Chapter 183: The Dragonfolk's Realm! The Burning Ambition!

Three years later, Da Qin, Qingzhou.

This was the special research facility that the Son of Heaven of Da Qin, Zhang Rang, had personally ordered built for Zhou Qingqing three years ago.

At this moment, countless people inside the research facility walked back and forth with solemn expressions, hurriedly carrying all manner of strange materials.

Those people were all precious talents from across the entire Da Qin region with clear understanding of various pharmacological principles and materials; any one of them stepping out and giving a little shake could make the entire noble circle of Da Qin tremble.

Yet such precious talents were all, at this moment, covertly serving that woman at the very center.

"Green Feather Dragon essence blood!"

Suddenly, a gentle, graceful woman's voice rang out.

Immediately, the people standing by at all times handed over a small jar.

The owner of the female voice took it without even raising her head, as if she had long grown accustomed to this situation.

Then, under the gazes of the surrounding people who were so nervous they seemed about to hold their breath, she carefully added a few drops of the blood from the jar into the enormous apparatus before her.

At once, the strange liquid inside the entire apparatus began to undergo an eerie change; the color of the entire liquid slowly shifted from black-brown to a greenish-red amid the crowd's anxiety and unease.

"Hoo~"

Seeing that the situation matched her prediction exactly, only then did Zhou Qingqing gently let out a breath.

Then she stretched out her hand and spoke again, "Blood-Melting Grass."

After she received it, once again she carefully added it in.

Accompanied by her one orderly command after another, large quantities of materials carrying various effects were slowly added into the jar before her.

And under the pouring of large amounts of materials, the changes in the liquid inside that jar grew increasingly complex and intense, about to reach the final transformation.

Soon, soon, just one last ingredient remained—the shed shell of a true dragon!

Zhou Qingqing gazed at the apparatus's liquid and muttered to herself, then she carefully took out a small piece from that patch of gray-brown fragments, and under everyone's expectant gazes, slowly placed it in.

"Plunk~"

A crisp water sound appeared—that was the sound of the shed shell dropping in.

Watching everything about to reach the final moment.

At this moment, the gazes of the surrounding people also slowly grew solemn and expectant; everyone wanted to know whether this formula they had discussed and experimented with countless times could ultimately succeed.

"Gurgle—!"

A faint rolling sound appeared; with the final ingredient added in, the liquid inside the entire jar completely and slowly turned from gray-brown to clear.

"Is it finally going to succeed?"

"It—it's done?"

"Can it work?"

"Our Da Qin will finally have a power that belongs to itself!"

……

Watching this scene, someone beside them finally could no longer suppress the anticipation in their heart and inadvertently muttered to themselves.

Facing this scene, with years of accumulation about to succeed, the person in charge of this experiment, Zhou Qingqing, also cast a casual glance and did not stop them as she usually would, because at this moment her own heart was also extraordinarily stirred.

However, just at this moment, suddenly a puffing sound appeared—that was an unknown accident occurring inexplicably in the apparatus before them; at this moment the liquid inside the apparatus no longer shifted toward clarity, but slowly turned pitch-black.

"What?"

"Why did it fail at the very last moment?"

"Where exactly did the error occur?"

"Does it mean we have to start over again? But we can afford to wait, Da Qin cannot afford to wait any longer."

"Heaven wants to destroy our Da Qin!"

……

In an instant, their experiment, just as it was about to succeed at the final moment, once again encountered an accident.

About to fail once more, the previously almost-joyful faces of the crowd froze on the spot, their hearts plunging as if into hell, and they cried out in a momentary loss of composure.

Some could not believe it, some were in despair, and still others wept aloud.

Because this place of theirs carried the hope of whether the entire Da Qin could continue to survive.

Three years' time—in the past, not many people would have cared, but in this era of tremendous upheaval, such a long span was enough to cause the entire ecology to change dramatically countless times.

This failure meant that Da Qin's new-era power had once again died in the womb; the time of the past year or more had been completely wasted, and they would still have to do as before—using countless human lives plus a handful of new-era strong ones to resist the invasion of the giant beasts.

But how could the strength of one single nation resist the giant beasts of an entire world? Ordinary giant beasts were still manageable, but how could one resist those Banzhu-class or even king-class giant beasts?

