Chapter 42: I am Xiao Qiang

  After deciding to try the Dragon Blood Body Tempering, under Tianya's orders, Jiang Heng first recovered his battle qi and spiritual power to their peak through cultivation before starting to temper his body.

  "Hao'er, since you've made up your mind, I won't say anything more. The process of refining one's body doesn't allow for halfway abandonment. If you can't hold on, even I won't be able to save you. So no matter how much pain you endure, you must persevere. Remember, you're my only disciple now." Yi Tian looked at Jiang Hao with a serious expression.

  "Teacher, don't worry, your disciple is not worth much, but I'm a little strong who can't be beaten to death. This kind of cultivation won't hold me back." Jiang Huan patted his chest and said with a big smile.

  Jiang Hao took a big step forward, coming to the outside of the circular hole. He saw that the essence blood was extremely thick and dense, emitting a fierce aura that shook Jiang Hao's spirit. The battle aura in this essence blood had already been condensed to its peak.

  With a swift motion, the clothes on his body were torn off, revealing a physique of ancient bronze color. Jiang Heng didn't hesitate for a moment, took a deep breath, and in the next instant, he had stepped forward, immersing his entire body into that vital blood, leaving only his head exposed outside.

  Just as he was immersed in it, Jiang Hao only felt the scorching temperature, and before he could react, a violent battle aura surged into his body from all the major acupoints. Jiang Hao's throat turned sweet, and a mouthful of blood spurted out. The thick battle aura didn't care about the size of the meridians, desperately drilling into Jiang Hao's body. In an instant, half of the meridians in Jiang Hao's body were shattered, burst open by the battle aura. Only then did Jiang Hao experience this kind of piercing pain.

  Under that skin, the surging war qi was like a violent dragon, directly causing Jiang Hao's tough skin to burst open with cracks all over, and even more war qi poured in from those openings. Now, Jiang Hao only had one feeling - he was about to explode. The war qi inside his dantian had already been condensed to the extreme, but the mottled war qi still kept pouring into his dantian non-stop, while Jiang Hao could only watch as his dantian was being stretched bigger bit by bit. In a short period of time, his dantian had already swollen to twice its original size.

  "Ah!" Jiang Hao finally couldn't hold it in and shouted out loud, his vision also starting to blur.

  "Haoer, since you're traveling alone, be careful and don't take unnecessary risks."

  "Hao'er, come and eat quickly, mom has cooked your favorite braised pork."

  "Mother!" Jiang Huan's blurry mind suddenly flashed with his mother's face and the reluctance of their parting, "Mother, Huan'Er will definitely work hard to give you a good life, Huan'Er will not give up."

  "Ah!" Another heart-wrenching scream, Jiang Huan's face was also constantly oozing out big drops of fresh blood, mixed with sweat and sliding down, biting his lips tightly, Jiang Huan propped himself up with all his might, what kind of conviction was that!

  "Xiao Jiang Hao, hold on, you must hold on!" Yuandong Bian was frantically pacing back and forth at the edge of the cave, his face filled with anxiety. As someone who had also experienced the Dragon Blood Refining Body, he still remembered the pain even after thousands of years. Back then, he had been refining his body with the strength of a War King, and it had taken him several days to recover from the intense agony that had left him screaming for hours before finally falling into a deep coma.

  Looking at Jiang Huan's blood-soaked body, his lips tightly closed, and constantly trembling, it was clear that he was on the verge of collapse. Yi Tian's heart was also tied up in knots. There was one thing that Yi Tian had not lied to Jiang Huan about: once the Dragon Blood Refining Body process had begun, it could not be abandoned halfway through. If it were, the violent power of the dragon blood would inevitably invade the body of the practitioner, ultimately leading to a fatal explosion. But if the refining was successful, then Jiang Huan's future would be boundless.

  The dragon clan has been a synonym for power since ancient times. The most powerful aspect of the dragon clan is not their combat strength, but rather their terrifying defensive capabilities and extremely tenacious vitality. Even if ordinary humans cultivate to the level of war gods, they can only live for thousands of years, whereas the lifespan of dragons generally exceeds tens of thousands of years, which is far beyond human comparison.

  "Ah!"

  Jiang Hao couldn't help but let out another miserable cry, as the endless stream of battle energy poured into his body like there was no end in sight, showing no signs of stopping.

  Everything in front of me is getting blurrier, the pain on my body is also fading away, it's numbness. "Mom, teacher, I'm not going to make it." I muttered, my eyelids are getting heavier, my body feels like it doesn't belong to me anymore, I'm drowsy and about to fall asleep.

