Great Dragon Physiognomy

If they ever met again, Yang Ning would tell Tuo Buchuan that this Dragon Pearl was not a Blood Dragon Pearl.

It was a Purple Dragon Pearl.

Purple Dragons were the most exalted and noble of dragonkind—the imperial clan among dragons.

The imperial clan had no surnames, only given names. The dragon this pearl had belonged to was named Zhao. He was the Last Dragon Emperor's imperial uncle, ordered to investigate the source of the Nightmare Tribulation and find a way to resist it.

One look at this Dragon Pearl told Yang Ning that he had failed.

Yang Ning saw only one fundamental inheritance, along with several fragments of memory.

"I tried hundreds of millions of Dao methods, yet not one had any effect on Nightmare Qi. Every experiment led to the same result—Nightmare transformation, Nightmare transformation, Nightmare transformation!"

A Purple Dragon nearly a thousand li long churned furiously through the sky, clouds and lightning coiling around its body.

"Perhaps Grandmother was right. Nightmare was the retribution for the dragon clan's wars across the world over hundreds of thousands of years. That is why the Myriad Manifestations Nightmare Tribulation harms dragons most of all."

The Purple Dragon nestled against the side of an enormous White Dragon, listening to her teachings.

"Ancestor Dragon has created a new world and wants us to withdraw, but I do not want to leave. Give me a little more time. Just a little more time."

Yang Ning saw a golden dragon that held up the heavens and blotted out the sun, as though it were coiled around the cosmos itself. In its five claws, it actually grasped a river of stars!

Ancestor Dragon could create a universe? Yet even such a mighty being could not withstand the Nightmare Tribulation?

"There are only forty thousand Dao methods left. I will finish soon, but Nightmare Qi has already covered heaven and earth. I have no time!"

The gray, murky world had swallowed everything from sight!

"Dragons have already begun to undergo Nightmare transformation. Even walls made from Dragon Soul Stone can no longer withstand Nightmare Qi?"

Within the dark palace, orange-yellow stones began to turn gray, while the eyes of the dragons around him started blackening as well.

"I do not need to test them to know that the remaining twenty thousand are useless too, but I just cannot accept it!"

It was still that same dragon, watching Nightmare Qi spread toward him, despair rising in his heart.

"Perhaps there is one final way."

Yang Ning seemed to become that Purple Dragon, leaping into the densest mist and simultaneously unleashing a Supreme Dao Art that the dragon clan had absolutely no use for, yet that truly belonged to the dragon clan!

"Dragon Transformation!"

"He failed?"

"No, he succeeded!"

Yang Ning gazed at the Dragon Pearl spinning round and round in the Spirit Realm, his face full of admiration.

Dragon Transformation was the final step for other races evolving into dragons. One had to stir the dragon bloodline within their body, absorb the power of heaven and earth, and finally sacrifice their own fortune. With the determination to smash the cauldrons and sink the boats, there was a chance to leap over the dragon gate like a fish and transform into a true dragon.

The odds were extraordinarily low, and failure meant body and soul perishing, without even the possibility of reincarnation.

Thus, many dragon-descended creatures stopped after evolving into Flood Dragons. Flood Dragons were strong enough and could live forever as well; there was no need to risk everything on that final leap.

As a born dragon, and one from the Dragon Emperor's bloodline at that, Zhao naturally had no use for this secret art.

But he realized that the Dragon Transformation secret art fused one's body with the power of heaven and earth, then borrowed the fortune of heaven and earth to complete a miraculous leap.

There was no longer any power of heaven and earth around him. All that remained was Nightmare Qi!

So when he used the Dragon Transformation secret art, he wanted to fuse with Nightmare Qi.

Not be corroded by it, but truly fuse with it!

A fish leaping over the dragon gate was a miracle. Was fusing one's body with Nightmare Qi not also a miracle?

Clearly, he had failed. Even the Dragon Emperor's bloodline could not withstand the corrosion of Nightmare Qi, much less the avalanche-like torrent flooding in through the Dragon Transformation secret art.

