Dragon Vein Qi

Dragon Vein Qi

As the three of them walked, a blinding white light suddenly surged toward them, forcing all three to squeeze their eyes shut. No one knew how much time passed...

A vast whiteness shrouded Long Jiuyyao, who lay unconscious on the ground. The black glow on his chest stood out starkly against the white mist.

His open black robe revealed a distinct black tattoo against his pale skin. The Black Dragon seemed to come alive, thrashing incessantly. With every movement, the black glow around it grew brighter.

After an unknown amount of time, Long Jiuyyao finally woke. Just as he was about to look for Lan Xinhuang and Yuan Xin, the Natal Dragon Soul at his chest suddenly locked eyes with him.

The next instant, the Natal Dragon Soul shot deeper inside like a streak of flowing light. Long Jiuyyao didn't hesitate and hurried after it!

Though the Natal Dragon Soul had successfully condensed and was much like an ordinary living being, it had only a form, not a true soul of its own. Its ignorant actions were nothing more than instinctive responses.

Long Jiuyyao wasn't worried about the two women's safety, so he followed the Natal Dragon Soul without hesitation.

Pure white—this was a world of light, devoid of every other color. The entire world was as if Primal Chaos had just begun!

In the white world, only the Pitch Black Dragon Soul ahead of him could guide Long Jiuyyao onward, keeping him from losing his way or his goal.

In a world where nothing else could be sensed, having a goal was such a comfort!

As Long Jiuyyao pursued it, the pitch-black Natal Dragon Soul once again burst into incredible speed. Long Jiuyyao, racing after it, could only grit his teeth and push himself harder to catch up.

No one knew how much time had passed. At last, the Natal Dragon Soul ahead stopped, allowing the panting Long Jiuyyao behind it to rest. But before he could react—

The pure white world faded, replaced by a dark red glow. Scorching heat swept over him, and the world before his eyes changed abruptly.

Dark red lava stretched before him, surrounded by countless Deep Brown rocks. There was no sign of life, only utter stillness. Meanwhile, the Natal Dragon Soul's black glow blazed brightly, though it made no sound.

"Is there something you need here?" Long Jiuyyao asked.

The Natal Dragon Soul nodded woodenly.

The confirmation left Long Jiuyyao at a loss. When the Natal Dragon Soul had first condensed, he'd sensed that something was off. Though it had come to life, it had no thoughts of its own. At the time, he'd assumed that was because it had only just been created and hadn't thought much more about it.

It seemed that the Natal Dragon Soul needed some crucial object to awaken its intelligence. Since what it needed was here, he had to investigate. He might never get another chance like this.

Long Jiuyyao clenched his right hand. Black light flickered, and the Domineering Dragon Halberd appeared in his grasp. Its blade dragged along the ground, carving a deep furrow that stood out sharply.

Long Jiuyyao had no idea where he was. He only knew he was still somewhere in the Rock Mist Mountain Range.

The heat rising from the dark red lava made Long Jiuyyao's skin flush. Beads of sweat dripped from his chin, evaporating in the scorching air before they could reach the ground.

The Dark Gold Radiance remained contained, easing the heat on his skin. Beyond the lava, a cavern thousands of zhang across appeared before him. He was close.

The heat abruptly subsided, and a bone-chilling cold seeped into his body. His flushed face turned deathly pale in an instant, and even his movements grew slightly stiff.

Still, he pressed on. The Natal Dragon Soul continued to lead the way, and by the time he entered the cavern, his black robe was covered in frost.

There was no danger along the way, so he made good time. A glimmer of light appeared at the far end of the cavern, and Long Jiuyyao raced toward it.

The light turned out to be a Light Orb about the size of a human head. But as Long Jiuyyao approached, he sensed an incredibly dense Dragon Qi.

The Natal Dragon Soul beside him trembled with excitement, its black glow flickering. It wasn't just the Natal Dragon Soul—even Long Jiuyyao himself desperately wanted to devour the orb.

Long Jiuyyao suppressed his urge to devour it, but the Natal Dragon Soul couldn't hold back. The Black Dragon lunged forward and swallowed the human-sized Light Orb in one gulp.

"Damn it, you don't even know what it is, and you just swallow it?" Long Jiuyyao muttered.

But after thinking it over, could this orb, radiating such dense Dragon Qi, be what the Natal Dragon Soul had been seeking?

As Long Jiuyyao pondered, something unexpected happened. The pitch-black Dragon Soul suddenly turned a brilliant gold, as though it had merged with the Dragon Qi.

The Dragon Soul twisted wildly, its hideous head revealing its dire predicament. Of course, Long Jiuyyao wasn't about to let it endure this alone.

The Natal Celestial Talisman emerged between Long Jiuyyao's brows. He and the Natal Dragon Soul were connected in spirit, and with the Natal Celestial Talisman's aid, he helped the Dragon Soul devour the Dragon Qi.

As Long Jiuyyao's Natal Dragon Soul devoured the Dragon Qi within the cavern, the entire Rock Mist Mountain Range underwent a drastic transformation. Long Jiuyyao knew nothing of it, of course.

All the mist vanished, starting from within and spreading outward. The Heaven and Earth Yuan Power in the Rock Mist Mountain Range plummeted, and countless Spiritual Medicines lost their luster. The land caved in and split apart as ravines thousands of zhang long appeared one after another.

The roars of the demonic beasts rang without end. The mountains shuddered like an earth dragon turning over, and even several ranges bordering the Rock Mist Mountain Range were affected to varying degrees.

The Enforcers monitoring everyone from the sky were equally baffled. Looking down, they saw ancient trees collapsing across the landscape and the mountains sinking in.

