‘Eternal Dark Dragon Emperor: The original shadow dragon ancestor coexisting with darkness. Perfect shadow affinity. Within the shadow range, can regenerate infinitely and is immune to instant death abilities. Upon entering the juvenile stage at one hundred years old, can increase strength and constitution by five sublimation imprints each. Upon reaching full maturity at one thousand years old, can continue to increase strength and constitution to nine sublimation imprints each.’

"Tsk, tsk... Just by growing naturally to maturity, it's a born eighteen-imprint powerhouse. Worthy of being the earliest ancestral bloodline of the shadow dragon. Strong enough! Other than needing time to grow, there are no other flaws. Pity..."

Inside the secret chamber, Li Cheng颐 was expressionless, gently stroking the Evil Flower on the back of his hand.

He was about to make a major decision.

Recalling what Tian Xuanzi had said back then, the hesitation in his eyes gradually turned firm.

‘It's time to purify the imprints.’

With his mind made up, the Yuanshen Sword Palace in his mind suddenly blazed with fire.

Massive amounts of golden flames scattered from around the sword furnace.

"Creation Transformation, Heaven and Earth Shining Furnace."

Chanting the mantra, Li Cheng颐 rapidly formed a large number of Yin Codex array hand seals.

At the same time, his mental force constructed a series of exquisite, complex, and invisible imprints along with the hand seals.

This was the Thousand Transformations Glazed Art of the Yin Codex. Its difficulty was very high, but for Li Cheng颐, who possessed extremely strong comprehension, it was easily mastered.

And this art had only one purpose.

That was... to extract his own yuan imprints, burn and purify them to enhance the True Fire. At the same time, it would transform into pure power and then be fed back and concentrated on one type of yuan imprint.

‘I choose to extract the Eternal Dark Dragon Emperor imprint and throw it into the furnace for burning!!’

As soon as this thought moved, an extremely intense, bone-marrow-draining pain surged from every part of his body.

Ugh!!

He bit down hard on his teeth, lowered his head, closed his eyes, and endured the pain.

Waves of pain crazily flooded his mind, almost causing him to faint.

Hiss...

At the same time, all the draconic marks on his body began to rapidly recede and dissipate.

His dragon eyes returned to their original black color, the semi-transparent scales on his skin faded away, and the hot, scorching dragon breath from his mouth and nose quickly dissipated.

An invisible force field that could cause terror and fear in the surrounding creatures also rapidly dissipated at this time.

At this moment, inside the Yuanshen Sword Palace.

A complex yuan imprint representing the Shadow Dragon was the first to condense, transforming into a silent black imprint emitting thick smoke.

That was the core imprint of the Shadow Dragon bloodline, but with Li Cheng颐's mental control, this imprint slowly descended into the interior of the sword furnace.

Whoosh!!

The painful expression on his face became even more ferocious at this time.

As the Shadow Dragon bloodline was extracted, the strength and recovery power of his body began to decline slightly.

The bloodline had a certain strengthening effect on his body and mental force. Now that it was being extracted, all the enhancements were dissolved.

Inside the secret chamber, Li Cheng颐's body temperature began to drop.

Boom!

In an instant, the sword furnace flames rapidly surged out of the Yuanshen Sword Palace, engulfing Li Cheng颐's entire body.

The True Fire began to strengthen rapidly from Qi Fire, its temperature increasing and its color deepening.

The massive increase brought about by burning his own yuan imprint allowed Li Cheng颐 to cross decades of hard cultivation in a short period of time, directly entering Minor Achievement Qi Fire.

The sword furnace flames completely turned dark gold, invisibly enveloping his entire body.

Point of oily substance began to seep out from the flames.

That was the yuan imprint sublimation essence produced by burning and refining.

And now, it was time to choose which yuan imprint to purify and strengthen.

Li Cheng颐 did not hesitate and directly chose the sword imprint. Thousand Faces Sword Codex!

Soon, after his decision, the essence rapidly transformed into formless energy and began to seep into his mind, strengthening the Yuanshen Sword Palace.

The Yuanshen Sword Palace was a special existence for nurturing the Wisdom Sword Yuanshen Sword.

At this time, the yuan imprint essence brought about by burning the Shadow Dragon bloodline rapidly seeped into it, beginning to strengthen the walls, the ground, and even the material of the sword furnace on a large scale.

All the Wisdom Swords began to become more solid, and the Human-Faced Yuanshen Sword became sharper.

The yuan imprints on the surface of the sword furnace slowly increased from the previous ten to twelve.

This included the Shadow Dragon King's innate yuan imprint and the one bloodline yuan imprint he had just obtained from elevating his bloodline.

At this point, all the Shadow Dragon bloodline completely disappeared from Li Cheng颐's body.

He lost a bit of his strength and gained a hint of sharpness.

‘Warning: Flower Language bloodline has been forcibly dissolved and transformed. Do you want to continue repairing?’

Suddenly, a prompt from the Evil Flower flooded Li Cheng颐's mind.

He was enduring the pain of being weakened and then reforged, and was suddenly interrupted by this, leaving him a little stunned.

‘This bloodline has been dissolved and extracted, can it still be replenished?’

According to the Yin Codex records, it was not strange to extract bloodline yuan imprints and burn them to purify other yuan imprints, but normally, no one could quickly repair and replenish their bloodline after it was extracted.

But the Evil Flower here...

Could it be...?

Suddenly, Li Cheng颐 thought of an extremely special method. But this method needed to be carefully verified.

‘How much time does it take to repair the Flower Language bloodline?’ he asked, pressing on the Evil Flower.

‘If there is enough Evil Thought Flower Qi, depending on the strength of the bloodline, it will take five to ten days.’

Thump!

Suddenly, Li Cheng颐's heart beat violently.

