Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

"You two step back and keep order among the tribe's warriors; do not let them leave."

Inside the main hall, Chen Yuan and the other three sat on large stone chairs, arranged in a row.

Shen Yu, the Demon General, spoke softly, his expression gentle, but the language he spoke was obscure and difficult to pronounce, exactly the same as that of Li Chongshan and Zhang Fengyue.

The two clan leaders stood in front of the four, staring intently at the Demon General Chen Yu, their eyes glazed over with intoxication.

Upon hearing this, they immediately agreed, bowed and withdrew, their eyes still reluctant to leave Commander Chen Yu for even a moment.

They retreated all the way to the palace gate, turned around, and only then did the dazed look in their eyes disappear. They blinked blankly, regained their dignity as clan leaders, straightened their bodies, and strode out of the hall.

With a wave of his hand, the Demon General of Lieshan sent a gust of wind through the air, and the two heavy palace doors slammed shut with a loud bang, shaking the entire hall twice.

Shen Yu, the Demon General, frowned slightly and glanced at Lie Shan, the Demon General, without leaving a trace. With a smile on her jade-like face, she switched back to her original words: "These two dragon people have been bewitched by my illusion. They will not have any disloyal thoughts for at least a month."

"During this period, both tribes were completely under our control."

Qin Yuan, the demon general, praised, "Fairy Shenyu's methods are indeed remarkable. She has manipulated these two people with ease."

"In this way, we don't have to worry about them lying, and our identities won't be revealed."

The Demon General of Lieshan frowned and said, "It's a pity that these two have too low cultivation and shallow knowledge. The farthest they've ever been is Tushan City. They've never even seen a cultivator in the Tengyun Realm."

"We have no idea where the true dragon's cave is, nor have we ever heard of the formation that covers this secret space, and we don't know where to start."

A hint of contempt flashed in Qin Yuan's eyes, but he did not show it on his face. He smiled and said, "Although these two have limited knowledge, what they say is not without value."

“Those Dragon Breath Platforms are quite suspicious; they should be related to the defensive array of this spatial secret realm… I wonder what Fellow Daoist Beiming thinks?”

He turned to look at Chen Yuan halfway through his sentence, his eyes showing a questioning look.

Chen Yuan, who had been quietly pondering, nodded slightly upon hearing this: "Fellow Daoist Qin Yuan is absolutely right. These Dragon Breath Platforms are very likely related to the defensive formation."

Even if that's not the case, it's still related to the True Dragon Cave. A thorough investigation should yield some results.

The Demon General Chen Yu nodded slightly, a hint of regret flashing in her beautiful eyes: "It's a pity that there are still cultivators at the Dragon Transformation Realm in this world. If we want to obtain the True Dragon's Relic Treasure, it will be as difficult as ascending to heaven..."

After the four revealed the aura of high-ranking demon generals, Li Chongshan and Zhang Fengyue became even more respectful. Taking advantage of this, Demon General Chenyu used illusion magic to subdue the two men and brought them into the main hall.

Although they did not use the Soul Searching Technique, the four of them still mastered the language of the natives of this world through the jade slips they carried in their mustard seed rings and through their communication in the illusion.

Under questioning from the demon general Chen Yu, Li Chongshan and Zhang Fengyue answered all their questions, and the four of them gained a deeper understanding of this secret space.

These natives call themselves "Dragon People," refer to this secret realm as "Xuanli Realm," and the unique spiritual energy that permeates this world is called "Dragon Energy."

The dragon people are relatively primitive, divided into tribes, and they revere the true dragon.

Every tribe would build a statue of a real dragon, worship it, and hold sacrificial ceremonies from time to time to offer sacrifices to the dragon and pray for the dragon's protection.

But the tribe’s true foundation lies in a stone platform in the mountains that resembles a giant cauldron, called the “Dragon’s Breath Platform.”

Legend has it that the Dragon Breath Platform was left by a real dragon, and it emits dragon energy. Every once in a while, a dragon energy tide will erupt, spewing out a large amount of dragon energy at once, which will last for several days and nights before it subsides.

During this period, the Qiu Cao and Qiu Shi tribes will send cultivators at the peak of the Blood Condensation Realm to enter and draw in dragon energy to break through their bottlenecks.

The success rate of breaking through to the Manifestation Realm in this way is ten or a hundred times higher than that of absorbing dragon energy or refining dragon energy stones or dragon energy pills on one's own.

