Mu Ran stood in front of the frozen figure of the giant dragon deep within his consciousness, a place where other cultivators grew their dao bases.

The dao base was a very flexible concept. It took the form of what one believed it to be, provided that they had enough control over their cultivation techniques.

As someone who had cultivated the extra, special layer known as the zeroth layer of physique transformation realm, Mu Ran's unorthodox dao base was the living proof of this.

A majestic dragon with its head reaching thousands of meters high amidst the illusory purple clouds, its body that could encircle even the largest mountain Mu Ran had ever seen, and blue scales that could cover small lakes...
It was a true dragon, the ancient monster that now only existed in myths and fairy tales which even children did not believe.

The dragon had a thin layer of black fog all over its body, with only a portion of its tail that could be seen clearly. The rest of its body was like a painting behind a veil.

But Mu Ran's gaze was concentrated on the newly revealed portion of its tail. Almost a dozen entire new scales had been freed of the black fog.

"A large portion of our soul seems to have recovered. How much longer can you hold on ?" He finally asked after a long period of silent observation.

The inanimate dragon's eyelids flickered for a moment.

"The filth had taken a rather reckless path, dividing our souls into twenty one parts. We managed to snatch one complete soul shard inside the platform, and another afterwards. After purifying the corrupt parts, about one tenth of our soul has been assimilated here. This should give me...about a couple of years of time. I can also now recall some higher level techniques and deeper knowledge of laws . Now it depends on whether you can use our gains to breakthrough to the required realm to go chase down the purified holy child. "

A deep voice came from the dragon's body, similar to the automaton's from back inside the platforms replied to Mu Ran.
The answer made Mu Ran clench his fists.

"That's way too short of a time limit. The holy child has to be at least at the brink of a breakthrough to the creation realm. By the time I reach the soul reformation realm, he might even reach it. Moreover, he definitely won't stay back inside that ruined world fragment now that he has purified himself. Where am I supposed to find him..."

Trailing off, Mu Ran gloomily considered his options. His future was not looking particularly bright at the moment.

"If you had managed to meet the filth face to face and use THAT spell, our situation might have been different. Even if we didn't manage to assemble at least half of the soul shards, collecting three-tenth wouldn't be an issue. Granted, that might have affected our sanity a bit, but we currently do not have the luxury to think about the damage we'd receive from the forced assimilation. What a pity, that boy Xuhan flipped the situation around somehow and made a fool out of everyone, despite his good intentions. "

Mu Ran ran a hand over his face and said,
"Give me two years. I'll do my best to reach the soul reformation realm and look for that bastard again. If by chance he doesn't manage to reach the creation realm within that time, we can go all out and force the assimilation. "

"Impossible. Two years is way too long. I can give you eighteen months at most. If you cannot break through within that time, I'll take over our body," the voice from the dragon replied angrily.

"...Fine. Eighteen months it is," Mu Ran mumbled in a depressed tone and turned to leave.

"And another thing...I think we both agree that we need to be more careful when dealing with our underling, don't we ? At least we shouldn't let him in on any more of our secrets for now." The voice added behind him, making him come to a stop.

"...Well, I agree. But I don't know what to think of him when he seems so genuinely interested in being our underling. He's a good kid, you know that."

"Indeed, I do. But I also believe that Han Xuhan is definitely hiding his cards, even better than we are. I refuse to accept that he isn't an oddity like us. No way," the voice replied before Mu Ran retracted his consciousness from his dao base.