Qin Renhuang just became an immortal, and you told me this is the prehistoric time

Although its size was forcibly shrunk to accommodate the formation's power, it still occupied nearly one-tenth of the formation's space, exuding a strong aura of death and antiquity.

Meanwhile, the 108 star islands, like a swarm of sharks that have smelled blood, are circling and colliding with the ancient corpse at high speed! With each collision, large chunks of "fragments" are scraped and torn off the ancient corpse's seemingly tough but actually fragile body, which has long been weakened by the passage of time and strange suction.

These fragments were not simply bone and flesh, but rather a mixture of dried and hardened blood, weathered tissue, and some strange, gray crystalline sediment.

After they separated from the ancient corpse, they were immediately enveloped and refined by the star power and yin and yang energies emanating from the island!
Most notably, from deep within some of the larger wounds of the ancient corpse, squeezed out by the impact of the island, dozens of fist-sized clumps of blood essence, radiating a dark golden luster like liquid metal, yet containing unimaginably abundant life force...

These essences of blood seemed to possess a spirit; even after being separated from their original bodies for countless ages, they still exuded a faint aura of power.

They shot through the array space, crashing into the depths of the spiritual soil of star islands!
"boom!"

The essence of blood entered the earth and instantly exploded, transforming into an extremely rich crimson radiance that illuminated the entire island in a fiery red! The vast and pure life energy erupted like a volcanic eruption, instantly sweeping across every inch of the island's land and every spiritual herb!
"Rustling..."

All the spiritual roots and herbs, regardless of their age, trembled violently at this moment! They expanded, grew, and transformed at a visible speed! The branches and leaves became as if carved from jade, thick and gnarled; the flowers bloomed brilliantly, and the fragrance of herbs condensed into tangible rays of light; the fruits rapidly swelled and ripened, their surfaces flowing with mysterious patterns!
Many medicinal herbs that were originally only a thousand years old broke through a certain limit in just a few breaths, reaching the so-called "ten thousand years" level! Moreover, this growth was not superficial, but a solid improvement in essence!
Even more miraculously, some medicinal herbs that have reached their peak growth will spontaneously condense their most essential vitality and medicinal properties into a single, dazzling seed of spiritual light, which will detach from the mother plant and scatter to other areas of the island.

As soon as these new seeds land, they quickly absorb the remaining crimson light around them and begin a new round of even more rapid growth!

In a very short time, the 108 islands were almost entirely covered with all sorts of rare spiritual herbs that radiated astonishing spiritual energy and precious light! The variety, age, and potency of these herbs were simply unprecedented!

Many of the spiritual herbs had forms and auras that even Ying Xuan found unfamiliar. They were clearly ancient species that had long since disappeared from the world of Shrouding the Heavens, but had been revitalized by the ancient bloodline information remaining in the essence blood of this ancient corpse!

"Good! Good! Good!"

Ying Xuan said "good" three times, feeling delighted.

The gains were even greater than expected!

Without further hesitation, he swiftly formed refining incantations with both hands, sending profound runes into the core foundations of the 108 star islands.

As the incantation was activated, the massive spiritual power and life essence generated from refining the fragments of the ancient corpse and its blood, which was so large that it almost burst the array space, was no longer used solely to cultivate spiritual medicine. A considerable portion of it was forcibly guided and infused into the structure of the island itself!

These islands were originally crafted by Ying Xuan using top-tier materials and infused with the Yin-Yang essence of Purple Mountain, making them of extremely high quality. Now, under the frenzied infusion and tempering of such vast and pure spiritual energy and blood energy...

Each island began to emit a deep hum, its surface shimmering with a hazy, precious light. Its material was undergoing a slow but solid transformation, becoming denser and tougher, with a higher affinity for the power of the stars, and showing a subtle tendency to evolve to a higher level.

After all, the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends Formation had successively refined two supreme beings from the Undying Mountain, countless ferocious beasts, and now, with the addition of this mysterious ancient corpse with a height of ten thousand feet, the energy and life essence it absorbed were far too complex and abundant. The island itself was also somewhat "overfed," showing signs of fluctuating qi and blood.

Ying Xuan's current weapon-refining techniques are precisely helping them digest and temper these external forces, solidify their foundation, and enhance their essence.

Just as the ancient corpse was completely refined and disappeared without a trace, a cold glint suddenly flashed at the core of the array space, where the ancient corpse's heart had originally been!
It was a spear, dark gold in color, about twelve feet long, with an ancient and unadorned design, yet exuding a chilling aura of killing intent and deathly stillness! The spear shaft was covered with fine, natural patterns like dragon scales, and the tip of the spear gleamed coldly, as if it could pierce through the soul!
It just floated there quietly, yet it made the temperature of the entire array space seem to drop by several degrees.

