The True Vessel of a Dragon
However, to prevent the contents from splashing or leaking, the shell had to be cracked as stably as possible. No, "melting" was a more appropriate description than cracking.
'My monster power is far coarser than the Dharma Power of the Human Race, so I must be even more careful.' Jekyeong slowly enveloped the stone with his monster power. He was about to exert his full strength, but quickly changed his mind.
'My monster power is practically fire itself. In that case, instead of directly forcing it inside, wouldn't simply enveloping the stone melt its spiritual shell?'
This was akin to melting something with ambient heat rather than placing it directly over an open flame. It was a sudden whim, but even if it failed, he had nothing to lose. Jekyeong decided to give it a try.
The stone enveloped in his monster power showed no immediate change. However, Jekyeong waited with patience. He watched closely with his eyes while observing with his Spiritual Awareness.
After some time had passed, a faint ripple appeared on the surface of the stone. It was a fleeting change that occurred and vanished in an instant, but Jekyeong did not miss it. His nearly depleted patience was instantly restored.
A day passed, then two, then three, then four. Now, the surface of the stone had turned soft and gelatinous, like jelly. It trembled constantly, becoming transparent enough to reveal the interior.
How much more time passed in that state? Finally, the spiritual shell melted away, and the crimson entity dwelling within revealed itself.
Jekyeong immediately withdrew his monster power, placed the substance into a small vial, and sealed it. Only after confirming that the seal was secure did he examine it closely.
'As I thought, it's blood.' What lay inside the vial was a single drop of blood. In the end, the bizarre stone was indeed a Blood Crystal, just as he had suspected.
'This is Essence Blood. There's no mistake.' Jekyeong recognized the nature of the blood inside the vial at once. It was partly because of the vibrant energy and life force pulsing from that single drop, but also due to a sense of familiarity. He himself harbored a drop of Essence Blood in his own heart, so even though it belonged to another, he could easily identify it.
'Essence Blood...' Essence Blood was a condensation of vital energy and the very essence of life. It was a spiritual treasure—and a top-grade one at that. Not only was it used as an ingredient for various precious alchemical pills, but it was also utilized in crafting Dharma treasures. For Body Cultivators, it was considered the ultimate elixir for training.
'If I sell it... I could fetch a high price.' But not all Essence Blood was created equal. Even if it was just a single drop, how could the Essence Blood of a Great Demon compare to that of a Demon King? Judging by the aura radiating from the vial, Jekyeong surmised that this was the Essence Blood of a Great Demon.
Based on the auras of the Great Demons he had encountered so far, this was highly likely to be Essence Blood shed by a Great Yao at the very peak of the mid-stage or the late-stage of the Great Yao realm.
'I might be able to trade it for high-grade spirit stones... but even so, it would be a waste.' There was a reason why Essence Blood was hailed as the ultimate elixir for Body Cultivators. Only those who had tempered their physical vessels could fully digest the immense power contained within it. Using it as an ingredient for pills or consuming it during the creation of Dharma treasures was practically a waste by comparison.
Yet, even Body Cultivators who could maximize the efficacy of Essence Blood could not compare to the Beast Race. While human Body Cultivators might absorb sixty to seventy percent of its energy, those of the Beast Race could digest over eighty percent, depending on their innate abilities.
'I'll use it myself.' Jekyeong stared at the brilliantly glowing crimson Essence Blood for a long moment before finally making up his mind. Why did he gather spirit stones in the first place? Was it not to acquire cultivation resources? When the ultimate elixir was right before his eyes, why should he refuse it? Although this Essence Blood would not aid in accumulating monster power, enhancing his physical strength was more than significant enough.
Two days later. After calming his mind and body, Jekyeong removed the seal from the vial and emptied it straight into his mouth. As the Essence Blood entered his stomach, his robust physical vessel immediately began to absorb it.
The change was instantaneous. His blood boiled, and his body began to writhe. Crack! Snap!
At this moment, two drops of Essence Blood existed within Jekyeong's body. One was the drop he had forged himself, and the other was the one he had just begun to absorb. The two drops pulled at each other, trembling precariously as if they might merge at any second.
Creeeeack! When the Essence Blood was halfway absorbed, his molting began. His already colossal body expanded further, and the two sharp horns growing on his head slowly extended outward.
At some point, the elongated horns snapped and fell away. In their place, thicker, sturdier horns began to sprout anew. They seemed to grow as long as the discarded ones before gradually starting to curve.
Crack! Jekyeong opened his maw wide and unconsciously spewed fire. An intensely stimulating sensation—both agonizing and deeply refreshing, like having his entire body kneaded by an incredibly skilled and powerful masseuse—spread from the tip of his head to the end of his tail.
Boom! A slight flick of his tail struck the ground, causing the floor of the grand hall to split wide open and sending a violent tremor through the entire Black Cult Palace.
Cheongo, who had been sprawled flat on its belly in its nest, was launched high into the air. Drooling in its sleep, Cheongo blankly opened its eyes, trying to grasp what was happening, only to crash back down to the ground with a shriek.
"Ah, seriously!" Cheongo glared resentfully at Jekyeong, whose body was still writhing. It was utterly exasperating how Jekyeong constantly destroyed the building and made deafening noises at any given hour.
