Chapter 4: Bloodline Stirs, A Single Horn Emerges

In the mountains, there is no concept of time; one does not track the years while cultivating. In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed.

Since reaching the Chengdan Realm, besides swallowing lunar essence on moonlit nights to cultivate his Yin Spirit Embryo, Fang Longye had spent the first month refining Ginseng King Pills to recover the Dharma power depleted during the condensation of his inner core. He spent the middle two months practicing the "Dragon Divine Art," and with the high-level perspective of the Chengdan Realm, he quickly mastered the basics.

The only disappointment was that the "riding clouds and mounting mist" or "summoning wind and rain" mentioned in the technique were not actual supernatural powers or Dharma arts; they were merely various phenomena formed by altering the distribution of primordial Qi.

As a water-attribute demon of the Chengdan Realm, these methods of gathering water mist and controlling the breeze were merely instincts. Although he was not yet at the level where "a dragon dwells and water marshes arise," capable of changing weather and terrain through the instinct of his body, if he did not deliberately restrain himself, the place where he resided would often be filled with water vapor.

After all, this technique was converted from the True Qi martial arts of a mid-level martial arts world, focusing more on the application of Dharma power. Of course, he quickly developed some Dharma-level spells based on it, such as Lingqi Shields, Wind Blades, and Water Arrows. However, its insights into the meridians and acupoints of the human body were of great benefit to him.

The last three months were spent continuing to cultivate the "Water Origin Blood-Refining Scripture." "I originally had 600 years of Dharma power, and now I've added another 700 years through the technique. A thousand years of Dharma power—it sounds quite intimidating," Fang Longye, who had already cultivated to the seventh level, muttered after swallowing another Ginseng King Pill, then buried his head back into hard practice.

The commonly cited "hundred years of Dharma power" or "thousand years of Dharma power" refers to the amount of Dharma power gained solely through breathing and cultivation, based on one's own baseline, without sleeping or resting, without consuming heavenly treasures, and without practicing profound divine arts.

With the same technique, the amount of Dharma power gained by different people in one year is different.

Even with the same "hundred years of Dharma power," a genius might possess a hundred times more Dharma power than a mediocre person.

Many Human Race geniuses who have cultivated for decades can suppress old demons who have cultivated for a thousand years; the gap here is not just a few dozen times. After all, everyone can consume heavenly treasures, so an old demon who has cultivated for a thousand years could never have only a thousand years of Dharma power.

At the same realm, a gifted cultivator might break through with a hundred years of Dharma power, while a dull person might need three hundred years. Just like the original Crocodile Commander, with 600 years of Dharma power—which sounds like one or two hundred years more than the 400 years generally required for the Shape-Condensation stage—in reality, his Dharma power might not be as deep as someone else's 400 years!

This is why ordinary Human Race members always think of cleansing their marrow and shedding their mortal bodies, and ordinary Demon Clan members always think of returning to their ancestors to upgrade their Bloodline. Talent has always been a natural chasm restricting the cultivation of ordinary cultivators, whether human or demon.

After all, except for heavenly treasures and immortal pills that can change one's aptitude and foundation, for simple Dharma-power-increasing spiritual pills, a cultivator with poor talent must consume more to match the improvement a genius gets from a single portion.

Simply put, it is wasted. This was also the motivation for Fang Longye to cultivate the "Water Origin Blood-Refining Scripture" to improve his Bloodline. Otherwise, he is not Han Paopao, who has the Xiaolü Ping in hand and plenty of spiritual medicine to squander.

Fortunately, after entering the Chengdan Realm, with the assistance of the inner core, Fang Longye's Yin Spirit Embryo was full of agility, and his mental power was sufficient to perfectly control every subtle part of his body.

Although the medicinal power of the swallowed spiritual pills could not be entirely refined into Dharma power, the remaining portion did not dissipate as it had before. Instead, ninety percent could be retained and hidden within the flesh and blood, and as the "Water Origin Blood-Refining Scripture" circulated, it was driven by Dharma power and ground by the water-origin Qi, turning into essence to fill his body.

