Chapter 112: The Fundamental Law of Advancement

Initially, Zhou Bai did not place much importance on the position of the Hangzhou Garrison. However, because of the "Fruit of Supernatural Powers," he felt it would be better to have a territory of his own.

Moreover, becoming the Hangzhou Garrison did not mean he had to stay there constantly; his subordinates could handle any trouble that arose. If they truly could not resolve an issue, there were always the Cloud Whales; as long as one was willing to spend contribution points, they could travel quickly between any location in the Nine Provinces.

The only problem, according to his estimation, was that if he went to the Nether Street to promote his official rank and then applied for the Hangzhou Garrison position, it would likely take a significant amount of time before he could actually take office.

Zhou Bai’s trip to Xuzhou was unavoidable and could not be delayed. The remaining three incarnations of Liaowu needed to be eliminated while they were still weak, and he could take the opportunity to collect points by slaying demons and exorcising ghosts. Therefore, he had to go to Xuzhou first; as for the Hangzhou Garrison position, he would have to deal with it upon his return. To prevent any variables, he would explain the situation to Wang Zhen, and coupled with the influence formed by the Fruit of Supernatural Powers, he believed everything would be secure.

The promotion of the Ghost Tree had concluded, but it had begun to reshape his Dantian. This time, however, the process was slow, and it seemed it would take some time. Zhou Bai turned his attention to Salty Fish, expecting that after its promotion, it would also gain an Artifact-Path supernatural ability.

The Shedding Method consumed even more points. Once the proficiency was maxed out, Salty Fish’s body grew significantly larger and became more slender, looking completely different from its original fish-dragon form. Investing the remaining points, he watched as, along with the advancement of the Shedding Method, Salty Fish began to change—a transformation from the inside out, at a biological level.

Sounds emanated from its mouth; the original snake-like "hissing" gradually turned into a booming thunder, the true sound of a dragon’s roar. This indicated that Salty Fish was evolving from a "Hui" dragon toward something much deeper in its bloodline. Under Zhou Bai’s watchful eyes, it shed its old skin, and the new skin became tougher, marked with faint, shimmering patterns. While the changes to its body were secondary, its head had completely transformed into that of a dragon, with eyes that held an innate majesty, looking quite intimidating.

Salty Fish writhed in his Dantian and then began to retch violently, soon spitting out a dragon pearl. The pearl radiated a rich dragon aura, which Salty Fish then swallowed back down. With this, its transformation was complete. Though it lacked horns and limbs compared to a true dragon, it was undeniable that in its current form, it bore an 80% resemblance.

Zhou Bai recalled his knowledge and realized what kind of dragon-kin Salty Fish had evolved into: a Qiu dragon. Hornless and clawless, many mortals mistook them for the young of true dragons and loved to carve them onto pillars, leading to the elegant term "coiled dragon." In reality, a Qiu dragon was more like the young of a Jiao dragon. If it were in the outside world, it would still need to survive several lightning tribulations to have even a glimmer of hope of evolving into a more profound bloodline.

Salty Fish emerged from the Dantian and affectionately coiled around Zhou Bai’s body, expressing its joy. For Zhou Bai, the texture was much better now that it had become a Qiu dragon; at the Hui dragon stage, it had felt somewhat sticky, but now it felt like genuine leather.

Once Salty Fish returned to his Dantian, Zhou Bai checked the changes to his life-bound shedding. The new Artifact-Path supernatural ability Salty Fish had gained was completely different from that of the Ghost Tree. Although both were auxiliary, this one was related to combat. As the saying goes, "A mountain need not be high; if there is a deity, it is famous. A river need not be deep; if there is a dragon, it is spiritual."

This ability was called "Spirit Fusion," and it was related to the dragon pearl. If Zhou Bai wished, he could fuse the dragon pearl with a weapon beforehand to increase its power. It was somewhat similar to the "Blade Brewing" ability, but Spirit Fusion provided a greater boost in power, though it could not be "brewed" over time; it was ultimately an ephemeral gain. However, as long as Salty Fish’s main body was not severely damaged, the dragon pearl could remain fused with the weapon without consuming demonic energy.

Zhou Bai felt that Spirit Fusion was inferior to the Ghost Tree’s ability, which left him somewhat disappointed. Of course, Spirit Fusion still had potential; by consuming demonic energy, Zhou Bai could briefly integrate Salty Fish—this life-bound shedding—into the weapon as well. The consumption of demonic energy was immense, however, and with his current cultivation level, he could not yet achieve this. Perhaps that was the true core of the ability, and he would have to wait until he mastered his true form to realize it.

Every benefit had its drawbacks. First, a weapon fused with the dragon pearl could not be taken too far from Zhou Bai; second, it could only be used on one weapon, and the material had to be able to withstand the dragon aura, or it would be destroyed.

Zhou Bai hesitated for a moment and had Salty Fish spit out the dragon pearl. He first tried to fuse it with the Ghost Tree, but the Yin energy resisted it violently, so he abandoned the idea. Next, he fused the dragon pearl into the Sea-Gathering Gourd, and this time, it went very smoothly.

Blue dragon patterns appeared on the gourd, and its spiritual resonance became restrained. Zhou Bai could feel that the wine within the artifact now carried a hint of dragon aura; it felt as if it had become a part of his life-bound gear, and he could vaguely control it through the Sea-Gathering Gourd to fight enemies. However, he felt it would be a waste to use the expensive Dragon-Tiger Bone-Strengthening Wine as a weapon, and unless he poisoned the wine, its lethality was limited.

Thus, Zhou Bai could only choose his two blades. He tried them separately and was surprised to find they were an excellent match. It made sense: the Slaughter Blade was related to Yazi, one of the nine sons of the dragon, and the dragon aura made its ferocity even more intense. The Tang blade contained the power of a lightning tribulation; since true dragons were masters of wind, rain, and thunder, the dragon pearl could bolster it as well. After activating Spirit Fusion, fine scales grew on the blades, making them undoubtedly sharper, and that dragon aura was particularly effective against demons, monsters, and ghosts.

Seen in this light, although this artifact-based ability was not as powerful as the Ghost Tree’s, it was certainly not weak. However, Zhou Bai did not rush to fuse the dragon pearl into one of the blades permanently, as the transformation was too significant and linked to his own aura, which might give others the mistaken impression that it was his true life-bound weapon.

His points had dropped to a single digit, so he simply set up a Yin-Gathering Array in his room and devoted himself entirely to absorbing Yin energy. After about four days, Zhou Bai had four more Fruits of Supernatural Powers in his possession. Other than one he kept in reserve, he planned to give the others to Wen Meng and the three others to consume. Once they ingested the fruits, Zhou Bai could use his ability to plant thoughts to alter their memories, making them firmly believe that they had awakened these powers naturally.

The only potential trouble was Daoist Hou, but he had left Hangzhou a few days ago to find another zombie, heading to nearby farming villages. According to him, these impoverished areas were more prone to corpse-related anomalies.