Chapter 140: The Divine Fruit of Dragon Blood

At the same time, Qin Ming felt deeply that his earlier choice had been extremely wise. He had not risked entering the Beast-Cry Mountain Range to hunt monsters for the sake of obtaining their essence blood. Putting aside everything else, who could have imagined that killing a single White-Armed Ape would trigger such a catastrophic disaster? The total annihilation of three Foundation Establishment families was a massive upheaval, even for the Lingqi Archipelago or the Canghai Immortal City. Unfortunately, no matter how cautious he was, he had still become entangled in the matter. Qin Ming could not help but sigh inwardly, "Alas! I only hope that once that demon ape has avenged its blood feud, it leaves as quickly as possible."

He then looked toward the distraught Wu Jiang. "Fellow Daoist Wu, it is good that you have returned safely. With the demon ape running rampant outside, it is best to remain on the island for the time being. Let us wait until the storm passes." Qin Ming patted Wu Jiang on the shoulder. He had just learned from Wu Jiang that, in order to gather intelligence, two members of the Wu clan had died outside and failed to return. After Wu Jiang nodded in agreement, he withdrew.

...

Inside his cave dwelling, Qin Ming pondered alone for a long time. Afterward, he walked over to the Dragon-Blood Divine Tree outside; it seemed that the opportunity to further enhance his strength lay within this spiritual plant.

In the days that followed, Qin Ming first planted some low-grade spiritual herbs in the outer spiritual fields. Three months later, he harvested five [Ripen] tags. He went to his natal spiritual plant, the Longevity Vine, and ripened all the dozens of black demon flowers on its vines. Subsequently, he went to the spiritual pond beneath the main peak and ripened the three Jade Brilliance Spiritual Lotuses that possessed tags. Within his sea of consciousness, six blue tag leaves appeared:

[Faint Longevity] x5
[Space-Time Leaf] x5
[Powerful Purity] x5
[Blood Qi Crystal] x5
[Space-Time Leaf] x5
[Powerful Adaptation] x5

Qin Ming immediately consumed the [Faint Longevity] and [Blood Qi Crystal] tags. In an instant, a force of time descended upon him, and his lifespan abruptly increased by fifty years, reaching a long span of over four hundred and seventy years—comparable to that of a Golden Core ancestor. Having such a long lifespan while still in the Foundation Establishment stage, he now had sufficient time to pursue the Great Dao.

After the five [Blood Qi Crystal] tags were consumed, Qin Ming’s True Blood Qi Essence increased by one-third. He was getting closer and closer to the requirements for practicing the second transformation of True Essence Manifestation.

Following this, Qin Ming went to the entrance of his cave dwelling, looked at the somewhat malnourished Dragon-Blood Divine Tree, and with a thought, consumed a [Powerful Adaptation] tag. A golden radiance fell upon the tree, and a silent transformation began to take place. Qin Ming closed his eyes, using his formidable affinity with flora to perceive the state of the spiritual plant. He saw that its roots were sprouting numerous new web-like root systems, spreading outward to absorb the spiritual energy from the earth's veins. The previously listless leaves began to lift, swaying in the breeze. After this tag was used, the delicate Dragon-Blood Divine Tree immediately adapted to its environment and became full of vitality.

However, this was not enough. Qin Ming consecutively used five [Space-Time Leaf] tags to ripen the Dragon-Blood Divine Tree to five hundred years of maturity. In Qin Ming’s sight, the tree, which had been only two feet tall, began to grow frantically at a speed visible to the naked eye. A force of time knotted and lingered around it, persisting for a full half-month. In the end, the entire plant grew to over two zhang in height, with lush foliage, and bloomed with blood-red flowers.

Qin Ming did not rush to ripen them; instead, he allowed the Silver-Winged Frost Bees to bring their swarm to pollinate the Dragon-Blood Divine Tree. The Silver-Winged Frost Bees absorbed the essence from the blood-red flowers, and their aura surged again, as if they had gained tremendous benefits. The pollination lasted for a whole month before ending. The Silver-Winged Frost Bees returned with their swarm to the hive on the Longevity Vine.

Afterward, Qin Ming used another [Space-Time Leaf] tag to ripen the blood-red flowers on the tree. This Dragon-Blood Divine Tree only bore fruit once every hundred years, but with Qin Ming, he had achieved total freedom regarding Dragon-Blood Divine Fruit.

As he was thinking happily, the hundreds of blood-red flowers withered one after another, their petals turning into crimson energy that flowed into the surviving blossoms. In the end, only eighteen blood-red spiritual flowers remained. Immediately following this, strange spiritual fruits, appearing as if covered in dragon scales, grew and matured until more than a dozen fist-sized, crimson-red spiritual fruits appeared before Qin Ming’s eyes. Even from a distance, he could sense the astonishing blood energy contained within the fruits. Furthermore, because this plant had grown from the essence blood of a flood dragon, the fruits themselves contained a trace of flood dragon bloodline aura. Once matured, the fruits emitted a thick, bloody scent.

"Truly worthy of being the legendary Dragon-Blood Divine Fruit!" Qin Ming reached out and grabbed one; the fruit, radiating crimson spiritual charm like a giant egg covered in red scales, fell from the tree into his hand.

At this moment, the Profound Water Crocodile and the Silver-Winged Frost Bees, seemingly catching the scent, rushed to Qin Ming’s side with lightning speed. Both beasts looked at the fruit on the Dragon-Blood Divine Tree with intense eagerness. The Profound Water Crocodile, that glutton, had drool pooling on the ground.

"I haven't even eaten one yet, what are you two in such a rush for?" Qin Ming scolded them with a frown. However, considering that these two spiritual beasts would be part of his strength in the future as they grew, he plucked two more Dragon-Blood Divine Fruits from the tree and tossed them to each. The Profound Water Crocodile and the Silver-Winged Frost Bees were thrilled, each going off to digest the blood energy within. To them, such rare spiritual fruits were undoubtedly a great tonic.

Qin Ming then plucked a Dragon-Blood Divine Fruit for himself and, enduring the strong, bloody stench, consumed it in a few large bites.

Roar!

The moment he finished the spiritual fruit, a dragon’s roar echoed from within Qin Ming’s body. A massive, overwhelming force of blood energy, like a volcanic eruption, surged wildly within him. His face flushed red, and he immediately activated the Foundation Establishment chapter of the "Hundred Treasures Glazed Scripture" to begin cultivation. The continuous flow of blood energy was refined by him into more concentrated True Blood Qi Essence.

Qin Ming sat cross-legged beneath the Dragon-Blood Divine Tree for three full days before he finally refined the blood energy contained in the single fruit. He could clearly feel that his True Blood Qi Essence had improved significantly once again.

More than a month passed. Qin Ming consumed all the remaining dozen or so Dragon-Blood Divine Fruits, pushing his True Blood Qi Essence to a terrifying level. He had finally met the requirements for practicing the second transformation of True Essence Manifestation.

Qin Ming took out the beast-hide map once more, channeling his True Blood Qi Essence into it. Once his essence reached the requirements, the Hundred Beasts Visualization Diagram was activated again, unlocking new areas on the map and revealing various spectral light orbs of monster forms. As Qin Ming contemplated which monster form to choose next, a purple radiance appeared before his eyes once more. It was that feeling of sudden, intuitive inspiration. Qin Ming did not hesitate, and his consciousness gently settled upon that ball of purple light.