Wind Wood Dragon Wings! Level Seventy Quasi-Saint!

He crouched down, using his dragon-transformed right claw to gently push aside the surrounding scales and flesh, revealing what lay beneath.

It was a cluster of azure light.

The glow was faint, encased within the flesh, and would have been impossible to spot without close inspection.

But as Qing Mufeng's Azure Dragon Pupil gazed upon it, the light suddenly brightened, like a dormant heart jolting back to life.

"Grandfather," Qing Mufeng's voice tightened slightly, "come take a look at this."

Qing Zhengyue was cleaning the blood off his blade; hearing this, he walked over and crouched beside his grandson.

His gaze fell upon the azure glow, and his pupils contracted sharply.

"This is..."

The old man reached out, carefully peeling away the flesh that wrapped around the light.

As the tissue was stripped away, the full form of the object gradually emerged.

It was a pair of wing bones—a complete set of Wind Wood Dragon Wings—symmetrical on both sides, with distinct joints and a body radiating an azure luster.

Across the surface of the bones, dense patterns resembled naturally carved runes, each line pulsing with a faint, flowing radiance.

A thin membrane connected the wing bones, shimmering with a translucent azure hue under the light.

It was not merely a skeleton, but a complete pair of wings, its surface covered by a thin, luminous film.

Qing Zhengyue's hands trembled slightly.

He had lived for nearly eighty years; he had seen spirit bones and heard of external spirit bones, but he had never laid eyes on one in person.

External spirit bones were the rarest and most precious of all spirit bones.

They did not occupy the standard spirit bone slots, could exist independently, and possessed the ability to grow.

As the host's spirit power increased, the power and form of the external spirit bone would evolve in tandem.

Throughout the history of the entire Douluo Continent, the number of spirit masters who possessed an external spirit bone could be counted on one hand.

Judging by its form and energy fluctuations, this pair of wing bones was precisely a wind-attribute flight-type external spirit bone.

"External Spirit Bone: Wind Wood Dragon Wings." Qing Zhengyue's voice was somewhat hoarse. "Thirty thousand years... it really is thirty thousand years..."

Hearing the commotion, Liu Yunlan hurried over.

When the old woman saw the pair of wing bones, her eyes instantly turned red.

"Good heavens..." she murmured. "Is this... is this an external spirit bone?"

Qing Hongyuan and Shen Wanqing also gathered around, four pairs of eyes fixed on the azure wing bones stripped from the flesh; the air seemed to freeze.

Qing Mufeng did not speak, merely watching the wing bones in silence.

The insight of his Azure Dragon Pupil told him that the energy within this spirit bone was extremely pure, with an incredibly high compatibility for both wind and wood attributes.

More importantly, it showed no signs of having been used.

This was a fresh spirit bone, just recently detached, with immense potential for growth.

"These are the Wind Wood Dragon Wings."

Qing Zhengyue finally spoke, his voice regaining its composure. "An external spirit bone, growth-type. Once absorbed, one gains the ability to fly directly. It requires no spirit power consumption and no spirit skill activation, just like..."

He glanced at Qing Mufeng.

"Just like Feng'er's Azure Dragon Wind Control—an innate instinct."

Silence fell for a moment.

Qing Mufeng stood up and looked at his grandfather.

"Grandfather, you should absorb this spirit bone."

Qing Zhengyue was startled, looking up at his grandson.

"What did you say?"

"I said, you should absorb it."

Qing Mufeng's tone was calm, but every word was clear:

"You are the pillar of the Qing Clan, our family's strongest combat force."

"You are currently at level sixty-nine, just one step away from becoming a Spirit Saint."

"If you absorb this spirit bone, you will very likely break through to level seventy immediately."

He paused, then continued: "Furthermore, external spirit bones can grow. As your spirit power increases, the power of this bone will only grow stronger. Once you break through to Spirit Saint, the Qing Clan will become a Spirit Saint family. With a Spirit Saint at the helm, our safety and deterrent power will be entirely different."

Qing Hongyuan listened from the side and nodded. "Feng'er is right, Father. You should absorb it."

Liu Yunlan held her husband's hand; the old woman's eyes were red, but she remained silent.

Her expression said everything that needed to be said.

Shen Wanqing nodded gently. "Father, Feng'er and Hongyuan are right. You are the backbone of the Qing Clan. Only when you are strong will the Qing Clan be safe."

Qing Zhengyue's gaze swept across the faces of his son, daughter-in-law, wife, and grandson in turn. He opened his mouth to say something, but his throat felt as though it were blocked by something.

He had rarely felt his eyes grow moist in his entire life.

Even back on the battlefield, with a blade pressed against his throat, he had not so much as blinked.

But at this moment, looking at his family gathered around him and seeing the precious spirit bone that had dropped from the thirty-thousand-year Wind Wood Dragon he had hunted with his own hands being pushed toward him, he suddenly felt a stinging sensation in his nose.

If this spirit bone were sold, it would be worth a fortune.

If given to his grandson or son to absorb, their flight capabilities would be greatly enhanced.

Yet, his family had unanimously decided: it was for him.

Because he was currently the pillar of the Qing Clan.

And the Qing Clan could not afford to lose this pillar.

"Very well." Qing Zhengyue's voice was a bit hoarse, but firm. "I will absorb it."

He reached out his hand, extracted the pair of Wind Wood Dragon Wings completely from the flesh, and held them in both hands, feeling the warm, pulsing energy.

"I, Qing Zhengyue, have lived for seventy-eight years."

"Thirty years in the military, over a decade in retirement; I never imagined that in this lifetime, I would be able to advance any further."

He looked up, gazing at the sky above, which was sliced into fragments by the canopy of trees.

"Today, I accept this pair of Dragon Wings."

"I do not accept them for myself alone, but for the Qing Clan."

He pressed the spirit bone against his back, channeled his spirit power meditation technique, and began the absorption.

Cyan light surged from the wing bone, enveloping his entire body.

A profound and mysterious sensation emerged.

The next second.

The spirit bone automatically sought the position most compatible with its host: the shoulder blades on his back.

The base of the wing bone connected perfectly with his shoulder blades, as if it had grown there from the very beginning.

A tingling, numb sensation arrived.

Qing Zhengyue's body jolted violently.

His spirit power began to surge.

The bottleneck of level sixty-nine was torn apart like paper under the impact of the Wind Wood Dragon Wings.

Level sixty-nine peak!

Level seventy!

He had broken through.

Qing Zhengyue closed his eyes, feeling the long-lost surge of power within his body.

At seventy-eight, he had thought his life had reached its end; he never expected there would be a day where he could break through again.

More importantly, a pair of wings had appeared on his back.

No, not wings—wing bones.

The cyan wing bones grew out from his shoulder blades, the joints distinct, with a thin membrane of light covering the surface of the wings.

As the wings spread, the wingspan exceeded four meters, the entire structure glowing with a cyan light, the bone patterns flowing like runes.

With a slight shift of his intent, the wings gave a gentle flap.

Qing Zhengyue opened his eyes and looked at his own hands.

Those hands, covered in age spots, seemed to have grown a few years younger.

This moment also officially announced that the Qing Clan now had a Spirit Saint presiding over it.

No, that wasn't quite right; he hadn't hunted a spirit ring yet, so at most, he was a quasi-Saint.