Inside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well Valley, time flowed as quietly as a spring. Half a year passed in the blink of an eye; the swirling seven-colored mist remained, and the exotic flowers and herbs grew increasingly lush under the meticulous care of Ye Zhilan, while deep within the spring eye at the center of the valley, a subtle yet vast fluctuation of Dragon Power was gradually nearing perfection.
On this day, Yu Yuanchen sat cross-legged beside the spring eye, his eyes slightly closed, the lightning around his body retracted, and his aura as deep and condensed as an abyss. Above his head, the nine originally separated dark purple soul bone fragments—the True Dragon Nine Crowns—had now almost completely merged. The cracks had vanished without a trace, and the entire set flowed with a warm, deep purple-gold luster, radiating a complete and harmonious ancient Dragon Might. They rose and fell as if they had a life of their own, like a dragon heart that had slept for eons, on the verge of awakening.
"Hum—"
A low, soul-shaking Dragon Roar erupted from the void, not from the outside world, but from within the crown that was about to fully take shape! The Heaven and Earth Origin Qi of the entire valley trembled, and ripples stirred upon the Ice and Fire spring. At the final junction of the nine fragments, the last trace of a flaw dissolved completely under the continuous nourishment of the God King Dragon Power, and a flawless, dragon-shaped pattern emerged from the center of the crown, followed by a brilliant burst of light!
"Clang!"
It sounded like divine metal clashing, or perhaps the convergence of laws! A complete, majestic, and deep dark purple-gold head soul bone—the Dragon King's Crown—was fully formed, its design ancient and shaped like a crouching dragon head, with a purple crystal embedded in the center that seemed to contain a universe of lightning! It hovered silently above Yu Yuanchen's head, radiating a divine majesty that transcended the mundane, its light illuminating Yu Yuanchen's face as if he were a god.
The moment the Dragon King's Crown was fully formed, Yu Yuanchen snapped his eyes open. Purple-gold electric arcs surged in his pupils, echoing the crystal at the core of the soul bone. Without a moment's hesitation, he moved his thought, and the Dragon King's Crown turned into a stream of light, instantly merging into his forehead!
"Boom—!"
Yu Yuanchen felt his Sea of Consciousness shake violently, as if the world were being created! A vast, boundless, and extremely pure source of Thunder Dragon Soul power, mixed with the fragmented memories and law insights of the ancient Thunder Dragon King, surged into his spiritual world like a bursting dam, scouring his soul!
However, unlike the soul backlash that ordinary soul masters might encounter when absorbing high-level soul bones, this power, though vast, was of the same origin as his Thunder Sacred Dragon Martial Soul and Thunder God Seal. Furthermore, it had already established a deep connection with him during the repair process. Although the absorption process was magnificent in scale, there was little danger; instead, there was a sense of smoothness, as if everything was falling into place and the soul was returning to its master.
The energy of the Dragon King's Crown was not used to increase his Soul Power Level, but was entirely dedicated to fully activating the divine effects of the soul bone itself, as well as the deepest level of resonance between his soul and bloodline. Yu Yuanchen kept his mind steady, guiding this power to fuse perfectly with himself.
The first to manifest was the most basic and important ability of the soul bone—a massive improvement and qualitative change in Spiritual Power! His Spiritual Sea expanded and solidified at an unprecedented speed, his spiritual power becoming increasingly pure and condensed. His perception range skyrocketed, his insight into the energy of heaven and earth became meticulous, and he could even vaguely sense the trajectories of laws drifting in the void. Previous vague thoughts regarding the use of soul skills and energy control became instantly clear, and all sorts of realizations flooded his mind.
Immediately following this, the information regarding the two core abilities inherent to the soul bone appeared with absolute clarity in his mind:
Dragon Soul Awakening: No longer a simple simulation of a dragon soul, it can, for a short period, trigger the Thunder Dragon King origin contained within the Dragon King's Crown, causing his Thunder Sacred Dragon Martial Soul to undergo an essential leap, temporarily elevating it to the level of a true "Thunder Dragon King"!
In this state, his control over lightning, the power of his Martial Soul True Body, and the intensity of all lightning-attribute soul skills would receive an unimaginably terrifying boost! This was no longer a simple buff, but a near-transformation into a Dragon King, acting as the heavens to mete out punishment!
