with these tasks, he had time to ponder, “Something’s not right, obtaining six Bloodline Fruits at once is definitely odd. With a natural node nearby and many Bloodline Fruits here, could it mean this place is extraordinary, possibly concealing dragon-related clues?”

According to the patterns he had established, any place with a natural node had definitely experienced a higher level of Magic Power conflict, and dragons were the prime culprits capable of causing Superior Magic-level conflicts.

With that thought.

He didn’t hesitate to turn around and leave, mounting the Formless Dragon to rapidly cross space and return to Flame Castle. Near Flame Castle, the Dragon Nest for Bone Dragon Vinnie was under construction—essentially digging a large pit in a shady spot, because after soul fusion with the Bone Dragon, Vinnie had also grown fond of the low-lying, moist, and chilly places.

“Your Highness, did you need me?” Vinnie greeted joyously.

“There might be something I need your help with.”

“Just give your commands.”

“It’s like this, I found a swampland on Phoenix Tree Island with several Bloodline Fruits growing. I suspect there might be dragon-related clues buried underground, and I’d like to excavate them. But without serfs, and my slow digging speed, other dragons are not willing to dig.”

Dragons have their pride, deeming digging in the dirt as labor akin to a great insult.

But Vinnie was different, effectively still being a human girl at heart, so she readily agreed, “Your Highness, then leave the excavation to me. However, I do hope to cooperate with you, as my soul’s power still does not fully synergize with the Bone Dragon’s body.” As she spoke, the eerie blue flames of the Bone Dragon’s eyes flickered.

Liszt nodded, “Naturally.”

And so, Bone Dragon Vinnie directly transformed into a Magic Form and clung to Liszt’s face.

Formless Dragon Bard tore through the material boundary, rapidly crossing space, and returned to the Yunmeng Marsh natural node. After landing, Bard went off to find a place to rest, while Liszt called out Bone Dragon Vinnie and mounted her.

In an instant.

He and Vinnie became one in heart and mind.

A wonderful feeling lingered in his heart, a kind of refreshing delight. Gathering his thoughts, he quickly took control of the Bone Dragon and began to work.

The Bone Dragon’s front limbs were more powerful than an excavator; plunging into the soil, with a gentle effort, tons of earth were scooped out. Then, flattened on the nearby ground, he even rolled it around, checking if there was anything similar to a Jade Dragon’s Hind Leg within the dirt.

After digging for several hours, the flat land where the Bloodline Fruits grew had turned into a huge pit, six or seven meters deep.

At that moment.

He finally discovered something out of the ordinary, it seemed like some hard object was buried underground. Continuing to dig, this hard object slowly revealed its true form. It was a wood-like object, similar to a tree root, buried beneath the deep pit. The surface had started to decay, but upon scraping off the rotted layer, the inside was still as hard as fresh wood.

The diameter was about as large as three people could wrap their arms around, but it was only fourteen meters in length—a section of the root with both the front and the end broken off.

“What kind of tree has left this root behind, and is it the force behind the growth of the Bloodline Fruits?” Liszt manipulated the Bone Dragon to grip the root and weighed it in his hands.

The Bone Dragon’s vision wasn’t clear enough to see what this section of root was.

He personally used the Eye of Magic but still couldn’t identify what it was. There was no glow from any magic power, and only from the pattern of the break could one tell it was originally the root of a tree.

“Is there any other part below?” Filled with doubt, Liszt continued to excavate for another half an hour, enlarging the pit to the size of three soccer fields, even unearthing groundwater, but sadly no other cut roots were found.

There was only this one section of root here.

“Anyway, with a thickness that three people could barely encompass, this tree must have blotted out the sky when it was alive… If it had ever spawned elves, what kind of level would they be? Dragon Elves, or perhaps the legendary Elf King?” Liszt couldn’t fathom the former glory of this tree.

Vinnie had no idea about the root’s origin, either.

As the sky began to darken, he ordered Bone Dragon Vinnie back into his body and then maneuvered Bard, holding the root, to rapidly shuttle through space.

The root was somewhat oversized, and Bard struggled to hold it, having to consume Space Magic Power to merge it with a world beyond material. It took so much energy that Liszt, feeling pained, pulled out a bottle of Red Dragon Water to replenish Bard—the Dragon had become his most reliable partner.

Indeed, Bard was becoming more competent than Little Fire Dragon Leo—provided Bard wasn’t constantly chewing on Smoked Grass as if it were gum, in which case it might already have surpassed him.

Holding the root, he burst out of the Reed Marsh Magic Gate.

He found Ach, who was still collecting information about the Magic Gate in this area, and Liszt directly said, “Ach, look at what strange thing I found. This is a peculiar root, and I suspect it possesses mysterious power, potentially promoting the growth of Bloodline Fruits. See if you can identify it with the Knowledge Ancient Book.”

“Okay.” Ach took out the Knowledge Ancient Book and touched the section of the root.

Shortly, the book emitted a glow, and a sequence of Moon Language appeared—Tree of Golden Apples.

“Tree of Golden Apples!” Liszt was taken aback, then overjoyed, “This section of root actually belongs to the Tree of Golden Apples?”

Golden Apples were legendary treasures whose exact magical properties were unknown, but the value of the Tree of Golden Apples could be glimpsed through the Time Scepter.

As the support for the Time Diamond, it was no ordinary object.

“Brother, have you only found this piece of the Tree of Golden Apples? It doesn’t seem very magical.” Ach was also surprised, but after examining the wood, she seemed a bit puzzled.

This Tree of Golden Apples looked like ordinary wood—apart from being huge, it had no magical characteristics.

Liszt smiled and said, “The Knowledge Ancient Book’s identification result shouldn’t be mistaken. Remember, it last identified all the gemstones of the Gemstone Crown, not missing a single one.”