All the Manifestation Realm elders of the Qiucao and Qiushi tribes, including the two clan leaders, successfully broke through to the Manifestation Realm at the Dragon Breath Platform, without exception.

Like the demon race and the human race, the dragon people's cultivation is divided into nine levels from bottom to top: Dragon Breath, Hibernating Scales, Blood Condensation, Manifestation, Soaring Clouds, Transformation into a Dragon, Controlling the Heavens, Nine Transformations, and True Dragon.

Among them, the Manifestation Realm is equivalent to the Demon General or Nascent Soul stage, and by analogy, the True Dragon is equivalent to the Tribulation Transcending stage of the two races.

Legend has it that once one cultivates to this level, one can transform into a true dragon.

However, neither Li Chongshan nor Zhang Fengyue had ever seen a cultivator in the Cloud Transformation Realm, let alone those in the Dragon Transformation Realm, the Heavenly Sovereign Realm, or the Nine Transformations Realm. As for the legendary True Dragon Realm, it existed only in legends and ancient texts.

However, the two were certain that cultivators at the Dragon Transformation Realm should exist, but what about those at the Heavenly Ascension Realm and above was unknown.

The dragon people of Xuanli Realm are divided into tribes, and among these tribes, there are differences in size, which are further divided into three levels.

The Qiucao tribe and the Qiushi tribe were the lowest-ranking tribes, named after the character "Qiu" (虬).

Among these tribes, the highest level of cultivation is the Manifestation Realm cultivator.

Within a radius of 100,000 li of Tushan City, there are seven third-class tribes.

Throughout the entire Xuanli Realm, there are countless third-class tribes.

The second-class tribes are named "Cang". They have cultivators at the Cloud Ascension Realm who are stationed in the tribes, establish cities, and govern tens of thousands of miles of land.

Behind Tushan City lies Cangnan, a region with a history spanning tens of thousands of years and renowned for its power.

The other second-tier tribes also have a long history and profound cultural heritage.

The first-class tribes are named "Ying" and have a cultivator at the Dragon Transformation Realm in charge; there are very few of them in the entire Xuanli Realm.

Li Chongshan and Zhang Fengyue only knew of the Yingqian tribe, which they had only heard about from people in Cangnan while in Tushan City. They said that the city they built was a million miles away, and they knew nothing else about it.

The clan leader of the Yingqian tribe should be a cultivator at the Dragon Transformation Realm.

Regardless of the tribe, they all rely on the Dragon's Breath Platform as their foundation to ensure their survival and inheritance.

Without the Dragon Breath Platform, it would be extremely difficult for the cultivators in the tribe to break through their bottlenecks, and they would soon decline and perish silently.

However, Dragon Breath Platforms also vary in quality. The Dragon Breath Platforms of the Qiu Grass Tribe and Qiu Stone Tribe can only help cultivators in the Blood Condensation Realm break through to the Manifestation Realm, but they are of no use to cultivators in the Manifestation Realm.

The Dragon Breath Platform in Cangnan can not only help cultivators at the peak of the Blood Condensation Realm break through bottlenecks, but also help cultivators at the Manifestation Realm attempt to reach the Cloud Soaring Realm.

This is the reason why the Cangnan lineage has been passed down for tens of thousands of years, and why the cultivators of the Tengyun Realm have never been interrupted.

The current clan leader of Cangnan, Wang Xuanyue, is a cultivator at the Tengyun Realm, and there are three other elders at the Tengyun Realm, all of whom are renowned and influential.

Li Chongshan and Zhang Fengyue speculated that Ying Qianbu's Dragon Breath Platform should be able to help cultivators at the peak of the Cloud Transformation Realm break through to the Dragon Transformation Realm.

As for whether there are even more powerful Dragon Breath Platforms that can help people break through to the Heavenly Realm, the Ninth Transformation Realm, or even the True Dragon Realm, the two of them have no idea.

The Dragon Breath Platform is most common in Minwei Mountain. It only erupts once every ten years, and can provide enough energy for five cultivators who have reached the peak of the Blood Condensation Realm to break through to the Manifestation Realm.

However, not everyone at Dragon's Breath Platform can break through the bottleneck.

Each time the dragon energy tide erupts, only two or three people can break through, and there have even been embarrassing situations where only one person has broken through.

If a cultivator fails to break through the bottleneck, they will suffer a backlash from the dragon energy and be severely injured.

