Chapter 114: Yaolong?
He felt exhausted. This was because drinking the Ancient God's Blood didn't just transform his soul—it also tempered his will.
Don't think that only the sharpest pain inflicted on the soul can forge one's resolve.
Enduring extreme pleasure can do the same—perhaps even better!
Suffering can help people grow, but indulgence often erodes ambition.
If someone can withstand intense temptation, their determination is truly remarkable.
For example—can anyone easily give up the pleasures of skilled hands?
Moreover, the Ancient God's Blood was a treasure of the Venerable level, so naturally, it could affect Jiang Zhe's will—even though his willpower was already at the undying level—thus honing it further.
When Luo Feng accepted the inheritance of the Demon Sound General, he also incidentally tempered his will.
After awakening, Jiang Zhe didn't even pause to savor the enhancement of his mental amplification. He immediately struck while the iron was hot, cultivating the "Hibernating Dragon Method" to solidify his foundation and push for a breakthrough.
One month passed, then two, three… two years…
Ever since that raid, the Ancient God World had been thrown into turmoil. The holy cities, royal cities, and satellite cities all went into lockdown.
Gods and demigods—rare sights before—now scoured the lands, hunting for the so-called outer-realm demons.
In the history of the Ancient Gods (who essentially treated the world as their farm), the thousand-year festival had been disrupted only a handful of times.
This was a huge slap to their faces. Enraged, the Ancient Gods' powerhouses vowed to restore their honor.
But after three years of exhaustive searching, they found nothing. Their fury gradually subsided.
The gods and demigods concluded the foreign demons must have already left the Ancient God World, and they all returned to their territories.
Peace returned.
Meanwhile, the two main culprits weren't impacted at all.
They had simply been cultivating in the secret chambers of Tianwu City's governor's mansion.
Whenever a realm master projected his world to search the city, Oriana just hid inside the world ring, leaving Jiang Zhe "sleeping" in the chamber.
There was no risk of their identities being exposed.
After all, once Jiang Zhe drank the Ancient God's Blood, he became a genuine descendant of the Ancient God race.
The strong among the Ancient Gods knew this too.
So all that commotion was mainly for show—to appease the masses and stoke hatred toward foreign demons after the ruined festival.
During this period, Oriana tallied their harvest.
They had collected 8,023 stalactites, which produced nearly 470,000 milliliters of Ancient God's Blood.
Divided into 30 ml vials, that yielded 15,648 portions.
Each portion could help a spiritual force user break through the universe limit, boosting their mental amplification by 100 to 2,000 times, depending on the drinker's willpower.
Jiang Zhe had managed to maximize the effect.
If it weren't only effective on the first use, it would rival the legendary Blood Luo Crystal—or actually, even now, its effect was roughly equivalent.
Blood Luo Crystal seemed more miraculous simply because it produced a Luo Feng.
For ordinary people, becoming a "Blood Warrior" was already incredible; becoming a "Dark Warrior" could amaze even the Primal Chaos City Lord.
As for the upgraded Beast God's Blood? The price was far too steep.
It was the same with Ancient God's Blood—not everyone could maximize it like Jiang Zhe, boosting mental amplification close to 2,000 times.
Many Marquis Undyings weren't even on par with Jiang Zhe now.
On average, natives of the Ancient God World saw about 350 times amplification. Normal humans might average around 500.
No matter how you looked at it, Jiang Zhe and Oriana had struck it rich.
Time flew. Jiang Zhe had now been in the Ancient God World for over five years.
Immersed in the dreams crafted by the Hibernating Dragon Method, he hadn't logged into the Virtual Universe once.
Rumors even circulated that he'd died in the training world.
Saint Spirit King, Luo Feng, Bolan, and Jiang Zhe's own family all sent inquiries.
Oriana replied to each, simply saying he was in closed-door training after an epiphany, suspending his exploration of the training world.
The dreams induced by the Hibernating Dragon Method didn't just temper his will.
There was another crucial benefit:
The experiences and insights gained by the dream-self (whose memories were blocked) could be inherited upon awakening—whether it was improvements to body/soul resonance, comprehension of the origin laws, or combat skills.
It was basically like the cheat simulators you see in many novels.
Except, it didn't simulate his life—it simulated lives of other creatures, from which he could glean enlightenment.
Sounds overpowered, right?
But only under the right conditions. What if you couldn't control what you dreamt?
Out of over a hundred uses, only a handful of Jiang Zhe's dream-lives were truly exceptional.
In his Earth days, the dreams as a tiger or thunder dragon were among the best.
More often, he'd dream of being a slave, a native brute, a beast, or a mundane mortal—forced to toil like cattle and suffer endless torment.
Such "bad dreams" only offered willpower training.
But this time—likely because he hadn't used the method in a long while—the dream gave him an enormous boon.