Isn't cultivation supposed to be based on pure, effortless non-action? Why is that guy always like this? 'Huh? Wait, what is pure, effortless non-action anyway?' Cheongo was suddenly bewildered by its own thoughts. Pure, effortless non-action? Cultivation? Had it seen those concepts in a dream? Yes, it felt like it. But when?
'Ah, whatever.' Thinking too much only made it drowsy. Cheongo closed its eyes, which had quickly grown too heavy to keep open. It stretched its wings out to both sides and pressed its plump belly against the ground.
Even as Cheongo woke and drifted back to sleep, Jekyeong was still shivering, savoring the surge of Essence Blood and the lingering aftereffects of his molting.
'I was mistaken.' Jekyeong narrowed his eyes as he felt his visibly strengthened physical vessel naturally containing and circulating a far greater amount of monster power. 'As the vessel grows larger and sturdier, the power contained within it also increases and becomes denser.'
It wasn't a massive difference, but it was undeniably distinct. Currently, the mainstream path in the cultivation world was that of the Dharma Cultivator. It was a method of raising one's realm by refining Dharma Power, which was practically treated as the sole path.
On the other hand, Body Cultivators generally played a secondary role. Compared to Dharma cultivation, tempering the physical body was slow, and even with arduous training, the increase in lifespan was negligible. Thus, cultivators pressed for time had no leisure to dabble in body cultivation.
Even those called Body Cultivators in the current cultivation world were not pure Body Cultivators but practitioners of Dual Body and Spell Cultivation; they were merely called Body Cultivators because their physical training was exceptionally outstanding compared to others.
The Beast Race was not much different from the Human Race in this regard. Most of the Beast Race possessed physical bodies that were inherently far stronger than those of humans, so they felt no need to temper them. Furthermore, while their cultivation was largely based on the inheritance of their bloodline, breaking through realms was fundamentally tied to the accumulation of monster power, causing them to pay even less attention to physical conditioning.
Jekyeong had been the same. His powerful body was his greatest asset, but it relied entirely on his molting, and he had never specifically thought about actively training his physical form.
But now, Jekyeong's perspective had shifted. He felt that his strengthened body could absorb a greater amount of environmental spiritual energy. He felt the flow and manipulation of his monster power becoming significantly smoother.
'Why is it different from before?' He had undergone molting more than once or twice. This molting was no different from the previous ones, save for the fact that it had been greatly accelerated by the power of the Essence Blood. Could it be the effect of the Essence Blood itself rather than the molting? That was possible, but it felt somewhat unsatisfactory.
'Perhaps I've been looking at this the wrong way.' Jekyeong suddenly recalled the various realms of Dharma cultivation. Taking the Human Race as an example, besides the major realms like Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment, they divided their cultivation stages into three minor realms: early, mid, and late. These were bottlenecks, both large and small. And such bottlenecks must have existed since ancient times, long before humans categorized and named them.
Then what about body cultivation? If this, too, was a branch of the immortal path, wouldn't bottlenecks naturally exist along the path of body cultivation as well?
'I might not know of them, but they surely exist.' Jekyeong was certain that the Human Race possessed both deep and shallow inheritances regarding body cultivation, which would include knowledge of its realms. However, such knowledge would be of little use to him. After all, he belonged to the Beast Race; he was a Demon Beast.
Unlike Dharma cultivation, which was based on spiritual nature, body cultivation was rooted in the physical vessel. For him, possessing a body incomparably grander than any human's, there was neither reason nor value in referencing human cultivation methods.
'I have broken through a bottleneck on the path of body cultivation.' If so, had he crossed a minor realm or a major realm? Perhaps even this classification was inappropriate. After all, dividing realms into minor and major was the human way.
'Looking at it this way, distinguishing between Dharma and Body seems foolish in itself. If they can support each other, there is no reason to choose only one.'
For the past ten years, he had focused solely on accumulating monster power. It hadn't been bad. He felt steady progress and was confident that the mid-stage of the Great Yao realm was not far off. Compared to other beasts, and even human cultivators, his cultivation speed was remarkably fast.
But now, as he operated Thought-Burning Cultivation with his newly reborn body, he could clearly feel that both the quantity and quality of the accumulated monster power were far superior to before.
'It's certain. This path is the orthodox way. At least, it is the right path for me.' His heart swelled with anticipation. Guided by his Thought-Burning Cultivation, the environmental spiritual energy flowed in, transforming into flames that flickered across his entire body. Amidst the blazing fire, Jekyeong smiled with absolute satisfaction.
Finding a new and better path was one thing, but walking it was another. This might be a slightly different matter, but who didn't know that stuffing oneself with spiritual medicine would accelerate cultivation? Everyone knew. They simply couldn't do it because they lacked the resources.
In that regard, Jekyeong's situation remained unchanged. Whether it was accumulating monster power or tempering his physical body, resources were always the bottleneck. However, the only difference now was that his physical vessel had a way to be tempered somewhat faster, even without spiritual medicine.
Crunch, crunch—
He tossed hundreds of spirit stones into his mouth all at once. It was an act of sheer extravagance that would make the eyes of poor Rogue Cultivators turn bloodshot with envy, but Jekyeong didn't care in the slightest about the jealousy of such paupers.
He simply moved his jaws mechanically, carefully observing the "stimulation" that hundreds of low-grade spirit stones brought to his physical vessel.
'It's not bad, but it's not great either.' In the past, he would have frowned at the poor cost-efficiency, but not anymore. Buying spiritual items with spirit stones took time and required luck.