What does it take to activate the mythical bloodline within one's body? Could it be a unique environment or specific elemental energies?
Li Chang'an pondered over the fact that Jiuying was a ferocious beast of water and fire, and he had previously consumed the Ice-Fire Immortal Grass while bathing in the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well. Evidently, among the many bloodlines in his body, only the Jiuying bloodline had been awakened—surely there was a connection.
The two shared similar attributes. Did this mean that to awaken other exotic beast bloodlines, he would need to explore similar elemental alignments?
He wasn't sure.
The main issue was that the attributes and traits possessed by many of these mythical beasts were incredibly rare. Some didn't even exist in this world.
Where was he supposed to find them?
This time, the complete awakening of his Jiuying bloodline could only be described as sheer luck. Such fortune was unlikely to strike again.
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well, where the corpses of two ancient Dragon Kings lay dormant, Li Chang'an slowly opened his eyes.
The full awakening of the Jiuying bloodline hadn't turned him from human to beast. Instead, he remained in his human form.
However, whenever he wished, he could assume the true form of Jiuying, seamlessly transforming between his human and serpentine forms.
In essence, his human form and beast form were equally him. Both forms shared half of his soul and identical consciousness. To Li Chang'an, his human identity felt more natural, so he considered his human form the main body and the serpent form merely a secondary vessel.
Not far away, his martial soul—the Azure-Scaled Snake Emperor—had also undergone transformation, now bearing the nine-headed serpentine form of Jiuying. Meanwhile, the two Dragon Souls that had been biting into it had faded to near-transparency, their essence almost entirely drained, as though they might vanish at any moment.
With a single thought, Li Chang'an directed his martial soul to absorb the remaining energy from the two Dragon Souls. In an instant, their forms disintegrated completely, leaving behind two dim orbs.
"Could these be…"
Staring at the two orbs left behind after the Dragon Souls dissipated, Li Chang'an quickly realized what they were—likely the dragon pearls of the Dragon Kings.
It was probable that the Dragon Souls had been anchored to these dragon pearls, drawing power from their surroundings and holding an immense reservoir of water and fire divine energy. But now that the Dragon Souls were gone, the pearls were lifeless husks.
To confirm, Li Chang'an controlled his martial soul to lightly tap one of the pearls with one of its heads. As expected, cracks immediately spidered across the dull orb, and it crumbled into dust, dissipating like weathered stone.
"So it's just as I thought."
He nodded, unsurprised.
After all, he had absorbed all their original power during the awakening of his bloodline. What remained were merely hollow shells.
"In Chinese legends, there have always been tales of mythical beasts harboring inner cores—demons cultivating by absorbing the essence of heaven and earth to form their cores. Now that I've awakened the Jiuying bloodline, could I also form an inner core? This might be worth exploring in the future," Li Chang'an mused as he casually shattered the second dragon pearl into dust.
In this world, soul beasts clearly had no concept of inner cores. Instead, they had soul cores. The two concepts might share similarities but were fundamentally different.
"Alright, time to leave. I wonder how long I've been down here," Li Chang'an muttered, feeling that this trip had been immensely rewarding.
With a thought, his nine-headed serpent martial soul reverted to its sword form and flew back to him.
Li Chang'an grasped the sword, inspecting it carefully. Its appearance had changed. Once a sword adorned with a coiled green-scaled serpent on its hilt, now it bore the image of a nine-headed serpent. Should he rename it the Nine-Headed Serpent Sword? Or perhaps the Jiuying Water-Fire Sword?
No, that didn't feel right.
He shook his head and willed the sword to change again. Instantly, the martial soul reverted to its original Azure-Scaled Sword form.
For someone of his current ability, altering the appearance of his martial soul was trivial.
Though he had awakened the Jiuying bloodline, the original Azure-Scaled Snake Emperor bloodline hadn't vanished. Instead, it had been assimilated, becoming part of the more powerful Jiuying bloodline.
Thus, he could still switch back to the Azure-Scaled Snake Emperor bloodline whenever necessary, using it as a disguise. This ensured that no one could connect his serpent form to his human self.
Moving forward, if his Jiuying form caused havoc, even if the situation spiraled out of control, it wouldn't implicate his human form.
After all, it was Jiuying causing trouble. What did that have to do with him, the Azure-Scaled Snake Emperor?
Outside the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well, Dugu Yan sat by the tranquil lake, her expression weary and haggard. She had stayed here for nearly a month.
Aside from necessary moments for rest, meals, and washing, she spent almost all her time waiting at this spot, hoping for a miracle—longing for the day her beloved would emerge from the water and call her "Yanzi" once more.
"Yan Yan."
Dugu Bo approached from a distance, looking at his granddaughter with a heart full of concern. "You've spent enough time here today. Leave for now, or your body won't be able to handle it."
The area surrounding the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well was saturated with extreme ice and fire energies. Prolonged exposure would overload and destroy the body.
Dugu Yan had managed to stay here for so long only because the immortal grass she had consumed had greatly enhanced her constitution, granting her partial immunity to these extreme conditions. However, even with these benefits, her time here was limited. A few hours at most, beyond which her body would fail to endure.
"Grandfather... it's been almost a month. Do you think he'll come out?" Dugu Yan's gaze remained fixed on the lake as she asked the same question she had countless times before.
"…He will!"
"Absorbing the effects of the immortal grass can take anywhere from half a month to two or three months."
Dugu Bo's tone was firm, though in truth, his confidence had waned after nearly a month. Deep down, he was also beginning to doubt whether Li Chang'an was still alive.
But faced with his granddaughter's exhaustion, he couldn't admit that. He had no choice but to offer comforting words.