Chapter 207
Before meeting Yu Xunge, Tu Lan had mentioned the incident with the mist blade and the dragon clan's scent. Later, she even went so far as to customize a perfume for it. Tu Lan had no choice in the matter; now that they were at the Dragon's Nest, it was only natural to snag a few dragon scales from Bei Sui.
Bei Sui sighed, "Haven't you picked up plenty of scales these past few days?"
Tu Lan retorted confidently, "We only found three broken ones! The rest were sold off by the snow pile. If you give us another one, we can trade them around!"
From the initial awkwardness to the current ease, Yu Xunge calmly looked up at the sky, almost whistling to feign that she had just happened to be here.
In her heart, she cheered for Tu Lan: "Go, go, go~"
Yu Xunge had completely transformed into a pest, tagging along with Tu Lan to mooch off the dragon scales.
In the end, Bei Sui reluctantly pulled out a dragon scale that had fallen off him long ago. Tu Lan also managed to snag a little something from the Holy Grail—not a dragon scale, but a small ice sculpture resembling Tu Lan herself. It was about the size of Yu Xunge's eye and served only to allow Tu Lan to change her form and information.
Though not as powerful as Yu Xunge's disguise skill, which could evade divination, S-rank and below skills and items were unable to see through it. Moreover, the disguise state could still utilize divine talents.
After handing the ice sculpture to Tu Lan, the Holy Grail suddenly said, "Don't burden your soul with too much."
Yu Xunge was taken aback. What did that mean? Was it referring to the equipment binding stone?
Confused, she bid farewell to the Holy Grail and Bei Sui. Just over a hundred meters into the air, Tu Lan could no longer contain her excitement. "This is amazing! I can finally go out and cause trouble with you!!!"
Yu Xunge thought, "…………… You just want us both to get into trouble."
Sure enough, as soon as Tu Lan finished speaking, a snowball and a glowing orb came flying from behind, two skill projectiles aimed right at Tu Lan's backside. Yu Xunge immediately activated [No Snowball], using [Thunder Cage] to weave two electric nets that overlapped and blocked the incoming skills.
This was a new application of a skill she had grasped while watching the big dragons fight over the past few days. The casting time for the Thunder Cage was variable; with her current intelligence and various casting bonuses, she could create a complete 3m x 3m x 3m cube cage in three seconds.
During this process, she needed to weave six electric nets and control them to form the cage. However, if she only needed to create a single 3m x 3m electric net, it would only take 0.5 seconds to cast, and that net could do many things under her control—defend, attack, or restrain. If she didn't need such a large net, the casting time could be further compressed.
For instance, at this moment, although the two electric nets were torn apart by Bei Sui and the Holy Grail's skills upon contact, they bought half a second of time. Tu Lan, who had been practicing with Yu Xunge for a long time, managed to dodge the two skills in that brief moment.
Yu Xunge quickly climbed onto Tu Lan's head and covered her mouth. "Run, run!"
Tu Lan wanted to retort, but Yu Xunge anticipated her move and covered her mouth. Frustrated, Tu Lan huffed and shot an angry glare at the Holy Grail and Bei Sui before taking off with Yu Xunge.
Once back on Blue Star, Yu Xunge wasted no time and began investigating the Liang family.
She didn’t rush to buy information from outside but started with local news and gaming forums, looking for any gossip.
Although most of these rumors were fabricated to grab attention, sometimes, hidden inside those tales were genuine insider stories, often too outrageous for anyone to believe.
Many wealthy individuals might not be famous nationwide if they hadn’t made it onto the rich list, but some tycoons with extensive businesses that provided numerous jobs for local citizens were constantly in the local gossip.
The Liang family and the Su family were prime examples.
Many businesspeople in S City knew that the Liang family had made their fortune selling seafood, but the ancestor who founded the family had a name unrelated to seafood—Liang Po Zhou.
His early life was fraught with hardship and poverty, but after turning fifty, he suddenly struck it rich and soared to success without any setbacks.
Whether it was to commemorate Liang Po Zhou or a family tradition, the descendants of the Liang family continued to maintain their fishing boats, even after branching out into more lucrative industries. They enjoyed sea fishing and held family gatherings every month to spend a few days out at sea.
Even after the game invasion, this habit persisted, though due to the tense situation and uncertainty about underwater dungeons, the Liang family members wouldn’t venture too far from the coastline.
Yu Xunge had previously thought that Liang Po Zhou was Liang Yu Chuan's great-grandfather, but upon deeper investigation, she realized she had misheard in her past life. Liang Po Zhou was actually Liang Sha's great-grandfather, making him Liang Yu Chuan's great-great-grandfather.
