The Inverted Dragon's Scale

Pain.

The pain of the heart being drilled.

The pain of flesh being cut.

The pain of bones being pierced.

It was like having a steel fork skewered through the heart, followed by a brittle sound of ‘snap’.

It was like having a blade cut your flesh into thin pieces and serve on a plate for others to taste.

It was like the scraping motion of a rusty iron knife over the bone, like a hungry wolf chewing a bone——

The pain was not just physical, but mentally.

If the soul was a little person, then the dragon nail was a pair of scissors.

Screech——

The little person was cut into pieces with blood flowing everywhere.

From the inside out, or from the outside to the inside.

Because it was too painful, it makes it difficult to find out exactly where the pain comes from and where it goes. Since, every part, each corner was in pain, was burning.

This was a pain that a life cannot bear, a pain that the body cannot bear.

Li Muyang’s body was shuddering.

It was not just his body that was shaking, also his soul.

“Ahhh——” Li Muyang cried out in agony.

It had nothing to do with cowardice, nothing to do with toughness; it was just the normal reaction of the body.

Li Muyang never knew such pain existed in the world. His sufferings and torments as a child, and the dragon suppressing formation that he had encountered in Stupa city, were nothing compared to this.

He wanted lose consciousness and wanted to die immediately.

But, what was worse was that he had to stay awake.

He had to be more awake than ever.

He could clearly feel that a nail, which seemed to have been frozen for thousands of years inside an iceberg, was drilling through the top of his head.

It was not inserted in all at once, but made him digest the pain carefully.

It was very slow, piercing through little by little.

Where the nail was pierced into, your thoughts will gather there and your attention will follow.

It was as though there was a pair of eyes in the sky, your own eyes, watching that ice-cold nail insert into your head, little by little, inch by inch.

It was piercing cold, but it felt like a wildfire was burning in the brain.

It will burn his head to coal and ashes.

Che——

The black netherworld nail was completely inserted into the top of his head, and the inside of the brain froze.

Because the cold was too biting cold, there were frosts forming inside the brain. The whole brain had went blank, only the piercing pain was spreading down.

All the way down, down to the cracks of the bone.

The bone was suddenly heavier by thousands of kilograms, that makes one feel an urge to carve away the flesh to pull it out.

Once the netherworld nail had inserted into his body, Li Muyang felt he was going to collapse.

Had it not been for Song Gudu who still clutching his neck, he would have been paralysed to the ground like a dead body.

A world of ice and snow, a biting-cold winter.

Li Muyang’s forehead was beaded with sweat, and even his clothes were drenched.

His complexion was purple-red, an abnormal look caused by the rapid flow of blood.

His eyelids were suddenly closed, and his eyes protruded like those of a dead fish.

There was saliva overflowing his mouth, as well as blood flowing out through his clenched teeth.

Song Gudu looked at Li Muyang who seemed to be at his last gasp, asking again, “your answer?”

“Let go of my sister——” said Li Muyang in a weak voice, “let go of——my family——and I’ll——tell——you——”

“It seems that you still don’t understand what I mean.”

This kid, why did he suddenly become so stupid?

“It seems like you think that one nail is enough.”

He stretched out his right arm again, spreading his hand open, palm facing down.

A ball of transparent light appeared in the palm of his hand, and then the light ball extended toward the ground, turning into a beam of transparent light.

Soon, the beam of light turned black, and then a mass of dark, terrifying black matter was drawn out from the depths of the ground.

That black matter gathered in the palm of Song Gudu, solidifying into the outline of a nail.

Then, bringing the long black nail high up, Song Gudu once again aimed it towards the head of Li Muyang——

“Ah——”

Li Muyang’s collapsed body once again tensed up, letting out miserable shrieks.

“What’s your answer?”

“Let my sister go——”

“What’s your answer?”

“Let go of——my sister—”

Every time Song Gudu asked this question and was rejected by Li Muyang, a netherworld nail was pierced into the head of Li Muyang.

One by one, a total of eight questions were asked, and a total of eight nails were inserted.

Song Gudu’s right hand was raised into the air, holding a dark ink-stick-like tapered nail.

He looked at Li Muyang and asked again, “What’s your answer?”

“——”

Li Muyang did not answer.

He had no way of answering again.

Li Muyang’s face was twisted with pain, looking horrifying and ugly.

