Chapter 294: The Special Lunar Spring Essence
"Use the Lunar Spring Essence to create undead warriors?!" Rinloran's eyes turned cold as ice. The Lunar Spring and Tree of Life were sacred objects for all elves. For the Undead Bishop to use such a method to create undead was complete sacrilege.
"So we are moving as soon as the undead dragon leaves?"
Stingham muttered, "I guess it really isn't that dangerous then."
"Indeed. Unfortunately, the whereabouts of Undead Bishop Tangwen are unknown. If he appears, then we will be in great danger," Lotton replied.
"……" Stingham suddenly fell silent.
After drinking the water for several minutes, the massive undead dragon quickly flew away.
But upon listening carefully, the four of them and the Dark Queen Mermaid could still hear the sound of wind whistling in the distance. Although it was no longer visible to them, it was still patrolling nearby.
"Please don't let us encounter Undead Bishop Tangwen, please don't let us encounter Undead Bishop Tangwen," Stingham prayed repeatedly.
The undead dragon came back to drink two more times before ultimately departing to patrol elsewhere. As Ayrin heard the sound of wind grow fainter and fainter, he asked, "Are we good to go?"
"Yes!" Lotton responded without an ounce of hesitation as he rushed forward while making sure to not use any arcane particles.
Ayrin and Rinloran followed suit, and then Stingham, who was still muttering prayers, "Please don't let us encounter Undead Bishop Tangwen, please, please…"
"So this is Lunar Spring Essence."
As he approached the rushing waterfall, Ayrin felt an abnormally refreshing arcane energy surround him. It was extremely comfortable. As he traced the water back to its source, he finally saw the true form of the ice blue flame releasing Lunar Spring Essence. It was a transparent crystal which looked like a blossomed flower.
"What's wrong Rinloran?" Ayrin abruptly cried out.
At this moment, silvery white particles of light began to emerge atop Rinloran's skin. It looked as if his body was being encased by countless tiny gemstones.
"It's alright. This is merely the effect of the Lunar Spring Essence," Rinloran responded as he took a deep breath.
Just being touched by the light released by the Lunar Spring Essence had caused his body to already undergo countless minor changes. Just how much greater of a transformation would he undergo if he was baptised in the Lunar Spring itself?
Upon hearing Rinloran's reply, Ayrin immediately calmed back down as he turned towards Lotton and asked, "Are we just going to climb up and take it?"
"Yes," Lotton nodded. Lotton also seemed to be undergoing changes as his body began to smoke. It was as if something within his body was being burned and purified by the light.
"Then I shall go and get it."
Ayrin's body flickered and turned into a rapidly moving shadow.
With a boom, the waterfall vertically split apart in the middle, causing countless droplets of water to land over and around Rinloran and the others.
Ayrin quickly grabbed the Lunar Spring Essence and jumped back down.
"Let's go!"
As Lotton spoke, he quickly broke off several fragments from the Lunar Spring Essence within Ayrin's hand and threw them into his mouth.
"You can directly eat this thing?" Stingham exclaimed in shock as he subconsciously swallowed his own saliva.
Boom!
Lotton's fleeing body violently shuddered and then stopped as if he had become rooted in place.
Streams of dark purple smoke burst forth from every pore and hole in his body, including his eyes, nose, and mouth, completely enveloping him.
Without hesitation, Ayrin immediately grabbed Lotton and continued sprinting towards the black pillars and stone walls of the Land of Slaughter.
"Am I finally freed…"
At this moment, Lotton had no clue what was going on around him. All he could sense was that the foreign aura which had been situated within him abruptly burn up and disappear.
"Is this what freedom feels like?"
As Lotton finally regained his consciousness and opened his eyes, he saw Ayrin's sweat filled face and realized that Ayrin was carrying him.
Rinloran and Stingham followed beside Ayrin.
Although it was clear that the three of them were clueless and wildly running around within the massive labyrinth like headless chickens, emotions still welled up within Lotton as a complex expression emerged within his eyes.
"Is this what it is like to have friends?" Lotton thought to himself.
"Lotton, you're okay!" Ayrin shouted as he felt Lotton move and realized that Lotton's body was no longer releasing dark purple smoke.
But right at this moment, the faint roar of a dragon rang over through the skies from behind them.
"Not good! The undead dragon must have discovered our theft and is coming after us! Lotton, even if you die, you must tell us where to go! Hurry!" Stingham abruptly screamed.
Lotton didn't immediately begin directing as he instead turned towards Ayrin and Rinloran and said, "Hurry up and consume the remaining Lunar Spring Essence. Otherwise, the undead dragon will be able to track us through its aura."
"Why didn't you say that earlier?!" Stingham shouted in annoyance as he snatched the remaining Lunar Spring Essence out of Ayrin's hand and stuffed it into Rinloran's hand. "Rinloran, hurry up and consume it!"
"Idiot!" Rinloran cursed.
