Ji Changkong, deep within the cave, was utterly oblivious to the arrival of strangers outside. At this moment, his face was a mask of panic, stunned speechless by the anomaly stirring within his body.

According to his projections, that single bottle of Origin of Life should have been sufficient to refine the innate weakness within him into true essence. In fact, his initial assessment had been correct: upon absorbing the entirety of the condensed Origin of Life, his body had indeed undergone a rapid transformation.

In the hazy stupor of the State of No-Self, the weakness inside him had undergone a "qualitative change" under the influence of the Origin of Life, transforming into liquid essence! However, the instant all internal nascent power vanished and the essence first formed, a sudden deviation occurred!

For reasons unknown, the essence that had just materialized within his body was inexplicably drawn by the power of his own blood. In an extremely short span, nine-tenths of the newly formed essence was completely absorbed by the blood coursing through him.

To be precise, it was absorbed by a subtle, previously imperceptible aura residing within the blood of his Corpse Worm.

His Corpse Worm blood had always harbored the essences of the Four Sacred Beasts. Because his blood was mixed with the vital blood of these four beings, he possessed the capability to unleash certain divine abilities only they commanded. The fact that he could acquire the "Flame Thunder Sacred Fire" within that pagoda was also due to the presence of Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird blood within him.

He had always assumed that only the presences of the Four Sacred Beasts resided in his blood, believing that the so-called Xuanyuan lineage was attributed solely to the possession of Azure Dragon blood.

Yet, just now, after his internal weakness had transmuted into true essence, he discovered that his blood concealed an aura far more peculiar.

This power was one he had never sensed before. It only manifested the faintest wisp of presence once his internal power became refined essence—so faint that he had ignored it entirely.

Who could have known that this infinitesimally weak trace of aura would unleash a monumental tempest within him!

The essence he had just refined was sucked away as if by a thirsty sponge; within mere seconds, the entirety of it was swallowed by that single thread of aura. Subsequently, that original, faint aura began to expand rapidly.

When this aura, within his blood, demonstrated a trend of being able to contend against the power derived from the vital blood of the Four Sacred Beasts, battle erupted.

The four residues of power left by the Four Sacred Beasts in his body encircled the nascent, peculiar aura. His blood became the battlefield, surging violently within him, inflicting indescribable pain.

Surprisingly, this first-time appearing aura, after absorbing his essence, did not lose ground in its struggle against the legacies of the Four Sacred Beasts. It seemed to be fighting for dominance over his very blood.

This turn of events left the body’s owner, Ji Changkong, utterly helpless, forced only to endure the massive catastrophe raging inside, unsure how to intervene.

The suddenly erupted aura possessed an intensely repellent and invasive nature. It seemed unwilling to tolerate the presence of the Four Sacred Beasts' energies within Ji Changkong's blood, refusing to share control over his blood with any other force. It appeared intent on refining the Four Sacred Beasts’ auras entirely, assimilating them as components for its own command. Sensing this new presence, the Four Sacred Beasts’ residues also exhibited killing intent, seemingly determined to extinguish this emergent aura and eliminate a potential future threat. From the outset, this battle was destined to end with only one survivor.

His body was the theater of war, besieged by pervasive, unbearable agony. It was precisely at this critical moment that a series of explosive sounds echoed from the cave entrance.

Under his stunned gaze, two cultivators at the Heaven-Shaping Realm—a man and a woman—suddenly materialized before the cave, their expressions hostile as they fixed their gazes upon him.

The battle inside him was at its zenith; the ten-tenths of essence he had just condensed had had nine-tenths and nine-tenths devoured by the newly emerged power in his blood, leaving him utterly without the means to contend with external foes. "Boy, hand over the Origin of Life, and we’ll leave immediately!" the stout, short man sneered from the cave mouth, looking at him.

The woman, whose figure was enchantingly graceful, let out a tinkling laugh. "Little brother, judging by your appearance, you must be at the critical juncture of refining your inner power. A mere touch from us, and you will surely be scattered into dust. Why not hand over the treasure obediently?" "Scram!" Ji Changkong roared back, his eyes blazing with savage killing intent and impatience. "You court death, boy!" The stout youth snorted, his figure blurring as he instantly appeared beside Ji Changkong, poised to strike. Crack! Crack!

A few sounds of twisting bones were heard, followed by the spectral manifestation of the White Bone Skeleton near the stout youth. Before the youth could even bring his hands down to crush Ji Changkong’s Tianling cover, the Skeleton’s hand miraculously pierced through the youth's back and emerged from his chest.