Not to mention that as their strength grew, those new-era strong ones without any checks had gradually begun to harbor ulterior motives.

If it were not for the suppression of Wang Ergou… oh no, General Wang Weiqin, some of Da Qin's new-era strong ones would have long since started to cause trouble.

Could it be that Heaven truly intended to destroy their great Da Qin Dynasty?

Countless scholars despaired at this moment; they seemed to already see the tottering Da Qin about to completely collapse and disintegrate under the erosion of the new era.

……

Where exactly had it gone wrong?

Watching this experiment about to fail, the morale of the crowd also collapsed.

Zhou Qingqing also furrowed her delicate brows; at this moment she ignored all the surrounding noise and interference, and frantically recalled in her mind the compatibility of all the materials, trying to find where the error had occurred.

The blood of the Green Feather Dragon was not the problem—this was the main ingredient, representing the nature of the power and the form the power would take in the user after success.

Moreover, this main ingredient had been tested by them countless times and was already the most stable; it absolutely could not be the source of the error.

And the Zhenlong Qetui also absolutely could not be the error, because it was the comprehensive sublimating agent for all the potions; without it, this experiment could not proceed at all.

And the Blood-Melting Grass should also be no problem—it transformed the toxicity within the Green Feather Dragon's blood to prevent the user from being harmed by the toxicity within it… wait, toxicity!

In an instant, Zhou Qingqing's eyes lit up; she seemed to have found where the problem lay!

At this moment she recalled that her previous several failures all seemed to occur when the Blood-Melting Grass was added.

Previously she had only assumed the dosage hadn't been calibrated properly, but now it seemed their approach had been flawed, inadvertently breaking the integrity of the Azure Feather Dragon's power.

And under the sublimation of the Zhenlong Qetui, anything incomplete would fail!

"Gurgle—!"

Another soft sound emerged—the concoction was about to completely fail under the Zhenlong Qetui's sublimation and turn into waste.

There was no time to hesitate. She raised her head and lunged at the earlier jar of Azure Feather Dragon essence blood, and under the puzzled, even shocked gazes of the crowd, she added the blood from the jar into it once more.

"Whoosh!"

In an instant, the changes within the entire jar ceased. It no longer transformed into pitch-black waste, but instead rapidly faded from black, becoming a clear, colorless, odorless transparent liquid.

At this point, it signified that Zhou Qingqing's experiment had succeeded!

The armed forces of the entire Da Qin region in the new era were born!

From this moment on, their Da Qin would possess its own power. In the struggle between humans and the various giant beasts, they would no longer have to place their hopes solely on those rare individuals who had grown powerful in the new era.

They could truly achieve the dragonification of the Da Qin Dynasty's soldiers!

That's right—"Dragonification"!

This was Zhou Qingqing's name for this power.

Because their power was originally borrowed from those giant beasts.

Since human strength couldn't defeat those terrifying giant beasts, and they had no other choice.

Then why didn't they choose to join them?

To use human wisdom to harness the power of giant beasts, resisting the harm brought by the beasts.

After all, the martial power of the former Great Zhou ultimately reached its final step by completely beastifying oneself; today's dragonification wasn't far off from that.

However, although it succeeded, trials were still needed.

Zhou Qingqing thought this.

Of course, these were no longer matters for a weak female scholar like her to consider, but for her Brother A Niu. Since that was the case, she shouldn't delay—she should go report this good news to her Brother A Niu.

Zhou Qingqing looked at the jar of clear liquid before her and smiled softly. Three years of constant exploration and experimentation had finally come to an end.

Da Qin's crisis had been resolved!

Presumably, after this, her Brother A Niu wouldn't need to frown and worry so much anymore.

Thinking of this, she took a small tube and filled part of the liquid into it.

Afterwards, after giving a few instructions, she left in a cheerful mood.

With her departure, a large number of loyal Shadow Guards appeared and took complete control of the area.

This wasn't her killing the donkey after the grinding was done—her Da Qin was never such a heartless existence, and these talents were extremely precious; once killed, they would be gone forever.

She merely had them controlled to prevent any slip-ups that might cause this power to leak out and create destabilizing factors.

……

In the thirty-third year of the Da Qin calendar, as the entire dynasty teetered on the brink, Empress Zhou Qingqing grandly presented a mysterious potion from the new era—the Era of Giant Beasts.

