Heaven Grants Longevity, Three Kings Appear!

"Moo~" The Dragon Whale struggled violently.

All four ships, including the three thousand Liu Tianning, were dragged away by the Dragon Whale.

The dying struggle of this enormous creature was terrifying. A huge vortex of black clouds appeared in the sky, even affecting Liu Tianning's Solar Terms Decree and Cloud Method.

"Put!"

Liu Tianning shouted.

"Release the chain!"

Pei Yuanchang immediately took command of the Mechanism Master team on the ship.

"Click-clack-clack-clack-clack~" The mechanism turned, the winch wheel spun rapidly, and the chain sank into the sea section by section.

The Dragon Whale instinctively dived down, trying to shake off its enemy.

But the Resilient Vine that Liu Tianning was holding and the Locking God Chains on the ship were both long enough.

The Dragon Whale descended 500 meters but remained firmly bound.

"Receive!"

Following Liu Tianning's instructions, the Resilient Vine and the Locking God Chains on the ship began to be retrieved and wrestled with the Dragon Whale.

The intense pain forced the Dragon Whale to dive back to the surface from a depth of 500 meters.

"Smack!"

The fish tail, over 300 meters long, slapped against the sea surface, causing waves to surge and crash against Liu Tianning and the surrounding ships.

"Boom boom boom~"

The Resilient Vine of the sixth rank had their layers of skin cracked open.

"This guy is incredibly strong," Xia Jing remarked, looking down at the enormous creature below.

"His vitality is also strong." Chen Shijie's eyes shone brightly. "Despite suffering so many attacks, his life force hasn't decreased much."

"Someone is coming."

Zhao Xing frowned and looked eastward.

Just then, the brothers Ji Ye and Ji Chen, who had already retreated, approached in their warship.

It is clear that an anomaly has been detected.

They couldn't possibly be unaware of such a huge commotion.

"Dragon Whale? Such a huge Dragon Whale?!" Ji Ye was astonished. His heart pounded when he saw the size of the Dragon Whale.

"A tremendous opportunity! This Dragon Whale is undoubtedly the greatest opportunity in the Eternal Night Sea!"

"Pass on the order!"

"Put all five warships into battle mode and release all Mechanical Puppet! Await orders!"

"Release the coordinates of the Dragon Whale and notify all the exploration teams!"

"Young Master, you mustn't!" The strategist beside him changed his expression; he knew perfectly well what Ji Ye was thinking. "Liu Tianning may not be able to kill the Dragon Whale, but he certainly has the ability to kill us."

"Am I that stupid?" Ji Ye sneered. "Let Liu Tianning fight that big guy first, spread the news, and then I'll have a chance to reap the benefits!"

"With so many exploration teams coming, can Liu Tianning really kill them all?"

"The potential profits from Dragon Whale are huge enough; I refuse to believe no one will be tempted!"

"Young master, if this plan had been made two months ago, it might have been possible, but now it's practically impossible. Even if those exploration teams agree on the surface, they probably won't actually put in the effort," advised strategist Zhang Wensong.

"No need to persuade me further, just go and do it!"

The strategist looked at Ji Ye with some disappointment in his eyes.

After leaving the room, Zhang Wensong looked up at the sky and shook his head.

"He didn't dare to fight when Qin Chongwen and Huangfu Song were killed, but now he dares to fight for the Dragon Whale."

"Two months ago, when the six exploration teams weren't making offerings to Liu Tianning, he didn't unite against them. Now, two months later, everyone has already reaped the benefits, and he's thinking of forming an alliance..."

A hint of disdain flashed in Zhang Wensong's eyes. "This brat is not worth talking to. Following him will only bring disaster upon us sooner or later."

Thinking of this, Zhang Wensong went to his room and packed up all the rewards Ji Ye had given him, even taking off his fine clothes and placing them on the table.

They then flew directly to Ji Chen's ship.

The thirteenth prince Ji Chen, also noticed the Dragon Whale's movements and was quite tempted, wanting to get a share of the spoils.

