Burn.

Chen Changsheng spoke to himself. He was very calm.

As the words echoed in his heart, the open plains that held the snow began to burn quickly. The power of the flames was countless times stronger than before, and with just a moment, the snow was completely burned away. At the same time, beautiful blue flames also appeared on the surface of the clear lake surrounding the Spirit Mountain.

The snow melted into water, which transformed into mist. Perhaps it condensed into water again, or perhaps it dispersed as mist. These were all true essence. It swiftly and violently wreaked havoc in his body, forcefully rushing through his blocked meridians. In the dry riverbed, it rushed past rock piles and chasms from the start till the end.

The violent true essence set his blood alight, burning his internal organs and meridians. It brought an unimaginable pain, which caused his face to become extremely pale. However, it also caused his eyes to glow brighter and brighter.

Chen Changsheng raised his own level of cultivation to the peak without the slightest worry. He stood at the doorstep between life and death, and used his own life to fight. He only did so in order to provide enough true essence to the dagger in his hand, to awaken its soul.

The huge Golden-winged Great Peng in the sky before the mausoleum looked at him indifferently. Strong winds and streams of air merged with the light at the edge of its wings, which seemed extremely magnificent. The sacred flames in its eyes became even colder, actually displaying a vague sense of respect.

Chen Changshengs body, after bathing in dragon blood, had a defensive ability that was close to perfection. However, with the violent burning of the snowy plains all the way to the lake water, an unimaginable amount of true essence exploded in him. His body was finally unable to bear it any longer, and began to rupture.

The part that ruptured first was the corner of his eyes, and then his eardrums. Several streams of blood flowed from his facial features, and closely following it, the skin on his face also began to crack open. Streams of fresh blood flowed out, and the scene seemed extremely horrifying. In the cracks of blood, bone could be seen, as well as flames that were vaguely like glimmers of stars. The blood flowed from his face and flowed from his hands, causing his clothes to become wet. It also wet the sword hilt and landed on the surface of the stone platform, before continuing to burn.

An indescribable fragrance dispersed into the surroundings of the mausoleum with his blood. As his blood burned, the fragrance became heavier by countless times. It was dispersed even further, all the way to the edge of the grassland.

Those most sensitive to this fragrance were naturally monsters. The black ocean surrounding the mausoleum became violent once again, and the monsters that were suppressed so much by the might of the Golden-winged Great Peng that they were unable to raise their heads could not resist this smell. It was like the enticement that came from the deepest parts of life, and they all raised their heads one by one to gaze towards the air above the mausoleum. Their breathing sped up, and they panted loudly. They dripped with saliva, and their eyes became bloodshot. They were excited and insatiable.

The Golden-winged Great Peng had also smelled the fragrance. In the shadow that enveloped the sky, its eyes were like two floating balls of sacred flame. At this moment, the two flames began to burn violently, and some emotions finally appeared in its indifferent, sacred Qi.

The emotions were admiration for life, the yearning of life, the thirst for life and the craving of life.

This was the emotion Chen Changsheng feared the most, and it was the matter that he once feared the most. However, now, he was not scared, because he was only a thin line away from death. His foot was already on the doorstep, and if he could only burn himself to awaken the soul, why did he have to care about these gazes?

The shadow of the Golden-winged Great Peng landed on the mausoleum. It spread open its wings, and enveloped a portion of the grassland with a circumference of thousands of li. Both the sky and ground became dark. All of the light falling on the mausoleum was covered up. It was pitch-black like the true night that the grassland had never seen. The ten thousand swords trembled slightly, and almost could not withstand it. Some swords slowly fell down like leaves.

An extremely powerful pressure that had no equal mixed in with the insatiable craving. It seemed to become something that was actually material, and landed on Chen Changshengs body in front of the main entrance of the mausoleum.

Immediately, the fresh blood that flowed on his body coagulated. The burning flames were extinguished. The pressure dispersed the black hair that was tightly tied behind him, and afterwards, the black hair began to shrivel and turn yellow from the end, slowly turning into dust and trailing down.

Awaken.

He looked at the dagger in his hand and said in his heart.

Awaken.

He was speaking to his heart quietly.

What was the heart? It was the Ethereal Palace. Where was the Ethereal Palace? It was on top of the Spirit Mountain. Chen Changshengs door of the Ethereal Palace had long already been open. There was not a fallen leaf on the Spirit Mountain, and it was surrounded by the lake water that seemed real and fake at the same time. The mountain was in the lake.

