Douluo Amon: I am the Heavenly Venerable of the Dragon King.

Chapter 540: The Dragon God Core Begins to Wither

"On the Douluo Continent, the current record for the fastest cultivation from Soul Saint to Title Douluo is that of Holy Spirit Douluo Ya Li, who only took one year."

"But if I wanted to, I could easily break this record and reach the Title Douluo level in no time."

Nan Fusheng stood quietly in place, his eyes slightly closed, fully experiencing the abundant soul power surging within his body. He wasn't just boasting; he had ample confidence and strength to support this assertion.

Whether it was Naxida or Aponia, after they sacrificed themselves to Nan Fusheng, they left behind a sufficient amount of soul power in his body.

The fusion of Nan Fusheng and Tianqian took three days and three nights, as they sorted out these energies so that they could be better absorbed.

Now that Narcida and Aponia's power has been absorbed, most of the power of the Divine Punishment exists within his body in a sealed manner.

Nan Fusheng knew that even if he randomly chose a hundred-year-old soul spirit to fuse with at this moment, with the incomparably powerful soul power of Tianqian, it would be enough to push his strength to the level of a quasi-titled Douluo.

Of course, this is only in theory; Nan Fusheng still has some requirements for his soul.

Gray, gray, gray, red, green gold, gold, purple-black—seven soul rings of different colors slowly rose from beneath Nan Fusheng's feet, exuding a mysterious and powerful aura.

The first three spirit rings are gray because they are currently being absorbed by the purple-white crystal.

"Main Body, now that you've successfully absorbed the Seventh Soul Spirit, why don't you check on its condition first? When you signed the Soul Spirit Contract with Heavenly Punishment, this crystal swallowed both Dragon God Cores and the Time Worm. We don't know its current state."

At this moment, seeing that Nan Fusheng had finished, Fusheng No. 1 immediately came over to report the situation.

"Let me see." Nan Fusheng nodded slightly, listening to Fusheng No. 1's report while focusing his gaze on the purple-white crystal in front of him.

This crystal holds extraordinary significance for him; it is a vessel for his soul, meticulously crafted with immense effort and dedication. If any unexpected situation were to occur, it would undoubtedly be a heavy blow to him.

Unlike the unreliable Qingque, the soul beast nurtured in this crystal was a soul spirit he had already reserved.

"Huh? What's going on? Is it performing energy grafting?"

Although Nan Fusheng has not yet formally signed a soul contract with the crystal, thanks to the subtle and intricate connection between him and the crystal, as well as his keen senses, he can still roughly perceive the general situation inside the crystal.

When creating this special soul beast, in addition to the dragon bones of the Mountain Dragon King and the Light Dragon King, Nan Fusheng also added a lot of his own blood and the Time Worm clone, so his connection with this crystal is not shallow.

However, at this moment, in Nan Fusheng's perception, the situation inside the crystal seemed quite strange, quite different from his previous expectations.

Inside this enormous, purplish-white crystal, there are several crucial things.

First, there was the Chimera Soul Beast, which had been nurtured within the crystal for a long time and was now beginning to take on a human form. It lay quietly dormant in the core area of ​​the crystal, as if accumulating power, waiting for the moment it would break free from its cocoon.

Secondly, there are the three souls that Nan Fusheng once had absorbed into the purple-white crystal: the Time Insect Soul, the Star Insect Soul, and the Spirit Insect Soul. They linger in the energy field inside the crystal, seemingly undergoing some kind of special transformation.

Finally, there were the two Dragon God Cores that had been swallowed by the crystal three days prior, and the mysterious nine-colored Time Worm. Because it bore the arduous task of filtering and fusing the energy of the two Dragon God Cores, the Time Worm's body had been dyed a dazzling nine-colored hue, making it exceptionally eye-catching.

Nan Fusheng carefully sensed the energy flow inside the crystal and was surprised to find that the crystal seemed to be frantically absorbing the enormous energy contained in the Dragon God's core.

At the same time, it also expelled some energy and precisely injected it into the original three soul spirits.

"Is it trying to become more pure?" Nan Fusheng wondered to himself.

In his perception, the energy repelled by the purple-white crystal exuded an extremely rich and distinct dragon aura.