Soul Bone Skill King's Protection: A powerful defensive soul skill derived from the proud dragon soul of the Thunder Dragon King and the characteristics of the soul bone itself. It forms an invisible dragon soul barrier to guard the Sea of Consciousness, capable of granting immunity to all spiritual attacks, illusions, soul erosion, and pressure shocks below the god level. Even when facing a true god-level spiritual attack, it can weaken its power by eighty percent! This skill does not require active activation and is permanently effective, serving as an absolute barrier in the realm of the soul!
In addition to these two core abilities, the original effects of the True Dragon Nine Crowns—increasing the age of soul rings (now solidified, no longer requiring active activation) and the basic effect of enhancing spiritual power—remained, and were even more effective due to the completeness of the soul bone.
"Hoo—" After a long time, Yu Yuanchen exhaled a long breath of turbid air, which contained fine arcs of lightning. He slowly opened his eyes, the divine light within them retracted but appearing even deeper, as if he could pierce through the void.
With a slight thought, a faint Thunder God Seal flashed on his forehead before vanishing. Having successfully absorbed the Dragon King's Crown, his overall strength, especially his survival capability and potential, had reached a new, massive height!
"Looking across the continent, apart from that Great Angel Consecrator of Martial Soul Hall, I fear there is no one left who can be my match." Yu Yuanchen felt full of high spirits. "As for the Great Angel Consecrator of Martial Soul Hall, he is merely a divine servant forced to the limit by divine trials; give me a few more years, and he will certainly not be my match."
However, what Yu Yuanchen did not notice was that his eyes seemed to flash with the arrogance of a true dragon inadvertently.
"Brother Yuanchen, did you succeed?" Ye Zhilan, who had been guarding nearby, felt the heart-palpitating Dragon Might gradually subside and asked with concern. Half a year had passed, and her aura had also become more refined and profound, reaching the peak of level 74, her body brimming with Life Aura.
"Mm, the Dragon King's Crown is complete." Yu Yuanchen smiled slightly, feeling the stability and power brought by the crown deep within his soul, his heart filled with tranquility and confidence.
He turned his gaze to Ye Zhilan, noticing that the dark red Star-Eating Vine "Star Eater" beside her seemed to have changed again. "How is your vine guard coming along?" As early as three months ago, Ye Zhilan had told him about the changes in the Star-Eating Vine.
Mentioning this, a joyful smile bloomed on Ye Zhilan's face: "I was just about to tell Brother Yuanchen, Star Eater has changed a lot!" With a thought, the ten-thousand-year Star-Eating Vine wound its way over like the most loyal guard, affectionately rubbing against her palm.
The current Star Eater's vine body was no longer a simple dark red, but faintly revealed a pure white luster similar to Ye Zhilan's Sacred Heart Immortal Begonia Martial Soul, its aura more restrained yet filled with vibrant life force.
"Over the past six months, I have continuously nourished it with my own soul power and the origin aura of the Sacred Heart Immortal Begonia, and I discovered that it has been completely assimilated by my martial soul, becoming something akin to a 'Life-Bound Vine Guard'." Ye Zhilan explained in detail, "It is now in perfect harmony with my thoughts, as easy to command as my own arm. Even more miraculously, its cultivation seems to be tied to my realm. After I advanced to Soul Sage, its cultivation also rose with the tide, breaking through to about twenty thousand years, but it seems to have reached a bottleneck and slowed down. Moreover, its cultivation always maintains the soul beast age corresponding to my soul power level, and it is always exactly one major realm lower than me."
Yu Yuanchen sensed it carefully, and it was indeed so. According to the rough correspondence between soul beast age and soul master level on the Douluo Continent (hundred-year soul beasts correspond to Soul Grand Masters, thousand-year to Soul Elders and Soul Ancestors, ten-thousand-year to Soul Kings through Soul Douluos, and hundred-thousand-year to Titled Douluos), Ye Zhilan was now a level 74 Soul Sage, corresponding to a soul beast age of about thirty to fifty thousand years. Star Eater's twenty-thousand-year cultivation corresponded exactly to the Soul Emperor level, exactly one major realm lower than Ye Zhilan.
"Not only that," Ye Zhilan's eyes shone with excitement, "I feel that as the assimilation deepens, Star Eater has almost become a part of my martial soul. I seem to be able to store it within my body and summon it to fight when needed, just like... like a sub-martial soul that cannot add soul rings but possesses physical attack characteristics! And theoretically, as long as my cultivation improves, its strength will also grow, always maintaining a state of being one major realm lower than me!"
