One Hundred Thousand Li! The Grand Void Sky Whale's First Transformation
Ninety-nine thousand seven hundred li.
Only the last three hundred li remained
before he reached one hundred thousand li.
Lu Yuan could already clearly feel the increasingly intense change deep within his body.
It was as though his entire physical body was waiting at a threshold.
Once he crossed it,
his level of life would truly undergo a transformation.
This was no simple increase in size.
An overwhelming hunger came from his blood, his bones, his scales, and even the depths of his soul.
Keep eating!
Lu Yuan did not hesitate.
His enormous maw opened again.
Boom!
The Sha Sea, which had only just begun to settle, erupted once more.
Vast quantities of black-red Sha liquid rose from the ground,
forming dozens of enormous waterspouts that spanned the abyss and poured madly into Lu Yuan's mouth.
The remaining three hundred li began to shrink rapidly.
Ninety-nine thousand seven hundred and twenty li.
Ninety-nine thousand seven hundred and fifty li.
Ninety-nine thousand eight hundred li...
As his body continued to grow,
the vibrations coming from within Lu Yuan grew more and more pronounced.
Deep, muffled heartbeats echoed through the Myriad Sha Abyss.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
With every heartbeat,
an enormous ripple spread across the surrounding Sha Sea.
The vicious beasts that had already fled far into the distance could not help looking back.
A Taiyi-level vicious beast king stood at the edge of the Sha Sea, its scarlet eyes fixed on Lu Yuan's position.
"What's that sound?"
The vicious beast beside it was full of terror.
"I don't know."
"It sounds like a heartbeat."
The Taiyi vicious beast king's expression slowly changed.
A heartbeat?
What creature's heartbeat could make the entire Myriad Sha Abyss tremble with it?
As the final few dozen li steadily drew nearer,
the vibrations began to spread beyond the abyss.
Above the Myriad Sha Abyss,
the vicious beasts that had been watching suddenly felt the ground beneath their feet give a slight jolt.
The Golden Immortal vicious bird abruptly spread its wings.
"What's happening now?"
The giant ape also sprang to its feet.
Boom!
A second tremor came,
clearer than before.
An old vicious beast looked both startled and doubtful.
"Is something coming out from below?"
"Doesn't seem like it."
"This presence..."
Before it could finish,
the third heartbeat rang out.
Thump—!
A visible wave burst out from within the Myriad Sha Abyss.
The Sha clouds in the sky were pushed aside in an instant!
All the vicious beasts near the entrance retreated at once.
Some of the weaker ones even had their Qi and blood churned by the shock.
The Golden Immortal vicious bird stared fixedly at the abyss,
the shock on its face growing ever greater.
"It's him!"
"That's the giant beast's presence!"
The surrounding vicious beasts erupted in an uproar.
"He's breaking through?"
"How long has he even been down there?"
"Can swallowing Sha Qi really let him directly break through to a new level of life?"
Cries of astonishment rang out one after another.
Inside the Beast Emperor Palace,
several vicious beast titans had all risen to their feet.
The black water mirror rippled violently.
The energy inside the Myriad Sha Abyss was gathering at a single point at an astonishing speed.
Qiongqi's gaze was fixed on the water mirror.
"His presence has grown again!"
The black-armored titan's initial contempt had vanished completely.
"He's growing too fast!"
"What bloodline does he have?"
The vicious beast titan beside him was breathing heavily.
"When he first entered the Myriad Sha Abyss, his life presence was clearly weaker than that of a true Great Luo. Now it's completely different."
"If this continues..."
He did not finish.
The atmosphere in the hall said enough.
Shen Ni slowly rose.
Since Lu Yuan had appeared,
this was the first time he had truly risen from his imperial throne.
His scarlet eyes peered through the water mirror, fixed firmly on the deepest part of the Myriad Sha Abyss.
"One hundred thousand li."
Shen Ni spoke softly.
Qiongqi turned his head sharply.
"Your Majesty?"
Shen Ni did not explain.
He could sense it.
Lu Yuan was approaching an exceptionally special threshold in his bloodline.
Inside the Myriad Sha Abyss,
the number finally reached the last step.
[Body length: 99,999 li.]
Lu Yuan did not stop.
He swallowed another mouthful of Sha liquid.
Boom—!
An indescribable power exploded from the deepest part of his body!
[Body length: 100,000 li.]
For an instant,
the entire world seemed to fall silent.
Deep within Lu Yuan's consciousness,
a bloodline power that had slumbered for countless years fully awakened.
Rumble!
The next moment,
boundless dark golden divine light erupted from Lu Yuan's body!
The light illuminated the once pitch-dark Myriad Sha Abyss as brightly as day.
Under the dark golden divine light, the viscous black-red Sha liquid took on an exceedingly strange translucence.
Lu Yuan's body began to truly transform.
The first thing to change was his blood.
His golden-red blood, which already contained immense life force, rapidly began to boil.
Tiny silver specks of starlight emerged deep within every drop.
The specks grew more and more numerous.
Finally, they formed exceedingly intricate innate Dao patterns.
Wherever the blood flowed,
the strength of his flesh rapidly increased.
Boom!
His bones began to tremble as well.
Ancient dark golden patterns appeared out of thin air across the surface of his already enormous bones.
These patterns did not belong to any Principle Lu Yuan had comprehended after birth.
