The Elven Cultivator

A Dragon Soul!

A flicker of surprise crossed Anton’s eyes.

According to Grant, Dragon Souls didn’t appear very often.

Many teams could spend three months in the Subspace and not encounter a single one.

Yet they had run into one less than half an hour after entering.

’Our luck is a little too good.’

Anton focused his gaze and quickly identified the Dragon Soul’s origin.

A Crystal Dragon.

A lower-ranking Giant Dragon within the Dragon Race, a tier below the Radiant Ash Dragon he had faced before.

If the Radiant Ash Dragon was a noble of the Dragon Race, then the Crystal Dragon was a commoner, occupying the lowest rung on the pyramid of Giant Dragons.

But no matter how low its rank, it was still a Giant Dragon.

”Protect yourselves. Don’t make a move.”

Anton said, his expression calm.

The moment the words left his mouth, the Sword Pill leaped from his chest. It trembled slightly in mid-air before splitting into one hundred and twenty-eight streaks of Profound Gold Sword Light, which blotted out the sky as they shot toward the Dragon Soul.

He wanted to see if the Sword Pill could absorb this Dragon Soul.

A normal Dragon Soul probably wouldn’t have much effect on the Sword Pill.

But the Dragon Souls here were different.

Their essence wasn’t that of a lingering spirit, but a pure aggregation of essence.

This was the draconic essence accumulated deep within the Holy Dragon Mountain Range for millennia, stripped from the leylines and released during the Subspace’s formation, then coalesced into its current form within this twisted void.

’Perhaps the Sword Pill can absorb it,’ he thought.

The Crystal Dragon seemed to sense the danger. It opened its massive maw and let out a deafening roar.

A ghastly blue breath, mixed with shattered crystal shards, erupted from deep within its throat, carrying destructive energy as it blasted toward the sword light.

However, the sword light was far faster than the Dragon Breath.

The one hundred and twenty-eight streaks of sword light swerved around the Dragon Breath like a school of fish, striking the Crystal Dragon’s body from different directions almost simultaneously.

TSS TSS TSS!

The dark red light of its body churned violently. The Crystal Dragon’s massive form stiffened, and the spots struck by the sword light visibly dimmed and thinned.

Seeing this, Anton’s eyes lit up.

’The sword light is more effective against the Dragon Soul than I expected. It’s almost completely ignoring the damage reduction for spiritual bodies.’

After a moment of thought, Anton quickly understood the reason.

’It must be because I infused the sword light with the essence of the Slaughter Sword’s ”Annihilation” principle.’

The Dao of the Slaughter Sword was founded on comprehending the Life and Death Law. A single strike could cut through anything.

Even an incorporeal soul body could not be immune to a Sword Intent that touched upon the very origin of life and death.

And without the properties of a spiritual body, this Crystal Dragon’s true strength was not even equal to that of a newly ascended Legend.

Under Anton’s assault, it could only roar and struggle in vain as its body continuously dimmed and thinned under the slicing sword light.

Four or five minutes later, the Crystal Dragon’s massive body completely disintegrated, turning into countless fine specks of light that floated in the void.

The sword light swept through, swallowing all the specks of light like a whale inhaling water.

Anton swept his Divine Sense over the Sword Pill and discovered that the Profound Light on its surface had visibly grown a sliver more intense.

”It really can absorb them.”

Joy blossomed in Anton’s heart.

’Although the increase isn’t as much as completely devouring a Legendary Giant Dragon, the essence of one Dragon Soul is at least twenty to thirty percent as effective.’

The key was that Dragon Souls were numerous in the Subspace, and hunting them was far, far easier than hunting living Legendary Giant Dragons.

As long as he could find enough Dragon Souls, the Sword Pill would soon advance to the level of a mid-grade Profound Artifact.

”Let’s go.”

Anton suppressed his excitement and beckoned for the Elves to continue onward.

He had thought it would be quite some time before they encountered another Dragon Soul.

But to Anton’s surprise, just over an hour later, another dark red vortex appeared in the sky above.

A Dragon Soul quickly took shape.

This Dragon Soul was even larger, nearly one hundred and thirty meters long.

Its body was silvery-white, its scales like the sharp-edged cross-section of a glacier.

A row of ice-crystal spines rose from its back, extending from the nape of its neck to the tip of its tail like inverted swords.

A Frost Vein Dragon!

A noble of the Dragon Race, in the same class as the Radiant Ash Dragon.

Anton’s expression grew serious as he unleashed the sword light once more.

Compared to the Crystal Dragon, the Frost Vein Dragon was clearly a cut above in combat power.

Its strength was somewhere between a newly ascended Legend and a Pillar Legend.

For Anton, however, it made little difference.

Seven or eight minutes later, the Dragon Soul of this high-ranking dragon met the same fate as the Crystal Dragon, completely devoured by the sword light.

The Profound Light on the Sword Pill’s surface grew a few shades richer.

Anton withdrew the sword light, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

’The frequency of these Dragon Soul encounters... isn’t it a bit high?’

They had been inside for less than two hours and had already run into two Dragon Souls in succession.

This was far too unusual.

Lost in thought, Anton’s gaze fell upon the Sword Pill floating beside him.

’Could it be because of the Sword Pill?’

Just then, the Great Elder came over, frowning. ”Clan Leader, something doesn’t feel right.”

Anton nodded slightly, indicating he understood.

”Let’s keep observing.”

Sure enough, less than an hour later, they encountered a Dragon Soul for the third time.

And this time, two appeared at once.

Anton focused and observed, and just as he suspected, both Dragon Souls were staring intently at the Sword Pill by his side, completely ignoring him and the other Elves.