Inside a karst cave beneath that nameless little island, Fang Longye was practicing with a calm heart.

One could see the essence rolling within his body and his Dharma power surging; as he continuously refined the remaining few Ginseng King Pills, he gradually stepped into the eighth level of the Blood-Refining Scripture.

Hum! Fang Longye's whole body shook, and his human-standing posture suddenly twisted and changed; the bones inside his body cracked and popped, and he uncontrollably transformed into his original form. His blood and energy were extremely abundant, almost forming a wolf-smoke of essence rushing out of his body. His powerful Dharma power circulated slowly, and only after a long while was it reined in.

Strike while the iron is hot!

After adjusting his breath, he operated the eighth-level Blood-Refining Scripture, continuously controlling his Dharma power to temper his crocodile body. The crocodile body constantly felt the pain of expansion and bursting, which was then immediately soothed by the surging water-origin Qi. Fang Longye endured this pain and operated the technique to temper himself. He did not know how much time had passed when he faintly heard a subtle cracking sound in his ears.

The trace of Dragon Clan Bloodline that had been dormant in his body suddenly swelled by a third, no longer silent, and began to spontaneously transform his flesh.

The black-brown crocodile body gradually turned into an ink-blue color, and golden patterns began to appear on the palm-sized scales, adding a hint of mysterious aura out of thin air.

The entire body was elongated to about ten zhang, the four limbs became longer, not as short and thick as before, and the crocodile head moved closer to a dragon head, with whiskers appearing on both sides.

More importantly, his forehead protruded, and a single horn three feet long grew out, the tip of the horn having a slightly curved arc, looking as if it were cast from steel, gleaming with a cold, silvery light. Relying on looking at his reflection in the water and his mental perception, he figured out his current appearance.

How should one put it? Neither dragon nor alligator; fortunately, it looked harmonious, without that distorted, pieced-together feeling.

Transforming back into his human-standing form, he found little difference from before, except that his face, previously purple-black, had turned blue-green, and there was a small horn protruding from his forehead. The horn was not large, less than three inches, shaped like a spring bamboo shoot and with the quality of cold steel.

"It doesn't look any better, and it actually makes it harder for me to hide the changes in my Bloodline," Fang Longye said with some helplessness.

It was currently a moonlit night, so Fang Longye set aside his thoughts, transformed into his original form, and followed the winding, undulating cave passage out of the underground karst cave where he resided.

He crawled back to the small island with practiced ease, raised his head toward the moon, spat out his inner core, and suspended it three feet from his open crocodile mouth to draw in the Taiyin lunar essence.

Taiyin lunar essence is only available for about an hour when the moon is at its zenith.

Even with diligent effort, and if the weather is favorable—not cloudy or rainy—one can only cultivate for a short hour each day.

Therefore, in the step of condensing the Yin Spirit, Demon Clan members without a background need to spend a very long time, relying on the accumulation of day-by-day effort.

With his mind divided, constantly paying attention to the situation around him, Fang Longye operated the "Taiyin Spirit-Cleansing Method," feeling his soul becoming increasingly pure. The influence of the Pointing Art, which had been contaminated due to the fusion with the original soul, had completely faded, leaving only the influence hidden deep in his origin that was difficult to touch.

The moon passed its zenith, and half an hour passed quietly. Fang Longye swallowed the inner core, which was suspended in front of his crocodile mouth as if unaffected by gravity, back into his belly.

Inside the crystalline inner core, a human figure was faintly visible, having improved slightly compared to when the core was first formed.

The east began to turn white. Fang Longye, who had been deep in thought for a long time, took a lingering look at the distance, stirred up a demon wind, and returned along the Jinsha River, half-flying and half-swimming, toward the Yaoshan where the Green Snake Mansion was located.

(End of chapter)