Subduing the Dragon Emperor

After that single strike, Xiao Xian did not attack again. Instead, he stood with his hands behind his back, quietly watching Dragon Emperor Zhu Kun struggle desperately, trying to regenerate his flesh and blood.

But it was completely useless. A layer of mysterious energy clung to his wounds like maggots on bone. No matter what methods Zhu Kun used, he could not erase that energy. Naturally, his injuries could not heal, and purple-gold dragon blood gushed out like a waterfall.

Xiao Xian naturally would not waste it. Dragon blood was good stuff; whether used in alchemy or for bathing, it brought immeasurable benefits. The blood of a dragon at the Dou Sheng Peak was especially a treasure among treasures. Every drop was priceless. If it were auctioned off, countless people would absolutely smash their heads together fighting for it.

So he waved his arm, releasing an invisible force. A black hole appeared out of thin air, and the dragon blood filling the sky seemed to be drawn in, surging straight into the black hole.

"Roar! You've gone too far! As a Dou Emperor, you actually bully a junior like this. Don't you think it tarnishes your senior's dignity?" Dragon Emperor Zhu Kun nearly spat blood as he roared in grief and fury.

That was right. Before a Dou Emperor, even the Dragon Emperor, who had lived for countless millennia, considered himself a junior. After all, there was no order in learning; those who attained mastery came first. The strong were seniors regardless of age, while the weak were juniors, even if they were living fossils.

"What's there to be embarrassed about? Face is nothing but a passing cloud. Dragon blood is treasure. Rather than waste it, why not put it to some remaining use? Besides, you have plenty of blood. Letting out a little more is good for your health." Xiao Xian spoke casually, but the black hole's suction suddenly intensified, drawing in dragon blood like floodwaters released from a dam.

"No!"

Dragon Emperor Zhu Kun let out a mournful cry. He could feel himself growing weaker and weaker. The massive loss of blood had even slowed his recovery. If this continued, even if he survived, his vitality would be severely damaged—perhaps beyond recovery.

"I submit!"

Dragon Emperor Zhu Kun could no longer hold on. As death drew ever nearer, he finally lowered his proud head.

"Wouldn't it have been over if you'd said that sooner? You really were asking for it, insisting on taking a beating before behaving." Xiao Xian curled his lip. It was not just people who had such self-destructive tendencies; even strange beasts like dragons were the same. If you did not beat them up first, they would think you were Hello Kitty.

With a wave of Xiao Xian's hand, the energy preventing Zhu Kun's wounds from healing vanished completely. Great amounts of flesh emerged from the wounds, and strips of new flesh stretched forward like giant pythons as the wounds began closing at an astonishing rate.

Half an hour later, Zhu Kun, panting from exhaustion, finally repaired his wounds. Though the newly grown flesh was still fragile, he had at least escaped the danger of death.

He had lost a great deal of energy, mainly due to the massive blood loss. Though it had only taken a short while, Xiao Xian had forcibly taken half the blood in Zhu Kun's body. All that dragon blood had been collected in a specially excavated jade pool within the Small World, more than ten meters deep and several hundred zhang across.

Dragon blood was not only an invaluable treasure to humans; it was also an indispensable part of dragons. Massive blood loss could cause all kinds of bodily dysfunction, and in serious cases, even cause one's cultivation realm to regress. Zhu Kun could already feel that his realm was faintly becoming unstable.

He was now so weak that he could not even maintain his tens-of-thousands-of-zhang-long body. He could only shrink himself as much as possible to keep energy consumption at a minimum.

Thus, the enormous ancient dragon that had been so imposing before had now become a skinny little snake no more than two or three meters long.

"Take this!"

Xiao Xian flicked his finger, sending a round, lustrous pill radiating dazzling light into Zhu Kun's mouth.

Boom!

The pill melted the moment it entered his mouth. Torrential energy turned into a massive flood, rapidly spreading throughout Zhu Kun's body. His body, which had been weakened to the extreme, seemed to have swallowed the ultimate tonic, swelling like an inflated balloon at an astonishing rate and returning to its peak in the blink of an eye.

"Th-this..."

Zhu Kun was dumbfounded with shock. He knew that anything a Dou Emperor took out would be extraordinary, but this was far too astonishing. A mere pill the size of a longan contained more energy than the total amount he had absorbed over thousands of years. It was simply unbelievable.

"This is the Yin Yang Heaven-Seizing Pill. It is made from 3,874 precious medicinal herbs, 582 types of floral dew, and a drop of Yellow Springs Water, refined with Limitless Sky Fire for three thousand years. On the day the pill is completed, it must also undergo the baptism of nine days of divine lightning before a single supreme divine pill can be obtained. No matter how severe your injuries are, one pill will heal you completely." Xiao Xian naturally knew what Dragon Emperor Zhu Kun was thinking and immediately explained with a smile.

Zhu Kun sucked in a sharp breath. He simply could not imagine that a single pill required more than three thousand years to refine. Even an Emperor-grade pill did not need to be refined for so long, did it?

The Dou Qi Continent also had alchemists. Generally, the higher a pill's grade, the longer it took to refine, often lasting from several days to several months. But he had never heard of a pill whose refinement time was measured in thousands of years. This was not alchemy—it was practically gambling with one's life.

After all, even Dou Saints only lived for a few thousand years, at most no more than ten thousand. Though Magical Beasts generally had longer lifespans, they still had limits. Spending a third of one's life on a single pill was something no one could endure.

Naturally, Xiao Xian would not tell Zhu Kun that this Yin Yang Heaven-Seizing Pill was not a product of the Dou Qi Continent at all. It came from the Cultivation World and was the core secret of a supreme alchemy sect. Even such a giant sect did not possess many Yin Yang Heaven-Seizing Pills.

"Master!"

Dragon Emperor Zhu Kun now submitted to Xiao Xian wholeheartedly. Xiao Xian had given him such a precious pill to heal his injuries, and his cultivation was also at the Dou Emperor realm. Submitting to such a powerful expert was not shameful.

"Step aside for now. Watch This Emperor break open this Ancient Emperor Cave Abode." Xiao Xian waved Dragon Emperor Zhu Kun aside, then took out the divine artifact Surprise Night Spear that the System had rewarded him earlier.

It was a pitch-black spear that radiated a dense aura of death. Looking at it was like seeing the source of death itself.

Although Surprise Night Spear ranked third in the otherworldly Rogue Heavenly Venerable World, its power inferior to the first-ranked time divine artifact Fleeting Time and the second-ranked spatial divine artifact Myriad Aspects Wei Wei, it was still a divine artifact beyond the reach of countless Cultivators. Only Heavenly Venerables were worthy of possessing it.

Surprise Night Spear's power was too great. If its full might were unleashed, destroying worlds and reshaping heaven and earth would be a simple matter.

However, with Xiao Xian's current Dou Emperor realm, he could not possibly unleash Surprise Night Spear's full power. Yet even a fraction of its might was not something a mere Ancient Emperor Cave Abode could withstand.

Amid a thunderous roar, the ten-thousand-zhang stone gate shattered, revealing the true appearance of the Ancient Emperor Cave Abode.