The Myriad Tribulations Furnace Body; Hope for the Dragon Clan's Revival / The Dragon Clan's Foundations Astonish Ao Chen; The Elders Are Shaken and Hope Rekindles

But as he laughed, he suddenly noticed that Ao Chen beside him showed not the slightest joy. Instead, his brows were tightly furrowed, and he looked thoroughly dissatisfied.

Azure Dragon's laughter came to an abrupt halt. He froze.

He looked at Ao Chen in confusion and asked without thinking, "Fellow Daoist Ao Chen, what's wrong?"

Ao Chen sighed. He made no attempt to hide it and directly voiced what was on his mind.

"Too inefficient. It's too slow!"

At that, Azure Dragon's eyes widened.

It worked, and you're still not satisfied? You even care about efficiency?

Myriad Calamities Furnace Body, Hope for the Dragon Race's Revival

Time had never been a problem for the mighty figures of the Primordial Wilderness, so to Azure Dragon, low efficiency didn't matter at all.

If it was slow, they could simply spend a little more time on it. After all, they had plenty.

But now Ao Chen thought it was too slow, and he seemed ready to give up. Azure Dragon grew anxious at once.

"You..."

Azure Dragon was just about to speak when Ao Chen seemed to sense his concern and cut him off.

"Don't worry, fellow Daoist. This was only a first test. I won't abandon it."

"Still, this method is indeed a little slow. Give me some time, and I'll improve it right now."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ao Chen vanished from the spot without waiting for Azure Dragon to respond.

Azure Dragon: "????"

He could improve it?

Azure Dragon stared blankly at the spot where Ao Chen had disappeared, his mind full of questions.

It worked, and he still wasn't satisfied? He even cared about efficiency? And he could improve it?

Meanwhile, after leaving the scene, Ao Chen paid no attention to Azure Dragon's reaction. Instead, he once again fell into deep thought.

How could he not know that time meant nothing to true experts? They could go into seclusion for several yuanhui at a time. What did a mere few tens of thousands of years matter?

But the problem was that time was precious to him!

Although Trace Origin to Transform Karma could dispel karmic debt, it was too inefficient and required him to personally intervene. That would severely hinder the progress of his own cultivation.

His goal was Mythical Grand Unity—to transcend this world and reach the boundless Chaos!

It would be difficult, and he couldn't achieve it overnight. But he knew all too well that the age of the Saints would soon arrive. He had to make the most of his time.

Creating the Great Dao Origin Scripture: True Immortal Chapter had already drawn down a tribulation that took form. What would happen when he created the Mystic Immortal and Golden Immortal Chapters?

Perhaps the Heavenly Dao Saints would join forces to hunt him down. Perhaps they wouldn't. Either way, he had to be prepared.

So time was precious to him. He couldn't afford to delay.

Besides, he had no time to spend hundreds of thousands of years, or even longer, acting like a nursemaid and helping the Dragon Clan Elders dispel their karmic debt one by one!

"Looks like my approach was wrong after all." A flicker of understanding passed through Ao Chen's eyes.

"I see. My approach was wrong after all." A glimmer of understanding flashed in Ao Chen's eyes.

"Give someone a fish, and you feed them for a day. Teach them to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime. My divine ability may be wondrous, but it is ultimately an external force. It can't solve the problem at its root."

"Rather than personally intervening and spending endless years on it, I'd be better off creating another method—a technique that lets them rely on their own strength to turn the karmic debt clinging to them to their advantage, and perhaps even achieve Nirvana Rebirth!"

"Then it won't matter if the method is slow. As long as they persevere, one day they'll dispel their karmic debt and restore their origin."

"Most importantly, they can cultivate this method themselves, so it won't delay my own cultivation!"

At that thought, Ao Chen's mind opened up!

He found another secluded spot, sat cross-legged, and sank into deep meditation.

This time, he no longer focused on how to "dispel" karmic debt. Instead, he considered how to "use" it!

The Dragon Race guarded the Four Seas Abyss and bore immense merit, but as a result, they had also been tainted by the boundless baleful energy of the Kalpa Tribulation and the death qi of the Return to Ruins. In the end, these had become entangled with the karmic debt of the Dragon-Han Calamity, creating the situation they faced now.

What Dragon Abyss lacked least was karmic debt, baleful energy, and death qi!

To ordinary living beings, these were deadly poisons. But if they could be put to use...

Inspiration flickered through Ao Chen's mind. He drew on fragmentary insights left behind by the Dragon Race's predecessors, who had once guarded the sea eyes and refined tribulation energy, and combined them with the perspective afforded by his own Mythical Grand Unity Method...

Several years later.

Ao Chen opened his eyes again. His gaze shone brightly, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

He had successfully created an entirely new body-tempering technique, specifically designed to address the Dragon Race's current predicament!

This method did not dispel karmic debt directly. It did the exact opposite!

