Purple-Eyed Golden Peng

"Sigh, there are gains and losses indeed. But you don't need to worry about that for now. I brought you here for one purpose only—Blood Fusion. I know this has been a source of great confusion for you, so let me explain it to you properly now..."

The Coiling Dragon Continent is a world jointly dominated by Spirit Cultivators and Spirit Beasts. Of course, the absolute masters are humans; after all, among all living things, humans possess the highest intelligence. It is precisely because of this that humans have produced countless experts, dominating this world generation after generation.

Naturally, the Spirit Beasts of the Coiling Dragon Continent can stand on equal footing with humans because they possess incomparable advantages: their physical talents. While their intelligence may not match that of humans, their physical strength is often far superior. Furthermore, once a Spirit Beast reaches a certain level of cultivation, it can transform into human form. At that point, their strength and intelligence are almost indistinguishable from humans, or even surpass humans of the same rank. This is because every Spirit Beast capable of human transformation is born with extraordinary gifts, and their innate abilities allow them to unleash tremendous power during battle.

These gifted Spirit Beasts are often referred to by humans as Holy Beasts or Divine Beasts.

Fortunately, the number of these Holy Beasts and Divine Beasts is extremely limited, which prevents them from posing a major threat to human dominance. After all, the human population is vast.

This massive population base has produced wave after wave of Spirit Cultivator experts. However, for the majority of humans, their cultivation talent cannot compare to that of Spirit Beasts, and they are even further behind those Spirit Beasts with Holy Beast or Divine Beast bloodlines.

But human intelligence is boundless. After countless years of exploration, humans have discovered various methods to alter their own cultivation talent.

"Blood Fusion" is one of them, and a very effective one at that.

So-called Blood Fusion involves integrating the essence blood (the marrow essence) of powerful Spirit Beasts into the human body, thereby altering the human bloodline and, consequently, changing their cultivation talent, or even granting humans some of the innate skills of Spirit Beasts.

To put it bluntly, it is the transfer—or partial transfer—of a Spirit Beast's cultivation talent, especially its physical talent, to a human through a specific method.

This method sounds simple, but the risks are immense. A moment of carelessness leads to a nine-in-ten chance of death—no, to be more precise, a ninety-nine-in-a-hundred chance of death.

After all, any two different species have different bloodline properties. Blood Fusion forces them to bond together, so the probability of failure is naturally extremely high.

To grasp that less than one percent chance of success, many conditions must be met.

First, the requirements for the person undergoing Blood Fusion are very strict. The subject must have a strong body and excellent willpower to endure the pain of a blood transfusion that is akin to being sliced by a thousand knives. The age must also be around ten; if they are too young, they cannot withstand the agony of the transfusion, and if they are too old, the body lacks the plasticity required, leading to certain death.

There are also many requirements for the Spirit Beast's true blood used in the fusion. The closer the Spirit Beast is to humans, the easier it is to succeed. The best true blood is from a young beast; if that is unavailable, one should choose a prime-aged beast. The true blood of an old, frail Spirit Beast is absolutely forbidden.

There are also many restrictions regarding the rank of the Spirit Beast. In principle, the higher the rank of the Spirit Beast, the better the cultivation talent after a successful fusion, but the danger of the fusion also increases, and high-rank Spirit Beasts are not easily captured. True blood from lower-rank beasts offers a higher chance of success, but the resulting talent will be significantly diminished.

Therefore, people generally choose Spirit Beasts between the fourth and sixth rank for Blood Fusion. This balances the possibility of success with the acquisition of decent cultivation talent. Of course, higher-rank Spirit Beasts are rare, and even if one is found, not everyone can handle them.

The six-rank Spirit Beast Crimson Flame Eagle was chosen for Sanbao's Blood Fusion this time.

This was only possible because of the protection of a super-expert like Shisan; ordinary people would never dare to target a six-rank Spirit Beast.

Furthermore, the Blood Fusion must be accompanied by an extremely precious high-grade spirit pill—the Blood Fusion Pill—and an expert with strength superior to the Spirit Beast must be present to restrain it and complete the fusion without killing it, as the blood marrow required must be fresh.

Even if all these conditions are met, the final success rate is only one or two percent, which shows the danger of this Blood Fusion.

Wealth is sought in danger, and talent must be bought with one's life.

When Shisan said this, Sanbao was already so excited that his blood was boiling. He had actually managed to hit that one-percent probability; his luck was truly incredible: "Shisan, does this mean my luck is heaven-defying?"

"Your luck is good, but it hasn't reached the level of being heaven-defying. Your situation is different from those people!" Shisan shook his head and smiled.

"And why is that?" Sanbao asked, confused.

"Do you know whose son you are? Do you know whose grandson you are? You are the son of the Emperor and the grandson of the Saint Ancestor. This means you already possess the bloodline of the Divine Beast Purple-Eyed Golden Peng. Ordinary people are creating a bloodline, so a one or two percent success rate is expected. But you are merely activating your bloodline, so the success rate is thirty or forty percent. The difficulty is not even comparable. If I hadn't been certain, how would this old servant dare to take such a risk?"

