After I stopped trying, a rich woman trained me into a demon emperor.

As the essence of the dragon entered her throat, a surge of powerful life force exploded within Xiao Rou's body.

Her parched pulse began to beat again, and the rotten flesh that pierced through the wound on her chest was forcibly squeezed out, with new granulation tissue beginning to grow at a visible speed.

This force temporarily suppressed the spreading poison and kept her alive until the very end, but her natal Gu was shattered. To completely save her, a more systematic treatment was needed.

Zhou Ran carefully stored the remaining dragon essence. The essence of the dragon egg's body was his trump card for breaking through to the third level of the Primordial Overlord Body and consolidating his cultivation foundation.

Just as he was about to get up and arrange for everyone to evacuate, the foundation stone for his dantian began to throb violently without warning.

The dragon energy of the dragon core, the remaining primordial power, and the meridians tempered by the aftershocks of the heavenly tribulation resonated far beyond expectations at this moment!

"not good!"

Zhou Ran's heart sank.

A scorching power, hot enough to melt steel, surged from the dantian to every part of the body!

This wasn't something he actively guided; rather, it was a passive breakthrough caused by his body's energy overload!

puff--

Zhou Ran coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed uncontrollably.

His entire body emitted a series of cracking sounds as each bone was strengthened under the influence of the dragon's essence.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou!"

"Brother Zhou!"

Zhang Xuansu and Miao Yingying, who were in the distance, exclaimed in surprise and tried to step forward, but were blocked by an invisible aura ten feet away.

On Zhou Ran's body, the originally shattered Primordial Scales were now covered by a layer of black-gold flames.

Beneath the flames, the shattered flesh was peeling away, and on the new skin, deeper and more ancient black-gold scales were growing back.

The newly formed scales were no longer limited to his left arm, but spread wildly, covering the main acupoints and joints of his entire upper body!

Through cycles of breakage and regeneration, muscle fibers become as dense and resilient as steel cables.

The last wisp of battle intent that Li Chengfeng had injected into his sea of ​​consciousness before he dissipated was now fully activated.

That section about the cultivation method for the third level of the Primordial Overlord Body.

It fully awakened in his sea of ​​consciousness, transforming into a meridian circulation diagram composed of pure power.

The breakthrough has entered its most dangerous phase.

After absorbing all available energy, the foundation stone for the elixir formation in the dantian began to condense on its own.

The primordial chaos forms the framework, the dragon's true energy replenishes the meridians, and the remnants of heavenly tribulation lightning forge the elixir wall.

A dantian the size of a thumb, with three colors of light interwoven, slowly took shape in the center of his dantian.

The black gold of the Primordial Wilderness, the dark blue of the Flood Dragon, and the purple gold of the Heavenly Tribulation flowed endlessly, and a terrifying pressure far exceeding that of the Foundation Establishment stage emanated from his body.

The spiritual energy within a ten-mile radius was drawn by this oppressive force, spontaneously converging and forming a visible vortex of spiritual energy above the riverbank.

"What...what kind of strange phenomenon is this?"

A disciple from Longhu Mountain pointed to the sky, his voice trembling.

The demon-slaying sword in Zhang Xuansu's hand emitted uncontrollable groans and trembled violently.

He stared intently at Zhou Ran at the center of the vortex, his eyes filled with shock and an indescribable complexity.

At that very moment, deep within Zhou Ran's sea of ​​consciousness, Ye Futian's remnant soul, having exhausted the last wisp of the Demon Emperor's essence, was extremely weak.

"A divinely bestowed embryo..."

It requires external force to solidify...

otherwise......"

The fleeting thoughts vanished in an instant, and Ye Futian's aura sank completely into the depths of his consciousness.

The demonic patterns on the Soul-Suppressing Nail dimmed completely, and there was no sound from them anymore.

The old devil has fallen asleep.

Zhou Ran forcibly woke up from his breakthrough state, and the first thing he did was to look inward at his dantian.

The three-colored elixir floated within, its light flickering uncertainly.

