"More or less right here!"
Xu Yuan held an ancient-looking map in his hands, depicting the terrain of Fasinuo Province.
The southern part of the province was covered in flat, fertile farmland, dotted here and there with low hills.
The north was a succession of rolling mountain ranges, their overlapping peaks cloaked in lush greenery. Few people lived there, and vast stretches of wilderness remained undeveloped.
Xu Yuan glanced at the map. Two straight lines extended from different directions.
The point where those lines intersected marked the waterfall concealing the Blue Silver Emperor's true body and the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone.
Following the map, Xu Yuan had traveled by carriage along the main roads connecting the towns until he reached this place.
A mountain wall towered before him, thrusting straight into the clouds, its summit buried in mist.
The cliff was steep as though hewn by blades and axes, its rock exposed and its boulders jagged. At a glance, not a single blade of grass grew there.
No one would have imagined that a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone lay hidden within these rolling mountains.
Xu Yuan circled the mountain wall, found a gap, and raised his hand to summon the Light Sacred Dragon Spear.
Immediately afterward, the phantom of a platinum dragon rose into the air. Its long, powerful body was covered in pearly white scales flowing with brilliant golden light, as though its entire form had been polished from glazed crystal.
Xu Yuan grasped the Light Sacred Dragon Spear, and the Radiant Sacred Dragon's phantom took solid form, sacred light and lightning swirling around its body.
"Radiant Sacred Dragon, carry me over these mountains!"
Xu Yuan sat on its platinum scales, gripping a crystalline dragon horn with one hand.
The Radiant Sacred Dragon let out a clear, ringing cry. Its platinum body suddenly soared into the sky, splitting the howling winds to either side.
Riding the Radiant Sacred Dragon, Xu Yuan became a streak of platinum light and flew through the gap in the mountain wall, entering the countless peaks and ravines beyond.
Whenever he grew tired, he landed somewhere thick with blue silver grass, harvested a wave of life energy, and took flight again.
Stopping and starting along the way as he crossed the peaks, he took roughly two hours to reach the depths of the mountain range.
The first thing to reach his ears was the thunder of falling water.
Seated on the Radiant Sacred Dragon, Xu Yuan looked down at the scenery below.
Mountain ranges spread across the land, waves of green surging with their contours.
Set within that refreshing expanse of emerald was a clear, transparent blue gem.
Xu Yuan patted the dragon's horn, and the Radiant Sacred Dragon descended.
A waterfall roughly twenty meters wide plunged straight down a mountain wall from over two hundred meters above. Its cool, clear spray moistened the air and swept toward him beneath a seven-colored rainbow.
"This is the place. If I remember correctly, the cave entrance should be about a hundred meters up the waterfall."
Xu Yuan's gaze settled on the middle of the waterfall, and he turned to look at the Radiant Sacred Dragon.
"Roar!"
Understanding his intent, the Radiant Sacred Dragon took flight again, skirted the cascading torrent, and pressed its claws against the rock at random.
During one of those presses, a seemingly seamless rock suddenly sank inward, revealing the cave entrance.
Delighted, Xu Yuan called the Radiant Sacred Dragon back and rode it toward the cave behind the waterfall.
The instant they touched the waterfall, Xu Yuan leaped, and the solid Radiant Sacred Dragon abruptly dissolved into motes of light.
Braving the waterfall's spray, Xu Yuan landed perfectly inside the cave.
Using the Purple Demon Eye's night vision, Xu Yuan made out the cave's layout and the Blue Silver Emperor growing on a mound of earth.
There was also a small opening in the cave ceiling, allowing sunlight and rain to fall onto the Blue Silver Emperor's mound.
Xu Yuan raised his arm and placed his hand against the stone wall, feeling along it as he walked until he found another mechanism.
He pressed hard with his palm, and a long, pitch-black box fell from above, crashing heavily onto the ground.
He picked up the fallen box. The moment he opened it even a crack, an incomparably powerful aura surged out and filled the entire cave.
"The Blue Silver Emperor's hundred-thousand-year right leg bone!"
What greeted his eyes was a crystalline, translucent Blue-Gold Soul Bone, with an immense aura of life flowing through it.
