The being was stunned at Yin Yufan's agreement. Youngsters these days don't understand what responsibility even means! What if the responsibility was even worse than death or if his nine generations would all be sacrificed if he failed? Of course the being wouldn't do something like that but the young lad's determination left it nostalgic.
"Come near me"
Yin Yufan hesitated for a moment before moving closer into the darkness. He felt something scaly hit his shoe so he stopped moving.
Out of nowhere a flames appeared in midair in front of him. What he saw made Yin Yufan pale in horror. In front of him was a massive cavern with around a cubic kilometer of space. What was even more frightening is that most of it was taken up by a huge red dragon laying in a sea of its own blood. The battered body of the dragon still had horrifying wounds which looked fresh and oozed blood.
"What happened?" Even though it was impolite, Yin Yufan couldn't help but blurt out.
The voice of the dragon sighed. "I was chased by Deacons from-- never mind, you will find out if you become strong enough. All you need to know is I am dying and can't move. Once you inherit my power, these people will come to this world to find my remains. If you absorb my power quickly enough, you should have more than enough time to get out of here and find a method to conceal yourself. Preferably go to some separated space like an ancient inheritance." Yin Yuhan understood very little but still etched these words into his memory.
"I will teach you the complete Domination law each dragon understands from birth. If you want to succeed fully you need to grasp at least the greater success stage. I will burn my soul and karma to give you a chance and enhance your fate, you mustn't waste it" The dragon explained.
"Fate? Don't I have enough fate already? You crashed down near my village and I randomly saw you fall down during the night. I even learned the Domination technique from you, doesn't that mean I have enough fate already?" Yin Yufan was reluctant. Even he knew that burning one's soul meant they couldn't reincarnate.
"Hmm, first of all don't call Domination a technique, it is a law. Second, you clearly don't understand how fate works, fate doesn't always leave a way out, think of it as your chances of a positive outcome increasing. Even if you already have plenty, what we are about to attempt has literally never been done before. Even a tiny increase in chance is paramount."
The dragon stopped before suddenly laughing.
"You don't have to be worried for me but for yourself. Even if it doesn't look like it, you are on the losing side of the deal."
Yin Yufan sighed. He didn't care about any consequences because he knew that he had no other choice "Then let's start"
"Haha good, as expected your dao heart is still pure! As you will, let's not delay and start. Once I break my dantian in order to heal my wounds we need to act with the utmost speed and with no hesitation!" The dragon still lay motionless but Yin Yufan felt different, as if his entire being slightly lightened.
"Alright, we don't have much time, I will transfer the cultivation technique the Ancient True Dragon Gods used, it's just like your tribe's tattoo technique but just not sh*t" The voice laughed seeing Yin Yufan's serious face.
The huge dragon suddenly moved as if it came to life. The wounds on its side healed in the blink of an eye. The dragon slowly turned which produced tremors in the cavern, revealing its stomach. Its giant claw lifted up from the ground and moved to its stomach.
Shiii
A grinding sound was produced as an incision was made.
Yin Yufan suddenly felt a powerful force which he could not resist lift him up and into the stomach. A protective barrier appeared around him shielding him from the internal heat and the wound which he just entered, closed leaving him sealed inside.
Suddenly, it was as if floodgates opened, knowledge rapidly entered his brain like a torrent. The knowledge wasn't that much but Yin Yufan felt his soul starting to collapse from its sheer might.
"Keep reciting the chant in the technique and absorb my essence. You will die unless you become a half-dragon in a short amount of time. While you are absorbing my essence, focus on its nature and comprehend it. Good luck" The voice stopped.
Yin Yufan could barely understand what the dragon had said. At the moment his head had a splitting pain while his soul could explode at any moment. He did not think and instinctively recited the chant which was destroying his soul. As if a magnet, his body pulled in the beast essence. Once it entered his body, it felt just like boiling water.
"UGHHH!"
Yun Yufan suppressed his yells and focused on refining the boiling energy which left burns on his body. He closed his eyes following the dragon's advice and trying to feel the nature of the rampaging energy. At the moment he was no different from a boiling lobster, if anyone saw him, they would mistake him for a demon and run away.
