The two dragon souls tightly bit into the body of the Azure-scaled Serpent Emperor, continuously injecting ice and fire energy into it, attempting to kill it!
Fortunately, Li Chang'an had consumed two celestial herbs, granting him a certain degree of immunity to ice and fire. Moreover, since a martial spirit is part of a soul master, the Azure-scaled Serpent Emperor also possessed immunity to ice and fire. As a result, while the invasion of ice and fire power caused immense pain, it was nothing more than pain. The power of the two dragon souls couldn't kill the Azure-scaled Serpent Emperor and was instead being absorbed into its body as free energy.
The Azure-scaled Serpent Emperor's body was like a bottomless pit, greedily devouring the energy injected by the two dragon souls and sharing it with its main body and clone.
At this moment, despite the excruciating pain caused by the ice and fire energies invading his body, Li Chang'an could sense something extraordinary awakening deep within his soul.
This signified that the ice and fire energy injected by the two dragon souls was divine power—precisely the nourishment needed to awaken his bloodline.
The two dragon souls, devoid of intelligence, acted purely on instinct. Even though their source energy was being drained, they had no concept of stopping the loss. Driven by their instinct to kill the creature before them, they refused to relent.
Had it been anyone else, even with ice and fire immunity, their body would have eventually exploded from the overwhelming energy injected by the two dragon souls.
But Li Chang'an was different. Awakening the bloodline in his body required a massive amount of energy. The energy being infused by the dragon souls was precisely what he needed.
Thus, while enduring the pain, he also felt an inexplicable joy as the "bloodline" lying dormant deep within his soul gradually began to awaken.
Elsewhere, in the underground cavern where the soul beast's clone resided:
The effects on the main body were simultaneously reflected on the clone. Encased in an energy cocoon, the Azure-scaled Serpent Emperor's clone displayed an interwoven pattern of pure white and crimson red on its shell. These colors alternated between fusing and separating, as though some mysterious transformation was underway.
Time passed.
At a certain moment, the twin-colored radiance on the serpent cocoon dimmed and gradually converged, ultimately forming an oval-shaped egg.
"Crack… snap!"
A crack suddenly appeared on the eggshell.
Then, the oval serpent egg trembled slightly.
"Crack! Crack! Crack!"
More and more cracks spread across the shell, and the egg trembled increasingly violently.
Finally, the tension reached its peak.
With a loud explosion, the massive eggshell shattered into fragments, scattering in all directions.
"Roar…!"
A primal, ancient roar echoed, as though it came from a bygone age.
An ancient beast from another world had finally hatched, entering this unfamiliar realm.
Upon closer inspection, it was a monstrous serpent with nine long snake heads!
The creature's body was covered in dense, black scales with fiery red patterns, its entire form exuding a mystical, dark hue.
"…What a fascinating feeling," Li Chang'an thought.
"So, this is the exhilaration of breaking free from chains?"
"Hahaha!!!"
Nine identical voices echoed simultaneously from the mouths of the nine snake heads.
At this moment, Li Chang'an, having fully awakened the ancient bloodline hidden within his soul, felt better than ever—unprecedentedly great!
Now, he no longer needed to fear the heavenly tribulation faced by ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts. Nor was he bound by the limitations of a million years. Having awakened his bloodline, he was no longer a soul beast.
Instead, he was something to be called either a "beast of anomaly" or a "fierce beast"!
The rules of the Douluo World might govern soul beasts, but could they also govern him—a creature from another world?
The bloodline Li Chang'an awakened was called Nine Infants (Jiuying)!
According to ancient texts like Huainanzi: Basic Scripture, Jiuying was a calamity-inducing fierce beast. It was a nine-headed monster, resembling a serpent, and was a creature of water and fire, capable of spewing both. Its cries sounded like a baby's wail, capable of bewitching hearts and minds. Given its nine heads, it was named Jiuying.
For its misdeeds against humanity, this monster serpent was eventually shot down by the legendary archer Hou Yi in the treacherous waters of Beidi.
There was also another theory:
Jiuying was born during the primordial division of heaven and earth. At that time, spiritual energy in the world was so dense it was nearly tangible, spawning countless powerful spiritual beasts and monstrous creatures. Deep within desolate mountains and vast marshlands, the interplay of yin and yang energy gave rise to this old nine-lived demon.
Because it was a direct product of heaven and earth, its body was extraordinarily resilient, making it virtually immortal. Possessing nine lives, it could recover by gathering spiritual energy from the world as long as one life remained.
This meant it needed to be killed nine times in rapid succession to be completely annihilated. Otherwise, even if one life remained, Jiuying could quickly recover its other lives and return to full strength—essentially cheating death.
Moreover, it was essential to clarify: Jiuying's nine lives didn't stem from its nine heads. Cutting off all nine heads wouldn't kill it nine times. Instead, you would need to kill it once, wait for it to revive, and then kill it again—repeating this process nine times to truly eliminate it.
If its nine lives simply depended on its nine heads, and losing them all equaled death, then what difference would there be between it and a creature with one life?
Now that Li Chang'an had fully awakened his Jiuying bloodline, he had inherited all of Jiuying's abilities, including the almost unfair nine lives.
Handled properly, nine lives were effectively equivalent to unlimited resurrection!
After all, as long as one life remained, the energy consumed to restore the other eight could gradually be replenished, returning to a full nine lives.
In such a situation, it was practically impossible for Li Chang'an to lose.
"Still, there's something I need to figure out," Li Chang'an mused. "When I die and revive, do I resurrect on the spot in perfect condition, or does a new body form elsewhere?"
"If it's the former, then revival is a bit risky. My enemies could strike again while I'm still recovering, and nine lives wouldn't be enough to save me."
"If it's the latter, that would be ideal. I could fake death to escape, making my enemies believe I'm gone for good."
"Also, does resurrection restore me to full strength, or will I be in a weakened state?"
"And by 'death,' does it only refer to physical death? Does resurrection only restore the body? If someone targets my soul and destroys it, can I still revive?"
"Even if I can revive, would I still be the same me after revival?"
"How exactly do these nine lives work?"
Li Chang'an had far too many questions swirling in his mind.
Unfortunately, the bloodline offered no inherited memories. It only provided innate abilities, allowing him to instinctively understand what powers he possessed—much like how breathing comes naturally to a newborn.
Because he couldn't fully grasp how his abilities functioned, Li Chang'an began to suspect that Jiuying's nine lives weren't as reliable as he had imagined. Perhaps other powerful bloodlines representing absolute strength would suit him better.
For instance, the Ancestral Dragon (Yinglong), which was said to dominate all dragons, or the Torch Dragon (Zhulong), which controlled time, or even the Sky Dog (Tiangou), capable of devouring the sun and moon.
Which of these bloodlines wasn't superior to Jiuying?
The key question was: what conditions were necessary to trigger other beast bloodlines?