122. The Dragon and Tiger Unite; the Golden Elixir Takes Shape!

A strange neural current surged from Chen Jue’s brain, coursing down the length of his spine—the "great dragon" of the human body—and throughout his entire frame.

In the instant his Dragon Roar Iron Cloth Shirt reached perfection, every tissue and organ connected to a nerve ending—muscles, skin, bones, teeth, and hair—emitted a marvelous, microscopic tremor. This was a unique form of bio-electric stimulation, one that even scientific methods could not yet fully explain.

A tingling, numbing sensation washed over him. Chen Jue felt his blood surging like a torrent, and a burst of heat trapped within his chest became impossible to suppress. With a roll of his throat, he unleashed the "Roar of the Tiger in the Mountains" kill move from his Tiger Roar Golden Bell Cover, spitting a visible white mist of air toward the wide river before him.

The mist, shaped like a spinning wheel, exploded upon hitting the water, sending out shockwaves that rippled across the river’s surface.

Chen Jue felt his bones heating up, reaching a pinnacle of strength in that moment. New blood, freshly forged within his marrow, poured into his circulatory system, turning what had been a rapid stream into a rushing river, simultaneously stimulating and strengthening his internal organs.

The sound of his blood rushing—a distinct, rushing "whoosh"—reached the ears of Yun Xiaomei nearby, causing her to gasp in astonishment. She had never imagined that the blood of a human could produce such a thunderous resonance within the body.

As the energy and blood within Chen Jue climbed to their peak, he suddenly heard a "hum" in his ears. The surging energy abruptly stalled, then began to converge toward a point one inch and three-tenths below his navel. This was the Shangqu acupoint, the "Blood Gate" of the human body, known to Taoist masters as the dwelling place of the Northern Dipper’s True Martial Deity.

Chen Jue felt as if he had returned to the womb. His consciousness drifted into chaos, his energy and blood coalesced into a single sphere, and he successfully entered the state of "Holding the Dan and Sitting on the Hips"—a realm that countless martial artists dream of.

However, Chen Jue’s achievement was not attained through the traditional, incremental, and grueling practice of the three phases of martial force—Bright, Dark, and Transformative. He had not even fully grasped Dark Force, let alone the Transformative stage.

He had achieved this "Golden Dan" by leveraging his internal cultivation of hard qigong, refining his organs and marrow from the outside in. Relying on the superior physical foundation built through his grueling training, and fueled by the synergy of the Dragon and Tiger forces triggered by his breakthrough in the Dragon Roar Iron Cloth Shirt, he had forcibly condensed this "Golden Dan."

If Chen Jue’s previous practice of Taoist Inner Alchemy—relying on the circulation of the Micro and Macro Cosmic Orbits—had allowed him to barely enter the state of Embryonic Breathing, creating a pseudo-"Golden Dan," then this moment was different. By bringing both the Tiger Roar and Dragon Roar hard qigong arts to perfection, the interaction between the two had allowed him to forcibly forge a true "Golden Dan."

Once his energy and blood had fully retreated into the Shangqu acupoint, Chen Jue’s chaotic consciousness seemed to receive guidance. Suddenly, his dark eyes lit up; like a fetus being born into the world, he erupted with unparalleled, vibrant vitality.

Standing a few meters away, Yun Xiaomei had been observing the entire process with intense focus. Her perception, already far superior to that of an ordinary person, allowed her to clearly feel that something within Chen Jue was about to burst forth. Upon closer inspection, it felt like the bamboo shoots she saw in the old forests of Gong Mountain in the spring, just as they were about to pierce through the soil and stone.

"Brother Chen Jue has turned into a bamboo shoot?" The absurd thought flashed through her mind.

But the next second, she sensed that this "bamboo shoot" had broken through the rock and soil, instantly shooting upward to become a towering green bamboo. This was a peculiar image conjured by Yun Xiaomei’s unique sensory abilities. Only a natural mountain spirit like her could understand the scene of Chen Jue’s "Holy Embryo" being born—like a bamboo shoot emerging from the earth, radiating life.

The reality manifested in Chen Jue as his blood, which had gone silent, surged again from the Shangqu acupoint through his entire body with a violent heartbeat. His bones, starting from the tailbone, began to shudder in a rapid-fire sequence, snapping and connecting like a string of firecrackers. This ripple effect traveled through his muscles and skin, causing every hair on his body to stand on end.

