"Ah—"
As the Holy Fire continued to burn, the blue-black vortex coiling around the dagger stopped trembling. Instead, it gathered together and condensed into a ferocious ghostly face, attempting one final desperate struggle.
However, Lu Yuan gave the vengeful soul within the dagger no chance. His right fist suddenly clenched, and glass-colored flames surged upward, forming a white lotus. Its petals closed layer by layer, completely enveloping the ghostly face.
After a while, the wails gradually faded. The flames dispersed, revealing the Gold of Life's true form.
The dagger's cyan glow was no longer eerie; instead, it possessed a warm, gentle quality. With the curse removed, a peaceful and pure aura of life spread forth. After merely taking a breath of it, Lu Yuan felt every cell in his body leap with joy and yearning. He felt as comfortable as if he had shed a suit of iron armor.
Quietly examining the Soul-Eating Dagger, crystalline and translucent like green crystal—oh, no, it should now be called the Lifewatch Blade—even Electrolux, who had lived through countless years, marveled at the beauty and mystery of this peerless treasure that heaven and earth had taken thousands of years to nurture.
"Xiao Yuan, close your eyes and press the Lifewatch Blade against your forehead. Leave the rest to me!" After a moment, Electrolux recovered himself and spoke to Lu Yuan gravely.
Following Elder Yi's instructions, Lu Yuan gently pressed the Lifewatch Blade against the center of his brow. Then, he released wisps of spiritual power, slowly wrapping them around the blade. A warm current of life force gradually flowed along his spiritual power and into his Spirit Sea, leaving him feeling refreshed and at ease.
As Electrolux stimulated it further, the Lifewatch Blade blazed with cyan light. Strands of life force converged into a small river, washing over Lu Yuan's body and Spirit Sea. The God Clan Bloodline within him greedily absorbed this immense life force, and in a short time, his physical constitution was strengthened once more.
Once Lu Yuan had adapted to the prolonged washing of high-density life force, Electrolux began the real operation.
The pleasure of having immense life force wash over his body gradually faded. Though his eyes were closed, Lu Yuan could still sense the incomparably sharp edge of the Lifewatch Blade pointing directly at the center of his brow.
With his eyes shut, Lu Yuan's Adam's apple bobbed. Just as he opened his mouth to ask Elder Yi when he planned to perform the craniotomy, agonizing pain capable of tearing apart his Sea of Consciousness erupted from between his brows—
Blank. Lu Yuan's mind went completely blank. As the blade entered his brain, he felt as though something had mashed it into a lump, turning it into the tofu pudding from his previous life.
Then came a surging aura of life. Vast life force flooded into Lu Yuan's Spirit Sea like a tide, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.
Pain, chaos, and wave-like life force left Lu Yuan's consciousness hazy. Yet as the Lifewatch Blade entered, his Spirit Sea began expanding at a rate visible to the naked eye.
After a moment of daze, Lu Yuan came back to himself. The entire "head-splitting" process had come and gone quickly. Soon, the Lifewatch Blade had completely entered Lu Yuan's Spirit Sea, and the pain vanished with it. Only a blue-gold vertical mark remained between his brows, making it seem at first glance as though a third vertical eye had grown on his forehead.
Lu Yuan's Spirit Sea had now transformed into a vast emerald ocean. Dense life force, so concentrated it had become almost tangible, surged through it wave after wave. Throughout the entire Spirit Sea, only the area around the ancient golden tortoise shell of the Great Tortoise Shell Technique at its center remained calm and peaceful.
"Haha, Xiao Yuan!" Once the task was complete, Electrolux burst into laughter. With a flash, he entered the Second Sea of Consciousness at Lu Yuan's brow. "Rest and regulate your breathing first. I can also benefit from your good fortune and use the Gold of Life to nourish myself. Perhaps this Divine Sense of mine may even advance further in the future with the help of this Gold of Life!"
Although Electrolux had been healed of the injuries to his divine soul when they first met by the "Heal" die of Lu Yuan's Great Tortoise Shell Technique, restoring his Divine Sense to completeness, without a physical body, this Divine Sense was like water without a source or a tree without roots. Electrolux's complete god-level Divine Sense meant he faced no risk of declining in realm or weakening, but before he regained a physical body, his Divine Sense had no hope of advancing any further.
However, now that he had a supreme treasure like the Gold of Life, Electrolux could transfer his Divine Sense from Lu Yuan's Spirit Sea into the Second Sea of Consciousness opened by the Gold of Life. Nourished by the Gold of Life's vitality over time, he might find an opportunity to advance further.
"Xiao Yuan, once you have finished adjusting yourself, call for me. Then, we will begin verifying my conjecture concerning the Great Tortoise Shell Technique!"
After Electrolux left, Lu Yuan also sat cross-legged and quietly experienced the transformation he had gained after being cleansed by the tide of life brought by the Lifewatch Blade.
The first to benefit was his Spirit Sea. After this cleansing, the Spirit Sea that had once only been worthy of being called a "spiritual lake" now truly resembled an ocean. Boundless emerald waves rippled through his transformed Spirit Sea. The Lifewatch Blade had become a small green-gold sun, quietly floating beside the Great Tortoise Shell Technique and radiating gentle cyan light formed from pure life force.
Then there was his body. Looking inward, Lu Yuan found that his meridians had become broader and tougher. His God Clan Bloodline had also been further activated and purified. The few impurities remaining in his body had been washed away, while lingering wisps of life force continued to slowly circulate through him, nourishing his body.
His Soul Power had also increased, easily breaking through the bottleneck of rank thirty-nine and reaching rank forty.
Huff—
After exhaling a long breath of stale air, Lu Yuan had fully adjusted his condition. Taking advantage of the time Elder Yi was still regulating himself, Lu Yuan flipped his right hand and retrieved the three-thousand-year Golden Silk Demon Ape Left Arm Bone, the prize from the Freshman Assessment champions, from his Storage Soul Tool. He prepared to fuse with this Soul Bone first and make preparations for the coming experiment.
Lu Yuan was already confident that fusing with something as minor as a three-thousand-year Soul Bone no longer required Elder Yi's help. After the tide of life had further elevated and activated his God Clan Bloodline, he even felt that his fourth Soul Ring could directly fuse with a hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring.
Opening the leather pouch that stored the Soul Bone, Lu Yuan held the Golden Silk Demon Ape's Soul Bone in his hand. Compared to Golden Radiance and Light-Breaking Demon, this thousand-year Soul Bone seemed rather ordinary.
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