They came from the deepest part of his bloodline,
as though they were an innate part of the Grand Void Sky Whale race.
As the Dao patterns took shape,
Lu Yuan's entire skeleton began to emanate a weightier ancient presence.
Finally,
the change reached his scales.
His dark golden scales began to fall away one by one.
Every one of them was as vast as a mountain ridge.
When the scales fell into the Sha Sea, they raised colossal waves a thousand li high.
The vicious beasts hiding in the distance stared wide-eyed.
"His scales are falling off?"
A vicious beast spoke without thinking.
The Taiyi vicious beast king beside it, however, shook its head sharply.
"No!"
Its eyes were already filled with shock.
"Look underneath!"
After the old scales fell away,
thicker, heavier new scales rapidly grew in their place.
Their color was deeper,
and the silver star patterns on their surfaces were clearer.
Fine, dense dark golden lines began to appear at the joints between the scales.
Judging purely by their presence,
the defensive strength of the new scales far surpassed that of the old ones.
The Taiyi vicious beast king could not help taking a step back.
"This..."
"This is just one growth?"
Its voice was clearly trembling.
Lu Yuan himself was likewise immersed in the transformation.
That felt good.
It was a comfort unlike anything he had ever felt before.
Every part of his body's existing structure was growing stronger.
Even the tiny flaws he had never noticed in himself were completely mended during this transformation.
His level of life was rising.
The immaturity of his juvenile stage began to fade rapidly.
At the same time.
A new instinct naturally surfaced from his bloodline inheritance.
Once Lu Yuan gradually came to understand it.
His eyes visibly lit up.
He did not open his mouth.
Nor did he deliberately devour anything.
Yet the Sha Qi around him continued to converge on his body.
At first, it was slow.
Soon, it grew more and more noticeable.
His scales, his breathing, and his flesh and blood all seemed to have gained countless tiny openings.
The energy drifting freely between heaven and earth began to enter his body automatically.
It was absorbed.
Transformed.
Then it became nourishment for his growth.
Lu Yuan sensed it for a long time.
At last, he was certain.
From now on, even if he lay still.
His body would automatically absorb the energy around him.
Active devouring was more efficient.
But passive absorption could continue at all times.
What did that mean?
Lu Yuan knew all too well.
Sleeping.
Traveling.
Spacing out.
Even if he did nothing at all.
As long as there was energy nearby.
He would slowly grow.
The feeling put Lu Yuan in an exceptionally good mood.
"This improvement was worth it."
His voice rang out from his transformed body.
Rumble!
A single sentence.
The sound waves it produced were already heavier than before.
The group of ferocious beasts in the distance even felt the Sha Sea tremble along with them.
Outside the Myriad Sha Abyss.
The spectating ferocious beasts were forced to retreat again and again under the suddenly surging pressure of his life force.
Some of the Mysterious Immortal-level ferocious beasts were already sprawled on the ground.
The Golden Immortal ferocious bird spread its wings to their full extent, doing everything it could to keep itself steady.
It stared at the entrance to the abyss, its expression so shocked that it was almost dazed.
"He's grown stronger again..."
The giant ape stood nearby.
The muscles in its face kept twitching.
"When he went in, he could already send Lord Qiongqi flying with a swipe."
"And now he's transformed again..."
It could not bring itself to finish.
No one knew just how strong Lu Yuan truly was now.
Inside the Beast Emperor Palace.
The black-armored giant clenched its fists tightly.
It had lost count of how many times it had been shocked today.
"Your Majesty."
The black-armored giant could not help speaking. "This Grand Void Sky Whale's potential is far greater than we judged before."
Shen Ni did not respond.
Because he was sensing something else.
After Lu Yuan's breakthrough.
The rate at which the Myriad Sha Abyss's ferocious Sha was being consumed had risen once again.
And this time.
Even after Lu Yuan stopped actively devouring it.
Sha Qi continued to converge on him.
Shen Ni's gaze finally turned completely serious.
"His body is absorbing it on its own..."
Hearing those words, Qiongqi felt a jolt in its heart.
It, too, quickly understood what that meant.
"In other words..."
"From now on, he can keep growing even while he sleeps?"
Qiongqi's voice rose noticeably.
The other ferocious beast giants all turned to look at Shen Ni.
Shen Ni slowly nodded.
For a moment, the great hall was frighteningly quiet.
After quite a while.
The black-armored giant finally let out a long breath.
Its gaze was complicated.
"Monster."
Inside the Myriad Sha Abyss.
Lu Yuan's transformation finally began to subside.
The dark golden divine light withdrew into his body bit by bit.
The Sha Sea around him grew dim again.
Lu Yuan felt out his new body.
His new state of life also naturally appeared in his consciousness.
Grand Void Sky Whale.
Growth stage.
Body length: one hundred thousand li.
Lu Yuan was just about to continue devouring.
When an extremely faint sensation of contact suddenly came from deep in the Sha Sea beneath his body.
As though something.
Had touched him.
Lu Yuan stopped.
His golden eyes slowly turned downward.
Deep in the dark Sha Sea.
The slight disturbance from just now had already vanished.
Lu Yuan quietly sensed his surroundings for a moment.
His enormous tail fin swayed gently.
The Sha liquid around him parted to either side.
His gaze fell on the depths below.