It was a mysterious potion that could allow the frail, flesh-and-blood humans to obtain the power of those terrifying giant beasts.

At this, Emperor Zhang Rang laughed heartily and secretly summoned his dark guards, ordering them to consume it.

When he saw the soldiers before him drink the potion and then consume countless blood-foods, their flesh-and-blood bodies continuously swelling and transforming into massive giant beasts.

Zhang Rang understood that the moment of Da Qin's counterattack from the new era had arrived.

From this day forth, their Da Qin would no longer have to rely solely on a few generals who had gained mysterious power like giant beasts, barely maintaining balance amid the beasts' rampage.

Instead, as long as one's physique met the standard, swallowing the potion could grant power as terrifying as a giant beast. Their humanity had grown strong.

Thinking of this, Zhang Rang began using this Dragonification Potion as the Core, selecting the most elite soldiers from the army, bestowing the potion upon them, and having them form the Dragonfolk Legion to campaign in all directions.

Dragonfolk Legion, literally translated as a species between dragon and human.

This was a power unique to their Da Qin, a gift from the wife he was so proud of!

A few days later, a hundred burly figures charged out of Qingzhou, beginning a frenzied slaughter of every Banzhu giant beast they encountered along the way.

For a time, within Da Qin's territory, starting from Qingzhou as the center and spreading outward, all giant beasts along the way were either hunted down or driven out of the borders.

Among them, they brought back those with excellent bloodlines to Qingzhou, preparing to have Empress Zhou Qingqing refine even more superior bloodline potions.

Because the power from the Azure Feather Dragon alone was far from strong enough; they needed the bloodlines of even more powerful giant beast sovereigns.

At this point, all of Da Qin began a snowball-like frenzied growth. Massive amounts of potions began to be produced, each transforming into powerful Dragonfolk.

And as more and more powerful Dragonfolk appeared, Zhang Rang naturally turned his gaze first toward the giant beast sovereigns of the Qingzhou region—a pair of sovereign-class giant beast mates, the Red-Scaled Dragon and the Green-Scaled Dragon.

After a fierce and bitter battle, Da Qin successfully cleared away all giant beast threats from the entire Qingzhou region.

Afterwards, Zhang Rang and Empress Zhou Qingqing also consumed the Dragonification Potion, completely gaining the power of the giant beast sovereigns, the Red-Scaled Dragon and Green-Scaled Dragon.

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. As Da Qin frantically produced massive amounts of Dragonification Potion, a problem quickly appeared before their eyes—there wasn't much Zhenlong Qetui left!

Thinking of this, Zhou Qingqing, who hadn't been idle for long, once again gathered a large number of scholars and began new experiments anew.

Because the Zhenlong Qetui was ultimately a product of the old era. Now that the true dragons had vanished, the qetui They had left behind was ultimately scarce. Even as they frantically searched throughout all of Da Qin's territory, they couldn't find much Zhenlong Qetui.

Therefore, the second generation of the Dragonification Potion, improved to no longer require Zhenlong Qetui, was imperative.

At this point, Time slowly passed another year. During this year, Zhou Qingqing lived up to expectations, successfully leading numerous scholars in improving a new generation of potion.

However, given the absence of the mysterious power from the Zhenlong Qetui, the power of these potions was repeatedly weakened. They could no longer allow the consumer to fully transform into a giant beast form; only the head would display some characteristics of the main-ingredient giant beast.

Therefore, in this situation, since there was no longer a giant beast form and no special power of their beast form, Zhang Rang and others felt that the main ingredient of the potion could be fixed, without the need for the redundant step of reformulating a recipe for each type of creature.

However, while it could be fixed, the target for the main ingredient had to be a giant beast that could provide a massive boost to the human form.

Therefore, after discussion throughout the entire court, all personnel unanimously decided to choose a giant beast called the Emerald Dragon as the main ingredient.

Because this giant beast's enhancement to the human physique was a rare, balanced, and comprehensive type of improvement, and the number of this giant beast was not scarce either.

Naturally, this was the best choice.

And humans who consumed this potion would permanently grow a pair of long, pointed ears, no longer able to possess two forms like the Dragonfolk of the earliest era.

