Chapter 50: Merely Forging a Good Affinity for My Dragon Clan

"Add one more condition: You shall never harm any disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect for the rest of your life. If you violate this oath, may you be obliterated by the Heavenly Dao!"

Seeing that the Master of White Bone Temple had taken the oath, Chen Ping'an thought for a moment and added another clause.

"Yes, senior. I swear that for the rest of my life, I shall not..." The Master of White Bone Temple continued with his vow, incorporating this new condition.

Once the oath was completed, Chen Ping'an told the Master of White Bone Temple to get up. The latter wore a flattering expression and gently tapped Bai Jing'er, who let out a soft murmur and slowly regained consciousness.

What happened?

Upon waking up, Bai Jing'er saw her master standing obediently by her side with a beaming smile, while Chen Ping'an opposite them looked at her with a gentle expression as well.

"It's fine now. Your master and I have cleared the air and resolved our past grievances," Chen Ping'an said with a smile.

Resolved their grievances?

Bai Jing'er was dumbfounded. Her master was notoriously protective of his own; how could he possibly forgive Brother Bao?

"Could it be..."

An astonishing thought flashed through her mind, and she instantly guessed a certain possibility.

Her master had been defeated by Brother Bao!

To survive, her master had no choice but to swallow his pride and submit.

She hurriedly looked at Chen Ping'an, and upon sensing the aura of the Void Spirit Realm emanating from him, her heart instantly settled.

Brother Bao was also in the Void Spirit Realm!

He was merely a mortal back then; how could he possibly cultivate even faster than her?

It must be that the supreme treasure bestowed by the expert was finally activated, which was why Brother Bao now possessed such terrifying cultivation!

...

"Ugh... ugh..."

Just as Bai Jing'er's mind was racing with wild thoughts, the Master of White Bone Temple suddenly grabbed his throat with both hands, making a series of strange, painful sounds.

His entire body crouched down, and his already prominent hunchback became even more severely raised.

The swollen lump on his back also shook violently without stopping.

"This hunchback harbors great mysteries..."

Chen Ping'an narrowed his eyes, staring at the trembling back, a look of curiosity appearing on his face.

Originally, he had thought the Master of White Bone Temple was simply born with a hunchback, but it seemed this heavily raised back concealed some profound secret, as if something was trying to claw its way out.

"Master, what's wrong with you?"

Bai Jing'er hurried forward to support him and asked with deep concern.

"Don't..."

The Master of White Bone Temple's body jerked violently, springing into the air like a boiled shrimp before crashing down into the distant forest.

Thud!

Having seemingly lost his ability to hover in mid-air, he smashed through several ancient pine trees upon landing and plunged deep into the thick snow.

"Ugh... ugh..."

He continued to emit strange noises, writhing in agony as he rolled incessantly across the snowy ground.

"Brother Bao..."

Bai Jing'er looked anxiously at Chen Ping'an. At this moment, she was utterly helpless; her master's current state looked as though he had gone mad, and aside from Brother Bao suppressing him, there was no other way.

"There is something inside your master's back."

Chen Ping'an swept his divine sense over him and, piercing through the garments, discovered that the muscles on the Master of White Bone Temple's back were bulging, and ghastly white spine bones were actually piercing through his skin and flesh, spurting gouts of blood.

He had never witnessed such a bizarre anomaly before and found himself momentarily at a loss for solutions.

"Before my master went into seclusion, he once mentioned obtaining a fortuitous encounter. Could this be related to it?" Bai Jing'er recalled aloud.

"It must be."

Chen Ping'an sighed. For now, the only option was to suppress the Master of White Bone Temple first and figure out a way to resolve the root cause later.

Just as he was about to make a move, the Master of White Bone Temple abruptly stood up straight, placed his hands on his hips, tilted his head back, and spewed a torrent of black smoke from his mouth.

This burst of black smoke lasted for a long time, dispersing into the air and rapidly forming a massive cloud.

"This..."

Both of them were completely stunned. Chen Ping'an could not figure out the situation and dared not make a rash move for the moment.

Chen Ping'an stared intently at the black smoke.

The smoke was not purely black; rather, it possessed a grayish-black hue, giving him a deeply familiar sensation.

Chen Ping'an's expression shifted.

