That afternoon,
Xu Qing and Gu Yuena packed their things and left Red Mountain Academy together.
Meanwhile, Tang Wulin headed straight to Mang Tian's Workshop after school.
Once inside, he greeted Brother Long first, then went straight to his own forging room.
Mang Tian was inside.
"Teacher," Tang Wulin called.
Mang Tian nodded.
Tang Wulin quickly took out the blueprint and handed it over. "Teacher, here's the thing. My classmate asked me to help forge a saber. Could you take a look?"
Mang Tian lowered his head to study the blueprint, his gaze settling on the broad blade.
Mang Tian stared at the blueprint for quite a while before raising his eyebrows slightly. "This saber is quite large. Besides, an ordinary person wouldn't even be able to lift it once it's made. Are you sure your classmate wants this?"
"Yes, Teacher," Tang Wulin replied. "Don't worry, Teacher. In terms of strength alone, that friend of mine isn't any weaker than me. It's just that his Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass, like mine, so he wants a saber to practice saber techniques."
Hearing this, Mang Tian immediately grew interested. Tang Wulin's strength had already shocked him immensely, yet there was another child whose strength rivaled Tang Wulin's?
And both their Martial Souls were Blue Silver Grass?
"Wulin, find a chance to bring that classmate of yours to meet me."
Tang Wulin nodded.
Afterward, Mang Tian studied the annotations for the saber on the blueprint. After pondering for a moment, he said, "The idea is sound. It would just be even better to add some tungsten steel to the forging materials."
The material Xu Qing had specified on the blueprint was only ordinary refined iron. It balanced hardness and toughness and contained few impurities, but its Soul Power conductivity was average, making it unsuitable for high-level Soul Guidance Arrays. It was one of the most common metals on the Douluo Continent.
Of course, it wasn't that Xu Qing hadn't considered tungsten steel, but it was too expensive. He simply couldn't afford it~
After Xu Qing and Gu Yuena returned home, they greeted Tang Xue.
The two made their way into the center of the thickly growing Blue Silver Grass and sat cross-legged opposite each other on the stone slab there. Then they both began meditating and cultivating.
Every time Xu Qing cultivated, his body gave off golden light.
Gu Yuena could sense that, beneath that golden light, the quality of the bloodline within her improved somewhat.
Thus, afterward, Gu Yuena stayed beside Xu Qing every time he cultivated.
That evening, after dinner, Xu Qing said good night to Gu Yuena, then returned to his room.
After locking the door and windows, he checked the cabinet. Finding that no one had touched it, he let out a slight sigh of relief.
Xu Qing took a crystal core from the cabinet, and that feeling of extreme longing surged up again.
Previously, Xu Qing had directly touched the energy within the crystal core without activating the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon's power-the force that had surged up within him before-which had led to that earlier situation. What if he added the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon's power?
Would the effect be different?
Xu Qing took a deep breath, looking at the crystal core in his palm.
The next moment, seemingly having made some sort of resolve, he immediately mobilized that exceptionally domineering, special power within him.
A deep dragon's roar rang out from within his body.
Brilliant golden light instantly enveloped him.
Fine golden dragon scales quietly emerged, spreading upward from his wrist.
In mere moments, his entire right arm had completely transformed into a golden dragon claw.
A bright, sacred presence spread outward.
In another room, Gu Yuena suddenly seemed to sense something. Her pupils contracted sharply as she stared fixedly toward Xu Qing's room, her eyes filled with shock.
She sensed the presence of her own kind, one that even made her, a true dragon, feel an extremely powerful hint of pressure.
What was this?
This draconic might wasn't particularly strong, but its quality was extremely high, already reaching the level of a Dragon King.
And such dense Power of Destiny.
The Blue Silver Grass growing thickly in the backyard also seemed to sense something. Its stems and leaves swayed gently and lifted slightly, as though expressing heartfelt cheers and paying homage.
Though curious, Gu Yuena still suppressed the impulse to go ask.
Xu Qing lowered his head, feeling the explosive increase in his right arm's strength. He raised his hand, turned it over, and carefully examined his fully dragon-transformed right hand for a while.
Was this the power of the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon Bloodline?
I felt like I could kill an ox with one punch now!
In truth, the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon Bloodline was subtly reshaping Xu Qing's body at every moment.
And his ability to mobilize his bloodline power was not only due to the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon Bloodline slowly awakening over time, but also inextricably linked to his killing zombies on Parallel Earth.
After all, this Five-Clawed Golden Dragon origin had been prepared for Xu Qing by Parallel Earth's consciousness in the first place.
Parallel Earth's original plan had been to get a transmigrator, turn him into a snake, then transform itself into a system and use the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon Bloodline as bait, guiding that transmigrator along a path of constant evolution and growing strength in the apocalypse.
Xu Qing: You bastard, did you ever ask me?
Of course, as the transmigrator's strength rose, the whole of Parallel Earth could also ride that momentum to grow, achieve a leap in its level of life, and bring about an unprecedented advancement in its planetary origin.
But it had never imagined this: Earth Consciousness, you damned sneaky bastard, you came so slowly.
Of course, that wasn't the only reason. One of the reasons the planet's berserk energy had spiraled completely out of control was actually humanity.
After discovering the additional berserk energy in the air following the cataclysm, humans had wanted to control it.
In the end, this had caused a loss of control that even the planet's consciousness could not stop.
The uncontrolled berserk energy swept across the entire planet, directly triggering a mass extinction.
Countless living beings were corroded by the berserk energy, either turning into mindless zombies or mutating into ferocious monsters.
Even Parallel Earth's innermost planetary origin consciousness was constantly corroded and worn away in this energy catastrophe, dissipating little by little.
Even more terrifying was the invasion of external enemies, which immediately left the planet's consciousness unable to intervene.
Xu Qing gazed at his dragon claw, shimmering with radiant light.
Within that golden light, he sensed a feeling of sorrow.
Xu Qing shook his head and immediately broke free of it. Then his gaze turned to the crystal core in the palm of his dragon claw.
Within the golden light, the crystal core was rapidly dissolving, then turning into three different streams of energy that surged into Xu Qing's body.
Xu Qing immediately felt his blood vitality, Soul Power, and Spiritual Power slowly increasing.
Before long, Xu Qing had devoured and absorbed every last bit of the crystal core in his hand.
Xu Qing sensed the changes in his body with surprise.
He had never expected the crystal core's effects to be so good that it could even improve his Spiritual Power and blood vitality.
Moreover, Xu Qing discovered that the wisp of berserk energy that had troubled him before was nothing short of nourishment for him. With the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon present, the moment that wisp of energy entered his body, it was purified into a special spiritual energy for him to absorb.