Chapter 68: Strange Dog and Tripod Soul

  Two hours later, the car stopped in Shagou Town because the driver was unfamiliar with the place and asked for directions, which delayed a lot of time. The muddy country road leading to Tugou Village was bumpy, winding like a sheep's intestine, rough and uneven, and the car was shaking violently, Qin Lang's entire head was almost dizzy.

  It wasn't that Qin Lang couldn't take the trouble, but rather this taxi, which had grown "pampered" from driving on flat city roads, broke down halfway. The mountains are high and the emperor is far away, and it's estimated that the tow truck and repair shop won't be able to arrive in this rural area for a while.

  This car can't be sat in!

  Qin Lang then got out of the car and gave some money to the driver, asking him to find local farmers to tow the car away. Now it's almost noon, and in the distance, many farmhouses have wisps of smoke rising from their kitchens, like light mist drifting with the wind.

  Time was pressing, after asking for directions from several farmers, Qin Lang set off in the direction of Changlun Mountain in Tugou Village, walking quickly.

  After walking for about fifteen minutes, Qin Lang saw a wooden sign standing at the intersection of a field path, with the words "Tugou" written on it. Looking in from the intersection, everything underfoot was fields and arable land, vast and endless. In the distance, there were two connected mountains, shrouded in mist, only a vague thicket of shrubs could be seen, and the actual distance was difficult to estimate.

  "Those two mountains must be Mount Chonglun!"

  Qin Lang stepped into the territory of Tugou Village with a sense of satisfaction. The heavens do not disappoint those who are determined, and he was finally close to reaching his destination. The wind whistled past his ears, like a moving melody.

  This is a remote village, looking around without seeing many people moving, houses are scattered east and west, some are still on the mountain waist, scattered. The road is wide enough to accommodate a muddy truck.

  "Waaaah..."

  Qin Lang walked along the country road for a short while, when suddenly a loud and fierce beast's roar came to his ears, the sound was as loud as thunder. He was startled, immediately stopped in his tracks, and vigilantly looked around in all directions.

  Qin Lang had slaughtered countless venomous snakes and ferocious beasts on the Dan Ding continent. This howling sound was sometimes like a tiger's roar, sometimes like a wolf's wail, sometimes like a lion's roar, and sometimes like a dog's bark, making people's hair stand on end. He judged that this was absolutely not an ordinary ferocious beast, and it was very likely to be a large-scale ferocious beast.

  However, this rural area is as flat as a plain, and logically speaking, it shouldn't have large ferocious beasts.

  Qin Lang looked puzzled in the direction of the sound, and saw a black shadow bursting out of the rice field hundreds of meters away to his left front, rushing towards him at high speed. The movement was swift, as if chasing after lightning. It was impossible to see what it was.

  He immediately retreated to the fields behind the road, and drew out a small hoe from his waist that was prepared for collecting materials, vigilantly staring at the black shadow that was getting closer and closer to him.

  In just a few seconds, the black shadow brushed past him, its rapid speed whipping up a gust of wind that sent Qin Lang stumbling backward, his hair immediately disheveled.

  Qin Lang hastily steadied himself, thinking that the black shadow would leave immediately, but unexpectedly, the other party suddenly turned around and stopped a few meters in front of him.

  As he looked intently, Qin Lang suddenly became stupid.

  This flying black shadow turned out to be a dog!

  Moreover, it is the most common and ordinary native dog, with no outstanding features in its appearance. Its body is thin and bony, with one leg being lame.

  "Am I seeing things? How can a crippled stray dog have such speed? And be able to let out such a powerful howl?"

  Qin Lang recalled the knowledge he had learned in the library, and quickly searched through his mind, but did not find any breed of dog that could run with such lightning speed.

  Indeed, there are some breeds of dogs in this world that are very ferocious and can fight with beasts, such as Tibetan Mastiffs, Pit Bulls, and Caucasian Shepherds. However, the dog in front of us is a real local dog, also known as a Mongrel or a Grass Dog, scientifically known as Chinese Rural Dog, which has a relatively gentle temperament, does not easily attack humans actively, is easy to raise, and has a high loyalty, making it the most common dog in daily life. It's completely unrelated to those large fighting dogs.

