บท 136: World-shaking howl.

Liang Chen and Yan Ling didn't have to go far to find a hidden place where they could focus on cultivating, they just had to enter one of the many caves dug into the tilted mountain located at the center of the swamp. This place still reeked of the Rot Dragons, it would take quite a while for the other Demonic beasts in the area to realize that the Rot Dragons were in fact already dead.

After entering one of the caves, the two learned that all the caves were in fact connected together, forming a large maze that had a vast cavern in the center. With their control over wind, it was not hard for them to figure out the layout of the maze and arrive in the central cavern, which seemed to have been the home of the two Rot Dragons.

The cavern was in the shape of a half-circle, the floor flat while the walls and the ceiling were arched. The walls and floor were covered in claw marks and tracks showing that the two dragons seemed to drag their tails while walking. A few strange vines that released the same pungent scent as the Rot Dragons rotting element grew along some of the walls, purple scales spread out through the entire cave, there were even a few claws or fangs lying on the ground, most likely having fallen out as the dragons grew older.

At the very center of the cavern was a basin dug directly into the floor, a bubbling violet-green muck that released a putrid scent filling the basin. The muck released rather strong waves of Qi, all the vines that grew along the walls also stretched into this muck so it seemed like this muck was something used by the two dragons to cultivate. Yan Ling swept the entire cavern with a quick glance before pointing at an empty spot on the floor.

"Let's dump the bodies there and quickly drain their blood. It'll take a bit of time to extract their bloodline, so I wanna get started as quickly as possible."

A Demonic beasts bloodline was different from its normal blood, it was a separate type of blood that had merged into their normal blood. To separate these two from each other required a great deal of effort, time, and above all focus and control, a single mistake could ruin everything. Liang Chen nodded his head, swiping his interspatial ring and taking out the corpse of the Rot Dragon, Yan Ling taking out the two tiger corpses she had. Liang Chen's dragon corpse was lacking the head and most of its neck, while Yan Ling's tiger corpses were split in two and nearly crushed flat. Their states were far from perfect, but they still contained a large amount of blood they could use.

The two tossed the corpses onto the ground and started the arduous process of extracting and refining the blood so that they could extract the bloodline. Meanwhile, Yumao was flying around the two of them, looking at the corpses with a hungry gaze, patiently waiting for the extraction process to finish.

Liang Chen focused on the Rot Dragon while Yan Ling focused on the two tigers, more and more of their blood flying out of their bodies and gathering into orbs above the corpses. This process required them to only use their neutral Qi which had yet to be infused with any of their laws, so for Liang Chen, who was used to only using his law-infused Qi, this was a somewhat difficult task.

But he persevered and carried on, exerting all his focus on the process of extracting the blood from the Rot Dragon. The bodies of powerful Demonic beasts or cultivators with strong bodies contained more blood than one would expect, a body cultivator at Liang Chen's stage might have enough blood in his body to fill a large pool. As such, the complete extraction process took a full week, two large orbs of blood floating in the air above the three shriveled up corpses.

Yumao got the clear signal from Liang Chen, descending on the corpses like a ravenous beast. Yumao knew what Liang Chen wanted to try with the rot element, so he plucked out the Demon Crystal of the Rot Dragon, which was filled with a dense amount of its rot Qi, and tossed it into the basin filled with bubbling muck. He then gathered up all the vines in the cavern and tossed them into the basin, preparing everything for Liang Chen before he started eating the corpses with great relish. Even after being drained of all their blood, the corpses were still a great aid to Yumao's cultivation. Liang Chen and Yan Ling let out deep breaths, locking eyes for a short moment before Yan Ling let out a faint smile.

"Well, here comes the hard part, let's try to not fuck this up."

Liang Chen nodded his head with a light chuckle, taking another deep breath and then focusing on the orb of blood again. Both of them were maintaining their Qi using their last few Spirit Stones and the currency of this planet, but it was still a mental strain to stay fully focused for as long as they were. The two quickly began the refining and extraction process, the orbs of blood slowly shrinking as they pulled out all the impure energy in the blood, leaving only the purest bloodline.

