「In a small forest cave.」
Yang Chan was very satisfied with the Black Dragon’s attitude.
A defiant Black Dragon was of no use to him.
"BOOM!"
Yang Chan heard a faint rumbling sound, and the ground began to tremble slightly. Just as he was about to leave the cave, the tremors stopped.
’Is a clash between those at the Martial Saint Level really this powerful?’
Yang Chan muttered to himself. It was obvious this wasn’t a normal earthquake, but the aftershock from a clash between Martial Saints.
He was now hundreds of miles from the border. To still be able to feel the aftershocks from such a great distance was absurd.
"What’s so impressive about this? They’re all just in the Body Tempering Stage. The only reason the shockwaves are traveling this far is because they’re striking the earth with their full power!"
"If you break through to the Divine Acupoint Realm, forget hundreds of miles—the effects could be felt thousands of miles away."
"A battle of that magnitude, without any control or a special Magic Array to contain it, would be nothing short of cataclysmic!"
"If your Cultivation reaches the True God Level, you have to fight in the void; otherwise, you could destroy an entire Life Realm!"
The Black Dragon spoke with a look of utter disdain.
In his eyes, these so-called National Guardian Martial Saint masters were nothing but Little Kalami. If he were fighting at his peak, such weaklings wouldn’t even be able to escape if they were caught in the aftershocks!
Back then, who would have cared about someone in the Body Tempering Stage? The same was true even for those at the Peak of Body Tempering Stage.
Only those who broke through the Body Tempering Stage to the Divine Acupoint Level were worth a second glance, because that was a true metamorphosis.
This wasn’t just about power, but about one’s level of existence. To some extent, only by having the word "Divine" in your title did you earn the right to be taken seriously.
But now, times had changed. A Martial Saint could become a National Guardian, the strongest Combat Power on the Taiyu Divine Continent.
"So, can you defeat a Martial Saint right now?"
Yang Chan asked, his gaze on the Profound Yin Hanging Bead, lost in thought.
’If the Black Dragon still has some strength, it could help me with a lot of things, like going to the battlefield to get more Power of Origin National Fate. That stuff is a great Treasure.’
’The Potential Points on my panel have increased by quite a lot. I’ve never been this rich before!’
The two lotus petals of Original National Fate had brought him 625 Potential Points. Adding the daily 9.3 from elixirs and the remaining 0.4, he now had a total of 634.7 Potential Points on his panel.
Normally, it would take Yang Chan over two months to accumulate that many Potential Points, so this was a great windfall.
At the same time, a new profession had appeared on his panel.
Dragon Tamer.
This was an outcome Yang Chan hadn’t expected.
He had heard of the Dragon Slayer before—something about shouldering destiny, which sounded incredibly powerful, like the existence of a protagonist. But he had never heard of a Dragon Tamer; it was completely unfamiliar.
"If it weren’t for this Venerable One... I mean, if I hadn’t been schemed against by the Profound Celestial Divine Monarch, had most of my power absorbed by the Profound Yin Hanging Bead, and had the rest fall into Master’s body to help you open your Essence Upper Embryo and condense a Soul Body, I wouldn’t even put them in my sights."
"But now, I’m just a bit short!"
"I had hoped to use the Power of Original National Fate you absorbed to recover some of my strength, but now that you’ve completely digested it, that chance is gone!"
The Black Dragon had subconsciously used the term "this Venerable One," but catching Yang Chan’s wry, knowing smile, he instantly corrected himself and continued with a bitter laugh.
Of course, he wanted to recover his strength and find a way to break free of his restraints, but now it seemed he had been overthinking it.
When the Profound Celestial Divine Monarch had plotted against him, he had clearly considered every angle. He was now completely under control, with no hope of breaking free.
As he spoke, the Black Dragon sighed. If he had a choice, who would want to be subjugated by another, forced to call a weakling ’Master’?
But alas, even a member of the noble Dragon Race had to lower his proud head and submit to Yang Chan.
"Then how much strength do you have now?"
Yang Chan wasn’t surprised. He had personally absorbed the Black Dragon’s power, a process that had placed immense restrictions on such a being.
Furthermore, the Black Dragon had already paid a heavy price to escape the tower’s confinement, and then the Profound Yin Hanging Bead had drained its power, completely severing any possibility of it breaking free.
Yang Chan grew even more wary of this Profound Celestial Divine Monarch, whom he had never met. He hoped never to end up as a piece on such a person’s chessboard.
According to the Black Dragon, barring some accident, a person like that should still be alive.
"I can barely exert the power of the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm, within the Body Tempering Realm, and I can’t maintain it for long!"
"My Soul Body is restricted by the Profound Yin Hanging Bead, and since the Hanging Bead has acknowledged a master, my power can be at most one realm higher than yours, Master."
"However, even if you were to break through to the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm now, Master, I still wouldn’t have the power to break through to the Martial Saint Realm!"
"If I had absorbed those two streams of Power of Original National Fate, there might have been a chance, but that’s impossible now!"
The Black Dragon lowered his head, a look of disappointment on his draconic face.
"What about the Divine Acupoint Realm? If you devoured two Destiny Golden Dragons, could you restore your Cultivation to that level?"
Yang Chan asked with great curiosity.
The Divine Acupoint Realm was a mystery to him. There were no records of it in the Cyan Yuan Sect; he would likely only learn about it after heading to the Merak Sacred Land in the future.
"No. This world no longer has the power needed to create Divine Acupoints. Even if I devoured two Destiny Golden Dragons, reaching the Martial Saint Peak would be the absolute limit!"
"To break through to the Divine Acupoint Realm, you must absorb the power of a Divine Vein. That is the key power for the breakthrough."