His pupils were bloodshot and his eyeballs were protruding, as if they were likely to explode at any moment.

Li Muyang’s head was drooping, eyelids closed, and his body hung there like mud.

A gust of wind blew, swaying Li Muyang’s body that was held in Song Gudu’s hand, like a straw puppet.

“I have inserted eight netherworld nails into you. If I put the ninth dragon nail into your body——you soul will fly away and scatter, even the great gods will struggle to save you.” Song Gudu’s eyes were fierce, voice finally carried a hint of anger. “Li Muyang, what’s your answer? What is the secret to the longevity of the dragons?”

“——”

No one answered.

Li Muyang seemed to have died from pain.

Except that his body was still twitching.

It was a natural reaction of the body before the pain had disappeared.

Song Gudu shook his head, sighing: “Chenxi has a cold constitution, fortunately I found a dragon lantern in a dragon cave that burns dragon blood and wouldn’t be extinguished for thousands of years. It can create warmth——unfortunately, the lights are beginning to weaken, and looks like it will die out at any time. If I can’t learn about the dragon’s longevity, then I’ll take your blood to light the dragon lantern for my granddaughter——”

As he spoke, the hand was once again lifted above Li Muyang’s head, trying to insert the ninth netherworld nail into his head.

“Die——”

Liu Qingming, who was seriously injured, could only sit there watching his son being tortured by Song Gudu.

He desperately endured, desperately clenched his teeth.

He rattled his fist, and crushed a few of his teeth.

He was reciting the Lu clan’s ‘Heaven emperor mantra’ to quickly restore his body’s strength by burning his dantian.

He was going to launch a fatal blow at Song Gudu.

However, the time that Song Gudu had given him was too little.

It was incredibly difficult to restore his battle strength in such a short time, and to launch a fatal blow at a master like Song Gudu.

When he heard that Song Gudu was about to insert the ninth netherworld nail into the body of Li Muyang, he couldn’t endure any longer.

In order not to arouse Song Gudu’s attention, he did not even dare to summon over his long spear that had fallen to the ground.

He reached his hand into the ice and snow, gathering the pure white ice and snow into a ice spear.

Then, his body soared into the air, thrusting the ice spear at Song Gudu’s heart.

Che——

The white ice spear in Liu Qingming’s hand had pierced into Song Gudu’s body.

He howled with laughter, “Song Gudu, you old dog——I finally killed you——I finally killed you—I have avenged my father——”

“Foolish.” Song Gudu shook his head.

His body shook and a wave of blue-green light attacked all directions.

Boom——

Where the light waves passed, the snow was cleared completely.

Kacha——

Lu Qingming’s ice spear broke off in sections from the spearhead, until the entire ice spear exploded like a bubble.

Kacha——

Fragments of ice splattered everywhere.

However, Song Gudu remained unwounded.

The smile on Lu Qingming’s face had froze, blood still overflowing his mouth.

His face was dripping with blood, looking like a crazy man in a state of madness.

Lu Qingming stared wide-eyed at Song Gudu, with puzzlement, disappointment, but more of unwillingness.

“Why?”

“Why can’t I kill him?”

Song Gudu’s raised right hand suddenly slammed down at Lu Qingming.

Che——

The ninth netherworld nail was punched into the body of Lu Qingming.

“Pffff——”

Lu Qingming violently sprayed out a mouthful of blood as his body propelled into the distance like a loosed kite.

Thud——

Lu Qingming’s body dropped into the snow. He stubbornly attempted to get up, straightened his back, head facing upwards, but collapsed with a thud again.

There was no more sound or movement.

At this moment, Li Muyang, who had been in an unconscious state, suddenly snapped open his eyes.

It was a pair of eyes shrouded in blood mist that concealed the pupils and without the slightest whiteness.

The eyes were filled with blood, bubbling blood.

On the back of his hand were black scales surfacing rapidly, and the palms had turned into sharp claws in an instant.

When Song Gudu turned his hand over to strike the netherworld nail into Lu Qingming’s body, Li Muyang finally began to counterattack.

Cha——

He brandished the dark, sharp dragon claw and dug into Song Gudu’s chest.

Kacha——

The claw, without any obstruction, was inserted into Song Gudu’s chest, and then with a powerful dragging motion tore a long deep wound.

He was going to dig out Song Gudu’s heart.