Brandon leapt lightly into the air, spreading his wings with a swift swoosh and flying towards the volcano. In just a few minutes, he arrived at the crater.
A giant beast, resembling a qilin, emerged from the lava upon hearing the commotion. It had been nearly two months since their last fight, and the wounds on its body had healed completely. The qilin looked vibrant and energetic, clearly having recovered well. Upon seeing the dragon, the qilin hesitated for a moment, retracting its head, but quickly resurfaced.
The qilin sized up the dragon, comparing themselves. The dragon's body had grown larger and its aura had become much stronger. The qilin's newfound confidence, stemming from its recovery, immediately diminished. It slowly crawled up to the volcano's rim and cautiously approached Brandon. As it neared, Brandon felt the intense heat of the magma. He began to feel a bit tense and was about to attack when he noticed the qilin slightly bowing its head. Brandon was taken aback; this was a gesture of respect from an intelligent creature to a stronger being.
Brandon exhaled in relief. He had experienced the terrifying power of the qilin's flames before. If it were to attack with its flames up close, Brandon wasn't sure if his body could withstand it. The qilin's blinding white flames still gave him chills. If the qilin's flames weren't limited in use, Brandon would have lost their previous battle.
Brandon subtly stepped aside. His victory in that fight had been a stroke of luck, and he wasn't confident he could win in another encounter.
After chatting with the qilin for a while, Brandon noticed a newfound respect from it. Thinking it over, he realized that in the animal world, things were straightforward: survival of the fittest and submission to the strong.
Brandon had defeated the qilin but didn't kill it. Instead, they shared the same territory. The qilin, having recovered from its injuries, wanted to challenge him again, but found that Brandon had grown even stronger in a short period.
Its confidence was utterly shattered. Although Brandon hadn't forced the qilin to submit, the rules of the animal world dictated that submission to a stronger being was natural. As Brandon's power grew, the qilin began to align itself with him.
Brandon wasn't entirely sure if this creature was a true qilin, but he was certain it had noble blood and was, in a way, on par with him. The prospect of having such a powerful being submit to him brought Brandon both excitement and pressure.
However, since this creature resembles a qilin so much, it must have qilin blood. That’s a noble divine beast. Although I am a dragon, also considered a divine beast, that’s from Western mythology. The qilin is an auspicious beast, a symbol of good fortune. Brandon remembered that during the Chinese New Year, they used to paste New Year pictures of qilins on their doors. He never expected that he would have a qilin as a subordinate in the future.
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After chatting with the qilin for a while, Brandon headed toward the volcano’s crater. The magma in the crater churned like thick porridge, and the intense geothermal energy made the energy within Brandon’s body circulate automatically. He took a deep breath and, with a massive splash, jumped into the crater. The qilin followed him in.
The scorching magma enveloped his entire body as Brandon quickly sank deeper. His body, having advanced, was significantly more heat-resistant than before. The surrounding magma only accelerated the flow of energy within him without causing any discomfort. In fact, it made him feel completely at ease. As he gradually descended, the temperature started to rise, and Brandon began to feel the heat more intensely. He found the red rock he had used for training last time. It was unchanged since his previous visit.
Brandon lay on it and began to train. The dense geothermal energy didn’t require any effort from Brandon to absorb. It surged into his body frantically, and his internal energy rapidly moved, absorbing the geothermal energy.
As he absorbed a large amount of fire elements, Brandon’s body underwent further changes, the most noticeable being an increased resistance to fire.
Ordinarily, a dragon’s attributes are hard to change once determined. A dragon’s body attributes are set from birth. Only some miraculous elixirs can forcibly change a dragon’s body and adjust its bloodline, making such changes typically very difficult.
However, Brandon wasn't originally a dragon; he was just a lizard who purified his bloodline through the Golden Bell technique. Additionally, by chance, he obtained a dragon crystal and consumed a blood orchid. A series of factors, full of great randomness and coincidence, led to his evolution into a dragon.
Although his body transformed into a dragon, there were still many extraneous genes within him. The dominance of the dragon genes hadn't truly solidified, and his body's development potential hadn't been clearly established. His genes hadn't fully stabilized.
Inside his body, there were both earth dragon genes and fire dragon genes. Due to his cultivation with the Golden Bell, the earth attribute initially held a slight advantage.
However, after being immersed in the underwater magma, the intense fire elements supplemented the fire attribute genes in his body, causing them to rapidly proliferate until they equaled the earth attribute. Through this extraordinary encounter, Brandon eventually became a dual earth-fire dragon.
Even now, Brandon's dragon form is somewhat lacking, primarily due to the impurity of his bloodline. There are too many extraneous genes in his body. These genes subtly diminish his overall physical qualities compared to a normal dragon. Although the Golden Bell technique can continuously purify his bloodline, the time has been too short. He still has some distance to go before matching a true dragon's bloodline.
In essence, Brandon's bloodline is a hodgepodge of various genes—high-level, low-level, dragon, lizard, and possibly other higher beings.
However, this mix isn't without its benefits. For instance, in critical moments, Brandon can emit blood-red flames that burn souls, a trait from some unknown higher existence's bloodline. But with Brandon's current strength, it's difficult to control this ability freely.
Brandon's body is full of uncertainties. Perhaps once all his genes fuse, a great divine beast will be born! But that is a far-off future.