The enchantingly graceful woman’s face contorted in terror upon seeing her senior brother killed instantly upon meeting the White Bone Skeleton, and she immediately prepared to retreat. The White Bone Skeleton turned, and the faint spectral fire glowing in its empty eye socket shot out with incredible speed, instantly coating the woman’s body.

Amidst agonizing shrieks, the woman was instantly reduced to a pair of ash-white remains, which scattered into oblivion with a breath of wind.

The stout fellow, whose back was pierced through by the White Bone Skeleton’s hand, felt the vitality in his eyes rapidly fade, and his entire body began to slump slowly toward Ji Changkong.

Thud!

The stout man happened to fall across Ji Changkong's legs, one hand resting squarely on Ji Changkong's ankle.

Suddenly, a powerful suction erupted from the blood within Ji Changkong. The remnant essence in the stout man's body was violently drawn out, much like a great whale gulping water, directly absorbed by the newly awakened aura in Ji Changkong's blood. In the span of two breaths, the stout man's internal essence was completely gone.

The newly awakened aura within Ji Changkong swelled again, this time successfully overpowering the residual power of the Black Tortoise vital blood and coiling around it.

While simultaneously battling the auras of the Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, and White Tiger, this singular aura began to assimilate the Black Tortoise essence. Before long, the residual consciousness of the Sacred Beast Black Tortoise within that essence was utterly erased, and the Black Tortoise essence became a part of the new aura.

Following the Black Tortoise essence, the vital essences of the Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Azure Dragon were successively assimilated. Not a single trace of the vital blood left by the Four Sacred Beasts remained in Ji Changkong’s blood; all of it was swallowed by that newly emergent force.

After an unknown period, only that single, strange aura remained in his blood. It was profoundly eerie; Ji Changkong could not discern whether it was malevolent or benign. It had saturated his entire bloodstream, becoming the sole substance of his blood. The Four Sacred Beasts’ legacies had completely vanished.

Ji Changkong sat there in a daze, his eyes clouded with confusion, utterly unaware of the cause.

From its sudden emergence, to its steady growth, and finally to the complete assimilation and consumption of the Four Sacred Beasts’ residues—it had taken only an hour or two.

In such a brief time, an aura that had never shown itself within his blood had utterly supplanted the power of the Four Sacred Beasts, claiming dominion over his bloodstream! Unbelievable!

This aura must have existed for years, yet it remained dormant, seemingly waiting—waiting for a newborn opportunity! Waiting for the very moment his power, beyond the Heaven-Shaping Realm, transmuted from nascent power into true essence! And it had seized that moment!

At that instant, it grasped the chance, seized Ji Changkong's newly formed essence, refined the residues of the Four Sacred Beasts that had resided within him for untold years, and established itself as the new master of his blood.

Creeeak! Creeeak!

Suddenly, Ji Changkong’s entire skeleton began to crackle and shift. A strange power surged through his bloodstream, beginning a radical remodeling of his two arms. Amidst intense pain, he clearly felt his internal blood power rapidly draining away, even as the bones and muscles of his arms began to mutate! First, the bones.

Looking inward, he could clearly see his arm bones emitting a faint, hazy green light. Threads of peculiar energy, like arcs of lightning, coiled around the bones, seemingly imbuing them with entirely new strength.

Next were the meridians of his arms. Already possessing extraordinary toughness, they grew thicker and infinitely more pliable under the nourishment of the blood. Likewise, these meridians seemed to be wrapped in strange electrical currents, bestowed with some indescribable power.

Driven by the power of his blood, his two arms underwent a profound metamorphosis. Not only did their internal structure change, but their outward appearance also became distinctly unusual.

Patches of dark cyan whale scales slowly emerged across both arms. At the base of his elbows, fiercely sharp spikes began to push out, also dark cyan, shimmering with an uncanny luster, instilling an indescribable sense of ferocity.

Ji Changkong watched this bizarre transformation with terror, feeling a growing, violent strength brewing within his arms due to both internal and external changes.

At this moment, he felt as though these two arms could cleave mountains and shatter earth; the power contained within them nearly forced an unrestrained roar from his lungs.

Suddenly, the power within his blood seemed depleted. Although the internal changes in his arms continued, the emerging bone spurs and scales gradually receded back into the flesh and vanished.

After a long while, his blood returned to normal, and the electrical glow entwined in his arms dissipated, or perhaps it had simply integrated itself into his bones and meridians.

Everything reverted to how it was. His arms were still solidly muscled, showing no scales, nor any trace of protruding spikes. Everything that had just transpired felt like nothing more than a hallucination.

But the moment he clenched his fists, he could sense a devastating power residing within just one arm—a power many times greater than what his entire body had previously possessed!