6: Immortal Dragon Soul

Inside the vibrant stone cave hall, Long Aotian officially accepted the gifts from the Primeval Dragon Ao Zhan.

First gift: Fusion of Dragon Bone Essence.

Ao Zhan considered the Dragon Bone Essence the most precious item in his Physical Body, as it could continuously produce Dragon Essence Blood.

Every drop of Dragon Essence Blood was priceless. With the Dragon Bone Essence, Long Aotian possessed an inexhaustible supply of Dragon Essence Blood.

The miraculous uses of Dragon Essence Blood extended far beyond evolving one's Bloodline and tempering the Physical Body; it could also be burned to instantly boost combat power, among other things.

In short, the more benefits, the better.

Fusing the Dragon Bone Essence was no simple task. It was infinitely more agonizing than having one's tendons pulled and skin flayed, as it was akin to replacing a segment of one's spinal bone.

The pain one had to endure would make anyone shudder.

Inside the stone cave hall, Long Aotian's incredibly high-pitched screams, like a pig being slaughtered, echoed incessantly. The tragic sound sent chills down the spine of anyone who heard it.

During this process, Long Aotian didn't know how many times he had fainted from the pain. Fortunately, Ao Zhan, this ancient relic, was there to act as his Protector; otherwise, he truly might have died from the agony.

This was no surgery with anesthesia!

Tears streaming down his face, Long Aotian inexplicably yearned for Earth... Those white-clad angels were so gentle during surgery.

But what about this old Dragon?

He was simply too brutal... Long Aotian, who felt every second drag like a year due to the pain, didn't know how much time had passed, but it felt like centuries. Finally, Ao Zhan helped him fuse the Dragon Bone Essence into his spine.

The moment it succeeded, Long Aotian could clearly feel his Physical Body rapidly growing stronger. When he broke through to the First Revolution of the Vein Opening Realm, he felt he could punch a large dog to death. But the moment he successfully fused the Dragon Bone Essence, he felt his strength could punch an ox to death.

It was terrifying!

Moreover, this feeling of being filled with power continued to intensify.

The Dragon Bone Essence was something that could continuously produce Dragon Essence Blood. Although he didn't know how long it would take to produce a single drop of Dragon Essence Blood, once successfully fused, it meant that even if he didn't Cultivate, his Physical Body would be tempered at all times.

This feeling of constantly growing stronger was simply too wonderful.

After fusing the Dragon Bone Essence, Long Aotian immediately accepted Ao Zhan's second gift:

Ten drops of Dragon Essence Blood.

Long Aotian didn't dare to consume them directly.

Each drop of Dragon Essence Blood contained terrifying energy. With Long Aotian's current cultivation and small physique, he simply couldn't withstand it.

These were ten drops of Ao Zhan's Essence Blood from his Peak period! Even if Long Aotian dared to consume them, Ao Zhan wouldn't let him act recklessly.

Long Aotian kept nine drops of Essence Blood. Ao Zhan diluted the remaining drop into ten thousand portions, and only then, under his protection, did he allow Long Aotian to swallow it.

Even so, the terrifying energy contained within the Essence Blood nearly caused Long Aotian's Physical Body to explode. Fortunately, the Essence Blood was Ao Zhan's, and Ao Zhan's original Soul was right beside him. No one understood his Essence Blood better or was more suitable to be his Protector than Ao Zhan.

Coupled with the frantic operation, refining, purifying, and absorbing of the Chaos Dao Art, the danger of his body exploding was firmly suppressed.

Just one ten-thousandth of a diluted drop of Essence Blood, after being completely absorbed, allowed Long Aotian to Cultivate with the energy from the Essence Blood, breaking through to the Ninth Revolution Peak Stage of the Vein Opening Realm.

Terrifying!

This was also because he had twelve mixed Spiritual Roots, requiring twelve times the Cultivation resources of a pure Spiritual Root user. If he had been a pure Spiritual Root user, he would have likely already broken through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

After refining and absorbing one ten-thousandth of the Essence Blood, Long Aotian could clearly feel that the Dragon Bone Essence had fused even more perfectly with his bones, as if the Dragon Bone Essence was naturally a part of him.

In fact, given Long Aotian's current age, fusing the Dragon Bone Essence was neither too early nor too late, but just right.

The benefits gained after refining and absorbing that one ten-thousandth of Essence Blood extended far beyond this.

