Targaryen Who Turned Dragon

~3 uneventful days later~

"The basin portal has opened, you may enter."

About damn time.

Fifty people, five per Top 10 sect, entered the Heaven Basin Secret Realm. Then most of them split up and went on their own. Tai Wentian decided to take Tai Quin and Tai Xia for himself, Tai Ming flew away by himself and Shun Zhi went on his own as well. Aerion found himself all alone, he didn't mind it but some company is better than none at all.

"Guess I'll go alone..."

Aerion walked away from the starting point. He just chose a random direction and walked straight. A very simple strategy which led to him encountering countless beasts and nothing else. One of them just happened to be in the Sky Profound Realm.

"Can't I just find an extra special medical plant? Nooo, of course not! Instead, I get a bunch of hungry and suicidal beasts..." Aerion complained.

Draconic Heart, A Thousand Cuts.

The surrounding Earth Profound beasts were sliced to pieces while the Sky Profound beast had a few clear cuts around its body.

"You are one tough beast, one worthy of getting pierced by my Sky Piercer!"

Aerion took out Sky Piercer and exploded towards the beast, leaving behind two afterimages. The beast was extremely confused. Aerion mercifully ended its confusion.

CRIMSON DEMON WAVE!

Aerion stabbed the beast with Sky Piercer's blade and released a crimson demon wave. The beast exploded from inside out, leaving nothing behind but its Profound beast core. Aerion collected the beast cores and stored them into his Sky Poison Pearl since they might have some use later. Then he stumbled upon a frozen lake. Aerion looked at his hand and saw the Sky Poison Pearl pattern glowing.

Is there something special here?

Aerion looked around and found a giant lotus flower. He figured out that the flower was the reason why the Sky Poison Pearl was acting differently. But something seemed off... a plant worthy of making the Sky Poison Pearl react must be protected by some sort of beast. This lake seems to be empty of beasts on the surface, could this mean that the flower itself is deadly? Or, perhaps there's a very powerful beast hiding somewhere. Show me your worth... observe!

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Name: Emperor Awakening Heart Lotus

Type: Medical Plant

Effect: Can be used to refine the Emperor Awakening Heart Pellet which increases one's cultivation drastically. Consuming just one pellet can boost one's profound strength from Earth Profound to Sky Profound. If perfectly refined, the effects can be even more impressive.

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I need it.... and I will get it!

Star God's Broken Shadow.

Aerion quickly harvested the flower and put it into the Sky Poison Pearl...

BOOM!

Aerion stepped to the side as quickly as he could, the lake's ice was completely shattered and out came a huge beast. At this point in time, Aerion didn't feel too optimistic about his future.

"Ty...Tyrant Profound!?"

Aerion ran for his life. He used Flying Wind, the fourth stage of the Wind God's Art. It provided him with a great and consistent increase in speed. Star God's Broken Shadow, like Swift Wind, is a movement technique meant for combat while Flying Wind was made for faster long-distance running. Although Aerion was running as fast as he could, it wasn't enough. The beast closed the distance and he ended up inside of its stomach. What a great end for the prince.

"How will you get out of this situation, Jun Long?" Jasmine teased.

"I don't know... how about you obliterate him?"

"Hmm, this princess doesn't think that such drastic action will be necessary."

Aerion nodded. This was his problem, not her's. The situation was relatively life-threatening... his profound energy was doing a decent job of protecting him. Still, it was very cold and he was near-freezing to death. His two Fire Dragon and Phoenix legacies were doing their best to keep him warm but it was a Tyrant Profound beast's stomach so they could only do so much.

"I refuse to die in a beast's stomach..."

Aerion looked around for something, something that could get him out of this situation. His body started reacting to something... a very small blue bead. It seemed to be doing fine inside of the beast's stomach. Aerion observed the blue bead and found out that it was the Water Seed. Similar to his Fire Seed, it grants complete immunity and complete control (and increased affinity) to its corresponding element which is water. Aerion didn't hesitate, he swallowed the seed immediately. The freezing stopped in mere seconds and his body started to absorb the profound energy from the seed. He was breaking through to the... Sixth Stage... Seventh... Eighth... Ninth... Tenth Stage Of The Spirit Profound Realm!

"The Water Seed in the beast's stomach... how convenient." Jasmine commentated

Aerion agreed. "What are the chances of that?"

Now Aerion's in a far better situation than before but he's still stuck in a beast's stomach it's not exactly ideal. If he stayed there and survived for two days then he would automatically return to the Heavenly Sword Villa. But Aerion preferred to be outside so he took out the flower and refined it with the Sky Poison Pearl. After all, drastic times call for drastic measures.