Yet as one of the Dragon Emperor's line, his fortune ultimately created a miracle.

The burning fortune finally brought about the fusion of Nightmare Qi and the Dragon Pearl, and an unprecedented miracle was born.

A Dragon Pearl perfectly fused with Nightmare Qi—a true Nightmare Dragon Pearl!

"Holy shit!" After viewing Zhao's memory fragments, Yang Ning was dumbfounded. It could be done like this? Directly fuse with the calamity and become the calamity itself?

But in the next moment, he felt deeply regretful.

When Zhao fused with Nightmare Qi, the dragons of the Taiheng Realm had already been almost completely wiped out. The few remaining dragons had also left this world, which meant that Zhao had very little fortune left.

That tiny amount of fortune had brought about the fusion of the Dragon Pearl and Nightmare Qi. If Zhao had used the Dragon Transformation secret art when the dragon clan stood at its peak, could he have transformed into a true Nightmare Dragon?

Unfortunately, time once gone never returned. What was missed was missed forever.

Moreover, Yang Ning had to keep this secret from the surviving dragons.

After all, the Nightmare Tribulation had been powerful enough to wipe out the entire dragon clan. Now that he possessed the Nightmare Dragon Pearl, he had the possibility of making use of something so terrifying.

If they learned that the "Dragon Transformation" secret art could fuse with Nightmare Qi and created several Nightmare Dragons, what advantage would he have left?

Besides, humans and dragons did not exactly have a good relationship. Whether for public or private reasons, he had to keep this secret.

After viewing the memory fragments, Yang Ning immediately began receiving the Dragon Clan Inheritance. A Dragon Pearl was the Dao Fruit condensed from a dragon's lifetime of Dao arts, so it naturally contained the dragon clan's inheritance. The Nightmare Dragon Pearl was no exception.

And the inheritance contained within this Dragon Pearl was actually a Supreme Dao Art formed by fusing seven Peerless Dao Arts!

Emperor Dragon Qi Gazing Technique

White Dragon Swallowing Absorption Technique

Purple Gold Coiling Dragon Body

Azure Dragon World Shaking Fist

Crimson Dragon Crimson Cloud Strength

Nether Dragon Carefree Roam

Heavenly Dragon World Ending Sound

Together, they were known as: Great Dragon Physiognomy!

"Fuck?" Yang Ning was stunned. What kind of concept was a Supreme Dao Art?

Taiheng Sect, a sect that had once produced immortals, had a Supreme Dao Art as its sect-defending inheritance!

Dao arts were also known as divine abilities. From highest to lowest, they were divided into five major ranks: Supreme, Peerless, Heaven-grade, Earth-grade, and Human-grade.

With one Human-grade Daoist Art, one could occupy a mountain, rule as king, and dominate an area.

With one Earth-grade Daoist Art, one could establish a sect and found a school!

With one Heaven-grade Daoist Art, one could dominate an entire province and run rampant through a region!

With one Peerless Daoist Art, one could rank among the ten great sects. In other words, in the current Taiheng Realm, only the top ten sects possessed Peerless Dao Arts!

And with one Supreme Dao Art?

Put it this way: Taiheng Sect had once been the number one sect in the world, while Tianyi Sect had merely been a small provincial sect. Yet after obtaining a Supreme Dao Art, Tianyi Sect produced two True Immortals in succession and rose directly to become the greatest sect in Taiheng!

Now, people outside no longer even called the Taiheng Realm the Taiheng Realm. Young cultivators had started calling it the Tianyi Realm instead!

And now, Yang Ning also possessed a Supreme Dao Art!

Of course, he could not immediately cultivate this Dao art. It was, after all, a dragon clan technique. Turning it into one suitable for humans would take some work, commonly known as translation.

Techniques of different ranks varied in translation difficulty. The translation of Human-grade Dao Arts had already become an industry. So long as one was not afraid of leaks, they could find a translation hall by the roadside to handle it.

Earth-grade Dao Arts were somewhat more difficult and generally required the efforts of an inheritance spanning three or four generations.