A surge of heat rushed to his throat and flooded his body as both the Tiger Roar and Dragon Roar kill moves erupted simultaneously.

"ROAR!!!"

A white air mass, nearly twice the size of the previous one, erupted from Chen Jue’s mouth. Within it were his thirty-two old teeth, which had been shed in the process. They struck the river surface, creating a crater-like depression half a meter deep.

From his cyan-tinted skin, a secondary shockwave of white mist exploded outward. Wherever it passed, weeds were blown away, river water was churned into a frenzy, and even the dust on the ground was kicked into the air. This mist was actually his sweat, atomized by the vibrating power of his newly awakened kill move, "Dragon Roar Across the Four Seas," much like the shockwaves created when a fighter jet breaks the sound barrier.

Anyone standing too close would have had their fragile eardrums torn or suffered a concussion, leaving them dazed and unconscious.

Of course, this sudden shockwave of sweat startled Yun Xiaomei. She hurriedly performed her "Ape Returning to the Forest" movement technique, retreating over ten meters to barely dodge the incoming blast. Even so, her delicate face stung from the impact of a few sweat droplets, and she furrowed her brows. It was much like walking through a heavy rainstorm in winter, where the large, icy drops sting the skin and make it difficult to open one's eyes.

When Chen Jue finished his practice and stood still, he checked his status panel. He discovered that this marvelous breakthrough had not only awakened three new states for his Dragon Roar Iron Cloth Shirt, but his Strength, Physique, and Agility attributes had all increased by 0.20. This was a comprehensive transformation of his body following the formation of the Dan—a true rebirth.

He licked his empty gums and could sense that new tooth buds were already rapidly growing within them.

Before he could savor the feeling, a sense of extreme weakness and depletion washed over him. This was the siphon effect triggered by his breakthrough, combined with the marrow-refining and tooth-changing process, which created a demand for nutrition far greater than usual.

Without time to greet Yun Xiaomei, Chen Jue hurried to his backpack and grabbed two boxes of Sanqi oral liquid, gulping them down. It wasn't enough! The siphon effect hadn't faded.

He reached for the bottle of "Golden Dew" he had just acquired, pried off the bamboo lid, and took a deep draught. A warm current spread through his stomach. It felt as if he had downed ten bowls of potent restorative soup; the medicinal effect was incredibly powerful. It forcefully suppressed the majority of the depletion caused by his rebirth.

"Divine medicine! No wonder I felt invigorated just smelling it!" Chen Jue thought, his heart burning. He took two more gulps until every last drop was gone, then tucked the bamboo tube away, still feeling unsatisfied.

Even after the Golden Dew, he was still hungry. His marrow-making and bone-strengthening were akin to a second growth spurt, requiring massive amounts of nutrition. The liquid medicine wasn't enough, so he grabbed three packs of compressed biscuits and began to devour them.

Because he had shed his teeth, he had nothing to chew with, but the eight new teeth in the back were already peaking through, and his tongue was nimble and strong. With a few rhythmic movements, he swallowed the biscuits along with an energy drink.

"Hah!"

After finally feeling a bit full, Chen Jue let out a long breath. He hadn't expected that perfecting the Dragon Roar Iron Cloth Shirt would be the final straw needed to trigger this complete "refining of organs and marrow, a total rebirth." He had practiced the twelve forms of the Yi Jin Jing and Tai Chi stances before, and they had touched upon marrow-refining, but never with such intensity as the synergy of these two Wudang Taihe hard qigong arts.

He checked his panel. As expected, the Dragon Roar Iron Cloth Shirt had, like the Tiger Roar Golden Bell Cover, awakened three state bonuses: "Dragon Roar Across the Four Seas," "Iron Garment Shroud," and "Tiger Roar and Dragon Roar."

Chen Jue decided to study these new states after returning home. He couldn't delay any longer, as Yun Xiaomei was still waiting. Only then did he realize that the bright sunlight from his lunch hour had faded into a dim, amber twilight.

"I’ve been practicing for that long?"

He checked his phone and saw it was past 5:00 PM. Apologetic, he walked over to Yun Xiaomei, who was busy wiping sweat from her face. He gave her a comical, toothless smile: "Yun Xiaomei, look! I’ll have forty teeth soon!"