Zi Ji Joins the Battle
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The afternoon sky over Jialing Pass was obscured by a jet-black dragon wing.
Standing atop the city wall, Nan Feng 'Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light suddenly detected an extremely massive source of Soul Power approaching from the northwest within its three thousand-step perception range. The fluctuations of that Soul Power contained the pure aura of the dragon bloodline, and its total Soul Power was comparable to that of Demigod Level. However, there was a slight disorder in the frequency of the fluctuations, as if it were a sign of forcibly circulating Soul Power when an old injury had not yet healed.
"A dragon." Old Huai rose from the immortal tree, a hint of surprise on his remnant soul's solidified face. "Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in human form, but retaining a dragon's body. The Soul Power fluctuations belong to the Demon Dragon King Zi Ji."
Nan Feng levitated the tower in front of his chest, the eighth layer of Purification white light intertwining with the seventh layer of Samsara silver-blue. He sensed Zi JI's Soul Power fluctuations stopping in the northwest sky Jialing Pass, and then a jet-black pillar of light descended from the clouds, landing on the plains outside the pass. After the pillar of light dissipated, a black dragon over twenty zhang long appeared on the ground. Its scales were as black as ink, each gleaming with a dark purple metallic luster, and the two curved horns on its head were a deep purple. Even when its wings were folded, they still covered an area of a hundred zhang in radius.
Zi JI.
She was a size larger than when Nan Feng last saw her on the return voyage from Sea God Island, but there was a very faint disturbance in her Soul Power fluctuations. That disturbance came from an old wound on her dragon spine that had not yet fully healed, left over from when she was besieged by the Sea Soul Beast. Although the old wound had healed by 70%, the Soul Power toxins of the Sea Soul Beast still remained deep inside, slowly eroding her dragon bloodline.
"Successor of the Pagoda." Zi JI's voice emanated from the dragon's head, deep and majestic, but Nan Feng, with his Peng Eye, could see a trace of weariness deep within her dragon pupils. "I have come to repay the favor done by the Pagoda God of yesteryear."
Her dragon wings suddenly unfurled, and jet-black dragon breath erupted from her mouth, transforming into a pillar of black fire that swept towards the eastern wing of the Spirit Hall camp. Wherever the dragon breath passed, the Spirit Hall's Soul Power shield shattered like paper, and dozens of Soul Master were reduced to ashes in the breath. Tuoba Lie's Holy Dragon Legion rearranged itself on the eastern wing, but Zi JI's dragon breath covered too wide an area, and the Holy Dragon Legion's formation was torn open by the impact of the breath.
"Zi JI's dragon breath is ten times stronger than that of the Frost Giant Dragon," Old Huai said, "But her old spinal injury is limiting her performance. She can't last much longer."
Nan Feng sensed that Zi JI's Soul Power fluctuations had noticeably trembled after the dragon breath was released. The old wound on the dragon's spine was affected when the dragon breath surged, and the Soul Power poison of the Sea Soul Beast spread around the old wound.
He leaped down from the city wall. Nether Step - Void Leap," he took three steps in mid-air, landing beside the head of the Zi JI Dragon. The Zi JI Dragon's eyes shifted slightly, locking onto Nan Feng. Her vertical pupils reflected the nine-story bronze pagoda in Nan Feng's palm, the silver-white Purification light of the eighth story shimmering in her dragon eyes.
"Your old wound still has traces of the Sea Soul Beast's toxins," Nan Feng said.
Zi JI's dragon head stiffened slightly. "You figured it out."
"The Primordial World Power can help you dispel the toxins." Nan Feng placed his left hand on the scales on Zi JI's neck. A wisp of golden Primordial World Power seeped from his palm, seeping into the old wound on the dragon's spine along the gaps in the scales. The moment the Primordial World Power entered the old wound, Zi JI's whole body trembled, and a wisp of golden light shone on the dark purple scales on the dragon's spine. The Soul Power poison of the Sea Soul Beast dissipated violently under the Purification of the Primordial World Power, and the meridians in the old wound on the dragon's spine healed at a speed visible to the naked eye under the repair of the golden light.
A flicker of shock crossed Zi JI's dragon eyes. "Your Primordial World Power... is healing my old wounds."
Nan Feng remained silent. He channeled even more Primordial World Power into Zi JI's dragon spine. Golden light spread from the spine to the wings, tail, and head, and the jet-black scales on Zi JI's body gradually glowed with golden patterns under the infusion of Primordial World Power. She sensed that her dragon bloodline had undergone a fundamental change under the stimulation of the Primordial World Power, and a certain seal deep within her bloodline cracked under the impact of the golden light.