As it greedily absorbs the core energy of the Dragon God, it seems to possess a unique ability to separate out the energy related to the Dragon race and extract only the purest energy essence.

In addition, this crystal seems to be performing another remarkable operation—it is gradually separating the power of the key materials that created it, namely the dragon bones of the Mountain Dragon King and the Light Dragon King, and then cleverly transferring it to other spirits.

"Could it be that it chose to transfer through my soul because it didn't want to be tainted by the aura of the dragon race?"

Nan Fusheng stared intently at everything happening inside the crystal. He could clearly feel that the power of the purple-white crystal was steadily increasing at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if it was breaking through some kind of shackle and moving towards a completely new realm.

"A second-level deity?" A hint of surprise and doubt flashed in Nan Fusheng's eyes.

More precisely, this is an energy fluctuation of a second-level deity without a divine position, and this fluctuation is continuously increasing, climbing towards the level of a first-level deity.

"I'm afraid even I can't predict how it will turn out now," Nan Fusheng thought to himself.

Originally, according to his plan, with the powerful energy of the dragon bones of the two dragon kings and the core of the dragon god, the Chimera soul beast nurtured in the crystal would most likely eventually take on a dragon-like form.

However, the crystal has now directly transferred all the energy related to the dragon race, which makes the final result uncertain. Nan Fusheng even had an absurd thought in his mind: Could it really hatch into a worm in the end?

"Boom—" Just as Nan Fusheng was deep in thought, the purple-white crystal suddenly shone brightly, and the dazzling light instantly illuminated the entire space, as if a dazzling star had burst out with all its energy at this moment.

"A first-level deity." Nan Fusheng's eyes narrowed, and an overwhelming sense of excitement and exhilaration welled up within him.

The power this crystal is currently displaying is undoubtedly one of the strongest combat capabilities he possesses. Even the previous divine punishment, with its priest-level strength, pales in comparison.

If a comparison must be made, the strength of the Heavenly Punishment is at most on the same level as that of the Titan Giant Ape and the Azure Bull Python.

The purple-white crystal before them was a genuine first-level deity, and although it lacked the blessing of a divine position, this did not diminish its formidable power.

"The environmental conditions of the Dragon Valley Small World should theoretically be insufficient to nurture a being as powerful as a god. Could it be because of the Dragon God's core?"

Nan Fusheng's gaze slowly moved, finally landing on the Dragon God Core, which was also located inside the crystal. His brows furrowed slightly, and his eyes revealed a hint of doubt and inquiry.

Whether it was his imagination or not, Nan Fusheng felt that the light of the Dragon God's core seemed to have dimmed considerably. Compared to before, the magnificent and dazzling luster had obviously weakened, as if it had lost some of its vitality.

"It really has darkened. It seems that even a powerful core like the Dragon God cannot withstand such intense pressure and consumption." Nan Fusheng shook his head slightly, feeling a mix of emotions.

Over the past period, the energy absorbed by the chimera soul beasts such as Tianqian and Qingque was only a drop in the ocean for the Dragon God Core. The real energy consumer was undoubtedly this purple-white crystal.

The energy contained in the Dragon God Core is indeed immense. In the original work, Gu Yuena cleverly used the Dragon God Core to consolidate a small plane called the Myriad Beast Platform, enabling it to exist stably and continue to grow stronger.

Moreover, she can indirectly control and influence a large number of Soul Masters through the powerful energy of the Dragon God Core. These examples are enough to show the wonders and great value of the Dragon God Core.

However, everything in the world has its limits, and the Dragon God Core is no exception. Although it possesses unimaginable energy reserves, it is by no means inexhaustible.

After being subjected to such prolonged and intense "damage" by Nan Fusheng, the energy of these two Dragon God Cores finally began to show signs of exhaustion and gradually could not be sustained.

"Are these two Dragon God Cores already struggling to support the breakthrough and growth of a first-level deity? It seems that the actual energy they contain is less than I expected."

If the Dragon God's core had consciousness, it would definitely be cursing Nan Fusheng. It's merely a core containing a portion of the Dragon God's energy; it's not the Dragon God himself, so where would it get so much energy?!

Not to mention, the creature inside the purple-white crystal, while absorbing the core energy of the Dragon God, also continuously removes the dragon's aura from it, a process that consumes a considerable amount of energy.

