"Dragon Essence!"
The moment the system space opened, Qi Yuan's consciousness was immediately drawn to the drop of Dragon Essence — glowing fiery red, like flowing molten lava!
Though called a single drop, the Dragon Essence was actually about the size of an egg.
As Qi Yuan looked closer, he could see faint, almost imperceptible golden threads weaving continuously beneath the deep red, lava-like swirling patterns on its surface.
The instant his consciousness touched the Dragon Essence, the first sensation was an indescribable, scorching heat, as if even his soul was being ignited by the flames.
But immediately after, a tremendous surge of vibrant life force poured in.
Surrounded by this vitality, the burning pain in his soul quickly faded, replaced by a refreshing, cool sensation, like being gently enveloped by flowing water.
His mind felt like a parched desert suddenly nourished by rain, and he found himself faintly cheering inside!
And mind you, the Dragon Essence was still inside the system space and hadn't even been taken out yet!
Amazing! Truly incredible!
Who would have thought that beneath the scorching molten exterior of the Dragon Essence lay such an overwhelmingly abundant and powerful life force?
[Dragon Essence: A rare treasure of heaven and earth. When consumed by a flesh-and-blood life form, it can significantly evolve their bloodline power!]
Reading the system's description of the Dragon Essence, Qi Yuan felt like he'd just hit the jackpot!
"No way! Something that can strengthen bloodlines—this is an absolute treasure!"
For nearly all flesh-and-blood life forms, bloodline strength is crucial.
Bloodline represents the foundation of a cultivator!
The stronger the foundation, the faster the cultivation progresses, and the greater the achievements one can attain in the future.
Take the top-tier Mangka clan of humans from the original story — their members, even if they just ate and slept all day, could easily reach Domain Lord level upon adulthood.
But for Earth humans before Luo Feng's rise, even a lifetime of hard cultivation didn't guarantee becoming a warrior (apprentice level one).
That's the difference bloodline makes!
Qi Yuan's own Leiyuan clan mostly reaches apprentice level by adulthood.
By the universe's human bloodline classification, they barely rank as eighth-tier — only slightly stronger than Earth humans.
If Qi Yuan wants to advance further on the cultivation path, he must find a way to improve his bloodline.
The original story mentioned several ways to enhance bloodline, but none are accessible to Qi Yuan now.
For example, Luo Feng's "Bloodline Evolution Agent" that he took at the stellar level was purchased after joining an external branch of the virtual universe company, costing a whopping 100 million Qianwu coins!
For those not members of the virtual universe company, the bloodline evolution agent is essentially priceless and unavailable!
Yet now, Qi Yuan only spent ten Muya crystals to effortlessly 'exchange' for a Dragon Essence capable of enhancing bloodline power!
This was a dream beyond imagining!
"Ten Muya crystals returned twenty Dragon Vein fruits and a drop of Dragon Essence worth immeasurable value — this yield has skyrocketed by millions of times!"
"Looks like once the return's critical multiplier hits 100 times, there'll be extra reward mechanisms. I should pay more attention to that from now on."
Qi Yuan silently resolved.
Then, his face lit up with great anticipation.
"Haha, let's see just how amazing this Dragon Essence is at drastically boosting my bloodline!"
He directly took out the drop of Dragon Essence, glowing like molten lava, from the system space.
Before the vigorous life force within could spread, he opened his mouth and inhaled—
Instantly, the egg-sized Dragon Essence dissolved into a thin red stream that vanished into his mouth!
"Boom!"
The moment the red stream entered, Qi Yuan felt like he had swallowed a collapsing star!
The Dragon Essence's energy exploded inside his chest and abdomen, transforming into countless scorching torrents that spread through his entire body!
Wherever the searing floods passed, the membranes between his cells shattered like fragile glass, destroying the cellular structure and pulverizing the gene fragments within!
Hot — unbearably hot!
Pain — excruciating pain!
Every cell in Qi Yuan's body seemed to endure the furious burn of celestial flames!
With the cell structures collapsing, every tissue lost support; he almost became a mass of flowing sludge wrapped in his primal force battle armor!
"Damn!"
His soul screamed in agony—
His mouth and organs had lost their shapes; beyond his soul's wails, no meaningful sound could be made!
"How much longer…"
Qi Yuan gritted his teeth, enduring the extreme pain of his cells being completely destroyed from within, his entire soul trembling.
Finally—
Just as his consciousness was about to be lost in torment—
The Dragon Essence's immense and vigorous life force burst forth!
Streams of mysterious energy, sprinkled with tiny golden starlights, rapidly infused his nearly ruined cells.
Nourished by this energy, the once shattered cells, like ruins, were injected with boundless vitality and began to rejuvenate!
The deepest potential of his life genes was awakened, triggering a violent metamorphosis!
Countless destroyed and unusable gene fragments were expelled.
The high-quality fragments that retained some 'spirit' started absorbing nutrients desperately, quickly recombining and regenerating!
First came the gene fragment rearrangement, then cell material regeneration, reconstruction of cell structure, until every 'newborn' cell rapidly divided and restructured, forming brand-new tissues!
Everything happened rapidly!
Thousands, even tens of thousands of times faster than ordinary cultivation!
Bloodline evolution is normally a slow, gradual process.
But under the Dragon Essence's stimulation, it was accelerated to an extremely short time!
"Huff, huff~~"
In a mountain cliff cave,
Qi Yuan lay on the ground in a 'T' shape, gasping heavily.
"Whoosh!"
His black primal force battle armor swiftly retracted, revealing his newly strengthened and muscular body.
"So exhausted."
Qi Yuan felt utterly spent, not wanting to move even a finger.
Bloodline evolution is essentially a process of gene metamorphosis and restructuring.
During this, catalysts like bloodline enhancers or Dragon Essence mainly act as accelerants.
The real work is the release of the gene's inherent potential!
This process naturally consumes vast amounts of life energy, explaining his profound fatigue.
After a brief rest, Qi Yuan forced himself to sit cross-legged, battling the soul-deep weariness.
"According to the original story, this is the best time to absorb life energy for evolution — I can't waste it!"
( End of Chapter )
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