Revived from Death

"You wouldn't want to take human form, would you?"

Su Chen immediately understood.

"What are you thinking? Of course I wouldn't take human form."

Compared to the Heavenly Tribulation, taking human form was an even greater gamble.

The vast majority of soul beasts would not choose this path. After all, no matter how powerful a human was, their lifespan was only one or two hundred years.

Once they failed to break through and could not become a god, they would, like humans, perish in the river of history.

The price of such a gamble was simply too great.

What was more, the result of this gamble was often becoming a soul ring for the soul masters of the human world.

The other path was to break through one's own limits.

For soul beasts, the great bottleneck at one hundred thousand years was something akin to a Heavenly Tribulation.

If they failed to break through, both body and soul would be destroyed.

Only soul beasts with sufficient confidence in themselves would choose this path. After breaking through, they could live for another hundred thousand years.

The cycle would repeat until they broke through the million-year bottleneck. Then, they could become gods. Of course, this existed only in legend.

And once they broke through a bottleneck even once, a soul beast's strength would increase dramatically, and it would become a Ferocious Beast!

"If I can reach the level of a Ferocious Beast, I'll be able to assume human form."

Ziji sounded extremely proud as she said this.

Even among the powerful Dragon Clan Soul Beasts, her cultivation speed was undoubtedly exceptional.

As long as her cultivation broke through at least one Heavenly Tribulation, she would be able to freely transform into human form.

"I seem to remember you saying that you can break through to one hundred thousand years at any time now."

"Yes. Once your body has recovered, I can break through to one hundred thousand years."

Lowering her head, Ziji propped her chin up with one claw and stared at Su Chen inside the crystal.

"It would be nice if you were a soul beast. In that case, things might be quite interesting."

As time passed, Su Chen's body was gradually reconstructed bit by bit.

"Your body really is strange. Your cultivation is clearly only equivalent to that of a thousand-year soul beast, yet it has consumed so much of my Soul Power."

Looking at Su Chen, whose body was more than half reconstructed, Ziji admiringly surveyed the masterpiece before her.

"So, can I come out of this crystal now?"

More than two years had passed since Ziji sealed him within the Dragon Blood Crystal.

Usually, the man and dragon either cultivated separately or chatted idly about random things whenever they were bored.

There was nothing to do while sealed away, but life had been quite relaxing.

Over these two years, Su Chen's Soul Power had grown slowly.

However, he had successfully opened the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian beginning from his right index finger, as well as the Hand Jueyin Pericardium Meridian in his right middle finger.

Even with the shortcut of reconstructing his body, opening his meridians had been far from easy.

The only fortunate thing was that although the Heterogeneous Soul Power in his body had not disappeared, it seemed to have fallen dormant.

"It's still far too early. You've only completed the initial reconstruction of your body, though the speed is indeed much faster than I expected."

In Ziji's original plan, Su Chen's initial reconstruction should have taken roughly five to ten years.

"After a while, you should be able to leave the crystal's seal. But stay nearby. Don't go too far."

Seeing that Su Chen was already impatient to leave the crystal, Ziji reminded him.

"You still need to rely on the crystal to supply your life force. Don't overdo it."

"Understood."

After spending two years sealed inside the crystal to preserve his life, Su Chen had been bored out of his mind. Hearing that he would finally have a chance to come out immediately lifted his spirits.

"Su Chen, do you remember our agreement?"

After living together for two years, Ziji had unconsciously grown accustomed to chatting with Su Chen every day.

Compared to Di Tian, this human was far more interesting.

"Of course I remember. I'll help you survive the Heavenly Tribulation. Just call for me when the time comes."

"Hm?"

Ziji noticed something was wrong.

"What do you mean, call for you? Are you planning to leave?"

At those words, Ziji's expression instantly darkened.

"Since you're the one breaking through the Heavenly Tribulation, you just need to call me when the time comes."

Su Chen found it strange. She would only break through the Heavenly Tribulation once anyway, so naturally she only needed to notify him when the time came.

"I put in so much effort, and you think you can come and go whenever you please?"

"What do you want, then?"

Su Chen found her even more baffling.

"I haven't decided yet, but you're not allowed to go anywhere before I break through the Heavenly Tribulation."

Ziji gave an extremely dissatisfied roar, then turned away and stopped speaking.

"Alright, alright. I won't argue with you."

Su Chen understood that his strength was nowhere near Ziji's level.

He had no choice but to go along with her in everything.

"That's more like it."

After an unknown amount of time, cracks began to appear in the main crystal sealing Su Chen.

This was a sign that the Dragon Blood Crystal had exceeded its limit, and it also meant that Su Chen's body had fully recovered.

With a crack, the crystal shattered like glass.

Su Chen tumbled out along with it.

"Has the reconstruction already been completed? That was incredibly fast."

Ziji caught the falling Su Chen with her claws and gently placed him atop the crystal.

Having just completed the reconstruction of his body, Su Chen had yet to adapt to it and was completely unable to move.

"Rest and rehabilitate properly for the next few days. I'm going to begin breaking through to one hundred thousand years."

After waiting several years, Su Chen's body had finally been successfully reconstructed.

Ziji no longer delayed and immediately began preparing to break through to one hundred thousand years.

"Alright."

Having left the crystal brimming with immense life force, Su Chen's breathing became rapid for a moment as he struggled to adapt to the outside environment.

"I'll find you some meat. Humans should be able to replenish energy through large amounts of food as well, right?"

Spreading her wings, Ziji left her cave.

"Thank you."

Sitting cross-legged, Su Chen began circulating his Soul Power.

"As expected, my Soul Power has barely increased. I'm probably around level thirty-three now."

Because he had spent a long time in a dormant state within the crystal,

Su Chen could not determine exactly how many years had passed.

But without a doubt, the strength of his body had undergone a qualitative transformation.

"Come to think of it, I actually reached level thirty-three without a Third Soul Ring?"

Only after circulating his Soul Power through a full cycle did Su Chen discover the problem.

He definitely could not have obtained a new soul ring while staying with Ziji these past years.

Yet without question, his Soul Power had now broken through to level thirty-three.

This meant that he had already broken through the level-thirty bottleneck.

"Could it be another self-generated soul ring?"

His previous two soul rings had both condensed through his own power.

Perhaps this time would be the same.

Circulating his Soul Power through the soul rings on his body, Su Chen prepared to confirm the state of his soul rings.