Yu Yuanchen heard this, and a look of amazement appeared in his eyes: "Martial soul assimilation, companion growth! Zhilan, you have created an unprecedented ability! This is almost the prototype of a new path of cultivation! If it can be studied in depth, perhaps you really can walk a brand-new path of using plant-type soul beasts for one's own purposes without harming their foundation!" He thought of some concepts regarding beast-taming from the anime and novels of his past life and felt that Ye Zhilan's achievement was of great significance.
Ye Zhilan felt a bit embarrassed by his praise: "I just stumbled into it; it was mainly because you helped me subdue it, Brother Yuanchen, plus the environment here and the effects of the immortal herbs. However, this has indeed given me a lot of inspiration, and perhaps in the future, I really can organize a set of methods."
The two looked at each other and smiled, both genuinely happy for each other's gains. During these six months, while Yu Yuanchen was repairing the Dragon King's Crown, his cultivation had also steadily improved, successfully breaking through to level 94, his strength becoming increasingly unfathomable. Ye Zhilan had also made rapid progress, reaching the peak of level 74, her control over her martial soul and vine guard reaching a state of perfection.
Now that the biggest goal had been achieved, the improvement in strength had come to a temporary end. Yu Yuanchen looked at the valley where they had lived for nearly a year, his gaze sweeping over the vibrant immortal herbs, and he said: "Zhilan, although this place is good, it is not a place to stay for long. Sect Affairs and the situation on the continent still require us to go back and deal with them. It is time to leave."
Ye Zhilan nodded. Although there was a trace of reluctance in her eyes for this sacred place of cultivation, there was more anticipation for the future: "Mm, we have been out for a long time; it is time to go back. Grandfather and Father must be worried."
Since they had decided to leave, they needed to prepare. The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was full of treasures, so they naturally could not return empty-handed. The two began to carefully screen and pick the immortal herbs that would be extremely useful to the sect.
They did not greedily scavenge all the immortal herbs, but selectively collected some that would be of great benefit to the sect elders, family, and friends, and were easy to store and carry, such as the "Dragon Ganoderma Leaf" for strengthening the foundation and the "Soul Nourishing Lotus" for nourishing the soul, carefully packaging them. Of course, the main event was naturally the immortal-grade herbs like the "Nine-Rank Dragon Ganoderma" and the "Earth Dragon Golden Gourd."
As for the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well itself, this Cornucopia created by heaven and earth, they decided to let it remain here, perhaps for future sect disciples to come here for training.
Ye Zhilan, in addition to taking some nourishing immortal herbs for her family, focused more on those with mild medicinal properties that could heal wounds, prolong life, and detoxify, such as the "Aromatic Silk Beauty" (taking only petals and pollen, without harming its root foundation). These were crucial for supplementing the Ye Family's medical skills and even for the medical system that might be established in the future.
She was very measured when picking, taking only mature plants or parts of branches and leaves and petals for each type of immortal herb, never harming their roots to ensure the life force of this place would never be exhausted.
They used specially made jade boxes and gold vessels to store these immortal herbs to lock in their spirituality. Soon, several storage soul tools were filled to the brim. Bringing these immortal herbs back to the sect would be enough to raise the overall strength of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and the Ye Family to a new level, which could be called a shocking gift.
Everything packed, the two stood at the entrance of the valley, looking back one last time at this miraculous place that had brought about another transformation for them. The spring water still blended ice and fire, the mist swirled, and the exotic flowers and herbs grew quietly, as if they had never arrived, and as if everything had been destined.
"Let's go." Yu Yuanchen took Ye Zhilan's hand, his tone calm and firm.
Ye Zhilan smiled slightly, shrinking the size of the Star Eater vine guard until it looked like an exquisite bracelet, and tucked it into her sleeve, standing side by side with Yu Yuanchen.
The next moment, the two figures moved, turning into two streams of light, one purple and one blue, soaring into the sky, sweeping over the Sunset Forest, and galloping toward the direction of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan in the south.
Behind them, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well gradually disappeared into the mountains and clouds. Ahead lay a wider sky and a new chapter waiting for them to write.
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Translated by: randomtranslator.com
Proofread by: GodKun-Chan