The nascent power surging through his blood felt profoundly strange, yet this new surge seemed immensely beneficial, capable of enacting astonishing transformations upon his body.

When the power within his blood was depleted, it felt as though both his arms had been reforged, now harboring an incredible fluctuation of latent strength.

It appeared the forging of his arms was not yet complete; had the power in his blood not run dry, his two limbs could have continued to change further.

However, because his blood was devoid of any further energy, and his internal essence (Jing Yuan) was entirely consumed, unable to infuse the blood with more power, the refinement of his arms ground to an abrupt halt.

Even so, he could distinctly sense the metamorphosis of his arms, recognizing the terrifying might now contained within them.

What exactly was that sliver of aura within his blood? Had the Four Sacred Beasts long been aware of the abnormality in his blood, causing the vital essence they instilled within him to immediately initiate a cleansing protocol upon sensing its presence?

Could it be that the Four Sacred Beasts foresaw he would be different, knowing that once he broke through to the Tenth Heaven Realm (Shi Fang Tian Jing), his blood would undergo a change, and this was why they deliberately caused every Xuanyuan to perish at the Ninth Heaven Realm (Jiu Gong Tian Jing)?

Did the Four Sacred Beasts know something crucial, which is why they not only integrated the vital essence of the Azure Dragon into his body but also applied the vital essences of the other three Sacred Beasts simultaneously, all with the objective of today—to eradicate that sliver of aura hidden within his blood?

A cascade of thoughts flashed through his mind; the more he pondered, the more bewildered he became, feeling strongly that the Four Sacred Beasts must have known something to have collectively implanted the vital essence into him.

Shaking his head, filled with uncertainty, he decided to set this issue aside for the moment and focus on restoring his internal essence (Jing Yuan).

Once the essence was condensed within his body, even if it was used up, he could condense it anew, just as he previously gathered the vital energy of heaven and earth to refine Yuan Power. He first attempted to gather the power of heaven and earth to condense essence using his old recovery methods.

The method itself was sound; he could indeed condense essence from the energies of the world, but the speed was agonizingly slow. Even accounting for the profoundly esoteric nature of his Tai Xu Secret Record cultivation, he estimated that at this pace, it would take at least ten to eight years to fully recover.

Then, he considered drawing power from Yuan Stones. With a shift of thought, he took out everything from his Mustard Seed Pouch, holding all the supreme-grade Yuan Stones in his hand, preparing to absorb their power.

After trying for a while, he had to concede defeat, sighing inwardly: that Youth of the Feather Race was correct; once the Yuan Power in the body transforms into Essence, these Yuan Stones seem to cease functioning effectively.

He suddenly remembered the Yuan Crystals mentioned by the Feather Race Youth. According to him, once a Celestial Master in the Tenth Heaven Realm has their internal power transmuted into Essence, they can only recover strength through Yuan Crystals—which is why Yuan Crystals are the universally accepted currency for Tenth Heaven Celestial Masters.

Having grown accustomed to rapid progress, he certainly could not tolerate a decade or more required to restore his essence. Moreover, he planned to continuously nourish his blood with essence, using the blood’s power to further change his physical body; he simply did not have that much time to spare.

Immediately, he recalled the trading hub where the Feather Race Youth resided, belonging to the various major races, and considered whether he should travel there to exchange for some cultivation Yuan Crystals.

With this thought, he frowned and opened his Cang Zi Pouch, pondering what items within his Mustard Seed Pouch he might use to trade for Yuan Crystals.

The materials he had previously deemed precious on the Five Elements Continent, he suspected, held little value in the Dead Star Domain. Materials treasured by the Celestial Masters of the Five Elements Continent would likely not warrant a second glance from the inhabitants of the Dead Star Domain. It seemed only the items acquired from that peculiar nine-story pagoda held sufficient worth to exchange for Yuan Crystals.

He would certainly not exchange the four treasures obtained from the eighth floor for Yuan Crystals, as he knew their true value. However, the Flame Thunder Stones formed after the shattering of the "Blazing Thunder Holy Fire" were viable candidates for trading.

Having settled on a decision, he slowly stood up, his gaze falling upon the stout man who lay dead at his feet, and the seductive, alluring woman killed by the White Bone Skeleton at the entrance. Perhaps these two had something on them that could be exchanged for Yuan Crystals.

A sudden impulse struck him, and Ji Changkong unceremoniously began searching the two corpses. Both were in the Tenth Heaven Realm and each possessed a storage ring, similar to the Mustard Seed Pouch, for holding items. He retrieved both rings and used his divine sense to strike at the restrictions, taking some effort to break through the seals on them.

The seductive woman’s ring contained only two moderately ordinary flying swords, along with a bag of Flowing Gold Sand; other than that, there were three fist-sized Yuan Crystals—it seemed her life wasn't exactly luxurious.

