Liu Wuxie mobilized all the true essence to unleash his strongest punch. The surrounding space began to crack under the power of this punch because it was comparable to a strike from someone in the low level of the Astral River Realm.

The incoming lightning was constantly blasted apart, buying the crucial moment needed for the Heretic Blade’s final transformation.

With the artifact spirit fully awakened, the Heretic Blade shot towards Liu Wuxie and landed in his grasp. As it settled there, a perfect harmony resonated between them, and he could even sense the gentle breathing of the artifact spirit. The divine dragon within had drifted into a deep sleep after absorbing the lightning.

"Slash!" Liu Wuxie gripped the Heretic Blade tightly and swung it down, creating a spatial rift in the sky.

The thunderclouds felt threatened and retreated into the distance, but how could Liu Wuxie let them leave? After all, he had suffered greatly thanks to the thunder tribulation.

With a powerful strike, he split the thunderclouds in two. The sheer force of the attack drained fifty percent of his true essence, and the blade aura extended ten miles out, almost cleaving the ocean in half.

The thunderclouds dispersed as tranquility returned to the island, and Liu Wuxie slowly descended onto the ground.

"Congratulations, Big Brother Liu! You’ve forged an unrivaled blade!" Gu Yu came forward to congratulate Liu Wuxie. He knew it was just a matter of time before the Heretic Blade grew into a supreme divine blade.

"I have to thank you today. It would’ve been hard for me to overcome the tribulation alone without your help in this critical moment," Liu Wuxie said gratefully.

Even though the two were as close as brothers, Liu Wuxie felt it was important to express his gratitude. Gu Yu’s intervention with the Divine Dragon Sword had bought him the precious time needed for the artifact spirit to awaken.

"There’s no need to be so formal between us!" Gu Yu replied, scratching his head. He had also gained a lot from resisting the tribulation, as the Divine Dragon Sword had grown significantly in power.

It was a win-win situation for both of them: Liu Wuxie had successfully forged a xiantian artifact, and Gu Yu had helped the Divine Dragon Sword advance.

"How long have we been on this island?" Liu Wuxie had lost sense of time as he was busy in his seclusion.

"It has been ten days!" Ten days had passed without them realizing it.

"Gu Yu, I plan to refine the dragon bones next. What do you think about it?" The dragon bones were still stored in the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron. He believed that if they could refine the divine dragon’s bones, they would drastically transform their strength.

"I know what you mean, Big Brother Liu. Though I’m a descendant of the Dragon Clan and refining the dragon bones is considered unfilial, the dragon has been dead for thousands of years. It’s the best fate for the dragon bones if we can use them to increase our cultivation, and this is like borrowing the power of my ancestors to help me raise my cultivation," Gu Yu knew what Liu Wuxie wanted to say.

The divine dragon’s skeleton was Gu Yu’s ancestor, and refining it in front of Gu Yu was the same as refining Gu Yu’s ancestor. For most, this would be difficult to accept, but Gu Yu’s words revealed that he had already made peace with it.

If not for Liu Wuxie, the bones of Gu Yu’s ancestor would have fallen into the hands of sea demons and suffered the same fate of being refined.

Rather than allowing the dragon’s skeleton to benefit others, using his ancestor’s remains to strengthen himself was the best outcome. Gu Yu believed his grandfather wouldn’t have objected if he were present.

Liu Wuxie had nothing more to say after hearing Gu Yu’s reasoning. Had Gu Yu insisted on not refining the dragon bones, Liu Wuxie would have given up and buried the skeleton on this island.

Liu Wuxie held firm to his principles and couldn’t justify hurting his friend’s feelings for his own advancement. There were plenty of treasures in the world, and no need to be fixated on the dragon bones.

The dragon bones began to melt under the intense heat of demonic flames. Had the bones been in their prime, refining them would have been impossible, but the divine dragon had been dead for thousands of years, leaving only residual energy stored within the bones.

As the skeleton was converted into dragon liquid, Liu Wuxie extracted half and infused it into Gu Yu’s body. He wasn’t stingy because that half rightfully belonged to Gu Yu.

As a descendant of the dragon clan, Gu Yu’s body began to swell after absorbing the dragon liquid, and dragon scales emerged from his skin. If he continued his cultivation, there would come a day when Gu Yu would transform into a divine dragon and soar through the skies.

The two sat together and circulated their cultivation techniques. They both faced another breakthrough when they had just made one recently.

Liu Wuxie had already been giving Gu Yu a portion of the stalactite essence daily, which had made Gu Yu’s body ten times stronger than others at the same level of cultivation.

When the dragon liquid was poured into the desolate world, a dragon’s roar echoed, and Liu Wuxie’s bottleneck began to loosen.

The desolate world within Liu Wuxie not only expanded but also gained a new layer of resilience. After absorbing the dragon liquid, dragon runes appeared on the crystal walls, further strengthening the world.

Liu Wuxie’s true essence roared through his meridians and bones, and dragon runes began to cover his body. Whether it was his bones or meridians, even his blood had turned golden. This was a sign of cultivating the True Dragon Physique.

The blood of dragons was golden, while human blood was red; there was a significant difference between the two.

Liu Wuxie’s body had become more vital and in addition to the dragon runes, a dense layer of dragon scales emerged from beneath the pores on his arm. He felt an immense power coming from his arms, ten-odd times more powerful than before.

