As they continued deeper, the aura of the earth grew increasingly rich. Although the dragon aura mixed within it was not particularly strong, it gave Chen Ming a familiar feeling.
After an unknown amount of time, the three arrived in a wide underground cave.
A huge figure lay in the center of the cave. Its two eyes were as large as lanterns and gave off a blood-red glow.
"This is a Heavy Armored Earth Dragon? A hundred-thousand-year Heavy Armored Earth Dragon?"
Looking at this Spirit Beast, Chen Ming was a little surprised.
When he had first awakened his Martial Soul, it had been the Heavy Armored Earth Dragon. Because of that, he knew this Martial Soul and Spirit Beast quite well.
With its high defense and years of underground life, it was not hard for a Heavy Armored Earth Dragon to reach the thousand-year or ten-thousand-year level.
But because its quality was limited in the end, becoming a hundred-thousand-year Spirit Beast was extremely difficult.
It was not impossible, but compared to top-level Spirit Beasts, it was much harder for it to survive a hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation.
If this was called a coincidence, then it was far too much of a coincidence.
Rather than asking Chen Ming to believe that this place just happened to be the cave of a hundred-thousand-year Heavy Armored Earth Dragon, it would be easier to make him believe that this hundred-thousand-year Heavy Armored Earth Dragon had been specially raised and placed here to wait for him.
Before reaching a hundred thousand years, Heavy Armored Earth Dragons ate large amounts of minerals of different qualities, merging the metal within them into their dragon scales.
That made them look as if they were carrying a small mountain on their backs.
Their movement became very limited, and the quality of the metal on their bodies was also uneven.
They relied completely on sheer quantity to gain extremely powerful defense.
But after reaching the hundred-thousand-year level, Heavy Armored Earth Dragons would begin refining the heavy armor on their bodies.
They would smelt the rough metals of different qualities again and turn them into a new alloy.
Without losing much defensive strength, they would regain mobility and powerful attack power.
In theory, one could tell how strong a Heavy Armored Earth Dragon was just by looking at its appearance.
The longer it lived, the more special and precious the scales on its body would become.
Judging from the heavy armor on this Heavy Armored Earth Dragon, Chen Ming felt that its armor had already been refined very well.
The metal scales on its body had completely turned into a special alloy.
Its appearance was already very close to a true dragon.
It was only lacking wings on its back, so there was still some difference.
No matter what standard was used, this Heavy Armored Earth Dragon should have been a very outstanding hundred-thousand-year Spirit Beast.
But strangely, Chen Ming felt that its life force was very weak.
It almost gave him the same feeling as when he had seen the Sacred Magical Devil Ape back then.
It was as if this Heavy Armored Earth Dragon's life origin had been drained away by something.
"Humans, you actually dare to trespass into my territory?? This is a ruin left behind by a great Dragon King of the dragon clan. Only noble beings may enter."
"Only those with truly powerful dragon bloodline have the right to understand what exists inside this ruin."
"To this ruin, your presence is an insult."
The Heavy Armored Earth Dragon's voice carried a bit of stiff acting.
Although it looked very fierce, its eyes only dared to stare at Chen Ming. It did not dare let its gaze fall on Black Emperor or Long Na'er at all.
After all, it knew these two were both its direct superiors.
"It feels strange," Chen Ming honestly commented.
He pulled Long Na'er back a few steps, revealing Black Emperor's body.
In other words, Di Tian.
"Senior Black Emperor, a hundred-thousand-year Spirit Beast like this should be handled by you."
Di Tian shook his head and pushed Chen Ming forward instead.
"The space here is too narrow. I cannot attack directly. Once I make a move, the ruin will be destroyed. Otherwise, I would not have brought you here." Di Tian had prepared his excuse long ago.
He came to Chen Ming's side and pushed him forward slightly.
"The dragon bloodline in your body is very powerful. It is even purer than my Martial Soul. Release the aura of your dragon Martial Soul. This sub-dragon will surely be suppressed by your aura."
"…"
Chen Ming fell silent for two seconds.
He felt this excuse sounded very unreliable.
But as an actor, Chen Ming still nodded a few times and expressed his agreement.
Under the gazes of the three dragons, Chen Ming took a step forward and released his Martial Soul.
Pure dragon power spread out.
Chen Ming used the combined powers of the Earth Dragon King and Mountain Dragon King—two earth-attribute Dragon Kings—as his foundation to contain the attribute powers of the other Dragon Kings.
If judged by bloodline, Chen Ming's current Martial Soul should count as the direct superior of the earth dragon clan and mountain dragon clan.
Although he did not release his Spirit Rings, nor did he show his true Spirit Power rank, he roughly released Spirit Power at the level of a high-rank Spirit Ancestor.
But the Dragon King-level aura and pressure still truly scared the Heavy Armored Earth Dragon badly.
"An… ancestor?" The Heavy Armored Earth Dragon was so shocked that its eyes widened and its entire body trembled uncontrollably. Then its head slammed heavily onto the ground.
Because Di Tian had said before that Chen Ming might be the reincarnation of a dragon expert, the first possibility the Heavy Armored Earth Dragon thought of was that its ancestor had come.
The Heavy Armored Earth Dragon was a mixed-blood of mountain dragon and earth dragon.
Whether it was the Mountain Dragon King or the Earth Dragon King, both were its ancestors.
And Chen Ming just so happened to count as an ancestor to it in every way.
My Lord, the actor isn't doing very well. What should we do?
Di Tian sent a mental message to the Silver Dragon King.
As expected of a sub-dragon. It didn't inherit the dragon clan's true wisdom at all.
Long Na'er was somewhat speechless, but she did not say much.
After all, Spirit Beasts were not good at lying in the first place.
Especially their noble dragon clan.
Because they were proud and powerful, they were especially bad at lying.
Long Na'er sent a mental message and interrupted the Heavy Armored Earth Dragon's panic.
Word by word, she taught the Heavy Armored Earth Dragon how to reply.
Hearing the Silver Dragon King's orders, the Heavy Armored Earth Dragon barely recovered a bit of its presence.
But because the bloodline pressure from Chen Ming was too powerful, even when it forced itself to stay calm, its body kept trembling.
"Human, do not think that just because you were lucky enough to obtain a few traces of Dragon King legacy, you can covet the dragon clan's inheritance."
"As the guardian of this ruin, I will protect the dragon clan's pride and the history of the past."
"If you have the confidence to bear the pride of the dragon clan, then step forward and accept my trial."
As it spoke, the Heavy Armored Earth Dragon let out a roar.
But in everyone's eyes, the power of that roar was truly like an angry kitten yelling.
IIt could not be said to have no power at all. But it could also be said to have no killing intent whatsoever.