The light of Domination shone with intensity in his eyes but could not control the energy in his body which was like a herd of rampaging bulls. His insides were trampled and burned wherever the energy passed causing Yin Yufan to vomit a bucket of blood. His eyes bloodshot, his soul breaking down and his body being burnt and mushed, Yin Yufan suddenly entered an absent minded state just like when he was mining.
He sensed what he guessed was dragon essence, when it was attracted to and entered his body it was just like a dragon, dominating and enduring. Yin Yufan realized that the dominating light in his eyes could also be manipulated easily anywhere in his body and even the outside world. He stably collected more and more of the Dominating light coming from his eyes and sent it at the dragon essence, trying to seal it. Yin Yuhan frowned, any attempt to suppress it was meaningless, the dragon essence only slowed down but did not drop its wild nature.
"I guess it was too much to expect a human to suddenly advance from initial to greater success in the span of a few minutes, it's too late to regret I guess" The dragon sighed to himself. At the moment, the outer layer of Yin Yuhan's skin has melted off, most of his organs were crushed and his soul had long cracks.
Yin Yuhan did not notice this as he was in a special state, he only felt tiredness overtaking him. Slowly at first, his consciousness dimmed and before he knew it, the reaper's scythe was overtaking him.
Suddenly
The pure and untainted dao heart possessed by him felt a pang. The unrelenting desire not to die severed his urge to fall asleep. A deep desire to become stronger, to dominate, had taken root in young Yin Yufan's heart.
"Impossible, is this guy a reincarnated Ancient Dragon True God? How could he possibly possess the heart of domination as a mere mortal?"
At that moment, Yin Yufan's body emitted a ripple which spread out and faintly shook the heavens. In his meditative state, one thought overtook his consciousness.
"If suppressing the draconic essence doesn't work"
"I WILL DOMINATE IT"
A faint silhouette appeared right behind him which took the shape of a golden dragon but it was very unstable. A few moments later it disappeared from existence.
A frightening aura shot out from Yin Yufan's body causing the surrounding dragon's essence to halt its movement. No longer was his body wounded, instead, the energy in him was completely dominated, not even being able to attack his body. Waves of essence shot into his body quickly filling it. Yin Yufan felt the sensation of being reborn, his soul which was aching quickly grew in size and repaired itself. He felt calm and in control but the aura coming off of his body was as fierce as a beast.
"I'm full, what do I do next?" Yin Yuhan asked with a calm voice. His body was badly damaged to the point where he should be dying any moment, but in actuality he had completely sealed off all his injuries using the formless energy of Domination. It was as if his battered body was too scared to die!
A few seconds of silence passed before the dragon spoke
"Good job, now quickly read the rest of the technique and completely absorb the energy I provide"
Yin Yufan hurriedly scanned the rest of the information in his brain. It no longer posed any threat to him and he finally stopped feeling like it would drive him insane.
"According to this, wouldn't I become a half-dragon?" Yin Yuhan wanted to clarify.
"Yes, the first beast tattoo is your foundation for all the later ones. It actually isn't a tattoo but will become a part of your body. You are the first in history to become a half-human, half-dragon. All the Ancient dragon gods have either chosen legendary or mythical creatures as their first tattoo." The dragon couldn't process the fact that he was making history.
On the other hand, Yin Yuhan didn't really care. He put off the time to celebrate until after he retook the city. Just as he prepared to absorb, he felt himself being weighed down by something.
"You stopped burning your soul?" Yin Yuhan was puzzled.
"Ehh, you already passed the most difficult part and don't necessarily need my help anymore. My soul isn't burned to the extent of collapsing yet." The dragon's voice sounded weird as he said this.
"Whatever" Yin Yuhan didn't care anymore and started the absorption. His body which was filled with essence gradually started to merge with it, his broken organs even started showing signs of repair. Although this was the easy part, it still was incredibly painful. Every cell Yin Yuhan possessed at first felt overloaded before breaking down and reconstructing itself.
All he could do was grit his teeth and think of the image of his family in his mind to persevere against waves of pain.
His mangled body without any flesh slowly regrew as a layer of scales took form. After an unknown amount of time, his outer body was completely transformed, scales covered every part and even his eyes changed to become golden with a diamond shaped pupil. On his back, two bones protruded before slowly being formed into wings, his hands and feet also grew claws. The supply of energy stopped and Yin Yufan slowly opened his eyes, seeing nothing in front of him except the empty cave floor.