However, this has nothing to do with the dragon energy tide, but rather with the poor aptitude of the cultivators entering the Dragon Breath Platform. The Qiu Cao Tribe has also had instances where four people broke through the bottleneck, and even all five people succeeded, but these are extremely rare, occurring only a handful of times in thousands of years.

That was also the most powerful time for the Qiucao tribe, a story that has been passed down to this day and is fondly remembered by every member of the Qiucao tribe.

The Qiushi tribe and the Qiucao tribe nearly went to war today, vying for a spot to enter the Dragon's Breath Platform.

Li Chongshan could easily send one of the most solidly rooted cultivators from the Qiushi tribe, with the greatest chance of breaking through to the Blood Condensation Realm, to seize the pure dragon energy from the Dragon Breath Platform of Minwei Mountain.

The Qiu Cao tribe will have one less spot, as the pure dragon energy will be taken away, and the chances of the other four breaking through their bottlenecks will be greatly reduced.

However, the Dragon Breath Platform at Luanyun Peak in the Qiushi tribe will have an extra spot.

This is just the beginning. Ten years later, Li Chongshan will demand two more slots to continue suppressing the development of the Qiucao tribe.

With this ebb and flow, a hundred years later, the Qiushi tribe will be able to completely overwhelm the Qiucao tribe, and even swallow the Qiucao tribe, occupying both Dragon Breath Platforms.

However, with the arrival of Chen Yuan and his three companions, Li Chongshan's grand plan was thwarted.

Chen Yuan and his companions had no interest in the conflict between the two dragon-human tribes, but the Dragon Breath Platforms were widely distributed and emitted dragon energy, which was likely related to the great formation guarding the Xuanli Realm.

The four of them naturally wanted to go inside and explore, as they could not allow the cultivators from the two tribes to use the dragon energy tide to break through to the Manifestation Realm.

Shen Yu, the demon general, also specifically asked about the origin of the name Xuanli Realm, but neither Li Chongshan nor Zhang Fengyue knew the answer, only that it was passed down from the elders.

Chen Yuan was quite interested in the origins of the dragon people, but neither of them knew anything about it. They only knew that the dragon people had been born since the creation of the Xuanli Realm and were favored by the true dragons.

Qin Yuan, the Demon General, was meticulous and asked the two if they knew that there were other realms outside the Xuanli Realm, but the two did not know either.

……

As soon as Demon General Shenyu finished speaking, Demon General Qinyuan frowned and said, "The strength of a cultivator in the Dragon Transformation Realm is comparable to that of a Demon King. We can only proceed with caution. We are most likely to miss out on the True Dragon Cave and may fail the trust placed in us by the four Demon Kings."

The Demon General of Lieshan said, "These two are just repeating hearsay. Whether that Dragon Transformation Realm cultivator actually exists is still unknown."

"Even if there are indeed cultivators at the Dragon Transformation Realm, with over a hundred demon generals entering the Xuanli Realm together, and even human cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage, they will also come here. We may not necessarily encounter them."

Chen Yuan nodded slightly: "Fellow Daoist Lieshan is right. We still know too little."

"Tushan City is not far from here. We might as well go to the Dragon Breath Platform first to find out what's going on, and then go to Tushan City to meet with Wang Xuanyue, the chief of the Cangnan tribe, and find out the truth about this world."

Qin Yuan, the demon general, frowned and said, "I'm afraid that Wang Xuanyue sees us as enemies and will not cooperate."

“Li Chongshan and Zhang Fengyue are unaware that there are countless worlds beyond the Xuanli Realm, but Wang Xuanyue may well know this and will not treat us invaders kindly.”

"Even if Wang Xuanyue was unaware of this, we are very different from the dragon people in appearance and have no scales. This person may also regard us as evil demons and aliens and attack us without saying a word."

The Demon General of Lieshan said without hesitation, "Our purpose in coming here is to destroy the formation and find the true spirit treasure. We are enemies with the natives of this world."

"If Wang Xuanyue refuses to cooperate, we will capture her and extract her soul."

"If the four of us join forces, even if Wang Xuanyue has the cultivation of the late stage of the Cloud Soaring Realm, we will definitely not be a match for her."

Qin Yuan Demon General nodded slightly: "That's the only way. However, as the chief of the Cangnan tribe, Wang Xuanyue usually stays in the tribe to cultivate and rarely shows herself."