Zi JI let out a dragon's roar, which contained immense energy that shattered all the Soul Guidance Lamp on the Jialing Pass city wall. Her dragon body circled once in the air before crashing heavily to the ground. The golden patterns on the dragon scales became even clearer after landing, extending from the dragon's head to its tail, giving the originally pure black dragon scales a purplish-gold luster.
"My dragon bloodline... is evolving." Zi JI turned her dragon head towards the Nan Feng, the dark purple light in her dragon eyes replaced by a golden halo. "What have you done to me?"
"The Primordial World Power has the ability to 'create' things." Nan Feng withdrew his left hand, the golden light slowly dissipating in his palm. "It rewrote the underlying structure of your dragon bloodline. Your original Demon Dragon King bloodline had reached a bottleneck; ten thousand years of cultivation couldn't allow you to break through to the next level. But the Primordial World Power shattered that bottleneck."
Zi JI looked down at her dragon claw. The scales on the claw had changed from jet black to purplish-gold, with a golden halo around the edge of each scale. She plunged the dragon claw into the ground, and purplish-gold dragon power poured into the ground from the tip of the claw. The entire plain trembled violently under the impact of the dragon power, and a crack that stretched for tens of feet appeared in the ground.
"I am now the Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor." Zi JI's dragon eyes churned with complex emotions. "Ten thousand years. I was stuck at the bottleneck of the Demon Dragon King for ten thousand years. Your Primordial World Power broke through it in a mere quarter of an hour."
Nan Feng levitated the tower in front of his chest. He sensed that Zi JI's Soul Power fluctuations had become more solid after the evolution was completed. The old wounds on her dragon spine had been completely healed, and the poison of the Sea Soul Beast had been thoroughly Purification by the Primordial World Power. Her total Soul Power had not increased, but the quality of her Soul Power had improved by a level. The dragon power of the Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor was purer and more refined than that of the Demon Dragon King.
"Your dragon bloodline still has room for evolution," Nan Feng said.
Zi JI's dragon eyes locked onto him. "What do you mean?"
"The Primordial World Power has rewritten the fundamental structure of your bloodline. The Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor is only the first stage. Once you push the cultivation of the Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor to its limit, the Primordial World Power can help you break through to the next level: the Azure-Gold Dragon Emperor, or even higher."
Zi JI remained silent for a long time. Her dragon head turned towards Jialing Pass. The eastern wing of the Spirit Hall camp had collapsed under the impact of the dragon's breath, Tuoba Lie was regrouping the remnants of the Holy Dragon Legion. Her dragon wings unfolded again, and the purple-gold dragon scales gleamed with a metallic luster in the sunlight.
"After this battle, you'll have to continue helping me evolve." A certain emotion surged in Zi JI's dragon eyes. "I need to break through the limits of the Dragon Emperor."
Nan Feng nodded. "Okay."
Zi JI ascended into the sky once more. This time, as her dragon wings unfurled, a protective light membrane of purplish-gold dragon power formed on their surfaces. Dragon breath surged from her mouth, its color changing from jet black to purplish-gold. The purplish-gold dragon breath swept across the remnants of the Spirit Hall's eastern wing, completely destroying the remaining formation of the Holy Dragon Legion. Tuoba Lie, watching the collapse of the eastern wing in the center of the camp, was ashen-faced. His Holy Dragon Martial Soul, suppressed by the dragon bloodline, could not be fully unleashed, and the fifty thousand elite Soul Master were utterly powerless against the Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor's breath.
Nan Feng stood atop the city wall, the tower suspended in front of him. He sensed that Zi JI's dragon power was stabilizing as it was continuously released, and the bloodline of the Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor had been strengthened in the battle. The old wounds on her dragon spine had completely disappeared, the toxins from the Sea Soul Beast had been completely Purification, and her Soul Power fluctuations were nearly 30% stronger than when she first arrived.
"The Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor." The Old Huai poked its head out from the immortal tree, a smile playing on its remnant soul's face. "Another bloodline rewritten by the Primordial World Power. Your power of transformation is stronger than I imagined. Zi JI's dragon bloodline was stuck for 100,000 years, but you broke through the bottleneck in a quarter of an hour."
