Sauron's greatest skill was bloodline modification, which is why Jiang Liu saw many strange life forms.
In "The Lord of the Rings," powerful creatures include dragons, giant spiders, Balrogs, the giant octopus Hachim, and Ents...
In Sauron's laboratory, the life that emerged in the culture medium was even more interesting. For example, there was a giant spider with a human head, and a living elf with its legs rooted in the soil…
They are all strange and varied, but they all have huge flaws.
"These are all failed attempts at bloodline modification. With Sauron's strength, cultivating an orc army similar to Saruman would be a piece of cake. However, his research isn't focused on that; he's dedicated to mastering his own bloodline modification. The cultivation and transplantation of the Dragon Eye, the extraction and fusion of Treant bloodlines—these are all ways to strengthen himself. And indeed, he's incredibly powerful!"
Jiang Liu did not think that Soren was weak; on the contrary, he was exceptionally strong.
Unfortunately, no matter how strong his body was, his soul has now been scattered, leaving behind such a rich legacy for Jiang Liu to inherit.
Pushing open a huge bronze door, Jiang Liu saw the target he had come to subdue!
A ferocious and terrifying dragon!
Chapter 284 Smaug
Smaug, the fiery dragon!
This was a colossal, pale reddish-gold dragon, its body sculpted with exquisitely elegant curves and covered in fine, dense scales. Its muscles bulged slightly, effortlessly straightening the arm-thick chains binding it, demonstrating its immense power. Its tail, resembling a powerful ram, slammed with a slight swing against the metal pillars binding it, producing a deafening roar. When its tail moved away, a massive crater appeared in the metal pillars.
Jiang Liu looked over and saw that the metal pillar was covered with huge pits.
Upon seeing someone enter, it stared at Jiang Liu with its vertical pupils. From its nostrils, it exhaled two breaths of air slightly tinged with flame, and a faint smell of sulfur immediately filled the air.
There's also a scorching heat, like magma!
"A wizard? Heh... What about that old wizard? He's finally weakened, haha... Don't think I don't know, he's weakened! He took my left eye, and now, he can't suppress my power..."
In an instant, a burst of flame erupted from its mouth, sweeping towards Jiang Liu. The flame was extremely hot; even before it got close, Jiang Liu felt waves of heat.
In the blink of an eye, Soren, dressed in black robes, stood in front of Jiang Liu, letting the flames strike his body.
Flames, like a raging river, spewed from Smaug's massive maw. Sauron, however, remained as still as a rock in the river.
Seeing that the flames could not harm Sauron, Smaug shook his head and let out a long roar.
The cheap teacher's physical body was incredibly strong, capable of withstanding even the breath of a dragon. But now, it was slowly collapsing; the power of his eyes was no longer usable, and the deadly techniques of the Death Curse and the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception crumbled the moment Sauron's soul was annihilated.
Moreover, this physical breakdown will become even more rapid over time.
"You're nothing but a dog I raised. I haven't killed you these past few days just to give you a new owner! You've really gotten too big for your britches, humph..."
Soren snorted coldly, strode over, and then swung his bony fist, delivering an uppercut to the ferocious dragon's head.
Smaug's neck was bound by a sturdy metal chain, so he couldn't dodge the punch that landed squarely on his jaw.
With the immense power exerted upon him, Jiang Liu immediately felt Smaug's enormous eighteen-meter-long body slightly float in the air.
With a painful roar, its massive tail, as large as a mace, lashed out.
Sauron tried to dodge, but his speed was much slower than before. Although his strength was still immense, his reactions were somewhat sluggish. Moreover, it was certain that this weakness would worsen over time.
The massive tail hammer struck Sauron's body, and Jiang Liu immediately heard a cracking sound of bones breaking. Sauron's body was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing into the wall of the wizard's tower.
Although Soren stood up instantly and his injuries were recovering at a visible speed, Jiang Liu knew that his strength was definitely less than 30% of what it was before he died, or even lower.
According to Jiang Liu's understanding, when they captured Smaug that day, his teacher simply punched him unconscious and then carried him back.
