Chapter 149: The Great Dragon Form

"Got it!"

Li Yuan's heart leapt with joy; he had no time to examine it closely, bundled up the dragon-skin spear, and bolted off.

He felt he was almost cooked!

Huhuhu~

Fighting through searing pain, Li Yuan sprinted back to the forge furnace and dove headfirst into the large tub filled with glacial spring water.

Sssss~

The icy water instantly boiled, steam rising thick and white.

"Alive again."

After a long while, Li Yuan gasped for breath, the crimson hue fading from his skin: "Even an iron man couldn't withstand this kind of torment."

"Can anyone really reach the end of that tunnel?"

Still shaken, Li Yuan ate another two catties of red dragon fish meat before the agony in his organs finally subsided.

This single "tempering" left him feeling as if every sinew and bone had been forged anew—his Cross-Linking Body progress surged dramatically.

"If you're not afraid of dying, Cross-Linking Body might reach perfection quickly? Hmm—elixirs and herbal baths are a must; otherwise, you'll be ruined after just a few tries."

Li Yuan rubbed his forehead.

This time, he lost even his hair—smoother than that balding Linghu Baiman.

Yet his mood remained excellent.

Cross-Linking martial arts are hard to learn, rare, and according to him, even Divine Weapon Valley possessed only a few mid-tier Cross-Linking arts, with the high-tier ones reduced to half a scroll at most.

"A supreme-tier Cross-Linking art? This trip was worth it."

Li Yuan lounged lazily in the tub, unwilling to rise, eyes closed as he observed the Ten Thousand Blades Spirit Dragon Body Map he'd rolled onto the stone platform.

The giant hide, taller than a man, glowed crimson on the stone.

Under his spiritual sense, the dragon skin was covered in intricate patterns, upon which some unknown force had drawn a four-clawed gray dragon.

The gray dragon soared through clouds, gazing down upon the earth—majestic and fearsome, its body pierced through and through by countless weapons.

"Ten Thousand Blades Spirit Dragon!"

Just this one martial art could transform thirteen elemental constitutions—and it was designed to pair with the Complete Great Dragon Form!

"But the requirements are brutal: Perfect Cross-Linking Body, thirteen elemental constitutions—that's not enough; you also need a serpent-dragon body."

After the joy faded, Li Yuan closed his eyes and pondered.

With his stacked Cross-Linking talent and inner armor, he estimated he'd reach the Perfect Seventh-Star Cross-Linking Body in no time—if he pushed himself in the Red Melt Cave, he might break through in just a few months.

The Tortoise-Back Crane-Form would take roughly two months; with diligence, perhaps even a little over one.

Only the serpent-dragon body remained.

A serpent body was manageable—he'd already transformed several times—but for a dragon body, the only path he knew so far was the red dragon fish.

"I'll have to go down into the glacial pool again."

With resolve settled, Li Yuan began studying the Spirit Dragon Body Map.

Unlike other martial arts, Cross-Linking had no breathing techniques, no qi cultivation methods, no striking or killing forms—it was purely about transforming elemental constitutions and physical frames.

Even without a manual, one could likely master it.

"This dragon…"

Li Yuan sensed the gray dragon, its body pierced by ten thousand blades, and began to discern its secrets.

This martial art's foundation was the dragon, but its essence lay in the ten thousand blades.

It was a technique combining defense and counter-recoil—without fully internalizing his body, even meeting all conditions would still leave one unable to enter.

And…

"Another self-torture art."

Li Yuan sighed.

He realized the Red Melt Cave was truly a treasure trove for Cross-Linking—this supreme-tier art seemed perfectly suited to the place.

How could any amount of weapon tempering compare to the fire poison in the tunnel, which seeped everywhere and melted metal and iron?

He soaked for over an hour before finally hauling himself up—no need to dry off, he dried instantly.

Dressed again, Li Yuan had no desire to linger; as he turned to leave, he couldn't help but glance once more at the crimson tunnel.

"There must be other treasures inside."

Before escaping from the third bend, he'd caught a fleeting glimpse of objects still untouched by the heat.

"There's surely no shortage of rare items there—after all, without rare treasures, you can't take a single step past eighty zhang."

Li Yuan was utterly exhausted and had no intention of re-entering; even this single trip would require several top-grade Soul-Replenishing Pills just to restore his body.

For now, he dared not go back—if the fire poison took root, he'd never be rid of it.

…

…

As news from Dechang Prefecture kept arriving, the unrest in Dormant Dragon Prefecture grew ever greater.

Even outer sect disciples sensed the escalating conflict between the two major sects, as the bounties on Divine Weapon Valley disciples kept rising.

By the end of half a month, not just outer sect disciples, but even laborer disciples now carried bounties on their heads.

The Thousand Weight Cave's tactic was indeed brilliant: Divine Weapon Valley's inner sect disciples were hard to kill, but many outer sect and laborer disciples still lacked internal qi.

Driven by gold and silver, numerous hired blades masked their faces and became assassins, joining this bloody carnival.

Finally, as outer sect disciples were assassinated one after another, Divine Weapon Valley could no longer hold back.

After Gongyang Yu sent back his pigeon message, Feng Zhong abandoned his previous defensive stance and led a host of veteran warriors into action.

They purged Dormant Dragon Prefecture top to bottom, leaving heads rolling.

Many inner and outer sect disciples received orders to join the Divine Guard Corps in hunting down assassin organizations.

Though some disciples resisted, they could not defy the sect's orders or the ever-increasing rewards.