This grayish-black smoke and dust were nearly identical to the dust that the black cat had transformed into within the Ruins Secret Realm.

Chen Ping'an grabbed at the empty air, but his hand closed around nothingness—he caught nothing at all.

"This is not ordinary dust!"

A jolt went through his heart.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, a startling transformation abruptly occurred within the vast expanse of black smoke.

Mountains, rivers, lands, and countless living beings emerged within the smoke!

A miniature world was shockingly taking shape.

The sky was billowed with thick smoke that blotted out the sun, drifting everywhere. The world was instantly plunged into darkness, and countless living beings cried out in terror and agony, fleeing in all directions. Some creatures breathed in the black smoke and died on the spot, while others grew even stronger, their minds altered as they began to prey upon other living beings.

The entire world resembled an Asura hell, with countless beings perishing miserably amidst the endless black smoke.

"A pathetic, minuscule human race dares to fuse with the skeletal remains of my noble Dragon Clan?"

A low, deep voice suddenly echoed from the throat of the Master of White Bone Temple. He threw his head back and laughed wildly, his demeanor frantic and delirious as his booming voice shook the surrounding directions.

The Dragon Clan?

Chen Ping'an was momentarily stunned, understanding dawning upon him instantly.

The protruding white bones on the back of the Master of White Bone Temple were actually the skeletal remains of a dragon!

Upon hearing this, Bai Jing'er's face drained of color.

"Brother Bao, I understand now. Master must have obtained a section of dragon bone and forcibly fused with it to break through to the Void Spirit Realm. But this dragon bone clearly still retains its consciousness and has broken free from Master's control..."

"Hmm."

Chen Ping'an nodded solemnly.

He was not entirely unfamiliar with the Dragon Clan, having encountered two dragons previously in Youzhou.

Like a phantom, he appeared within the forest, devoid of fear, and asked in a deep voice, "What kind of dragon are you?"

"The Ghost-Fated Skeletal Dragon!"

The demeanor of the Master of White Bone Temple shifted, his gaze haughty and filled with disdain.

Looking earnestly at Chen Ping'an, he spoke slowly: "Before my consciousness dissipates, I have condensed this vision within the black smoke. I ask that you remember it, human friend!"

Chen Ping'an was taken aback.

"What do you mean by this?" he asked with a frown.

The voice of the Master of White Bone Temple grew faint: "Even with my Nine Gates Ghost-Inspection Divine Art, I cannot see through your destiny. This shows that your achievements in this life will be limitless, and you carry the great providence of heaven and earth, destined to eventually gain the recognition of the Heavenly Dao of the Profound Sky Realm.

When you reach that level in the future, you will naturally come into contact with those secrets hidden for countless years. I am revealing this to you in advance merely to forge a bond of good karma for my Dragon Clan..."

Having said that, the Master of White Bone Temple collapsed heavily to the ground.

In the sky, the black smoke mysteriously vanished into nothingness.

Lying prone on the ground, the clothing on his back was torn open, and the white bones of his spine had dissolved into white powder, scattering with the wind into the accumulated snow.

Heaven and earth fell into absolute silence.

Echoing the parting words of the Ghost-Fated Skeletal Dragon in his mind, Chen Ping'an felt an inexplicable weight press down upon his heart.

What did this sun-blocking black smoke represent?

Why would this mysterious black smoke permeate the entire world and cause countless lives to perish miserably within it?

The image of a black cat surfaced in Chen Ping'an's mind.

"Where are you? Are you dead? Wuwu! I'm going to die too!"

The sorrowful, weeping cries of the black cat before its death continuously echoed in his ears. Chen Ping'an took out the jade box, gazing fixedly at that tiny speck of grayish-black dust, and his mood grew inexplicably heavy.

"The Ghost-Fated Skeletal Dragon was right; perhaps I have already been drawn into this ahead of time..."

Chen Ping'an withdrew his gaze.

"Brother Bao, what are you looking at?"

Bai Jing'er stepped to his side and asked softly. She glanced at the jade box, only to find it completely empty.

That tiny speck of dust had been entirely overlooked by her.

"It's nothing."

Chen Ping'an sighed, put away the jade box, and walked toward the Master of White Bone Temple, saying, "He's not dead yet. Do you have any healing medicine?"