Chapter 33: Reverence

Twenty minutes later, Li Mochen finally returned to the entrance of the Black Serpent Gun Shop, clutching the sealed jar containing the ghostfire dragon and the last three thousand eight hundred gold shields in his pocket.

His mood was somewhat grim.

The sixty thousand gold shields he had obtained from exchanging gold were not meant to be spent this way in his plan. Li Mochen had intended to spend at most thirty to forty thousand gold shields to craft a magical artifact that could suppress the mind and also serve as a sealing tool. But his 'Heavenly Mind Divine Illumination' state had completely ruined his plan. Li Mochen thus had no choice but to make some preparations in advance to deal with the troubles that might arise from the future arrival of 'Heavenly Mind Li Mochen'.

Yet what tormented him immensely was that after gaining greater strength, 'Heavenly Mind Li Mochen' would likely become even more reckless and unbridled, causing even bigger troubles—this was almost a paradox.

"Is this a ghostfire dragon? Sir, you haven't been cheated, have you? Without a top-tier magical contract to suppress it, the chance of this magical pet escaping is over ninety-nine percent, and there's also a possibility it might devour its master. There have been many such cases. How much did you pay—"

When Li Mochen stepped into the Black Serpent Gun Shop again, the sales assistant who had served him earlier immediately showed a look of astonishment.

However, under the cold glare of the shop manager, the assistant quickly shut his mouth wisely.

"Sir, are you ready to experience our gun shop's test-firing service? Please take this. This is a voucher for the Roarer Shooting Center. I'll have someone take you there right away."

Li Mochen was also eager to know the actual price of the ghostfire dragon in his hand, but he knew that asking now would likely not yield a truthful answer.

"I do want to test-fire, but before that, I'd like to ask your gun shop to provide me with a private rest room."

He couldn't possibly carry this ghostfire dragon all the way home.

"A private rest room?"

The sales assistant glanced at the sealed jar in his hand: "There is one at the shooting center. If you get a membership card for two thousand gold shields, they can provide you with a spacious VIP rest room. Fifty gold shields for twenty-four hours, and you can stay overnight. Besides fruit and food supplies, it also has a basic magic-gathering array. I think you might find it useful?"

Li Mochen sighed again, pinching the nearly empty bills in his pouch.

However, the so-called basic magic-gathering array did give him a small pleasant surprise.

…

The Roarer Shooting Center was located just three hundred meters from the underground black market. Although its exterior was an old thirteen-story building, the interior decoration was quite good.

It was worth noting that Li Mochen arrived at the shooting center escorted by several fully armed personnel, showing that the Black Serpent Gun Shop's reputation in Atlanta's underworld was well-deserved.

When Li Mochen spent two thousand gold shields to get a membership card, the front desk staff suddenly became extremely respectful.

Li Mochen guessed that it was probably his driver's license that had caused this. In earlier years, the Wiltonshire family was extremely domineering, to the point that there was no second Wiltonshire in all of Atlanta.

So the front desk staff at the shooting center must have misunderstood something.

Li Mochen couldn't be bothered to explain and simply rented a VIP rest room for three days. Then, under the enthusiastic guidance of a lobby manager, he arrived at a rest room on the top floor.

It was like a hotel suite inside—a bedroom, a living room, and a small cultivation room of only six square meters. The decoration and comfort far exceeded the price of fifty gold shields. But considering that below was a shooting range with continuous 'bang bang' sounds, the fifty gold shields were just about right.

In the cultivation room, there was indeed a well-established magic-gathering array. Although the name was different, the function of this magic array was roughly equivalent to the spirit-gathering array in the Primordial Dome Realm.

However, after testing it, Li Mochen felt that this world's magic-gathering array was somewhat superior to the spirit-gathering array.

For an array of the same scale, this 'magic-gathering array' had at least one-third more magical energy gathering effect than the spirit-gathering array.

"Is it the application of mathematics?"

Li Mochen traced the magical patterns in the array. He couldn't understand these things yet, but he could feel their beauty. The arrangement was exquisite without any superfluous elements, full of mathematical beauty.

This made him even more interested in the various disciplines of this world.

Then Li Mochen put away his thoughts and placed the sealed jar containing the ghostfire dragon in the center of the cultivation room. After a moment's hesitation, he entered the 'Heavenly Mind Divine Illumination' state again.

Although this secret technique had various consequences, its benefits were equally irresistible.

In an instant, Li Mochen frowned and looked at the two small creatures, each only the size of a palm, inside the tempered glass jar. Their overall form was somewhat similar to lizards, but they had a large head unique to dragon species. Their bodies were covered in pitch-black scales, and behind them were wings slightly oversized relative to their bodies.

"A ghostfire dragon?"

A hint of disdain appeared in Li Mochen's eyes.

This was merely a hybrid of a red dragon and a shadow dragon, with both bloodlines quite diluted—seemingly unworthy of his status. He wondered what the previous him had been thinking. Had his brain gone bad?

Never mind! Among all creatures in this world that could serve as magical pets, the ghostfire dragon's grade was still decent. It couldn't compare to true mythical beings or top-tier fantasy species, but it was still close to the top of the pyramid.

So what if it was a low-grade hybrid? With his skill as Wen Jian Taoran, he had plenty of ways to help this creature refine its bloodline.

This was still better than in the Primordial Dome Realm, where the first spirit beast he had taken in was nothing more than an ordinary moonfire rabbit. Yet now, that rabbit had already cultivated a human form.

Moreover, since he, Wen Jian Taoran, embodied the Heavenly Mind and carried Heaven's will as he walked the world, this ghostfire dragon, having followed him, was now part of the Heavenly Mind and will. How could its status be compared to ordinary dragons of this world?

When Heavenly Mind Li Mochen thought of this, he smiled arrogantly and casually opened the glass jar.

First, a cloud of gas surged out. Li Mochen slapped it hard, sending it toward the exhaust fan in the room. This was the hypnotic gas stored in the glass jar, ensuring the ghostfire dragon remained in a sleeping state.

As the gas dissipated and the seal was lifted, the ghostfire dragon slowly awakened. At first, it was dazed and confused. But as time passed, the little creature gradually regained its senses, and its pupils showed defiance and resentment.

When it noticed Li Mochen sitting before it, it instinctively puffed out its cheeks, with flames faintly gathering inside. But before the little creature could spit out the fireball in its mouth, it met Li Mochen's eyes.

In those black pupils seemed to contain a will as vast and majestic as the heavens, cold and unyielding. Then, its consciousness felt as if struck by a hammer, nearly shattered by the overwhelming divine thought pressing down on it. Not only did its gaze begin to blur, but the flames gathered in its mouth also dissipated from the corners of its lips.

If one had to describe the ghostfire dragon's feeling in words, it would be 'carving.' Its soul was a stone slab, and the human's divine thought and will were the carving knife, ruthlessly and domineeringly engraving mysterious and arcane runes deep into its consciousness, leaving no room for refusal! It felt as if something had been added to its mind, yet it didn't understand what.

But as time passed, an increasingly intense reverence appeared in the ghostfire dragon's eyes.