Although Sauron has performed numerous physical modifications on Smaug over the years, further enhancing his strength, the extent of the increase has been limited.
Sauron sneered, pointing to his left eye, and grinned maliciously, "Smaug, you think you can escape my control just because you sense this eye? You underestimate wizards..."
"What did you put on me?" Smaug twisted his neck, at the spot where Sauron had just punched him, a bloody mess.
"A little gadget, I hope you like it!" Sauron grinned maliciously.
Smaug was clearly in extreme pain, his grotesque head shaking violently. His left eye revealed a complex mechanical gear that was constantly turning, looking extremely eerie.
When Sauron took its left eye, he installed a mechanical eye made by an alchemist. The eye wasn't very powerful, but it had infrared vision and heat sensing capabilities.
After struggling for a dozen breaths, Smaug's legs gave way and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.
"If the parasitic seed isn't removed within ten minutes, this giant lizard will really turn into a pile of fertilizer. Hurry up! The old man has poured all his resources into physical body modification, and he doesn't even have a decent magical artifact. Fortunately, he modified this thing... It's a pity about that Soul Shield, it was a level three soul-type magical artifact..."
Soul Wizard is a special path within the development of wizards. Among all the paths, it represents an extremely powerful existence.
Compared to wizards specializing in bloodline modification, elemental control, curses, alchemy, and prophecy, Soul Wizards, while not the strongest, are certainly the first to attain the status of Saintly Mark Wizards. This is because the prerequisite for becoming a Saintly Mark Wizard is the splitting of the soul, allowing them to enslave powerful beings.
Soul Wizards can begin to enslave souls at the first ring level, and there are no bottlenecks at all when they reach the fourth ring Saint Mark Wizard level.
Unlike Sauron, who, despite being proficient in body modification and death curses and possessing formidable strength, still needed a significant amount of time to break through even without a damaged soul.
Soul Wizards, in the wizarding world, are known as Saint Marksmen in reserve. As long as they don't die, they are guaranteed to reach the fourth ring.
In the wizarding world, the fourth-ringed Stigmata Wizard is also high above, just like the Earth Immortals in the Journey to the West world, representing a further sublimation of life.
After several days of recovery, Jiang Liu's soul had healed. He then split off a portion of his soul and sent it into Smaug's soul.
This situation is like having a bomb controlled by Jiang Liu installed in Smaug's soul. With just a thought, Smaug, like his cheap teacher, would be annihilated.
Of course, to do this, the first thing you need to do is knock out the target of your enslavement.
Because the enslavement of the soul takes time.
If Jiang Liu had hesitated even slightly and hadn't self-destructed the "Thunder Dragon Formation," he would have been torn apart by Sauron in the next second.
Seven minutes later, the enslavement was complete.
Then Sauron placed his palm on Smaug's chin wound, and a wood-elemental power gathered in his palm—the power of the Tree-man bloodline.
After a long while, a seed the size of a ping-pong ball with countless roots was pulled out of the wound.
This object, known as the "parasitic seed," continued to twist and turn after being separated from flesh and blood. Its dense roots, like living things, wrapped around the flesh and blood in Sauron's palm and absorbed it completely.
It was this little thing that burrowed into Smaug's body and severely injured him.
Greatness originates from smallness!
Knowledge is power, and Sauron's mastery of bloodline was brought to its fullest potential in this seed.
Chapter 285 Inheritance
"This little thing can grow into a tree person in fifteen minutes?" Jiang Liu asked curiously.
Sauron held the "parasitic seed" in his hand, its countless tiny tentacles trembling incessantly. Sharp barbs, like fishhooks, were clearly visible at the tips of each tentacle. One could imagine the horror if this thing were to take root in flesh and blood. Aside from Sauron's sorcery, the only other option left was to completely remove the parasitic part.
"If activated by the old man's magic, it can grow in three minutes, of course, requiring a large amount of flesh and energy. This thing can also be considered a strategic resource. Each parasitic seed that grows into a bloodthirsty treant is no weaker than a first-level nature wizard!"
"The old man's expertise in bloodline modification is quite impressive; you can see the whole picture from just one example. It seems my cheap teacher's legacy is quite substantial!"