Yan Ling had been trained in a place like the Storm Wolf sect, after all, so her refining process went quite a bit smoother than Liang Chen's, she was also a bit faster than him. After spending two weeks, she had managed to shrink her orb of blood down to 50% of its normal size, while Liang Chen had only managed to shrink it down to 75% of its normal size. Another two weeks later, Yan Ling finished refining the tiger blood, the entire orb of blood shrinking down to only a thumb-sized drop of blood that had specks of white floating around in it.

She put away the drop of blood and turned her attention onto the blood of the Rot Dragon, aiding Liang Chen in completing his refining process. Another five days later, the orb of dragon blood had become an apple-sized drop of blood with a few azure speckles floating around in it. Floating next to this apple-sized drop of blood was a fist-sized drop of blood that was a mixture of red and violet, this was the concentrated version of the Rot Dragon bloodline, containing a bit of its dragon bloodline and a large portion of its rot element. This drop of blood was for Liang Chen to experiment with and see if he could fuse his poison with the rot element.

The three bodies had contained easily enough blood to fill a small lake, yet in the end, all that they managed to get out of them in terms of bloodline was about a fist-sized drop in total. The two took a two-day break after they finished refining the blood, allowing both of them to get some sleep before locking eyes and nodding at each other.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

They sat in the cavern and took out the two different types of blood, causing them to float in the air between them. Yan Ling removed the upper part of her robe, only leaving a small piece of cloth to cover her chest. She wore a somewhat bashful expression, but her expression quickly turned solemn upon seeing how serious Liang Chen's expression was. Liang Chen took control over the two drops of blood with his Qi, slowly leading some of the tiger blood over to Yan Ling's chest and causing it to sink into the place where her heart should be.

Yan Ling's expression immediately twisted in pain as she grit her teeth so hard that it almost looked like they were going to shatter, blood even started to seep out from her gums. Their plan was to use bloodlines as grand as the Azure Dragon bloodline and the White Tiger bloodline to prod at Yan Ling's Star God bloodline. They hoped that the bloodlines would either force her Star God bloodline to awaken to repel the foreign bloodlines, or that the bloodlines would fuse with her Star God bloodline and awaken it in the process.

Yan Ling's expression continued to distort in pain as more and more of the White Tiger bloodline was introduced into her body, her veins rising up and wriggling like worms. There was nothing they could do about this, introducing a new bloodline into a body was a horrendously painful process in which the body would more often than not try to reject the bloodline at first. Only by persevering and resisting this pain and rejection process would the cultivator be able to properly introduce the bloodline into their body.

Liang Chen finished sending all the White Tiger blood into Yan Ling's body, starting to send the Azure Dragon blood into her body in the same manner. With the introduction of a second bloodline, Yan Ling's expression grew even worse, one of the veins in her shoulder exploding. Liang Chen's brows quickly furrowed as he moved to pull back the blood, but a loud shout from Yan Ling stopped him.

"NO! Don't take it back, keep pouring it in! Chen'er, please, I need this. Please, don't stop."

She looked at Liang Chen with pleading eyes, several of the veins in her eyes had already exploded, leaving her with completely crimson eyes. Liang Chen's expression once again started to twist, once again she was asking him to hurt her, to do the one thing she knew he hated the most. And once again, he could not say no to her, continuing to pour the blood into her body.

Before long, all the blood they had refined into the purest of bloodline had been poured into Yan Ling's body, her expression continually twisting in pain. She did her best to form a thin smile with her mouth, blood pouring out from between her lips as she squeezed out a few words.

"Just you...watch! A little something...like this...is not enough to...stop me! You just focus...on your cultivation...no need to worry about me!"

Yan Ling closed her eyes after she finished talking, putting all her focus on accepting the two new bloodlines and using them to prod at her Star God bloodline. Liang Chen continued to look at her, observing her for an entire week before he actually did as she said and went to do his own cultivation.