"It’s a qualitative transformation of power. Even though I have broken through to the Divine Acupoint Realm before, I am still affected by this limitation."
"If I still had my Dragon Body, it might be possible. But now, with only my Soul Body remaining, it’s impossible to break through directly to the Divine Acupoint Realm."
The Black Dragon gave a bitter laugh. If he could, he would naturally want to recover more of his strength, but he too was affected by the limitations of the Taiyu Divine Continent. Trying to reach his peak here was more difficult than imaginable.
His future path was now extremely limited. If Yang Chan didn’t get far, he, being bound to him, would find the Cultivation he could recover was also finite.
If Yang Chan were to spend his whole life on the Taiyu Divine Continent, recovering to the Martial Saint Realm would be an incredible feat in itself for the dragon.
Although becoming the Artifact Spirit of the Profound Yin Hanging Bead had greatly extended his Lifespan, this was not the method of longevity he wanted. In fact, it was a path no Cultivator would ever choose.
It was a path of subjugation, where the future was uncertain. One might even say his path forward had been completely severed.
"’So, achieving the Divine Acupoint Realm is truly that difficult,’ then does opening the Essence Upper Embryo and condensing a Soul Body count as opening a Divine Acupoint?"
Yang Chan changed the topic, turning the conversation back to his own condition.
He had wondered about this before but had no way to confirm it. He couldn’t find any relevant information, and there was no one he could ask.
"The Essence Upper Embryo is one of the Divine Acupoints. However, Master, you are not considered to be in the Divine Acupoint Realm because you lack the empowerment from a Divine Vein’s power. Only by absorbing the power of a Divine Vein and completely Refining the Essence Upper Embryo will it become a true Divine Acupoint."
"Furthermore, to truly break through to the Divine Acupoint Realm, you need to condense at least three Divine Acupoints."
"However, the Essence Upper Embryo that you’ve condensed, Master, is truly miraculous. It is an Acupoint related to the Spirit. Now that it is formed, neither the spiritual condensation needed to break through to the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm nor the Martial Arts Will of the Martial Saint Realm will be a problem for you!"
"If you can obtain a Soul Body Cultivation technique, Master, you can also strengthen your Soul Body and use all kinds of magical abilities!"
"Something like Slaying Enemies with the Sword would become extremely simple!"
"Every Acupoint in the body has a special ability. Once developed, it can even grant you various Divine Techniques."
"Although you haven’t yet Refined the power of a Divine Vein to fully unlock the abilities of your Essence Upper Embryo, Master, you have already traveled much farther on the path of Martial Arts than others!"
The Black Dragon’s expression was complicated. After all, his power had been used to open Yang Chan’s Essence Upper Embryo.
In a sense, he had been the one to help Yang Chan achieve his Essence Upper Embryo and condense his Soul Body. The thought made the Black Dragon feel even more miserable.
But he also knew that even if Yang Chan hadn’t absorbed his power, it all would have flowed into the Profound Yin Hanging Bead, empowering the Treasure and giving it infinite potential.
After all, with the Soul Body of a Venerable Black Dragon serving as its Artifact Spirit, the bead’s potential was naturally immense.
"Then do you have any spiritual techniques for Soul Body Cultivation?"
At this, Yang Chan pictured a Sword Immortal performing Sword Flight and Slaying Enemies with the Sword, and his interest was naturally piqued.
"No. The Black Dragon Race is known for its physique. Besides, our Spiritual Power strengthens naturally as we mature; we have no need for spiritual Cultivation Techniques!"
"Moreover, the Cultivation Techniques of the Dragon Race are different from those of the Human Race. Our Dragon Body alone is a massive difference. By the same token, Human Race Cultivation Techniques are of little use to us, serving as a reference at best!"
The Black Dragon shook his head. He knew what Yang Chan meant; he had guessed his master’s objective the moment he’d brought up the Essence Upper Embryo.
As a Black Dragon who was adept at manipulating people’s hearts, he naturally understood their nature.
"Even Divine Acupoint Cultivation is vastly different. I’ve seen a few of the Human Race’s methods for cultivating Divine Acupoints, and they’re completely different from those of the Dragon Race!"
"I didn’t obtain many Human Race Divine Acupoint Cultivation Methods because they weren’t very useful, so I didn’t bother collecting them!"
"When the time comes, I will show you the Dragon Race’s Cultivation Technique and the Human Race ones I’ve obtained. Then you will understand the reasons why."
The Black Dragon continued, knowing that Yang Chan’s line of questioning would inevitably lead to Divine Acupoint Cultivation Methods. He didn’t want to be tortured by Yang Chan’s Secret Technique again, so he laid it all out.
He was being very candid at this moment. He had no choice, for he knew that Yang Chan was not a man who could be easily fooled.
So, it was better to be a wise man who yields to the circumstances!
"Good!"
Yang Chan was a little surprised the Black Dragon was so perceptive, but it was for the best. As for whether the Cultivation Techniques were genuine, he naturally had his own way of finding out.
With something as useful as the panel, if there was a problem with a technique, he would gain feedback in the form of cultivation experience after upgrading it. This would let him know if there were any hidden dangers, falsehoods, or traps.
Besides, he didn’t need to train arduously; he could just directly add points to improve. Even if a technique had many hidden flaws, he could still master the correct version, it would simply consume more Potential Points.
When Princess Lan Yue gave him the Emperor’s Shocking Book, he had used this very method to analyze it. It turned out there was a faint, hidden danger, though its impact wasn’t very significant. Since he didn’t plan on cultivating the Emperor’s Shocking Book in the future anyway, he was even less concerned!