One day, two days.
A full month passed.
On this day, the Origin Blood stopped flowing from the Demon-Refining Pot. Clearly, his transformation was complete.
Jiang Zhu opened his eyes and stretched comfortably.
During the latter half of the transformation, all the pain in his body had vanished. He felt as though he had returned to his mother's embrace, warm and comfortable, a feeling he longed to linger in.
Boom!
The cave where he had secluded himself collapsed, burying him inside.
Using all five claws, Jiang Zhu burrowed out of the rubble and took stock of his body.
He was now over a hundred feet long, with five claws beneath his belly. His entire body looked as though it had been cast from molten iron, brimming with an awe-inspiring sense of power. Apart from his crystalline horns, which shimmered with purple light, his dragon body was black all over, gleaming with a dark luster. Beneath the sunlight, his scales even seemed to shimmer with every color!
Explosive strength filled his entire body. He casually raked a claw down the cliff face, slicing through it as smoothly as a hot knife through butter, without feeling the slightest resistance.
"So this is a true dragon? What a powerful creature!" Jiang Zhu lightly flexed his claws. Sparks occasionally flew from their tips with metallic clangs.
He was only in the Life Spring Realm, yet even without using the divine power within his body, a single swipe of his claw probably carried forty or fifty thousand jin of force.
But none of this was the greatest gain from his cultivation this time!
He raised a claw and curled it around empty air, aiming at a distant boulder.
The next moment, an invisible force drew the entire boulder into the air, sending it flying straight toward him. Then he changed his claw's position and pressed downward. The flying boulder immediately changed course, plunging into the abyss.
This was the Dragon-Calling Hand, one of the True Dragon Secret Art's techniques!
The Dragon-Calling Hand could draw upon the dragon power between heaven and earth for his own use. The invisible force that had controlled the boulder was precisely that dragon power. With this technique, he could easily suppress certain opponents!
His gains did not end there. At the very end of his transformation, under the combined influence of the Demon-Refining Pot, the true dragon source blood, and the imprints of heaven and earth, he seemed to have dreamed his way back to the Immortal Ancient Era and witnessed a battle that shook the world.
Every inch of the true dragon's enormous body seemed painstakingly sculpted by heaven, and every scale appeared branded with the Great Dao. His outstretched body spanned an entire universe.
Facing him were five imposing figures, shrouded in dense light of chaos. Each radiated an aura as vast as a world. They stood high above, looking down upon the heavens, so powerful that they made the heart tremble.
The true dragon's fierce fighting spirit soared into the sky. He opened his mouth and roared toward the heavens, unleashing a dragon cry that pierced myriad worlds. Boundless dragon power combined with his roar to suppress his opponents. The cutting radiance released by his horns pierced straight through the sea of stars, preventing his enemies from drawing close.
Divine light flickered over his claws. A casual swipe tore apart a golden shield, and his tail followed close behind, snapping off the arm that held it.
A true dragon that blotted out the sky and sun fought his enemies in a frenzy. Even the Great Dao was ground into oblivion!
Sadly, the true dragon still perished in the end. Despite his extraordinary combat prowess, the relentless attrition inflicted by five opponents of equal standing finally wore him down, and he died under their combined assault. Before his death, however, he also grievously wounded them.
Dragon-Calling Hand, Dragon Roar Technique, True Dragon Claw, Dragon Fist, Divine Dragon Tail Sweep, True Dragon Heaven-Binding Technique...
He engraved every Precious Technique the true dragon used in battle firmly in his memory, forgetting nothing. This was the greatest reward for fully mastering the True Dragon Transformation. This was an Immortal King Law!
In this broken universe, even immortals were nowhere to be seen, let alone immortal kings. Such peerless beings could live through endless ages and shatter a universe with a thought, watching eras rise and fall and great ages succeed one another while remaining undying. They truly embodied the words: heaven and earth might decay, yet I would not; sun and moon might perish, yet I would endure.
If word spread that he had obtained an Immortal King Law, every Forbidden Zone Supreme in the universe would be stirred into action, and the myriad races of the universe would all end up on the dinner table!
After calming his excitement, Jiang Zhu examined himself internally. His pitch-black Bitter Sea had taken on a deep black hue that, beneath the reflected light of the Demon-Refining Pot, seemed to shimmer with every color.
