The True Dragon Art requires the blood of a deity and the positive energy of the universe to temper the body, much like an ordinary person cultivating ghost Qi by absorbing the ambient essence to replenish themselves.
However, the positive energy of the universe is incredibly esoteric, and ordinary people cannot absorb it; this can only be achieved through special secret manuals.
Ye Chen sensed the profound mystery of the True Dragon Art and a sudden thought sparked in his mind, his eyes immediately lighting up. "Tempering the body with the blood of a deity? Back when Xiao Bai Tu activated the divine blood within me, awakening a huge portion of its power, my physique instantly surged by tens of thousands of levels!"
Thinking of this, Ye Chen became utterly invigorated, yet he did not immediately begin refining the divine blood in his body with the True Dragon Art right there. Instead, he left the storefront and walked to a smaller, bustling market district nearby.
He surveyed the area.
The ground was covered with countless stalls spread across the vast square, accommodating perhaps a hundred thousand people, a chorus of hawkers' cries creating a lively, bustling, and clamorous atmosphere.
Ye Chen’s expression was placid as he walked among these stalls. Most of them were piled high with unknown beast bones, hides, and various strange contraptions. Others displayed damaged high-grade divine weapons or outdated armaments he had replaced.
Ye Chen’s gaze swept around, suddenly stopping at one location. He quickly walked over and, seeing a crimson snake gall on the stall, his eyes flickered. He stated flatly, "How much for this Crimson Python Gall?"
The vendor was a lean, rather ordinary-looking man whose forehead sported two rabbit ears, giving him a slightly odd appearance. Upon seeing Ye Chen, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and he rubbed his hands together with a chuckle. "This Crimson Python Gall is highly nourishing. When blended with certain herbs, it can create a potent healing balm. Even taken directly, it can enhance vision and sharpen the eyes. It’s only 10 low-grade Ghost Stones."
One low-grade Ghost Stone equals 5,000 points of ghost Qi.
Ye Chen raised an eyebrow, turned, and started to walk away.
"Hey, Boss, don't leave! Hey, hey, Chief, eight Ghost Stones is fine, alright, five, I'll sell it to you for five!" The lean man hastily lowered his price as Ye Chen made to depart.
Ye Chen paused, turned back, glanced at the vendor, and slowly raised two fingers.
"Two Ghost Stones each? That won't do, that’s a huge loss! Boss, I'm running a small business here. I thought you looked dashing and handsome, so I intended to give you a good deal, but you can’t make me lose money either!" the lean man immediately cried out in distress.
Ye Chen slowly shook his head. "No. That's two Crimson Python Galls for one Ghost Stone!"
The lean man swayed, nearly falling over, his eyes filling with tears. "Just three! Three Ghost Stones, okay?"
Ye Chen shook his head.
The lean man gritted his teeth, steeling himself. "Lowest price, two! I can't go any lower than that!"
Ye Chen looked at him once more, then said no more. He flipped his palm, retrieved pre-separated Ghost Stones from his rune space, tossed them over, and with a sweep of his hand, collected the Crimson Python Gall into his rune space. He then turned and left.
Leaving the bustling market district, Ye Chen did not linger. He boarded a flying vessel back to Mount Scarlet Annihilation and proceeded to the mission hall in the center of the mountainside. He placed the snake gall onto the virtual appraisal platform and immediately received a mission completion notification on his arm-mounted optical computer.
Following the instructions displayed, Ye Chen went to the adjacent counter to collect his reward: 10 servings of Ghost God Realm healing medicine and 10 ordinary Ghost Stones.
If it were an ordinary Ghost God Realm expert, they would be ecstatic, having made a handsome profit by purchasing the Crimson Python Gall for two ordinary Ghost Stones and then reselling it for ten!
But this small gain held absolutely no significance for Ye Chen.
Leaving the mission hall, Ye Chen returned to his residence and quickly sat down cross-legged, activating the second layer cultivation method of the True Dragon Art to temper the divine blood within him!
However…
"Hmm?" Ye Chen's eyes widened slightly. "Can't refine it?"
The divine blood suspended near Ye Chen's heart appeared profound, rotating smoothly, yet no matter how Ye Chen urged the True Dragon Art to refine it, there was absolutely no effect.
Ye Chen seemed to realize something, his expression turning bitter. "With this second layer of the True Dragon Art, I can probably only temper the blood of a Half-God level expert at best. As for this divine blood, which survived the spatial storm that even Deity-level powerhouses dare not enter, it would be miraculous if I could refine it..."
Realizing this, his mood instantly plummeted, and he lay down to sleep.
...
On a street in Azure Water City, at a storefront.
A large contingent arrived, driving Ghost God Realm sports cars from a distance. These vehicles were fully equipped, capable of brief flight and submerged travel, and their metal exteriors were so sturdy that even Earth's cannons and tanks couldn't breach them; their speed was also astonishing.
Furthermore, they possessed transformative abilities, shifting from cars to motorcycles and various other shapes, even morphing into animal forms like lions and tigers.
At this moment, a magnificent convoy of luxury cars moved like a winding dragon, powered entirely by light with zero exhaust pollution. These luxurious vehicles parked before the storefront. Doors opened, and lines of men clad in black trench coats, sporting sunglasses and high-heeled beast-hide boots, emerged. They exuded a fierce, imposing aura that caused passersby to give way.
From the leading vehicle, a sleek luxury sports car the size of a large truck, stepped out a towering, imposing man. He was tall and slender, an embroidery of a flying sword secret mark emblazoned on his chest. His entire aura was restrained, deterring bystanders from staring too closely.