Rather than directly consume it like Lotton had, Rinloran instead used his arcane particles to envelop the Lunar Spring Essence.
Under the constant grinding of Rinloran's arcane particles, the Lunar Spring Essence began releasing ice blue particles of light as it slowly grew smaller and smaller. These water droplet like particles of light were all absorbed by Rinloran's body.
"Now you are a true little white face!" Stingham gasped as his eyes widened in shock.
Rinloran's skin had originally been milky white like a young girl to begin with. But now, as the energy of the Lunar Spring Essence entered his body, his skin turned an even purer white as if it had become jade.
"Idiot!" Rinloran shouted as he angrily gnashed his teeth. But he could clearly feel his body undergoing a strange transformation.
A brilliant green glow suddenly emerged over his skin. At the same time, a pleasant melody began to resonate through the area around him. It sounded like a goddess singing combined with the sounds of awakened nature.
"What happened? This female voice, did you transform into a girl?!" Stingham gasped as he stared at Rinloran.
"Transform my ass!" The shock and reverence within Rinloran's eyes disappeared as he nearly lost his temper, "This is a sign of the complete awakening of the power of nature contained within an elven bloodline!"
"The complete awakening of the power of nature?" Stingham doubtingly looked at Rinloran, "You're really still a guy?"
Rinloran could barely resist his urges to kill Stingham as he turned and passed the remaining Lunar Spring Essence back to Ayrin, "Ayrin, the baptism of the Lunar Spring is complete. My innate bloodline talents are now fully awakened. This remaining Lunar Spring Essence is no longer of any use to me. Take it and see if it is of any use to you."
"No more use? Alright then, let me try it out!"
Ayrin confirmed that the Lunar Spring Essence was no longer reacting to Rinloran's arcane particles any longer before receiving it.
A loud crack sounded through the air as Ayrin broke off several pieces and threw them into his mouth.
"It seems like there is indeed an effect!"
Upon consuming the pieces of Lunar Spring Essence, Ayrin immediately felt as if a breath of fresh air had surged into his body. Every single particle which made up his body seemed to have been awaked as they began to glow.
"So hungry!" An inexplicable feeling of great hunger arose within Ayrin.
Every single particle of his body seemed to be clamoring for food.
"Badump! Badump!"…
His heart felt like it was about to jump out of his chest as it began to thump wildly and even more powerfully than it ever had before, making him uncomfortable.
Urged on by the feeling of hunger, Ayrin ravenously continued eating fragments of the Lunar Spring Essence. At first, he felt as if he could eat all of it, but after eating a few more pieces, he felt the changes occurring within his body come to a stop. Eating any more fragments was now no different from eating small fragments of bark.
"It seems like I've absorbed enough as well. Stingham, it's your turn!" Ayrin said as he passed the last bits of the Lunar Spring Essence to Stingham.
"My god, why are you three are so slow?!" Stingham shrieked. By this time, the skies behind them were already beginning to darken. It was clear that the undead dragon had already finished passing through the Land of the Undead.
As Stingham spoke, he quickly threw the remaining Lunar Spring Essence, which was about the half the size of his fist, into his mouth and swallowed.
Naturally, the chunk of Lunar Spring Essence was much too large as it became stuck in Stingham's throat, causing him to roll his eyes as he choked.
A pair of jade white hands shot forward and heavily crashed into Stingham's throat.
With a thud, the Lunar Spring Essence fell down Stingham's throat into his stomach.
Rinloran retracted his arms and carefully wiped his hands on a snow white silk cloth. Although his face remained emotionless, he was feeling quite satisfied.
He was finally able to put his hands around the idiot's throat.
A while later, the shadowy figure of the undead dragon partially descended from the skies, a horrendous sound coming from the countless trails of smoke streaming behind it.
Ayrin and the others all huddled together under the shadows of a nearby black pillar.
The undead dragon circled around for a full ten minutes, but it was unable to find its prey. It roared in anger and flew away.
"You guys! It's fortunate that I swallowed the rest of the Lunar Spring Essence. Otherwise, this undead dragon might have ended up killing all of us!"
Stingham let out a great sigh of relief as he rubbed his sore throat and glared at Ayrin and Rinloran.
"This…?"
But right at this moment, his hand abruptly froze as he felt the large chunk of Lunar Spring Essence within his stomach suddenly disappear and a strange sensation passed through his body.
The image of an extremely dense forest inexplicably emerged within his mind.
"Stingham…"
Ayrin and Rinloran's eyes widened in great shock.
They watched as Stingham's body became enveloped by a strange green light.
But what shocked them even more was… the emergence of small green buds atop Stingham's head through his hair. These buds grew at a shocking rate, and quickly turned into a mess of interwoven vines.
In the midst of all of these oily green vines, sprouted a single yellow flower.
The emergence of weed and the single yellow flower atop Stingham's head caused him to look unusually eccentric and funny.