At this moment, the astral winds grew fiercer and fiercer, sometimes blowing Evan Chu hundreds of meters away. Yet none of this affected his absorption of the powerful energy within the green solid at all.
The Fifth Layer of the Starforge Body could finally be broken through by his own will—unlike the previous four layers, which all triggered passively. As long as his Chaos Dragon Force was strong enough and the environment harsh enough, he could make it happen.
Inside Evan Chu, the Chaos Dragon Force gradually reached saturation, while his wounds became even more terrifying. So, he began inching closer to the source—the greater the destruction to his body, the more likely he was to break through.
Bit by bit, the flesh and blood on his body vanished. Chaos Dragon Force began to surge through every meridian. This breakthrough was different from before: previously, he had to shatter his meridians and bones, but this time, every muscle had to be stripped away.
Without muscles, he was reduced to a skeleton. Normally, no one in the world could survive this. But Evan Chu’s Starforge Body could. Of course, the most crucial part—the heart—had to remain intact. Only when breaking through to the Ninth Layer of the Starforge Body would even the heart have to be destroyed and rebuilt.
Endless agony tormented Evan Chu, but his monstrous willpower kept him going. The roar in his throat echoed through the pitch-black spatial black hole.
When only the muscle at the Goldwing totem on his back and the Bloodshadow Berserker Lion totem on his arm remained, he stopped. Those two patches of muscle were unbelievably tough—the astral winds couldn’t damage them at all.
By now, Evan Chu could hardly be called human—more like a skeletal monster. Yet his internal organs were perfectly intact, protected by a layer of white light.
If anyone could see Evan Chu right now, they’d see that all his bones were a faint gold, glowing weakly in the darkness of the spatial black hole.
A powerful astral wind blasted him far away. At that moment, his Divine Star Core started spinning madly, and torrents of Chaos Dragon Force flooded his bones—followed by muscle regrowing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Time passed. When Evan Chu’s muscles had fully regrown, he was startled by the transformation—then waves of agony hit, making him writhe uncontrollably in midair. He felt his body warping, just like when he broke through to the Fourth Layer of the Starforge Body and started turning into a dragon.
The pain was so intense he nearly blacked out. If having his flesh torn away by astral winds was torture, this transformation was even worse—the most excruciating pain he’d ever felt. If his soul hadn’t been strong enough, he really might have fainted. At this point, he almost wished he could.
His body was suddenly covered in dense scales—dragon scales. He had completely transformed into a dragon; his hands and feet vanished, replaced by dragon claws. But there were now six claws.
In other words, Evan Chu was now a six-clawed golden dragon. If he appeared at the Dragon Shrine like this, it would cause an uproar—there were fewer than ten six-clawed golden dragons in the whole Shrine, and their status was unimaginably high.
The agony slowly faded. Evan Chu looked over his body in shock and urgently asked the Sword Spirit, "Luna, have I completely awakened my bloodline? Is that why I've turned into a golden dragon?"
"You just accidentally awakened part of your bloodline, but one third still remains dormant. When you fully awaken, you won’t be a six-clawed dragon—you’ll have nine claws."
"Just look at the Primordial Dragon image on your Divine Star Core. That core is actually your Dragon Pearl. When your bloodline fully awakens, it will transform completely." Luna said.
Suddenly, a new worry hit Evan Chu. "How am I supposed to turn back to normal? If I look like this, how do I face the world?"
"Don’t worry about that. In a couple days, you’ll naturally return to human form. You awakening your bloodline by accident was a real surprise. Now you should be at Seventh-Layer Divine Martial strength—no ordinary Saint Martial expert can threaten you, and you could kill them with ease." Luna said.
Evan Chu felt a rush of excitement. Awakening his bloodline really did skyrocket his cultivation—two whole realms in the blink of an eye. But the pain was almost unbearable.
Where there’s pain, there’s gain. Suddenly, fragments of information flashed through Evan Chu’s mind—dragon clan knowledge. He looked closer, but couldn’t make sense of it. All he saw were strange runes he didn’t recognize.
"Luna, do you know what these symbols mean?" Evan Chu handed the problem to his all-knowing Sword Spirit.
"Ha, this time I have to disappoint you, Linfeng. That’s Dragon-tongue, the unique language of your clan. I’m human, so I can’t read it. It’s probably an innate bloodline inheritance—when you fully awaken, you’ll understand it naturally. Don’t rush; even if you knew now, it wouldn’t change anything.
Some Dragon Clan secret arts require you to restore your true dragon form before you can use them. Since your bloodline isn’t fully awakened, you can’t shift forms at will. Just focus on recovering your human body for now—the Spatial Spirit Vein is still waiting for you."
"See that glowing object? That’s a Starflare Stone—one of the rarest things in the Azure Tide Ruins. There are tons of supreme-grade Starstones around it, and who knows how many top-tier ones. You’ve hit the jackpot this time," Luna said.
"Are there any Star Crystals?" Evan Chu asked urgently. He knew just how valuable they were—a single Star Crystal was worth a hundred million Starstones. Just thinking about it was terrifying.
"Where there’s a Starflare Stone, there are bound to be Star Crystals. Judging by its brightness, you might get several—maybe even ten." Luna replied.
"Ten? I’m rich! I’m rich!" Evan Chu laughed with delight.
Suddenly, a dragon’s roar echoed through the spatial black hole. Evan Chu jumped in fright and quickly asked Luna, "Why does my voice sound like that?"
"You’re a dragon now—what did you expect? Try out your new body. If you ask me, you should cross that astral wind barrier and stop two hundred meters from the Starflare Stone to wait for your human form to return. It’ll save you a lot of trouble," Luna said.
Evan Chu was confused—his body was several meters long and not very agile. There were plenty of rocks in the astral wind, and even a glancing blow could break bones or tear tendons.
"Dragon Clan defense is second to none in the world—except for Xuanwu, of course. Just give it a try. You can even teleport now," Luna said.
Half skeptical, Evan Chu tried it—his mind moved, and he vanished from where he stood, reappearing inside the astral wind barrier…
(Author’s Note: Busy tonight—will update later!)