Now, Anton was finally certain.

It was the Sword Pill.

The Sword Pill had been forged from the essence, blood, and soul of a sub-dragon Rock-Horned Dragon. It had then grown to its current state by devouring the flesh and essence of countless members of the Dragon Race, sub-dragons, and Giant Dragons.

It could be said that it had grown by treading on the corpses of innumerable creatures with draconic blood.

These Dragon Souls could probably sense this quality in the Sword Pill.

It was likely akin to a righteous warrior seeing the demonic aura billowing from a Banner of Ten Thousand Souls.

That aura of shared origin yet complete opposition, that ”sin” accumulated from devouring the essence of countless kin, would make any Dragon Soul with a remnant of instinctual will view it as a mortal enemy to be fought to the death.

To the Dragon Souls, the Sword Pill was like a magnet, naturally drawing their attention.

This was why they had encountered Dragon Souls one after another ever since entering the Subspace.

The only fortunate thing was that the situation hadn’t devolved to the point of being swarmed by all of them, like what happened with the Saints.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be facing one or two Dragon Souls, but an overwhelming army of them.

”Anton, is something wrong?”

Romance asked, confused, having noticed Anton’s strange behavior.

Anton shook his head and said, ”These Dragon Souls are coming for my Sword Pill.”

The Elves present were more or less aware of the unique nature of their Clan Leader’s weapon, and they all had a moment of realization upon hearing his words.

”Let’s go.”

Anton’s expression returned to its usual calm, but a flicker of anticipation grew in his heart.

’Now, I can hunt Dragon Souls to improve the Sword Pill’s quality while searching for the spatial node.’

’Killing two birds with one stone!’

* * *

There was no day or night in the Subspace.

The dark red energy vortexes in the sky above spun eternally, casting an unchanging, blood-colored light upon the land.

Here, time could only be measured by an hourglass.

Beneath a natural archway formed by the ribs of an ancient behemoth, seven figures advanced slowly along the spine of a massive skeleton.

Their pace was unhurried.

Even while traveling, they carried a certain innate, almost instinctual, elegance and composure.

Leading them was a male elf with golden hair and golden eyes.

As he walked, his deep blue robes billowed gently in the wind. The silver star patterns embroidered on the hem complemented the emerald oak leaf insignia at his collar.

It was the sigil of the Jade Royal Court.

Behind him, six Elves followed closely, also dressed in finely tailored robes and wearing the insignia of the Jade Royal Court. Their every move exuded a noble grace that seemed to come from their very bones.

After walking for some time, one of the Elves in the group focused his senses for a moment, then shook his head in slight disappointment.

”It’s been two months, and we haven’t found so much as a shadow of a node.”

The other Elves also frowned.

In these two months, they had traveled an unknown distance but still hadn’t discovered a single spatial node.

In less than a month, if they still found nothing, they would have to leave the Subspace to replace their escape Scrolls.

”This is to be expected.”

The golden-haired elf’s expression remained indifferent.

”If the nodes were that easy to find, the allied forces wouldn’t have come up empty-handed for the past half-year.”

He paused, his tone taking on a peculiar edge.

”Alicia’s Soul-Mirror Law is said to be able to reflect the truth of all things, making the flow of all energy impossible to hide from her eyes. But didn’t she also return empty-handed the last two times she led a team in here?”

”If the Royal Court’s most brilliant genius ended up like that, it’s normal for us to have found nothing.”

At these words, the Elf who had just been complaining fell silent.

The other team members exchanged subtle glances, none daring to respond to the topic.

Alicia’s status in the Royal Court was extremely special.

Although she was from a branch family, she had become the youngest Star Saint in the history of the Jade Royal Court through her extraordinary talent and profound understanding of the Laws.

Within the Royal Court, her prestige even surpassed that of most members of the royal family.

Lord Alvin could tease Alicia a bit.

After all, he was a member of the royal family. His status was clear, so no matter how out of line his words were, no one would dare say much.

But they didn’t dare to criticize Lady Alicia.

Seeing that no one was responding, Alvin paid it no mind. Just as he was about to say something else, his expression suddenly shifted, and he stopped in his tracks.

Almost at the same instant, the other Elves also sensed the energy fluctuations from a distance.

”A spatial node?”

”Doesn’t feel like one. It’s more like a Dragon Soul.”

”Looks like a team has run into a Dragon Soul.”

”Lord Alvin, should we go around?”

The Elves all turned their gazes to Alvin.

He pondered for a moment before saying, ”Let’s go take a look.”

”We’ve been in this damn place for two months without finding a single node. It’s rare for something interesting to happen, so there’s no harm in checking it out.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he flashed away, darting toward the source of the energy fluctuations.

The remaining Elves exchanged a glance and, without another word, silently followed.

After crossing a low hill, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

A relatively flat plain came into view. Large patches of grayish-white rock were exposed on the ground, crisscrossed with fissures like a dry riverbed.

And in the center of this plain, a fierce battle was underway.

Alvin’s gaze fell on the chaotic battlefield, and his pupils contracted slightly.

”Five Dragon Souls.”

Above the plain, a shocking five Dragon Souls were circling!

The Elves behind him also revealed utterly bizarre expressions.

The chances of encountering a Dragon Soul in the Subspace were already low, to say nothing of five appearing at the same time.

The odds were probably even lower than finding a spatial node right after entering the Subspace.

To run into something so rare... they didn’t know whether to call it good luck or bad.

The Elves looked at the team fighting the Dragon Souls with pity in their eyes.

The ambushed team had only six members, with only two at the Legendary Tier. The rest were at the Golden Peak.

With a lineup like that, it was a miracle they had lasted this long.