Chapter 1224: Dragon's Blood Lineage Duke Arts

Li Luo was greeted by a dazzling light as soon as he stepped into the Duke Arts Pagoda. Its inside was vast and brilliant.

He squinted to acclimatize himself to the brightness. Slowly, the blinding scenery in front of him cleared up.

There were rows of towering jade shelves inside the pagoda. There were multiple grids on each shelf, and a shiny jade tablet sat quietly on each grid.

The pagoda’s size indicated that the inside collection was far beyond one's imagination. Some people were lost in thought amidst the rows of shelves. Without a doubt, they were members of the Five Guardian Armies who had arrived earlier in search of their Duke Arts.

Li Luo studied his surroundings curiously. It was the first time he had seen such a huge collection of treasures. Most likely, the majority of them were Duke Arts. This was a truly frightening foundation of their lineage’s power.

He slowly walked through the area and scanned the shelves. He noticed that the shelves had been sorted into the five lineages. Each shelf in a particular area was filled with the Duke Arts of one lineage.

He took another quick glance before he closed his eyes and began to ponder over his options.

Each of the five lineages' Duke Arts had their advantages and disadvantages. For example, the Duke Arts from the Dragon's Fang Lineage and the Dragon's Horn Lineage were more suitable for offense. The Duke Arts from the Dragon's Bone Lineage and the Dragon's Scale Lineage were more compatible with strengthening one's body and defense. The Duke Arts from the Dragon's Blood Lineage were unique, as they were connected to the purity of the cultivator's bloodline.

It would be very challenging to cultivate a Duke Art from the Dragon's Blood Lineage if one's bloodline wasn't pure enough. It was possible for someone with impure blood to cultivate a powerful Duke Art, but it wouldn’t be very effective. However, the same Duke Art would be significantly stronger if the user had a pure bloodline.

"The Heavenly Dragon's Blood..."

Li Luo rubbed his chin as he thought about it. He recalled Li Qingfeng using the Dragon's Blood Judgment Art during the battle for the Dragon's Head. That art had the ability to compare the purity of their blood, and Li Luo had managed to emerge victorious back then.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Therefore, he knew that his blood was even more pure than Li Qingfeng’s, who came from the Dragon's Blood Lineage.

"It seems like the Duke Arts from the Dragon's Blood Lineage would be really compatible with me."

Li Luo could not help but grin. He had this thought previously, but since he was from the Dragon's Fang Lineage, he was unable to get his hands on the Duke Arts from the Dragon's Blood Lineage. Who knew that this opportunity would present itself in the Heavenly Dragon Five Guardian Armies?

Li Luo did not hesitate any longer and made his way over to where the Duke Arts of the Dragon's Blood Lineage were located.

When he entered the outer region of the Dragon's Blood Lineage shelves, Li Luo casually pulled out a jade tablet. His eyes scanned through its contents. It seemed like the Duke Arts in the outer areas were mainly ordinary ones, at the lower Communion-grade.

Li Luo was not interested in these. He continued down the shelves and read through the tablets one by one. Finally, he found a familiar Duke Art.

Dragon Blood Art. Upper Communion-grade. One could condense their own blood essence into blood pills that would boost their resonant power. It cost eight thousand dragon essence.

Li Luo recalled that this was one of the Duke Arts used by Li Qingfeng during the battle for the Dragon's Head. He had used the blood pills as a substitute for a Heavenly Pearl, increasing his own power by multiple folds.

This was an extremely renowned art from the Dragon's Blood Lineage. Many would choose to cultivate this as it was really versatile and useful.

Li Luo felt the same way. He held onto the jade tablet and thought about it for a long while, but in the end, he placed it back on the shelf.

The grade of the Dragon Blood Art was a little too low. A higher grade Duke Art that could increase one's resonant power would be more effective, so Li Luo decided that he would take one of those if that was the effect he desired. Perhaps a Soul Ascension-grade one?

He would be hanging around the Dragon's Fang Guardians for quite a while. As such, he was in no hurry to pick a Duke Art right now. He could always earn more dragon essence and come back in the future for a better choice.

Li Luo continued to walk down the shelves, into the deeper area of the Dragon's Blood Lineage Duke Arts.

He continued to browse through the unique Duke Arts along the way. It was truly an eye-opening collection.

Dragon Blood Transformation Art, lower Soul Ascension-grade. One could transform their blood into various items, limited only by one's imagination. It was a truly unfathomable art that cost around twenty-three thousand dragon essence.

