Yang Kai had never expected something like this to happen. Out in the open world, it might have actually managed to escape.
But this, after all, was the small world within the Mysterious World Bead.
So Yang Kai merely blinked in surprise before reaching out with a grab.
The spiritual energy within the small world responded to his will. The tiny figure had flown less than thirty feet before an invisible force pinned it in place. Even so, it continued to struggle restlessly, high-pitched dragon roars emanating from within.
Only now did Yang Kai get a clear look at what it actually was.
It was a True Dragon—shrunken countless times in size—and a crimson fire dragon at that, its entire body wreathed in blazing flames!
Yang Kai nearly jumped out of his skin. "A hatchling?" he exclaimed in shock.
But soon enough, he realized that wasn't the case at all. The thing that looked like a "hatchling" twisted and contorted, transforming into a drop of deep crimson substance. It was roughly the size of a small fingernail, yet it resembled molten lava—despite being thirty feet away, Yang Kai could feel its scorching power.
His expression shifted rapidly before he seemed to remember something and cried out, "Dragon blood—it's actually True Dragon blood!"
The jade bottle hadn't contained a dragon hatchling at all. It held a single drop of genuine dragon blood.
Judging from what he had just witnessed, this was none other than the blood of a Fire Dragon! If a warrior who cultivated fire-attributed power were to obtain it, the benefits would be immense.
That said, it wasn't entirely useless to Yang Kai either.
Though Yang Kai didn't primarily cultivate fire-based power, he had used the Monster Transformation Art to fuse a True Dragon Artifact into his body—that single genuine dragon scale had been merged within him, shielding his vital heart region.
He had long planned to fuse the Dragon Bone Sword into his body as well.
The Dragon Bone Sword had been forged from an authentic dragon's spine and a dragon pearl. Back when he had first refined it, the process had been crude and hadn't damaged its fundamental nature, so fusing it would pose no problem.
Fusing that single dragon scale had granted Yang Kai enormous benefits, and he had never stopped thinking about the Dragon Bone Sword. Previously he'd lacked the strength to fuse it, and later, when his strength had grown sufficient, he simply hadn't had the time.
And now, he had obtained a drop of True Dragon blood.
If he could integrate it properly, he might even gain a portion of a True Dragon's majesty! After all, he already carried the origin power of the Golden Holy Dragon within him.
Yang Kai's expression shifted back and forth, but deep inside, he was overjoyed.
Only now did he realize that the jade bottle containing the dragon blood was no ordinary object either. With a brief probe of his senses, he detected that its interior was covered in dense restrictions, and it radiated a bone-piercing coldness. This cold was peculiar—holding the bottle in his palm, he felt nothing at all, but when he extended his Divine Sense to examine it, the cold seemed as though it could freeze his very perception in place.
Only such a remarkable treasure could restrain a drop of dragon blood.
After a long moment of solemn contemplation, Yang Kai decided not to rush into the fusion process.
Years ago, when he had used the Monster Transformation Art to fuse the dragon scale, he had suffered terribly for it. This time, he wanted to consult some reference materials first before making a decision. Having made up his mind, he carefully stored the dragon blood away again, then flickered out of the small world.
Over the following days, Yang Kai wandered through the various shops and establishments in Maple Leaf City. He even visited the black market several times.
The demon beast materials he had brought out from the Five-Colored Pagoda were all sold off, netting him a considerable sum of source crystals. He then spent a large portion of those crystals purchasing a wide variety of obscure texts before returning to his cave dwelling to read behind closed doors.
His experiences since arriving in the Star Boundary had made it clear that he needed to familiarize himself with information about this realm as quickly as possible. Though the texts were eclectic and miscellaneous, they were exactly what he needed at the moment.
Among them were guides introducing the major Sects of the Star Boundary, secret realms, the distribution of various powers, geographical features, and even some herbal compendiums with illustrations.
This kind of publicly known information wasn't hard to come by at all. After spending several days reading through them, Yang Kai finally had a general understanding of the Star Boundary.
Some of the texts also contained records of more obscure information, though whether it was true or false, Yang Kai had no way of knowing. Unfortunately, he hadn't found much in the way of records about the True Dragon clan. All he knew was that somewhere in the Star Boundary, there existed a Dragon Island, upon which many dragons resided.
He did, however, find quite a bit of information regarding fusing True Dragon Artifacts into one's body.
Most of it stated that a special technique was required to assist the process, and that the outcome varied from person to person. Even if someone managed to succeed in the fusion, if their physical constitution wasn't strong enough, the True Dragon Artifact could consume them and they would die.
Yang Kai felt he probably wouldn't have any issues.
He had the Monster Transformation Art for the special technique, his physical body was more than robust enough, and on top of all that, he possessed the origin power of the Golden Holy Dragon. The conditions for fusing a True Dragon Artifact were practically tailor-made for him.
Still, there was no rush. His top priority at the moment was advancing to the Dao Source Realm!
A breakthrough of an entire major realm would be enough to transform his strength completely.
Time flew, and half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
Yang Kai stepped out of his cave dwelling and made his way to the Spirit Pill Workshop. Following his prior arrangement with Kang Siran, he entered the inner sanctum of the alchemists to begin his work.