The plane's essence was activated, as if a great dragon had awakened.
The Dragon Plane itself was formed from the corpse of a cosmic dragon. However, it wasn't the complete body of the dragon that evolved into the plane but rather the result of the dragon's remains colliding with meteors in the universe, shattering and reorganizing to form this plane.
Nevertheless, even though the corpse had shattered, the dragon's soul remained.
It was entirely reasonable to say that the entire Dragon Plane had evolved from this dragon.
The plane's essence was also primarily derived from the dragon's essence.
This was why Yun Ming had chosen Xiao Jia.
Xiao Jia was not only a member of the dragon race but also a pure-blooded dragon born within the Dragon Plane.
The level of strength the dragon possessed before its death could not be determined, but the fact that its remains became the foundation of an entire plane meant its cultivation couldn't have been low. Based on the images he had seen, Xu Yuan speculated that the dragon's strength must have been no less than Level 130.
Level 130—that was the equivalent of a 1st Class God.
Of course, the dragon's body was so massive that perhaps its innate talent lay in its size.
Coincidentally, this aligned with the Mountain Dragon King legacy that Xiao Jia had inherited.
Xu Yuan pondered, feeling that Xiao Jia's chances of success were quite high.
As the mighty dragon roared, the entire plane descended into even more terrifying turmoil. However, at this moment, Xu Yuan didn't feel the apocalyptic sensation intensify. Instead, he felt a surge of vitality coursing through the world.
An instinctual sense caused all the major races of the plane to rejoice.
Even though the changes in the heavens and earth had become more violent, they were inexplicably excited, knowing that their homeland was improving.
"Don't lose focus. Follow my guidance and feel the changes in the laws," Yun Ming said, using the Seven Forbidden Techniques to guide Xu Yuan to the layer of laws.
This was pure change in the laws.
As Xiao Jia fused with the plane's essence, Yun Ming, as the master orchestrator, took the opportunity to integrate himself into the laws, observing the operation of the plane's rules.
Xu Yuan didn't have time to sort out all the categories and sequences of the laws. He simply felt himself entering a vast system, following the flow of the laws, as if he were witnessing the operation of an entire world. Everything was so orderly, so perfectly balanced.
Just like the complexity of the human body, where thousands upon thousands of cells each perform their roles, working together seamlessly, naturally evolving in harmony.
A world was similar to the human body—everything operated with profound intricacy yet remained orderly, as if everything had been meticulously designed.
Xu Yuan felt overwhelmed by the dazzling complexity. He couldn't see the specific laws or any concrete details; he could only grasp the macro-level regulation of the world and understand the overall logic.
Yet, even this much was incredibly precious.
Through his comprehension, his dream space underwent evolution, finally completing its final transformation.
"Hmm~"
Yao Yao swam through the ocean of Xu Yuan's spiritual sea, absorbing the power of external laws through Xu Yuan's spiritual energy.
Perhaps because of the integration with the essence, even the laws of the Dragon Plane seeped into Xu Yuan's mind, turning his spiritual sea into an ocean of laws.
Yao Yao swam through this sea, absorbing what was useful to it, and naturally began its transformation.
It didn't understand anything. Though it had Xu Yuan's guidance and various experiences, it was still essentially a naive child. At this moment, it adapted to the changes in its body, allowing everything to evolve naturally.
Its inherent soul skill, the Dream Space, underwent an even more thorough evolution.
At a certain moment, a blood-red glow erupted from within its body.
Boom!
Yun Ming sensed the rumbling of thunderclouds and the convergence of laws, and promptly expelled Xu Yuan.
"The spirit has advanced? That's quite a significant gain," Yun Ming remarked, paying no further attention to Xu Yuan as he continued to comprehend the operational logic of this plane.
Expelled from Yun Ming's domain, a faint light flickered at Xu Yuan's forehead, and Yao Yao flew out, dizzily circling in the air a few times.
Seeing Yao Yao's state, Xu Yuan couldn't help but smile wryly.
Time for the tribulation.
Though his comprehension of the essence had been interrupted by Yao Yao's breakthrough, such a gain was already sufficient.
From his earlier insights, Xu Yuan was certain that the Dream Space couldn't be replicated, nor could the overall logic or his own experiences be easily preserved.
The essence itself was inherently illusory, even more so than the Dream Space, closer to the essence of illusion. The Dream Space couldn't be replicated.