‘If I can repair it and continue to burn the yuan imprint, repeating the cycle, wouldn't I be able to greatly accelerate the speed of True Fire strengthening?’

Burning two bloodline yuan imprints at once jumped him to the Minor Achievement stage of Qi Fire.

From initial mastery to Minor Achievement, it directly saved others decades of hard work.

And here, he only needed to burn his own yuan imprint.

‘No wonder, burning anything else can't compare to burning your own yuan imprint.’

Immediately, Li Cheng颐 no longer hesitated and confirmed the repair.

‘Please replenish the specified units of Flower Qi and Evil Thought.’

Soon, the Evil Flower gave a demand data: 243 units of Flower Qi, 271 units of Evil Thought.

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Cheng颐's figure flashed as he left the secret chamber and rushed to the teleportation array.

He was going to Midrarn to replenish Flower Qi and to Mo Sha to replenish Evil Thought.

Flower Qi was the easiest substance to replenish for the time flow of Midrarn, but Evil Thought was a little more troublesome.

Even the evil-doers, after being continuously abused and exploited, became mentally exhausted and increasingly neurotic.

In a short period of time, the evil-doers in the Mo Sha Garden could not avoid being drained of a large amount of Evil Thought, and could only endure it, causing their minds and personalities to become increasingly distorted.

Soon the demand was met, and after five days, when Li Cheng颐 returned to the Earth-Moon United Base, Jie Mao Fei Lian's Flower Language bloodline was actually completely restored.

He once again repeated the act of burning his own bloodline yuan imprint.

But unfortunately, this time the sword furnace did not respond. The bloodline was extracted, but the True Fire remained at its original level, with no progress.

"It seems that there is no shortcut... As expected, I need different types of yuan imprints?"

Li Cheng颐 was thoughtful, watching the sword furnace flames of the Yuanshen Sword Palace.

But he could no longer burn other yuan imprints, after all, whether it was the Giant Force Imprint or the Void Night Walker yuan imprint, these were practical sublimations that could enhance his sword techniques.

Wait...

The imprint ball of the Giant Force Imprint seemed to be the Original Body of the Dead Qi Cult.

Suddenly, Li Cheng颐's eyes lit up. He used the Thousand Transformations Glazed Art again.

Controlling his own Giant Force Imprint, he separated it from his body, condensed it into a solid form, and flew it into the sword furnace.

Boom!!!

This time, the dark gold flames of the sword furnace surged violently.

Waves of terrifying flames, one after another, rapidly expanded from the sword furnace.

It was more exaggerated than the last time he burned the Shadow Dragon bloodline. At least ten times more terrifying flames than before surged out of the Yuanshen Sword Palace, instantly enveloping Li Cheng颐's entire body.

The yuan imprint essence directly turned from a droplet shape to a stream shape, flying out of the flames and merging into the Yuanshen Sword Palace and sword furnace.

This was a cycle.

The dark gold True Fire of the sword furnace began to change again with this cycle, completely turning pitch black from dark gold.

This strengthening process lasted for a full half an hour.

Half an hour later.

Li Cheng颐 returned to his senses from meditation.

‘As expected... the number one thing worth burning is the Original Body!!’ He now understood why so many powerhouses were frantically pursuing the Original Body.

In just a short while, he had directly stepped into the Completion realm from Minor Achievement Qi Fire, skipping the Great Achievement stage.

He was only one step away from Divine Fire.

Just this one time, if he had honestly cultivated, it would have taken at least a hundred years.

Others did not dare to burn too many miscellaneous things, fearing impurities and unwanted dross.

Therefore, most people accumulated yuan imprints themselves, improving themselves, sublimating themselves, and then using them for extraction and burning.

This required them to continuously cultivate skills in other systems to strengthen other aspects of themselves.

Generally, they would cultivate the aspects that were easier to sublimate and improve.

But few people were as extravagant as Li Cheng颐, directly using the Original Body imprint to burn and accelerate cultivation.

Just after Li Cheng颐 completely burned the Giant Force Imprint.

Suddenly, a blurred Taoist phantom appeared in the sky above the Earth-Moon Base.

The phantom was looming, wearing a blue and black Taoist robe, holding a pure white horsetail whisk, and looking down, through the secret chamber, at Li Cheng颐.

"Bai Lu, by order of the Head Seat of the True Department, because you have completed a realm leap within ten years, you are eligible to obtain a place to go to Silent Extinction City. You have three days to prepare. The city gate will open on its own then."

The Taoist's voice crossed the distance out of thin air and appeared in Li Cheng颐's mind.

Li Cheng颐 trembled and stood up quickly. His mental force perceived the Taoist phantom's undisguised position.

He immediately bowed and performed a Taoist salute.

"Thank you for informing me, Senior."

Seeming satisfied with his attitude, the Taoist nodded slightly.

"You are smart. Burning the Original Body of the Dead Qi Cult to accelerate your own True Fire. Although it is wasteful to use the Original Body in this way, it can be considered to settle part of the cause and effect with the Dead Qi Cult. Soon, a new Original Body will be reborn there, and it will be cut off from you."

"May I ask, Senior, can't the Original Body be reborn?" Li Cheng颐 was stunned and asked.

"The Dead Qi Cult is different... Their Original Body is different from other dead zones." The Taoist phantom simply said and then closed his mouth, turning into countless points of light and disappearing.

Li Cheng颐 stood in the secret chamber, looking up at the position where the other party had left, his mind racing.

‘Judging from the other party's demeanor and words, there must be others like me who burn yuan imprints to cross realms. It seems that this True Department Preliminary is not difficult.’

He could not help but think of the Taoist Que Ru who had left Midrarn earlier.

As a descendant of a Saint, she might also know this trick.

(End of this chapter)