The short, stout man was slightly better off; besides fifty Yuan Crystals, he had three types of ore Ji Changkong couldn’t name, a small trident, and a jade tablet. Seeing that he now possessed over fifty extra Yuan Crystals, he lost his urgency to leave immediately and began restoring his essence in the cave using the crystals. Indeed, Yuan Crystals were the most suitable cultivation material for him at the moment; after absorbing the spiritual energy from five Yuan Crystals, half of his internal essence was restored.

When ten Yuan Crystals turned into discarded stone and he tossed them aside, his internal essence finally returned to the level it was at just after the Earth Forging process.

As expected, the aura deeply hidden within his blood resurfaced the moment his internal essence was fully restored, unceremoniously sucking away every last bit of it.

Following this, the power within his blood once again instigated its strange forces, continuing the modification of his two arms.

This round of modification caused his fingernails to suddenly elongate tenfold; the extended nails resembled razor-sharp blades, faintly gleaming with a brilliant light, conveying an intense sense of sharpness. Ji Changkong stared, looking at the sudden protrusions, momentarily unsure of what to do.

Hesitating, he retrieved one of the seductive woman's flying swords, testing whether he could slice the nails off.

Clang!

When the flying sword struck the nail, the sound was like metal striking metal. Not only was the nail unharmed, but the flying sword itself developed a noticeable nick.

His expression shifted. He tried grasping the sword fiercely with the hand bearing the nail; as the nail scraped across it, the flying sword shattered into pieces. Heavens! These nails were sharper than a flying sword!

He immediately grasped the situation. In terror, he even drew out the Dragon Radiance Saber, attempting to use it to shear off the nails.

The result was identical. The Dragon Radiance Saber chopped against the nail, still producing the sound of metal striking metal; even the Dragon Radiance Saber could not sever the suddenly elongated nails.

He dared not test his nails against the Dragon Radiance Saber, fearing that these sudden protrusions might destroy his treasured weapon.

This change to both hands astonished him even further. Fortunately, he possessed the ability to reverse the transformation at will; the moment he willed his body to return to normal, the abnormality in both arms would instantly revert, and the nails would retract back into the flesh, vanishing as if they had never existed. His internal essence was once again depleted, forcing him to retrieve another ten Yuan Crystals to restore it.

This time, after all ten Yuan Crystals were consumed, his internal essence had only recovered to ninety percent. Ji Changkong pondered this, a secret joy blooming in his heart, suddenly realizing that this method of completely exhausting and then restoring his internal essence greatly benefited his cultivation; it seemed each cycle of depletion and replenishment made his essence deeper.

Right there in the cave, he continuously used Yuan Crystals to restore his essence, then channeled that essence into his blood, and used the blood’s power to alter his two arms.

Finally, one day, all fifty-odd Yuan Crystals were exhausted. And now, with just a single thought, both his arms would sprout numerous grotesque barbs, and the nails on his five fingers would suddenly elongate to half a meter long, sharp as knives. Staring blankly at the half-meter nails, he remained frozen for a long time. Suddenly, the image of a woman surfaced in his mind.

The owner of the Ghost Corpse, that strange and terrifying woman of the Purgatory Ghost Clan—her nails were similarly slender and sharp, appearing like those of a vengeful spirit capable of tearing anyone to shreds. “What… what in the world is happening?” Ji Changkong muttered under his breath. With a thought, both arms returned to their original state, showing no sign of abnormality.

All fifty-odd crystals were gone, leading to this bizarre transformation achieved by continuously condensing essence and supplying it to the blood.

He could clearly feel the astonishing power embedded within his arms, yet he was utterly horrified by their changes, uncertain what was causing this bodily metamorphosis or whether he should continue. Was this due to practicing the Purgatory Ghost Clan's Soul Suppressing Melody? That must be why his arms were undergoing such an anomaly.

Baffled, he could only provisionally attribute the body’s changes to the Soul Suppressing Melody, secretly vowing never to recklessly use the Soul Suppressing Melody again, while also debating whether to continue the physical transformation.

His current internal essence was only at thirty percent; he needed more Yuan Crystals. Touching his Mustard Seed Pouch, he decided to stick to his original plan: heading to the trading hub to procure some more Yuan Crystals first.

After tidying up, he recalled the White Bone Skeleton back into the bell and grasped the bell tightly in his palm before flying out of the stone cave toward the trading hub.

The moment he left the cave, he immediately noticed his flight speed had dramatically increased. Although he possessed only thirty percent essence, his speed was several times faster than when he had ten-tenths Yuan Power. Propelled by that thirty percent essence, his speed was truly like a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder.

Only at this moment did he truly understand that although essence (Jing Yuan) and Yuan Power differed by only one word, they represented a gulf as wide as heaven and earth, a chasm between clouds and mud.