The outside world saw the sun rise and set, the stars shift and move.
Within the sealed banyan forest, the Blade of Life adhered to Lin Rong's forehead had lost its previous jade-like transparency and vibrant green hue. It had turned gray and white, dull and lifeless, appearing even more inconspicuous than when it was in the form of the Spirit Devouring Engraving Knife.
At a certain moment, as the last trace of life energy contained within the Blade of Life was drained away.
With a "clang~" sound.
The gray-white, dim engraving knife fell onto the grass, its handle and blade shattering into countless tiny fragments that disappeared into the grass and soil.
In the dimly lit clearing, as Lin Rong's eyes opened, two dazzling pale golden lights flashed and vanished.
His dark, clear black eyes turned pale gold under the influence of his mental power. Upon closer inspection, one could see a faint golden dragon phantom reflected in his pale golden pupils.
A faint dragon's roar echoed from nowhere, and a surge of pure dragon might was released.
The phantom of the Nine Bend Vine Dragon's Dragon Soul appeared above Lin Rong's head. Amidst the welcoming aura of the banyan forest, it transformed from an ethereal form into a solid one, coiling and moving in the air.
Around its neck, the moon-white Dragon Scale Shield emitted a faint cyan-green radiance, silently testifying to its extraordinary nature.
Soon, as his mental power gradually receded, Lin Rong's pale golden eyes returned to black, and the cyan-golden dragon phantom reflected in his pupils vanished along with it.
"I didn't expect that after the life energy contained within the Gold of Life was depleted, it would turn into scrap metal?"
Looking down at the gray-white fragments on the grass that shattered at the slightest touch, Lin Rong couldn't help but feel a bit of regret:
"I thought that after the life energy was exhausted, the Gold of Life's inherent properties of decomposing metal and ore would remain, allowing me to infuse it with life force and use the Blade of Life as a super-large battery."
"Alas, what a shame."
Lin Rong felt only a slight regret about this and didn't dwell on it further. He began to sort through the gains from his seclusion.
The life force contained within the Blade of Life, equivalent to that of a million-year Spirit Beast, had undoubtedly brought immense benefits after being fully absorbed.
His current physical fitness was so strong that he could rank among the top three Spirit Masters on the entire continent.
The Divinity he had absorbed from sixty percent of the Blade of Life's life energy had experienced explosive growth.
The Divinity, fused within his flesh and blood, began to evolve his physical body towards that of a divine being, faintly emitting an immortal radiance invisible to ordinary people.
Furthermore, the quality of his mental power had also improved.
In terms of quality, his mental power had completely reached the level of being tangible and substantial.
And in terms of quantity, the surging mental power within his Sea of Consciousness gave Lin Rong absolute confidence that his current total mental power was no less than that of the three ninety-ninth-level Douluo of this era, and might even be significantly stronger than them.
Moreover, because the origin of his mental power had fused with a trace of Divinity, a portion of his mental power had begun to transform into divine sense.
This portion of mental power was on a higher level than tangible and substantial mental power, yet not as profound as true divine sense. It could be considered as having just stepped onto the threshold of semi-divine sense.
Similarly, the origin of the Nine Bend Vine Dragon's Martial Soul had also absorbed a trace of Divinity, beginning its evolution towards a divine-level Martial Soul.
The moon-white Dragon Scale Shield on its neck, or rather, the "Life Dragon Scale," had also begun to emit a faint glow after absorbing thirty percent of the Blade of Life's life energy.
The Nine Bend Vine Dragon Martial Soul itself had undergone a mutation and fusion of the two Martial Souls, the Dragon Soul Vine and the Thousand Leaf Banyan, under the influence of the Marrow Cleansing Scripture's power.
After Lin Rong named it the Nine Bend Vine Dragon, during the process of absorbing Spirit Rings to evolve, he also influenced the evolutionary direction of the Martial Soul according to his own vision.
