Blood Octopus, Divine Dragon Transformation

A large, imposing horde of zombies and skeletons roamed beside a river of blood, where piles of bones occasionally floated downstream.

Hundreds of meters away from the blood river, on a large tree with strangely twisted branches, Qi Bei dangled his legs as he sat on the trunk, calmly gazing in the direction of the blood river. Beneath the tree, about ten undead creatures lay scattered.

"So many undead, how can I get through? And how can I cross this blood river?" Qi Bei pondered, a silver arrow spinning between his fingers.

Perhaps due to the dense death energy, this blood river attracted tens of thousands of undead. For Qi Bei to force his way through would be harder than ascending to heaven.

Moreover, the blood river was over a hundred meters wide, and he didn't possess the ability to walk on water.

Qi Bei scanned from left to right. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and the arrow spinning in his hand stopped.

Upstream of the blood river, there were rocky mountains on both banks. The undead on the mountains appeared sparse. If he could clear them out and then use his longbow to shoot a rope made of bark to the opposite mountain, he could slide directly to the other side through the air.

However, while this method sounded simple, it was actually very difficult to execute. Shooting the rope to the other side wasn't hard, but for it to stably support a person's weight was extremely challenging. Still, it was the only method Qi Bei could think of at the moment.

Qi Bei leaped lightly from the tree and stealthily crept towards the direction of the rocky mountain.

On the rocky mountain, two skeletons were wandering aimlessly.

Suddenly, a faint silver light flashed, and the red glow in the empty eye sockets of the two skeletons extinguished almost simultaneously.

Qi Bei emerged from behind a large rock, picked up the arrows that had pierced the ear canals of the two skeletons, and then rummaged through their skulls, but found nothing.

Just as Qi Bei was about to stand up, his heart suddenly tightened. He rolled forward like lightning, shooting a bone spear backward.

"Sizzle"

Where Qi Bei had just been standing, a spray of green venom corroded the rocks on the ground, leaving them riddled with holes.

Not far away, a zombie covered in green fur was impaled through the chest by Qi Bei's bone spear, pinned to a rock, struggling wildly.

"Green-furred venom zombie? Damn it, I almost got tricked by this thing," Qi Bei cursed, rushing forward and cleaving the venom zombie's head in two with a single strike.

From its rotten, liquefied brain matter, a green bead rolled out.

"Green Bead... Looks like my luck is good today." Qi Bei's face immediately broke into a wide grin. Among the Undead Beads, the Blue Bead was the lowest grade, a low-level undead bead. The Green Bead was a level higher, a mid-level undead bead, while the Silver Bead was a high-level undead bead.

Not every undead creature possessed an Undead Bead. For low-level undead beads, one might only find one after searching through a hundred low-level undead.

However, besides knowing that Undead Beads could be used as energy stones and had detoxifying properties, Qi Bei was unaware of any other uses.

Qi Bei continued to creep towards the summit of the rocky mountain, eliminating any scattered undead he encountered along the way.

At dusk, Qi Bei finally reached the summit of the rocky mountain.

He untied the prepared bark rope from his body, carefully observed the opposite rocky mountain for a long while, then tied the rope securely to an arrow, drew his bow, and aimed.

Qi Bei released his finger, and the bowstring hummed. The arrow, carrying the bark rope, shot like a meteor towards a large tree growing on the opposite rocky mountain.

The arrow passed precisely between two tree branches. Qi Bei pulled the rope back, and the arrow was now suspended horizontally between the two branches.

"Haha, my luck is explosive today. It seems crossing this blood river won't be a problem." Qi Bei excitedly punched the air. He tied the rope to a large rock, thus creating a zipline.

Qi Bei placed his longbow on the zipline, grabbed the sides with both hands, and with a push of his feet, he shot forward, sliding across the air towards the other side.

Looking down at the dense horde of undead below, Qi Bei couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment.

In the blink of an eye, Qi Bei had slid over the blood river. Looking down from this vantage point, he could see the situation in the blood river more clearly.

The corpses tumbled in the blood river, and the shadows of unknown river creatures glided across the surface. Hell itself was nothing compared to this.