Heaven-grade Dao Arts required a great lineage to study them for several centuries.

As for Peerless Dao Arts, they exceeded the scope of ordinary people's research. They generally required the efforts of dozens or even hundreds of peerless geniuses, or a sect on the level of the Ten Great Immortal Sects studying them for years.

As for Supreme Dao Arts, Tianyi Sect's experience back then could serve as a reference.

Thirty-two thousand years ago, Tianyi Sect obtained a Supreme Dao Art. Under the banner of opening a new path for the Taiheng Realm, they first vigorously promoted education, spending one hundred and seventy years cultivating more than forty million cultivators. Then they gathered the finest two hundred thousand among them for forty-six years of closed-door research, finally succeeding in translating the Supreme Dao Art.

The entire process could not be called anything but arduous. After all, cultivators in the Body Refinement Realm required vast amounts of food, while cultivators in the Qi Refining Realm required vast amounts of spiritual energy.

The birth of forty million cultivators came at the cost of a hundred and thirty-two consecutive years of famine across Tianyi Sect's territory, a hundred and fifty-five consecutive years of cliff-like population decline, and the near-total depletion of Tianyi Continent's Spirit Stones. Tianyi Continent itself was also invaded by neighboring sects, as well as Taiyin Sect from across the sea.

Not only did enemies land on their shores, but at the most dangerous point, two-thirds of their entire territory fell!

Fortunately, the Supreme Dao Art was ultimately created, and a peerless genius mastered it. He broke through barrier after barrier, transformed into a fierce man descending from heaven, and directly advanced to become a True Immortal.

With a True Immortal overseeing the sect, all their previous sacrifices paid off.

Did Yang Ning have two hundred thousand people?

No.

Did he have a sect behind him?

No.

But Yang Ning remained confident. After all, he had methodology, the Spirit Realm, and Deep Blue, this artificial intelligence.

Would it not be effortless for artificial intelligence to replace the work of two hundred thousand people?

Besides, he was not creating something from nothing. There were plenty of dragon clan techniques in this world that had been translated.

Supreme Dao Arts, Peerless Dao Arts, Heaven-grade techniques, and even Earth-grade techniques were kept secret, but Human-grade techniques were accepted by shops in the marketplace. Especially in a great sect like Taiheng Sect, Human-grade techniques had no value at all and were casually sold in the market.

Countless predecessors had translated countless techniques. With their experience as reference, Yang Ning believed that translating this Great Dragon Physiognomy was only a matter of time!

Setting aside Great Dragon Physiognomy, Yang Ning began studying this Dragon Pearl again.

Logically, after acknowledging an owner, a Dragon Pearl should appear in one's sea of consciousness. Yet his Dragon Pearl had appeared in the Spirit Realm instead.

Perhaps the Spirit Realm was not incapable of storing items; perhaps they simply had to complete the owner-recognition process with him first?

Or perhaps the Spirit Realm also possessed some of the functions of a sea of consciousness.

The dragon clan commanded wind, clouds, thunder, and lightning. Purple Dragons bore the responsibility of judgment and were especially skilled in thunder punishment.

With the Dragon Pearl in hand, Yang Ning felt that he could summon wind, clouds, thunder, and lightning with a single thought, as naturally as breathing. He could even control the bioelectricity within his body, making his brain issue an order while his body refused the imperial decree.

"So from now on, my cultivation should focus on water-, lightning-, and wind-type Dao arts." What Yang Ning sought was longevity, not omnipotence. The path to longevity should be as basic as possible, but in battle, since he had a cheat, naturally he should use it. There was no need to be good at swimming and insist on playing with fire.

Moreover, water excelled at healing and protection, lightning was maxed out in control and attack, and wind specialized in speed. These three attributes were already highly versatile.

As for the Nightmare attribute produced after fusing with Nightmare Qi, Yang Ning could not sense any use for it.

Perhaps it was because the Nightmare Tribulation had not arrived, and there was no Nightmare Qi between heaven and earth?