"But the dragon people also cultivate divine sense and can set up formations. How can we lure them out?"

Dragon people also practice alchemy, weapon crafting, talisman making, and array formation, but they base their skills on dragon energy, which differs slightly from the various arts of cultivation.

However, the Qiu Cao tribe is too weak, and its heritage is mediocre, so it cannot produce enough dragon energy stones to set up an array.

The Cangnan region possesses profound resources and formidable strength, controlling several dragon energy stone veins. It has also deployed defensive formations within Tushan City, which are rumored to be able to withstand cultivators at the Tengyun Realm.

The Demon General of Lieshan said nonchalantly, "What's so difficult about that? Just send one person to attack the city, and then feign defeat and flee."

“There are four Cloud-Soaring cultivators in Cangnan, they certainly won’t back down.”

"It would be best if Wang Xuanyue chased after them, but it doesn't matter if other cultivators at the Soaring Cloud Realm follow; we can just capture them."

Chen Yuan shook his head: "That's too hasty. We don't know whether there are any cultivators in the Xuanli Realm, such as those in the Dragon Transformation Realm, or those in the Heavenly Ascension Realm or the Ninth Transformation Realm."

"If we make too much noise and attract powerful dragon-human warriors, how should we deal with it?"

"It's best to be cautious, conceal your identity, and not make a big fuss."

The Demon General of Lieshan frowned and said, "Then, in Fellow Daoist Beiming's opinion, what should we do?"

Chen Yuan looked at Demon General Shen Yu, clasped his hands in a bow, and said, "Whether this matter can be accomplished depends on Fellow Daoist Shen Yu."

"Fellow Daoist is skilled in illusion techniques. I wonder if you could disguise us as dragon people and infiltrate Tushan City to secretly investigate before making any plans?"

Shen Yu, the Demon General, smiled slightly: "What's so difficult about that? The illusion I cast is enough to deceive dragon people below the Cloud Ascension Realm. Those below the late Cloud Ascension Realm will not be able to see through it without careful investigation."

The Demon General of Lieshan was taken aback, then laughed and said, "I have always been a loner, but I forgot that Fellow Daoist Shenyu is skilled in illusions."

"Being able to infiltrate Tushan City without lifting a finger is naturally the best thing ever."

Qin Yuan, the demon general, said, "Then it's settled. Without further ado, let's enter the Dragon Breath Platform to investigate, and then head to Tushan City."

"The other demon generals are definitely searching for the secrets of the formation and the treasures left by the true dragon. The human race's Nascent Soul stage cultivators may also enter the Xuanli Realm at any time. We must not fall behind them."

All three nodded in agreement, immediately got up and walked out of the main hall, their escape lights flashing as they flew into Minwei Mountain.

Although the Dragon Breath Platform is the foundation of the Dragonman tribe, the dragon energy gushing from it is too violent, like poison. If one were to directly inhale it, it would be detrimental to cultivation.

The thatched hut hall built by the Qiucao tribe is located at the foot of the Minwei Mountains, far from the Dragon's Breath Terrace.

Only when the dragon energy tide erupts can the Blood Condensation Realm cultivators of the Qiongcao Tribe enter it to break through their bottlenecks with the help of the violent and pure dragon energy.

After Chen Yuan and his companions entered Minwei Mountain, the dragon energy from all directions suddenly surged and flowed into their bodies.

The four were greatly surprised. Li Chongshan and Zhang Fengyue only said that dragon energy could not be directly absorbed into the body, but it would not attack dragon people.

Chen Yuan did not immediately release his true essence to form a protective shield. Instead, he allowed the dragon energy to enter his body, rampaging and annihilating his true essence. It was extremely aggressive, but it could not harm his physical body.

Chen Yuan frowned, condensing his true essence to form a protective shield, blocking the surging dragon energy.

The other three also tested it out before they were able to condense a demonic energy shield to block the impact of the dragon's energy.

The closer the four got to the Dragon Breath Platform, the more violent the dragon energy became, condensing around them like four dragon energy storms, but still unable to break through the protective shield on their bodies.

As they arrived above the Dragon Breath Platform, the dragon energy became even more violent, causing the dragon energy of the entire mountain range to tremble and surge towards them.

Chen Yuan stopped and said, "This dragon energy seems to be so frantic because the demonic power within us is different from its own. It sees us as a thorn in its side and is determined to eliminate us before it will stop." (End of Chapter)