Chapter 328: Ao Ting! Strange Fusion! True Spirit Evolution!

Chu Yang refined the Black Demon Thunder, which only took three days, and refining the Nine Profound Golden Thunder attracted when refining pills took five days.

But refining the Nine Profound Golden Thunder after qualitative change took a full half month.

The reason Chu Yang didn't gather more Nine Profound Golden Thunder by continuously refining ninth-grade golden pills was because the upper limit of ordinary Nine Profound Golden Thunder was there. Even if the quantity was accumulated more, there would be no great improvement.

But the Nine Profound Golden Thunder after qualitative change is different. In a sense, it has transcended the category of treasures and is infinitely close to a life form.

In the process of Chu Yang's refining, the golden young dragon always wandered by his side, as if protecting him.

With the last strand of Nine Profound Golden Thunder refined, Chu Yang slowly opened his eyes, a flash of electricity flashed in his eyes, and his left leg was even more dazzling like cast gold.

The golden young dragon leaned over and rubbed against his arm, looking intimate.

Chu Yang touched its head and smiled. "In the legend, the dragon clan of the Heavenly Court is surnamed Ao. You are born from thunder, so let's call you Ao Ting!"

The golden young dragon seemed very satisfied with this name, tumbled happily a few times, and made a slightly immature dragon roar.

Chu Yang stood up slowly, stepped lightly, and in an instant, space trembled, thunder sounded, and his figure disappeared in place instantly. When he appeared again, he had already reached the sky above the thunder pool.

Without mobilizing spatial power, nor using the wormhole algorithm, Chu Yang reached the level of near-teleportation relying only on his own speed.

Stepping again, purple-gold thunder surged from his left leg, the void space cracked inch by inch, and a spatial storm was actually set off! The ultimate speed and ultimate destructive power made Chu Yang quite satisfied.

Returning to the depths of the thunder pool again, Chu Yang beckoned to Ao Ting. After the little guy flew in front of him, he asked softly, "Is the core of this thunder pool formed naturally, or is there some strange object?"

Ao Ting, who had just been born with wisdom, could not speak human language, but could convey some simple meanings through spiritual fluctuations.

His answer made Chu Yang frown, because Ao Ting didn't know the reason for the formation of the thunder pool, nor the secret of the core of the thunder pool.

"Forget it, then take me to see it!" Chu Yang waved his hand.

He was already in the deepest part of the thunder pool, but the core of the thunder pool was not here, and there was no trace to be found.

Ao Ting nodded, and then swam to a direction, Chu Yang followed closely.

Ao Ting's speed was very fast. Chu Yang roughly estimated that the little guy's overall strength should be at the peak of Dou Zong, and its speed was not inferior to ordinary Dou Zun powerhouses.

Even if it had dissipated 99% of its power, it was once an existence comparable to the peak of Dou Sheng, so Ao Ting was more powerful than any top bloodline on the Dou Qi Continent when it was born.

A moment later, Ao Ting stopped, stretched out a dragon claw, and pointed forward.

Chu Yang looked in the direction he pointed, and saw a faint black light in the brilliant silver thunder sea. If you don't observe carefully, it is difficult to find.

"This is..."

Chu Yang's eyes lit up, and he plunged into the thunder sea.

Those thunder and lightning that were almost condensed into substance retreated one after another as if they had met a king.

Coming to the front of the black light, Chu Yang reached out and picked up a black crystal floating in the thunder pool, and frowned slightly.

This crystal looked like it had no strangeness, but Chu Yang couldn't cause any damage to it no matter what.

And existing in this thunder pool, and being pointed out by Ao Ting as the core of the thunder pool, was enough to highlight its extraordinary nature.

Playing with the crystal for a long time, Chu Yang still had no discovery, so he could only put it away, intending to throw it into the Soul Palace to study slowly later.

But the moment he put away the crystal, the entire thunder pool suddenly rioted, and those thunder and lightning gathered here began to have a tendency to spread.

The power of thunder and lightning was originally violent. Being able to live in peace in this thunder pool was clearly due to the influence of the black crystal.

Now that the black crystal was taken away by Chu Yang, the violent aura instantly swept the entire thunder pool.

Making this magical place in the void instantly become an extremely unstable bomb.

Chu Yang's expression changed slightly. This thunder pool had existed for I don't know how many years, and the thunder and lightning power gathered here was extremely terrifying. If the thunder and lightning ran wild and caused the entire thunder pool to explode, even he would find it difficult to get out unscathed.

Even if a Dou Di came, I fear he would have to peel off a layer of skin!

Thinking of this, Chu Yang hurriedly took out the black crystal again, and the restless thunder pool really began to stabilize slowly.

Rubbing his eyebrows, Chu Yang had a headache for a while.

