Rumbling sounds rolled through the depths of the earth as Wolong Mountain collapsed and crumbled, as though the end of days had arrived. The people of Great Moon Province all flew into the sky, watching in alarm and confusion.
Below, the earth had caved in and the entire mountain range had collapsed, and no one knew what had happened.
It took quite a while for the dust to settle. From deep within the ruined earth, a figure emerged—pale-faced and gasping for breath. It was Yang Kai, who had been missing for nearly twenty days.
Yue He, who had been searching for Yang Kai nearby all this time, rushed over immediately and caught him, asking, "Are you alright?"
Yang Kai turned his head to look at her and slowly shook his head. "I'm fine."
Forcibly storing that thousand-zhang dragon body into the Small Mysterious Realm had taken no small toll on him. Fortunately, that giant dragon had been dead for countless years—otherwise the expenditure would have been even greater. Even so, it had exhausted him terribly, making him feel as though his entire being had been hollowed out.
"Where did you go? Why haven't we seen you for so many days?" Yue He asked reproachfully while supporting him as they flew back.
Yang Kai just grinned and chuckled without answering, which nearly drove Yue He to fury.
Though she didn't know what mysterious business Yang Kai had been up to these past days, the moment she first laid eyes on him just now, Yue He had vaguely sensed that this fellow had grown much stronger again. Presumably he hadn't been idle and must have had some fortuitous encounter.
Back at their resting place, Yang Kai popped a few pills into his mouth and recuperated for a short while.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw the two massive creatures—the Crimson Flood Dragon and the Earth Dragon—crouching not far away, gazing at him eagerly.
Yue He said helplessly, "Those two have been staring at you like this the entire time. They want those Dragon Blood Flowers, don't they?"
Yang Kai said grumpily, "You two gluttons, just wait a bit more!"
As he spoke, he directly produced a pill cauldron.
Dragon Blood Flowers naturally needed to be refined into Dragon Blood Pills to maximize their medicinal efficacy—swallowing them whole was the greatest waste. Especially since the Dragon Blood Flowers harvested this time were extraordinary: most of them were beyond supreme grade. How could Yang Kai tolerate squandering such heaven-sent treasures?
Dragon Blood Flowers like these were the kind where each one used meant one fewer, and who knew when he'd get his hands on more.
"You know how to refine pills too?" Yue He asked, eyeing him doubtfully from the side.
Yang Kai didn't even look up. "There's plenty this master knows how to do."
Yue He couldn't help but snort with laughter, not taking him seriously.
As they talked, Yang Kai had already taken out a large pile of medicinal ingredients—all supplementary herbs for refining Dragon Blood Pills, harvested from the herb garden, of ample maturity.
Looking again at what he had obtained from Thunder Radiance before, Yang Kai felt a surge of elation. Earlier, he had been in too much of a rush to explore the depths of Wolong Mountain to examine things carefully. But now that he looked, he had harvested several hundred supreme-grade Dragon Blood Flowers alone, and even more that were beyond supreme grade. Those flowers mostly displayed three-colored, five-colored, or seven-colored radiance, and he had no idea how to classify their grade. The total number was probably close to a thousand.
This showed just how powerful the giant dragon that had fallen at Wolong Mountain must have been—only the blood of such a dragon could cultivate Dragon Blood Flowers of this caliber.
Yang Kai casually took out two supreme-grade and two three-color-radiance Dragon Blood Flowers. Channeling his power, he fed the ingredients one by one into the pill cauldron for refining.
Back when he was on Dragon Island, he had refined Dragon Blood Pills many times. Though it had been many years since he had last done so, he hadn't forgotten the process. Step by step, his hands moved with flowing grace. Yue He watched from the side in utter astonishment, only then realizing that Yang Kai truly knew how to refine pills—and from the look of it, he was remarkably proficient.
Gradually, an enticing pill fragrance wafted from the cauldron.
Xiao Hei and Xiao Hong grew ever more impatient. Xiao Hei especially—the saliva from its mouthparts flowed down like a river. For exotic beasts like them that carried dragon bloodline, the scent of Dragon Blood Pills was enough to drive them mad. If Yang Kai weren't sitting right there, they would probably have rushed up to snatch them immediately.
In no more than half a day, the first batch of Dragon Blood Pills had congealed. As he collected the pills, a faint dragon's roar emanated from within the cauldron, making Yue He click her tongue in amazement.
The batch produced nine pills. Yang Kai casually popped one into his mouth to test its efficacy and found it satisfactory. Though he hadn't refined pills in many years, his skill hadn't deteriorated—the medicinal properties of the Dragon Blood Flowers and supplementary herbs had been fully activated.
Two faint spiritual senses reached him, carrying a sense of longing. It was the Crimson Flood Dragon and the Earth Dragon, growing anxious from waiting, their massive bodies rolling about restlessly.
Yang Kai chuckled softly and tossed one pill to each of them, which immediately calmed them considerably.
Over the next ten-odd days, Yang Kai continuously refined Dragon Blood Pills. The number of Dragon Blood Flowers obtained this time was truly enormous—he estimated that even refining non-stop for a year, he wouldn't finish them all.
While refining, he also continuously consumed Dragon Blood Pills to purify his dragon bloodline. Yang Kai could clearly feel that his dragon bloodline had indeed improved somewhat, though without activating the Dragon Transformation Art, the changes weren't yet visible.
The Crimson Flood Dragon and the Earth Dragon became even more submissive. Taking Dragon Blood Pills gave them a greater boost than consuming Dragon Blood Flowers directly, and as exotic beasts, they were especially keenly perceptive of this.
Even Yue He and the others from Great Moon Province received some Dragon Blood Pills. However, they didn't consume them directly. Instead, at Yang Kai's instruction, they dissolved them in water and spread one pill across many days of consumption.