  It's just that this ordinary-looking, malnourished and lame local dog is compared to the fastest cheetah in the world, it's like a hair on nine oxen.

  Qin Lang couldn't help but suspect that the dog had mutated, because apart from mutation, he really couldn't think of any other reason to explain the unbelievable running speed displayed by this dog.

  At this time, the dog was sitting a few meters away on the ground, staring at Qin Lang with its big eyes, and its gaze did not move. The pair of dog eyes showed a strange light, even with a bit of humanization, as if it had seen something attractive to it on Qin Lang's body.

  Qin Lang's heart skipped a beat, the dog's eyes made him feel strange, as if it was staring at him like a human, he could even read out complex emotions such as doubt, affection and fear from its gaze.

  Just as he was bewildered by this, a faint scent wafted up to his nostrils.

  "What a familiar scent!"

  Qin Lang was taken aback for a moment, despite the fragrance being elusive and seemingly nonexistent, but he still managed to catch that familiar feeling.

  With his many years of alchemy experience, he could completely confirm that this fragrance was...

  Awesome!

  How can there be agarwood on a dog's body?

  Qin Lang was somewhat stunned.

  But what made him even more incomprehensible was that this Danxiang had a kind of high and mighty, unique feeling, completely different from the fragrance produced by those ordinary dan medicines.

  Just as Qin Lang was puzzled and wondering if he should find a way to take down the dog and study it carefully, his face suddenly changed drastically.

  A mysterious and powerful energy suddenly surged out of his mind, rapidly spreading throughout his body, causing his blood vessels to expand. Due to the intense surge, it was impossible to suppress.

  Moreover, the speed of its movement was astonishingly fast, and in just a few seconds, it seemed to have thoroughly scanned his entire body. Finally, it returned to the Shen Hai position, and just as Qin Lang thought that this mass of energy was about to calm down, something even more unexpected happened.

  This surge of energy suddenly burst forth violently within his body, a loud "Boom" like the sound of an explosion suddenly emitted, making Qin Lang's eardrums almost unbearable. Immediately after, a fist-sized golden light burst out from his dantian and shot towards the dog.

  The dog, originally in a calm state, suddenly had its fur standing on end, shivering with fear, and let out a few mournful yips before turning around and running away at top speed.

  That mass of golden light that burst out of Qin Lang's body shot out more than a meter away before automatically returning, forming a tripod shape that revolved above his head.

  "Isn't this Dinghun?"

  Qin Lang was stunned and his eyes widened in shock.

  He had refined the Jie Ming Shen Dan for hundreds of years, and he was all too familiar with this mass of light that burst out of his body. It was precisely the Ding Hun that he had gone through thousands of hardships to refine over a hundred years, using the essence of heaven and earth as its foundation. The first step in refining the Jie Ming Shen Dan was to first refine the Ding Hun, then derive eighteen Dan Hun from it. As long as the eighteen Dan Hun were refined into Yu Dan, and all the Yu Dan were combined, he could truly refine the Jie Ming Shen Dan and become an immortal legend.

  It can be said that the Tripod Soul is the medicine guide for the Silent Extinction Pill, it's the mother body that nurtures it, without the Tripod Soul, the Silent Extinction Pill cannot be refined. The name of the Dan Ding Continent comes from the two characters "Dan" and "Ding".

  The tripod soul swirled for a moment before diving back into Qin Lang's body, returning to the sea of consciousness and reverting to that ball of unknown energy.

  At this time, Qin Lang had come back to his senses. He hastily went to the Sea of Consciousness to examine this mass of energy, but found that he still couldn't penetrate it deeply. It was still in a closed state, just like when he had previously probed it, independent and unaffected by anything.

  Qin Lang could only reluctantly give up.

  But he immediately became excited again.

  "I really didn't expect it! The unknown energy discovered during the physical examination on the day of the robbery was actually Dinghun!" Qin Lang had a feeling of winning the jackpot.

  He had always thought that after the explosion, Dinghun would have been reduced to ashes, but unexpectedly, Dinghun had crossed over with him and even occupied the same body.

  He had previously guessed that his inexplicable possession might have something to do with this mysterious energy. However, now that he has clearly seen Dinghun possessing him and coming to this world together, this doubt is self-evident.