  "Jiang Hao, cheer up, don't sleep!" A loud shout echoed in his mind, Jiang Hao suddenly shook off his drowsiness and woke up from his confusion.

  "Psst! Ah!"

  As he came to, the piercing pain struck again, Jiang Huan's hands clenched into fists, struggling to hold on.

  At this time, Jiang Hao's whole body was filled with battle qi, even the smallest meridians were packed with battle qi. The dantian was even more so, and his bones creaked under the pressure. The battle qi rampaged wildly inside Jiang Hao's body, as if it would not rest until it burst out of him.

  Just as Jiang Hao was about to collapse again, a black light flashed on his chest, and a black bead slowly appeared in front of him, embedded in the center of his chest.

  The moment the bead appeared, those surging war auras suddenly hesitated for a moment before turning around and rushing towards the black bead. Jiang Hao only felt a faint coolness spreading from his chest, and in the next instant, the violently rising war aura poured into his chest. This black bead was actually what Jiang Hao had obtained after killing the Fire Rock King Snake.

  The surging battle energy finally found an outlet, and it madly surged towards the black pearl. The surface of the black pearl rippled with a faint wave, and those boundless battle energies were all absorbed and swallowed. The flow of battle energy caused bursts of explosive sounds in the air, and slowly formed a vortex around the black pearl. This crazy absorption continued for several hours, until the turbulent battle energy finally slowed down and stopped. A few drops of essence blood contained such an astonishing amount of battle energy.

  Slowly, the war aura vortex finally began to disperse, and the black bead subtly grew larger by a circle. The occasional gleam that burst forth from its surface seemed to have come alive, jumping and leaping about as if it had sensed the dispersal of the war aura. The black bead jumped about several times before slowly returning into Jiang Hao's body, yet throughout this entire process, Jiang Hao felt nothing at all.

  "This kid, always like this!" Watching Hei Zhen Gang Jiang Huan absorb the excess battle energy, Shi Tian also wiped a cold sweat. The timing of Hei Zhen's appearance was just right; if it had appeared too early, Jiang Huan would not have been able to withstand the battle energy, but if it had appeared any later, Jiang Huan might have already exploded and died.

  "The most dangerous moment has passed, and now it's time for the purification of blood, haha, Xiao Jianghao, you've really brought me too many surprises." Yi Tian let out a sigh of relief, and a smile began to spread across his face.

  The essence in the round hole was no longer as thick and sticky as it was at the beginning, but had turned into a clear red color. In that red color, one could faintly see threads of golden silk that were almost invisible to the naked eye. Those threads of golden silk were like golden dragons, rolling up and down, spinning left and right. Just as the black pearl sank back into Jiang Hao's body, those threads of golden silk seemed to be attracted by something, and with a sudden movement, they drilled into Jiang Hao's wound.

  The meridians in Jiang Hao's body had been widened by the massive battle Qi, and those golden threads rushed into Jiang Hao's body, crazily drilling towards his heart position. The speed was so fast that as soon as Jiang Hao felt it, those golden threads had already shot fiercely into his heart.

  "Ah!" What's called heart-wrenching pain, Jiang Hao only felt it now.

  After the golden thread entered his heart, it immediately merged with Jiang Hao's blood and began to flow throughout his body. Every time it encountered bones, the golden thread seeped in, this time truly penetrating deep into his marrow. After the initial pain, Jiang Hao now felt as if his entire body was covered in crawling ants, the itching and pain unbearable.

  This process continued for several hours, and the mountain range was already pitch black, with only a crescent moon hanging in the air, bringing a hint of brightness to this empty space.

  The pure blood in the circular hole has become increasingly diluted, and occasionally some black liquid can be seen flowing out of Jiang Hao's wound, carrying a faint fishy smell. Under the moonlight, Jiang Hao's body actually emits a faint golden glow. Upon closer inspection, it is revealed to be a layer of fine scales. If anyone could see inside Jiang Hao's body now, they would discover that his skeleton is emitting a golden color from within, and his blood is also radiating a faint golden aura - this is the power of the dragon clan's bloodline! The tiny meridians have begun to slowly self-repair, and the wounds on his body are healing at a visible rate.

  "Little guy, you've made a big profit this time!" Tianyi opened his eyes, took a look at Jiang Hao who was sinking into the round hole, shook his head and said softly, "Hehe, he's really a little strong who can't be killed."