"Hei Yi, something has changed inside the Dragon Valley. The dragon clouds were all converging in one direction, and the ground dragon souls were also stampeding toward that same point."
"The space was twisting too, like it was about to collapse. We didn't dare stay any longer, so we crushed our Dragon Pearls early and escaped."
The youth called Bai Sixteen spoke while panting. Just recalling the experience made his heart tremble. His luck had been terrible—he had almost been trampled to death by several rampaging dragon souls. Thankfully, he crushed the Dragon Pearl in time.
After hearing Bai Sixteen's account, Hei Yi's expression turned serious. He looked toward the elder beside him.
"Elder Wu, what do we do now?"
Elder Wu pondered for a moment, then sighed helplessly.
"Against a naturally formed pocket space like this, there's nothing I can do."
"There are special laws in there. Any soul master above Soul King level isn't allowed to enter. So even if I know something is happening inside, I can't go in to investigate."
"For now, we can only wait here and hope the remaining children crush their Dragon Pearls in time."
Hei Yi understood this and sighed as well. As Elder Wu said, all they could do now was wait and pray.
"Hei Yi, what's going on?"
As soon as Tang Wulin exited the Dragon Valley, he went straight to Hei Yi to ask.
The dragon clouds and dragon souls inside had been extremely beneficial to him. He had planned to absorb more—but the sudden anomaly forced him to leave early.
"I don't know either," Hei Yi shook his head. In all the years he'd escorted Tang Sect disciples here, this was the first time such a thing had happened.
"Can we still enter the Dragon Valley again?" Tang Wulin asked expectantly, this being what he cared about most.
He had hoped to use the valley to rapidly strengthen himself. Having just experienced the benefits, he was unwilling to leave so soon.
Hei Yi shook his head again. "I can't answer that. Pocket spaces are full of uncertainties. Whether it can be entered again after such a change… we can only wait and see."
"I see…" Tang Wulin looked disappointed. In his heart, he prayed that re-entry would still be possible.
Within an hour of the disturbance, all of the white-ranked fighters the Tang Sect had sent in were forced out.
"I can no longer sense the Dragon Valley's presence," Elder Wu said gravely. After several attempts, he still failed to detect the spatial signature.
"Did the Dragon Valley collapse—or did it shift somewhere else?" Hei Yi asked urgently.
The Dragon Valley was a critically important pocket space in the Tang Sect's possession. The dragon clouds, dragon souls, and especially the dragon bones inside were priceless treasures.
The dragon bones in particular—since their discovery, they had only retrieved a handful, perhaps not even a thousandth of the total.
Losing access now meant losing hundreds or even thousands of dragon bones.
A single spirit bone was already immensely valuable; a dragon bone was worth several ten-thousand-year spirit bones at minimum.
It was easy to imagine how catastrophic this loss would be for the Tang Sect.
"I don't know. I must report this to the Sect Master immediately. He needs to inspect this himself," Elder Wu said.
…
A day later, inside the Dragon Valley.
Gu Yuena had finished absorbing part of the dragon souls and dragon clouds.
Only part, because she intentionally condensed and stored a portion as well.
Looking at the multicolored Dragon Pearl she held, the corner of Gu Yuena's lips lifted slightly.
He would definitely like this gift.
Her dragon wings beat as she flew out of the valley, sweeping her gaze over the terrain. Her eyes finally landed on the Mountain Dragon King's massive skeleton.
"Roar—"
The dragon souls gathered around the valley's edges roared, bowing slightly, as though worshipping her.
Gu Yuena ignored them and quickly flew toward Yunze's location.
"Are you absorbing the Mountain Dragon King's dragon soul?"
Landing not far from him, Gu Yuena observed quietly for a moment and immediately understood what Yunze was doing.
A bright, happy smile appeared on her beautiful face—joy for Yunze, and joy for the Mountain Dragon King's dragon soul.
Letting the Mountain Dragon King become a soul spirit was beneficial to both sides—a perfect outcome.
Seeing that Yunze was still absorbing the dragon soul, Gu Yuena shifted her attention to the dragon souls moving toward them.
Led by the Emerald Dragon King's dragon soul, more than forty dragon souls approached—some massive hundreds of meters tall, others as small as a dozen meters.
Feeling their joy, Gu Yuena felt warmth in her heart. They felt familiar, intimate.
More than a day passed.
The Mountain Dragon King's dragon soul was fully absorbed, becoming the second soul spirit of the Chaotic Ancient Dragon.
The second soul spirit condensed a second soul ring, and the energy within pushed Yunze's soul power up another level—now at rank forty-three.
"This yellow-black soul ring looks so weird." Gu Yuena walked over and couldn't help teasing.
"The soul ring's color doesn't matter. What matters is usefulness. Weird is fine." Yunze replied without concern.
"That's true." Though she said so, Gu Yuena still laughed. One ring was purple-black, the other yellow-black. The combination looked… odd.
Yunze smiled helplessly and willed the Mountain Dragon King soul spirit to appear.
Though also a shrunken version, this soul spirit was much larger—roughly the size of an elephant, though shorter and longer.
"Boom!"
The moment it landed, the earth shook and dust flew.
The Mountain Dragon King had a thick, mountain-like physique—short sturdy limbs, a long thick tail, and elliptical scales covering its body.
It had no wings and looked extremely heavy—like a mountain beast with dragon features.
"Roar—roar!"
The soul spirit called out affectionately toward Yunze, behaving like an underdeveloped child.
"What… what's with the Mountain Dragon King?" Gu Yuena was stunned. The soul spirit before her had none of the former majesty—more like… a pet.
Seeing its slow approach, Yunze explained:
"After becoming a soul spirit, it's still a remnant soul. It's lost its past memories and intelligence."
"Right now, it's like a newborn child. Low in intelligence, driven mostly by instinct—so it looks… a bit silly."
"I see…" Looking at the Mountain Dragon King, Gu Yuena felt a pang of sorrow. Compared to its past image, the contrast was heartbreaking.
"This is already a good outcome. A new kind of rebirth. Better than dissolving into nothing." She comforted herself.
"Let it absorb this."
Yunze pointed toward the Mountain Dragon King's enormous—nearly kilometer-tall—skeleton.
He sensed the soul spirit's longing. The bones would be immensely beneficial to it.
"Roar—!"
The soul spirit cried excitedly and ran over in small heavy steps.
Blinking its large eyes, it chomped onto the nearest bone.
Though merely remains, the bones' hardness exceeded even red-grade mechas.
Yet the Mountain Dragon King soul spirit easily bit a chunk off.
"Crunch—crunch—"
It devoured the bone happily. In under ten seconds, it swallowed a watermelon-sized piece and quickly took another.
Its stomach was like an endless void. Within a dozen minutes, it had consumed bone mass equal to its entire body size—yet continued eating without slowing.
"At this rate, even nonstop, it'll take at least two months to finish the whole skeleton," Yunze estimated, looking at the colossal remains.
"After absorbing it all, the benefits will be enormous. The time is worth it," Gu Yuena said.
"Agreed." Yunze nodded. "I need time to stabilize my soul power anyway. This works out well."
"Why don't you absorb the Emerald Dragon King's dragon soul first? As a soul spirit, it should also consume its own bones. That way both processes can run in parallel."
Gu Yuena suggested.
Yunze had mentioned earlier his intention to absorb the Emerald Dragon King, and she had no objections.