Don't Touch That

In the Castle basement, that mass of energy was stored here. Spirit Beasts that had reached one hundred thousand years could already absorb a certain amount of energy.

"I understand what Di Tian meant. How long has it been since you broke through to one hundred thousand years?"

"Not long. I only just broke through."

"Is that so? Can you judge how much you can absorb?" Too much was as bad as too little. Energy was a good thing, but absorbing too much without controlling the amount would not end well.

"I can. You needn't worry, my lord." As the most outstanding among her peers, Zi Ji had her own pride. Or rather, the Dragon Clan all possessed a certain pride. After this body tempering was over, Zi Ji planned to challenge the current Hell Demon Dragon King—her father. She wanted to become the first female king of the Hell Demon Dragon Clan.

Seeing how confident Zi Ji was, Ye Qing activated the switch. Dense energy immediately spilled out. After grabbing a small portion and tossing it to Gang Zong, Ye Qing drove Gang Zong outside. What came next was not suitable for him. Undiluted energy would truly turn him into a suckling pig.

"Go out and comprehend it on your own. Wait for me outside." Ye Qing then continued observing Zi Ji's condition. Although Zi Ji was confident, Ye Qing was not at ease. If he really left her to handle it alone and something went wrong, Di Tian would probably come have a serious talk with him.

After coming into contact with the energy, Zi Ji's body began rapidly absorbing it. For a moment, she seemed to lose herself. The energy washed through her body, and she could clearly feel her bloodline becoming purer. A voice also kept echoing from the depths of her heart.

"More. You want more."

Guided by the instincts of her bloodline, Zi Ji began greedily absorbing even more energy. Greed was one of the Dragon Clan's traits, and the Hell Demon Dragon Clan was especially so. Under the guidance of instinct, that aspect of Zi Ji's heart seemed to gradually expand. Before long, the energy her body could absorb had already reached saturation, yet she had no intention of stopping.

"Just as I thought, this energy has too great an influence on the Dragon Clan. Zi Ji!" Seeing this, Ye Qing called out to her. If he directly cut off the flow of energy, it would also harm Zi Ji. Yet continuing to absorb it would do her no good either, so Ye Qing chose to wake her now and let her stop absorbing the energy herself.

To help Zi Ji recover in time, he had even used a tiny bit of his racial talent. The voice Zi Ji had heard just now had directly affected the depths of her soul. That immediately woke her, and she realized her problem as well, hurriedly stopping her absorption of energy.

"..." It took Zi Ji a while to recover from that state. Once she regained her senses, she recalled how confidently she had spoken earlier and could not help feeling embarrassed.

"It's fine. This contains a portion of the Dragon God's energy. It's normal for you Dragon Clan members to lose yourselves in it. Unless you're a Dragon King like Di Tian, you're still too young. It's already quite impressive that I could wake you directly. There's still plenty of this energy stored in your bones and blood. Absorb it slowly afterward. With this preparation, your first Heavenly Tribulation won't be too difficult. But first, you should put away those Dragon Wings. Good thing I built this house large enough."

Ye Qing pointed at the wings behind Zi Ji. While she had been absorbing the energy, her body had gradually begun undergoing Dragon Transformation. If it continued, she might have revealed her Hell Demon Dragon true form.

Zi Ji stroked her wings. She could directly sense the evolution of her bloodline. The six-meter Dragon Wings and the bone spurs upon them were obvious changes. After lightly flapping them once, she drew them back into her body and left with Ye Qing.

"Thank you, my lord. Then Zi Ji will not disturb you any longer. I'll take my leave first." Zi Ji spoke with utmost respect. Her reverence for him had increased severalfold from before.

"Mm. I won't keep you, either. Next time, come together with Di Tian."

Zi Ji gave a slight nod. Her Dragon Wings unfolded again, and with a powerful flap, she soared toward Di Tian's territory.

"My lord, what do you think of how I look now?" A new male voice sounded out. It sounded like Gang Zong, but when Ye Qing turned around, he was still startled.

"Jack?!"

"My lord, I'm Gang Zong. Who is Jack?"

"Don't mind it. He's someone I knew before." Gang Zong's current appearance came as quite a surprise to Ye Qing. He did not have the rotund build Ye Qing had imagined. He stood two and a half meters tall, with thick limbs, a bare chest and arms, and muscles all over his body. He wore a vest and shoulder armor covered in ice-blue fur, while several thick braids hung from his head. Compared to a certain mammoth in Ye Qing's memories, he was like a shrunken, recolored Drought.

"You're... pretty solid. You were so soft to sit on before that I thought you'd be a huge fat guy."

"My lord, I'm a Spirit Beast from the Extreme North. Flabby fat won't keep you alive there." Compared to the Star Dou Great Forest, the Extreme North truly followed the law of the jungle. Being weak there was no different from being dead.

"That's true enough. Let's go. We'll head out and let the others have a look."

However, when they returned to where everyone had gathered, Ye Qing noticed someone was missing.

"Well, where did Xiao Bingbing run off to?" Ice Empress and Snow Empress had practically been inseparable all along. Wherever Snow Empress could be found, Ice Empress would surely be there as well. Yet Snow Empress was still here, while Ice Empress was nowhere to be seen. Ye Qing found that strange.

"She said she was going to find you and see what you were secretly up to behind our backs. Didn't you see her?" Snow Empress replied. Seeing that Ye Qing had not returned for a long time, Ice Empress had decided to see what he was doing. However, Snow Empress had not expected Ye Qing to return before Ice Empress did.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." As he spoke, Ye Qing sensed around him, then hurried back to the place where the energy had been absorbed earlier.

Sure enough, he had been right.

"Don't touch that!" He saw Ice Empress standing right where the energy was stored and hurriedly shouted. However, Ice Empress showed no reaction. As Ye Qing drew closer, he discovered she was already immersed in absorption.

"How much has she absorbed?" He was asking Self-Discipline No. 3.

"Approximately over five percent of the total."

"...Five percent?" Ye Qing remembered that one-tenth of the energy could provide a Spirit Beast between seven hundred thousand and eight hundred thousand years old with one hundred thousand years' worth of cultivation. Five percent was half of that, which was already the total amount Xiong Jun and Bi Ji had absorbed before. For Ice Empress, who had not yet reached three hundred thousand years, this was already a severe excess.

Ye Qing then tried to wake her, but failed. Unlike Zi Ji, Ye Qing had been beside her at the time and had directly awakened her at the crucial moment. Ice Empress had clearly already become immersed in it.

"Suggestion: forcibly shut off the energy output. It is already nearing six percent."

"I can't worry about that now." With that, Ye Qing forcibly shut off the energy output. The instant it was cut off, Ice Empress's delicate body trembled, and blood flowed from the corner of her mouth.