Chapter 8: A Dragon Emerges from the Jun Family
Within the secret chamber of the Jun family.
At this moment, Jun Wushuang was consuming the Jade Dew Spirit Pill. Though merely a mid-grade pill, it possessed the power to nourish the body and regulate one’s vital energy and blood.
With the Devouring Heaven Demon Art in motion, the Jade Dew Spirit Pill was swiftly absorbed and refined, its efficiency extraordinary.
“Ah!” Jun Wushuang exhaled a mouthful of turbid breath, feeling refreshed and clear-minded.
“At last, I’m restored!”
His skin glowed with a crystalline luster, his vitality overflowing—gone was any trace of weakness. The wounds from the destruction of his Kingly Body had been wholly healed under the nurturing of the Jade Dew Spirit Pill.
Yet the War Dragon King Body was lost forever.
This thought pierced Jun Wushuang’s heart with the sting of needles.
Back then, he had given his all for Ji Qingchen, obeying her every word and trusting her completely.
Who would have thought his devotion would be rewarded with such cruelty and heartlessness?
His sincere heart had been fed to the dogs!
“Ji Qingchen, just wait. I will come to the imperial capital, kill you with my own hands, and reclaim everything that is rightfully mine!”
A chilling light exploded in Jun Wushuang’s eyes, murderous intent blazing.
He would never forgive Ji Qingchen.
So long as she lives, I shall know no peace!
For now, though, the immediate threat of Jun Yanming and the Grand Elder had to be resolved.
Before dealing with external enemies, internal strife must be quelled.
Only by eliminating the Grand Elder and Jun Yanming could he turn his attention to the Ji family.
“The sinister deathly energy of the King of Zhen’nan is vicious beyond compare, but to me, it is an unexpected fortune!”
Seated cross-legged, Jun Wushuang resumed his cultivation.
Within his body swirled a mass of pitch-black, highly toxic, sinister deathly energy, which he had devoured from Jiang Hongru.
Jiang Hongru was not only the King of Zhen’nan but also a formidable expert at the Heavenly King realm, one of the strongest in the entire Great Qian Dynasty.
And this deathly energy, potent enough to torment such a man and even threaten his life, was certainly no ordinary force.
Though Jun Wushuang had drawn this energy into himself using the Devouring Heaven Demon Art, refining it was no simple feat.
The mass of sinister deathly energy contained thousands upon thousands of threads, each so potent that even a single strand could poison the entire city of Jiangning, turning it into a city of death.
Such was the terrifying nature of this toxic force.
Perhaps only those at the Martial Emperor realm or above could withstand its corrosive power.
But Jun Wushuang possessed the Devouring Heaven Demon Art, able to consume all things under heaven—spiritual energy or toxic miasma, all could be devoured and refined.
What was deadly poison to others was, for Jun Wushuang, a golden opportunity.
With a swift motion, Jun Wushuang circulated the Devouring Heaven Demon Art at full strength, drawing out a wisp of the sinister deathly energy and beginning the process of refinement.
Though its toxicity was overwhelming, this deathly energy also harbored vast reserves of power.
A single wisp was worth the energy of a hundred thousand spirit stones.
The profound wonders of the Devouring Heaven Demon Art made even this fierce deathly energy submit to its might and be obediently refined.
One day later, Jun Wushuang had successfully refined the first wisp.
Boom!
An immense surge of demonic energy, like a flood bursting through a dam, tore open one of his spiritual veins.
Instantly, a mighty, domineering aura erupted from within him, shaking the very air.
Jun Wushuang had broken through, attaining the fourth level of the Body-forging Realm!
Of course, had this wisp of deathly energy been used by an ordinary martial artist, it might have propelled them two or three levels higher. But Jun Wushuang’s cultivation demanded resources a hundred times more than others, so he could only advance by one level.
Yet his spiritual veins were ten times broader than those of the average cultivator, and the demonic energy within far surpassed ordinary spiritual energy.