He brought out the concentrated Rot Dragon blood and walked over to the basin filled with bubbling muck, which had started to release even stronger waves of Qi after Yumao threw in the vines and the Demon Crystal. He had never shied away from self-torturous ways of cultivation, and he would certainly not do so now when Yan Ling was doing the same.

He swallowed the fist-sized drop of blood and jumped into the pool, allowing the muck to wash over his entire body and invade him with its rotting characteristics. The blood attacked him from the inside while the muck attacked him from the outside, his flesh slowly starting to turn black and shrivel up. Had it not been for the fact that he had the law of poison, which shared quite a few similarities with the law of rot, he might have died immediately.

Liang Chen's bloodline immediately went to work, devouring the fresh blood that had been delivered to it. While his bloodline was busy devouring the new blood, Liang Chen put all his focus on fusing his own poison with the invading rot, attempting to put it under his control.

Liang Chen and Yan Ling were both cultivating, leaving Yumao rather bored with nothing to do. But despite being bored, he didn't leave the cave to inspect the surrounding area, he didn't want to leave the two of them here unguarded. He coiled up in the cavern, a wave of darkness spreading from his body and completely shrouding the cavern, not only making it impossible to see what was going on inside it but also making it nearly impossible to actually see the cavern itself.

Time continued to pass within the dark cavern, both Liang Chen and Yan Ling focusing on their own cultivation. Yan Ling's body would occasionally spurt forth some blood from a burst blood vessel, but it would quickly be repaired by her bloodline and her strong body, allowing her to continue resisting the torturous pain. As for Liang Chen, he was in a stalemate with the rot, just barely keeping it at bay while nibbling at it with his poison. his bloodline was still devouring the new blood, devouring it rather slowly now that his body was also in the process of battling the rot element.

Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months, and in what felt like the blink of an eye, the two had spent half a year inside the dark cavern, the longest either of them had ever spent focused on a single cultivation task. But it was after these six months that a change finally occurred in the cavern.

The black flesh that was a result of Liang Chen's body rotting suddenly changed, turning powdery white before sinking into his body and vanishing, revealing his smooth and unblemished skin. His body suddenly unleashed a strong suction force, all the wind in the area and the bubbling muck in the pool entering his body and vanishing, his cultivation quickly rising.

After a few minutes, all the muck in the pool had vanished, leaving Liang Chen sitting at the bottom. His cultivation had shot up to the very peak of the Heaven's Gate realm, only a short step away from the Soaring Immortal realm. Not only had his Heaven Devouring Dragon bloodline finished devouring all the Rot Dragon blood, but he had also succeeded in fusing his poison with the rot. He then fused this rotting poison with his law of time and infused it into his soul, increasing his soul cultivation to the same stage as his body cultivation, the equivalent of the middle stage of the Heaven's Gate realm.

He didn't end up creating a new Dragon Lotus for this law of rot, it had simply fused into the Dragon Lotus for the law of poison, which now had six leaves, as did his other three Dragon Lotuses. In the future, he could use the law of rot much like he used one of his poisons, his strength growing once again.

Liang Chen opened his eyes, his one golden and one cyan eyes flashing with a faint violet-black light that quickly vanished. He stood up and stretched his body, his joints producing crackling sounds after not having been moved for so long. Yumao pulled back the darkness that shrouded the cave and flew over to Liang Chen, coiling up on his head and rubbing himself against Liang Chen's hair. Liang Chen gave Yumao a few pats, a faint smile creeping up on his face.

"Sorry, it must have been hard for you to wait for so long. Next time I'll make sure to prepare plenty of food for you so that you can join us."

After speaking, Liang Chen cast his eyes onto Yan Ling, who was looking a little better. The wind around her was moving erratically, sometimes so slow it seemed to stand still while at other times so fast it seemed like it was going to fling her entire body into the distance. Her expression was still somewhat pained, but she didn't grit her teeth or pop any blood vessels anymore.