His face darkened. Why had even the Bitter Sea changed color? Would it change again when I mastered the second totem true-spirit transformation? Shaking his head, he put such trivial matters aside and discovered that more than half the precious blood he had amassed by plundering dozens of planets had vanished from the Demon-Refining Pot!
Presumably, it had been consumed to replenish his essence during the transformation. Resonating with the imprints of heaven and earth and obtaining the True Dragon Secret Art had also required considerable expenditure.
At the center of his Bitter Sea, the Life Spring gushed, its wellspring of divine power boiling. The spring opening on the seabed had expanded many times over, surging forth in an endless torrent and occasionally releasing streaks of radiant light.
An object resembling a brick bobbed within the spring opening. This was Jiang Zhu's "artifact."
Divine power surged like a tide, and radiant light filled the sky-the signs of a perfected Life Spring. He could now begin preparing for his breakthrough.
Although the True Dragon Secret Art had been his chief gain from resonating with the imprints of heaven and earth, his understanding and perception of the Dao had improved no less than they would have through a sudden enlightenment.
From this point onward, cultivation in the Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm would be an open road. As long as he had sufficient resources, he could break through at any time.
As the precious blood was refined, Jiang Zhu's cultivation advanced steadily. A brilliant rainbow formed high above his Sea of Bitterness, spanning the heavens in dazzling splendor.
The moment the Divine Bridge formed, it stretched across the void and continued extending.
Just then, everything before his eyes grew hazy. He could no longer see anything, as though he had lost his bearings. Mist also enveloped his divine sense, leaving it unable to perceive anything.
"So this is the Calamity of Lostness?" Jiang Zhu felt as though his sight had been forcibly stripped away. He could see no path ahead.
This Calamity of Lostness was not yet severe, however. Only his sight had been taken. At its worst, all five senses would be stripped away and spiritual perception lost, reducing him to an unknowing, unfeeling cripple.
Jiang Zhu quieted his mind. He was not worried about the Calamity of Lostness. He already knew the road ahead like the palm of his hand.
Now, in his eyes, dense mist sealed every direction. He seemed trapped in a cage. Even when he immersed his mind in the Sea of Bitterness, he could see only a stretch of heavenly meridian, with no idea where to cross.
He moved in no direction, merely coiling his body and sitting upon the Divine Meridian.
Time passed. His five senses grew increasingly numb, and his spiritual perception was on the verge of disappearing. His entire being seemed sealed off. He could neither hear nor see... he was like a deaf man, like a blind man. Still, he sat motionless, like an old monk absorbed in meditation.
"Why must I seek the Other Shore? Wherever I stand is the Other Shore!"
The clouds and mist churned and swiftly dispersed. Heaven and earth became clear, and everything lay before his eyes.
In a single instant, all the mist vanished. His senses revived, sharper than ever before. A mysterious radiance enveloped him, as though he were receiving a baptism.
He had pierced through the Calamity of Lostness. His "instincts" underwent a baptism, and his divine sense surged outward like a bolt of silk, its perceptual reach growing ever wider. His body and mind seemed to have been tempered anew.
Within his Sea of Bitterness, the Divine Bridge was now broader than ever, crystalline and translucent, leading toward an unknown place.
He ascended the Divine Bridge and sat upon it. The next moment, he had already appeared on the Other Shore of the Bitter Sea, arriving at its farthest end. This was a pure land, wreathed in drifting clouds and mist. High in the heavens, he could vaguely make out an enormous Dao Palace.
Upon reaching the Other Shore, a cultivator's flesh, organs, and bones would wither into stillness before undergoing a different kind of rebirth. Their blood and bones would be renewed nine successive times, completing the transformation.
Jiang Zhu was already quite familiar with this step. Wasn't it just renewing blood and transforming bones? I had only recently undergone an entire transformation from crocodile to dragon.
Jiang Zhu's entire body nearly decayed into oblivion, his vitality seemingly at its end. The next moment, he came alive anew, life force surging forth.
After that, he seemed like vegetation cycling through withering and flourishing. Deathly stillness and vitality alternated without cease until all nine cycles were complete.
Brilliant light blazed within the cave dwelling, and vital essence filled the air. The essence blood within Jiang Zhu's body was reborn, rushing like a mighty river with a roar that could be heard from far away.
His heart beat with even greater strength, pounding like a drum. His internal organs resonated together, and his bones trembled continuously, all joining to compose a sound like a dragon's roar.
His entire body was free of dust and impurities, reborn from flesh to bone, with divine power surging within.
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