Fang Yunxiu was among the first to accept the mission, killing over a dozen, then exchanging her reward for a famed weapon-grade longsword—after that, she couldn't stop, slaying three Shape-Shifting Assassins and causing a major stir.

Afterwards, more and more inner sect disciples eagerly joined; Shaofang Bai, Gao Gang, Luo Renshu, and others all rose to prominence—though many disciples perished in the process.

Only a tiny fraction of outer sect and laborer disciples participated; Wu Ming wanted to join, but after barely surviving, he dared not leave again.

Liu Zheng and Wang Peiyao hid immediately, even suspending their forging shop's business to ride out the turmoil.

Inside and outside the prefectural city, across Divine Weapon Valley, nearly everyone was swept into the storm—some fought, some fled, some shut themselves away…

But this naturally had nothing to do with Li Yuan.

His talent and status required no missions; in fact, Feng Zhong worried for his safety and repeatedly increased his guard detail.

Even Pan Yi and Yu Xiang wanted to move into his courtyard—he firmly refused, devoting himself entirely to training.

Thus, two months passed in a flash.

After deep autumn, an early snow arrived with the northern wind; overnight, Dormant Dragon Prefecture turned pure white.

In the small courtyard of the Hammer Hall, Li Yuan lay on a rocking chair beneath a tree, reading.

The early winter snow night was bitterly cold, yet he wore only a single robe.

"These major sects really have money."

The book he flipped through was a "Hit List," compiled by Yunshu Pavilion, covering most disciples and elders of Divine Weapon Valley and Thousand Weight Cave.

Thousand Weight Cave was wealthy, but Divine Weapon Valley was even richer—the bounties weren't just on their disciples.

"Extra-field tactics are so blunt—just throw piles of silver, and both sides end up with assassination bounties on their heads."

Li Yuan shook his head.

Intelligence on the conflict between Divine Weapon Valley and Thousand Weight Cave had spread widely; Yunshu Pavilion laid out the full backstory clearly.

From Thousand Weight Cave's inner sect elder Sima Gui sacrificing a thousand elders, to Han Chui's sudden strike, the Thousand Weight Cave Master emerging from seclusion, the deaths of four elders, to Gongyang Yu's sudden arrival…

Finally, mutual assassinations.

"Tens of thousands of gold taels at a time—true big spenders."

Li Yuan closed the assassin list; the money both sides spent had clearly worked—hundreds of disciples from each side had died in assassinations,

including true heirs.

Divine Weapon Valley now, counting him, had only six true heirs; Thousand Weight Cave fared worse, with only two left.

"If they can withstand this wave, Thousand Weight Cave will be erased from Huizhou. Hmm—afterward, trouble remains; San Yuan Weng and Lie Xue Mountain won't be so foolish as to ignore the principle that when one neighbor dies, the next is next, will they?"

Across thousands of li, even with scattered intelligence, Li Yuan could not guess the movements or intentions of these major sects.

But he knew clearly: destroying a thousand-year-old sect could not be accomplished in a short time.

"Last time, I heard they fought?"

Putting down the book, Li Yuan stood up, took out his pills, selected a few, and swallowed them.

Blood-boosting, Bone-Strengthening, Tendon-Transforming, Soul-Replenishing…

Two months had passed, and "Ding Zhi's Gift" was still not exhausted—even after buying another red dragon fish from Liang Ashui, he'd used only a tiny fraction.

"Huh!"

"Hss!"

Standing in the snowstorm, Li Yuan replaced his current technique with the "Tortoise-Crane Dual Blades Fundamental Map," closed his eyes to feel it for a moment, then lifted his twin hammers and began moving.

Through multiple elemental constitution transformations, Li Yuan had gained deep understanding of various combat arts—even with twin hammers, he could execute the subtleties of swordplay.

Of course, he didn't care about aesthetics—he needed the way the technique mobilized his muscles and bones.

Huh~

The twin hammers were heavy, yet Li Yuan's movements were light and agile—hammer up, hammer down like blades, not a trace of clumsiness.

As he immersed himself, his movements gradually accelerated. Visible currents of qi surged with him, scattering the snow and wind.

"Huh!"

In an instant, the twin hammers struck the ground; heat rose around Li Yuan, and the swirling snowflakes melted before they could land.

"No matter how many times, this pain never becomes bearable!"

After gritting his teeth for a moment, Li Yuan collapsed onto the ground beneath a tree.

He clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles cracking loudly; his veins bulged and receded in waves across his body.

The little mouse watched from afar.

Li Yuan's skin flickered between bluish-black and crimson red, his body swelling and shrinking, contracting and withering; even this small creature with nascent awareness trembled uncontrollably, too terrified to squeak.

"More painful than when I completed the Nine Forms!"

Li Yuan bit down hard—suddenly, a sharp "crack" echoed as his teeth shattered.

"Puff!"

He spat out a mouthful of foul blood, his face turning pale—not one tooth, but all of them had broken!

"?!"

Li Yuan had no time to mourn his teeth before he leapt up abruptly—a searing pain erupted near his tailbone.

The agony spread rapidly to his back, shoulders, arms, then engulfed his entire body.

"Ahh!"

Li Yuan slammed his fist into the ground, shattering the blue bricks beneath him.

After the agony came a tingling itch.

From outside to inside, it grew stronger, more intense…

"My teeth!"

Li Yuan cried out in pain, but quickly realized something was wrong—his broken teeth hadn't been shattered by his own bite.

They had been forcibly split apart by newly growing teeth!