In the stories of his previous life, the Nine Bend Vine Dragon was the guardian of the Life Dragon Scale. Coupled with his reference to the saying, "A dragon has scales that must not be touched, or it will surely die."
He used the power of the Marrow Cleansing Scripture to influence the general direction of the Nine Bend Vine Dragon's evolution as it absorbed Spirit Rings.
The moon-white Dragon Scale Shield on the neck of the Nine Bend Vine Dragon was a fully evolved dragon scale that only appeared after Lin Rong absorbed the fifth Spirit Ring, the Green Wood Twin Lotus.
The dragon scale shield that materialized from that Dragon Scale Shield during his previous battle with Yang Wudi in Windy City was precisely this Dragon Scale Shield.
The current characteristic displayed by the Dragon Scale Shield was its hardness. As for what would specifically happen after shattering the Dragon Scale Shield, he was unsure. However, based on the famous saying, "touch it and you will surely die," he could roughly guess what might occur.
With the Flower Transfer, Wood Grafting ability of his External Spirit Bone, the Heart of the Banyan Wood, Lin Rong was not afraid of the side effects after the Dragon Scale Shield shattered. If the side effects were too powerful, he could simply commit suicide and revive at full health.
After all, the cooldown time for the life-saving trump card, Flower Transfer, Wood Grafting, was constantly decreasing as the age of the Spirit Bone increased, so he could afford to take the risk.
However, Lin Rong had not expected that Yang Wudi would be so ineffective. His strongest strike had failed to shatter the Dragon Scale Shield; instead, the tip of his own Soul Breaking Spear showed signs of cracking.
Finally, there were the Spirit Bones.
Although the life energy of the Blade of Life was divided into three portions, consumed by the physical body, the Sea of Consciousness, and Divinity respectively, the Spirit Bones within Lin Rong's body also managed to get a taste of the leftovers.
Three regular Spirit Bones and two External Spirit Bones.
Out of these five Spirit Bones, excluding the hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone, the other four could absorb energy and evolve.
Among them, the External Spirit Bones with the lowest age, the Heart of the Banyan Wood and the Kongqing Bamboo Head Spirit Bone, both broke through from just over twenty thousand years to over thirty thousand years.
The External Spirit Bone with the highest age, the Emperor Sacred Spear, had an initial age of over eighty-five thousand years. Before he absorbed the Blade of Life, its age had reached over eighty-nine thousand years.
After consuming these "leftovers," its age successfully broke the hundred-thousand-year boundary, making it his second hundred-thousand-year Spirit Bone.
As for the Thunderclap Nether Vine Left Leg Bone, which ranked in the middle with its age, it was currently over twenty-five thousand years old.
Because this Spirit Bone could only evolve by absorbing lightning power, it, like the hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone which could not evolve, was not qualified to receive these luxurious "leftovers."
Therefore, the age of the Thunderclap Nether Vine Left Leg Bone remained unchanged, still over twenty-five thousand years. It was overtaken by the Heart of the Banyan Wood and the Kongqing Bamboo Head Spirit Bone, which had feasted on the "big meal," and thus fell to the last position in the ranking of the five Spirit Bones by age.
The increase in the age of the Spirit Bones caused the cooldown time for the Heart of the Banyan Wood's Spirit Bone skill, "Flower Transfer, Wood Grafting," to reduce from the initial ten years to just over two years.
For a five-hundred-year-old Heart of the Banyan Wood, the cooldown time for Flower Transfer, Wood Grafting was ten years. For a five-thousand-year-old Heart of the Banyan Wood, the cooldown time was just over five years.
Now, the age of the Heart of the Banyan Wood had increased to over thirty thousand years, yet the cooldown time for Flower Transfer, Wood Grafting was just over two years.
By observing the growth process of the Heart of the Banyan Wood and the changes in the cooldown time of this Spirit Bone skill, Lin Rong arrived at a conclusion.
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