Chapter 981 - Heavenly Empowerment

“The number of meridians one forms is dependent on one’s body constitution. The Ye family has the Seven Killing Blood Veins. I have activated three of them, which means that I have three times more meridians than the others. The number of meridians directly correlates with how much divine essence you can have. This explains why I am stronger than the others.

“Wielders of the Seven Killing Blood Veins can obtain seven times more meridians than the others at most. Ye Wushang most likely had seven hundred thousand meridians. The Seven Killing Blood Veins were considered one of the strongest body constitutions one could have here in the Underworld Estate, but it’s actually quite weak when you compare it to what people have at the True Martial Overlord Territory. There are many other extremely powerful body constitutions there that can grant their wielder a hundred thousand meridians from the start. There are even some that grant their users a million meridians! Could you imagine what kind of talent and strength they possess when they are a hundred times stronger than regular cultivators by just advancing into the Divine Martial Realm?”

City Lord Ye Xuan slowly explained to Long Chen while he was refining the Divine Martial Condensation Pill.

Is it related to the body's constitution? I wonder how many meridians I can form since I have the body of the Ancient Bloodsoul Dragon? I can’t wait.

The First Divine Martial Stage, also called the Star Cluster Realm, was where the cultivators would form numerous meridians and scatter them within their bodies. The meridians would then supply them with a lot of power.

The Divine Martial Condensation Pill was a miraculous pill. It disappeared in Long Chen’s mouth instantly. He then noticed something peculiar. His thoughts, which were supposed to be intangible, were forcefully pulled and condensed into a ball.

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

The Divine Soul was the root of his thoughts and where his memories were stored. The Martial Soul was what Long Chen had to use to control his body, and it was in a state of disarray before entering the Three Martial Realms. One would find it hard to control their body with precision before reaching that level. Before the Divine Martial Realm, one would find their Divine Soul scattered. In condensing it, Long Chen noticed his senses becoming much sharper than before. His world became clearer, and his mind was sharper.

Long Chen’s Divine Soul had a humanoid shape, which meant he was still human deep down. Only his Martial Soul had taken on a dragon shape.

His Divine Soul continued to solidify in his sea of consciousness.

“Good. I can sense the Divine Soul in your body already. The Divine Soul can peer into the world and see through everything. Those who haven’t solidified their Divine Soul will feel like they are being suppressed by your gaze. Once you reach the Second Divine Martial Stage, you can use the Divine Intuition. To be accurate, that’s when your Divine Soul opens its eyes. Once your Divine Soul becomes strong enough to separate from your body, it will naturally merge with your Martial Soul.”

Her words appeared to have come from a faraway place.

But Long Chen listened.

It felt different when someone was guiding him during the process.

Half a day passed, and the humanoid white smoke took the form of a small Long Chen. A strange force moved the Divine Soul towards the Mysterious Jade Pendant, where his Martial Soul was located.

Long Chen’s Martial Soul looked exactly like the blood-red Ancient Bloodsoul Dragon, and it was shrouded in blood-red mist. The man and the dragon met in the sea of consciousness.

The dragon opened its eyes and looked at the Divine Soul. It roared, not out of wariness, but out of excitement, as if it had been waiting for this for a long time.

The dragon and the human merged without warning. With that, Long Chen had formed his Divine Martial Soul.

There weren't any changes to Long Chen’s body, but City Lord Ye Xuan sensed a heavy pressure coming from him.

It was powerful enough to make her wary. Blood-red scales suddenly covered Long Chen’s body as he transformed into his dragon form. The blood-red scales and bone spikes reminded City Lord Ye Xuan of an ancient beast.

Even at the Fifth Divine Martial Stage, she felt fear when she saw Long Chen’s current form. She took a few steps back subconsciously.

This is going to attract a lot of attention. I will have to seal this place off.

