Battle Through the Heavens: Starting with Cao Ying as an apprentice

Upon hearing this, Zi Yan was overjoyed and leaned over to give Su Baichen a loud "mwah" kiss on the cheek, leaving a wet mark.

"I knew you were the best to me, boss!"

"Damn it! Ziyan! Don't get your saliva on my face!" Su Baichen said with a look of disgust, raising his hand to wipe it off.

"You actually look down on me!" Zi Yan pouted, her big eyes immediately filled with "anger." Instead of letting go, she leaned in again.

She deliberately kissed Su Baichen's face several times until Su Baichen had no choice but to beg for mercy. Only then did she release her grip with satisfaction, jump to the ground, and proudly raise her little head, as if she had won a battle.

Beside them, Xuan Yi and Cai Die exchanged a smile, already used to the antics of the "brother and sister".

Cao Ying and Little Fairy Doctor stood a little distance away, watching this scene.

Cao Ying pursed her lips, but a hint of envy flashed in her eyes; Little Fairy Doctor smiled gently.

An hour later, several hundred miles outside the Pill Tower, there was a basin that Su Baichen had cleared beforehand and set up with multiple barriers and spirit-gathering formations.

In the center of the basin, Su Baichen and Zi Yan stood facing each other.

"Ziyan, listen carefully." Su Baichen's expression was more serious than ever before.

"After you consume the fruit, no matter what changes occur in your body, what situation arises, or how much pain you feel, you only need to stay awake and fully circulate the refining technique I taught you to guide the energy."

"Leave everything else to me. Understand?"

"I know, I know, you've said it eight hundred times already, you're so nagging!"

Zi Yan spoke impatiently, but her small hands clenched tightly. A warm feeling welled up in her heart because of the serious atmosphere and Su Baichen's undisguised concern.

Chapter 285 The Discovery of Donglong Island!

Hearing Zi Yan's words, Su Baichen shook his head helplessly, knowing that there was no point in saying more.

"You……"

He flipped his palm, and the Dragon and Phoenix Origin Fruit appeared in his palm.

Upon seeing the fruit, Zi Yan's eyes shone with a brilliant purple-gold light, a desire that originated from the depths of her bloodline.

Without further hesitation, she took the fruit, and without even looking at it, swallowed it whole!

"You!..." Su Baichen hadn't expected her to be so "reckless," not even bothering to adjust her composure, and it was too late to stop her.

After the fruit entered her stomach, within just a few breaths, Zi Yan's petite body suddenly trembled!

Her fair face flushed instantly, fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, and her brows furrowed tightly, as if she were enduring immense pain.

An indescribable surge of terrifying energy, mixed with the vast roar of a dragon and the clear cry of a phoenix, suddenly erupted from her body!

A dazzling purple-gold light intertwined with and surged with seven-colored rays of light, instantly enveloping Zi Yan completely.

The light quickly condensed and solidified, forming a thick, translucent, purple-gold, seven-colored crystal that sealed Zi Yan inside, like a giant piece of amber.

Within the crystal, energy surged violently, the dragon and phoenix shapes clashed wildly, and Zi Yan's figure appeared and disappeared within it, looking pained and vulnerable.

"Sigh! What a troublesome girl! She completely ignored all my previous warnings!" Su Baichen sighed, but his eyes instantly sharpened, and his aura surged.

He raised his right palm, and a dazzling, azure-colored flame rose from his palm, instantly enveloping it.

He extended his palm, which was burning with the Glazed Sky-Burning Flame, and gently pressed it onto the huge dragon and phoenix crystal.

"laugh……"

As the flames touched the crystal, they made a soft sound. The violent energy seemed to have found an outlet, and under Su Baichen's guidance, it began to slowly and gradually seep into the crystal, helping Zi Yan within it to refine this immense primordial power that even a Dou Sheng would be extremely cautious about in a gentle yet effective way.

Within the basin, the sounds of dragons roaring and phoenixes howling never ceased, and energy tides surged. A process of protection and refinement concerning the transformation of bloodlines had just begun!

Meanwhile, deep within the endless void, a colossal island, majestic as a star, silently floats in the air—that is the sacred land of the Ancient Dragon Clan, Ancient Dragon Island.

In the heart of Donglong Island, within an absolutely forbidden area shrouded by layers of spatial folds, three figures, seemingly frozen in time, suddenly opened their eyes at the same instant!

