Chapter 508: Chapter 327: Dragon Statue
...
"Now that you have the body of a dragon, we might be able to make the transition smoother," Lan Feng said with a smile. "What I need the two of you to do is as simple as a soul contract. It’s really straightforward; Xu Yue and I succeeded long ago."
Deng Wu cleared his throat and looked at the small statue in Lan Feng’s hand. His thoughts drifted back to the times the dragon had helped him in the past. Determined, he nodded and directed his gaze at the young man, currently controlled by the Phoenix, his hair a ghostly white. With a steady voice, he said, "Tell me what to do."
"Alright," Lan Feng said, satisfied with the expression on Deng Wu’s face. "This is very different from the situation I had with Yan Xiaobao," he began. "When we formed the soul contract, Yan Xiaobao and I already shared one body. However, we need to create a body between you and Little Dragon so that he can enter yours."
"Come here," Lan Feng ordered directly, not waiting as Deng Wu stepped toward him. Once Deng Wu reached him, the Phoenix tapped into some of Yan Xiaobao’s spiritual energy and, with a steady hand, carved a deep wound into Deng Wu’s arm. His blood splattered onto the Azure Dragon statue.
Deng Wu turned pale, but the pain was insignificant compared to the transformative awakening that every cell in his body was undergoing. He succeeded in suppressing the agony with relative ease.
"Channel your consciousness into the Azure Dragon statue," Lan Feng shouted sharply. Deng Wu followed his instructions. As soon as he entered the statue, brilliant azure light shot out, illuminating the corridor they were standing in.
"Now merge the two of you," Lan Feng commanded, but Deng Wu merely frowned, seemingly unsure of how to integrate himself.
"Your spiritual energy—combine it—figure out why you’re sharing a body!"
Upon hearing the shouted instructions, Deng Wu seemed to grasp what to do. As his spiritual energy flowed into the Azure Dragon statue, his hands started to glow. Moments later, the intensity of the light grew greater and everything inside the Azure Dragon statue slowed down. His hair turned azure, and his eyes deepened to a dark blue hue.
As he sat down, eyes wide open and overwhelmed, he was rendered speechless and stunned. Seeing this, neither Lan Feng nor Yan Xiaobao spoke a word to the him, knowing well he was communicating silently with Little Dragon.
After waiting half an hour, Deng Wu staggered to his feet, slightly dizzy from blood loss and the shocking transformation he had undergone. Despite this, a smile crept across his face.
Seeing this, Yan Xiaobao’s face lit up with another smile as he regained full control over his own body.
"Let’s leave this place and return somewhere else," Yan Xiaobao said with a laugh. Supporting Deng Wu, the pair made their way back to the room with the staircase, and together, they slowly ascended.
They reached ground level fairly quickly and were fortunate to find no guards in the vicinity. The moon hung in the sky, its position suggesting the hour was early. Neither Deng Wu nor Yan Xiaobao could tell how long they’d been underground.
In a small, dimly lit room illuminated only by a single stone, they didn’t have the chance to measure the passage of time. Upon returning to their dwelling, they soon discovered their friends were still in the same room. Some were asleep, while Xu Biao and Xie Lan kept watch over the slumbering Sha Yun and Wang Julong.
When the door opened, the two watchers lifted their heads, alert and wary, until they caught sight of Yan Xiaobao. However, their widened eyes shifted to Deng Wu beside him, shocked by his transformation. His hair now gleamed azure, his eyes a deep blue shade, his face pale from blood loss, and a long scar stretched across his arm.
Witnessing their astonishment, Deng Wu did nothing but smile faintly. He hadn’t anticipated his appearance would change so drastically after engaging in the soul contract. As he glanced at Yan Xiaobao, he realized his own ignorance. He remembered Yan Xiaobao explaining how his appearance had shifted significantly after his soul contract with Lan Feng. Reflecting on his own naivety, Deng Wu recognized how foolish it was to believe he would remain mostly unchanged when someone like Yan Xiaobao had been transformed so dramatically.
Seated below, Yan Xiaobao retrieved several bottles of alcohol from his storage circle. Randomly tossing the bottles at the awake individuals in the room, they exchanged silent smiles and nods. Soon, they gathered on the ground, quietly sharing the stories of their experiences.
Yan Xiaobao apologized and admitted he hadn’t yet found an exit or the legal authority governing the area. Instead, he had only discovered tunnels leading to other parts of the dungeon, constructed atop the corpses of a crow bird, a black tortoise, and the White Tiger.
Upon hearing this, Xu Biao felt a faint sense of confidence in their current strategy. If they were truly cornered, they could escape to other parts of the dungeon. While the Dragon Army held ultimate sway over the Holy Dungeon’s dragon section, the other three sections of the dungeon were relatively free from their influence. If they managed to flee to those areas, they’d find safety in case of dire circumstances.
"Alright, though we now have an escape plan, I still intend to seek out an exit and any legal systems," Yan Xiaobao said seriously. While speaking, Yan Xiaobao kept an eye on Deng Wu. Though Yan Xiaobao himself possessed a soul contract, he had never lived his life independently of Lan Feng. Sharing a body was commonplace for him.