Under dual pressure, the energy consumption rate of the Dragon God Core naturally far exceeded expectations.

"It seems it will take a long time to develop." Nan Fusheng's eyes showed some regret, but it didn't matter. After all, he had waited so long, so a little more time wouldn't hurt. It just meant that the growth time of the Azure Sparrow would probably be extended again.

Now that the Dragon God's core is occupied by the purple-white crystal, Qingque can only use the old method: have August hunt down the sea spirit beasts and then extract life energy through the Time Worm.

"Buzz~" Just then, as if sensing Nan Fusheng's thoughts, the purple-white crystal suddenly began to shake violently.

Immediately afterwards, tiny, translucent crystals, about the size of rice grains, slowly detached from its surface, like fragments of glittering starlight. At the same time, a faint yet clear mental transmission quietly entered Nan Fusheng's ears.

"You mean, use these crystals to feed the bluebird?" Nan Fusheng stepped forward and picked up the special crystals.

Although each crystal was extremely small, the moment his fingertips touched them, he could keenly sense the extremely pure and powerful energy contained within them. The purity and strength of this energy gave him a thrill.

"Qingque, why don't you give it a try?" Nan Fusheng beckoned Qingque over, then gently placed a crystal on his palm.

Upon seeing this, a hint of curiosity flashed in the bluebird's eyes. It nimbly hopped onto Nan Fusheng's palm and eagerly pecked at the crystal.

This scene gave Nan Fusheng a strange feeling that he was raising rare birds, even though he was actually doing just that.

"Oh~ This stuff tastes really good. It feels so much better than absorbing the energy from the Dragon God's core before." After swallowing the crystal, Qingque's eyes shone brightly, and she excitedly flapped her wings, chirping incessantly.

"Get lost, stop talking nonsense and tell me your thoughts." Nan Fusheng flicked Qingque's forehead in annoyance.

"Hehe." The bluebird chuckled mischievously, then calmed itself and began to carefully perceive its own condition. After a moment, it raised its head and said seriously:

"This crystal contains extremely abundant energy. I just ate a small piece, and my cultivation level has increased by about two hundred years. The effect is simply amazing. However, I feel that I can eat some more, but I will need time to digest it slowly."

"That's good." Nan Fusheng looked at the mountain of purple-white crystals on the ground and nodded knowingly.

Although each of these crystals is only the size of a grain of rice, they are produced from the purple-white crystal and each one is basically imbued with divine power, which can significantly enhance Qingque's strength, as he expected.

"Now that the matter is settled, I should leave," Nan Fusheng said, raising his hand to open the "door" leading to the outside world.

"Wait!" Just then, Qingque suddenly flew like an arrow to the top of Nan Fusheng's head and landed steadily.

It scratched its head somewhat sheepishly and said, "Um, could you take me out of this awful place too? This Dragon Valley Small World is so boring, I really want to go out into the world and have some fun."

Seemingly afraid that Nan Fusheng would refuse, Qingque quickly added, "If you find me in your way, I can transform into human form and go out with you. I can also promise that I won't disturb your daily life afterwards."

As a special soul beast with the attribute of destiny, Qingque, despite having only 20,000 years of cultivation, possesses the ability to transform like a ferocious beast and can freely switch between human form and its original form, which is also one of its special abilities.

"No way." Nan Fusheng refused without hesitation. "Even if you take human form, it will be difficult to hide the aura of a soul beast on your body. Even with the concealment of the destiny attribute, once your spiritual power reaches the Spirit Domain Realm, you won't be able to escape."

"Although there aren't many people in Tianhai City with Spirit Domain Realm spiritual power right now, there are still one or two. If you run into them, you'll be caught immediately."

"Ah~" Upon hearing Nan Fusheng's words, Qingque immediately deflated like a punctured balloon, visibly becoming dejected, her eyes filled with disappointment.

"But?" Nan Fusheng patted its head and laughed, "Now the entire Tianhai City is our base camp, and it's just a soul beast. Even if we raise you openly, there won't be any problems."

"Let's go, no need to transform, just stay as you are, otherwise I'll have to explain to Xiaoyan."

"Get lost, you're the one who looks like a bird." Qingque immediately retorted, then happily flapped her wings and followed Nan Fusheng.

(End of this chapter)