Chapter Sixteen: The Innate Body

After Chen Yi stood up, he discovered that his skin was covered in layers of black grime and dark red blood, emitting a foul stench. The grime consisted of impurities that had accumulated deep within his body over many years, while the black and red blood was the result of tainted blood in his veins—both of which had been expelled by the formidable power of the Heavenly Dragon bloodline, something that would have been impossible through ordinary cultivation.

At this moment, Chen Yi’s physique was approaching the state known as the Pre-Heavenly Body, which is the condition of a newborn within the womb. An infant inside its mother is untouched by the turbid air of the outside world, does not consume food laced with impurities, and carries an innate vital energy of immense potential and immeasurable value.

Cultivators who have achieved mastery, out of concern for their child’s future potential, will use secret techniques and rare treasures at the very moment of birth to preserve this innate energy. They ensure their child breathes air rich in spiritual essence and eats food imbued with the same, keeping them isolated from the outside world until their cultivation stabilizes and their Pre-Heavenly Body is secured. This, then, is how one typically attains the Pre-Heavenly Body.

Both the secret techniques and the treasures required to preserve innate energy are exceedingly rare, possessed only by a select few of the highest cultivation, making the Pre-Heavenly Body a rarity in the world.

There are also rogue immortals who, day and night, use their own immortal energy to wash away impurities from their bodies, gradually transforming their physique towards the Pre-Heavenly Body.

The innate energy is a current carried by the newborn when first entering the world. Without the intervention of rare treasures and secret arts, it quickly dissipates, and its presence is the primary mark of the Pre-Heavenly Body.

Though Chen Yi did not possess innate energy, he now held within him the Heavenly Dragon bloodline, whose potential rivaled that of innate energy. He believed that, in time, he would attain a complete Pre-Heavenly Body.

While the Pre-Heavenly Body does not directly enhance one’s combat strength, its potential for cultivation is inexhaustible, and Chen Yi was confident that his path ahead would be much smoother as a result.

“This is wonderful! I’ve finally broken through to the sixth level of Qi Refinement. With the power of the sixth level, combined with the transcendent Illusory Light Sword Art and the Heavenly Dragon bloodline within me, even a master at the eighth level of Qi Refinement would no longer intimidate me,” Chen Yi exclaimed with delight.

The step from the sixth to the seventh level of Qi Refinement was a major hurdle for cultivators. Before breaking through to the seventh level, a cultivator’s body contained only true energy. Afterward, however, this true energy transformed into spiritual power, whose destructive force was formidable.

Generally, even ten cultivators at the sixth level of Qi Refinement might not be able to defeat one at the seventh level.

Although Chen Yi did not yet possess spiritual power, he wielded something even stronger—the power of the Heavenly Dragon bloodline. Though this bloodline was faint within him, even such a trace was more potent than spiritual power.

A Heavenly Dragon was a being on par with an immortal, and its bloodline contained the might of immortal energy. Although endless generations had diluted it, the remnant power of the Heavenly Dragon bloodline still surpassed the spiritual power of a seventh-level Qi Refinement cultivator.

In addition, Chen Yi possessed the transcendent Illusory Light Sword Art as his trump card. This sword art could at least double his combat strength. Already formidable, with this added power, Chen Yi was confident he now matched a seventh-level cultivator.

With these two trump cards, Chen Yi could easily defeat a seventh-level opponent and hold his own against those at the eighth level.

Yet, those three youths each possessed eighth-level cultivation. Even with his current strength, should he encounter them together, he knew he would be no match.

He decided to draw them apart and defeat them one by one.

What Chen Yi did not know was that those three, searching for him and Howling Sky, had already separated—a turn of events that suited his plans perfectly.

At that moment, a low growl sounded in Chen Yi’s ear. He turned his head and saw Howling Sky trembling in the corner of the cave, his gray fur matted with black grime and exuding an unbearable stench.

Chen Yi had barely tolerated his own foul odor; now, with Howling Sky’s as well, it was more than he could endure. He quickly grabbed a clean set of clothes and ran out of the cave. Not far away, he remembered, was a small stream he and Howling Sky had discovered during a hunt for spirit beasts.

Upon reaching the stream, Chen Yi immediately stripped and leapt into the water, using its cool, pure flow to wash away the grime from his body. Once clean, he channeled his true energy to dry himself, donned his fresh clothes, and made his way back to the cave.

When Chen Yi returned, he found that Howling Sky had regained consciousness, but the stench was overwhelming. He sent the wolf to the stream to bathe before allowing it to return.

After Howling Sky had cleaned himself, Chen Yi saw that he had become more majestic than ever. Among the gray fur, several golden streaks now appeared, and a patch of golden dragon scales adorned his brow. His body was more robust and powerful, his fangs and claws sharper than before.

This transformation was due to the infusion of the Heavenly Dragon bloodline. Now, half of Howling Sky’s blood was the original wolf lineage, and the other half belonged to the Heavenly Dragon.

Although both Chen Yi and Howling Sky had consumed the same Heavenly Dragon Fruit, the amount of dragon bloodline each acquired differed because Chen Yi was human and the Heavenly Dragon belonged to the dragon race. The bloodlines of humans and dragons were fundamentally different and conflicted with each other. It was only by great fortune that Chen Yi was able to retain even a trace of the Heavenly Dragon’s bloodline.

Howling Sky, though not of the dragon race but a wolf, still belonged to the demon beast lineage, which was less incompatible with the dragon bloodline. Thus, Howling Sky was able to assimilate half of the Heavenly Dragon’s blood.

Now, Howling Sky was no longer truly a wolf, for half his blood was that of the dragon. Yet, nor was he a dragon. He had become the first of a new race: the Dragonwolf. The Dragonwolf was born from the union of dragon and wolf bloodlines. Although Howling Sky was now the only member of his kind, Chen Yi believed that, so long as he lived, the Dragonwolf race would one day become a great lineage in the world.

Howling Sky now possessed the dragon’s formidable physique and the wolf’s speed and agility, making him more powerful than ever. With his recent breakthrough to the seventh level of Qi Refinement, not even Chen Yi, despite his trump cards of the Heavenly Dragon bloodline and the Illusory Light Sword Art, could be certain of victory against him.

Chen Yi was pleased with Howling Sky’s newfound strength, for it greatly increased their odds in future battles. He was certain the three eighth-level cultivators would not give up their search for him and Howling Sky.