Beast-Taming Vine Guard, Dragon King's Crown

Within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well Valley, time flows quietly like a spring. Half a year has passed in the blink of an eye, the misty seven-colored fog still lingers, and the exotic flowers and herbs flourish even more under Ye Zhilan's careful tending. Meanwhile, deep within the Spring Eye at the center of the valley, a subtle yet powerful surge of Dragon Power is gradually reaching its peak.

On this day, Yu Yuanchen sat cross-legged beside the Spring Eye, his eyes slightly closed, the lightning around him contained, his aura deep and profound. Above his head, the nine originally separated dark purple Spirit Bone fragments— the True Dragon Nine Crowns —had now almost completely healed, the cracks vanished without a trace, their entire bodies flowing with a warm and deep Purple-Gold luster, radiating a complete and harmonious ancient Dragon Might. They undulated slightly as if they were Life, as if a dragon heart that had slumbered for millennia was about to awaken.

"Buzz--"

A deep, soul-stirring dragon roar resounded from the void, not originating from the outside, but emanating from within the crown that was about to be fully formed! The entire valley's spiritual energy trembled, and the Ice and Fire Springs rippled slightly. At the final point where the nine fragments met, the last minute flaw completely melted away under the continuous nourishment of the Divine King Dragon Power, and a flawless dragon-shaped pattern emerged from the center of the crown, then shone brightly!

"Clang!"

Like the resonance of Divine Metal, or the harmony of laws! A complete, majestic Head Soul Bone, with a deep Purple-Gold, an ancient and simple design, resembling a reclining dragon head, and inlaid in the center with a purple crystal that seemed to contain the thunder of the universe— the Dragon King's Crown —was fully formed! It floated quietly above Yu Yuanchen's head, radiating Divinity majesty that transcended the mortal realm, its light illuminating Yu Yuanchen's face as if he were a deity.

The moment the Dragon King's Crown was fully formed, Yu Yuanchen suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils blazing with Purple-Gold lightning that shone brightly, mirroring the crystal at the core of his Spirit Bone. Without any hesitation, with a thought, the Dragon King's Crown transformed into Daoliu and instantly disappeared into his brow!

"Boom--!"

Yu Yuanchen felt his sea of consciousness violently tremble, as if the heavens and earth were being created! A vast, boundless, and extremely pure power of the Thunder Dragon Soul, mixed with the fragmented memories and understanding of the laws of the ancient Thunder Dragon King, surged into his spiritual world like a flood breaking through a dam, cleansing his soul!

However, unlike the soul backlash that ordinary Soul Master might encounter when absorbing high-level Spirit Bone, this power, though vast, was of the same origin as his Thunder Sacred Dragon Bloodline and Thunder God Seal, and had already established a deep connection with him during the repair process. Although the absorption process was magnificent, it was not dangerous at all, but rather had a smooth feeling of water flowing into a channel and the soul returning to its original owner.

The energy from the Dragon King's Crown was not used to increase his Soul Power Level, but rather entirely to fully activate the divine effects of the Spirit Bone itself, as well as the deepest resonance between his soul and bloodline. Yu Yuanchen guarded his mind and guided this power to perfectly merge with himself.

The first thing to manifest was the most basic and important ability of the Spirit Bone —a massive increase and qualitative change in Spiritual Power! His Spiritual Sea expanded and solidified at an unprecedented speed, his Spiritual Power became increasingly pure and concentrated, his perception range exploded, and his insight into the energy of heaven and earth became extremely keen. He could even vaguely sense a trace of the laws wandering in the void. Some vague thoughts about the use of Soul Skill and energy control in the past instantly became clear, and all sorts of insights surged into his mind.

Immediately afterwards, information about the two core abilities inherent in the Spirit Bone appeared clearly in his mind:

Dragon Soul Awakening & Sublimation: It is no longer a simple Simulation of the dragon soul, but can activate the Thunder Dragon King's origin within the Dragon King's Crown in a short period of time, causing his Thunder Sacred Dragon Martial Soul to undergo a fundamental leap, temporarily elevating it to the true "Thunder Dragon King" level!

In this state, his control over lightning, the power of his Martial Soul Avatar, and the strength of all Lightning Attribute Soul Skill will receive an unimaginable and terrifying boost! This is no longer a simple support role, but rather almost like transforming into Dragon King, Tianxing to punish!

