I Became an Evolving Lizard in a Martial Arts Chapter 91

Lick.

I licked my lips.

An involuntary sound like "ooh-hyo" escaped my mouth at the breathtaking sight before .

My mouth was already watering.

Old man Compy flinched in surprise, but it was hard to hide my desire for the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

To think I’d discover this mural in such a remote place.

No matter how much I looked at it, it resembled the one left behind by the Heavenly Demon.

Of course, it might not be the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

This was the cave where the Utahraptor had been sleeping.

There was a mural in that place too, sothing left by the Heavenly Demon. According to Baek Yeon-Yeong, it was indeed left by the Heavenly Demon, but it couldn’t be called the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

It was a martial art created by the Heavenly Demon, but it fell short of being labeled as a "divine art."

Still, what the Heavenly Demon considered "lacking" was an invaluable treasure for soone of my level.

And next to it, there were objects that looked like elixirs.

Maybe I could sneak one out later.

Whatever it was, I was practically drooling.

At the sa ti, a question arose in my mind.

The entrance to this cave was extrely narrow.

It didn’t widen as it went further inside either.

It was such a tight space that it was more of a random crevice in the rocks than a proper cave.

But here, there was a mural left by the Heavenly Demon?

I squinted my eyes and carefully examined the cave.

No matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t understand.

There wasn’t any special chanism or altered structure.

In other words, this cave hadn't changed since the ti the Heavenly Demon etched this mural.

Thinking back to the murals in Silver Dragon Cave and the Utahraptor's hideout...

Hadn’t the engravings been made at a height so tall that even if you stretched out a gomodo-rania, it barely reached?

Yet now, it was at a height smaller than that of a Green Basilisk.

What in the world was the identity of the Heavenly Demon to make sothing like this possible?

"Gehg!"

I glanced over at old man Compy.

The old man was staring at with curious eyes.

He seed to have noticed I was absorbed in the mural.

Right.

This old man probably had no idea what the mural was either.

He might know a bit about martial arts, but this was an inscription left directly by the Heavenly Demon.

At best, he probably brought here to show the pictures at the bottom of the wall, but my eyes were fixed on sothing else, so he must have thought, “Oh, this kid knows sothing.”

"Kehkeh."

The old man’s expression softened a bit.

How should I put it?

Maybe he would forgive my trespasses?

It was the look of soone who had suddenly realized, "Oh, you’re more competent than I thought."

Like the look you might get from a disapproving father-in-law when he learns your salary is higher than he expected.

I only had one thing to say.

"Gehg..."

I know nothing.

"Kek?"

Naturally, I couldn’t even read the script used in this place.

Occasionally, I recognized a Chinese character, but that was rare.

There were far too many unknown symbols.

I couldn’t even properly read the text, so how could I possibly interpret that intricate passage?

Unless it was a beginner’s illustration, I was lost.

It looked like so figure was performing breathing exercises in that drawing.

That was the extent of what I could grasp.

The traces left by the Heavenly Demon, with their mix of straight and curved lines, were far too profound for to understand.

Maybe if I brought Baek Yeon-Yeong here, she could figure sothing out.

I ntally stored the scene.

Later, when I t Baek Yeon-Yeong again, I could either bring her here or try to trace those lines with my claws. Maybe she would be able to tell sothing.

"Kek!"

Whack!

As if to say, "Of course," old man Compy smacked on the head.

I felt like my skull was denting.

"Keh, kehhek?"

Is this supposed to be okay?

The old man looked a bit flustered, but then he cleared his throat as if it was nothing.

I felt like my face was turning into a triangle.

"Kehkeh."

The old man rummaged through his scales and pulled out sothing familiar.

[High-Grade Inner Core]

A high-grade inner core!

So the old man knows the concept of rewards, huh?

I wasn’t sure if this was a reward for cracking my skull or for protecting his territory.

I bowed my head, ready to accept it.

I had a sneaking suspicion of where that core ca from.

...Wasn’t that the one inside the gatherium?

I looked up and glared at Compy.

Seeing him avert his eyes, I knew I was right.

It was mine to begin with!

I’d been so busy ssing around with the other lizards—no, checking the aftermath of the battle—that I hadn’t even noticed when he’d taken it.

Well, he’d saved the trouble of processing it, so I’d accept it with a generous heart.

Besides, I was planning to collect those elixirs I’d seen earlier.

The core was high-grade.

High-grade, huh.

It wasn’t a low-tier core by any ans, but it still felt a bit lacking.

When I had killed the Cockatrice, I had obtained a supre-grade core.

The gatherium had been an even tougher opponent than the Cockatrice.

Of course, the Cockatrice’s main weapon was petrification, while the gatherium relied on brute strength and size, so they were different in nature.

In terms of sheer combat power, they might have been similar.

No, even if you compared them, they were equals.

The strength of the gatherium and Cockatrice was comparable.

The Cockatrice was a legendary creature, while the gatherium was a real ancient beast.

Does that an the Cockatrice ranks higher as a life form?

Well, being strong doesn’t necessarily an the core is of high quality.

If that were the case, then hunting an elephant should at least give you a mid-grade core.

High-grade is still good.