This black crystal is mysterious and unpredictable, he will definitely not let it go, but once taken away, the thunder pool will riot.

That is to say, if he wants to take away the black crystal, he must first solve the problem of the thunder pool.

After thinking for a moment, Chu Yang suddenly had an idea. His body trembled slightly, carrying the sun and moon on his shoulders, the four holy true spirits manifested, and the Source Martial True Body covered his body.

Waving his hand gently, the four holy true spirits tumbled in front of Chu Yang, while Ao Ting looked at them curiously.

Looking at the four holy true spirits, Chu Yang's gaze finally settled on the Divine Dragon True Spirit, and then he didn't think much, and for the first time performed the Spirit Ascension Art obtained from

The Divine Dragon True Spirit seemed to come alive; an excited dragon roar rang out, and it plunged into the sea of lightning, swimming about joyfully.

As the Divine Dragon True Spirit wove through the sea of lightning, bolts of lightning power were continuously absorbed and devoured. The light on the Divine Dragon True Spirit became increasingly brilliant, and its originally illusory spirit body gradually solidified.

Feeling the Divine Dragon True Spirit growing rapidly, a smile appeared on Chu Yang's face.

Just a moment ago, he had thought that solving this lightning pool would be troublesome, but now it had become nourishment for the Divine Dragon True Spirit—a truly unexpected joy.

After a moment of thought, Chu Yang took a large number of jade bottles from his storage ring. With a flick of his finger, the bottles shattered, revealing round, perfect pills.

Chu Yang once again cast the Spirit Ascension Technique. The other three True Spirits let out low roars and, as if chewing candy, divided and consumed those high-grade pills.

Feeling the Four Saint True Spirits evolving in synchronization, Chu Yang's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

He seemed to have discovered a... bug?

Since he could use the Spirit Ascension Technique to let the Four Saint True Spirits consume pills to evolve, didn't that mean he, the "Number One Alchemist of the Continent," possessed a "Spirit Ascension Cheat"? However, the number of high-grade pills required to keep these four big eaters evolving would be an astronomical figure.

Alchemy was not difficult for Chu Yang, but obtaining a large amount of high-grade medicinal materials was not so easy.

For any alchemist, there were only three ways to obtain a sufficient supply of medicinal materials.

Either go find them yourself, wandering through various treasure lands and competing with powerhouses.

Or "money begets money," selling the refined pills in exchange for medicinal materials.

The last method was to have a massive force supporting you from behind, letting that force be responsible for collecting the materials.

The first method was not difficult for Chu Yang, but he didn't have that much time to run around, and it was impossible to do everything himself.

The third method was out of the question; the Yunlan Sect still had a long way to go and was far from being able to support the expenses of a Grade Nine Golden Pill alchemist. Thus, only the second method remained.

Although this method saved time and effort, it required slowing down the Spirit Ascension speed of the Four Saint True Spirits.

Moreover, once a large number of high-grade pills flowed out, it would cause a serious shock to the pill market; after all, scarcity makes things valuable.

Putting away his chaotic thoughts, Chu Yang decided to hand this matter over to the Dan Tower.

Presumably, with the Dan Tower's influence, coupled with the chain reaction brought about by the birth of the Nine Profound Golden Pill at the Dan Tower, as long as there was a sufficient supply of high-grade pills, the Dan Tower could monopolize the entire Central Continent's pill market.

The seven ancient clans had always prided themselves on being aloof and detached from worldly affairs, especially the Yao Clan, so they certainly wouldn't compete with the Dan Tower on such matters.

But if Chu Yang did it himself, once the three ancient clans he had feuds with found out, they would certainly try every possible way to obstruct him.

Looking at the Divine Dragon True Spirit, whose evolution speed had already left the other three True Spirits far behind, Chu Yang frowned slightly.

The Four Saint True Spirits were independent yet a single whole; if one of them became too powerful, it could very well affect the balance between them.

But keeping the four True Spirits in constant synchronized evolution was unrealistic.

Because although the Four Saint True Spirits were born from the Four Saint Bloods, they were derivatives of the Original Martial Body, and thus were no longer limited to the power of the Four Saint Bloods, but possessed their own attributes.

The fire-attribute Qilin True Spirit, the ice-attribute Phoenix True Spirit, and the dark-attribute Divine Turtle True Spirit were all unsuitable for devouring and refining lightning power.

When one of the Four Saint True Spirits became too powerful, Chu Yang could only constantly suppress its power to ensure the balance among the four.

But constant suppression was always a troublesome matter, and other than that, there seemed to be no other way.

Just then, Ao Ting, who had been guarding Chu Yang's side, suddenly let out a low moan and then charged straight toward the Divine Dragon True Spirit!