The lake that floated in the air was very clear and extremely transparent. On the surface of it burned blue flames. In the deepest parts of it, the spiritual soul of the Black Dragon floated silently. With Chen Changshengs calling, an extremely light tremble travelled from the Ethereal Palace to the mountain path of the Spirit Mountain. Afterwards, it spread into the lake, and the lake water began to ripple. It gently washed the body of the Black Dragon, like a warm rubbing, like her father waking her up in the morning every day before he had left home.

The Black Dragon slowly opened its eyes. A sliver of disappointment appeared in her slit-like pupils, and she looked at the pieces of ice in the surrounding lake water. She took a while before realising what had happened since she fell asleep, and then felt the tremble at the bottom of the lake from the Ethereal Palace. She heard Chen Changshengs voice, and took only a moment to understand what was happening outside. She had even seen the Golden-winged Great Peng in the sky.

A cold Qi exuded from her eyes. It was arrogance and disdain. Even though at this very moment she was only a spiritual soul, she was unable to withstand the challenge of the Great Peng. The arrogance and disdain turned into explosive anger.

A clear and angry dragon roar reverberated from the depths of the lake. It did not travel far, but it caused the lake water to surge constantly. The surface of the lake burned even more violently, and with a very loud bang, the Black Dragon burst through the lake water. She left the Ethereal Palace, and flew over the open plains that already had all of its snow incinerated. She followed the mist and the flow of true essence formed by the clear water, and flew over the river beds that were no longer dry. Following Chen Changshengs consciousness, she entered his arm, and then entered a completely new world.

The spiritual soul of the Black Dragon entered the dagger, but to her, it was a completely unfamiliar world. It was full of golden light, and what made her ineffably feel familiarity was that she could feel two extremely familiar Qi in the world. The two Qi were so strong that they even caused her to feel slightly uneasy, but contradicting ideas did not form for her, because these two Qis were those of seniors.

No-one, not even Chen Changsheng himself, knew just how closely related the dagger was with the Dragon race.

In the run-down temple at Xining Village, Yu Ren gifted him the dagger. He used the dagger to participate in many fights. The sharpness of the dagger brought many shocks to the world, but actually, the true power of the dagger was not used at all.

It was because his level of cultivation was too ordinary, and was unable to refine a sword intent that matched up to the dagger. It was also because fifteen years ago, when the dagger was successfully smelted, it was always in a state of unwillingness, unwilling to awaken.

Until now, when the dragon soul had entered the dagger, and met the sword intent of the Dragoncry Sword. This cause the dagger to awaken.

To truly awaken.

Chen Changsheng did not know what change occurred to the dagger, but he knew that it was awakened.

The soul of the sword had awakened.

He raised his head and looked at the Golden-winged Great Peng in the sky above the mausoleum. His expression was calm, his eyes bright and full of intent to battle. The ten thousand swords in the surroundings of the mausoleum slowly corrected their position and pointed towards the Great Peng under his gaze, ready to fight.

Go, he said to the dagger through his heart. However, he did not know that he had actually yelled the word out with his mouth.

Go!

He threw the dagger in his hand towards the sky.

The dagger turned into a streak of golden light and left the stone platform before the main entrance of the mausoleum. It flew towards the Golden-winged Great Peng. With a trembling of the world, countless rays of gold light arose from before the mausoleum. The ten thousand swords resonated simultaneously, giving out a clear or rough sword resonance.

Ten thousand swords pierced through the air with whooshes and followed behind the dagger. They glowed brightly.

The Yellow Paper Umbrella in his left hand swayed gently, as if it was cheering or giving blessings.

The dagger drew a perfectly straight line in the gloomy sky.

Ten thousand swords followed closely behind it, and turned into a thin band around ten li in length.

The ten thousand swords arrived high in the sky. Rays of light poured out from the edge of the wings of the Golden-winged Great Peng, and landed on them.

The ten thousand swords reflected the light, and constantly flickered with radiance, as if they were scales.

The ten thousand swords were ten thousand scales, and connected in the sky. Directly in front of them was the dagger.

The dagger gave off an unimaginable pressure and radiance.

Faintly, in the sacred light, it seemed as though a golden dragon head had appeared.

It was the head of a Golden Dragon. Its dragon whiskers floated, and cut through the long sky.