Chapter 308: White Dragon Blood

"Just first-rank, and you're already eating second-rank beast meat—after you reach second-rank, will you need third-rank? Where will you even get it? Probably can't buy it even with spirit stones. Luckily you don't need to eat it every day, or you'll bankrupt me sooner or later." Wang Yu muttered, tossing the last piece of meat into Xiao Bai's mouth.

After swallowing it, Xiao Bai's eyes showed a human-like expression of satisfaction, rubbed its head against Wang Yu's leg, then turned and lay back down on the stone platform.

Moments later, Xiao Bai closed its eyes; as a soft huffing sound emerged from its mouth, a wisp of blue mist naturally exhaled from its nostrils, wrapping its body in layers of pale blue ice.

In an instant, a massive ice ball, identical to the previous one, reformed on the stone platform.

Wang Yu stared at Xiao Bai inside the ice ball, a hint of worry on his face.

Xiao Bai had become this way simply because it had ingested a trace of dragon blood from the short horn.

He had originally hesitated whether to do this, but after a conversation with Master Li, he dismissed his doubts.

According to Master Li, spiritual beasts also possess destiny.

Xiao Bai had twice accidentally undergone mutation; ingesting dragon blood might truly stimulate its bloodline transformation, and this trace of dragon blood came from a qi-refining beast snake—it couldn't possibly backfire on Xiao Bai.

Wang Yu had once considered refining this trace of dragon blood into a bloodline pill, but after consulting Fan Tian, a second-rank alchemy master, and learning the sheer volume of auxiliary materials and the extreme difficulty involved—even this second-rank alchemist couldn't produce it—he no longer hesitated and let Xiao Bai swallow the blood.

For the first two years after ingestion, Xiao Bai remained normal, but by the third year, abnormal signs appeared: its body grew even whiter, and a pond it often played in suddenly froze solid one day.

Only then did Wang Yu realize Xiao Bai's water-controlling ability had transformed into cold-air manipulation; Xiao Bai also became extremely drowsy, no longer enjoying play with Da Lv, instead frequently seeking a corner to freeze itself and sleep deeply.

Naturally, Wang Yu brought this transformation to Master Li's attention again.

Master Li, upon seeing this, was greatly delighted, stayed in Wang Yu's cave for over half a month, then left with some of Xiao Bai's blood, reluctant to depart.

According to Master Li, this wasn't mere mutation—it was bloodline stimulation, with the Iron-Headed Crocodile lineage evolving toward the dragon path; how far it would evolve depended entirely on Xiao Bai's innate constitution and its compatibility with this trace of dragon blood.

But Master Li told Wang Yu not to expect too much.

After all, this trace of dragon blood was far too scarce to turn Xiao Bai into a true dragon—only a few dragon-like traits might emerge.

Judging from Xiao Bai's physical changes and its cold-air manipulation, the blood it ingested was likely fourth-rank White Dragon blood, not the previously assumed third-rank Gray Dragon.

This realization filled both Master Li and Wang Yu with deep regret.

Had Master Li known it was fourth-rank dragon blood, he would have paid an astronomical price in spirit stones to buy it for detailed study.

Had Wang Yu known it was White Dragon blood, he would have treasured it carefully and sought every possible way to refine it into a bloodline pill.

Third-rank and fourth-rank dragons were worlds apart!

While Gray Dragon blood occasionally appeared in the Wu Kingdom's cultivation world, fourth-rank dragon blood had long been the stuff of legend.

For at least several centuries, no one had heard of fourth-rank dragon blood being sold in any marketplace.

But what troubled Wang Yu even more: shortly after obtaining Xiao Bai's changed bloodline samples, Master Li suddenly resigned from his position at the Spirit Beast Pavilion and announced he was entering seclusion, never leaving his cave again.

Over the past decade, Wang Yu had sent several message talismans to him—all returned unopened; Master Li truly seemed to have cut off all contact with the outside world.

Had it not been for Wan Shan's inquiry confirming Master Li's soul tablet remained intact in the Sect's Soul Hall, Wang Yu might have suspected he had met an untimely end and perished.

Xiao Bai's transformation had continued unabated over these ten years: first-rank beast meat no longer satisfied its needs, and its physical features had diverged from those of the Iron-Headed Crocodile.

First, a bump like the one on the slain snake appeared on its head; within a year, the bump split open, revealing a white short horn; its once rugged body gradually grew slimmer.

But these weren't what shocked Wang Yu the most!

What was astonishing was that since he obtained second-rank Tai Sui meat from the Thousand Bamboo Sect's marketplace and fed it to Xiao Bai, its demonic aura had grown stronger each year.

In just seven or eight years, the demonic aura radiating from this Iron-Headed Crocodile rivaled that of a typical qi-refining peak cultivator—nearly equal to Wang Yu's own.

Such drastic changes surpassed even the imagination of bloodline dragon transformation; Wang Yu discreetly inquired other elders skilled with spiritual beasts and consulted numerous texts himself, but found no explanation.

Fortunately, aside from this, the Iron-Headed Crocodile remained otherwise normal.

Wang Yu could only suppress his doubts and continue feeding Xiao Bai second-rank Tai Sui meat, while upgrading its daily rations to second-rank to satisfy its clearly increased appetite.

Da Lv, who had grown alongside Xiao Bai, displayed a demonic aura only at qi-refining fifth level—typical for its age and species—but its head was noticeably larger than that of ordinary Iron-Headed Crocodiles.

This likely stemmed from his deliberate selection of the egg with the most vigorous bloodline during the initial choice.

Moreover, he had fed Da Lv first-rank beast meat since birth, regularly supplemented with spiritual herbs beneficial to beasts, and now benefited from the pure spiritual energy of this true-disciple cave—making Da Lv stronger than ordinary Iron-Headed Crocodiles was only natural.

According to normal Iron-Headed Crocodile development, Da Lv would need at least another decade to reach qi-refining late stage—still far behind Xiao Bai's current state.

No wonder Xiao Bai no longer played with Da Lv; with its heightened spiritual awareness, it sometimes gazed at Da Lv playing alone in the water with an almost pitying, "look at the fool" expression.

Wang Yu shook his head, took out over a dozen chunks of Tai Sui meat from his storage pouch, placed them in a corner of the room, then left the stone chamber and closed the thick stone door.

A few minutes later, Wang Yu appeared in another sealed chamber.

The chamber's walls were inscribed with dense, pale silver spiritual runes, and at its center stood a three-legged bronze cauldron.

The cauldron wasn't large—only reaching Wang Yu's waist—but its lines were rugged, with three-legged crow carvings etched along its outer surface; beneath it, a complete crimson talisman pattern was painted on the floor.

Shelves around the room held boxes of various sizes and rows of neatly arranged porcelain vials.

The entire stone chamber was filled with the scents of countless herbs and deeper, more invigorating aromas of pills.

This was Wang Yu's private alchemy chamber.