Qi Bei was inwardly alarmed, and that sliver of accomplishment instantly turned into an inexplicable fear.

Just then, a blood-red shadow burst from the water, shooting like lightning towards Qi Bei in mid-air.

The moment that trace of fear surfaced in Qi Bei's mind, his nerves had tensed to the extreme. As this blood-red shadow appeared, his body instinctively dodged.

The blood-red shadow narrowly grazed his body. However, while he dodged it, the rope made of bark instantly snapped into two pieces.

Qi Bei, holding onto one end of the broken rope with one hand, exerted force with his waist and swung his body close to the surface of the blood river towards the opposite bank.

Two more blood-red shadows attacked Qi Bei from front and back, cutting off any thought of escaping to the opposite rocky mountain.

Since there was no retreat, he would fight!

Qi Bei's pupils contracted to the size of needles. As one of the blood-red shadows was about to lash at him, the bone spike in his hand suddenly thrust forward.

With two "poof" sounds, one was the sound of bone piercing flesh.

But the louder sound was Qi Bei spitting blood. Although he had dodged, avoiding the main force, his internal organs were still severely injured, as if a large hand had reached into his chest and was forcefully squeezing his organs.

Qi Bei endured the pain, his limbs clinging tightly to the attacking blood-red shadow like a koala. It was then he realized this thing was a giant tentacle.

The tentacle, pierced by Qi Bei's bone spike, instinctively retracted back into the blood river.

Qi Bei was smashed into the blood river with a roar along with the tentacle. All he could do was cling tightly to the tentacle, refusing to let go.

The tentacle quickly retreated to the bottom of the blood river. At this point, the owner of the tentacle revealed its true form.

It turned out to be a giant Blood Octopus.

However, while an octopus has eight tentacles, this giant Blood Octopus only had three. The other five tentacles had been severed by someone, and mysterious restrictive runes flickered at the wounds, clearly intended to prevent the tentacles from regrowing.

This giant Blood Octopus was enraged. It directly wrapped its injured tentacle into its furry maw, intending to swallow Qi Bei whole.

Qi Bei held his breath, holding the bone spike in both hands, and pushed off the tentacle with his feet. He shot backward like a torpedo towards the Blood Octopus's head.

"Die!" Qi Bei roared inwardly. The bone spike emitted a circle of cone-shaped golden light as he, along with the bone spike, smashed into one of the Blood Octopus's large eyes.

Instantly, Qi Bei was deeply submerged in the Blood Octopus's large eye, drowned by the thick liquid.

The giant Blood Octopus began to struggle as if insane, its three large tentacles flailing wildly in the river of blood. Wherever they passed, everything was torn to shreds and turned to dust.

Streams of dark green ink spurted out. Upon contact, the scattered bones instantly dissolved into thick liquid.

Above the river of blood, the octopus's ink and the river water reacted violently. Dense green smoke rose with a sizzling sound, forming a poisonous fog zone spanning over a hundred miles. The undead on both banks fell one after another.

Qi Bei was unaware of everything happening outside. He had only one thought:

It's either you die, or I die!

Therefore, Qi Bei's madness was no less than the Blood Octopus's. The bone spear in his hand thrust wildly like raindrops, and his body sank deeper and deeper.

From the Blood Octopus's eye, Qi Bei entered its head, and the bone spear pulverized everything inside.

Finally, the Blood Octopus stopped moving. Qi Bei, his entire body stiff and numb, floated in a pool of pulpy liquid within the Blood Octopus's head, his consciousness falling into chaos.

Am I going to die again? I'm not reconciled. Qi Bei sighed inwardly, feeling his soul slowly sinking into pitch-black darkness.

Suddenly, a golden light emanated from the palm of Qi Bei's left hand, accompanied by loud dragon roars that seemed to come from the distant heavens.

At that very moment, within the pulpy remains of the Blood Octopus's head, a blood-red crystal the size of Qi Bei's head instantly stuck to his left palm as if iron encountering a magnet.

