Chapter 403: 405: The Fury of the Eagle Emperor
This made Zhu Minglang grow somber, the more abnormal, the more dangerous.
He took a deep breath and felt something thick stuck in his throat. Zhu Minglang hadn’t swallowed anything but was experiencing an extremely uncomfortable sensation.
It seemed the exotic fragrance was having an effect. Zhu Minglang glanced at the herbal bead he was carrying. The once plump bead had wilted and could no longer provide him with comfortable air.
Time was running out.
He had to act!
The Azure Bronze Demon Tree was rooted in a muddy swamp that felt like an abyss capable of swallowing living beings.
Zhu Minglang called out the Heavenly Slaughter Dragon for courage.
The Heavenly Slaughter Dragon had grown up in ancient relics and had experienced many bizarre and eerie incidents. It was brave but also cautious. It didn’t carelessly spread its wings; instead, it used its lithe body to slowly swim through the muddy water.
Nothing happened, and Zhu Minglang let out a sigh of relief.
It seemed that the only ferocious beast guarding the Azure Bronze Demon Tree was the Absolute Sea Hawk Emperor.
Zhu Minglang looked up, and soon his expression darkened.
Why did this green-bronze-colored demon tree bear so many fruits?
It was one thing for the tree to be covered with dazzling fruits, but why did they all look like bells made of copper and iron?!
A green-bronze tree adorned with green bells—if they hadn’t been perfectly connected to the branches and leaves, Zhu Minglang would have thought someone had tied them there themselves!
Bell Copper Tree??
Is the so-called Sea-Calming Bell Ancient Artifact actually the millennium fruit of this Azure Bronze Demon Tree??
Which one should he pick for himself?
Or should he take them all?
As Zhu Minglang was indecisive, the Heavenly Slaughter Dragon slowly raised its agile body and bit off a bell fruit.
“Are you sure you can eat it?” Zhu Minglang asked.
The Heavenly Slaughter Dragon didn’t swallow, but instead suddenly shook its head.
The flesh of the bell fruit was undistinguishable from copper and iron, and most importantly, it really rang like a copper bell when shaken!
This was indeed a strange and mystical fruit. Any creature that could survive to the present couldn’t possibly be so unintelligent as to eat these copper and iron bell fruits, especially since they were the culprits spreading the fragrance that suppressed breathing.
Zhu Minglang scrutinized carefully.
He noticed that two of the bell fruits stood out; they seemed to have been painted, as their colors were overly vibrant. Furthermore, when he used his Spiritual Sense to feel them, he could sense an ancient aura akin to that of a Demon Spirit!
They couldn’t possibly be living things.
They were bell-shaped fruits.
This special aura could only mean they had been formed for thousands of years, or perhaps they had absorbed the strange fragrance of Magic Island, becoming millennial mystical fruits.
Zhu Minglang picked these two bell fruits but left the others, mature and immature alike, untouched.
These must be the Sea-Calming Bells that Lin Zhao and Han Wen were looking for, except he didn’t know how to use them.
“Let’s go, you don’t eat fruits anyway, so what are you staring at?” Zhu Minglang said to the Heavenly Slaughter Dragon.
The Heavenly Slaughter Dragon took another look and, finding it uninteresting, returned the way it came.
As he left, Zhu Minglang took a special look back at the azure bronze tree.
For a few moments, Zhu Minglang thought the eerie copper tree might suddenly come to life and let out a sinister roar at him, the thief, churning up the entire marsh.
But it seemed the tree was just a tree, even though it must have existed for a very long time…
“Is it really this simple?” Zhu Minglang scratched his head.
There was a little bit of unease.
Things had gone so smoothly that he felt the two Sea-calming Bells he pocketed were not that reliable.
…
He made it out of the marsh without any trouble; he had almost used up the grass Beads, and he met up with Han Wen and Lv Yard Patrol. They had also found some grass Beads nearby, enough to extend their time a bit.
“Where’s the Great Instructor?” Zhu Minglang asked.
“The Absolute Sea Hawk Emperor wouldn’t be that easy to shake off; we can leave the island first,” Han Wen said.
“Is this it?” Zhu Minglang took out one of the Sea-calming Bells and inquired.
Han Wen took it and a look of joy gradually spread across her face.
“It’s the one, already three colors, the most perfect Sea-calming Bell!” Han Wen immediately wrapped it carefully in the prepared hide and then placed it in the brocade box.
“Going there must not have been easy, especially since there might still be fierce beasts guarding the area near the Azure Bronze Demon Tree,” Lv Yard Patrol looked at him with admiration.
“This… it was somewhat tricky, but I dealt with it,” Zhu Minglang responded.
It wasn’t good to say that either of these two could have easily taken the Sea-calming Bell themselves.
Maybe many things in this world aren’t as scary as they seem. It’s precisely because some people have greater strength and more confidence that those feats appear achievable only by the mighty.
“Thank you, thank you. Without you, we wouldn’t know when we could get this Sea-calming Bell,” Han Wen said.
“Just this one will do?” Zhu Minglang asked.
“I’ve read about it in books, it’s this kind with the three interwoven colors. Are there many on the azure bronze tree?” Han Wen asked, puzzled.
She had never seen a real azure bronze tree herself and did not know that it actually was covered with bell-shaped fruits.
“No, there are similar copper bell fruits, but none as mature as this one,” Zhu Minglang said.
“One is enough, these three-color Sea-control Bells are also very rare and precious. We exhausted all our efforts just to find one aged enough Azure Bronze Demon Tree, and we determined that it had produced a three-color Sea-calming Bell,” Han Wen explained.
Zhu Minglang pondered for a short while.
In the end, Zhu Minglang still did not mention the second Sea-calming Bell.
Having completed the task they assigned to him, the extra one he had was an additional gain for himself.
“Kaboom!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
A sudden thunderclap exploded right by their ears, nearly knocking Zhu Minglang, Han Wen, and Lv Yard Patrol unconscious.
The surrounding trees shattered instantly, and the air still echoed with the terrifying thunderous screech. Zhu Minglang covered his ears and looked up, only to see the golden eagle diving down at them, its fearsome talons carrying a golden force of destruction, thundering down like a bolt from the blue!
The ground trembled, the forest turned to dust, and Zhu Minglang hurriedly opened the Spirit Realm to summon the Heavenly Slaughter Dragon!
“Ngh!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
The Heavenly Slaughter Dragon catapulted outward, its body’s multicolored starlight converting into beams of annihilation, blasting towards the Absolute Sea Hawk Emperor.
The sky seemed to have been perforated by these beams, and the Absolute Sea Hawk Emperor, which had intended to pulverize the three human thieves on the ground with one swoop of its claw, faced the unexpected appearance of a Dragon King in mid-air!