Soul Bone Skill - Dragon King's Blessing: A powerful defensive Soul Skill derived from the proud dragon soul of the Thunder Dragon King and the inherent characteristics of the Spirit Bone itself. It forms an invisible dragon soul barrier to protect the Spiritual Sea, immune to all mental attacks, illusions, soul erosion, and oppressive impacts below the God Level. Even when facing a true God Level mental attack, it can weaken its power by 80%! This skill does not require active activation and is always in effect, making it an absolute barrier in the soul realm!

In addition to these two core abilities, the original True Dragon Nine Crowns ' basic effects of increasing the lifespan of the Soul Ring (now fixed and requiring no active activation) and enhancing Spiritual Power still exist, and are even better due to the completeness of the Spirit Bone.

"Hoo--" After a long while, Yu Yuanchen exhaled a long breath of turbid air, which was actually accompanied by fine arcs of lightning. He slowly opened his eyes, his divine light was restrained, but it was even more profound, as if it could pierce through the void.

With a slight thought, a faint Thunder God Seal flashed between his brows and disappeared. Having successfully absorbed the Dragon King's Crown, his overall strength, especially his ability to survive and his potential, had reached a new level!

"Looking across the continent, apart from that Great Angel Consecrator of the Spirit Hall, I'm afraid there's no one who can rival me." Yu Yuanchen felt a surge of pride. "As for the Great Consecrator the Spirit Hall, he's just a divine servant who was forcibly pushed to his limit through the Divine Examination. Give me a few more years, and he'll be no match for me."

However, what Yu Yuanchen didn't notice was that his eyes seemed to inadvertently flash with the arrogance of True Dragon.

"Brother Yuanchen, did you succeed?" Ye Zhilan, who had been watching over her, felt the terrifying Dragon Might gradually subside and asked with concern. Half a year had passed, and her aura had become more refined and profound, reaching the peak of level seventy-four, with a vibrant Life Aura emanating from her body.

"Yes, the Dragon King's Crown is complete." Yu Yuanchen smiled slightly, feeling the solidity and power brought by the crown deep in his soul, and his heart was filled with peace and confidence.

He turned his gaze to Ye Zhilan and noticed that the dark red Star-Eating Vine "Star Eater" beside her seemed to have changed again. "How is your Vine Guard being cultivated?" Ye Zhilan had told him about the changes in the Star-Eating Vine three months ago.

Mentioning this, Ye Zhilan's face lit up with a joyful smile, "I was just about to tell Brother Yuanchen, the Star Eater has changed a lot!" With a thought, the ten-thousand-year-old Star-Eating Vine, like the most loyal guardian, meandered over and affectionately nuzzled her palm.

The Star Eater's vine body is no longer simply dark red, but faintly reveals a pure white luster similar to Ye Zhilan's Sacred Heart Immortal Begonia Martial Soul. Its aura is more restrained, yet it exudes a Life Force.

"Over the past six months, I have been nurturing it with my own Soul Power and the original aura of the Sacred Heart Immortal Begonia, and I have discovered that it has been completely assimilated by my Martial Soul, becoming something similar to a ' Life-Bound Vine Guard '," Ye Zhilan explained in detail.

"It is now in perfect harmony with me, as if it were my own arm. What's even more amazing is that its Cultivation Level seems to be tied to my realm. After I advanced to Soul Sage, its Cultivation Level also rose accordingly, breaking through to around 20,000 years, but it seems to have reached a bottleneck, and its growth has slowed down. Moreover, its Cultivation Level has always remained at the Soul Beast age corresponding to my Soul Power Level, and it is always exactly one major realm lower than me."

Yu Yuanchen carefully sensed it and found it to be true. According to the approximate correspondence between the lifespan of Soul Beast and the level of Soul Master in the Douluo Continent (Hundred-Year Soul Beast corresponds to Soul Grandmaster, a thousand-year Soul Ancestor to Soul Elder or Soul Sect Master, ten thousand-year soul beast to Soul King or Soul Douluo, and a hundred thousand-year soul beast to Titled Douluo), Ye Zhilan is currently a level 74 Soul Sage, which corresponds to Soul Beast lifespan of approximately 30,000 to 50,000 years. Star Eater's 20,000 years of Cultivation Level corresponds exactly to the Soul Emperor level, which is one major realm lower than Ye Zhilan's.