The void, silent for a thousand years, suddenly rippled like the roar of a dragon.

"The aura of the Dragon Emperor's bloodline!"

On the throne, the usually calm and composed face of the First Elder, Qingshan, showed a violent tremor for the first time.

The space around the Second Elder, Qingmu, on the left condensed inch by inch, while the Third Elder, Zhuli, on the right trembled all over. The bitterness of a thousand years of waiting and the sudden surge of hope intertwined, causing the eyes of this iron-willed dragon elder to instantly turn red.

"It's His Majesty's aura... There's no mistake! We've finally waited for this!" Zhu Li's voice was hoarse, choked with disbelief.

For thousands of years, the three of them have maintained the ancient secret technique of sensing the Dragon Emperor day and night, which has almost become an obsession.

"Wait!" Aoki suddenly frowned, his eyes flashing with golden light as he carefully discerned the details.

"The aura was as weak as a candle flickering in the wind... Moreover, how could it contain such pure Heavenly Phoenix power? The smell of those scruffy birds was so pungent even across the endless void!"

Elder Qingshan slowly raised his hand, indicating that everyone should be at ease.

He closed his eyes, and a complex and profound purple-gold dragon pattern slowly emerged between his brows. It was the "Dragon Emperor's Heart Seal," which could only be inherited by the most core elders of the Dragon Emperor lineage.

A moment later, he opened his eyes again, his gaze filled with insight and indescribable excitement.

"The aura is faint, not because of its inherent weakness, but because... the aura emanating from it does not belong to His Majesty himself, but to His Majesty's long-lost descendants!"

His aged voice paused, and an uncontrollable smile appeared on his lips.

"As for the aura of the Heavenly Phoenix... Qingmu, have you forgotten what in this world can simultaneously contain the supreme origin of both my clan and the ancient Heavenly Phoenix?"

Aoki was taken aback at first, then his pupils suddenly shrank to pinpoints, and he exclaimed in shock, "Only the legendary... Dragon and Phoenix Origin Fruit?!"

"Exactly!" Qingshan suddenly stood up, his robes fluttering without wind, and his eyes blazing with divine light.

"Moreover, this aura of the Heavenly Phoenix is ​​pure and domineering, far surpassing that of ordinary Heavenly Phoenix descendants. Only the original essence blood of the ancient Heavenly Phoenix can produce such a thing! That child is refining the Dragon-Phoenix Origin Fruit!"

Zhu Li was so excited that his hair and beard stood on end: "Heaven blesses the Dragon Emperor lineage! Bearing the imperial bloodline, and encountering such an unprecedented opportunity! With the fusion of dragon and phoenix, a supreme being is within reach! Our Taixu Ancient Dragon Clan may be about to welcome an unprecedented—Dragon and Phoenix Supreme!"

The sealed room seemed to be injected with a dose of boiling hot blood, as if the gloom of a thousand years was about to be swept away.

However, Aoyama's ecstatic expression lasted only a moment before it froze.

He seemed to have been suddenly doused with ice water; his expression changed drastically, plummeting from extreme excitement to bone-chilling fear.

"No! Utterly wrong!" His voice suddenly became sharp and urgent.

"The child's aura was so weak and unstable, clearly indicating that his condition was extremely poor! Under such circumstances, forcibly refining the Dragon-Phoenix Origin Fruit caused the two completely different yet incomparably domineering supreme powers to clash within his body..."

There was no need to say anything more; Aoki and Zhuli were already deathly pale.

They knew all too well that it was tantamount to stuffing a blazing sun into a fragile glass bottle! There was only one consequence—energy backlash, crystallization seal!

"I'm going to save His Highness!" Qingmu roared, and the space around him exploded as he was about to step into the void passage.

"Stop right there!" Qingshan roared, his voice like a dragon's cry from the heavens, containing unquestionable authority and anxiety, which stunned the suddenly rising Qingmu.

“None of us three old guys can be moved! The spies of those three traitors, the Western Dragon King, the Southern Dragon King, and the Northern Dragon King, are watching Eastern Dragon Island at all times! If the three of us make any unusual moves, they will immediately notice! At that time, Your Highness will not only face the backlash of refining, but also the encirclement and annihilation by the three major dragon islands!”

