The yellow-furred monkey's head, still conscious despite its separation from the body, rolled its eyes to look at Draven. "You want to use my life force to reconstruct her body, don't you? You must know this will backfire. Listen to me. Let me live, and I will find natural treasures to help you instead. How does that sound?"
Little Su, enraged, gave the head a sharp kick. "You damn monkey! Why are you still chattering with your head cut off?"
Draven didn't look up from his examination of the monkey's body. "Even though its body is covered in flames, I believe its main attribute is actually the light element."
The monkey's head let out a dry chuckle. "Let me go. I will speak with the other Divine Generals and have your life force linked with this world. Like us, you could live forever. Otherwise, using my essence for your bloodline spirit will only endanger you both. Think carefully, making a friend is better than making an enemy."
Draven paused and met the monkey's gaze. "First, I have certain bottom lines that cannot be crossed. You and your kind crossed them four years ago when you slaughtered the villagers."
"As for your life force," he continued, "I don't want it. I only need your blood essence to construct her physical form. This way, her talent and life force will remain pure. With your powerful blood essence, her new body will be even stronger than her original dragon form."
"Idiot!" the monkey head laughed mockingly. "Separating the life force of a divine being into essence and blood is nearly impossible. Even if you succeed, my life essence will remain in your inner world as a hidden danger, waiting to devour it the moment you show weakness."
"I thought you were just a muscle-headed brute, but you do have some knowledge," Draven remarked with a hint of surprise in his tone. "I've considered that. But it's not a concern. I've already faced a life essence far stronger than yours. At that time, the Kalsimha statue in my inner world suppressed it without much effort. Suppressing you won't be a problem for it."
Little Su nodded in agreement. "Yeah! Compared to that big turtle, you're nothing."
The monkey fell silent for a long moment before pleading in a low voice, "I truly know of a natural treasure that could reconstruct your bloodline spirit. Please, let me go."
Draven ignored it and continued his work.
"The other Generals will hunt you down! This blood feud will never end!" the monkey threatened, desperation creeping into its voice.
With a flick of his wrist, Draven sent several needles flying to pierce the acupoints on the monkey's head. Its eyes bulged in shock and fear, its voice instantly silenced.
"Locating the acupoints in the head is much easier than the body," Draven muttered to himself. Guided by his essence energy, another 180 needles swiftly pierced his own acupoints in less than a second.
Then, using his fingers as a brush and his essence energy as ink, he began drawing an intricate magic circle in the air.
A complex, purple diagram slowly took form, composed of four concentric circles. The spaces between them were filled with ancient, pictographic characters depicting various animals and objects. Upon completion, the diagram hummed with a shocking aura that made the very air around it tremble.
"Ancient runic language of creation? You know this?!" the monkey's eyes widened in pure horror.
"What do you know? Papa knows all 5,600 Ancient characters like the back of his hand. A dumb monkey like you wouldn't understand," Little Su said proudly.
"Little Su, return your spirit to the dragon egg. I am going to infuse his blood essence into you now," Draven instructed seriously.
Little Su obediently nodded and flew back into Draven's body.
"Begin." Draven formed a series of hand seals. Instantly, purple threads of energy emerged from the needles in his body, snaked through the magic circle, and connected to the needles in the monkey's remains.
"Arghhh…!" A silent, agonized scream was frozen on the monkey's face as its body began to shrivel, as if all moisture and vitality were being forcibly drained away.
Inside Draven's inner world, an identical magic diagram glowed. As the torrent of life force from the monkey passed through it, the life force separated like oil from water, splitting into two distinct clouds: one a vibrant red, the other a brilliant gold.
With a focused thought, Draven guided the red energy toward the dragon egg nestled among the five darkness cores, and pushed the golden cloud toward the three-headed Kalsimha statue.
The dragon egg eagerly absorbed the red mist, while the golden cloud simply hovered before the god statue. Seeing no immediate danger, Draven ignored it and concentrated fully on the process of refining the monkey's life force.
After nearly half an hour, the orange-furred monkey's body had shriveled into a desiccated mummy, crumbling into ashes at the slightest gust of wind.
Crack!
A sharp sound echoed from within Draven's inner world, followed by Little Su's excited voice in his mind. "Papa, I'm going to come out!"
"No! Not yet," Draven said urgently, using his will to reinforce the eggshell and prevent it from splitting. "Your dragon form is complete, but adding more blood essence will make it even stronger. If you emerge now, we will lose this opportunity forever."
"Oh… alright," Little Su's voice replied, and the cracking immediately ceased.
Draven let out a sigh of relief before turning his attention back to the enigmatic golden cloud floating peacefully before the three-headed lion god statue.