Dragon Spine
After Meng Changyuan left, the open space remained quiet for a long time.
No one spoke. The wind swirled around the edge of the fallen grass, pressed down by the Dragon Shadow, turning a few withered leaves over and setting them down again. Long Tian stood with his back to the crowd for a while, moonlight seeping through the edge of the clouds and falling on his shoulders. He felt the residual heat from the new scales on his back gradually dissipating.
Long Tieshan was the first to come out of the house. He paused beside his son, his gaze sweeping over Long Tian's hands and back hanging by his sides. Without saying a word, he went back into the house, poured a bowl of hot water, brought it out, and placed it on the Shitou in the open space that was being used as a seat. Then he retreated to the threshold and sat down.
Long Tian walked over, picked up the bowl of water, and took a sip. As the hot water slid down his throat into his chest and abdomen, the lingering heat was somewhat neutralized. He felt the Origin Return Pearl in his dantian slowly resetting its rotation speed, and the six Soul Ring, like six mirrors that had just been straightened, gradually quieted down. He finished the water, put the bowl back on the stone, and sat down on the pile of dry grass next to him, resting his hands on his knees.
Yu Jin sat down beside him, the faint light emanating from the dark gray bead resting against his chest, appearing calm and serene in the shadows. He sat for a moment, then spoke, "After the scales on your back receded, I could still feel their patterns remaining on the surface of your spine. The core of the Origin Return Pearl is now half an inch higher than before it was activated."
Following his words, Long Tian sensed it and indeed—the position of the Origin Return Pearl had shifted slightly upwards from the center of his dantian, now approximately at the midpoint between his navel and chest, closer to the bottom of his chest cavity. Although its rotation speed had decreased, it was still slightly faster than before it was activated, and the gold and black interlacing patterns on its surface were clearer than before, like ink stains that were originally hidden on the back of paper being revealed through water stains.
"It's adjusting its position itself." Long Tian placed his palm below his chest, sensing the pulse of the Origin Return Pearl through his clothes. "When that Dragon Shadow appeared just now, the Origin Return Pearl didn't push its power outward—it temporarily transformed the entire body into part of that shell. The Dragon Shadow attached itself to the bones, and the scales were the outer lining of the skeleton."
Yu Jin nodded, extending his hand, palm up, about a hand's width above Long Tian's knees. The remaining energy of his Power of Origin seeped from his palm, condensing into an extremely thin, golden-black thread in the air. The end of the thread reached towards Long Tian's chest, but was stopped by an invisible barrier about a foot away. Yu Jin withdrew the thread, returning his hand to his knee. "Your body now has a permanent protective membrane, thinner but denser than the previous chaotic light membrane, like a layer that grows naturally from your skin. It doesn't prevent my primordial energy from approaching, but it will automatically contract before touching your skin."
Long Tian looked down at his palm. The gray-gold patterns on his palm were deeper than before he activated the power, and the skin of his entire hand was covered with a very faint sheen, like porcelain that had been soaked in a thin layer of morning dew and then dried. He clenched his fist, and the warm energy between his knuckles was circulating on its own, no longer needing to be consciously activated to maintain it.
That night, he lay in bed with his eyes closed, sensing the changes within his dantian. The new position of the Origin Return Pearl allowed its aura to cover more of the main meridians, encompassing the entire torso from his chest to his lower abdomen. Six Soul Ring were neatly arranged around it, each ring's inner wall corresponding to a pattern on the surface of the Origin Return Pearl, like six spokes extending outwards from an axis. When he tried to focus his mind into the Origin Return Pearl, he felt a tiny cavity slowly forming deep within its core—it was currently empty, but its outline was already formed, like an eggshell with patterns already carved inside, waiting to be filled.
The location and shape of the cavity reminded Long Tian of some kind of core that was not yet fully formed. He didn't delve into it for the time being, but simply memorized its location.