However, Yao Yao's advancement allowed Xu Yuan to naturally retain some things that couldn't be replicated.
Under the catalysis of the Dragon Plane's essence, the Dream Space rapidly evolved, now containing laws unique to him.
These laws operated in such a way that the Dream Space resembled a real world.
Of course, its essence was still illusory, but aside from that, it had grown even closer to a real plane.
"Yao Yao is connected to my brain. The perfection of the Dream Space has also promoted the growth of my Brain-type martial soul. My soul power can break through."
Xu Yuan assessed the situation and summoned a component of his mech. As the component activated, the energy within was immediately refined by him.
Not enough!
He summoned over ten more components, refining all the energy contained within them.
His soul power, already at the peak of Level 95, finally broke through.
A soul master's soul power rarely reaches the minimum threshold of the next level after breaking through. Instead, they needed to push the intensity of their soul power beyond the boundary of the current level to a certain extent before breaking through. Afterward, their soul power would naturally leap forward, much like how the maximum static friction exceeds sliding friction.
"About thirty more components' worth of energy should bring me to the peak of Level 96."
That would come later. For now, the tribulation awaited.
After stabilizing his soul power, Xu Yuan looked up at the sky. A hundred-thousand-year tribulation had already taken shape.
Yao Yao grumbled as it flew into the air.
"Hmm hmm hmm! (Today, I, Emperor Yao Yao, shall attain enlightenment!)"
"Hmm! (Don't stop me!)"
Yao Yao's ethereal body condensed a pair of small hands—one raised above its head, the other behind its back—as it flew upward. A cloak even materialized behind it.
Who knows where it had seen this pose, but its ethereal body gradually gained color. It looked both adorable and surprisingly imposing.
Yao Yao charged into the thunderclouds.
Instantly, lightning surged.
Xu Yuan looked up at the clouds, sensing Yao Yao's condition, and let out a sigh of relief.
Good.
Yao Yao's foundation was strong, and the tribulation wouldn't be difficult for it. The challenge lay in prolonging the tribulation to its maximum duration to maximize its effects.
"Yao Yao, open the Dream Space and try to temper it with the power of lightning."
"Hmm? (Are you teaching me what to do?)"
Around Yao Yao's body, an illusory world descended, enveloping the thunderclouds of the tribulation and transferring all the lightning energy into the Dream Space.
"Hmm! (It hurts!)"
"Hmm hmm hmm! (Xu Yuan, save me!)"
Xu Yuan, sensing Yao Yao's state, extended his spiritual power deep into the clouds.
Dream Space.
Xu Yuan observed the severely damaged space without rushing. Instead, he calmed Yao Yao down.
"Yao Yao, calm down. Evolve the Dream Space to resemble me—both in appearance and internal structure. Make it as close to my physical body as possible."
Yao Yao grumbled twice but quickly altered the form of the Dream Space as Xu Yuan instructed.
They had practiced this before, but Yao Yao was still too inexperienced and hadn't reacted in time. With Xu Yuan's reminder, it swiftly completed the transformation.
Xu Yuan's blood energy also merged in.
The blood energy dyed the entire space, filling the Dream Space and constructing a phantom flesh-and-blood body.
Boom!
The power of lightning surged through the phantom body.
The Art of Lightning Tempering.
Xu Yuan activated the technique and immediately felt much better.
Still, there were uncomfortable aspects. The sensation of tempering his real body with lightning was vastly different.
"This is the gap between illusion and reality. I need to make some adjustments."
After guiding the flow of lightning, Xu Yuan maintained only the most basic framework, then allowed the lightning to freely circulate within the phantom body. Based on its path, he adjusted many details of the Lightning Tempering technique.
The tribulation lasted a long time. Even as it was about to dissipate, Xu Yuan did everything he could to stimulate the universal laws and extend the duration of the tribulation.
Ten days passed, and Yun Ming had already exited his contemplation.
He looked at the illusory heaven and earth in the sky and couldn't help but reveal an approving expression.
"Xiao Yuan is walking an even steadier path than me."
The illusory heaven and earth, the real flesh-and-blood body—they now had the opportunity to begin fusing.
When Xu Yuan truly reached a point where there was nowhere else to advance, the fusion of illusion and reality would once again break through the constraints of dimension, allowing him to achieve the transcendence of illusion and reality.
Xu Yuan's consciousness remained relatively clear.
This process of tempering his body with lightning was something Xu Yuan had undergone countless times—more than a hundred, in fact—and he wouldn't lose himself in it.