"Weapons left behind in the Bitter Sea of ​​Ancient Corpses?"

Ying Xuan's eyes lit up, and with a wave of his hand, the dark gold spear flew into his grasp. It was incredibly heavy and chillingly cold, and within the spear shaft seemed to linger a trace of extremely faint yet profoundly powerful indomitable fighting spirit and killing intent.

"Great gun!"

Ying Xuan gave a compliment.

The material and craftsmanship of this spear are extraordinary. Although its spiritual energy is dormant and it is severely damaged, its foundation is too good! If it is brought back to the Great Qin Dynasty and the remaining foreign spiritual imprint is erased by the Maoshan weapon-refining method, and it is refined anew, given time, it will definitely have the potential to grow into a powerful immortal-level weapon of mass destruction!
As for the other treasures that might exist in the Ancient Corpse Sea of ​​Bitterness... they had long since vanished or lost all their spiritual essence under the erosion of time and the strange suction of that "black hole," becoming a pile of useless rubble that was refined by the formation. Obtaining this spear was already an unexpected delight.

He stored the dark gold spear in the deepest part of the stone gate space, placing it together with the large cauldron, to be dealt with later.

At this moment, the changes within the array space gradually subsided.

The 108 star islands, having absorbed the essence of the ancient corpses and undergone Ying Xuan's refining and tempering, have seen a slight improvement in their overall material quality. Their luster is restrained, yet they appear even more substantial. Spiritual herbs abound on the islands, lush and verdant, shrouded in lingering clouds of spiritual energy. Many of these herbs emit spiritual power fluctuations that truly reach the level of ten-thousand-year-old medicinal herbs!

Perhaps because the process of catalyzing growth is too fast, it lacks the unique "spirituality" and "mysticism" that naturally grow and develop, and needs time to mature and catalyze.

Looking at these ancient medicinal herbs, Ying Xuan suddenly recalled the principles of the earth vein network and spiritual vein exits in the Great Qin world.

"In the Great Qin Dynasty, I will channel the gathered spiritual energy through the earth's vein network to form 'spiritual vein exits' at specific nodes, providing a place for cultivators to practice or cultivate spiritual plants."

These ancient medicinal herbs contain a vast amount of pure spiritual energy and the laws of life... If they were planted in the opposite direction at the exit of a suitable spiritual vein, their own spirituality could nourish the earth and provide long-term sustenance, perhaps creating top-tier 'spiritual lands' or even 'small grotto-heavens'! This idea made his eyes gleam.

He laughed loudly, no longer hesitating. Now, in a relatively safe area, and with his strength at its peak due to refining the ancient corpse and spiritual herbs, it was the perfect opportunity for a further breakthrough!
He sat cross-legged atop the main island, his mind focused on the formation, and began to mobilize the vast spiritual energy that permeated all 108 islands and was almost inexhaustible!

"boom!"

One hundred and eight thick beams of spiritual energy, each a different color, shot into the sky from the core of each island, flowing like rivers into the sea, and converging towards the main island where Ying Xuan was located!

Finally, above the main island, a torrent of spiritual energy, more than ten feet in diameter, solid as liquid and radiating seven-colored light, condensed and poured down towards Ying Xuan's crown!

After days of battles, refinement, and adaptation on the Mythical Ancient Road, Ying Xuan's mastery of the Four Extremes Secret Realm was already unparalleled. Now, he intended to use this massive amount of spiritual energy as fuel to forcefully break through to the next secret realm—Dragon Transformation!
"Crash..."

The vast spiritual energy surged into Ying Xuan's dantian, the Sea of ​​Bitterness, like a bursting dam. The Sea of ​​Bitterness instantly boiled, its waves surging, and the newly formed spring of life spun like a windmill, rapidly transforming the incoming spiritual energy into the purest life energy and divine power. Then, like a high-pressure water pump, it forcibly pushed this energy deep into every cell of Ying Xuan's body!
The cells are wailing, reorganizing, and transforming! They are frantically devouring energy, breaking through their own limits of strength, activity, and storage time and time again!
The limbs, bones, and skin burst with thunderous roars under the scouring of spiritual energy, and the blood and qi surged and roared like the Yangtze River!
Once the limbs are completely filled with pure energy and strengthened to the limit of the current realm, the massive flow of spiritual energy does not stop. Instead, it follows a mysterious path, like hundreds of rivers flowing into the sea, and surges towards the great dragon of the human body—the spine!
"Crack...knock..."

Subtle yet dense sounds of bone friction and reassembly emanated from Ying Xuan's body.

His spine seemed to come alive at this moment, each vertebra shining like a miniature star under the infusion of spiritual energy, the connections between them becoming tighter, stronger, and more elastic! A powerful "dragon-shaped" aura arose from his spine, faintly spreading to the skeletal network throughout his body!