"This is bad! End this Mountain Survival trial at once. Second Brother, go back and inform the Great Elder—the Rock Mist Mountain Range has undergone a sudden change!" the leader ordered.

As soon as he finished speaking, he leaped from the warship to search for the contestants in the mountains.

The contestants in the range were just as bewildered, but they set aside their grudges and worked together to evade the sudden disaster.

Fortunately, everyone was relatively strong, and the Enforcers kept close watch over the entire area. They soon brought all the contestants back to the warship. Lan Xinhuang and Yuan Xin were also rescued from beneath the shade of a tree.

As soon as the two women boarded the warship, they began searching for Long Jiuyyao. They even asked the Enforcers, but the answer they received was disappointing.

Hearing this, Yuan Xin stared blankly at the mountains crumbling below, her voice on the verge of breaking into sobs.

Unlike Yuan Xin, Lan Xinhuang didn't cry, but the tears welling in her eyes betrayed how she felt.

In truth, during those few days at Long Jiuyyao's courtyard, she had already forgiven him for seeing her naked. Those days had even been the happiest time of her life in eleven years.

Dozens of figures arrived in the distance. At their head was Yuan Gan, the Dragon Clan Chief. The moment he heard that the Rock Mist Mountain Range had undergone a sudden upheaval, he came at once. His daughter was here, as was the daughter of his close friend—not to mention the future hope of the Dragon Clan and its many prodigies.

Deep in the mountains, inside the Thousand-Zhang Cavern, Long Jiuyyao had no idea how much damage his absorption had caused outside. A long, long time passed.

With Long Jiuyyao's help, the Natal Dragon Soul finally finished devouring the Dragon Qi. Its pitch-black Dragon Pupils flashed with a fierce glint. The instant the Natal Dragon Soul completed its devouring—

A stream of Dragon Qi, pure beyond compare, surged from within the Natal Dragon Soul and poured back into Long Jiuyyao's body. He broke through to the Great Perfection of Core Formation in an instant, and at that moment, he also learned what the Natal Dragon Soul had devoured.

Dragon Vein Qi was the soul of a mountain range. This particular Dragon Vein Qi had existed for only a hundred years. It couldn't compare to the Dragon Vein Qi in the Main Vein deep within the Dragon Clan, but it was still extraordinarily precious.

After all, aside from the Main Vein in the Dragon Domain—which stretched across one hundred thousand zhang and ran throughout the entire domain—the Rock Mist Mountain Range had also given birth to a wisp of Dragon Vein Qi, unknown to anyone.

For a mountain range to give birth to Dragon Vein Qi was incredibly difficult. Losing this wisp would likely leave the range half-destroyed and its Heaven and Earth Yuan Power depleted.

Now that it had devoured the Dragon Vein Qi, the Natal Dragon Soul was like a person who had gained a soul. Its strength had also reached the minor perfection of Origin Pill, and it could create an external avatar.

With the Dragon Vein Qi gone, the Thousand-Zhang Cavern collapsed. Outside, the lava roiled and spurted upward, making Long Jiuyyao's heart leap with fear.

"Kid, let me send you on your way!" a Soundless Voice rang out in Long Jiuyyao's Sea of Consciousness.

Suddenly, the Natal Dragon Soul seemed to fall under someone's control. It woodenly gathered the impure Dragon Vein Qi around it and shaped it into a Space Door. Long Jiuyyao didn't hesitate. He escaped through the Space Door, constructed from the Six-Fingered Sacred Dragon Emperor's remaining mental energy.

The instant Long Jiuyyao left, the cavern collapsed completely. Darkness swallowed the place.

Outside, the arrival of Yuan Gan, the Dragon Clan Chief, steadied everyone like a pillar holding back the sea.

Yuan Xin threw herself into Yuan Gan's arms, sobbing, "Brother's still down there, Dad! Please save him!"

Yuan Gan said nothing. He turned to the Enforcer beside him and asked in a grave voice, "Is Jiuyyao the only one still down there?"

"Yes, Chief!" the leading Enforcer replied.

"Xin'er, don't be afraid. Dad's here. Your brother will be fine!" Yuan Gan wiped the tears from Yuan Xin's eyes.

Just then, Yuan Xin fainted. "Blue Girl, take Yuan Xin back first. The rest of you can leave too," Yuan Gan said, looking at Lan Xinhuang and the others.

Lan Xinhuang knew there was little she could do by staying, and no one else dared disobey Yuan Gan. As the warship departed, Yuan Gan's terrifying mental energy spread like threads, searching every part of the mountain range inch by inch.

Time passed, but he still couldn't find Long Jiuyyao. Even the usually mild-mannered Yuan Gan couldn't help revealing a fierce expression.

But he didn't give up. He knew Long Jiuyyao possessed an Ancient Dragon Bone and wouldn't die so easily. Instead, he increased the power of his mental energy.

At last, he found a torn sleeve in the Thousand-Zhang Cavern deep in the mountains. The sight eased the tension in his taut nerves. He tore the mountain range open with his hands, exposing the cavern ruined by the collapse.

He grasped the torn sleeve from afar and sensed a faint wisp of Dragon Vein Qi and Spatial Power.

"To think a wisp of Dragon Vein Qi was born here. It looks like Jiuyyao accidentally devoured it, causing the Rock Mist Mountain Range to collapse," Yuan Gan murmured in surprise.

The Dragon Clan didn't care about losing a mountain range, but restoring its former abundance would take hundreds of years.

Since he knew the boy was still alive, that was enough. Let it serve as a trial.