Liang Yu Chuan's great-grandfather was someone she had once portrayed—Liang You.
She couldn’t help but wonder why Liang Po Zhou had given his child such an unappealing name. While "Po Zhou" had negative connotations, it still had a certain charm when heard.
To spark discussion among players, Yu Xunge decided to re-post the statue and anonymously created a thread on the gaming forum titled "How Did Liang Po Zhou Make His Fortune?"
Tu Lan also created a new account to inquire about Liang Po Zhou in the game, but such gossip was hardly known by the younger generation. The youth were generally uninterested in the stories of their elders, let alone digging into the life of someone who had been dead for hundreds of years.
Yu Xunge asked Tu Lan, "What’s the use of the Dragon Ancestor's remains?"
Tu Lan replied, "It contains the residual power source of the Dragon Ancestor. Long-term exposure can purify our own powers and elevate our life levels. It’s not much use to other races; they can only barely borrow a bit of its power."
A higher life level? Yu Xunge pondered this statement. The dragon clan was already so powerful; could their life levels still evolve? Would the result be terrifying attribute values that were almost the sum of four attributes of Blue Star players at the same level?
What about humans? Could humans also "evolve"?
He Xi, who longed to transform into a dragon, was he perhaps seeking that path of evolution?
After Tu Lan answered Yu Xunge's questions, she waited for a response but received none. Unfazed, she asked Yu Xunge, "Why are we investigating this? Can't we just go find the Dragon Ancestor's reverse scale? As long as we get close, I can sense it."
Yu Xunge closed the game interface and replied, "I just want to gather more information before we search. Let’s go; tonight we’ll sense the area nearby. What’s the farthest distance you can sense?"
Though she asked, she didn’t hold much hope. Her villa was just a stone's throw from the Liang family estate, but since Tu Lan hadn’t sensed the Dragon Ancestor's reverse scale after being here for so long, it either meant the Liang family had hidden it well or it simply wasn’t here.
The worst-case scenario was that the reverse scale had already been stashed away in a game backpack before Tu Lan was brought home.
Tu Lan said, "It’s probably about the distance from where we found the dragon whiskers to my little dragon tooth nest."
Yu Xunge sat down silently again. That distance was enough for her to make three round trips between her home and the Liang family estate: "I’ll look into it some more."
Over a hundred years ago, the reverse scale had been stolen, and that Wind Scythe must have accidentally fallen into Blue Star after taking it. If he was still fleeing in Zelan at that time, Xue Dui wouldn’t have been able to catch up…
A hundred years ago, or rather, 8508 years ago, theoretically, this timeline matched up with Liang Po Zhou’s rise to wealth after turning fifty.
But a hundred and one years is still over a hundred years, and a hundred seventy or eighty years is also over a hundred years. When she was on Dragon Island, she had asked Xue Dui about it, but as a dragon, his concept of time was vague. A year for them was like a minute for humans; it was hard for him to articulate. Those big dragons sometimes slept for half a year, and even if Xue Dui was an elder, he still needed to sleep.
Yet, even without much hope, that night, Yu Xunge took Tu Lan on a long walk around the Liang family’s vicinity, but naturally, they sensed nothing.
On the way home, Yu Xunge suddenly thought of He Xi. Since Tu Lan could sense the dragon's aura, could He Xi do the same?
She had a strong feeling that in her past life, He Xi had likely obtained that Dragon Ancestor's reverse scale.
She just had this feeling because He Xi's S-rank divine talent included a skill called [The Hungrier, The Luckier], which was completely on a different level from the other three skills that were either offensive or defensive.
In fact, it could be said that it was a skill that didn’t quite fit with the dragon He Xi at all.
[The Hungrier, The Luckier]: Lucky little snake, the hungrier, the luckier.
Just ten words, but Yu Xunge had read it and couldn’t forget it.
The fewer the words, the greater the matter; sometimes, the less clearly defined the probabilities and data, the more infinite the possibilities.
Thinking of He Xi, Yu Xunge felt a surge of urgency. She didn’t even return home but followed the information she had gathered to find the Liang family’s fishing boat.
Private purchases of beaches were not allowed in the country, but for the privileged, there were always ways to circumvent these regulations. Every building in this area had been bought up by the Liang family, making it difficult for ordinary people to enter. Even if they did, they would be watched by the Liang family’s bodyguards.
Several yachts and an old fishing boat were docked by the beach, and the villa near the shore was lit up, filled with laughter and the sounds of card games.
Yu Xunge’s destination was that old fishing boat.
Table of Contents