According to Ao Zhan's perception, his current Physical Body strength had reached at least that of a Transformation Sea Realm expert.

It was incredibly terrifying!

The Cultivation of Immortals on the Sky Ruins Continent was divided into ten major Realms, namely:

Vein Opening Realm, Foundation Establishment Realm, Spirit Spring Realm, Transformation Sea Realm, Golden Core Realm, Nascent Soul Realm, Out-of-Body Realm, Spirit Division Realm, Mahayana Realm, and Tribulation Transcendence Realm.

One ten-thousandth of a drop of Ao Zhan's Essence Blood could make Long Aotian's Physical Body strength reach the Transformation Sea Realm. Furthermore, this doesn't even account for the fact that during this period, the one ten-thousandth of Essence Blood, in addition to tempering the Physical Body, was also refined and absorbed, raising his cultivation from the First Revolution of the Vein Opening Realm to the Ninth Revolution Peak Stage of the Vein Opening Realm.

The terrifying energy contained within the Essence Blood made one's scalp tingle just thinking about it. If he hadn't diluted it to one ten-thousandth and consumed it, Long Aotian would definitely have been blown apart by the energy, beyond salvation.

Even diluted to one ten-thousandth, without Ao Zhan's protection and the rapid refining and absorption of the Chaos Dao Art, he would still have died.

To consume it normally, it would need to be diluted at least to one hundred thousand or even a million portions.

Of course, having endured one ten-thousandth, Long Aotian would naturally not let Ao Zhan continue diluting it.

With the first successful experience, coupled with the qualitative strengthening of his Physical Body and the leap in his Cultivation, Long Aotian was no longer afraid to continue consuming one ten-thousandth of the Essence Blood, even without Ao Zhan's protection.

Having tasted the sweetness of the Essence Blood, Long Aotian naturally wanted to refine a few more drops.

The increase in the second one ten-thousandth of Essence Blood was not as exaggerated as the first one ten-thousandth of Essence Blood.

After refining and absorbing the second one ten-thousandth of Dragon Essence Blood, Long Aotian's cultivation successfully broke through to the Third Revolution of the Foundation Establishment Realm, and his Physical Body strength infinitely approached that of a Golden Core Realm expert.

After the third one ten-thousandth of Essence Blood was refined and absorbed, his cultivation broke through to the Fifth Revolution of the Foundation Establishment Realm, and his Physical Body strength successfully reached that of an Early Stage Golden Core Realm expert.

The further one progressed in Cultivation, the more and more Advanced Cultivation resources were needed, and the slower and more difficult the Cultivation advancement became. Long Aotian felt this at this moment.

However, he was already very content. One drop of Dragon Essence Blood diluted into ten thousand portions, and he only used three of them to raise his cultivation to the Fifth Revolution of the Foundation Establishment Realm. What more could he be dissatisfied with?

He still had so much Dragon Essence Blood, and his Cultivation still had room for improvement.

Moreover, he knew his own situation. The twelve Spiritual Roots he possessed, like a gold-swallowing beast, required Cultivation resources like a bottomless pit. He didn't expect the ten drops of Essence Blood Ao Zhan gave him to truly allow him to Cultivate to the Realm of Ascension.

One must know how to be content.

It's worth mentioning that, having received instruction on Immortal Cultivation knowledge from his Family, Long Aotian knew that a Cultivator's Divine Sense in the Vein Opening Realm covered an area of one to ten meters.

After breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, the Divine Sense's coverage expanded to an area of ten to one hundred meters.

However, what surprised Long Aotian immensely was that despite his current cultivation at the Fifth Revolution of the Foundation Establishment Realm, his Divine Sense coverage reached five li, equivalent to the Divine Sense strength of a Fifth Revolution Spirit Spring Realm expert.

Terrifying!

Was it because he was a Chaotic Dao Body with all twelve meridians Cultivated?

Or was it because the Chaos Dao Art he Cultivated was too shocking?

Long Aotian couldn't quite figure it out.

He also didn't have time to ask Ao Zhan, because after refining and absorbing the third one ten-thousandth of Essence Blood, Ao Zhan was already impatiently preparing to bestow his third gift upon him.

Namely:

Sacrificial Memory Legacy.

Fortunately, Long Aotian's cultivation had made a leap, and his Sea of Consciousness was many times stronger than when he was a quasi-Vein Opening Realm Cultivator, allowing him to barely withstand Ao Zhan's torment.