But the strategist advised, "If you take action, young master, you may not be able to seize the Dragon Whale. Instead, you will offend Liu Tianning, the future leader of the True Self Faction."

"Then what do you think I should do, sir?" Ji Chen asked.

"Help Liu Tianning," the strategist said. "The Dragon Whale's actions are enormous and will inevitably attract attention from all sides. At this time, young master should protect Liu Tianning from those troubles."

"Whether Liu Tianning likes it or not, as long as the young master makes this move, he has to accept this favor."

Ji Chen clapped his Node Path, "What you say makes sense, sir. Whoever dares to hit Liu Tianning, I will hit them."

After being locked up, the Dragon Whale struggled for three days and three nights.

Liu Tianning and Pei Yuanchang's four ships also followed suit for three days and three nights.

Such a commotion naturally couldn't be kept secret from the other exploration teams.

Surrounding the Dragon Whale were Liu Tianning and Pei Yuanchang's forces.

Further out are the two top exploration teams, Ji Ye and Ji Chen.

Next came Xing Ming's joint exploration team, the grandson of Heaven Jade King, and the exploration team of Ji Dan, the Liang King.

During this period, the Fifth Grade on the Ten Thousand Laws Tower Ship and the Sea Ripple Warship were all ready for battle.

To prevent anyone from interfering with Liu Tianning or stabbing him in the back.

There really were those who stabbed him in the back. On the night of the second day, Ji Ye's warships headed towards the area where the Dragon Whale was swimming to intercept it.

However, before anyone on the Ten Thousand Laws Tower Ship and the Sea Ripple Warship could move, someone stepped forward to shield Liu Tianning from the attack.

It was Ji Ye's older brother, the thirteenth prince Ji Chen.

The younger brother drew his knife, and the older brother blocked it.

This left other forces that wanted to take advantage of the situation with nothing to do but watch from the sidelines.

The two brothers were fighting and blocking the way.

And at Chen Shi (7-9 AM) on the fourth day.

The Dragon Whale's struggles finally subsided.

Noon, 7:45.

The Dragon Whale was completely unable to resist, Liu Tianning took the opportunity to shatter Dragon Whale Fate Soul.

At this point, although the Dragon Whale's body was not yet dead, its soul had already perished.

"Swish, swish, swish~"

The Resilient Vine retracted from the Dragon Whale and returned to Liu Tianning's body.

At this point, the other forces could only watch helplessly, abandoning their attempts to take advantage of the situation.

"Zhao Xing, come here."

Liu Tianning stood on the back of the Dragon Whale and waved to Zhao Xing.

"Yes."

Zhao Xing immediately flew towards the Dragon Whale.

As for the others, they remained on the ship watching.

Liu Tianning didn't call them, they could only wait.

"Teacher, is it dead?"

"Sort of, but its life essence is still there." Liu Tianning smiled slightly. "I never thought that after consuming so many treasures, I would still encounter this Dragon Whale that has seized the creation of heaven and earth."

Liu Tianning pointed.

"Pfft~"

A golden light suddenly appeared on the back of the Dragon Whale.

"Thump~ Thump~"

The golden light pulsed and contracted.

The Dragon Whale Heart!

Zhao Xing resisted the urge to rush over and simply looked at the heart.

The Dragon Whale's heart was too big; even the largest cabin of the Blood Shadow Flying Boat couldn't contain it.

This area is also the part that contains the most exquisite beauty.

"The Dragon Whale Heart, its fins, and its flesh are all highly nourishing," Liu Tianning said. "However, the only thing useful to you and your master is the essence and blood within this Dragon Whale Heart."

Liu Tianning pointed, and a hole appeared in the heart, from which golden blood flowed out.

"Gulp~" A fist-sized ball of golden blood floated in front of Zhao Xing. "Eat, eat as much as you can."

"Thank you, teacher." Zhao Xing immediately stopped Guest Qi, opened his mouth, and sucked the ball of golden blood into his mouth.

"Thump~" "Thump~"

As the golden blood entered his body, Zhao Xing felt his heart begin to pound rapidly.