The "parasitic seed" in Soren's hand seemed to have been cut off from its blood and flesh supply. During the conversation between the two, it gradually withered and then decayed.
"Unfortunately, this bloodthirsty treant only has a lifespan of about one day after it grows up. If it has enough flesh and blood to devour, it can live for up to two days. If this thing could live longer, it would be an extremely useful strategic weapon. Moreover, the old man spent so much time developing it, and the success rate of bloodline tuning was extremely low, only managing to obtain twelve seeds. Well, now there are eleven!"
At this moment, Smaug finally woke up, staring at Jiang Liu with wide eyes, a hint of fear showing in his pupils.
This is the soul that split off from the river at work.
"What have you done to me? Why is my soul trembling?"
Jiang Liu touched Smaug's sore spot and laughed, "Sauron only enslaved your body, but I enslave your soul! Come, dance a swan dance for me."
He casually unlocked the chain around his neck, and Smaug's eyes widened in horror. Then, his body began to dance clumsily without his consent.
"What did you do to me? Why? Your body is so weak, how can you control me? I'm going to burn you alive..."
The enormous dragon head was about to unleash its breath on the river, but at the moment Smaug felt a surge of murderous intent, he discovered that his entire body was no longer his own.
"A puppet! I've become his puppet!"
Jiang Liu opened the huge window, patted Smaug on the head, and said, "Don't cause me any trouble. Scout this area within a 30-mile radius. Your left eye can monitor in real time. I believe you can complete this task excellently!"
Smaug didn't know how he had taken to the air. His heart was filled with despair. He clearly sensed that he had become the slave of that weak human.
It had been a slave for decades. Compared to the long lifespan of a dragon, decades was nothing more than a long nap. But it was a slave to the strong, its body imprisoned, yet its spirit remained alive, always ready to rebel.
But now, it seems that his soul is controlled by that human, and he cannot disobey any of his commands.
Although he soared under the azure sky and basked in the sea breeze, Smaug did not feel free.
Rather, it is a constraint, a constraint on the soul, a constraint on the heart.
My heart is ashen.
Sauron watched Smaug leave, then removed the ring from his finger and handed it to Jiang Liu. The ring was made of what appeared to be obsidian, yet it shone brightly like a black diamond, appearing on his finger like a deep black star.
"The space inside is quite large!"
Jiang Liu used his mental power to investigate; the spatial ring was roughly the size of a basketball court, and inside...
Everything was neatly organized.
"This is mithril? Three chests! Is this the amount from looting the entire Middle-earth?"
Light as a feather, hard as dragon scales.
The physical state of mithril can be described in eight words. The greatest characteristic of mithril is its affinity with magic and mental power. Many powerful magical weapons cannot do without mithril.
Of course, mithril is also indispensable in the making of witchcraft artifacts.
Soren explained, “The mithril mines of Kezadoom have been in operation for over thirty years. In the last ten years, the mithril tribute from the dwarves has been less than one-tenth of what it was in the previous ten years. Because of this, the body executed three dwarven chieftains during its lifetime, but the mithril production is still less than the previous year.”
"Yes, this is more than enough! This is real gold... and various magical gems..." Jiang Liu took out a fiery ruby the size of an egg, its interior radiating a rich aura of fire. This was a fire-elemental gem; it could be extremely useful to a wizard skilled in fire.
The rest consisted of various medicines, culture media, experimental equipment, and of course, eleven "parasitic seeds".
For Jiang Liu, the most precious items inside were a dozen or so notebooks. These notebooks recorded his master's lifelong work on bloodline modification.
Jiang Liu took out a book in chronological order and read it page by page: "Exploration of the Stone Giant Bloodline! ...Merging with the Stone Giant Bloodline increases Strength by 37 points and Constitution by 48 points... Drawbacks of fusion..."
"The cultivation of the Abyss Demon Eye..."
"G87 World Biological Research... Dwarf Body Structure... Elf Body Structure... Treant Exploration..."
"Dragon bloodline... the cultivation of the dragon's eye!"
"The fusion of the bloodlines of the Tree People!"