It used the Dragon Race's formidable bodies as its foundation, visualized heaven and earth as a furnace and the self as a crucible, then forcibly drew all the negative energy outside—the karmic debt, baleful energy, death qi, and everything else—into the body.

By circulating a secret art, one "smelted" it like fuel, tempering the body and strengthening the True Spirit!

This method was incredibly overbearing and perilously dangerous. One misstep, and the energy of countless tribulations could turn on the cultivator and reduce them to ashes!

But once mastered, it could not only gradually dispel the karmic debt clinging to them, but also turn those destructive forces into nourishment for their own strength, letting them rise anew from ruin and achieve Nirvana Rebirth!

This technique smelted countless tribulations into the body. It was perfectly suited to the Dragon Race's situation and the environment of Dragon Abyss!

So Ao Chen named it Myriad Calamities Furnace Body!

After creating the technique, Ao Chen immediately went to find Azure Dragon again.

"Fellow Daoist, I've created another method. This one won't dispel your karmic debt for you. It will let you refine it yourselves and nourish your bodies with tribulations!" Ao Chen got straight to the point.

Azure Dragon was taken aback again. There was actually a method like this? Refine karmic debt? Nourish the body with tribulations? It sounded even more unbelievable than Trace Origin to Transform Karma!

But before he could ask for details, Ao Chen directly imprinted the secrets of Myriad Calamities Furnace Body and its central principles into his mind.

Azure Dragon carefully comprehended the profound and overbearing technique. The more he understood, the more deeply shaken he became!

Using the body as a crucible to refine countless tribulations! What kind of audacity was this? What kind of defiance of the heavens!

Though the method seemed perilous beyond measure, he could clearly sense that it would work!

"Excellent! What an excellent Myriad Calamities Furnace Body!"

Azure Dragon's eyes blazed with a light they had never held before.

"Fellow Daoist Ao Chen, you are truly brilliant. Let me try it again!"

Ao Chen nodded and passed the technique on to Azure Dragon.

Azure Dragon didn't hesitate. He immediately followed the method Ao Chen had taught him and began cultivating.

He had only just received the technique, so he wasn't yet very practiced at circulating it. Even so, its effects were extraordinary.

This time, there were no golden runes. Azure Dragon himself drew in a wisp of the faint karmic black qi nearby, along with the death qi and baleful energy permeating Dragon Abyss. Following the technique's circulation, he cautiously guided them into his body and began to "smelt" them with the remnants of his dragon essence and blood energy.

The process was incredibly slow, and its effect was even more negligible.

Compared with the immediate results of Trace Origin to Transform Karma, Myriad Calamities Furnace Body was more than a hundred times weaker. In fact, the karmic debt barely seemed to diminish at all!

Yet Azure Dragon's face lit up with joy a hundred times greater than before!

It worked!

It really worked!

He could clearly feel that the wisp of karmic debt, death qi, and baleful energy he had drawn into his body was difficult to refine, but the technique had truly guided it into an incredibly faint yet pure stream of energy. It had merged with his flesh, blood, and bones, bringing a long-forgotten feeling of nourishment!

What did this mean?

It meant that the technique worked!

It meant that old dragons like them, who had been waiting to die, could truly cultivate this technique, rely on their own strength to gradually refine their karmic debt, restore their origin, and perhaps even grow stronger!

This was real hope! Hope for the Dragon Race's revival!

"Ha ha ha! Heaven is helping our Dragon Race! Heaven is helping our Dragon Race!"

Azure Dragon was once again overcome with emotion, tears streaming down his face. He seized Ao Chen's hand and spoke urgently.

"Fellow Daoist Ao Chen! Quickly! Come with me to see the other old fellows! We must—we must teach them this method!"

With that, Azure Dragon, like a child who had just been given candy, dragged Ao Chen toward the depths of Dragon Abyss.

Ao Chen looked at the excited Azure Dragon, smiled faintly, and nodded.

Chapter Forty-Six: Ao Chen Is Stunned by the Dragon Race's Reserves; the Elders Are Shaken, Hope Rekindled

Unable to hide his excitement and urgency, Azure Dragon ignored his own weakness, forced himself to rally, and led Ao Chen toward the depths of Dragon Abyss, into the ancient palace shrouded in boundless black karmic qi.

The inside of the palace was even darker and more deathly still.

Dense karmic debt and death qi had almost solidified into a black mist, slowly flowing through the empty hall as it continually eroded all signs of life.

Had the Dragon Race not been born with such formidable bodies, even an ordinary Grand Unity Golden Immortal staying here for too long would have had their foundation eroded and their True Spirit worn away by these terrifying negative energies.

At the very back of the hall was not a throne or an altar, as one might have imagined, but a vast, relatively open cavern that seemed to have formed naturally. Countless Dragon Pearls embedded in its walls gave off faint light, barely illuminating the place.