His entire body swelled up, and a golden phantom appeared around him. This phantom was Zhao Xing's appearance, only more than ten times larger, like a giant.

A wisp of energy flowed around his body, and upon closer inspection, it could be seen that the moving energy was in the shape of Dragon Whale.

Unlike Long Xiao and Xia Jing, who are considered "fat".

Zhao Xing's "fatness" at this time was an expansion of vitality.

The life essence of the Human Race has an upper limit; this is a restriction imposed by heaven and earth on all races.

Although both are of the Sixth Rank, the lifespan of Human Race is far shorter than that of spirit turtles, which is a limitation imposed by the very nature of life.

Now, this constraint has been broken by the immense Lifespan Spiritual Elegance, and Zhao Xing's lifespan limit has become even higher!

"A miracle of life." Liu Tianning watched this scene and also swallowed a mouthful of golden blood.

However, the golden phantom around Liu Tianning was fainter.

This is because he absorbs it faster; in just a moment, the golden phantom disappeared into his body.

Liu Tianning began consuming the second batch of golden blood, while Zhao Xing was still digesting it.

After Liu Tianning ate the fourth batch, the golden phantom on Zhao Xing's body slowly faded away.

He began taking the second dose of blood.

The two, master and disciple, stood on the whale's back, absorbing the nutrients.

Liu Tianning continued absorbing the tenth batch of golden blood before stopping.

Then Liu Tianning looked at the sky thoughtfully.

Zhao Xing absorbed the blood relatively slowly, but he still absorbed ten clusters of golden blood.

The golden phantom on his body disappeared, and Zhao Xing stood up in shock.

"Did the agility and elegance of this Dragon Whale really increase by 200 years?"

He looked at a record on the panel.

[You have consumed the Heavenly Spirit Essence and Heaven Grants Longevity; your lifespan has been increased by 200 years.]

[You consumed the Heavenly Spirit Essence, and thus learned of your own destiny.]

The panel also changed at the same time.

[Remaining lifespan: 478 years]

Zhao Xing looked at the panel and began to ponder as well.

"At the Sixth Rank rank, one can normally only live for three hundred years. My extra lifespan was increased to 178 years before it stopped. I guess that under normal circumstances, if I don't cultivate, get promoted, or take any life-extending treasures, I will only live to be 122 years old."

"A natural lifespan of 122 years, plus an additional 178 years from the increase in the dynasty's fortune, Lifespan Spiritual Elegance, makes a total of 300 years, which is exactly the theoretical lifespan limit for Sixth Rank official."

"I am now twenty-two years old, but I can live for another 478 years."

"This is equivalent to my maximum lifespan, which is already comparable to Fourth Grade."

"Does this mean that if I reach the first rank, I can break the theoretical limit of 800 years for a first-rank official?" Zhao Xing pondered.

Logically speaking, this limit could not be broken until the reign of Wu Emperor.

But the world is full of wonders, and the ascension of Grotto-Heaven is a rare sight that can only be seen once every hundreds of thousands of years.

Perhaps I really have broken the 800-year limit.

"Old Liu also ate it ten times," Zhao Xing thought to himself. "If my guess is correct, he should have done the same."

Verifying the guess is actually quite simple.

If one's lifespan can be increased when one ascends to the Fifth Grade and receives the National Dynasty Luck Cleansing, it means that the theoretical limit of lifespan has been broken after consuming the Dragon Whale Spiritual Elegance.

If one's lifespan does not increase even when reaching the Fifth Grade or Fourth Grade, it means that one has not broken the limits of the Great World, but has only gained the lifespan of the Fourth Grade ahead of time in the Ten Yang Grotto-Heaven.

Being Sixth Rank grants one the lifespan of Fourth Grade, which is an advantage. Even if one never gets promoted, one can still live for five hundred years.

It should be noted that Tantai Ming, Fourth Grade, could theoretically only live for five hundred years, and normally he would not even live to his theoretical lifespan.

