Martial Ascent to Divinity-Chapter 538 - 521: Blood Mist

Zhou Leng glanced in all directions, running toward the direction of the Remnant Celestial Bone.

After running for over ten kilometers, a peculiar dragon-man turned its head to look over.

The dragon-man was three meters tall, standing upright in a humanoid form, covered in black and red scales with a tail at the back, limbs ending in claws, and small dragon wings on its back.

The head was a small dragon head, though slightly human-like.

"Roar..."

The Dragon Blood Guard let out a low roar, charging forward.

Zhou Leng narrowed his eyes, carefully sensing the aura of the Dragon Blood Guard.

Great Innate.

Furthermore, it was a Great Innate with extremely powerful physical strength.

A normal human Great Innate would either die or be severely injured encountering it.

Stronger than reported.

Zhou Leng charged straight at it, and the Dragon Blood Guard opened its mouth, spewing flames while swinging its claw to strike.

Boom...

The dragon claw tore through the air, creating a massive sonic boom, descending like a small mountain.

Zhou Leng dodged sideways and counterattacked with a palm strike.

The Dragon Blood Guard’s right hand suddenly fell back, instinctively and cleanly blocking Zhou Leng’s palm strike.

Bang.

Zhou Leng quickly retreated, and the Dragon Blood Guard’s right hand shook heavily with a sound of bones breaking inside.

Both were taken aback.

One didn’t expect such great strength from a human who looked so clean and pure.

The other didn’t expect that his palm strike, imbued with the Martial Arts Will of the Mountain River Guardian, only broke bones; even a Great Innate Beastman’s hand should have burst into meat paste by now.

"Heh heh..." The dragon-headed Dragon Blood Guard let out an inexplicable laugh, baring its sharp teeth.

It lunged forward again.

Zhou Leng wasn’t fully aware of the Dragon Blood Guard’s combat level and habits, so he didn’t attack with full force, instead fighting while moving, not slowing down his pace and getting familiar with the Dragon Blood Guard’s techniques.

Within less than five minutes, a major issue was discovered.

Most of the time, the Dragon Blood Guard’s combat skills were quite ordinary, but in critical moments, it could perform unbelievably miraculous moves.

This instinct far surpassed that of beasts and even giant dragons.

There could only be one possibility: they retained the power of the Dragon God within them.

This was a significant risk.

Then, Zhou Leng began to pretend to be on the back foot, defending at all times.

As a result, each time he exposed a flaw or obvious weakness, the Dragon Blood Guard’s attacks were incredibly precise.

The level of these attacks was so high that one might suspect facing a Grandmaster or even a Martial Saint level master.

Several times, Zhou Leng was forced to exchange injuries to neutralize the Dragon Blood Guard’s strikes.

After repeated attempts, it was finally confirmed that whenever the Dragon Blood Guard faced a critical moment or discovered a weakness in its opponent, it received seemingly divine assistance.

Being humanoid, some combat methods of the Dragon Blood Guard were also applicable to humans.

Zhou Leng, feeling a sense of excitement from the challenge, was reluctant to deal the fatal blow, continuously forcing the Dragon Blood Guard into action, then memorizing and occasionally imitating the techniques with excellent results.

This wasn’t learning from a Great Innate; it was learning from the Dragon God!

After fighting for a full quarter of an hour, Zhou Leng no longer saw any new combat techniques from the Dragon Blood Guard and realized that it had exhausted all the Dragon God power it carried.

After a bit more "sparring" to consolidate, Zhou Leng used the Dragon Blood Guard’s combat techniques to attack it.

As a result, every means the Dragon Blood Guard used to counter was learned by Zhou Leng.

After mastering them, Zhou Leng no longer held back and launched a full-scale assault.

In no more than thirty moves, he tore off the Dragon Blood Guard’s limbs and threw them to the ground.

The Dragon Blood Guard kept rolling, letting out a low growl before its body exploded.

With a boom, blood mist filled the sky, swirling like a room-sized cloud.

Zhou Leng did not hesitate, stepping inside.

