Yang Kai didn't waste time deliberating. The moment he detected the depletion of Zhang Ruoxi's life force, he brought out the Mystic Realm Bead and carried her inside the Small Mystic Realm, arriving beside the spirit medicine garden.
He laid Zhang Ruoxi gently on the ground, then extended his hand and beckoned. Heaven and earth trembled as a visible gust of wind swept through the air. From the Ageless Tree planted in the distance, a wisp of emerald-green energy visible to the naked eye danced along the wind, swirling around Zhang Ruoxi's body and enveloping her completely before seeping in through her pores.
Since her life force had been drained, all he needed to do was replenish it.
The staggering vitality radiated from the Ageless Tree was precisely the remedy needed.
Sure enough, once the Ageless Tree's life force began pouring into her, the deep furrow between Zhang Ruoxi's brows instantly smoothed away. The pain vanished, replaced by an expression of pure bliss.
Yang Kai sent out his Divine Sense to probe and found that her internal condition was recovering rapidly. Her aging organs and meridians were regaining their youthful luster.
The reason she had suffered this misfortune was entirely due to external forces, so the life force from the Ageless Tree could address the problem perfectly. Had it been some elderly person already on the verge of death, whether they could have regained their vitality would have been far less certain.
After a full hour, Yang Kai checked once more and confirmed that Zhang Ruoxi was completely out of danger. Not only that, but nourished by the Ageless Tree's life force, she appeared to have gained some additional benefits.
Only then did he carry Zhang Ruoxi out of the Small Mystic Realm and deliver her back to her own chamber.
She was still unconscious, but she should wake up before long.
This whole affair, however, had confirmed Yang Kai's earlier suspicion — Zhang Ruoxi's cultivation was too low to fathom the mysteries concealed within the Ethereal Jade Disc.
Because her cultivation was insufficient, her life force had been forcibly extracted.
But still… where had those visions come from? And where did that unfinished Void Corridor lead? Even as疑惑 filled his mind, Yang Kai felt a strong anticipation about finding the answers.
Instinctively, he sensed that the Ethereal Jade Disc concealed an earth-shattering secret!
Returning to his quarters, Yang Kai set up a barrier and sent a voice transmission to the matriarch of the Zhang family, informing her that he would be entering closed cultivation for a period and would not receive any visitors until he emerged. After receiving her acknowledgment, he entered the Small Mystic Realm once more.
He first checked on Liu Yan's condition and found her still laboriously refining the Luan Phoenix Feather, struggling against the Luan Phoenix power contained within the divine plume. Though the situation was tense, it wasn't particularly dangerous.
He didn't linger long before finding a secluded spot of his own and sitting down cross-legged.
That single meditation session lasted two full days. Only when his body, energy, and spirit had all recovered to their peak did Yang Kai reach out and wave his hand. Two objects materialized before him.
A jade vial, and a sword without edge or blade.
Inside the jade vial, a drop of crimson liquid churned restlessly. Every so often, the crimson liquid would transform into a miniature dragon that charged left and right, spewing flames from its mouth that scorched the interior of the vial. It seemed almost sentient, desperately trying to break free.
Dragon Fire Blood!
Yang Kai had obtained it from the Ascending Dragon Altar on the first floor of the Five-Colored Pagoda, but since acquiring it, he had never once used it.
The other object — the sword without edge or blade — was naturally Yang Kai's Dragon Bone Sword, Dicui.
He had crafted the Dragon Bone Sword from a segment of dragon spine bone he had discovered in the Dark Star's Flowing Flame Sand, along with a dragon pearl, roughly refined without destroying the material's inherent properties.
At this moment, Yang Kai took out these two dragon artifacts originating from a true dragon's body for an obvious purpose — to refine them into himself.
He had refined one dragon artifact before: a single dragon scale that he had always kept over his vital chest area. Thanks to that scale's formidable defensive power, Yang Kai had benefited from it on numerous occasions in battle.
To this day, he still remembered the agony he had endured when he first refined the dragon scale into his body.
He hadn't previously considered continuing to refine dragon artifacts because his cultivation had been insufficient.
But now, he had advanced to the Dao Source Realm. It was unlikely he would be able to break through to a higher realm again any time soon. If he wanted to boost his combat power, he needed to find other means.
And refining the Dragon Fire Blood and the Dragon Bone Sword into his body was the most direct and effective method.
He possessed the Demon Transformation Art and the origin power of the Golden Sacred Dragon. That was more than enough to turn the impossible into reality.
His gaze shifted back and forth between the Dragon Bone Sword and the Dragon Blood for a moment. Then he resolutely picked up the jade vial.
As if sensing what was coming, the miniature dragon inside the vial turned its head and glared at Yang Kai with fury. Its mouth opened, and a pillar of fire blasted toward Yang Kai's face—
But the jade vial was no ordinary object. Since it could store true dragon blood, it had clearly been specially refined, so the miniature dragon's attack was utterly incapable of harming Yang Kai. If anything, it only made the little creature look comical.
Yang Kai's lips curved upward as he popped open the vial's stopper.
In the same instant, the miniature dragon shot out from the vial's mouth, flicked its tail, and transformed into a streak of fire, attempting to flee.
But within the Small Mystic Realm, all things obeyed the heart of its master. How could it possibly escape Yang Kai's grasp?
Yang Kai simply reached out and clenched his fist in empty air. The streak of fire froze mid-flight, and the miniature dragon struggled ceaselessly, even letting out roars from its mouth — yet it still could not break free of Yang Kai's hold.
Under the power of heaven and earth's laws, the miniature dragon, consumed by extreme unwillingness, collapsed back into a single drop of dragon blood. It glowed like scorching molten lava, radiating searing heat.