Liang Chen sat down a short distance away from Yan Ling, keeping a close eye on her while taking out some food from his interspatial ring for Yumao and himself. He quietly ate and watched over Yan Ling, waiting for her to finish her cultivation and tell him what the results were. He ended up having to wait for an entire month before there was finally a change in Yan Ling's state.

All the wind in the surrounding area, even beyond the mountain and the swamp, was suddenly sucked into the cavern, into Yan Ling's body. More and more wind started to sink into her body, her strength slowly raising as the cyan color of her hair started to grow deeper and deeper, turning into a wonderful emerald color.

Her strength quickly entered the late stage of the Heaven's Gate realm, continuing to rise without stopping. When it reached the peak of the Heaven's Gate realm, thick blue clouds started to gather within the cavern, a heavenly tribulation had arrived, meaning that she was actually about to break into the Soaring Immortal realm.

Liang Chen's brows furrowed as he looked at the clouds and the crimson lightning that was gathering within them. Yan Ling was still cultivating so she was in no state to resist lightning like this, it seemed like it would fall on him to protect her in the final stages. He stood up from his seated position and took out his spear, preparing to face the heavenly tribulation.

But just as the Qi within his body started to seethe in anticipation of facing the heavenly tribulation, another change occurred in Yan Ling's body. The faint image of a wolf appeared around her, much like the faint image of a dragon occasionally appeared around Liang Chen. But this wolf looked a bit strange, it was about four meters long and had eyes as blue as the deep ocean, its gray fur also had a few white stripes on it, the same as the white stripes that the tigers earlier had.

Clearly, Yan Ling's Star God bloodline had not only been prodded awake by the Azure Dragon and the White Tiger bloodlines, but it had also absorbed them and caused all three to merge together, becoming a truly unprecedented bloodline.

The wolf looked at the deep blue clouds for a short moment, raising its head and unleashing a long howl. The howl felt like it pierced directly into the soul, the blue clouds completely dispersing under the howl as it continued to spread into the distance. Liang Chen and Yan Ling didn't know, but the entire planet resounded with the howl, every living being able to hear and feel the howl.

Hearing this howl, Liang Chen knew that Yan Ling's bloodline awakening was different from his. His own bloodline was still in the process of fully awakening, right now only about 35% of his bloodline had actually awakened. But just now, all of Yan Ling's bloodline had awakened, this howl was a howl of joy from her bloodline, a symbol that it had fully awakened, that someone carrying this supreme blood existed. The moment Liang Chen's bloodline awakened, it too would likely let out a roar like this, announcing to the universe that it had arrived.

Yan Ling's Qi and strength continued to rise after the howl dissipated the heavenly tribulation, settling in the early stage of the soaring Immortal Realm. She stood up from her seated position, the echoes of the howl still faintly audible. She opened her eyes, her gaze falling directly on Liang Chen, who was looking right back at her. Just like his appearance had changed slightly after his bloodline fused with Yan Ling's, her appearance had changed a little now as well. Other than her cyan hair turning a deep emerald in color, her left eye had become ocean-blue while her right eye had become an icy-white, her eyes becoming the same heterochromia as Liang Chen's. Liang Chen smiled at her, giving her a slight wink.

"You really have to do everything in an over the top manner, don't you?"

He acted casual, but he was actually very happy on the inside. He had managed to keep the promise he had made her, not only had he helped her fully awaken her bloodline, he had given her a bloodline fit for a god. Yan Ling returned the smile and wink, giving Liang Chen's shoulder a light punch.

"Well, a certain someone I know just loves to be low-key and stealthy, so it always falls on me to be the one who does things over the top."

She didn't mention how grateful she was for Liang Chen's presence, for staying at her side no matter how selfish she was, for helping her awaken her bloodline. There was no need for her to say anything like that, both of them knew it already, joking around like this suited the two of them far better.

They originally only went out to quickly kill the Rot Dragons, pick up the egg, and see if they could awaken Yan Ling's bloodline. But before they knew it, they had been gone from the tower for almost nine months, but as a result, both of their strengths had grown tremendously.