Chapter 32: The Monster Spawner and the Frost Dragon Egg

Jiang Tingting nodded and replied, "Yes, there is a Cold Dragon egg beneath the cold pool, though, Senior Fang, it is likely a stillborn."

"Legend has it that this Cold Dragon egg was carved out from the belly of a Cold Dragon that had been ravaging a star domain, slain by a senior of the Jiang family an untold number of ages ago."

"The egg was congenitally deficient because the mother had not carried it for a sufficient duration, and it suffered further damage during the battle. Its shell cracked, and its life force ebbed away along with it."

"That senior, marveling at its extraordinary bloodline, placed it into the cold pool at the foot of this mountain, sealing it with Lunar Moon Essence. The intent was for the spiritual energy of the pool to slowly nourish its life force and mend its congenital deficiencies."

"If it could successfully hatch, this Cold Dragon, with its remarkable lineage, could become a brand-new foundation for our Jiang family if nurtured with care."

"But ten thousand years have passed, and the Cold Dragon has yet to hatch. By now, I fear even the last remnants of its vitality have dissipated."

Fang Zheng did not pay much mind to these details and said directly, "Take me to see it; I want to try out the mob spawner."

Jiang Tingting was somewhat puzzled, not knowing what a "mob spawner" was, but she nodded nonetheless and led the way, flying toward a cold pool at the foot of the mountain.

...

Far below at the base of the mountain lay a cold pool. However, calling it a cold pool was an understatement; it was more akin to a great lake. It sat like a solidified piece of black jade, embedded within a vast expanse of jagged, pitch-black rocky mountains.

Above the ink-black surface, a frost that seemed to freeze everything hung in the air year-round. Even when the midday sun shone directly down, it failed to elicit a single glimmer of reflection from the water. All light seemed to be swallowed whole by the abyss-like surface.

Although Fang Zheng’s blocky body could not perceive the temperature of the water, he could see the thick layers of frost coating the surrounding stones. Curiously, while the periphery was covered in heavy ice, the water itself showed no signs of freezing, remaining as still and smooth as black crystal. From time to time, ghost-blue sparks, like will-o'-the-wisps, flickered on the dark surface before vanishing in an instant. From a low altitude, it looked like a field of stars constantly being born and extinguished.

"It’s actually quite beautiful."

Fang Zheng, seeing this, descended toward the cold pool without hesitation. Jiang Tingting followed after a brief moment of hesitation.

The deeper they went, the darker it became. After descending only a few meters into the pitch-black water, all light vanished. Fang Zheng mused, "This is just a pool of ink; it’s dark as death."

Even after consuming a Night Vision potion, Fang Zheng found he could see nothing. After all, the effect of the Night Vision potion was limited to seeing objects in the dark; it was useless against things that were inherently obscured. This suggested that the pool did not appear black because of its depth, but because the water itself was black.

He simply activated Spectator Mode, allowing his body and perspective to pass through the endless darkness to look downward.

Jiang Tingting, who was following behind him, suddenly frowned, thinking to herself, "Why did the Senior suddenly disappear?"

At the same time, a faint, moonlight-like luster emanated from her forehead, and the small moon-colored figure within her Sendai opened its eyes. Her divine sense, at the second level of Sendai, was released, instantly enveloping a radius of a hundred miles. While explaining the situation to the nearby high-level members of the Jiang family, she also attempted to communicate with the Jiang family’s Imperial Weapon—the Hengyu Furnace—which was in a state of full recovery at all times.

The spirit within the Hengyu Furnace frowned slightly, but out of respect for the Lunar Emperor, it did not unleash its supreme pressure to search for Fang Zheng with its own divine power. Instead, relying on the resonance between fellow Imperial Weapons, it communicated with the Lunar Moon Blade at Jiang Tingting’s waist.

Immediately, having received the answer, it sent a thought to Jiang Tingting: (Do not worry, this is merely a divine ability of the one known as Fang Zheng. You may wait where you are.)

At this moment, Fang Zheng, using Spectator Mode, saw the black currents as if they were non-existent. Through this transparent perspective, he saw substantial black fluids at the bottom of the pool forming vortex after vortex. These vortices ground the pitch-black ice covering the bottom into black, crystal-like snowflakes, which were tossed up and then fell again, re-congealing. It was a spectacular sight of a black blizzard unfolding at the bottom of the pool.

"It's actually quite romantic," Fang Zheng remarked softly.

He passed through the various vortices and finally, in the depths of the largest one, found an egg-shaped object over three meters in diameter.

Its surface was free of any black ice. The dark cyan shell was covered in spiral patterns and designs resembling clouds and snowflakes. Looking closely, a faint crack almost split it in two, but a dark golden substance of unknown origin held it together. It seemed this very crack had dissipated the essence within the egg, causing it to lose its original life force.

Gazing at this egg, large enough to contain an elephant, Fang Zheng was filled with curiosity: "Just how big was the dragon that laid this? At the very least, it must have been as big as Godzilla, right?"

He recalled content he had seen while scrolling through videos. It suggested that the larger an animal was, the more exaggerated its physical strength would be, provided it could maintain normal movement. Like the Ultramen and monsters in tokusatsu dramas, to maintain that level of size while moving freely on land, their bones and muscles would have to be far stronger than any material produced by humanity in the 21st century.

That was a strength at least a hundred times greater than steel; even if they were at ground zero of a nuclear explosion, they likely wouldn't suffer any damage. Such terrifying creatures, merely through their movements, would generate infrasonic and ultrasonic waves that could completely wipe out humans over vast areas. If such creatures appeared in reality and could move normally as they did in the dramas, all human weaponry would pose no threat to them.

"Then again, in this world of cultivation, do demons, divine beasts, and spirit beasts develop to such sizes naturally, or do they rely on magical power to sustain them?" Fang Zheng wondered.

He recalled the White Tiger he had encountered on the Path to Immortality. Its size alone was larger than the red supergiant Betelgeuse discovered by humans, and its speed exceeded 11 billion times the speed of light. Logic dictated that such an exaggerated size shouldn't be possible—like a typical star, its average density should be less than that of air, rather than being a solid entity.

The Lunar Emperor had once said that the White Tiger was alive in the past, and what Fang Zheng saw was merely a projection of the Laws. So, when the White Tiger was alive, was it truly that massive, or did it use a spell like the Giant Form technique to become so enormous?