It has taken shape, yet it remains suspended, lacking the final touch of "divine will" to completely solidify and solidify it.

He searched through all the fragments of memory left behind by Li Chengfeng.

It's full of methods on how to physically challenge the heavens and earth, and how to cultivate power to its extreme, but it contains absolutely no information on how to form a golden core.

Back then, Li Chengfeng followed the path of proving the Dao purely through physical means; he himself never formed a dantian!

The night slumbered under the sky, a fact not mentioned in Li Chengfeng's legacy.

He possessed an unparalleled Dao embryo, yet had no method to solidify it.

This situation is simply too absurd.

Despite the setback in forming the Golden Core, the benefits of this breakthrough were still astonishing.

Zhou Ran slowly stood up, feeling his refreshed body.

The Great Wilderness Overlord Body has reached its third level of perfection, and its defense, even when naked, is strong enough to withstand a full-force attack from a mid-to-late stage Golden Core cultivator.

His cultivation level soared from the eighth level of Foundation Establishment to the peak of Foundation Establishment, just one step away from the true Golden Core realm.

He clenched his fist, and the powerful feeling between his knuckles convinced him that he could punch through the rock strata at the bottom of the river.

This was a world apart from the person he had been half a day earlier, beaten until he bled from all seven orifices under the old dragon's belly.

Zhou Ran walked towards Zhang Xuansu, his voice slightly hoarse:

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, I need the Scripture Pavilion of Longhu Mountain to search for all the books on 'Core Formation'."

Zhang Xuansu looked at him and nodded:

"You broke through too quickly. Although your foundation is solid, you lack the most crucial method."

My martial uncle, Master Xuyun, might be able to offer some guidance.

"However, the alchemy of Longhu Mountain is a traditional Taoist practice that emphasizes pure Yang and purity, which may not be suitable for your constitution, which is a mixture of the three elements."

Zhou Ran remained silent.

Just then, Li Zhiyao's soul light within the Yin-Gathering Banner in his arms suddenly fluctuated violently.

Nourished by the dragon's energy, her soul has recovered from the brink of dissipation to the point where she can clearly perceive the outside world.

"Zhou Ran..."

Li Zhiyao's voice was no longer weak; instead, it carried a hint of urgency.

"Take me to Longhu Mountain."

Master Xuyun had a type of acupuncture called the Nine-Turn Resurrection Needle.

Her voice paused, as if she were recalling a distant name.

"That acupuncture technique was taught to the Taoist priests of Longhu Mountain two thousand years ago."

"I need him to personally administer acupuncture to me."

......

Longhu Mountain, the forbidden area behind the mountain, Zixiao Palace.

Inside the ancient palace, the air was filled with the fragrance of sandalwood, and the ground was engraved with an intricate Bagua (Eight Trigrams) diagram.

Master Xuyun sat cross-legged in the center of the array diagram, his white beard hanging down to his knees, his expression solemn.

Before him, nine ancient gold needles, each two feet long and gleaming with a warm luster, were inserted into the array plate according to the nine palaces.

The tip of each gold needle is engraved with ancient seal script the size of a fly's head, the characters so ancient that even Zhang Xuansu could not recognize them all.

"Place the Yin-Gathering Banner and the Dragon Pill at the center of the formation."

Xu Yun's eyes were slightly closed, and his voice was old and distant.

Zhou Ran placed the Yin-Gathering Banner in front of him as instructed.

Xu Yun's withered fingers gently brushed across the banner, and a long-lost ripple flashed in his cloudy old eyes, as if he were seeing the clouds and mist of two thousand years ago through this banner.

"This girl... has been around for two thousand years."

Xu Yun sighed.

"Back then, when she left this set of acupuncture techniques to my ancestor at Longhu Mountain, she jokingly said..."

One day, this needle would be used on herself. Little did she know, her words would come true.

As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Yun began to administer acupuncture.

He didn't reach for the needle with his hands, but instead pointed his fingers like a sword at the first golden needle from afar.