The next day at dawn, he went alone to a more open flat area on the hillside behind the stone house. The area was more than twice the size of the open space in front of the house, with a flat surface covered with short grass and moss, and surrounded on three sides by higher mountain walls. He stood in the center of the flat area and lit up the six Soul Ring one by one, gradually increasing the rotation speed of the Origin Return Pearl to the critical point of activating the Sixth Ring.
When the grey-gold Dragon Shadow rose behind him again, it was more stable than the night before. The outlines of its two heads were clearly distinguishable in the morning light; the golden head on the left had one eye drooping, while the dark head on the right held its head high. The scales on its necks, where they met at the midsection of its body, were denser than the night before, like two tributaries of a river depositing a new riverbed at their confluence. Long Tian tried to let it maintain its form behind him without actively controlling it— the Dragon Shadow hovered in the air for almost half a cup of tea's time before slowly beginning to fade, several times longer than he had expected.
He conducted several tests. He had the Dragon Shadow ten zhang away from his body while simultaneously unleashing a light bullet using a Soul Skill; the two actions did not interfere with each other. He had the Dragon Shadow hover in the air while maintaining the protective light membrane of his three Soul Skill, consuming less Soul Power than expected. He had the Dragon Shadow turn around eight zhang away from his body and release a low-powered dragon breath in his direction, then let the Origin Return Pearl take over—the Dragon Shadow maintained its stable form during the release of the dragon breath until it completely subsided before returning to its original state.
After the tests were over, Long Tian sat on the grassy slope on the flat ground and rested for a while, leaning against the shady side of the mountain wall, looking at the ground in front of him illuminated by the morning light. The gray-gold traces left by the Dragon Shadow when it passed on the ground remained, like the sand patterns left on the riverbed after a shallow stream dried up, stretching from where he sat to the distance, shimmering with light in the sunlight.
When Yu Jin walked up the slope from the direction of the stone house, he was carrying a water bag. He sat down next to Long Tian and handed him the water bag. He didn't rush to ask about the test results, but just followed Long Tian's gaze to look at the gray-gold sand patterns on the ground for a long time.
"Yu Jin," Long Tian took the water bag but didn't drink immediately. He held it in his hand. "Can you feel it—a Origin Return Pearl, like it's being prepared for something."
Yu Jin turned to look at him. "What kind of empty shell?"
"A circular cavity, about this big." Long Tian gestured with his hand, indicating an area about the size of a thumbtip, "Located in the very center of the bead. It's still empty, but the surrounding patterns are already converging towards it, like everything around it is gathering in that direction."
Yu Jin reached out and hovered his hand over Long Tian's chest, sensing for a moment before withdrawing it and remaining silent for a few breaths. When he spoke, his voice was softer than before. "Something is growing inside that bead. It's not from outside; it's your own essence pressing all the remaining fusion matter onto one point. Once it reaches its limit, a new core will condense. Once that core is formed, the dragon spine on your back might become permanent."
Long Tian looked down at the back of his hand; the patterns on the scales were faintly visible in the light. He unscrewed the water pouch and took a sip. The water was cool, freshly drawn from a mountain stream, carrying the crispness of moss and sand. He placed the water pouch on his knees and continued to gaze at the fading sand patterns on the ground. He felt the Origin Return Pearl slowly rotating at a steady rhythm at the lower edge of his chest cavity, the edge of the hollow center of the pearl converging in circles, like the walls of a well being repeatedly compacted.
A cloud drifted in from the south along the distant mountain ridge, its edge edged with a thin golden rim by the morning light. As the cloud's shadow swept over the short grassy slope, the gray-gold sandy ripples faded completely, and the ground returned to its normal color. Long Tian raised his water pouch again and took a sip. As the water flowed down his throat and through his chest, he could feel the pulse of the Origin Return Pearl casting a faint echo in the surrounding water, like the last ripple left on the surface of a pebble dropped into deep water. He put down the water pouch, stood up, patted the grass juice and fine dirt off his trousers, and walked down the slope with Yu Jin. The morning sun peeked back through the edge of the clouds, lengthening and shortening their shadows, following them all the way from the top of the slope back to the entrance of the stone house.