Chapter 42: Refining the External to Form the Elixir, Refining the Internal to Forge the Technique

Like a cycle of reincarnation, the ruptured body of the Azure Sky Jade Dragon nourished the earth, and its formidable poisonous and life attributes transformed the originally barren terrain, shaping a valley capable of harboring poison-type spirit beasts.

The dragon core, fused with the Gold of Life, plummeted deep into the earth. It was discovered by a group of people after an unknown length of time. After knocking and probing around with no results, it was placed in a box and sent to a treasure vault filled with precious artifacts.

Successive Spirit Douluos examined this dragon core, which was indistinguishable from an ordinary stone, only to shake their heads in the end, indicating they were completely at a loss.

A Title Douluo had once attempted to unearth the secrets within the dragon core, but failed to achieve his wish until the end of his days, passing away with lingering grievances and bitter regret.

Following the death of the Title Douluo, the dragon core was returned to its box and locked away once more in the depths of the treasure vault.

After an unknown number of years, the sealed box within the treasure vault was opened once again...

The world returned to normalcy, and Chen Ming abruptly opened his eyes, his forehead covered in sweat.

The Azure Sky Jade Dragon had perished thoroughly. Forget about any lingering dragon soul; even the slightest traces of malevolent aura had been completely worn away. If its own dragon core had not been purified after devouring its peers, and then fused with the Gold of Life in a desperate situation, it would have been utterly impossible for it to survive.

The reason Chen Ming was sweating profusely was entirely due to the overwhelming mental pressure he had experienced. Although what he saw in the Spirit Vision was merely a playback of the past, that immense aura and deterrence remained firmly engraved in his mind.

Ironically, in this memory starring the Azure Sky Jade Dragon, the dragon's own deterrence toward Chen Ming was the least significant of all.

Even at its peak, its power fell short of Di Tian's imposing aura by more than a mere margin. Compared to that god-level lightning, it was simply not worth mentioning.

Chen Ming touched the sweat on his forehead. Realizing that his inner self still could not calm down quickly, he hurriedly took a piece of dried meat from his storage spirit tool, shoved it into his mouth, and mechanically chewed.

An unpalatable taste flooded Chen Ming's mind, forcing him to snap out of the shock of the memories. He quickly retrieved a large cup of fruit juice from his storage spirit tool and gulped it down entirely in one breath.

Only then did Chen Ming shift his attention back to the stone-like dragon core in his hand.

"Although this thing has an incredible background, it seems unusable, doesn't it? The Gold of Life and the Azure Dragon's core are both rare treasures in this world, but these two things melted under the oppression of the heavenly lightning, merging into one, and have transformed into something that probably has never appeared on the continent before."

"And the most crucial part is that most of the vitality within the Gold of Life was worn away in the lightning. What the dragon core fused with is less like vitality and more like some kind of incomplete characteristic of the Gold of Life. Moreover, because of this characteristic, this dragon core cannot be utilized through ordinary methods."

Chen Ming muttered inwardly, though he was not overly discouraged.

He knew very well that if this thing could really be put to use so easily, there was no way Qian Renxue would have given it directly as a gift to a minor Grand Spirit Master like himself.

To say nothing of it having been consumed by someone centuries ago, at the very least it should have been sent to Dugu Bo, the Poison Douluo, in exchange for a favor, having nothing whatsoever to do with a Grand Spirit Master like him.

Yet just looking at the dragon core made Chen Ming's heart itch.

Even if its attributes had been washed away by the heavenly lightning, leaving only a tenth or even a hundredth of its former power, for a Grand Spirit Master like him, this dragon core remained a priceless treasure.

As long as he could utilize it, even if it were only an infinitesimal fraction, he would still reap considerable benefits from it.

But how should he use it?

Chen Ming tapped on the dragon core, which no longer bore any recognizable spherical shape, a myriad of thoughts swirling in his mind.

"Refining it directly into my body is probably out of the question. Leaving aside whether I have the required technique, my spirit power simply isn't enough. If I were to actually put this thing inside me, it might just give a slight pulse, and I'd likely be done for. For a Title Douluo, it might just be a trickle of spirit power, but for a Grand Spirit Master like me, draining me to death seven or eight times over would be normal."

"If I really harbor that ambition, I'll have to wait until I reach at least the Spirit King or Spirit Emperor realm before trying."

"As for using it to refine medicine..."

Thinking of this, Chen Ming's mouth twitched awkwardly.

The fact that this dragon core could survive beneath a god-level heavenly tribulation was proof enough of its hardness. In the Spirit Vision, over the past few centuries, no matter whether they were Spirit Douluos or Title Douluos, none had been able to slice off even a fingernail-sized piece of this dragon core despite exhausting all their skills and efforts.

To use this thing for refining medicine, one would at least need to contact those formidable assault-type Super Douluos who excelled in explosive force, and perhaps even require Qian Daoliu to wield the Angelic Divine Sword just to cut it open.

Refining medicine: passed.

What should he do then?

Chen Ming habitually channeled his spirit power into it, and suddenly an idea struck him.

"Refine the external into a pill! Refine the internal into a method!"

In the alchemy of ancient Taoism, there was the concept of the External Elixir. Although in later evolutions the external elixir was gradually dismissed as a heterodox practice—cultivating one's nature rather than one's destiny—no one could deny that the external elixir was indeed an excellent transitional method.

"Since taking it into the body won't work, I'll just use it as an external elixir! I'll find a way to use this thing to absorb the spirit power between heaven and earth, and then I can absorb the spirit power from within it!"

"Let me think, if I want to establish a connection with this kind of thing..."

Chen Ming took a small knife from his storage spirit tool, thought for a moment, and then retrieved all his blood-replenishing medicinal herbs and bandages.

Chen Ming first placed the dragon core into an iron basin, sterilized the small knife over a fire, and then cautiously cut a small slit on his arm, allowing his blood to flow onto the stone.

However, Chen Ming's actions produced no reaction. It was just like dripping a puddle of water onto it; the dragon core showed no trace of absorbing the blood.

With a shift of his thought, Chen Ming summoned his martial soul. While continuing to drip blood, he controlled his spirit power to fuse with his spiritual power.

As the spirit power fused with spiritual power entered, the stone-like dragon core began to gradually absorb Chen Ming's blood, yet still no tangible connection formed between the two.

Seeing this, Chen Ming gritted his teeth and stamped his foot. He took several medicinal pills from the side and shoved them into his mouth, maintaining the fusion of spirit power and spiritual power while attempting to inject his spiritual essence into the dragon core.

After consuming the better part of a day, just as Chen Ming was about to tremble all over from exhaustion, a faint, imperceptible connection finally formed between the dragon core and himself.

The blood in the basin was instantly sucked dry by the dragon core, and when Chen Ming injected his spirit power into it, he could finally sense a response.

Witnessing this, the heavily exhausted Chen Ming hurriedly stopped his actions, quickly staunching his bleeding, applying medicine, and wrapping bandages to prevent excessive blood loss from a single incident.

Stuffing another handful of medicine into his mouth, Chen Ming carefully cradled the dragon core from the basin in his arms, sat down on the ground, and entered a state of meditation.