Deep in Wushan, inside the cave of the giant bear Linley had killed earlier.
"Grandpa Doehring." Linley held a test tube in his hand, his expression serious. "No matter what happens next, do not disturb me. This will take twelve hours in total."
Doehring floated beside Linley, his eyes full of confusion.
Linley had just taken the test tube out of thin air.
A Space Ring?
How was that possible?
Linley was only the son of a minor country noble.
For Saint-level experts, Space Rings were not hard to come by.
But below Saint-level, even a ninth-level expert would find it no easy matter to obtain one.
How had Linley managed it?
In the end, though, Doehring didn't ask any more questions.
"I understand, Linley." Doehring nodded. "Don't worry. I won't let anyone disturb you."
"Chirp, chirp!"
At the same time, Bebe poked his head out from Linley's arms and chirped twice.
"You too, Bebe." Linley smiled and rubbed Bebe's head. "Don't disturb me for the next twelve hours."
"Chirp!"
Bebe nodded, his eyes darting around.
Since his birth, this was the first time he had left the Baruch Clan's inner residence.
After making sure Doehring and Bebe were settled, Linley focused on the test tube in his hand.
The blood inside was murky, and most of it looked like impurities.
"Big Brother Lin Ke." Linley spoke to Lin Ke in his mind. "Will this really help me awaken my Dragonblood Warrior bloodline?"
"Don't worry. I wouldn't lie to you." Lin Ke swirled a glass of red wine in his hand. "Besides, I chose this bloodline specifically for you. It'll let you fly freely before you reach Saint-level."
"Fly freely?" Linley was stunned by those words.
Then he gathered his thoughts.
Pop!
The test tube's cap came off, and a thick smell of blood quickly filled the cave.
"This is bad, Linley." Doehring's expression changed. "The stench is so strong that it'll attract wild animals, and possibly even Magical Beasts."
Doehring's warning made Linley tense up.
He had wanted to prepare himself a little more, but it seemed he was out of time.
Gulp!
Linley tilted his head back and swallowed all the murky blood in the test tube.
The instant the thick, muddy blood entered Linley's stomach, it felt as if he had swallowed a red-hot iron, scorching his insides.
"Ahhh!"
Linley let out a scream almost immediately.
Bebe, who had been watching with curiosity, jumped in fright and tried to leap onto Linley.
"Little fellow, you mustn't disturb Linley." Seeing this, Doehring hurriedly stopped Bebe.
But Doehring, too, watched Linley with deep concern.
"Chirp, chirp!"
Bebe floated in the air, struggling with all four limbs, but he couldn't break free.
There was no one else around—not a person or a Magical Beast, apart from himself and Big Brother.
So who was holding him?
It felt as though someone had grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.
Terrifying!
Absolutely terrifying!
Bebe couldn't see Doehring, and Doehring had no intention of revealing himself to Bebe.
So Bebe was worried not only about Linley, but also about himself.
Meanwhile, Linley had already collapsed to the ground, tormented by the pain inside him.
The pain in his abdomen gradually spread throughout his body.
It started with his feet.
Crack, crack!
Linley's bones began to creak.
Rip!
The next moment, Linley's feet swelled, and fine golden scales sprouted from his skin, tearing through his shoes and trousers.
"What is this? A creature from a Higher Plane?"
Doehring stared at the changes in Linley, utterly baffled.
When his old enemy had ambushed him, the Four Ultimate Warriors had not yet come into being.
Naturally, Doehring knew nothing about the Dragonblood Warrior's transformation.
But back in the era when Doehring had lived, experts from the Higher Plane had once descended upon the Yulan Plane.
Among those experts were humans, as well as other creatures.
Doehring, however, had been nothing more than a minor figure at the time.
He had only ever seen a few scenes from afar.
"Ahhh!"
Linley fell to his knees, pounding the ground with both hands.
Clang!
When Linley struck the ground again, the sound of metal clashing rang out.
His hands had transformed into a pair of dragon claws.
Fine golden scales covered them, and his fingertips had become long, sharp blades.
Whoosh!
Linley merely brushed his fingers across the ground, and the massive bluestone split open in several places.
But that was only the beginning.
Two large lumps began to rise on Linley's back, forcing him to hunch over.
The pain continued to assail his mind.
At that moment, Linley couldn't even faint.
After screaming for so long, his voice had grown hoarse.
One hour, two hours, three hours...
Inside the cave, Doehring restrained Bebe while watching Linley's transformation.
After Linley's hands and feet had been covered in dragon scales, nothing else seemed to change apart from the lumps rising on his back.
Not until the sixth hour.
Boom!
A muffled sound came from the two lumps on Linley's back as they burst open.
A pair of golden, dragon-scale-covered wings stretched out from them.
Whoosh!
Within just a few breaths, the wings became strong and supple. They beat against the air, whipping up a gale inside the cave.
But Linley's transformation still hadn't stopped.
Scales began to grow across his body.
Golden scales pushed out through his flesh, each one stained with blood.
Linley lay on the ground, his eyes vacant.
Whenever a scale grew, his body gave a slight twitch.
It wasn't that Linley wasn't in pain. His entire body had simply exhausted every last bit of strength.
Now, Linley couldn't even scream.
All he could do was endure the pain.
At that moment, Linley desperately hoped he could just pass out.
But under the stimulation of the dragon blood's powerful force, Linley could feel that he was wide awake.
Over the past month, he had frantically cut into his rest time every day, sometimes leaving him a little drowsy.
Yet now, Linley found his thoughts unusually clear.
Even if the dragon blood Lin Ke had diluted was of poor quality, it was still dragon blood.
The most important thing was—
The so-called dragon blood was merely a catalyst, awakening the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline within Linley—or, more precisely, his Azure Dragon Bloodline.
The Azure Dragon Bloodline was what truly mattered.
As one of the Super Divine Beasts—and one of the Chief Sovereigns—the Azure Dragon possessed a bloodline that was undoubtedly among the most exalted in the entire Coiling Dragon Universe.
Linley was still less than a first-level warrior, and as a mage he had only just barely reached level one. Naturally, he would undergo an enormous boost.
Scales slowly covered Linley's entire body.
Ten hours, eleven hours...
Gradually, only Linley's head remained uncovered.
Of the twelve hours, only the final ten minutes remained...
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