The enrichment of the Dream Space caused his spiritual power to grow rapidly.
Feeling the surge in his spiritual energy, Xu Yuan felt an impulse to pull Jue into the Dream Space. However, he hesitated before taking action.
After much deliberation, he ultimately abandoned the idea.
Nine months ago, Xu Yuan's spiritual power had broken through to the Spirit Domain Realm, and his spiritual domain had taken shape, continuing to grow at an astonishing pace ever since.
Before Yao Yao's breakthrough, Xu Yuan's spiritual power had already reached 26,000.
From the moment he first came into contact with the plane's essence, he could feel his spiritual power increasing. Even as the vast historical information of the essence bombarded him, his spiritual strength continued to climb.
By the time Yao Yao broke through, his spiritual power had already hit a bottleneck.
A bottleneck at the mid-level of the Spirit Domain Realm.
His spiritual power had reached over 29,000.
With the completion of the Dream Space, Xu Yuan's spiritual power instantly surged past the bottleneck, rising even further as he weathered the tribulation and subjected his illusory body to the lightning tempering.
After the tribulation ended, Xu Yuan's spiritual power stabilized at 35,000.
Around his body, soul rings began to materialize.
Black, black, black, black, black, black, red, red, red.
Six black, three red.
The colors of the soul rings shifted rapidly. The first three rings turned blood-red almost instantly, radiating an eerie glow and exuding the overwhelming pressure unique to hundred-thousand-year soul rings.
Six red, three black.
The weight pressing on his body increased, and Xu Yuan took a deep breath.
"There are about fourteen hundred-thousand-year soul rings now, but I haven't reached my body's limit yet. Adding another twenty wouldn't be a problem."
The added weight was minimal, still well within his capacity to endure.
After all, seven of his hundred-thousand-year soul rings belonged to the Heavenly Origin Five Elements Spear—his Blood Essence martial soul. The strength of his Blood Essence nurtured his physical resilience, greatly enhancing his ability to withstand such burdens.
Of course, what Xu Yuan needed wasn't another two-hundred-thousand-year soul ring.
His next goal was naturally to elevate all his soul rings to orange-gold or even pure gold.
With three martial souls and twenty-seven soul rings, this task would indeed pose some strain.
However, none of these issues were insurmountable. As long as Xu Yuan acquired new soul rings, he would continue to progress. And as he progressed, his endurance would increase, creating a positive feedback loop.
Back when he was at Level 40, his body had been pushed close to its limits. But now, things weren't becoming easier?
As his soul rings evolved, Xu Yuan's spiritual power fluctuated slightly, though it only grew by about three to four hundred points—a negligible increase compared to his previous leaps.
The thunderclouds dissipated, and Xu Yuan's transformation came to an end.
He slowly descended, landing beside Yun Ming.
"Teacher."
"Hmm, not bad. You've gained quite a bit this time."
Yun Ming observed the changes in Xu Yuan, clearly satisfied.
He wasn't one for harsh, oppressive teaching methods.
Of course, for things he considered routine, he genuinely didn't care much.
Xu Yuan's performance exceeded his expectations, earning his approval. He didn't put on a stern face to lecture him unnecessarily.
"You seemed to have some thoughts earlier. Were you concerned about something?" Yun Ming pointed out what he observed during Xu Yuan's tribulation and asked.
Xu Yuan smiled bitterly and nodded.
"My Heavenly Origin Five Elements Spear martial soul now has seven soul rings. I also have some ideas for the eighth and ninth rings, planning to use starlight and spiritual power to condense them."
"Spiritual power?" Yun Ming raised an eyebrow.
A clever idea.
Even if spiritual power became tangible, it was still just intangible interference affecting reality—it possessed material-like characteristics but wasn't truly material.
Of course, that was under normal circumstances.
Xu Yuan, who mastered the interplay of illusion and reality, might actually be able to solidify spiritual power into a special metal and integrate it into Jue's essence.
"So, you were considering trying to infuse your spiritual power into Jue's essence to condense Spiritual Gold?"
Xu Yuan nodded.
He had entertained the idea, but it still felt incomplete.
It wasn't that the idea itself was flawed—it was the timing.
Yao Yao's transformation had only caused Xu Yuan's spiritual power to break through, not overflow with boundless spiritual energy.