Since the Dragon Blood Guard would hunt him regardless, it was better to absorb its power and strengthen himself.

Standing in the mist, he tried various cultivation techniques like the Star Gazing Technique, Undying Star Body, Star Phoenix Rejuvenation Technique, and Taiqing Sea Robe.

The Star Gazing Technique was the most effective, with his inner Qi blood flowing profusely.

As the Qi blood circulated, the pores on his skin became like vacuums absorbing the Dragon God blood mist.

No matter how much was absorbed, the Dragon God blood mist seemed unchanged.

The Dragon God blood mist entered the blood vessels through his pores, merging with his Qi blood, transforming into scorching power coursing through his veins.

The intense burning and dense stabbing pain spread throughout his body, as if countless needles were piercing back and forth.

The Dragon God’s power was ultimately too strong, causing his blood vessels to suffer mild damage repeatedly.

Fortunately, his recovery ability was solid, as soon as they were damaged, they were quickly repaired.

"Why is it different from what the records say? Absorbing the Dragon God blood mist isn’t supposed to be this painful. Could it be because I’ve absorbed too much?"

Zhou Leng wasn’t sure, but continued to absorb with all his might.

Three minutes later, the Dragon God blood mist dispersed.

Zhou Leng opened his eyes, the red wine color of the Remnant Celestial Bone and the golden cross star of the Mimicry Burial Star Pillar in his pupils had grown very faint, but they were overlaid with a red-black mist attached to the surface of his eyes.

The world before him was shrouded in a faint mist.

The power within his bloodstream felt very familiar.

It was similar to when obtaining the Blood Marvelous Body temporarily with the aid of the Red Eyes after consuming Dragon Blood Essence.

The power of the Giant Dragon Blood Marvelous Body increased by thirty percent.

This was just one Dragon Blood Guard.

The records did not mention the Dragon God blood mist providing such a strong boost.

Logically, completing a single Giant Dragon trial and obtaining a Dragon God’s blessing would only provide this level of Blood Marvelous Body power.

Now, it finally made sense why all the giant dragons desired to enter the Dragon God’s Path, and why the Queen of Red Eyes hoped he would join.

The Dragon Blood Guard was like an individual humanoid Dragon God’s blessing.

If continuously absorbed, it could possibly lead directly to the perfection of the Giant Dragon Blood Marvelous Body, enhancing the Qi blood strength... 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Zhou Leng took a deep breath and tried to unleash the Celestial Tide Palm’s killing move, Myriad Seas.

Boom!

Following that, he executed a second palm using the Blood Shock technique.

Boom!

Zhou Leng’s pupils widened slightly.

Without using the Blood Shock technique, the tension barely increased by less than half a percent, calculated through martial arts perception, roughly around 3%.

Looking trivial, but that was just killing one Dragon Blood Guard.

However, after using the Blood Shock technique, his Palm Power directly increased by ten percent.

Just a single Dragon Blood Guard raised his Palm Power this much.

Then what if...

Zhou Leng suddenly felt that the flavor of the flesh of the trial of Remnant Heaven Bones in his mouth had faded significantly.

The path to the Dragon God Seal had become much more appealing...

With this thought, a thousand-meter-high shadow and black mist appeared.

Zhou Leng immediately wanted to turn his head away, not to look at the Hundred-Eyed Demon Mountain.

But his body didn’t listen, involuntarily looking over.

The black mist split open vertically, like a door, revealing the Hundred-Eyed Demon Mountain full of caves, and a blood-colored giant eye appeared.

Boom...

Zhou Leng was sent flying backward, unconscious.

About ten seconds later, Zhou Leng suddenly opened his eyes, quickly got up, and glanced around.

No enemies.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"This..."

Just as a thought emerged in Zhou Leng’s mind, and before he could finish cursing, the enormous shadow appeared again.

On the Demon Mountain, the giant eye stared down.

Boom!

Once again, he was sent flying.

This time, it took a full twenty seconds before he groggily sat up, his head aching fiercely.

After regaining his clarity, he squinted his eyes and slowly stood up.

