At present, all of the Thunder Dragon's perceptions of its surroundings came from pure instinct.
Eggshells were of paramount importance to newborn dragons, often leading to fierce fights among their kin. A dragon's shell held immense power, allowing the newborn to rapidly pass through its initial period of weakness.
The Thunder Dragon opened its maw and wolfed down the eggshell in no time at all.
Seeing the Thunder Dragon's cheeks puffed out, the sword spirit couldn't help a slight smile and turned to head back into the sword coffin.
Seeing her about to leave, the Thunder Dragon hesitated, but still came over to rub against her affectionately, its nostrils flaring slightly.
A slight curve touched the corners of the sword spirit's lips, and she reached out to gently stroke its head.
The Thunder Dragon squinted its eyes, thoroughly enjoying the touch. It rolled onto its back, tucking its claws in and exposing its belly, wanting the sword spirit to stroke it there too.
Just then, however, the sword spirit caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye and realized this Thunder Dragon was actually male!
Her face darkening, she kicked it flying across the distance...
"A lecher from birth!"
The sword spirit glared resentfully at the aggrieved, pitiful Thunder Dragon, then vanished from sight.
The Thunder Dragon rolled its eyes; it had no idea why it had just been kicked.
Bored out of its mind, it simply coiled its body around Li Guanqi, resting with its eyes half-shut. With every breath, it exhaled and inhaled the surrounding flames.
Li Guanqi had no inkling of what had transpired outside; at that moment, the power within his body was on the verge of spiraling out of control!
A terrifying heavenly flame was far from something that could be easily tamed. Even with the Flame Devouring Art, it had merely penned the flame's power within his body. Perhaps the predecessor who created this cultivation method had never had the chance in their entire life to devour a single heavenly flame.
The sword spirit also noticed Li Guanqi's abnormal state. By now, his abdomen was swollen round and taut. A single misstep would lead to his body exploding, ending his life!
She hadn't anticipated things turning out like this either, and she barked sharply, "Guard your crown! Circulate your arts and refine it!"
At the same time, her power began to intervene within Li Guanqi's body.
The Dao platform in Li Guanqi's sea of consciousness shuddered violently as his divine sense surged through his body like a vast tide. Forcing himself to calm down, Li Guanqi began circulating both cultivation arts simultaneously!
"Primordial Void Refinement Art!"
"Flame Devouring Art!"
*Rumble—!*
Boundless primal energy surged and roared within him, aggressively herding and refining the rampant flames raging through his meridians!
Meanwhile, fist-sized blisters began to sprout across Li Guanqi's body, one after another! This bizarre sight gave the Thunder Dragon beside him a bad feeling.
Looking at the terrifying flames leaking from Li Guanqi, it tilted its head as though a thought had struck it. Pale-golden light flared in its draconic eyes, and waves of formidable True Dragon might descended upon Li Guanqi!
Once Li Guanqi felt this dragon might, he immediately noticed the wild flame power thrashing through his meridians settle down significantly.
*Refine!* Li Guanqi roared in his heart.
The flame power rampaging through his meridians was gradually refined, and the flame seed inside his Nascent Soul grew increasingly solid and condensed.
Suddenly, Li Guanqi's aura surged abruptly upward!
*Boom—!*
The surrounding sea of fire was blasted over a hundred zhang away in an instant!
The blisters covering Li Guanqi gradually receded, and his aura broke through straight into late Nascent Soul! Moreover, this surging aura was rapidly stabilizing.
Seeing this, the young Thunder Dragon tilted its head, rolled its eyes in thought, and nudged a piece of eggshell it had secretly stashed toward Li Guanqi. Yet seeing that Li Guanqi made no move to eat it, it grew rather puzzled and dejected.
*Hum—!*
Dozens of high-grade spirit stones materialized beside Li Guanqi. With a pop, they shattered into the purest spiritual energy.
The Thunder Dragon's eyes lit up instantly. Opening its maw, it sucked every trace of the spiritual energy clean.
Li Guanqi frowned. He noticed that the spirit stones he had shattered to stabilize his realm were gone before he could absorb anything.
After a brief thought, he took out several dozen more spirit stones, only to end up without any spiritual energy yet again.
Exiting his cultivation state, Li Guanqi exhaled a breath of turbid air—yet to his astonishment, even that breath of air was snatched away!
Opening his eyes, Li Guanqi saw the hatched Thunder Dragon lying on the ground, dry-heaving. Looking at its round, bloated belly and the spiritual energy leaking continuously from its snout, he instantly realized what had happened.
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry in exasperation. Raising a hand, he smacked the Thunder Dragon's head lightly. With a wave of his hand, he tossed out over a thousand mid-grade spirit stones and said, "These are yours. Go over there and eat."
The Thunder Dragon nodded half-understandingly. Ignoring the spirit stones, it rubbed its massive head against him, its eyes narrowed in deep affection.
Li Guanqi burst out laughing. He had never imagined that the dragon egg he had obtained back then would truly hatch into such an imposing, magnificent dragon!
After managing with great difficulty to shoo the Thunder Dragon off to gnaw on its spirit stones, Li Guanqi could finally focus on stabilizing his cultivation in peace.
After the battle with Miao Rongchang, he had gained some fresh insights into the application of domains. During this period of stabilization, he continually reviewed the earlier fights in his mind.
He realized the gap between himself and the Soul Formation Realm was still immense. Had he broken through earlier, he would have definitely possessed the strength to contend! But fighting across a whole realm as a middle Nascent Soul cultivator was truly as difficult as ascending the heavens. And that had merely been a fire spirit, possessing raw power without the true might and varied techniques of a genuine Soul Formation cultivator.
Now that he had advanced to late Nascent Soul, fighting that fire spirit would likely be much easier.
Just then, the sword spirit's voice sounded softly: "When dealing with spirit bodies and soul bodies, the most effective method is using divine sense to sever them."
At that, her voice tinged with a trace of excitement as she continued, "However, you won't need to do that anymore. With a heavenly flame at your disposal, all spirit and soul bodies will be suppressed by its power! Not to mention that this is the Purple Dragon Thunder Flame, ranked sixteenth among the heavenly flames. Its destructive force surpasses even several flames ranked above it."
Li Guanqi looked down at his scorched skin and smiled wryly. "It was just too dangerous... If not for the Flame Devouring Art, I probably would have been burned to cinders without even ashes left."
As he spoke, Li Guanqi raised a hand, and a clump of flame abruptly ignited with a roar!
Dark purple lightning crackled within the crimson flames, looking from afar like burning thunder. In the blink of an eye, the terrifying heat burned away the void before him, revealing pitch-black nothingness.
Seeing this, Li Guanqi couldn't help swallowing hard. The power of this flame was simply terrifying!
The sword spirit murmured beside him, "The flame's power will grow stronger as your own strength rises, and it can also become more potent by devouring other flames."
Li Guanqi nodded, utterly marveling at it.
Then, with a sweep of his hand, the entire sea of fire vanished, completely devoured by the Purple Dragon Thunder Flame.
Yet just as he rose and prepared to call the Thunder Dragon to leave, he suddenly noticed a wisp of dark purple flame lingering deep underground!
The sword spirit murmured in mild surprise, "A companion flame?"
Without a second thought, Li Guanqi waved his hand and collected the flame, grinning broadly. "Perfect. This flame looks quite potent—I can give it to Big Head later!"
Li Guanqi then called out to the Thunder Dragon. As the dragon let out a roar, Li Guanqi stepped onto its head, and in an instant, it shattered the void and surged into the expanse of nothingness.
Chapter 340