He started as a unique lifeform born in an unexplored cosmic secret realm.
A one-of-a-kind being—Yaolong!
5,500 times life gene level, with natural affinity for the time, light, thunder, and wind origin laws.
Even more astonishing, it had a battle-focused innate secret technique—[Annihilation]!
It was actually a time-branch skill that a few undying gods might grasp, especially lethal when combined with light—perfect for obliterating undying bodies.
As an innate talent, its effects were far more terrifying.
In the dream, Jiang Zhe's memory-blocked self was born a realm master.
He needed no supreme treasures or poisons. His single innate secret could slay Marquis and even King-level undyings.
Perhaps influenced by Jiang Zhe's subconscious, Yaolong remained a realm master, focusing on understanding time to seek higher achievement—greedy for insight, much like the famous Time Realm Master Luo.
In the Swallowed Star universe, it's not always true that higher realm equals stronger comprehension—at least not between realm master and undying levels.
Undyings typically comprehend time slower than realm masters.
Yaolong lived for a very long time, and Jiang Zhe's dream spanned thousands of years—without any sign of waking.
Year three… four… six… nine… eleven in the Ancient God World passed.
Oriana, seeing her master seemingly dead asleep, felt no worry—instead, she was happy for him.
Back on Earth, her master had instructed:
If there's an emergency, you can wake me. But remember—the longer a dream lasts, the greater the gains. Being forcibly awakened means a heavy loss.
So she firmly kept in mind: Unless absolutely necessary, never wake him.
As a [Delegate] by innate ability, Oriana couldn't comprehend origin laws herself.
But she wasn't idle—she organized the maps they'd acquired from countless domain lords, especially those of the red zone, the "Pilgrimage Path."
These mostly came from heirs of demigod families like Colin.
Finally, in year thirteen, Jiang Zhe awoke.
He opened his eyes and cursed,
"Where did that damned Venerable come from? Not only did he seize my lair, he tried to enslave me!"
For unique lifeforms below the undying level, the best exploitation method was possession.
For those above the undying level, it was enslavement.
As a 5,500x gene-level Yaolong, he'd caught the attention of a selfish high-level Venerable—and ultimately met his end by self-detonating.
"Anna, log into the Virtual Universe. Search for the Huan Guang Secret Realm, the unique lifeform Yaolong, and the high Venerable Qian Guang… oh, and that last bastard was a half-scorpion with a jade-colored tail, the tip glowing with nine colors—had a soul poison."
Soon Oriana reported back.
"Master, only the Huan Guang Secret Realm shows up. It's in the insect race's territory, developed about 3,200 eras ago. Details unknown.
No records on Yaolong or Venerable Qian Guang."
She couldn't help asking:
"Master, you don't actually think your dream affects reality, do you?
The Hibernating Dragon Method is powerful, but not enough to rewrite the past or predict the future."
Jiang Zhe frowned.
Yeah—it was unlikely.
The dreams were probably based on reality but then spun off into imaginative scenarios.
He brushed aside the stray thoughts.
"Tch. A pity. Yaolong would've been perfect for my second body."
He soon immersed himself in digesting his dream gains.
Living over ten thousand years in the dream tremendously strengthened his will—still at the undying level, but now comparable to peak King-level.
He'd also gained deep insights into lightning and time, plus decent comprehension of wind and light.
He hurried into the Virtual Universe, greeted the Guardian Army, and then spent another half a year in his study, pondering the third and fourth volumes of Spacetime Evolution.
By year fourteen in the Ancient God World, Jiang Zhe finished absorbing it all.
"I've finally fully understood all 108 profundities of time law.
Even my grasp of the fourth picture of the Universe Chaos Tablet has grown profound—especially the time portions.
I'm close to stepping into the fifth picture, to master a minor fusion and be recognized by the higher origin laws."
"Can't push my lightning law any further for now."
"Light and wind were passively understood, but still rewarding."
"These will all come in handy when my silver-robed clone trains with Primal Evolution."
"Speaking of which—
The silver clone has comprehended 99 profundities of space law. Is it about to be acknowledged by the earth origin law?"
Satisfied, he exited the Virtual Universe.
In the chamber, Oriana asked,
"Master, we've completed both of your cultivation goals, right? Should we return to the Primal Secret Realm?"
"Anna, I still want to explore the deeper parts of the Ancient God World.
I want to see if it holds secrets like the Blood Luo World."
Oriana, who shared some of Jiang Zhe's memories, understood.
"You suspect maybe a special being like the Beast God died here, giving rise to the Ancient God's Blood?"
"Not necessarily death. Could be unique terrain, a buried treasure—whatever it is, I want to uncover the source.
This place is practically a holy land for spiritual force users. I don't want to miss it."
"Also, we might find some F-grade treasures on the Pilgrimage Path, perfect to fuel your growth."
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