"This is the place."
"Please."
Under the guidance of the others, the imposing man entered the opulent storefront. He immediately saw a pile of putrefied flesh lying on the clean floor, covered by noble brocade cloth, emitting a foul stench all over.
The imposing man glanced at the brocade cloth covering the rotting flesh, his expression slowly darkening. He looked up at the girl standing behind a counter nearby and spoke coldly, "Who is the murderer?"
Under the man's imposing aura, the girl seemed gripped by an invisible hand, unable to move, her legs trembling. "It... it was a young man at the Ghost God Realm. We... we have surveillance footage..."
A cold light flashed in the imposing man's eyes.
Bang!
The woman's entire body exploded, as if crushed by an invisible pressure, spraying blood everywhere. The crystal-clear counter was splattered with gore, a shocking sight.
"Knowing Young Master Feng's identity, and yet failing to collect the body after her death and leaving it here—she deserves to die!" The imposing man looked coldly at the other employees nearby and snorted. He did not strike again; after all, this shop was a branch of a corporation whose leadership possessed formidable power. Although a fierce dragon cannot overcome a local snake, he dared not overstep too far.
Subsequently, the imposing man went backstage and viewed the surveillance recordings. He immediately saw Ye Chen’s likeness. A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes. "This fellow is only at the Ghost God Realm, yet he possesses an extremely high-grade Half-God set, and that golden light—it seemed to emanate from a peak-level Half-God attack talisman, but not quite."
"Who is this little fellow?"
"Search for him immediately!"
Following the imposing man's command, the others immediately set to work diligently. The fastest method was to directly contact the management department of Azure Water City, which functioned much like the police on Earth, capable of searching all registered citizen information via Azure Water City’s intelligent system.
When Ye Chen joined the Scarlet Gate, his iris data and identity were registered. The external and internal gate personnel databases of the Scarlet Gate had to be submitted to Azure Water City!
As for the data of the Genius Hall and Elder Hall members, that was core information and could not be leaked, otherwise, the entire strength of a sect would be revealed to outsiders.
...
The next morning.
Ye Chen boarded a flying vessel and arrived at the Three-Star Ghost Stone Mine to resume digging. During security checks, he voluntarily handed over the Town Boundary Stone to be stored, which he could retrieve upon finishing his shift.
Ye Chen took his hoe and entered his designated mine tunnel, beginning to excavate the deep pit.
Clang! Clang!
After a few swings, Ye Chen hit a soccer ball-sized piece of ghost stone ore. With his physique now at 60,000 levels and strength at 30 million g, wielding a ten-million-kilogram hoe was not strenuous; he only felt his arms tire after several hundred swings.
His excavation efficiency had increased, and the deeper the pit, the higher the probability of finding ghost stone ore.
In two or three hours, Ye Chen had excavated over a hundred pieces of ghost stone ore. After sorting them for a few minutes, he swallowed them, absorbing over 500,000 points of ghost Qi, all injected into the Source Crystal Grass.
He dug for another two hours.
Pffft!
Suddenly, with one swing, Ye Chen’s hoe sank deeply into the ground; it met no resistance from sand or stone whatsoever.
Ye Chen's heart jumped; had he dug through the entire ghost stone mountain? He pulled the hoe out, disturbing the loose soil, and suddenly his footing gave way, opening a large hole beneath him.
Ye Chen’s pupils constricted. He quickly channeled the internal power in his body to support his weight, but without the ground for support, he was still holding a mining shovel and hoe, weighing 15 million kilograms—like a massive mountain pressing down on him. His internal ghost Qi was being consumed rapidly.
Ye Chen quickly exerted force, jamming the hoe and shovel into the surrounding mine tunnel soil, then peered down. Instead of the expected Two-Star Ghost Stone Mine, he saw an extremely vast, empty cavern!
This cavern was hollowed out, as if the surrounding earth had evaporated into thin air.
Ye Chen froze for a moment, then his gaze flashed. His figure sank down, floating into the empty cavern, immediately discovering that the cave was extremely wide, perhaps several kilometers across, winding and twisting.
Ye Chen flew around for a while when he suddenly sensed a strange fluctuation. He quickly looked up and his pupils suddenly constricted. Lying upon the expanse of exposed earth was a figure the size of a small mountain, completely covered in dark scales, fat as a pig, with a pair of shimmering black wings sprouting from its back, radiating a metallic luster.
Below its abdomen were six sharp claws, gleaming with an icy cold light. The monster lay motionless in the cave, six claws pointed skyward, its pale white belly slightly distended, emitting faint snores.
Ye Chen’s heart jolted. From this monster, he felt an immense, terrifying aura, not divine power, but a boundless ghost Qi, like the ocean!
Ye Chen’s internal ghost Qi had reached the peak limit of one million, which he considered vast, but compared to this demonic beast, it was like the difference between a football and a sesame seed—less than one percent of the monster's power!
Ye Chen held his breath slightly.
Just then, the monster seemed to sense something. Its lightly closed eyes slowly opened one, and its metallic-sheened pupil reflected Ye Chen’s figure nearby.
Time seemed to freeze for a few seconds.
...
Many friends have spent a New Year in the darkness, walking into the 2012 of the apocalypse. Heartfelt thanks to all who supported legitimate subscriptions, cast recommendation votes, and selflessly dedicated themselves, brothers. Also, thanks to the brothers on the Tieba forums and those reading via mobile wireless who, despite their difficult economic situations, still deeply love Darkness.
Old Gu bows deeply.