Dragon Blood Metamorphosis, upper Soul Ascension-grade. One could activate the Heavenly Dragon Bloodline within their body and undergo dragonification, turning into a dragonoid. This cost forty thousand dragon essence.

Dragon Blood Gourd, lower Soul Ascension-grade. One could condense their own blood into a dragon-shaped gourd, which could absorb any resonant power attacks from their opponent. Then the attack would be neutralized by the dragon's blood in the gourd. This cost sixteen thousand dragon essence.

There were all kinds of mysterious and powerful Duke Arts. Li Luo's eyes widened and his heart wavered. From time to time, he would stop and ask himself if he had found the one.

"Eh?"

Li Luo spotted another familiar Duke Art all of a sudden.

Dragon's Blood Judgment Art, lower Soul Ascension-grade. One can take the opponent's blood essence and place it on the Dragon's Blood Scale. They then compare the purity of the dragon's blood from both sides, and the one with the purer blood dominates the one with the weaker bloodline. Twenty-five thousand dragon essence.

Li Luo played around with the jade tablet, savoring the significance of it. This Duke Art was infamous as it was specifically used by the Dragon's Blood Lineage when they fought the other lineages.

It was totally useless against outsiders. However, it was extremely impactful when challenging others from the same bloodline.

This art was originally created by one of the Dragon's Blood Lineage’s ancestors, used specifically to dominate the other lineages.

Li Luo was really interested in this art because he had experienced its might when he fought Li Qingfeng. There probably weren't many people in the Dragon's Blood Guardians with blood more pure than his.

Therefore, he could actually use this art to suppress those from the Dragon's Blood Lineage if he mastered it. It would be really interesting to watch their faces when that happened.

However, after some careful consideration, he decided not to take it. Firstly, he did not have enough dragon essence to buy it. Also, this art could be considered really strong but also really weak since it could only be used against people from the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li. Furthermore, he would need to get his hands on their blood essence. Li Qingfeng had only been able to pull it off because Li Luo did not have his guard up. Otherwise, it would be a really tricky art to wield, even for Li Qingfeng. Besides, Li Luo thought it was a waste of his time to focus his cultivation efforts on an art that was targeted at people from his own bloodline.

His time was too precious to be spent on cultivating an art that solely focused on internal strife.

As such, Li Luo gave up on it decisively. However, he did get some inspiration from the Dragon's Blood Judgment Art. He was interested in finding a similar Duke Art that could be applied on a wider scale.

With that, he continued to search through the shelves. In the end, he found a Duke Art that had been flipped through numerous times in a corner.

Dragon Blood Affliction Art, lower Soul Ascension-grade. One first had to take something that was part of their opponent, like their hair or blood essence. Then the user could infuse their own blood into it to create a Dragon Blood Puppet. The purpose of the puppet was to weaken the target’s connection to the worldly natural energy in the surroundings, weakening their resonant power as a result. The effectiveness of this art was proportional with the purity of the user’s Heavenly Dragon Bloodline. However, this art came with a drawback as well. One would receive a backlash if their blood wasn't pure enough. If the opponent was much stronger, they would suffer injuries on top of not being able to weaken their opponent's resonant power.

It cost nineteen thousand dragon essence. Li Luo grabbed the jade tablet happily. This was almost a perfect Duke Art for him. It was within his budget and was extremely suitable for someone like him, who frequently fought against opponents at higher cultivation levels.

If he could get his hands on his opponent’s blood essence or hair during battle, he could secretly use this malignant art and weaken their resonant power. This would create a lot more opportunities for him to secure a victory.

The main caveat was the ease of receiving backlash. This was probably the main reason why so many people passed on this art. Fortunately, this wasn't a big issue for Li Luo. After all, Li Qingfeng had shown him in their previous battle that the purity of his Heavenly Dragon blood was exceptional.

As such, this was a good choice.

Li Luo had made his choice, but he decided to go deeper. He continued to walk towards the end of the shelves, hoping to see what the Destiny-grade Duke Arts of the Dragon's Blood Lineage were like.

As he walked deeper, the number of grids on the shelves became significantly fewer. After a while, there were only three shelves left in front of him. On these shelves were three blood-red jade tablets that radiated a terrifying presence.

When Li Luo first entered the building, he sensed a strong wave of energy in the background. He now understood that the source was the elites standing guard in the Heavenly Dragon Treasury.

After all, a Destiny-grade Duke Art was extremely precious. Anyone who approached this area would be under watch just in case they tried to do anything funny.

Li Luo did not mind being observed. He walked up and stretched out his hand to grab one of the three jade tablets. Suddenly, information flooded into his mind.

What he learned shook him, making his gaze heat up.