Heavenly Empowerment wasn’t a silent ordeal. Usually, the person ascending to the Divine Martial Realm would need to be protected, for fear that an enemy would interrupt the process. Any form of interruption could prove to be fatal, because the energy backlash would be enough to kill the cultivator. Even a child at the First Heavenly Martial Stage could kill Long Chen while he was in this state.

City Lord Ye Xuan raised a blood-red barrier that enveloped Long Chen. The barrier grew until it was several hundred meters in diameter. Outsiders couldn’t see that anything was happening at the Seven-Colored Tower, because City Lord Ye Xuan had obscured it.

Long Chen was still focused on his Divine Martial Soul.

He could feel that his Martial Soul, which appeared dead, had somehow come to life and had sentience. It started to change, becoming more solid. A blood-red mist enveloped it when the Divine Soul merged with it. Long Chen could tell that something big was coming out of the mist when he caught glimpses of scales.

The mist soon dissipated, and he saw his Divine Martial Soul for the first time.

“Is this... me?”

The Divine Martial Soul was the root of one’s life.

Ling Xi, who had her physical body destroyed, had survived using her Divine Martial Soul. Now it was his turn to obtain his Divine Martial Soul, the core of his very life.

The small, blood-red dragon was undoubtedly how the Ancient Bloodsoul Dragon looked like when it was alive. This was the first time Long Chen had seen it in such detail.

A strange string of information appeared in his mind.

“999,999,999 scales... Is this the Ancient Bloodsoul Dragon?”

The dragon looked small to him, but it was already covered in almost a billion scales. The bloodlust radiating from it was enough to stun Long Chen, much less City Lord Ye Xuan.

After creating his Divine Martial Soul, Long Chen opened his eyes, and blood-red light spilled out. In that instant, a blood-red dragon was swimming in his pupils.

City Lord Ye Xuan took several steps back out of surprise.

A blood-red dragon wrapped around Long Chen, glaring at City Lord Ye Xuan out of wariness. Even though it had suppressed its bloodlust, the authority coming from the Ancient Bloodsoul Dragon was intense enough to make City Lord Ye Xuan stumble and fall. Cold sweat covered her forehead, and the fear didn’t subside until Long Chen opened his eyes.

“The... Divine Dragon...”

City Lord Ye Xuan stood up with her face pale from fear. Her pupils were still quaking because the appearance of the dragon had scared her.

She was even more apprehensive about Long Chen’s identity.

“You are a legendary Dragon Warrior! It’s no wonder...”

Only Dragon Warriors could do what Long Chen had succeeded in doing, by killing those at the Divine Martial Realm even though he himself was only at the Eighth Heavenly Martial Stage.

That explained everything.

There were almost no Dragon Warriors in the Three Royal Territories.

But the fusion of his Divine Martial Soul was just the beginning. Now was the most important moment for Long Chen, to receive the Heavenly Path. He wasn’t worried when City Lord Ye Xuan learned of his identity, “You must keep this a secret. Don’t tell anyone.”

Long Chen knew that she was trustworthy.

City Lord Ye Xuan was still in shock because the bloodlust from the dragon just now was still fresh in her mind. Also, she was still surprised by Long Chen’s true identity.

She stammered after a long time, “You... You can relax.”

Bam!

Long Chen’s body suddenly trembled. City Lord Ye Xuan knew that the Heavenly Empowerment was going to start.

Long Chen shouted, “Help me hide this!”

Long Chen had a feeling that he would cause a huge commotion when he reached the Divine Martial Realm. Based on the 999,999,999 scales that had formed on his Divine Martial Soul, he had expected that whatever was about to happen would be very disruptive.

His body started to undergo a huge change and his newly formed Divine Martial Soul released a mysterious power. Like a series of commands, it started to change Long Chen’s body fundamentally.

At the same time, another source of power came crashing down from the heavens. The skies trembled, the clouds parted, and the power fell downwards. The Heavenly Empowerment was starting.

Long Chen’s Heavenly Empowerment was destined to be different from that of others.