However, because this new generation of potion no longer required Zhenlong Qetui, it was freed from the constraints of those exceedingly rare materials, so this kind of potion could now be mass-produced in large quantities.

At this point, after a full ten years had passed, no ordinary humans remained anywhere in the entire Great Qin region.

Because throughout all of Great Qin, from top to bottom, every newborn infant was immediately made to take the potion, and after so many years of improvement, the requirements for taking the potion had also been lowered.

Moreover, because they now took the potion from birth, their children's survival rate had greatly increased, and the dynasty's population rose accordingly.

At this point, everyone in Great Qin was a dragon-person with long ears, and from this moment on, all of Great Qin gained another title — the Dragon-Person Empire!

Also from this moment on, the entire Dragon-Person Empire could at last be said to no longer fear the various giant beasts within its territory.

Because under one decree after another from Zhang Rang, those powerful body-combat techniques and weapon techniques gathered from countless experts were directly opened by him to all humans within the Empire free of charge.

The sole purpose was that the people of his Great Qin would no longer suffer the ravages of giant beasts.

Anyone with talent, as long as they trained hard in these techniques, could rely on their enhanced powerful physiques to contend with ordinary giant beasts; as for powerful giant beasts, they could report them and have nearby Empire officials dispatch experts to hunt them down.

At this, the entire Empire began to show a thriving, upward trend, and because Zhang Rang had tasted the sweet fruits of knowledge brought by scholars of all kinds, he fully established a special profession — Scholar!

Of course, simultaneously established was another profession — Hunter!

One civil, one martial: the civil used knowledge to build all kinds of powerful devices or conduct research, so that the martial among them could drive them forth to protect the entire Empire from the ravages of giant beasts.

In an instant, these two professions directly became the most revered professions within the Empire.

Throughout the entire Empire, scholars and hunters were paramount, and every citizen took pride in becoming one of them.

From this moment on, ordinary giant beasts within the Empire could basically no longer threaten the citizens of his Great Qin.

However, regarding all of this, Zhang Rang did not feel satisfied, because above ordinary giant beasts existed all manner of Banzhu-level and even King-level giant beasts.

Once these terrifying giant beasts appeared, even merely passing through would cause enormous impact on the ecology of an entire region.

These were simply not something ordinary Empire hunters could deal with; it was necessary to deploy those dragon-people who possessed another form to handle them. To avoid confusing the two—

Zhang Rang directly called those dragon-people who had taken Zhenlong Qetui Ancient Dragon Humans, while those without two forms were collectively called dragon-people.

Therefore, this was absolutely not the time for him to be proud and satisfied. Thanks to this Dragon Transformation Potion, Zhang Rang's lifespan had now also been greatly extended; fifty was no longer his old age, but his prime!

It was precisely because of his regained youth and the vigorous development of the entire Empire that Zhang Rang's heart was also filled with high spirits, and an extremely impulsive notion began to sprout within him!

He recalled the True Dragon lord whose body had once shrunk in size and who had refused the approach of any living creature.

Although so many years had passed, he had never felt he could forget that moment; the shame of those days, the suffering of his Great Qin people under the ravages of giant beasts — he had not forgotten any of it.

Nor could he possibly forget how this new era had come about.

Over so many years, after considering it from many angles, he had also faintly guessed the reason why the True Dragon's body had inexplicably shrunk back then, and why it had refused the approach of other creatures.

It was very likely because the True Dragon lord had expended an enormous amount of primordial energy to transform the world.

Therefore, it had suffered a severe depletion of primordial energy afterward; unless there was an exception, at this moment it should still be in a state of severe primordial energy depletion.

If so, then perhaps this was the best possible timing right now!

Even the mere era transformed by the True Dragon lord could bring them such powerful strength.

At this moment, Zhang Rang, feeling the powerful strength within him that came from the giant beast King Red-Scale Dragon, was also somewhat intoxicated by it.

Then, just how powerful would the true strength from the True Dragon lord be?

Zhang Rang did not know, but he was certain of one thing.

A terrifying power capable of transforming an era would surely allow him to forever guard this country he cherished, and make it, like the former Great Zhou, achieve a thousand years… no, an eternity!

At this moment, a raging fire of ambition blazed in Zhang Rang's eyes.

……

(End of chapter)