  Qin Lang can now be certain that the reason he inexplicably crossed over and possessed someone, and succeeded so easily, was definitely due to this Tripod Soul.

  Suddenly, an idea flashed through Qin Lang's mind... "If the Cauldron Soul has crossed over, then hasn't the Elixir Soul also crossed over into this world?"

  Dinghun, as the mother of Danhun, has eighteen dan disks in its central body, just like a human placenta. Each dan disk can seal one danhun, and Dinghun's sealing ability is infinite. In other words, each danhun is an independent individual, even if its energy is unstoppable, but once it encounters Dinghun, it will be automatically sealed into the dan disk by Dinghun, just like a killer who has killed countless people being handcuffed and imprisoned, from then on unable to move.

  Dinghun has the power to seal Dansheng, and also has an inseparable close relationship with him. The two complement each other. If Dinghun crossed over, it is highly likely that Dansheng also crossed over.

  Thinking of this, Qin Lang's heart suddenly surged with excitement. If the eighteen Dan Souls had also crossed over, then all he needed to do was gather them together and he could continue refining the Silent Extinction Elixir. This would save him hundreds of years of time spent re-refining the Tripod Soul and Dan Souls.

  This was tremendous good news for him.

  But where is Dan's soul?

  Qin Lang suddenly thought of that dog, that strange dog.

  The dog looked at him with an expression that seemed to be drawn to something on his body, a complex mix of emotions, both wanting to get close and being fearful, very similar to the relationship between Dinghun and Danhun.

  And on the dog's body, there was that high and unique fragrance of Dan Xiang! This fragrance, Qin Lang had not recalled before, but now he felt more and more that it was extremely similar to the scent of Dan Hun, only because it was very weak, he couldn't completely determine.

  What's more important is that after Dinghun encountered this dog, it suddenly seemed to have met a catalyst and was forcibly triggered and went out of the body! The momentum that pounced out was clearly going to capture this dog. The only thing that can attract Dinghun is Danhun, and only when encountering Danhun will Dinghun show signs of capture and sealing.

  As a result, Qin Lang couldn't help but think, "Could it be that the dog's body has a Dan soul?"

  But if that dog really has the Dan soul, then the Ding soul should continue to track it down until it seals the Dan soul in the Dan disk. How could it retreat halfway?

  Qin Lang was somewhat perplexed.

  Can't the Tripod Soul in my body play a role in this world?

  Or perhaps there was no Dan soul on that dog's body from the start?

  Still, Dinghun and Danhun have undergone mutations due to the reason of Duoshe?

  Qin Lang furrowed his brow, although he had entered a dead end, the various questions in his mind made him have to continue exploring.

  At this time, he suddenly felt extremely tired and even had a strong feeling of suffocation, which made him have to pant heavily.

  He knew this was a reaction of yuanqi depletion. The reason, most likely, was because Dinghun had left his body.

  "Could it be that the Cauldron Soul can't continue tracking because I myself don't have enough vital energy to support it in sealing the Dan Soul?"

  Qin Lang's confusion was justified, as during his cultivation of the Silent Divine Elixir on Dan Ding Continent, his primordial energy was abundant and even astonishingly vast, allowing him to effortlessly control the Furnace Soul and Elixir Soul. This formed a stark contrast with this body whose primordial energy was thin.

  This made him even more eager to dispel the doubts in his mind.

  After a while, Qin Lang's breathing gradually calmed down. Although there were too many doubts that couldn't be resolved, he was still very delighted in his heart.

  "Perhaps I should find more answers from this dog."

  He could only look up and see that the dog didn't even leave a shadow. Qin Lang couldn't help but shake his head, with this body of his, wanting to chase after that swift running dog was simply a fantasy.

  "You beast, come back here! You heartless, cruel beast! I've raised you for so many years, provided for your food and drink. How could you treat me like this? Even when I'm dying, I won't be able to bear eating you. Instead, you turn around and bully me. This is truly unjust!" At this time, a septuagenarian chased after him, stumbling and shouting curses.

  Qin Lang's thoughts were interrupted by the old man Hong Liang's scolding voice.

  "Little girl, have you seen a beast running from here?" The old man stopped in front of Qin Lang, panting and asking.