"Not only that," Ye Zhilan's eyes gleamed with excitement, "I feel that as the assimilation deepens, Star Eater has almost become a part of my Martial Soul. I seem to be able to absorb it into my body and summon it to fight when needed, just like... just like a sub -Martial Soul soul that cannot add new Soul Ring but possesses physical attack characteristics! Moreover, theoretically, as long as my Cultivation Level increases, its strength will also increase accordingly, forever remaining one major realm lower than mine!"

Upon hearing this, Yu Yuanchen's eyes revealed a look of amazement. "Martial Soul Assimilation, Growing Together! Zhilan, you have created an unprecedented ability! This is almost the prototype of a new path of cultivation! If you can study it in depth, you may really be able to find a completely new path to transform Plant Spirit Beast into your own without harming their fundamental nature!" He thought of some concepts about Beast Taming in anime and novels from his previous life and felt that Ye Zhilan's actions were of great significance.

Ye Zhilan was a little embarrassed by his words: "It was all by accident. It was mainly because Brother Yuanchen helped me subdue it, plus the environment here and the power of the Immortal Herb. However, it has indeed given me a lot of inspiration. Perhaps I can really come up with a method in the future."

The two smiled at each other, genuinely happy for each other's achievements. In the past six months, while repairing the Dragon King's Crown, Yu Yuanchen's Cultivation Level had also steadily improved, successfully breaking through to level ninety-four, making his strength increasingly unfathomable. Ye Zhilan also made rapid progress, reaching the peak of level seventy-four, and her control over her Martial Soul and Vine Guard had reached a state of perfection.

Now that the ultimate goal has been achieved and the improvement of strength has come to a temporary halt, Yu Yuanchen looked at the valley where he had lived for nearly a year, his gaze sweeping over the Life Force Immortal Herb, and said, "Zhilan, although this place is good, it is not a place to stay for long. Sect affairs and the situation on the continent still require us to return and deal with them. It is time to leave."

Ye Zhilan nodded, a hint of lingering affection for this sacred cultivation ground in her eyes, but even more so, anticipation for the future. "Yes, we've been away for too long; it's time to go back. Grandfather and Father must be worried about us."

Having decided to leave, they needed to be prepared. The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was full of treasures, so they couldn't return empty-handed. The two began to carefully identify and pick the immortal Immortal Herb that would be extremely useful to their sect.

They did not greedily plunder all the Immortal Herb, but selectively collected some herbs that would greatly benefit the sect elders and relatives, and were easy to store and carry, such as the "Dragon Ganoderma Leaf" for strengthening the body and nourishing the spirit, and the "Soul Nourishing Lotus" for nourishing the Divine Soul, and carefully packaged them. Of course, the main attraction was naturally the immortal herbs such as the "Nine-Rank Dragon Ganoderma" and the "Earth Dragon Golden Gourd".

As for the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well itself, this treasure basin formed by heaven and earth, they decided to leave it here, so that perhaps future disciples of the sect could come here to train.

Besides obtaining some nourishing Immortal Herb for her family, Ye Zhilan focused more on those precious herbs with mild medicinal properties that could heal wounds, prolong life, detoxify, and dispel evil, such as "Aromatic Silk Beauty" (only the petals and pollen are taken, without harming the roots and essence). These are crucial for supplementing the Ye Family's Medical Skill and even for the medical system that may be established in the future.

She was very careful when harvesting, taking only the mature plant or parts of the branches, leaves and petals of each Immortal Herb, never damaging its roots, so as to ensure the continued Life Force of this place.

They used specially made jade boxes and gold utensils to store these Immortal Herb in order to lock in their spirituality. Soon, several Storage Soul Tool were filled to the brim. These Immortal Herb, once brought back to the sect, would be enough to elevate the overall strength of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and the Ye Family to a new level, making them an incredibly generous gift.

With everything settled, the two stood at the valley entrance, taking one last look back at this miraculous land that had brought about yet another transformation for them. The spring water still mingled with ice and fire, the mist still swirled, and the exotic flowers and plants grew quietly, as if they had never arrived, or as if everything had been destined all along.

"Let's go." Yu Yuanchen took Ye Zhilan's hand, his tone calm and firm.

Ye Zhilan smiled slightly, then Star Eater Vine Guard, which had shrunk to the size of a delicate bracelet, into her sleeve and stood side by side with Yu Yuanchen.

The next moment, the two moved, transforming into two Daoliu, one purple and one blue, soaring into the sky and sweeping across the Sunset Forest, heading towards the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan in the south.

Behind them, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well gradually disappeared into the mountains and clouds. Ahead lay a vast sky and a new chapter waiting to be written.