Forget it, let’s give the Divine Spirit some face.

He rested for several minutes, then jogged forward.

The speed stabilized at 50 meters per second.

He couldn’t run too fast, and still had the Dragon Blood Guard waiting for him.

He waited and waited, but no Dragon Blood Guard approached, so he had to continue forward.

Just like before, every few dozen kilometers, he saw a huge Dragon God footprint.

With the lesson from the Demon Mountain, Zhou Leng dared not enter the footprint.

If he were to be stomped to death by the Dragon God, it would be too unjust.

After another dozen minutes, a Dragon Blood Guard charged straight at him.

Zhou Leng couldn’t tell if it was the same one as before, but it looked similar anyway.

He decided to take the initiative.

After a spar, the result was the same as the previous one, losing interest, he finished it off in a few moves.

The Dragon God’s blood mist rose.

Zhou Leng stood excitedly in the midst of the blood mist, fully activating the Star Gazing Technique.

His blood vessels still carried a piercing pain spreading throughout his body, but thinking of it as a blessing from the Dragon God, he found the pain enjoyable.

Soon, the Dragon God’s blood mist disappeared, as he felt the power in his body and continued running.

The speed dropped to 40 meters per second.

Running while observing all around.

He climbed a small hill, and suddenly saw a Dragon Blood Guard to his left front, sprinting purposefully.

The opponent didn’t charge at him, so it was likely pursuing someone else, someone it had previously killed.

No, as a chivalrous hero of the Ten Realms, he couldn’t let a friend of the Ten Realms be harmed.

Zhou Leng shouted at the Dragon Blood Guard and charged straight at it.

The Dragon Blood Guard glanced at him but completely ignored him, continuing in its original direction.

Zhou Leng was even more convinced it was hunting someone, so he chased after it and used the Void-Breaking Finger.

The Dragon Blood Guard immediately counterattacked.

After fighting for more than ten moves, Zhou Leng’s eyes lit up; some of this Dragon Blood Guard’s combat techniques were similar to the previous one, some were not.

It seemed that different Dragon Blood Guards inherited different powers from the Dragon God.

So, he continued "sparring".

Once he learned the Dragon Blood Guard’s combat techniques, he used them against it, then learned a move to break it, and then struck with a palm.

Boom!

The top of the Dragon Blood Guard’s head exploded, scattering into blood mist.

He entered the Dragon God’s blood mist to absorb.

The third group of blood mist dispersed, and the fog in Zhou Leng’s eyes deepened, with an unprecedented ferocity gleaming within his gaze.

The craving for Dragon Blood Guards suddenly increased tenfold.

"Continue!"

Zhou Leng continued to run slowly.

Several thousand miles away.

Deep Dark Fury had killed twelve Dragon Blood Guards consecutively, entered the blood mist to absorb, then opened his eyes and looked around.

"How come one’s missing..."

In the path of the Dragon God Seal, many trial takers displayed their Divine Techniques like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, absorbing the power of the Dragon God’s blood mist.

Zhou Leng continued running.

Every once in a while, he’d encounter the pursuit of the previous two Dragon Blood Guards, and occasionally suffered the strikes of the divine eyes of the Hundred-Eyed Demon Mountain.

After crossing a hilly area, he saw six Great Innate Giant Dragons ahead, almost surrounding a Great Innate Giant.

That giant’s face looked tender, its stature slightly shorter and slimmer than a fully grown Great Innate, resembling a giant child.

Zhou Leng hesitated for a moment. After all, he was a Frost Giant Duke who also inherited the legacy of Star Ascending Mountain; moreover, giants were more akin to humans, while Giant Dragons were closer to Demons.

"Young giant, don’t be afraid, I’m here to help you," Zhou Leng shouted, his voice carrying for over a dozen kilometers.

Giant Dragons and the giant simultaneously turned their heads.

The giant looked at Zhou Leng and smiled with interest.

Just when the Giant Dragons found the giant and were questioning it, halfway through, a human intervened.

"You two, deal with him! Let’s continue questioning this giant!"

"Yes!"