"Let's see just how effective this flower is when it's refined by the Sky Poison Pearl!"

The Emperor Awakening Heart Lotus was refined into the Emperor Awakening Heart Pellet. Aerion swallowed the pellet and waited for the changes to occur. Then a wave of constant breakthroughs began.

Earth One... Earth Five... Six... Seven... Nine... Sky Profound!

It didn't stop there.

Sky Two... Three... Four... Five... Six... Seven! Sky Profound Seven!

Alright, I'm getting out of this disgusting place.

PURGATORY, DESTROYING SKY DECIMATING EARTH!

BOOM!!!

The beast was blown to pieces from inside its stomach. Aerion activated his wind aura so that none of its fluids touched him.

"Finally..."

Aerion deactivated Purgatory and took the beast's core. The Sky Profound Realm and the Seventh stage at that, it took Aerion a while to get over his massive increase in strength. It was as if the Water Seed and Emperor Awakening Heart Lotus were a gift granted to him by the Heavens. Who can possibly stand in his way now? There's no such thing as an Overlord Profound cultivator in the Blue Wind Empire... this means that Aerion was now the strongest person in the entire Blue Wind Empire! Aerion took flight with the usage of the Profound Floating Technique. At last, the Dragon can fly!

Now it's about time I get my sword back.

~

"Who are you...?"

"You don't need to know... your life is going to end soon anyway."

Aerion knocked out a Xiao Sect elder and took control of his bird which was a couple of meters away. Now all he needed to do was find Ling Yun. After flying around for what seemed hours, Aerion found Ling Yun. He briefly remembered which direction Ling Yun went so he simply retraced his steps and went in that direction. Luckily, Ling Yun decided not to stray far away from his original path. Aerion landed a hundred or so meters away from Ling Yun. Then he injected the Berserker Poison through his hidden blade and ran away. Soon, the Xiao Sect elder turned mad and saw Ling Yun.

"...I WILL KILL YOU."

"...?"

The elder closed the distance in a mere second, the difference between their speed was very clear. Ling Yun managed to block the elder's first hit with Stormcaller. Then the Xiao Sect elder's bird took flight and took the sword away from Ling Yun while he was distracted. The bird flew far away, to the place where Aerion commanded it to fly. Everything is going according to the plan.

Now, about Ling Yun... should I leave him to die or should I save him?

I am a virtuous man, of course, I'll save him from the evil and corrupted Xiao Sect elder!

Just before Ling Yun was about to be sliced in half, Aerion appeared and kicked the elder away. Then he looked down at Ling Yun with a face of concern. "Are you alright?"

"I was about to die... but thanks to you, I'm alive."

Aerion smiled. "Good to know. I'll handle the rest."

Such a perfect act, Aerion was proud of himself for making this decision. He looked at the Xiao Sect with pure anger which Ling Yun thought was genuine. "How dare you, an Elder of the Xiao Sect, attempt to kill the Young Master of the Heavenly Sword Villa! How unrefined... I, Jun Long, shall personally punish you for this disgraceful act!"

"I WILL KILL YOU AS WELL."

BANG!

Sky Piercer's axe was driven deep into the elder's stomach before he could even react. Aerion then used both of his hands to hold Sky Piercer up high, then he slammed it into the ground while the elder was still stuck to the axe. The elder was cut in half but Aerion wasn't done yet. He looked down at the pitiful beast before him and opened his palm.

"Begone."

Crimson Demon Wave.

"Father..."

"My son, are you injured?"

Aerion turned and saw Ling Yuefeng. Ling Yun smiled. "No... just a few bruises, but if it weren't for Jun Long then I would have been slain by the elder. And the sword... his bird took it."

"The Xiao Sect will pay for this... I will make sure of it." Ling Yuefeng stated out loud. Then he looked at Aerion. "You saved my son from certain death... how could I possibly repay you?"

"It was a simple act, there's no need to reward me."

"...Very well, the gates of the Sword Villa will always be open for you if you need anything in the future. Though I doubt you ever will."

Ling Yuefeng's respect towards Aerion reached a whole new level. Such a talented, strong and virtuous youth... he'll surely reach new heights no one in the Blue Wind Empire could even dream of. Ling Yuefeng was sure of this.

"Well, now that the situation has been resolved, I'll be on my way."

Ling Yuefeng nodded. If this was the old Spirit 5 Aerion, then Ling Yuefeng would've offered to help him. Now that he personally witnessed him kill a Peak Sky Profound elder so easily, there was no need for that. Instead, he looked at his son and promised to never take his eyes off him. Ling Yun looked towards Aerion's fading image. The white-haired and purple-eyed youth's actions had a major effect on Ling Yun... he was inspired to change and be more like him.