Ao Zhan sealed his memories into ten parts. The Seals would automatically unlock as Long Aotian's cultivation increased and his Sea of Consciousness continuously strengthened.

The remaining unsealed portion of the memories were some of Ao Zhan's memories on the Sky Ruins Continent, spanning tens of thousands of years.

And this was already the limit of what Long Aotian's Sea of Consciousness could currently bear.

The content volume of each of the ten sealed memory parts was far greater than the unsealed content Long Aotian was currently receiving.

At this moment, Long Aotian was also incredibly astonished that Ao Zhan had lived for so long.

As Long Aotian received Ao Zhan's Memory Legacy, a portion of Ao Zhan's memories on the Sky Ruins Continent, tens of thousands of years of his every action, appeared like a movie in Long Aotian's Sea of Consciousness world.

If it was just browsing, with Long Aotian's current ability, he could browse a year's worth of Ao Zhan's every action within a quarter of an hour.

The browsing speed would continuously accelerate as his cultivation increased and his Divine Sense strengthened.

At Long Aotian's current browsing speed, let alone browsing all of Ao Zhan's memories, even browsing the partial memories of Ao Zhan's tens of thousands of years on the Sky Ruins Continent would require considerable effort.

Fortunately, Long Aotian still had the Nine Treasures Glazed Chaos World Tower. When he had free time later, he could slowly browse within the Treasure Pagoda.

As Long Aotian received Ao Zhan's Sacrificial Memory Legacy, although Ao Zhan had sealed most of his memories into ten portions, the remaining small portion of vast memories surged into Long Aotian's Sea of Consciousness world, causing such an impact that Long Aotian was in agonizing pain, sweating profusely, and fainted several times.

The Sea of Consciousness world is a relatively fragile place. If Ao Zhan didn't control the amount of memory released properly, and the Sea of Consciousness world's strength couldn't bear the memory volume, the Sea of Consciousness world would be directly burst by the memory volume.

At that time, Long Aotian would become a walking corpse, an idiot.

The amount of memory released could be controlled, so Ao Zhan naturally wouldn't let Long Aotian die.

In fact, if Long Aotian had first accepted Ao Zhan's Dragon Soul Power gift and then the Sacrificial Memory Legacy, his Sea of Consciousness world should have been able to bear all of Ao Zhan's memories on the Sky Ruins Continent.

But this raised a problem: once Long Aotian accepted Ao Zhan's Dragon Soul Power gift, it meant that Ao Zhan would completely disappear from the world, and there would be no subsequent Sacrificial Memory Legacy.

Therefore, the Sacrificial Memory Legacy had to be placed third, so that all aspects could be best taken into account.

After receiving the Sacrificial Memory Legacy, Long Aotian felt his entire head was heavy. There was no helping it; Ao Zhan had released too many memories into his Sea of Consciousness world, practically filling it up.

However, this feeling was very brief.

As soon as he accepted Ao Zhan's Dragon Soul Power gift, his Sea of Consciousness world would undergo a qualitative improvement.

And this also meant Ao Zhan's demise.

"Little fellow, the first three gifts made you suffer agonizing pain and faint several times. This fourth gift, you might feel a little better. As for this Venerable One..."

At this point, Ao Zhan didn't continue speaking.

For his Dragon Soul to completely transform into the purest Dragon Soul Power was inherently a painful process.

However, if his Dragon Soul were to transform into the purest Dragon Soul Power, it would be too powerful. With the current strength of Long Aotian's Sea of Consciousness world, it would be impossible for him to absorb all of his Dragon Soul Power.

Therefore...

To allow Long Aotian to absorb all of his Dragon Soul Power, he had to enter Long Aotian's Sea of Consciousness world, transforming into the purest Dragon Soul Power while simultaneously sealing the Dragon Soul Power, just like sealing memories, so that it would automatically unlock as Long Aotian's cultivation increased.

This feeling was akin to being slowly dismembered by oneself.

One cut after another.

Moreover, it wasn't physical pain; the pain of the Soul was hundreds of times stronger than physical pain.

Although Long Aotian didn't know what accepting Ao Zhan's Dragon Soul Power gift meant, when Ao Zhan entered his Sea of Consciousness world and began his self-Soul dismemberment, the continuous and tragic wails emanating from the Sea of Consciousness world directly broke Long Aotian.

His tears, accompanied by Ao Zhan's increasingly weak wails, streamed down uncontrollably...