Dark clouds blanketed Eastsea City.
Fierce winds howled through every street.
The leading edge of the typhoon had already made landfall from the sea. Fine raindrops battered the windowpanes, sounding like sand falling from the sky.
Inside Mang Tian's private workshop in Eastsea City, established before his craftsmanship had declined.
Having gathered a century-old Red Flame Fruit, a century-old Ice Crystal Fruit, and ten drops of dragon-type soul beast blood, Tang Wulin rushed inside and immediately shut the doors and windows tight.
The typhoon howled outside, but Tang Wulin's heart was no less turbulent.
The reason he had not returned to the academy was that he did not know whether the voice that had made him choose a defective Soul Spirit was good or evil. Was what he said about the seal inside my body true?
If it was true, he certainly did not want to cause trouble in the dormitory while undoing the seal. After all, the last two times he had drawn upon that Golden Dragon power, he had inexplicably lost control and attacked friend and foe alike.
Tang Wulin arranged the three expensive items on the table, then closed his eyes and called out in his heart, trying to summon that golden humanoid figure.
Just as his patience was about to run out and he felt he had been toyed with again.
"Have you found everything?" The familiar voice rang out in his mind.
"I have!" Tang Wulin hurriedly answered, then cautiously asked, "Um... what should I call you?"
The golden humanoid paused for two seconds before stiffly replying, "Just call me Old Tang."
Tang Wulin continued, "Then what else do I need to prepare?"
Old Tang's voice became grave. "Fortitude and perseverance. When the seal is undone, you will suffer the agony of ice and fire tempering, and the pain of dragon beasts crashing into your body."
But that was actually a well-intentioned lie, because the source of that pain was the bodily tempering caused by the Red Flame Fruit, Ice Crystal Fruit, and dragon beast blood.
Only after being tempered by ice and fire, then nourished with dragon beast blood, could Tang Wulin's bloodline's inhuman qualities be enhanced—in other words, his physique would undergo a certain degree of draconification.
Finally, using the method of "feeding dragon with dragon," the Eighteen-Layer Seal would be opened, allowing Tang Wulin to bear and absorb a trace of the Golden Dragon King's essence.
By accumulating it like this, the old king could be carved up bit by bit as nourishment, layer by layer feeding the birth of a new king.
This was the most crucial part of God King Tang San's ten-thousand-year plan.
Yet when Tang Wulin heard those conditions, his expression faltered. "No, you lied to me! When you had me collect those three treasures last time, you never said I would have to endure this kind of pain!"
Old Tang patiently instructed him, "There has never been anything gained without effort in this world. If you want something, you must pay hardships equal to it."
"Only by enduring the bitterest of hardships can one rise above others."
"You are still young. If you do not put in effort beyond ordinary people and endure pain that ordinary people cannot bear, how could you possibly surpass others at the starting line?"
"If you do not take the initiative to undo the seal, you will certainly die soon. So you have no other choice."
Tang Wulin was rendered speechless by that rebuttal. He could only compromise. "All right. Since I have no choice, then I can definitely endure it!"
His gaze gradually became resolute. In his heart, he repeated that he had come to Eastsea City to become stronger, become richer, forge lots and lots of metal, and earn lots and lots of money.
He wanted to prove to Teacher Mang Tian that cultivation and forging did not need to be ranked in importance—they could advance side by side!
Then he would let his father and mother live prosperous lives and give them plenty of delicious meat to eat.
He also wanted to find Na'er, buy lots and lots of delicious food with lots and lots of money, and fill up that little glutton too!
He also had to fulfill his promise to Brother Long: become a great Soul Master, sail across the seas, and venture into the stars!
"Old Tang, what exactly should I do? Please tell me!" Having finished psyching himself up, Tang Wulin agreed without hesitation.
"Good." The golden humanoid seemed somewhat gratified.
Under his guidance, Tang Wulin first soaked the Red Flame Fruit and Ice Crystal Fruit in the dragon beast blood.
While waiting, he made a soul communicator call and told his friend Xie Xie that he could not return to the academy because of the typhoon, asking him to request a short leave from Teacher Wu Zhangkong on his behalf.
But Xie Xie said that would be difficult. With the Freshman Decisive Battle approaching, they should have been taking advantage of the typhoon weather to train harder and overtake others on the curve.
Still, as his friend who shared the same bunk bed, Xie Xie agreed to his request.
Everything was ready.
Tang Wulin lifted the mixture and downed it in one gulp. Within only a few breaths, scorching heat, icy cold, pain, and numbness explosively erupted beneath his chest!
One week later...
Beside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Long Zijin held the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng in both hands, a heartfelt smile appearing on his face.
Suddenly, he turned and gazed toward the East Sea, his eyes filled with astonishment.
According to the feedback from that petal of his, a surge of Golden Dragon energy resonating with the Amethyst Dragon Marrow had just erupted right beside that petal.
"What is going on?" Long Zijin abruptly rose to his feet, shattering the tranquil atmosphere throughout the valley with his movement.
Even the Fat Chi Dragon in his hands sensed the emotional fluctuation in the Flower Immortal Body and went still, as if listening.
"Your Majesty?" The Holy Dragon King also rose from the herb patch.
Long Zijin's expression darkened. "One layer of the Golden Dragon King's Eighteen-Layer Seal has been undone."
"What!" Di Guangming's eyes widened. As if he had thought of something, he hurriedly asked, "The Silver Dragon King? Did she make her move early?"
Long Zijin considered it for two seconds before shaking his head. "That is unlikely. With her current cultivation, she could never break open a God King's shackle."
"Besides, that fragment of a God King's soul is no mere decoration."
"Then..." The Holy Dragon King fell into thought before arriving at an unbelievable answer. "Could Tang San have undone it himself?"
Long Zijin nodded. "For now, that is the only possibility."
He instructed the Holy Dragon King, "Make preparations. The plan has changed. We are going to Eastsea City."
"Nothing can go wrong. I want to see what is happening and eliminate the possibility of the Silver Dragon King entirely."
Long Zijin handed the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng, which had already begun gathering spirit, to the Aromatic Silk Beauty. "Sorry for the trouble. I need to leave for a while, but I will not be gone too long."
"This dragon ginseng already has spirit. It is only one step away from becoming a tenth-grade immortal ginseng. Once it absorbs the energy within its ginseng body and breaks through the tenth-grade threshold, just help it awaken its intelligence."
"Once it gains intelligence, you do not need to concern yourself with it any longer. It will complete the final absorption of the Dragon Ganoderma's energy itself. By then, even if it does not reach the eleventh grade, it will be close."
"Yes." The Aromatic Silk Beauty accepted the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng.
But knowing it would be separated from the Lovesick Heartbreak Red, the Fat Chi Dragon became extremely restless. Its dragon-claw-like tendrils kept clutching at the Flower Immortal Body's fingers.
Yet Long Zijin acted decisively, fully transferring the dragon ginseng into the Aromatic Silk Beauty's palms before stepping beside Di Guangming.
The Holy Dragon King shook his shoulders and back. His four wings of light and holiness spread wide, and he swept the Dragon Emperor into his arms before soaring into the sky, vanishing beyond the seven-colored poisonous miasma.
Only the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng remained, wriggling its ginseng body in the Aromatic Silk Beauty's palm.
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