If he activated the True Dragon Physique and performed the Primordial Astral Fist, its power would increase more than once. This was the true power of the True Dragon Physique.

Gu Yu was covered in dragon scales, while Liu Wuxie only had dragon scales on his arms.

Liu Wuxie’s cultivation broke through the third level of the Heavenly Phase Realm, reaching for the fourth.

Time passed, and Liu Wuxie and Gu Yu were immersed in their cultivation. Another ten days later, Liu Wuxie reached the fourth level of the Heavenly Phase Realm, while Gu Yu made two consecutive breakthroughs and caught up with Liu Wuxie.

Gu Yu was more compatible with dragon liquid. As for Liu Wuxie, most of the dragon liquid was still in his body, waiting for the next breakthrough to be absorbed.

This was despite the fact that Gu Yu had deliberately suppressed his cultivation to avoid advancing too quickly. With his solid foundation, reaching the fifth level of the Heavenly Phase Realm would have been achievable. However, doing so would have severely depleted his foundation, potentially harming his future cultivation prospects.

The two spent five days consolidating their cultivation before opening their eyes, and the spiritual cloud above the sea had disappeared. They had drained almost all the spiritual energy within tens of thousands of miles during their cultivation.

"Gu Yu, attack me with all your strength!" After a month of cultivation, the two wanted to test their risen strength and needed a real battle.

Gu Yu was also excited, and he used the Divine Dragon Sword directly because he knew how powerful Liu Wuxie was. This was why he didn’t hesitate to unleash his strongest attack.

He knew he had to use all his trump cards if they wanted to adapt to their current strength and hone their skills. That was also the same for Liu Wuxie, who used the Fatality Blade Art, Frost Finger, and Primordial Astral Fist.

Their battles left more craters on the island, and seawater began pouring in. It didn’t matter to them if the island sank since they planned to leave this place.

They fought for three days and nights until exhausted before lying on the soft beach and looking at the stars in the sky. In the past three days, they had managed to hone their martial techniques to the pinnacle of their current cultivation, and Liu Wuxie now, according to his estimation, possessed the ability to kill cultivators in the low levels of the Astral River Realm.

Over the past month, they had exhausted all of their resources until they were left with some mid-grade spirit stones, and Liu Wuxie had also used up several high-grade spirit stones.

Each had only two hundred Blood Abyssal Stones left, but they didn’t dare to continue cultivating because they planned to save them for their future breakthroughs.

When stars slowly disappeared and the first ray of sunlight rose from the sea, they were too exhausted to get back up and remained lying on the beach. This moment was peaceful for them because they would have to face bloodshed and strife when they left this island.

"Big Brother Liu, look over there!"Gu Yu suddenly called out as he noticed a black shadow approaching from the sea.

Liu Wuxie quickly sat up and squinted at the shadow, realizing it was a warship passing by. He exclaimed, "A warship!"

They had been on the island for over a month and couldn’t even find a single ship in sight. But this warship meant they could finally get out of this place.

Liu Wuxie had initially planned to refine the coral jade before leaving, but he gave up the idea because the coral jade was too precious, which he planned to save for his breakthrough into the Astral River Realm.

That was the best way to use the coral jade to its full potential because if he absorbed it now, he could only advance one level at best. The difference between the fifth and sixth levels wasn’t significant, and absorbing the coral jade now was a waste.

The two quickly concealed and controlled their auras, ensuring they remained undetected. With the Breath Concealing Art, Liu Wuxie was confident that even someone in the Nascent Transformation Realm wouldn’t be able to discern their true cultivation.

As Gu Yu practiced the Breath Concealing Art, he found it to be more sophisticated than the one used by the Gu Clan. Liu Wuxie had also shared his knowledge with Gu Yu, teaching him how to practice the True Dragon Physique, which had rapidly enhanced his physical strength over just a few days.

The warship approached steadily, now only ten thousand meters away—roughly four hours from their location. Noticing the flag on the warship, Liu Wuxie and Gu Yu exchanged glances and exclaimed, "It’s the Dugu Clan’s warship!"

Even more interesting was that the warship had taken them to the Blood Sea Abyssal Island, and they were puzzled about what it was doing there. Shouldn’t it be headed for the Blood Sea Abyssal Island?

Or was this warship passing by their location because it wasn’t far from the Blood Sea Abyssal Island?

As this island didn’t have a port, the warship couldn’t dock near it and could only stop when it was a thousand meters away from the shore.

Three figures swiftly flew towards the island. They saw Liu Wuxie and Gu Yu when they were a thousand meters away.

Finding humans on such a desolate island naturally piqued the interest of the warship’s crew, and the three figures gave off a powerful aura, with one old man in the Nascent Transformation Realm.

It was no secret that every warship belonging to the Dugu Clan had an expert in the Nascent Transformation Realm onboard. There was also a red-clothed woman, whom Liu Wuxie recognized as the third daughter of the Dugu Clan, also known as the third lady.

Everyone’s faces changed when they looked at each other.

"It’s you?!" The third lady hadn’t expected to find Liu Wuxie on this island.

"Long time no see!" Liu Wuxie cupped his fists at the three and had no favorable impression of the Dugu Clan. But he could only suck it up now because he had to rely on the Dugu Clan’s warship to leave, not to mention there was someone in the Nascent Transformation Realm present.

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