Condensing Spiritual Gold wasn't so simple—it required an astronomical amount of spiritual power. Even though his Spirit Domain-level spiritual power manifested as a vast sea in his spiritual ocean, he couldn't confidently say it would suffice for condensing Spiritual Gold.
"Having a plan is enough. Opportunities will present themselves eventually," Yun Ming said. Unable to think of any better techniques, he could only advise Xu Yuan to wait patiently for the right moment.
"Becoming a Plane Lord by fusing with the essence will take time. However, the Dragon Plane is a special case. Xiao Jia might progress faster, but it'll still take at least three to four years, or even more than a decade." Yun Ming continued, "The fusion has just begun, and the fluctuations of the essence have started to stabilize. The changes in the plane are only just beginning. Walking around and observing will yield some benefits."
Xu Yuan nodded.
He didn't accompany Yun Ming.
The two chose different directions, each acting as an observer in the Dragon Plane, witnessing the plane's restoration.
In Xu Yuan's case, while observing and bearing witness, he was also digesting the evolution of the Dream Space.
As he processed it, his martial soul's growth became increasingly evident.
In just ten days, Xu Yuan felt ready to attempt another breakthrough.
He refined the remaining energy from all the mech components, pushing his soul power past Level 97 and filling it to the brim, reaching a peak.
All he needed now was for his martial soul to grow again, and he could break through once more.
"Even after Xiao Jia fuses with the essence and becomes the Plane Lord, the turmoil in the oceans hasn't completely subsided. It seems the true focus of theft lies in the essence of the oceans."
Hovering above the vast sea, Xu Yuan closed his eyes, sensing the difference between this ocean and the seas of Douluo Planet.
"Diluted faith and fortune."
Countless living beings inhabited the ocean—far more than on land. Faith and fortune shouldn't have been lacking. Even without a unified Sea God faith, the chaotic prayers of various entities should have coalesced into a jumble of beliefs, eventually forming the ocean's collective faith.
Yet, the oceans of the Dragon Plane felt as though they had been plundered—faith and fortune were both extremely thin.
"Tsk, the power of a God King is truly unfathomable. Stealing faith, pilfering fortune—who knows whether Tang Wulin used these forces to assimilate the Golden Dragon King's bloodline or if Old Tang absorbed them to stabilize his condition."
The former scenario was manageable. Tang Wulin's assimilation of the Golden Dragon King's bloodline had its limits.
Xu Yuan was no longer the same person he was when he first arrived in this world. His wariness of Tang Wulin had diminished significantly.
Even if Tang Wulin continued to assimilate the Golden Dragon King's bloodline, the limit was sixteen seals—at most, god-level strength. Only the final two seals could bring about another transformation, but under normal circumstances, he wouldn't be able to fuse them either.
What Xu Yuan feared was the latter scenario.
Old Tang, being a fragment of divine consciousness, might regain some of his godly power if bolstered by faith.
"Sigh, I need to find a way to exhaust his restored divine power."
Previously, Xu Yuan had considered depleting Tang San's three opportunities to intervene. So far, he had only identified one: the opportunity involving Dragon Valley.
Now, Old Tang might receive a boost instead, reminding Xu Yuan of this concern.
"If Teacher's plans go smoothly, we won't need Tang San's contingency plan to deal with the Abyss. There's no reason for me to worry anymore."
But how could he force Old Tang to act and drain his hard-earned divine power?
Xu Yuan frowned, pondering a reason that would compel Old Tang to intervene.
"The Sea God inheritance?"
During the crisis of the God-Killing Missiles, the Tang Sect had borrowed the Sea God Pavilion's Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud from Shrek Academy, activating its divine power to form a dual-core array with the Ancient Golden Tree, which successfully resisted the missiles.
The Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud was still in Zang Xin's possession in the Tang Sect. Neither Shrek nor the Tang Sect had made moves to reclaim or return it, maintaining an unspoken understanding.
If Tang Wulin obtained it, he would undoubtedly initiate the Sea God inheritance. Xu Yuan wondered whether the energy consumed in the process would be enough to drain Old Tang's divine power.
Xu Yuan had originally assumed that initiating the Sea God inheritance would trigger Tang San's second intervention seal.
Now, it seemed Tang Wulin's luck was back on the rise.
The depletion of the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud hadn't been part of Xu Yuan's plan—it was simply the natural progression of events. Fate wasn't aiding him.
Now, Xu Yuan realized that Tang Wulin might save another of Tang San's intervention opportunities.
"Is this what fate truly is?"
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