Chu Yang's eyelids twitched; he didn't know what this little guy with newly awakened intelligence wanted to do. He was just about to intervene when he stopped.

Because Ao Ting had transmitted a mental fluctuation to him, the general meaning of which was...

"Master, it is summoning me..."

Chu Yang frowned; he didn't understand if the summoning Ao Ting spoke of came from the Divine Dragon True Spirit or the Spirit Ascension Technique.

If it were the former, it was very likely that there was some commonality between the Divine Dragon True Spirit and Ao Ting.

But if it were the latter, it was likely that the Divine Dragon True Spirit, in its state of Spirit Ascension, viewed Ao Ting as nourishment and wanted to devour and refine it.

The so-called summoning was merely bait!

During the Spirit Ascension process, the Four Saint True Spirits would temporarily possess a certain degree of intelligence, because "Spirit Ascension" was both a process of evolution and a process of "Spirit Gathering."

When evolution reached a certain level, the Four Saint True Spirits would be born with true intelligence! So it was not surprising that it would set a trap to lure Ao Ting...

Watching Ao Ting pounce toward the Divine Dragon True Spirit, Chu Yang gradually narrowed his eyes, ready to interrupt the Spirit Ascension at any moment.

Perhaps devouring Ao Ting could allow the Divine Dragon True Spirit to undergo a transformation, but for Chu Yang, a life with great potential and extreme loyalty was far more valuable than the limited evolution of the Divine Dragon True Spirit! However, immediately after, his eyes widened, and a look of long-absent shock appeared on his face!

He saw the Divine Dragon True Spirit actually stop refining the lightning power and instead turn to pounce toward Ao Ting.

The scene of devouring that Chu Yang had anticipated did not happen; instead, the two acted like long-lost brothers, entwining and circling in the air, then slowly beginning to merge...

Immediately following, the lightning power in the lightning pool seemed to be drawn in, rapidly gathering toward the two and becoming the nourishment needed for their fusion.

What was this supposed to be?

A commonality between the two? Or the effect of the Spirit Ascension Technique? Or perhaps... a chemical reaction produced under the condition that these two major elements were indispensable?

Chu Yang vaguely felt that their fusion might bring him an unexpected joy, so he simply let it be, sitting cross-legged above the lightning pool to begin cultivating.

His cultivation was increasing day by day, and he had now reached the mid-stage of a Four-Star Dou Saint.

The fusion of the Divine Dragon True Spirit and Ao Ting clearly needed some time, and Chu Yang intended to use this time to break through to the late-stage of a Four-Star Dou Saint in one go.

Another month passed, and Chu Yang slowly opened his eyes. The momentum on his body climbed step by step, and the Primordial Qi surged within his body, actually sounding like a tsunami.

The lightning pool below had long since existed in name only, with only a few tiny electric arcs remaining around the black crystal.

In just one month, the Divine Dragon True Spirit and Ao Ting had actually swallowed the entire lightning pool clean!

Chu Yang reached out to pick up the black crystal and then put it away. A few bolts of lightning that had just been drawn over stirred, but because they were too weak, they dissipated with a pop.

"This thing... other than drawing lightning, it has no other use?"

Chu Yang curled his lip, intending to study it carefully after entering the Soul Palace. He looked up at the cocoon of light in the air.

When the cocoon of light had first formed, one could still see two dragon shadows swimming inside through the surface.

But now, only one dragon shadow remained, jumping happily within the cocoon.

"Crack... crack..."

Just then, a crack suddenly appeared on the surface of the cocoon, and then the cracks spread rapidly, covering the entire cocoon in the blink of an eye.

"Pop..."

A sound like a bursting bubble rang out, the cocoon shattered, and a dragon shadow as fast as lightning darted out, streaking straight toward Chu Yang.

Chu Yang did not dodge or evade, because he felt a sense of intimacy from the other party, and at the same time, he had a feeling of being perfectly merged with it.

It felt as if... the other party was originally a part of his own body!

The dragon shadow arrived before him, plunged into Chu Yang's arms, and rubbed its head against his chest.

It was just that the little guy's size was truly too small; its body length was less than a meter, and it was only as thick as an infant's arm.

Looking at the little guy that had solidified but was essentially still a Divine Dragon Spirit, yet had given birth to intelligence, Chu Yang raised an eyebrow, "Are you... Ao Ting?"

The little guy nodded repeatedly and spoke in human language, "Ma... Master..."

Chu Yang could no longer suppress the corners of his mouth and laughed heartily.

The Treasure Refining Technique was one step closer to perfection, the Divine Dragon True Spirit had solidified and possessed intelligence in a very special way, and he had also obtained a black crystal that was definitely not simple.

This trip to the Void Lightning Pool was simply a massive harvest!

(End of chapter)