Chapter 291: Division, Consumption
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The golden dragon phantom roared, seemingly biting into the dragon soul's power, devouring the seven-colored energy and integrating it into Tang Wulin's body.
Gu Yue's expression turned icy as she swiftly merged with the dragon soul's power, greedily consuming the seven-colored energy.
When the Dragon God split into two, the abilities related to its physical form were mostly inherited by the Golden Dragon King, while the spiritual aspects became the Silver Dragon King. As such, the dragon soul's power naturally leaned more toward her. Thus, she could effortlessly merge with the dragon soul's energy and rapidly absorb large amounts of the seven-colored energy.
As for Xu Yuan, he did not directly consume the dragon soul's energy.
However, he manipulated the dragon soul imprint in his hand to absorb the dragon soul's power, channeling that energy into the imprint.
Additionally, a portion of the seven-colored energy vanished into thin air, absorbed into his dreamscape.
The more he absorbed, the more astonished Xu Yuan became. Even under the influence of his soul skills, the true essence of the seven-colored energy remained overwhelming, resisting complete conversion. This made his dreamscape increasingly resemble reality.
It was an unexpected bonus.
But it also meant that achieving seamless integration between reality and illusion would become even more challenging unless he discarded this dragon soul energy. However, the entire process of solidifying his dreamscape relied on the dragon soul's energy, making it impossible to discard it without cost.
Xu Yuan did not dwell on the future.
For now, transitioning from illusion to reality was crucial.
If his dreamscape could transition from virtual to real, his cultivation of the Seven Forbidden Techniques would undoubtedly progress much faster.
Having lost the ability to deeply harness the world's natural forces due to the plane already having an owner, he had to find alternative approaches. The dreamscape was the most practical and suitable path for him.
The Demon Plane was one route he had prepared for his teacher Yun Ming, though the Dragon Valley could also serve a similar purpose—depending on Yun Ming's stance soon.
All three were rapidly absorbing the dragon soul's power.
However, their absorption speeds differed significantly.
Gu Yue had the highest compatibility with the dragon soul, being the original Silver Dragon King herself. She consumed the fastest and most efficiently, all while suppressing Xu Yuan and Tang Wulin's absorption efforts and interfering with them. Consequently, she devoured approximately seventy percent of the dragon soul's power.
Tang Wulin absorbed only about twenty percent.
And Xu Yuan claimed ten percent.
This ten percent of the power was infused into the dragon soul imprint, causing it to emit a scorching glow. Its chaotic colors gradually clarified, transforming into a crystalline, seven-colored radiance resembling a meticulously carved gemstone, translucent and dazzling.
Could this be considered an alternate version of the Dragon God's Tear?
By infusing the dragon soul's power, Xu Yuan compensated for what the imprint lacked compared to the original Dragon God's Tear, elevating it to the status of a divine artifact. Most of its effects pertained to the dragon race—suppression, identity symbolism, and various other miscellaneous abilities. For Xu Yuan, the most effective benefit was undoubtedly the ability to harness the small world of the Dragon Valley's power.
Of course, out of the ten percent of dragon soul energy he obtained, Xu Yuan only invested half into the imprint. The remaining half was channeled into his dreamscape. Of the latter half, he retained only about ten percent for future research and enhancing the realism of his dreamscape, distributing the rest among the nine Dragon King souls.
After absorbing the Dragon God's dragon soul power, these nine dragon souls grew significantly stronger, stabilizing their existence. Even without Xu Yuan's dreamscape, they could now maintain their presence without dissipating.
In this state, the success rate of converting them into spirit souls would be higher, and more importantly, their post-conversion strength would be immense.
At the very least, they would qualify as hundred-thousand-year spirit souls!
Tang Wulin's bloodline fluctuations were intense. While absorbing the dragon soul's energy, Old Tang mobilized the seals within him, instantly breaking through the seventh seal!
After fusing the seventh seal, the eighth seal began stirring restlessly. With a determined resolve, Old Tang directly helped him unlock this seal as well.
Tang Wulin let out a pained roar toward the heavens.
The dragon cry reverberated throughout the valley.
The amount of dragon soul energy he had absorbed was insufficient to withstand the strain of consecutively unlocking three seals in such a short time.
Or rather, two consecutive seals.
After all, the conditions for absorbing the sixth seal had already been met earlier.
Even with the combined power of the sixth seal, the dragon soul's energy, and the seventh seal, he still hadn't reached the level required to fuse the eighth seal.
However, Old Tang was now fully lucid.
Old Tang's remaining strength was originally reserved for slumber, assisting Tang Wulin in fusing subsequent seals and awakening momentarily whenever a seal was unlocked to aid him.
Now, having consecutively unlocked three seals, he had released a significant amount of energy.
For the sixth and seventh seals, he merely assisted, so the consumption wasn't substantial.
With the surplus energy, he now focused on helping Tang Wulin suppress part of the eighth seal's energy.
Unfortunately, his earlier distribution of divine power had been detected by Gu Yue. Had it influenced the dragon soul, he might have secured more dragon soul energy for Tang Wulin, stabilizing the eighth seal further.
Old Tang sighed.
At this point, the insufficiency of dragon soul energy no longer mattered.
Since he had to intervene anyway, allocating some strength to help Tang Wulin prematurely fuse the eighth seal was the best he could do.
Gu Yue coldly observed Tang Wulin as he integrated his bloodline.
Her powers had been sealed before, so her perception wasn't clear.
Now, in her unsealed state, she clearly understood what Tang Wulin was doing.
His Golden Dragon King bloodline—it was stolen!
Her spiritual power erupted.
Xu Yuan was shocked.
He felt the overwhelming strength of Gu Yue's spiritual power, far surpassing his Lingyuan realm. He even doubted whether the Lingyu realm should possess such power.
Gu Yue's spiritual power had undoubtedly reached the Divine Origin realm!
Upon closer inspection, Xu Yuan noticed the shimmering nine-colored light on Gu Yue's chest. Combined with the high degree of fusion between his dreamscape and the surrounding small world, as well as the existence of the dragon soul imprint, he quickly deduced the source of Gu Yue's heightened spiritual power.
It was likely a trial card.
Still, a trial card was impressive enough.
Xu Yuan turned his gaze toward Tang Wulin, immediately sensing an oppressive aura. A vast presence spread throughout the area.
Had he unlocked another seal?
Xu Yuan silently gave Gu Yue a mental nod of approval.
Good.
The more of Buddha Tang's power is consumed, the better.
There's no need to leave anything for a third intervention.
Abyssal Sage King?
Under no circumstances could Tang San's contingency plan become the decisive factor.
Even if the final fallback rested on Tang Hao, Tang San must not intervene to deal with the Abyssal Sage King. Moreover, Xu Yuan had no intention of allowing the Abyssal Sage King's true form to descend upon Douluo Continent, regardless of whether a fallback was necessary.
While Xu Yuan was contemplating, Gu Yue and Tang San clashed.
A storm of seven-colored elemental energy collided with blue-golden divine power, causing the entire Dragon Valley's spatial structure to tremble. Cracks began appearing in the sky.
Outside, Yun Ming, who had been waiting in secret, also turned pale with shock.
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