Chapter 286: Chapter 287: Too Few Dragons


    No matter if it was humans, demons, or dragons, they all possessed souls, and Zhu Minng was clear on that.


    After all, the Dragon Shepherd’s Soul Collecting Pearl Brewing was about drawing on the power of these souls.


    However, it was the first time Zhu Minng had heard of the term ‘shade’.


    “These shades, can they be understood as ghosts?” Fang Niannian said with a hint of fear in her voice.


    Fang Niannian was not afraid of heaven or earth, and even if a ten-thousand-year-old demon dragon loomed in front of her, she wouldn’t speak with the tremor she had now.


    But ghosts…


    Even if it was just a tiny ghostly fire flickering at a grave, Fang Niannian would be so scared that she couldn’t sleep the entire night.


    Wasn’t it said that there were no ghosts in this world at all!


    “Ghosts generally refer to those souls who are unable to let go of their obsessions, carry resentment, and are aggressive towards the living. Shades, in actuality, are harmless; they are merely a residual image after a person’s death. Some shades don’t even realize that they are dead, continuously talking and repeating the actions they used to do while they were alive,” Li Xinghua exined to everyone.


    However, after hearing all this, Fang Niannian’splexion grew even worse.


    This is still a ghost!!


    Just with a slightly gentler name!


    “Then can you find that ck Lake in the Cave?” Zhu Minng asked.


    The young girl with light eyes nodded.


    In fact, she had followed the route given by the drowned shade. It was arge mountain used for collecting herbs. Because the shade had given very detailed directions, the girl carefully memorized the route as she walked.


    However, she only reached the crack in the ground that the drowned shade spoke of and never actually jumped into the fissure.


    “Let’s do this, we’ll split up. You go with her to the ck Lake, take all the treasures… I mean, pour the antidote resin into it, and first purify the water sourcepletely. I, on the other hand, will exterminate the Mourning Dragons at Stone Vige,” Zhu Minng said.


    “Just you alone??” Hu Bailing widened her eyes.


    “Yes,” Zhu Minng nodded.


    “Wouldn’t that be overreaching?” Song Luo said.


    “It would have been overreaching before, but not now.”


    Now that the Divine Green Holy Dragon had developed a fiendish nature, Zhu Minng, in essence, had another Dragon King level. Not to mention that the Demon Awakening Fruits were now in Zhu Minng’s hands. Unable to transform into demon shadows, the Mourning Dragon Army’s strength was discounted. With the right approach, Zhu Minng could still capture them all in one fell swoop.


    Even if it came to the worst, he would kill a portion first, then retreat, and after adjusting his condition, he’d strike back in.


    “Yu Suo, let little Chang’e apany the young master,” Li Xinghua said to her sister.


    Nan Yuso was a bit reluctant.


    It wasn’t that she didn’t want to entrust little Chang’e to Zhu Minng temporarily, but rather, she also wanted to return to that wretched vige and eradicate those ugly, disgusting, and cunning Mourning Dragons!


    But considering that everyone else in the team had low cultivation levels and that the Polluted Night Sacrifice Dragon was a leader among the Mourning Dragon ns, and since they intended to pollute the water, they must be at the water source.


    Therefore, there was a high likelihood that a powerful Polluted Night Sacrifice Dragon would appear at the source of water, and she needed to be there to confront it.


    With fur that was utterly clean and soft, the body seemingly especially round but also adorned with graceful lines, the Immortal Rabbit Dragony listlessly on Big ck Tooth’s head, her tiny facial expressions as unwilling as her master Nan Yuso.


    “Why did I even go with this group of big dummies to exterminate dragons?”


    It preferred roaming the hills and ying with water rather than fighting and killing.


    “Is there any spell that can restore strength? We just had a big battle at the ruins not long ago,” Zhu Minng asked the little Chang’e.


    “No, this Immortal Dragon isn’t omnipotent!” the voice of the little Chang’e, clear and childlike, rang out like that of a proud little girl!


    “Then we shall observe first and see if we can find a method to catch them all in one go,” said Zhu Minng.


    The Ice Morning White Dragon was still in good shape; it hadn’t used any major Profound Art to deal with those rat-like Mourning Dragons and had fully recovered its strength.


    The Sword Spirit Dragon and the Divine Green Holy Dragon both needed to rest, so Zhu Minng recalled them into the Spirit Realm, where they would recover faster in his Spiritual Spring of spiritual energy.


    “These Mourning Dragons aren’t strong individually; they’re just somewhat sly and treacherous.”


    “If we could find theirmander or leader, the Mourning Dragons would be like a bunch of headless flies.”


    “After all, they are still a bunch of beasts. Finding their weaknesses and bringing them down is just a matter of time.”


    Zhu Minng returned to Stone Vige and noticed Mourning Dragons patrolling in the towering cliffs on both sides.


    Avoiding these Mourning Dragons wasn’t too difficult, but Zhu Minng was extremely cautious this time. Mourning Dragons had a strong ability to disguise themselves, and even using his Spiritual Sense, sometimes he couldn’t tell where they were hiding.


    “It’s a pity, I still have too few dragons. If I had one that was great at concealing itself, excelled in scouting, and had superior insight and alertness, it could find the Mourning Dragon Leader hiding among the dragon herds for me and gather more information,” Zhu Minng muttered to himself.


    “You are one of the very few Dragon Shepherds I have seen who do not carry a Juvenile Spirit. Without nurturing Juvenile Spirits, where would your dragonpanion reservese from? Look at other Dragon Shepherds, once they reach Monarch Level, they might have more than a dozen dragonpanions. Then look at you, it’s just these four dragons back and forth!” Mr. Jinli said with quite some disdain.


    “It’s not like I haven’t seen a suitable one,” said Zhu Minng.


    “At the very least, go dragon hunting. Go to those Sacred Mountain Demon Caves, search for traces of the Supreme Dragons. If you can tame one, you would even save on the initial taming costs!” Mr. Jinli spoke as if he was frustrated with Zhu Minng’sck of progression.


    Zhu Minng was now following the elite dragon path.


    He aimed to make each dragon he owned powerful, to surpass the limits of their own lineage and species.


    Although it was proving very effective at the moment, with the Demon Awakening Fruit, the Divine Green Holy Dragon became immensely powerful, only Big ck Tooth was slightly behind. But a truly powerful Dragon Shepherd can’t possibly make a name with just four dragons!


    The strength of a Dragon Shepherd lies in the multitude of dragons. Otherwise, how could the frail-bodied Dragon Shepherdpete with those of the Divine and Mortal?


    Four dragons.


    Just four dragons!


    In the eyes of Mr. Jinli, even doubling Zhu Minng’s count wouldn’t be considered many!


    It’s not about every dragon needing to be extremely powerful, one must have a reserve!


    Juvenile Spirits, Young Dragons, Reserve Dragons, untamed Adult Dragons, and the coveted Supreme Dragons one wishes to capture—all are viable options. Many dragons may not have a high cultivation base, but if they possess some special ability, they are still worth acquiring.


    Take the Immortal Rabbit Dragon, for example…


    Who cares about the cultivation base of an Immortal Rabbit Dragon? Yet, it possesses a rare Healing Mystical Art!


    “When a cowherd thinks all day of how to expand his herd, to herd more cattle, save more money to marry a wife—look at you, without any ambition, wasting all the schrly knowledge in this fish’s belly!” Mr. Jinli criticized without a hint of politeness.