Immediately, surges of vitality rushed into Qi Bei's body. The blood-red crystal rapidly shrank, reducing from the size of a head to the size of a fist in just a few breaths.

Qi Bei grunted, his eyes snapping open, and he began to gasp for air.

"What's going on? Why can I suddenly breathe?" Qi Bei's emotions stabilized. He found himself still inside the Blood Octopus's head, but he could miraculously breathe, and his body was filled with strength.

The next moment, Qi Bei discovered the blood-red crystal in his left palm.

"Is this the crystal core of this giant octopus?" Qi Bei was stunned. He tentatively released the blood-red crystal, but as soon as his hand left it, he could no longer breathe. The moment he grasped the crystal, he could breathe again.

"What a treasure! Surviving a great disaster brings good fortune, the saying is true." Qi Bei hid the blood-red crystal against his skin and began to search for a way out.

After more than half an hour, Qi Bei finally emerged from the octopus's body.

Looking at the motionless giant Blood Octopus, Qi Bei's anger surged. He took the bone spear and stabbed it again.

"Huh?"

At this moment, Qi Bei was shocked to discover that beneath the Blood Octopus's head, there was a purple metal chain. No wonder the octopus, despite being severely injured, had not left and remained in place. It turned out it had been tethered here by some expert.

Following the purple metal chain, Qi Bei found a place near the riverbed where bones were piled up.

Clearing away the bones, an ancient magic array was revealed. The chain was fastened to the center of this magic array.

Qi Bei was completely clueless about magic arrays. After circling it twice, he decided to leave.

But just then, the black ancient book on Qi Bei's body suddenly floated out on its own, its faint ghostly light exceptionally striking in the bloody river water.

The ancient magic array at the riverbed also suddenly activated, with a mysterious rune appearing in the center.

At the same time, a rune floated out from the black ancient book. The two runes were identical.

The two runes instantly merged, causing the earth to shake and the mountains to tremble.

With a "clang," a black sword energy shot out from the ancient magic array like lightning, piercing Qi Bei's brow. His heart chilled from the inside out.

Qi Bei had no time to react. Instinctively, he reached out with both hands to grab the sword energy.

The sharp blade edge cut his hands, making them bleed profusely, and stained the black sword red.

Gradually, the sword energy on the black sword faded, leaving behind an unremarkable black iron sword.

Qi Bei's consciousness blurred for a moment. He only felt a continuous burning sensation in his left palm. The dragon pattern roared and danced, forming mysterious texts that imprinted into his mind.

"Divine Dragon Transformation!"

The Nine Transformations of the Divine Dragon were the true core cultivation technique of the Divine Dragon Art, requiring a top-grade Yin Body to trigger.

Although Qi Bei had reached the first level of the Divine Dragon Art, he had not completed the First Transformation of the Divine Dragon.

The Divine Dragon was formed from the universe's ultimate Yang energy. The so-called Divine Dragon Transformation required a woman of top-grade Yin quality for harmonization. Otherwise, Extreme Yang Fire would be generated within the body, burning the soul to ashes.

Whenever a woman of top-grade Yin quality was nearby, the Divine Dragon imprint on Qi Bei's left palm would react.

As long as any part of that woman's body touched the Divine Dragon imprint, a mark would be left in her soul.

This mark was naturally not a mark of enslavement. However, women bearing this mark would be relatively easily attracted to the owner of the mark. The harmonization of Yin and Yang was a fundamental principle of heaven and earth.

In other words, since triggering the Divine Dragon Transformation, if Qi Bei did not want to be reduced to ashes by the Extreme Yang Fire within him, he had to collect top-grade beauties from all over the world to fill his harem.

But the problem now was that Qi Bei had only been cut by a black sword, yet he had inexplicably triggered the Divine Dragon Transformation cultivation technique.

"What Divine Dragon Art? I think it should be called the 'Dragon-Inducing Art'," Qi Bei thought with a wry smile. The excitement of cultivating the first level of the Divine Dragon Art had long since vanished.

Just then, the ancient magic array shattered with a roar, and Qi Bei was swept away downstream by a surge of current.