TL: Etude
"We could give it a try. Beasts with dragon bloodlines aren't rare, it's just that the dragon bloodline in them is diluted. I recall reading that not too far from the Demon Sea Base there's a group of high-level beasts with dragon bloodlines. If we eliminate that group and use their blood to nourish the War Blood Sky Dragon Egg, it should be able to hatch," Ye Tian speculated.
Accordingly, he planned to locate this group of high-level beasts after breaking through the Bone Refining limit. For the next month, Ye Tian stayed put in his temporary cave dwelling, focusing on practicing the Purple Blood Bone Forging Technique and pondering over blade intent.
After expending a significant amount of high-level beast blood and nearly 29 days of time, Ye Tian finally broke through the Bone Refining limit. His entire skeleton seemed to come to life, and his Diamond Bone talent slowly began to merge with all the bones in his body.
Skin refining, flesh refining, bone refining.
He broke through the limits in all three aspects of his body. Now all that remained was to break through the Blood Refining limit and reach the Blood Replacement Transformation stage to complete the most crucial foundation of the "Nine-Five-Zero" system. Then, all that would be left would be to break the limits of his five internal organs and six hollow organs.
"It's time to find that group of high-level beasts imbued with dragon bloodlines," Ye Tian muttered to himself.
…
In a canyon 8000 kilometers west of the Demon Sea Base, lived a large group of beasts that had emerged from underground, known as Dragon-Serpent Beasts. These beasts possessed snake-like bodies and four claws but lacked the so-called dragon head and dragon horns. However, their strength was formidable, earning them the designation of high-level beasts. Among them were some extremely rare top-level beasts, but their numbers were scarce, fewer than 20.
Because Dragon-Serpent Beasts were relatively small, about one meter in size, they couldn't provide much blood, and their corpses were not highly valued. Hence, no powerful masters or King-level beings had bothered to exterminate them.
That day, Ye Tian arrived at the canyon.
As soon as he entered, about a dozen Dragon-Serpent Beasts discovered him and attacked. With a slight pinch, Ye Tian killed one of the Dragon-Serpent Beasts.
Next, he took out the War Blood Sky Dragon Egg and dripped the Dragon-Serpent Beast's blood onto its shell.
"It has to work," Ye Tian hoped.
Whoosh!
A golden light flashed, and the Dragon-Serpent Beast's blood on the eggshell was absorbed.
"It really worked!" Ye Tian was thrilled.
Immediately, he put away the War Blood Sky Dragon Egg and began to frenziedly hunt the Dragon-Serpent Beasts.
Kill! Kill! Kill!
With each kill, Ye Tian collected the blood and stored it in his portable space. Eventually, there was no time to collect the blood anymore. So, Ye Tian dug a pit in the canyon, throwing the corpses of the Dragon-Serpent Beasts into it. A pool of blood formed.
"Top-level Dragon-Serpent Beasts are coming!" Ye Tian whispered to himself.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Beams of light shot over, each carrying an overwhelming killing intent. Each beam represented a top-level beast, and there were more than 20 of them in total. In terms of strength, each top-level beast was stronger than an ordinary master, and 20 or so could match a powerful master. But Ye Tian was as strong as an extreme-level ordinary master.
No matter how many top-level Dragon-Serpent Beasts there were, all would die!
Boom!
With his Azure Wind Slash, Ye Tian mowed down the top-level Dragon-Serpent Beasts like cutting grass, their corpses falling to the ground.
For half a day, Ye Tian continued slaughtering the Dragon-Serpent Beasts until none were left in the canyon.
"Phew, thank goodness I have the medium-level endurance talent copied from Xiao Jin; otherwise, I would've been drained by now," Ye Tian gasped for air.
Subsequently, Ye Tian gathered the Dragon-Serpent Beast blood into one massive pool.
"Go!"
He threw the War Blood Sky Dragon Egg into the pool.
Whoosh!
A whirlpool appeared in the pool, with the Dragon-Serpent Beasts' blood converging toward the center, precisely where the War Blood Sky Dragon Egg lay.
"The War Blood Sky Dragon Egg has an insane blood-absorbing ability; could this be the effect of the Blood Devouring Talent?"
Ye Tian speculated.
Originally, the pool was filled with Dragon-Serpent Beasts' blood, but in less than ten minutes, the War Blood Sky Dragon Egg had absorbed it all.
At this point, the egg emanated a powerful dragon aura. Compared to its previously mundane appearance, it now truly resembled a dragon egg.
"If the Martial Pavilion had auctioned off an egg like this, they might never have offered it in the first place. Even if they had, I couldn't have afforded it. Perhaps only King-level experts would have had the chance to bid," Ye Tian mused gratefully.
Having absorbed a massive amount of Dragon-Serpent Beasts' blood, the War Blood Sky Dragon Egg seemed to genuinely begin incubating. Ye Tian could distinctly sense that the life force within the egg was slowly rising.
Previously, although there had been signs of life force, there had been no increase.
But now, as the life force was rising, it indicated that the egg had truly come alive and was capable of birthing life.
"It shouldn't be too long before this egg can incubate a War Blood Sky Dragon," Ye Tian estimated.
However, there was still an issue to be resolved: how to control this War Blood Sky Dragon.
After all, this would be a real dragon!
If he couldn't control it after it was born, and it ran away, wouldn't that be a loss?
According to Ye Tian's plans, making the War Blood Sky Dragon his pet would be the safest bet.
"Monsters are sold at the Demon Sea Base. Many are not easily tamed and don't fear threats, yet people still keep them as pets. There must be a way to do so, not like how I had to threaten Xiao Jin and Xiao Zi into acknowledging me as their master," Ye Tian planned to return to the Demon Sea Base first and ask Yue Ling for advice. Perhaps Yue Ling would have better ways to tame monsters.
…
Months later, Ye Tian returned to the Demon Sea Base.
The moment he arrived home, Xiao Jin, one of his pets, eagerly greeted him.
"Master!"
"Master, I've advanced to become a top-tier monster!" Xiao Jin boasted excitedly.
"Not bad," Ye Tian nodded.
Advancing to a top-tier monster in a few months was not a difficult feat, especially with abundant resources.
"Why are you still a Great Martial Warrior?" Xiao Jin asked, puzzled.
"Do you think you could beat me?" Ye Tian stared at Xiao Jin.
"Master, I would never dare to fight you. I'm still no match for you!" Xiao Jin immediately admitted defeat.
He knew how terrifying his master was. Defeating opponents of higher levels was as easy as eating and drinking for him. Even though Xiao Jin had become a top-tier monster, he was absolutely no match for his master.
By evening, Ye Yu returned.
Months ago, Ye Yu had been a mid-level Martial Warrior, and now he had reached the late stage, just one step away from becoming an Elite Martial Warrior.
That night, Ye Tian gave Ye Yu a storage bag filled with medium-tier and some high-tier monster blood, then let him go off to cultivate on his own. At this point, apart from providing some resources, he couldn't assist Ye Yu in any other way.
The next day, Ye Tian contacted Yue Ling via communicator and arranged to meet at a grand restaurant.
As agreed, Yue Ling arrived.