"It must have broken the limit, which is why the panel displays the phrase ' Heaven Grants Longevity '!"

"With the natural lifespan limit broken, the next lifespan bottleneck for officials will be a thousand years."

After thinking for a moment, Zhao Xing raised his head.

The heart still radiated Golden Light; he and Liu Tianning had only eaten half of it.

"The whale's bone marrow will still be helpful to you." Liu Tianning turned around. "You have two more hours to eat it."

"Teacher, what do you mean?" Zhao Xing asked, puzzled.

Liu Tianning pointed to the Dragon Whale Heart and said, "I told you before that I have already consumed all the life-extending treasures that I could eat at the Fifth Grade rank."

"The fact that I can still absorb the Heavenly Spirit Essence contained in the Dragon Whale Heart means that my lifespan limit has been broken."

"This matter is of great importance, and I have already reported it to Rahu King," Liu Tianning said. "A king will be sent soon to deal with this Dragon Whale."

"So you'd better hurry."

Upon hearing Liu Tianning's words, Zhao Xing immediately began absorbing the Dragon Whale Marrow.

Liu Tianning's three thousand Dharma bodies had long ago divided the Dragon Whale into many parts.

He can now simply eat what's readily available.

"Dragon Whale Marrow".

Zhao Xing held a huge dragon bone and began to extract its marrow.

The heat, the intense heat, instantly spread throughout Zhao Xing felt as if he had been thrown into a furnace.

His skin, flesh, acupoints, meridians, and bones were all coated with a layer of gold.

"Ah—" Zhao Xing knelt down on the ground, his face showing pain.

The Dragon Whale Marrow contains the essence of primordial spirit and its effect is to strengthen the physical body!

This Dragon Whale is a treasure from head to toe.

"Huff~ Huff~"

One hour later.

Zhao Xing was panting heavily, sweating profusely.

Now, his bones are radiating Golden Light.

[You have consumed the Dragon Whale Bone Marrow, and your physique has undergone a transformation, evolving from ' Nascent Gold Bone ' to ' Greater Mastery of Gold Bone '!]

"Huh?" Zhao Xing was stunned.

The Dragon Whale Marrow actually pulled his physical body to the level of "Greater Mastery of Gold Bone".

He casually grabbed a bone; the Dragon Whale bone was originally extremely hard and required Divine Soldier to break.

But now, with a slight exertion—

"Smack!"

The hard Dragon Whale bone was crushed.

Looking at his palm, Zhao Xing fell into deep thought.

My physical strength has increased many times over.

Moreover, a sense of ease arose in my Sea of Consciousness.

"My Fate Soul has settled in the womb, my physical body has become stronger, and my Fate Soul no longer feels cramped, but has become more at ease."

It's a good thing that my physical body is getting stronger.

Even if someone gets close, they won't die from a single blow; their vitality becomes even stronger.

Entering the Yuan Soul Realm will be easier in the future.

"If I encounter any forbidden areas or extreme environments, my ability to survive will be greatly enhanced by these golden bones and my basic martial arts skills."

There wasn't much left to eat; the rest of the meat was no longer of any use to Zhao Xing.

Unless one can break through the current level.

Two hours later, he finished consuming the Dragon Whale's marrow.

Two hours later, a Golden Dragon Warship appeared in the Eternal Night Sea.

On the warship was a flag with a bow and arrows that emitted a faint Golden Light.

"Rahu King's warships?"

"Why is he here?"

The various factions in the Eternal Night Sea were astonished.

This is the first time the Three Kings have made a public appearance since the spiritual energy of the Ten Yang Grotto-Heaven erupted.

The Golden Dragon Warship flew to the side of the Ten Thousand Laws Tower Ship.

"Whoosh~"

Then three illusory figures landed on the back of the Dragon Whale.

These were none other than Heaven Derivation King, Rahu King, and Ling De King.

"Your humble servant Zhao Xing pays respects to Rahu King, Heaven Derivation King, and Ling De King."

"No need for formalities," Rahu King nodded indifferently.