→

"Purple-Eyed Golden Peng? Divine Beast bloodline? I don't understand!" Sanbao was clearly lost in confusion again.

Soon, Shisan explained it further, and Sanbao began to grasp the situation.

It turns out that besides humans and Spirit Beasts, there is another powerful existence on the Coiling Dragon Continent: the descendants of humans and Spirit Beasts. These people are also known as the Divine Beast Family (or Talent Family).

Most Spirit Beasts can transform into human form once they reach the eighth rank (equivalent to a human Spirit Saint). They become beings just like humans, and the descendants born from their unions with humans are almost all heaven-favored children. Because they inherit not only human intelligence but also the physical talents of these Holy or Divine Beasts, these individuals almost always end up as the most peak existences on the continent, and even their descendants are filled with experts.

This is what is called the Divine Beast bloodline (also known as the Talent Bloodline). The greatest benefit of possessing a Divine Beast bloodline is that their cultivation speed is far beyond that of ordinary people, as their physical talent is far superior, and their innate abilities are beyond the reach of ordinary Spirit Cultivators.

Of course, heaven is fair. Although these people are all exceptionally gifted, their numbers are very small, their reproductive ability is extremely poor, and the power of the bloodline weakens with each generation.

Even so, they remain the most peak forces on the continent today. For example, the royal family of the Tianlan Empire, the Luo Clan, inherited the bloodline of the Divine Beast Purple-Eyed Golden Peng.

"Then, since I am a member of the Divine Beast Family, why have I had no cultivation talent since I was a child?" Sanbao felt a secret joy; it seemed he had been born into a good family, having stumbled into one of the top Talent Families on the continent.

"It's very simple. Your grandfather, your father, and even your eldest brother all have extremely dense Divine Beast bloodlines. By logic, your bloodline concentration shouldn't be that low. After the Saint Ancestor examined you carefully, he discovered that you possess a very rare Latent Bloodline within the Luo Clan.

Originally, you would never have had a chance to cultivate in this life, but the Saint Ancestor, with his supreme wisdom and deep consideration, finally thought of a way to save you: Blood Fusion.

This Latent Bloodline of yours must be activated through Blood Fusion. We have been preparing for this all along. You were too young in previous years, and I never told you. But now, although you have succeeded, I fear the Saint Ancestor, the Emperor, and the eldest young master are all gone..."

As he spoke, Shisan's eyes filled with tears...

"Shisan, it seems your relationship with my family is quite extraordinary, isn't it?" Sanbao had no memory of the so-called Saint Ancestor or the Emperor, and no impression of Shisan's background, so he asked.

"You child! You've asked this question four or five times already, why are you asking again? When I was eight, the Saint Ancestor took me from a pile of beggars. Later, he taught us how to cultivate. Then came the Emperor, and when the Emperor was your age, I and a few older brothers served him. Now it's your turn, and while my old bones are still here, the Saint Ancestor is..." Shisan's voice grew increasingly heavy.

"Alright, Shisan, now is not the time to be sad. Should we leave the Thousand Desolation Mountains first?" Seeing Shisan dwelling on the past, Sanbao quickly changed the subject.

"We can't rush. I have only recovered two or three tenths of my strength. If I were alone, leaving the Thousand Desolation would not be a problem, but I cannot take risks while carrying you. Let's wait a little longer!"

If he had to wait, then he would wait. At this moment, Sanbao was filled with joy. His Divine Beast bloodline had been activated, and he would surely become a super-expert in the future, never again the frustrated little nobody from his past life.

"Shisan, does that mean I can start cultivating from now on?"

"Cultivating now? It's still too early. Although you have passed the most dangerous stage of the Blood Fusion, there are many trials waiting for you ahead. Although the Crimson Flame Eagle is of the same lineage as the Purple-Eyed Golden Peng in your body, it is, after all, just an ordinary Spirit Beast. It won't be easy to rely solely on it to fully activate your Divine Beast bloodline. I estimate it will take about a year. During this period, due to the clash of bloodlines, your body will gradually weaken. Only after your bloodline is truly activated can you begin to practice Spirit Techniques."

"So I can't cultivate yet, I have to wait another year. A year is a year, it's not too long. I'm only ten this year, and I'll only be eleven next year. I have plenty of time~" Sanbao muttered to himself.

"Shisan, I'm a little hungry~" Relying on his "youth," Sanbao began to speak without restraint.

"I was prepared for this, take this," Shisan's hand flashed with a green light, and several wild fruits appeared in his palm.

"This, this?"

"This is a Spirit Weapon—a Storage Spirit Ring; it can store items!" Facing Sanbao's confusion, Shisan raised his withered finger, on which a dark metallic ring was worn.

"You will know about these things later, don't be so surprised~"

Gnawing on the wild fruit in his hand, Sanbao secretly steeled himself: "One more year, Coiling Dragon Continent, just you wait for me."