The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#689 - dragon

"Okay, I promise you," Lu Jing said.

Hearing these words, the woman's originally listless expression perked up slightly, and she said, "That treasure... is myself. I chose fifteen people, each with a part of their body that they were proud of."

"I transplanted their most beautiful features onto my body, so that I would be the most beautiful woman in the world. No man would not be captivated by me. With just a word from me, they would even be willing to die for me."

"Unfortunately... I couldn't refine it."

The woman took a few breaths, and then continued, "As for that cataclysm, I also overheard Mr. Ji mention it by chance. He said that at the earliest, in a year or two, and at the latest, in three to five years, the thing sleeping in the center of the secret realm will completely awaken."

"What is that thing?" Lu Jing asked in a deep voice.

"Mr. Ji calls that thing... a dragon."

"Are there really dragons in this world?" Lu Jing was slightly stunned.

"I don't know. Mr. Ji said... that dragon is very strong, but there is something even stronger than it, and it was forcibly cut into twelve pieces by that stronger being."

"But even so, that dragon didn't die. Its vitality is simply terrifyingly strong, and as the world progresses, its vitality is constantly increasing."

"Once it reaches a certain critical point, its body will be reassembled. And to prevent this from happening, that being came up with a solution."

Lu Jing thought of something, and raised an eyebrow, "The Twelve Secret Realms?"

He remembered that Xuan Ji had once told him that there were twelve secret realms in the world, which coincided with the unlucky dragon whose head had been cut into twelve pieces.

"That's right," the woman nodded, "It's the Twelve Secret Realms."

"The twelve secret realms are the twelve prisons that imprison the dragon. The person who built the prisons designed them very cleverly. Those prisons can not only imprison the various body parts of the dragon, but also continuously absorb the life force from the dragon's body."

"Then, in turn, use those life forces to imprison the dragon."

"Wait..." Lu Jing frowned, "But I clearly remember that the formation times of the twelve secret realms are not the same. Among them, the oldest secret realms have tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of years of history, while the youngest is only a few hundred years old. But according to you, all the secret realms should have been built at roughly the same time."

"Mr. Ji also had the same question. He said that he spent a long time studying this problem, but unfortunately, humans know too little about the secret realms."

"And the existence time of the secret realms is too long. In the end, Mr. Ji only barely came up with a guess. He guessed that the twelve secret realms in this world were indeed built at the same time."

"However, that being's skill in cutting the dragon was not very good, or it is also possible that the different parts of the dragon contained different amounts of life force."

"This led to the speed at which those secret realms absorbed life force being fast or slow. Some secret realms were filled up first... so the excess life force dissipated into the human world. At this time, that secret realm was discovered first."

"And some secret realms absorbed life force more slowly, and only filled up after a long time, so naturally the formation time was later..."

Although Lu Jing had been trying to send internal energy into the woman's meridians, the latter's voice sounded weaker and weaker.

Especially towards the end, she had to take several breaths after saying just one sentence.

"Ji, Mr. Ji said... that being's design is really ingenious. After so long, it still has that dragon completely under control."

"But that dragon has been imprisoned for so long, thinking about it day and night, and finally it came up with a way to break free. It went against the grain, not allowing its life force to continue to grow, but instead making its life force weaker and weaker."

"In this way, those cages that imprison it will no longer be able to obtain enough power from its body, so they will also become weaker and weaker. Although the dragon's own strength will also be greatly reduced, as long as it can find a way to maintain it for a period of time."

"The cages, being inanimate objects, will decay first. By then, there will be nothing to trap it anymore, and when it sees the light of day again, the human world will usher in a cataclysm."

The woman said with difficulty, "This... this is all what Mr. Ji told me. He said that I am the second person in this world besides him to know about this matter."

"It seems he values you a lot," Lu Jing said, "Who exactly are you to him?"

"I am nothing to him. I am just the most ordinary and lowly prostitute."

The woman's answer surprised Lu Jing once again.

"Mr. Ji said... because I sang good songs, he told me this secret. At the time, I only thought he was joking."

"Until I later saw the tricks he performed... I realized that he was different from the men I had met before. He was a person with real skills."

"Then he taught me this method of refining treasures, and at the same time, he directly stated the dangers and cruelty involved, telling me that once I started refining treasures, I would likely be targeted by the Directorate of Celestial Observation."

"So later, he also helped me plan and customize this plan to deceive the heavens, but he said it was up to me whether to use it or not."

And her words made Lu Jing think of Wang Wan, whom he had met before, and he couldn't help but sigh.

"I know you are a good person, Hero Lu, so before I die, I will tell you everything you want to know..." The woman shuddered as she said this.

"It's so cold, why is it getting colder and colder..."

Lu Jing said, "Don't be afraid, I'll find you a stove."

As he spoke, he secretly increased his power, but unfortunately, the woman was already running out of energy, and then she began to talk nonsense.

One moment she was crying and begging those wronged souls not to come and seek revenge on her, and the next moment she was clamoring to go home. Before long, she completely breathed her last.

Lu Jing originally wanted to find something to wrap the body on the ground, but the corner of his eye caught sight of Xia Huai not far away, and he was indeed shocked.

He saw that Xia Huai's cheeks were already as red as a sunset glow, and the clothes he had just draped over the girl's body were completely soaked with sweat.

At this moment, it was completely stuck to Xia Huai's skin, outlining the girl's curves clearly.

Lu Jing quickly walked to the dragon-hairpin girl, and undid her acupuncture point, "The antidote."

"There isn't any," The dragon-hairpin girl rolled her eyes, and said very simply, "When have you ever seen this kind of poison have an antidote?"