The Dragon Transformation Realm focuses on cultivating the spine, connecting to the limbs and linking the entire skeleton, leading to a deeper transformation and unification of the physical body. This results in more refined and powerful Qi and blood, smoother and more perfect power transmission, and a significant increase in vitality and recovery ability!

There were no earth-shattering phenomena, only a profound and fundamental leap within his body. Naturally, Ying Xuan officially entered the fifth secret realm of the Heaven-Covering Technique—the Dragon Transformation Realm!

However, the influx of spiritual energy was simply too immense. The newly opened sea of ​​suffering and the body could not fully absorb and transform it in time, causing the spiritual energy in the sea of ​​suffering to surge and even show signs of bursting.

Ying Xuan remained calm and immediately stood up. Right there on the mountaintop, he began to practice the most basic boxing techniques recorded in the Daoist scripture taught by Li Ruoyu. His movements were slow and steady, precise and methodical, yet subtly carried a peculiar rhythm.

As he extended his fists and feet, the excess and restless spiritual energy within his body seemed to be combed and guided by an invisible hand, beginning to be evenly distributed throughout the finer meridians, acupoints, and even the hair and skin of his entire body, further strengthening his newly transformed physical body. At the same time, it also allowed Ying Xuan to have a more detailed perception and control over the new power he gained in the Dragon Transformation Realm.

At the same time, another thought crossed his mind!

The black and white jade pendant at his waist trembled slightly. Then, the entire Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Formation began to slowly shrink and become ethereal, eventually transforming into a stream of light that followed Ying Xuan's meridians and sank back into the vast sea of ​​bitterness in his dantian!

This time, the formation entered my body, and the feeling was completely different from before!
In the sea of ​​suffering, the jade tablet of the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Array, which had been refined by countless powerful beings and had just been tempered by Ying Xuan using the weapon-refining technique, seemed to have found the best place to nurture itself.

It floats above the spring of life, slowly rotating, creating a deeper resonance with Yingxuan's life essence.

Even more remarkably, within Ying Xuan's Purple Mansion Sea of ​​Consciousness, the light clusters of "spiritual roots" representing different law attributes were also unusually active at this moment.

They scattered fragments of laws and Daoist principles, and through invisible connections, they began to slowly and actively "engrave" the fragments of the laws of heaven and earth that they had absorbed and condensed, as well as the "imprints" of Ying Xuan's own understanding of the laws, onto the core structure of the array jade tablet in the Sea of ​​Bitterness!

Meanwhile, the newly born, pure life essence and spiritual power from the Sea of ​​Bitterness continuously flowed into the array jade tablet, nurturing it and making the jade tablet's material more crystal clear. Its internal structure also seemed to be undergoing subtle optimization. Consequently, the spiritual roots and herbs on the 108 star islands within the array space inside the jade tablet seemed to have undergone an invisible "refinement," becoming more pure in medicinal properties and more solid in foundation.

Of course, this process is not without its costs.

To support his breakthrough to the Dragon Transformation Realm and the subsequent nurturing of the formation, Ying Xuan continuously drew massive amounts of spiritual energy from the various star islands. On the islands, the spiritual herbs that had just been nurtured to the ten-thousand-year level began to visibly wither.

Many medicinal herbs, due to excessive extraction of their spiritual energy, rapidly withered and shriveled, eventually collapsing and disintegrating with a series of "poof" sounds, turning into a small clump of ashes, leaving only the most core spiritual seed, which fell into the spiritual soil, waiting for the next rebirth.

Even so, Ying Xuan did not stop, and the islands continued to send spiritual energy to him.

Looking at the spiritual herbs that had turned to ashes, and feeling the close connection between the array within his body and himself, a thought suddenly flashed through Ying Xuan's mind, confirming his previous guess.

"The world here is lacking in energy, and cultivators have limited lifespans, yet it has given birth to such a rare thing as 'Source'. I previously suspected that Source Stones were crystallized from the sea of ​​suffering of previous generations of cultivators... Now it seems that it may be more than just the sea of ​​suffering. After a cultivator dies, their physical body, spiritual power, and even some of their understanding of the laws may precipitate and condense under special conditions, potentially forming 'Source'."

"My spiritual roots and herbs grow in the array space, absorbing and refining the life essence and spiritual power of various powerful beings. In some ways, their effects are more direct and efficient than source stones!"
They not only provide pure energy, but also feed back life essence and fragments of laws... This is practically a living, renewable 'super source crystal'!

This discovery made him pay even more attention to cultivating these medicinal herbs.

When nearly half of the island's spiritual energy had been extracted, and countless millennia-old medicinal herbs had turned to ashes, leaving only seeds and newly sprouted seedlings, Ying Xuan finally stopped the extraction. (End of Chapter)