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his surging blood and qi, and made a quick decision, each word carrying immense weight: "Immediately send a message to Qi You and Hei Qing! Tell them to come here secretly! Qi You is meticulous and adept at strategizing; Hei Qing is powerful in battle and utterly loyal."

"Only by joining forces can they protect His Highness without easily revealing their whereabouts."

"Issue my secret order from the Elders: at all costs, find His Highness and protect him through this calamity."

"But you must remain hidden and follow him like a shadow. You must not reveal yourself except in a life-or-death situation, and you must not clash with the people of the three islands. Your Highness's safe return is the ultimate priority!"

"Yes, sir!" Qingmu and Zhuli, knowing the stakes, suppressed their anxiety and solemnly accepted the order.

With a flicker, they transformed into two streaks of light and disappeared into the secret chamber.

Qingshan stood alone in the empty forbidden area, gazing at the distant, almost immeasurable direction from which the mysterious aura emanated. His aged fists clenched tightly, his knuckles turning white.

A thousand years of waiting, the hope of a clan, now rests on the shoulders of those blood relatives they have never met, and also on the shoulders of two clansmen who have quietly set off.

A moment later, at the edge of Ancient Dragon Island, the void rippled slightly like the surface of water, and two blurry black shadows, almost blending into the darkness, quietly emerged.

Without causing any spatial ripples or alerting any detection barriers, it vanished instantly into the vast depths of the endless void, its whereabouts unknown.

Chapter 286 The Strangeness of the Dragon Emperor's Blood-Weeping Spear!

The three giants of Danta stood side by side on the cliff, their robes fluttering in the swirling heat.

Before the beads of sweat on Xuan Kongzi's forehead could drip off, they were evaporated into white vapor by the invisible high temperature in the air.

He raised his hand and gestured in front of his eyes. The light mirror formed by his battle qi reflected the scene of the basin several miles away—three of the seven nested ancient formations had dimmed and lost their light, like a spider web that had been scorched through.

The remaining four layers of light curtains flickered on and off, each flash causing ripples to spread across the space like water.

"Cracks have also appeared in the fourth layer of the formation."

Tian Leizi's voice was hoarse, and the flames wrapped around his fingertips sensed the raging fire-attribute energy in the distance, which was jumping uneasily.

Xuan Yi remained silent. Her newly stabilized semi-saint cultivation had become her most sensitive detector: what was emanating from each crack in the array was no longer simply flames.

This is some kind of higher-level existence—an energy turbulence between matter and powerful force, generated by the collision of the Glazed Heavenly Flame and the Dragon and Phoenix Crystal Layer.

She tried to take half a step forward, and her protective fighting spirit instantly emitted a soft cracking sound, like porcelain breaking.

"Back off!" Xuan Kongzi grabbed her.

The three retreated thirty feet at the same time. The rocks where they had stood melted silently into crimson magma, which then quickly vaporized, leaving a glassy pit in the ground.

Cao Ying and the others stood further away. This proud young girl was biting her lower lip tightly, her nails digging deep into her palms, looking worriedly at the basin in front of her.

The purple-gold fireball in the center of the basin resembled an embryo that was giving birth to a new star.

Meanwhile, deep within the void.

Two figures were hidden in the spatial crevices, their auras blending into the void. Unless a powerful expert of the same level deliberately probed, it would be extremely difficult to detect them.

Hei Qing's rugged face was full of anxiety. His burly body remained motionless in the void turbulence, but his eyes were fixed on the basin below—or rather, on the purple-gold sphere of light in the center of the basin, which was enveloped in layers of flames.

"Elder, what about Donglong Island..." he asked in a low voice.

Qi You, one of the elders of the Taixu Ancient Dragon Clan, also lost his usual composure at this moment.

His long, silver-gray hair fluttered in the turbulent void, and a complex expression flashed in his deep eyes: "The three Dragon Kings have already made their move."

“The spies sent by the Western Dragon King left Ancient Dragon Island three days ago, and the ‘Shadow Dragon Guards’ under the Northern Dragon King also disappeared without a trace yesterday… They sensed it, there’s no mistake.”

“But Your Highness…” Hei Qing clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white.

"Wait." Qi You only said one word, but his voice carried immense weight.

“If we show ourselves now, it will only make things more chaotic. The child is at a critical moment in the process of refining, and if we interrupt him rashly, not only will all our efforts be wasted, but it may also backfire on him.”