A long time passed...
With Gu Yuena's help, the dark-gold Spirit Bone in Zhao Linchuan's hand had fully fused with his body.
The bone turned into a stream of light and entered him. Vast, surging power spread from the center of his torso, filling his spine and chest.
Just then, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's spirit appeared within his spiritual space.
It was a phantom of the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King, shrunk to a fraction of his size. His body was dark, his eyes hollow, and savage, greedy spiritual fluctuations radiated from him.
He "looked" across Zhao Linchuan's boundless spiritual space. Unrestrained greed flared in those hollow "eyes."
A hoarse, ecstatic voice echoed through the space:
"What a vast spiritual space!"
"This body is mine—"
But before he could finish—
"ROAR—!!"
An earth-shaking dragon's cry exploded from the depths of the spiritual space!
A sacred, majestic azure dragon appeared behind him, its golden slit pupils locking coldly onto the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's spirit!
Without a moment's hesitation, the Azure Dragon opened its abyssal jaws and swallowed the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's spirit whole!
Before the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King could grasp what had happened, those bottomless jaws consumed him completely. Not a scrap of his spirit remained.
The Azure Dragon closed its jaws. A low gulp rumbled deep in its throat.
It swam two circuits through Zhao Linchuan's spiritual space, its massive body skimming the Sea of Spirit and raising rings of ripples. Then it threw back its head and gave a long cry.
"ROAR—!!"
The dragon's cry pierced the barrier between the spiritual space and the outside world, bursting straight out of Zhao Linchuan's body!
In an instant, a corporeal Azure Dragon over a hundred zhang long shot up from above Zhao Linchuan's