Afterward, the reason the four Azure Dragon Ancestors had suffered injuries to both body and soul—and had even regressed rather than advanced in cultivation—was the backlash from having the evil art stripped away.
Over the past few years, they had made no little use of this evil art to comprehend the Dao and bolster their cultivation with its power.
Now that Yang Lingrui had severed the connection between that evil art and themselves with a single decree, the hidden roots of disaster within their bodies erupted ahead of time.
It was only because Chen Huai'an and Xiao Yao had discovered the Azure Dragon aura within the ancient tomb, and because the New Heaven cultivators had reacted swiftly enough afterward. Otherwise, had these old dragons continued cultivating for a few more years, allowing the evil art to fuse deeply with their bodies and souls and entangle their karma too heavily, even if Yang Lingrui's true self had arrived, he would have been powerless to turn the tide.
Though the four Azure Dragon Ancestors were now all grievously wounded and had each suffered varying degrees of cultivation regression, this outcome was by no means a bad thing for them.
Through that violent backlash, most of the lingering poison left behind by the evil art had been expelled from their bodies along with the spilled blood and shattered scales.
The small remnants could be dispelled through ordinary cultivation. So long as they recuperated and repaired themselves properly for a few decades, they would be able to return to their former realms and thoroughly purge the evil art's influence.
Judging from the final outcome, Yang Lingrui's intervention had not merely saved the Dao paths of the four Azure Dragon Ancestors—it had saved the entire Azure Dragon Clan, sparing them from the erosion of the