Tens of millions of Vermilion Dragons, carrying all the blue mist, roared towards Xin Yun and then drilled into his body from all over.
When the last dragon shadow entered his body, all the blue mist completely disappeared. Just as Xin Yun was about to retreat back into his body, an unexpected change occurred!
With the entrance of Xin Yun's last dragon-shaped qi flow, the endless void began to ripple with a blue wave, which was not spreading outward but, on the contrary, was coalescing.
From the far ends of the endless void, ripples converged towards a point in front of Xin Yun, gathering rapidly. Along with the merging of the ripples, a tiny, needle-point sized blue dot gradually brightened. As time passed, the brightness of the dot grew larger and larger, until eventually... it was simply too dazzling to look at directly!
As Xin Yun watched the blue dot becoming increasingly brighter, his heart began to pound violently. He was right... this was the Creation Dragon Crystal Heart. Only by absorbing this crystal heart could he truly give birth to his own dragon; otherwise, a heartless dragon could not manifest in the world.
For all this time, the Creation Dragon Crystal Heart had been hidden within the blue mist, only revealing itself after Xin Yun had devoured all the mist, losing its last cover.
As Xin Yun eagerly awaited, the blue dot finally reached its peak brightness and then... the blue dot began to expand from the size of a needle point to that of a ping-pong ball, then to the size of an egg, and the next moment... that egg-sized crystal heart, radiating dazzling light, soared away into the distance with a whoosh.
Facing the escaping crystal heart, Xin Yun was prepared. It was now or never. If he could not capture the crystal heart, he would be unable to condense a Dragon Ball within his body and thus unable to summon his own dragon.
Although he was not yet familiar with the abilities given by the Azure Sea, when it came to flying, Xin Yun was incredibly adept, especially in controlling a dragon's body, having a lifetime of experience. With a thought, his body instantly transformed into an arrow-like streak, roaring as he chased after the brightly shining blue crystal heart.
Obviously, Xin Yun was much faster than the crystal heart, but... as if it had a mind of its own, the heart made a nimble half-arc to avoid Xin Yun's surefire swallow in the moment it realized he was quicker.
Flexible, nimble! Watching the blue crystal heart dodge like a shot pellet, Xin Yun employed all his tricks but still couldn't catch it. Although he was faster, the crystal heart was far more agile than him.
He didn't know how long he had been chasing, but Xin Yun's soul was getting tired. However, the blue crystal heart was still as swift and agile as a snake. Xin Yun knew he was at his peak, but evidently, with his current state, he would never be able to catch the crystal heart.
Yet, despite knowing it was impossible, he couldn't give up. This was his only chance. If he lost this opportunity, he would never be able to summon his own dragon in this lifetime, and even if he could summon another, Xin Yun would have no place to find another Dragon Creation Stone of 9.9 quality.
Watching the incredibly nimble Creation Dragon Crystal Heart, Xin Yun gnashed his teeth in hatred, wishing he could just pin it down and throw it into his mouth. Unfortunately, though dragons have claws, they were too short; the head was at the very front, and if the mouth couldn't reach, then the claws were even less likely to.
Just as Xin Yun was filled with intense resentment, fantasizing about pinning down the crystal heart, suddenly, he felt the energy inside his body surge, and in an instant... a dragon claw descended from the sky in front of him, swooping down towards the nimble Creation Dragon Crystal Heart...
"Whoosh..." In the blink of an eye, the Creation Dragon Crystal Heart made a sharp turn, narrowly avoiding the grasp. Seeing this, Xin Yun was dumbfounded. What just happened? Where did that dragon claw that appeared out of nowhere come from?
Before the appearance of the dragon claw, the energy in his body seemed to fluctuate. Could it be... that claw was his own doing?
Lost in thought, Xin Yun glanced down at his body and sure enough… the dragon claw at the end of his body was rapidly transforming from the void into reality, appearing in its original place.
To confirm his speculation, Xin Yun dared not delay. With a thought, the newly solidified dragon claw disappeared again, and at the same time, another dragon claw appeared above the Creation Dragon Crystal Heart in front of him, roaring as it clawed forward.
Xin Yun was so deliriously happy that he was nearly insane. With a flick of his dragon tail, his speed suddenly increased, and he darted toward the Dragon Ball at full speed. Then… as the Dragon Ball made a sudden turn, with a mindful command, a dragon claw reached out to the Creation Dragon Crystal Heart and grabbed it before the Crystal Heart could evade.
Everything happened so fast that the dragon claw appeared in almost the instant the Crystal Heart made its turn. To put it in a certain way, it was as if the Crystal Heart had thrown itself into the claw—there wasn't even time to think about evading.
Xin Yun, not daring to delay, twisted his dragon body and swallowed the Creation Dragon Crystal Heart into his stomach… His body eerily froze in mid-air, his whole body ablaze with brilliance.
As the light on Xin Yun's body radiated, the nine Qi Dragons that had been circling in his Qi Sea roared out. Following Xin Yun's meridians, they rushed toward him and, under his gaze, one by one entered his dragon-shaped body.
One… two… three… With the entry of each dragon, Xin Yun's body rapidly grew in size, from the initial thickness of an arm and a little over four meters in length, steadily growing until the ninth dragon entered his body, Xin Yun had become a small dragon about one meter thick and over ten meters long!
As Xin Yun silently appraised his own body, the Creation Dragon Crystal Heart that he had swallowed suddenly exerted an infinite gravitational pull. In an instant… Xin Yun's dragon body gradually became ethereal, and then in one hundred thousandth of a second, turned into a sky of light mist, roaring into the Creation Dragon Crystal Heart and completely occupying every inch of space within it.
Thus far, the Dragon Ball that was wholly Xin Yun's was finally born. With this Dragon Ball, Xin Yun could summon his own dragon, but... what left Xin Yun somewhat regretful was that this dragon was infinitely close to Bronze One Star, yet it was still lacking by that fine line!
Although Xin Yun's dragon wasn't small now, one meter thick and over ten meters long, it was still too small for him to step on its back and to ride it flying.
According to his past life's experience, one meter in diameter and around ten meters in length signified a Starless Ten Star, and although Xin Yun hadn't yet broken through to Bronze One Star, this was simply not an issue for him.
If it were anyone else, it would be hard to grasp the concept without a long period of searching and experimenting, thus hard to break through to Bronze One Star successfully, but it was different for Xin Yun. As a reincarnated individual, he had achieved Diamond One Star in his previous life, and although he was far from the King Level domain of the Nine Great Experts, he was still among the top experts.
For others, breaking through from Starless to Bronze One Star required deep comprehension, but Xin Yun had no need for it. After all, he had experienced this once before. For Xin Yun, it was simply not a problem; he just needed to complete it once more.
To the best of Xin Yun's knowledge, there are a total of seven realms, from low to high: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Crystal, Amethyst, Diamond, and the King Level realm of the Nine Great Experts! As for Starless, that naturally does not count; being Starless means having no rank and not being a true Martial Artist.
In other words, although Xin Yun now possessed the strength of a Starless Ten Star, he had not yet formally set foot on the Martial Path. Between a Martial Artist and a common person, he was the strongest among commoners.
Regarding rankings, Xin Yun only knew of seven levels, each divided into ten stars - a process of accumulating energy. However, once one reached Ten Star, it was no longer about accumulating energy. Without enlightenment, even a billion years of accumulation would be futile.
Of course, although Xin Yun only knew of seven levels, he could definitely be sure that Seventh Stage was not the limit. Cultivation was inherently limitless; it was just that… in his former status, Xin Yun hadn't had the opportunity to touch upon the higher echelons yet.