Nan Feng retrieved the tower into his palm. He sensed Zi JI's dragon power circling above the ruins of the eastern wing of the Spirit Hall before flying towards Jialing Pass. As her dragon wings folded above the city wall, her purple-gold dragon scales shone brilliantly in the sunlight. She transformed into human form, with purple hair and purple eyes, and a thin layer of protection formed around her body by a purple-gold dragon power aura.
"The eastern wing is cleared." Zi JI landed beside Nan Feng, her purple hair fluttering in the wind. "Tuoba Lie's Holy Dragon Legion has lost nearly 20,000 men. He won't be coming today."
The Nan Feng nodded.
Zi JI gazed at the tower in his palm. The nine-story bronze tower slowly rotated in the sunlight, the Purification white light of the eighth floor intertwining with the silver-blue light of the seventh floor's Samsara. A complex emotion flashed in her purple eyes. "Your tower has gained two more layers of patterns. The seventh layer Samsara, the eighth is Purification. These are abilities that can only be activated with Soul Ring over 100,000 years old."
"The eighth ring, 260,000 years," Nan Feng said.
Zi JI was silent for a moment. "Soul Ring of 260,000 years. From your first attack outside Jialing Pass until now, your Soul Power has increased from Level 87 to Level 97. Your tower has expanded from the seventh to the eighth floor. Your Primordial World Power has rewritten Xiao Wu's Soft Bone Rabbit, Dugu Yan's Jade Phosphorous Serpent, Zhu Zhuqing's Hell Spirit Cat, and now it has rewritten my Demon Dragon King bloodline."
She raised her hand, and a ball of light shaped like a dragon scale condensed in her palm, a purplish-gold dragon power. Within that ball of light lay the essence of the Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor's bloodline, the core power of the dragon race. "Take this. This is the bloodline imprint of the Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor. When you need it in the future, you can use it to help me break through to the Azure-Gold Dragon Emperor."
Nan Feng took the dragon scale orb and stored it in the Tower Spirit Space. Zi JI turned and walked towards the direction outside Jialing Pass, the purple-gold dragon power aura on her body slowly receding.
"I'm going to the west wing of the Spirit Hall camp." Zi JI didn't turn around. "Tuoba Lie's Holy Dragon Legion still has three square formations on the west wing. I'll clear the west wing for you."
After taking three steps, her figure transformed into a purple-gold dragon shadow. When the dragon wings spread, they blotted out the sky, and the purple-gold dragon breath poured down towards the western wing of the Spirit Hall camp.
Nan Feng stood atop the city wall, the tower hovering above his chest. He sensed Zi JI's dragon power being released on the western battlefield. The dragon breath of the Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor was three times stronger than that of the Demon Dragon King, and the western formation of the Holy Dragon Legion collapsed rapidly under the impact of the dragon breath. Tuoba Lie watched the collapse of the western wing from the center of the camp, his face turning from ashen to ashen.
"After Zi JI's battle, the Spirit Hall's Holy Dragon Legion is crippled," Old Huai said. "Tuoba Lie 50,000 elite Soul Master; he lost 20,000 on the east flank and another 20,000 on the west flank, leaving him with less than 10,000 remnants. He won't launch any more attacks after today."
Nan Feng retracted the tower into his palm. He sensed that the Soul Engineer Corps on the Jialing Pass was repairing the Soul Guidance Lamp that had been shattered by the dragon's roar. Xue Beng walked out of the city tower and looked at the purple-gold dragon breath on the western wing outside the pass, remaining silent for a long time.
"The Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor," Xue Beng said, "Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast transformed, the dragon bloodline evolved. What did you do?"
Nan Feng absorbed Zi JI's dragon scale orb into the depths of the Tower Spirit Space. "I did what I could."
He walked towards the city tower, silently activating the Nether Step: Shrinking Earth beneath his feet. The red ribbon on his left wrist fluttered gently in the purple-gold dragon breath light. Zi JI's dragon scale light cluster floated quietly in the Tower Spirit Space, its dark purple dragon patterns gleaming slightly in the cyan-gold immortal light. Xiao Wu's new ribbon, Hu Liena's secret letter, the snake bead of the Nine Netherworlds Dark Python, the Right Arm Soul Bone of the Frost Giant Dragon, the Head Soul Bone of the Golden-Eyed Peng King, the Right Leg Soul Bone of the Nine Netherworlds Dark Python, and the Hand External Soul Bone of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger —another item was added to the collection in the Tower Spirit Space.
The bloodline imprint of the Purple-Gold Dragon Emperor. Yet another bloodline rewritten by the Primordial World Power.