Chapter 20: Dragon Claw Technique
The increasing blood essence found an outlet as it swarmed towards the newly created blood essence core, contributing to its growth. The blood essence core, initially the size of a marble, expanded to match the size of his Poison Soul Core.
This increase in size didn't stop as more and more blood essence entered his core, surpassing the limits it could handle. It was absorbing the blood essence at a slower rate, which caused the excess blood essence to accumulate in his body.
The astonishing amount of blood essence caused his veins to rupture; blood seeped out of his scales, turning him into a blood-soaked dragon. Wang Lin couldn't contain the overwhelming blood essence within his body; he felt an impulse to release it all.
He directed the overflowing blood essence to his throat and let out a roar into the sky, expelling the excess. The roar created a tidal wave of wind carrying its sound to the outskirts of the Star Dou. At the settlements near the entrances of Star Dou, his roars could be heard, scaring the inhabitants out of their senses.
The accumulated blood essence was now gone, but more of it was coming. Wang Lin knew from his current condition that he couldn't handle any more blood essence, so he did the only thing he could: he took out the manual for the Blood-Enriching Breathing Technique from the system space.
The blood essence stopped appearing after he removed the manual from the system. Wang Lin's condition was in a sorry state; the musculature in his throat was shredded, rendering his vocal cords useless.
The commotion Wang Lin caused attracted Bi Ji, Di Tian, and other great beasts of Star Dou, including the Silver Dragon King, who now stood before him, looking at him with a puzzled expression.
Wang Lin couldn't speak due to his damaged vocal cords, but it wasn't a problem for Gu Yuena to communicate with him.
"Do you want to tell me what happened, Wang Lin?" asked Gu Yuena, looking at his sorry state, covered in blood.
"I don't know either. I felt my blood becoming restless. Before I could control it, it started damaging my body, so I had to let it out," replied Wang Lin in half-truths.
Gu Yuena scanned his body with her divine sense. She noticed his wounds and, more importantly, the newly formed blood essence core.
"Wang Lin, it appears that your dragon bloodline is not so ordinary. No wonder you were able to control the tribulation lightning.
Do you notice the sphere of blood essence revolving near your heart? That is a blood essence core, which forms when a spirit beast possesses a strong bloodline," explained Gu Yuena.
The other beasts of Star Dou appeared a tad bit later. They kneeled behind Gu Yuena, awaiting her command.
"Bi Ji, heal Wang Lin's wounds," ordered Gu Yuena as she looked at her. Bi Ji followed her command, using her emerald swan healing abilities. A green halo covered Wang Lin's wounds, healing them rapidly.
"Di Tian, teach him how to control his blood energy. If he proves proficient enough, you can teach him your Dragon King's Claw technique," said Gu Yuena.
"My lord, isn't this hasty? I doubt his capabilities to learn the Dragon King's Claw. He was only able to transform because he had a little dragon bloodline in his body. I don't think he has enough dragon bloodline to utilize the Dragon King's Claw technique," said Di Tian.
"Di Tian, don't you know how difficult it is to condense a bloodline core, let alone as a second soul core? Aren't you aware, as someone who has two soul cores, how difficult it is to condense them?" said Gu Yuena.
"My lord, are you saying this dragon condensed two soul cores, including a blood essence core?" asked Di Tian.
"Now you understand. He has enough bloodline purity to condense a blood essence core. He can definitely learn your Black Dragon Clan's prized Dragon Claw technique.
Di Tian, remember to teach him the Yin-Yang Complementary Technique while you're at it. He was lucky that his spiritual power offset the attractive forces between both his soul cores. He might still blow himself up if he doesn't learn how to reconcile his soul and bloodline cores," ordered Gu Yuena.
While Gu Yuena was communicating with Di Tian, Wang Lin's vocal cords healed. He overheard the conversation taking place before him.
"Gu Yuena, I want to go outside the Star Dou core," said Wang Lin. The great spirit beasts who heard him address the Silver Dragon King by her name stared at him in disbelief. Di Tian prepared to attack him for his disrespect.
"You want to go outside the Star Dou core? Have you forgotten the promise you made?" asked Gu Yuena, signaling Di Tian to stop.
"It's not like I'll be gone forever. I just want to go out. I'm not used to being cooped up in one place all the time," said Wang Lin.
"These days, you make me wonder if you are really a dragon. If you want to go out, all you need to do is learn the technique Di Tian teaches you to a proficient level. Then you can go," said Gu Yuena, knowing full well the difficulty of the techniques. She thought he would be stuck for at least a couple of decades before coming to beg her to change the terms.
"Then it's a deal, Gu Yuena. See you in a while," said Wang Lin with a smile on his dragon face.
Gu Yuena smiled at him and teleported away, leaving him with Di Tian, Bi Ji, and the other great spirit beasts of Star Dou that he saw for the first time. Bi Ji looked at Wang Lin in worry, fully aware of the trouble he was in after addressing the Silver Dragon King by her name in front of Di Tian.
"You want to go outside, right? Why don't we start learning now so that you can accomplish the lord's task?" said Di Tian with a hint of anger.
"I like this idea. Let's do it now so I can go in a couple of days after I learn it," said Wang Lin.
"Why don't you wait a couple more days? I believe you'll find it quite hard to move after learning the technique," said Di Tian, clearly annoyed.