Previously, at the third level of Body-forging, Jun Wushuang could already battle Jun Yanming at the ninth.
Now, with this new breakthrough, his strength soared even higher.
“Continue!”
Jun Wushuang did not pause but summoned forth another strand of sinister deathly energy, beginning a new round of refinement.
While Jun Wushuang secluded himself in cultivation, something remarkable occurred above the Jun family estate.
Countless streams of spiritual energy suddenly converged, forming a massive funnel-shaped vortex in the sky.
From a distance, it looked as if a giant whale was sucking up water—a terrifying spectacle.
A phenomenon of heaven and earth!
The entire city of Jiangning trembled.
In that instant, every gaze in Jiangning was fixed upon the sky above the Jun family.
“Only a peerless genius can draw forth such a phenomenon. The Jun family is about to produce a dragon!”
The appearance of the phenomenon sent shockwaves through the crowd.
“What’s going on? Wasn’t Jun Wushuang’s War Dragon King Body destroyed? How could a phenomenon of heaven and earth appear?”
Ji Yuntian gazed upward, his brow tightly furrowed.
“Could it be Jun Yanming?”
“Though he’s not as gifted as Jun Wushuang, he possesses the Flame Python Spirit Body, and I gave him a Breaking Spirit Pill. Perhaps this phenomenon was triggered by his breakthrough to the Myriad Manifestation Realm?”
Ji Yuntian pondered, unable to think of anyone else in the Jun family capable of such a feat.
Elsewhere, the Ye family and the City Lord’s Mansion were also watching, speculating on the cause of the phenomenon.
“To think that after Jun Wushuang’s fall, another Jun Yanming would rise!”
Both the Ye family patriarch and the City Lord suspected Jun Yanming.
Only Wu Shanhe of the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion watched with sparkling eyes.
“The prince was right—my master is no ordinary man.”
Jiang Hongru had urgent matters to attend to and had already left Jiangning with Jiang Rulan, but Wu Shanhe dared not forget the prince’s command to treat Jun Wushuang as his master.
Within the Jun family estate, the Grand Elder led his trusted followers to the courtyard, knelt slowly, and bowed reverently to the sky.
“Thank heaven for blessing Jun Yanming!”
The Grand Elder, too, believed that Jun Yanming had summoned the phenomenon. After all, aside from Jun Yanming, no one in the Jun family seemed worthy.
Especially since Jun Yanming had consumed the Breaking Spirit Pill and was attempting a breakthrough to the Myriad Manifestation Realm. Everything appeared to fit perfectly.
The celestial phenomenon lasted an entire day and night.
When at last it faded, Jun Yanming emerged from seclusion.
“Grandfather, I’ve succeeded!”
Jun Yanming’s eyes shone with excitement, his joy uncontainable.
He was no longer a mere Body-forging cultivator, but one who had entered the Myriad Manifestation Realm!
“Yanming, you make me proud!”
The Grand Elder embraced him tightly, sharing the good news of the phenomenon.
A phenomenon of heaven and earth?
Jun Yanming was puzzled, for he had noticed nothing of the sort.
Yet the timing of his cultivation and emergence matched so closely that he believed it must be true.
“If not me, who else in the Jun family could trigger such a phenomenon—Jun Wushuang, that useless wretch?”
“It seems I am destined to be favored by the heavens. Perhaps one day, I’ll ascend the Genius Rankings and become renowned throughout the Eastern Domain!”
Jun Yanming grinned with unfounded confidence.
“Yanming, you are the pride of the Jun family—only you are fit to be heir. This time, in the life-and-death duel, we’ll invite guests from all directions and make it a grand affair. You shall become the greatest prodigy of Jiangning City!”
The Grand Elder spoke with conviction, his ambition growing ever larger.
Jun Wushuang had once held the title of Jiangning’s foremost genius, but now, that honor belonged to Jun Yanming.
With such a title, Jun Yanming would be qualified to enter the Royal Martial Academy and achieve even greater heights.
Truly, a dragon had arisen from the Jun family!