The Celestial-level dragons from the East Sea Dragon Palace, South Sea Dragon Palace, and West Sea Dragon Palace, along with Jin Shen and Jin Yao, whose branch of the clan had originally come from a secret realm of the Esoteric Buddhist sect, had each brought a considerable number of dragon cultivation techniques. By drawing on all of them, Lu Xiaotian had built up a substantial foundation in dragon cultivation. Combined with the countless Demon Race techniques he had studied over the years and his ever-growing spiritual sense, his deductions on true-dragon combat techniques continued to improve.
After so many years of cultivation, Lu Xiaotian had grown increasingly accomplished in the art of the dragon pearl. Although the pearl was still a long way from holding dragon essence comparable to what his own dantian could contain, it was nearing the halfway mark. That alone gave him plenty of hope.
After all, even once the dragon pearl had left its body, retaining a considerable share of one's strength as Black Dragon had was a heaven-defying ability. It could not be mastered easily in three or five thousand years, or even tens of thousands. Lu Xiaotian had the patience to keep cultivating. The dragon pearl art was already formidable, but practicing it in conjunction with the Soul-Origin Sword Body brought its own mysteries. The Soul-Origin Sword Body had come from the Primordial Sword Demon, and the technique he had obtained was far from complete. Still, the Esoteric Buddhist sect had similar methods. The Ancient Buddha Burning Cloud, for instance, could lodge himself within the demonic dragon's Great Compassion Flames—a feat that showed mastery of the Dao. In the later stages of cultivation, one did not necessarily have to follow the original Soul-Origin Sword Body technique step by step.
The dragon pearl hovered in