With that thought in mind, I gulped it down.

As expected, my body didn’t change.

Eating a core didn’t an the internal energy was imdiately absorbed.

It seed to accumulate over ti, bit by bit.

If a dire situation arose, like during the Dilophosaurus fight, I might burn it all at once for a burst of strength.

Alright, the core is consud.

Old man Compy doesn’t know what’s written on that mural.

So why did he call here?

There had to be a purpose for him bringing here.

The core he gave seed like a peace offering for cracking my skull.

"Gehk."

Just spit it out already.

Old man Compy looked at with unusually serious eyes.

"Kehekehk!"

Shouting words I couldn’t understand without the status window, he grabbed my arm.

Then, he started running his hands over my body.

It was like when Baek Yeon-Yeong had tried to teach martial arts, pulling and prodding at .

What the hell is wrong with this old man?

If it were Baek Yeon-Yeong or the Snake Queen, I wouldn’t mind.

But I don’t have any interest in being touched by another man.

At least bring Tus or Pus, Nephila Jurassic, or Sssisska.

"Gehgek."

I let out a very uncomfortable growl.

But I didn’t attack him.

He was, after all, my father-in-law on paper. How could I commit such an atrocity?

Besides, there had to be a reason he brought here.

The old man tapped one of the scales on my chest.

It felt strange, like sothing hot was bubbling up from within .

"Geh... Gehhek!"

Where do you think you're touching?

Even Baek Yeon-Yeong hasn’t touched there.

Old man Compy poked at one of the scales on my chest.

The heat inside intensified.

If I had to visualize it, it would be like fire.

It was even stronger than the fire energy I had felt from Hwari.

What the hell is this?

I looked down at my chest and noticed one of my scales was oddly reversed.

Wait a minute.

That’s... a reverse scale.

...I had a reverse scale?

No, I knew I had one.

But that was the na of a skill!

I hadn’t realized I had an actual reversed scale on my body.

I had never touched it before.

Its precise location had been hidden among the other scales on my chest.

In other words, even if my chest was attacked, the other scales would protect it.

When I grew larger, it would be even safer.

The scales would grow along with .

I hadn’t realized the reverse scale was there because of how tightly packed the dragon scales were.

But now?

Now that Compy was flipping through my scales, it was easy to find.

Of course, the old man hadn’t directly touched the reverse scale.

He had only prodded the scales surrounding it.

Even so, I felt sothing I had never experienced before.

It was as if fire was about to pour out of my mouth.

Right.

The reverse scale isn’t so weak point of a dragon.

It’s a sensitive spot that, when touched, angers the dragon, causing them to kill whoever dared touch it.

Compy seed to know that, carefully avoiding the reverse scale itself.

I was uncomfortable, but not to the point of being enraged.

"Grrr..."

I let out a growl of displeasure.

No matter how much he was my father-in-law, this was too much.

If it had been the Snake Queen touching it, I would have welcod it with open arms, but this was just wrong.

If he accidentally brushed the reverse scale, I might bite him.

As I had that thought, Compy withdrew his hand from my scales.

But the fire that had been stoked wouldn’t die down easily.

The unresolved heat filled my body.

"Grrr..."

Compy took a step back, observing carefully.

After several minutes of watching, once he was sure I wasn’t going to take any drastic action, he sat down in place.

Then, he crossed his legs into a ditation posture.

I wasn’t surprised.

He was a dinosaur who could use martial arts and possessed deep internal energy, so it wasn’t strange for him to assu such a posture.

But why now?

Why bring to this place?

Was it to warn about the reverse scale?

Would he really have gone through the trouble of dragging into this dark cave just to show sothing like that?

No, there had to be another reason.

The core I had just eaten.

The mural’s inscriptions and drawings.

Compy’s ditation posture.

And the strange feeling I had after my reverse scale had been prodded.

If I had to na it, it was an emotion close to anger.

The old man was guiding .

He had intentionally amplified the heat inside and was now urging to calm it through ditation.

Now I understood why the old man had brought here.

When I first succeeded in opening the Small Heavenly Circuit, I had acquired a certain martial technique.

Baekran Martial Technique

A very basic internal energy technique. It holds the potential to evolve into any form of martial art.

Baekran Martial Technique.

Whenever I used internal energy, I had always relied on this technique, rather than the power of the status window.

But its efficiency was never great.

Compared to the elixirs and cores I had consud, its output was always lacking.

If I had to rank it, the Nine Yin Bone Claw was top-tier, while the Baekran Martial Technique was low-tier.

Among all my skills and martial arts, the Baekran Technique was the weakest link.

In a way, what I needed most urgently was a new internal energy technique.

By controlling my energy more efficiently, all my other abilities would naturally be enhanced as well.

But there was no one to teach .

Baek Yeon-Yeong couldn’t teach because, as she said, our body structures were too different.

The Snake Queen was in the sa situation.

I needed soone with a body similar to mine, with deep internal energy, and who had goodwill toward .

Either that, or I needed to figure it out myself.

"Kekek."

And that soone was sitting in front of , cross-legged.

The Baekran Martial Technique.

It was like a white egg.

A very basic technique with the potential to evolve into sothing more.

It was ti to crack the egg.