The three kings then glanced at the Dragon Whale, especially its golden Dragon Whale.

"How is it?" Rahu King asked Heaven Derivation King.

"It is indeed miraculous." Heaven Derivation King nodded. "It seems that it has absorbed too much spiritual essence, and a qualitative leap has occurred."

"Liu Tianning, take your disciples aboard the ship," Rahu King instructed.

"Yes." Liu Tianning then led Zhao Xing away from the Dragon Whale and returned to the Ten Thousand Laws Tower Ship.

Immediately afterwards, Rahu King, Heaven Derivation King, and Ling De King sealed off the surrounding space.

Flags appeared and landed above the Dragon Whale.

It was like a canopy, obscuring everything inside.

Four hours later, the celestial barrier dissipated.

The Dragon Whale's heart has disappeared; its whereabouts are unknown.

The three kings offered no explanation, boarded the Golden Dragon Warship, and left the Eternal Night Sea.

Zhao Xing watched the warships depart, lost in thought.

The magical items of the Eternal Night Sea are useless outside the area, but it also depends on who makes the move.

It was obvious that the three kings had taken the heart away using special means.

"I've never heard of the Dragon Whale in my previous life. It seems that it really is a move by a Three King Grade expert, and they've kept the news under wraps," Zhao Xing guessed.

However, Rahu King and his men only took the heart.

The rest of the body was completely ignored.

Liu Tianning and Pei Yuanchang cut out the precious parts of the Dragon Whale, which took them another Heavenly Timing.

The remaining crew members on the Ten Thousand Laws Tower Ship also received a share of the Dragon Whale meat.

Although its quality is not as high as that of the Dragon Whale Heart, it is still very attractive to those of the Fifth Grade.

In particular, the bone marrow of the Dragon Whale can strengthen the physical body, which will greatly help in the subsequent advancement to the Fourth Grade.

Chen Shijie, Xia Jing, Long Xiao, Ji Ziyun, Murong Xue, Ji Ziyun, Liu Cheng'an, Wu Ting... Every member of Liu Tianning Exploration Group received a share.

A few days later, many people became "fat" due to excessive energy accumulation.

Even the Mountain Cat ate until its belly was round and its body had swelled up.

"It's time to go back."

Zhao Xing stood on the Ten Thousand Laws Tower Ship, watching the crowd below dividing and eating the fish, and glanced at the almanac.

Today is July 2nd!

"Now I have no more desires for the Ten Yang Grotto-Heaven. Even if there is some soup or broth, it is of no importance to me," Zhao Xing thought to himself.

"I'll use this as an excuse to digest my vital energy and hone my magic skills, and stay in Yang City without going out."

The Ten Suns in the Sky was scheduled for the end of August, but Zhao Xing decided to stop in early July.

Since the gains have exceeded initial expectations, it's time to exit.

Nobody knows if this time it will be brought forward, or what additional changes might occur.

On July 3, Zhao Xing returned to Yang City aboard Liu Tianning's Ten Thousand Laws Tower Ship.

At this point, there were less than two months left until the Ten Suns in the Sky.

Back at the Eighteen Locust Willow Courtyard, Zhao Xing went into Entering the Dream and reviewed his exploration experience over the past three months to make sure he didn't miss anything.

Upon entering the memory palace in his dream, Zhao Xing's expression changed when he saw the "Heavenly Gate Deduction" segment.

At this moment, he took the initiative to enter and recall, and then he remembered this sealed memory.

"The Ten Suns in the Sky are actually related to the Profound Heaven Sect? And possibly even to the Liang King?" Zhao Xing pondered.

His initial reason for sealing away this memory was because he was too weak.

But now, knowing Liu Tianning's strength and discovering that Old Liu's backer is Rahu King, he has some other ideas.

"Profound Heaven Sect, Ten Suns in the Sky..." Zhao Xing pondered.

Tomorrow will be the end of this volume, and I won't be writing much more about the Qinggang Mining Area, so I'm experiencing some writer's block. I'll only write 5,000 words today, please forgive me.