The Concept of the Inner Core

What exactly did it take to activate the Mythical Bloodline within his body?

Could it be a unique environment or attribute energy?

Li Chang'an thought of how "Nine Infants" was a water-and-fire Ferocious Beast, and he had happened to consume Ice Fire Immortal Herbs before, as well as bathe in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well... Clearly, out of all those bloodlines, the fact that only the Nine Infants Bloodline had been activated had to be related to this.

Their attributes were similar... Did that mean that if he wanted to activate the bloodlines of other Exotic Beasts in the future, he would have to consider things along those lines?

He could not be sure.

The attributes and traits possessed by many of the powerful Exotic Beasts in those bloodlines were simply rare beyond compare. Some of them did not even exist in this world at all.

Where was he supposed to find them?

Being able to completely awaken the Nine Infants Bloodline this time had been nothing short of an incredible stroke of luck. He probably would not get such luck a second time.

Meanwhile.

At the bottom of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Inside the cavern where the corpses of two Ancient Dragon Kings lay dormant.

Li Chang'an slowly opened his eyes.

The complete awakening of the Nine Infants Bloodline had not turned him from a human into an Exotic Beast. He still retained his human form.

However, as long as he wished it, he could transform into the true form of Nine Infants at any time. He could switch flawlessly between human and Snake Body at will.

In short, he possessed every ability his clone had. Strictly speaking, both of them were actually the main body; there was no distinction between primary and secondary. After all, each bore half of the soul and shared the same will. It was only because Li Chang'an identified more strongly as human that he regarded the human body as the main body and the snake as merely a clone.

In the distance.

The Azure Serpent Emperor formed from his Martial Soul had likewise transformed into Nine Infants' nine-headed snake form. The two Dragon Souls that had originally been biting down on it had lost their source power, and now looked as illusory as bubbles, as though it would not be surprising if they met Destruction the very next moment.

With a thought, Li Chang'an controlled his Martial Soul to absorb the last remnants of energy within the two Dragon Souls clamped onto its body. The two Dragon Souls immediately collapsed completely, leaving only two dim spheres behind where they had been.

"This is...!"

Looking at the two spheres that appeared after the Dragon Souls scattered, he understood at once.

There was an eighty percent chance that these were the Dragon Pearls of the two Dragon Kings.

The two Dragon Souls had likely relied on the Dragon Pearls to freely command the surrounding power, which was why they contained such pure divine ice-and-fire power. Unfortunately, with the complete dispersal of the two Dragon Souls, the Dragon Pearls left behind had also utterly lost all their miraculous properties.

Li Chang'an controlled his Martial Soul and used one of its snake heads to gently touch one of the Dragon Pearls. Dense cracks immediately appeared across the dim sphere, and in the end, it turned into dust and scattered away like weathered stone.

"Just as I thought."

He nodded, his expression showing no surprise.

After all, all its source power had been absorbed when he awakened his bloodline. What remained were merely two hollow Dragon Pearls.

"Since ancient times, China has had legends of Exotic Beasts carrying Inner Cores, and demons cultivating Inner Cores by drawing in and expelling the spiritual energy of heaven and earth... Now that I've awakened the Nine Infants Bloodline, can I also condense an Inner Core? It seems I'll need to study this further in the future." After casually touching the other Dragon Pearl and reducing it to ash as well, Li Chang'an could not help thinking this.

In this world, Soul Beasts clearly had no concept of Inner Cores. They did have Soul Cores... but although the two might share similarities, their essence should be different.

"Alright, it's time to leave. I wonder how long has passed?" Li Chang'an felt that this trip had yielded a great haul. It was time to go.

With a thought.

The nine-headed snake-shaped Martial Soul in the distance transformed back into Sword Form and swiftly flew back.

Li Chang'an took the sword in hand and examined it closely, only to find that its Sword Form had changed. Originally, an Azure Serpent coiled around the hilt, which was why it had been called the Azure Scale Sword. Now it had become a nine-headed snake. Should it be renamed the Nine-Headed Serpent Sword? Or perhaps the Nine Infants Water-Fire Sword?

No, that would not do.

He shook his head. Then, with another thought, the Nine-Headed Serpent Sword in his hand immediately began to change, reverting once more to the form of the Azure Scale Sword.

For him now, changing the outward appearance of his Martial Soul was no difficult task.

Moreover, although he had awakened the Nine Infants Bloodline, that did not mean the original Azure Serpent Emperor Bloodline had vanished. In fact, the Azure Serpent Emperor was still there. It had merely been enveloped and devoured by the stronger Nine Infants Bloodline, becoming part of it.

Thus, he could switch out the Azure Serpent Emperor Bloodline at any time to disguise himself, preventing others from linking the Nine Infants clone to his main body.

If the Nine Infants clone went around causing trouble and courting death in the future, then even if things somehow went horribly wrong, it would not implicate his main body.

After all, Nine Infants was the one doing bad things. What did that have to do with me, the Azure Serpent Emperor?

Outside.

At the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Dugu Yan gazed at the tranquil Icefire Lake with a haggard expression. She had kept watch here for nearly a month.

Other than the necessary sleeping, washing, eating, and drinking, she spent most of her time standing guard here, waiting for a miracle to happen. She hoped that one day, her sweetheart would suddenly leap out of the lake before her and call her Yanzi once again.

"Yan Yan."

Dugu Bo approached from the distance. Looking at his granddaughter's haggard state, he said with heartache, "You've stayed here long enough today. Leave now, or your body won't be able to take it."

The area around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was filled with dense Ice and Fire Spiritual Energy. If humans or animals lived beside it, their bodies would be assailed by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth from those two extreme attributes. If they remained too long without leaving in time, they would surely explode and die!

If Dugu Yan had not consumed immortal herbs, greatly improving her physique and giving her some adaptation to this extreme ice-and-fire environment, then in her original condition, she likely would not have lasted even a few minutes here before her body exploded from the conflicting Ice and Fire Spiritual Energy.

Yet although consuming the immortal herbs nurtured by this ice-and-fire environment had given her a certain degree of adaptation to it, she still could not remain for too long. At most, she could stay a few hours before she had to leave, or she would be unable to endure it either.

"Grandpa... It's been almost a month. Will he really come out?"

Dugu Yan kept her eyes fixed on the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Without turning her head, she asked the question she had lost count of how many times she had asked.

"...He will!"

"Absorbing a herb can take as little as half a month, or as long as two or three months. That's perfectly normal."

Though Dugu Bo spoke with conviction, after nearly a month, he himself had almost given up hope that Li Chang'an was still alive.

But faced with his haggard granddaughter, he naturally could not tell her the truth. He could only say what she wanted to hear.

"But... what kind of herb takes that long to absorb?" Dugu Yan was nearly in tears as she spoke.

At first, faced with her grandfather's solemn assurances, she could still reluctantly believe that her lover was all right. But as the days passed, there had not been the slightest movement from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well before her. Even if someone were diving, they could not possibly stay underwater for an entire month. Even a fish would have to surface for air at least once, wouldn't it?

In truth, she had long suspected that Li Chang'an was more likely dead than alive. Perhaps the instant he jumped in, he had already been reduced to ashes by the terrifying waters of the ice-and-fire lake.

Dugu Yan simply did not dare believe it, nor was she willing to.