Starlight seemed to flow within the soul bone, every flicker resembling a breath drawn by the crystalline bone itself.
Xu Yuan could barely contain his excitement. The hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor right leg bone was finally his.
Just as Xu Yuan was about to absorb the soul bone, he suddenly noticed the neglected Blue Silver Emperor in the corner.
"Blue Silver Emperor..."
"For my own safety, I'll have to ask you to get lost first."
Xu Yuan pulled up the slender, foot-long Blue Silver Emperor with her golden markings, locked her inside a lead box, and threw her out of the cave.
Fusing with the Blue Silver Emperor's soul bone would take at least three days and three nights. Xu Yuan did not dare keep her beside him.
As for how he should deal with the Blue Silver Emperor...
Xu Yuan had no ideas for the moment. Without nourishment from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and the Blue Silver Domain, the Blue Silver Emperor would need at least ten thousand years of cultivation to develop true intelligence.
According to Tang Hao, he would never get to see it in his lifetime and could only pin his hopes on his children and grandchildren.
Xu Yuan stopped dwelling on it, sealed the cave entrance, and sat cross-legged inside before taking out the Blue Silver Emperor's soul bone.
The moment he pressed the soul bone against his right leg, it transformed into countless streams of blue-gold airflow that burrowed into his leg from every direction.
Sensing the circulation of soul power, the wish-granting tree martial soul manifested on its own, filling the entire cave with pale golden, glasslike radiance.
His pale purple second soul ring began flickering continuously, as though resonating with the Blue Silver Emperor's Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone.
Xu Yuan closed his eyes. He felt as though he had submerged himself in an azure ocean, and the meridians throughout his body widened to their limits.
Cracks appeared once more in the pure Medicinal Power Crystal. Drops of golden medicinal liquid flowed out and merged into his body.
Gradually, Xu Yuan's consciousness grew hazy, while the internal energy of the Mysterious Heaven Skill surged through his eight extraordinary meridians like towering waves in a raging sea.
A faint blue halo quietly awakened within the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and soul bone, radiating imperial majesty.
Xu Yuan's mind seemed to connect with all the blue silver grass in the mountain range.
The blue silver grass blanketing the mountains willingly offered up its life force and soul power, channeling them into the cave to envelop Xu Yuan's body and form a giant, crystalline blue cocoon.
He slept for five full days and nights!
When Xu Yuan woke again, his soul power had soared to level 30.
"Damn, how long was I asleep?"
Still groggy, Xu Yuan walked out of the cave. The blue silver grass blanketing the mountains like a blue ocean gave him a fright.
He immediately panicked. Wasn't the fusion supposed to take only three days and nights? How many crops of blue silver grass had grown in the meantime?
Had he slept for a year or two?
Xu Yuan hurriedly summoned the solid Radiant Sacred Dragon, flew out of the Waterfall Cave, and landed beside the Blue Lake.
Only then did Xu Yuan notice a thin layer of gray grime covering his entire body. His muscles and bones also felt remarkably light and relaxed.
"Could this be the filth left over from cleansing my muscles and marrow?"
Disgusted, Xu Yuan jumped into the lake and washed his entire body.
In the clear, mirrorlike surface of the water, Xu Yuan saw what he looked like now.
The most obvious change was his long, blue-gold hair. His features had undergone subtle adjustments; at first glance, he seemed no different, but a closer look revealed that he was a hundred times more handsome than before!
"Damn, Blue Silver Plastic Surgery!"
"Wait, I don't even have the blue silver emperor bloodline. Why would such an absurd change happen?"
Xu Yuan's face bore no resemblance to Ah Yin's. His original features had simply become softer and more perfect.
Still, Xu Yuan could not understand the change.
Then he closed his eyes, and a blue halo radiated from within him. His field of vision instantly expanded to encompass the entire mountain range.
Blue Silver Domain!
Xu Yuan's pupils trembled as he sensed every movement within the domain.
"The Blue Silver Emperor's innate domain!"
"Could this change have happened because the Blue Silver Emperor's Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and soul bone fused into one?"
"I remember the Blue Silver Domain has a disguise ability. Could I go to the Blue Silver Forest now and say..."
"'I'm the Blue Silver Emperor. Give me a life-bound soul ring'?"
Before you continue