A hundred years passed by, quietly and unnoticed.
Inside the main laboratory, a rune light screen hung silently, with countless data streams scrolling slowly like a waterfall.
Jie Ming stood before his workstation, his expression calm, while his mental energy extended outward like countless fine threads, scanning various teaching materials. In front of him, a creature that looked like a slime was moving around.
As he recorded data, Jie Ming watched its movements, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
After over a hundred years of research, his work on soul creation was approaching true maturity.
At this rate, with a few more centuries of refinement, he might be able to casually create life through alchemy.
Just then, a low communication frequency came through the Incense Faith Path network.
"My Lord..."
Jie Ming listened to the report, packed away his experimental records, and casually dismissed the alchemy.
The slime's body stiffened, then rapidly dissolved into points of light, breaking down into elements.
He stepped onto the teleportation array, and space twisted slightly.
The next moment, he appeared on an administrative planet in the Infernal Sulfur Plane.
This was the settlement star for the Dragonmen.
The planet's entire ecological environment had been reconstructed according to the environmental parameters of the Dragonmen's original homeland.
The air carried a faint hint of sulfur, gravity was slightly higher than that of ordinary life planets, and the star in the sky emitted a reddish-gold light, almost identical to the original sun of the Dragonmen's plane.
Looking down from orbit, rows of houses stretched along the coastline, neatly arranged at the edge of the continent.
The city preserved the original towers, stone bridges, and dragon reliefs of the Dragonmen civilization, while also featuring many artificial structures in the style of Wizard Civilization. Broad, straight streets, standardized residential areas, and public research facilities interwoven together gave the city both a retained Dragonmen culture and high operational efficiency.
The Black Giant Priest responsible for Dragonmen affairs had long been waiting by the teleportation array.
Seeing Jie Ming appear, he immediately lowered his head.
The vertical slit in the center of his chest opened and closed slightly, emitting a low-frequency vibration: "My Lord, as you can see, the Dragonmen civilization is functioning normally."
"The current total population is 10,327, with 1,842 new hatchlings this cycle. The population continues to grow steadily."
Jie Ming nodded, walking toward the city while casually asking, "What about the proportion of high-tier individuals?"
"There are 173 individuals who have reached the fifth-level life form, an increase of 30% over the previous cycle."
"Any signs of dragon blood degradation?"
"None detected."
The Black Giant Priest answered without the slightest hesitation.
"Per your instructions, we have been continuously optimizing the breeding selection mechanism and restricting lineages with greater bloodline fluctuations. The average dragon blood concentration in the new generation has increased by 4.7 percentage points compared to the previous generation."
A hint of satisfaction appeared in Jie Ming's eyes.
"Good. Keep it up."
"Don't rush to pursue higher concentrations. Stability is more important than speed."
"As you command."
The two walked into the city proper.
On the streets, many adult Dragonmen were working.
Some flapped their broad dragon wings, flying back and forth between transport platforms; others operated large alchemical machinery to move ores and spirit materials; still others, wearing uniforms, were maintaining the city's public magical arrays.
In a distant square, a group of young Dragonmen were playing.
Their dragon wings were not yet fully developed; after a few flaps, they could only wobble two or three meters into the air before landing with a thud, drawing laughter from their companions.
Further away, the gate of an academy slowly opened. Dozens of little Dragonmen who had just graduated from the hatchery lined up under the guidance of a teacher, preparing to enter the classroom.
"Fold your wings," a homunculus teacher reminded gently.
Several little ones frantically folded their wings behind their backs.
One was a beat too slow, and the tip of his wing hit the doorframe with a thud, making him wince in pain, drawing laughter from the other children.
Just then, someone noticed Jie Ming.
"Look!" "It's the Lord!"
Several young Dragonmen stopped in their tracks and looked over curiously.
One of the bolder little ones couldn't help asking the teacher, "Teacher, is he the wizard who created us?"
The homunculus teacher nodded gently.
"And the true ruler of the entire civilization now."
The children's eyes widened.
Although they had seen Jie Ming's portrait in their textbooks since childhood, this was the first time they had seen him in person.
A young Dragonman gathered his courage, trotted two steps forward, and stood straight.
"Greetings, Lord!"
His voice was still a bit childish, but he shouted with exceptional sincerity.
Jie Ming stopped and looked at the little ones, who were clearly a bit nervous.
He smiled. "Study hard. In the future, this planet will be yours."
The children were taken aback for a moment, then their eyes lit up simultaneously.
"Yes!"
A unified answer rang out at the academy gate.
In their excitement, several children unfurled their just-folded wings with a whoosh, nearly knocking over their companions, causing the homunculus teacher to shake his head with a mix of laughter and exasperation.
Jie Ming did not linger; he nodded slightly and continued deeper into the city with the Black Giant Priest.
Throughout the inspection, everything—city operations, education system, medical care, reproduction, and resource supply—was in good order.
Centuries of continuous investment had finally begun to bear fruit.
The Dragonmen civilization had completely shaken off the shadows of the past and entered a stage of stable development.
As they were about to leave, the Black Giant Priest reported again, "My Lord, the first round of long-term observation for the new bloodline optimization runes piloted earlier has been completed. No rejection reactions were observed in any of the experimental subjects."
"Very good." Jie Ming thought for a moment. "Expand the sample size in the next phase, but keep it phased."
"Also, send a copy of the bloodline optimization database to the Central Research Institute. Subsequent iterations will no longer be handled solely by you."
"As you command."
After the inspection, Jie Ming stepped back onto the teleportation array.
Space rippled.
The main laboratory reappeared before him.
He did not rest; instead, he called up all the research data on Dragonmen bloodlines and split the entire research plan into several independent modules. Soon, a small research meeting was convened in the laboratory.
Several Black Giant Priests responsible for life sciences stood on one side, while on the other side stood more than ten senior researchers from the Tentacle Tree Civilization. Compared to centuries ago, these plant beings had fully adapted to the research system of Wizard Civilization.
The branches and leaves on their bodies swayed gently, exchanging countless tiny vibrations in the air, sharing analytical results with each other.
A Tentacle Tree researcher took the data crystal plate first.
"For the thirty-second version of the Dragon Blood Rune, we are responsible for life compatibility verification."
Another Black Giant Priest nodded in agreement.
"We will handle the Law Stability Test."
Jie Ming glanced at them and shook his head gently.
"Don't work separately this time."
Everyone present looked at him respectfully.
"This particular study is quite difficult. You two sides will collaborate to complete it."
"All data will be shared in real time. Any anomalies must be cross-verified immediately."
The Tentacle Tree researcher bent its branches slightly. "Understood."
The Black Giant Priest also lowered his head. "As you command, my Lord."
After arranging all the research tasks, Jie Ming returned to his workstation.
Now, his daily time was almost precisely divided.
Mornings were spent studying alchemy, runes, space, and soul science at level six and above.
Afternoons were spent refining the Talisman Imprint Rune Artifact.
Evenings were spent in the meditation chamber, using solar true fire to temper his flesh and practicing the body refinement method.
At night, he would sink deep into his consciousness to continue contemplating the Mustard Seed Contains the Dao True Body Art.
When he had obtained this Immortal-level technique a century ago, he had already prepared himself for long-term cultivation.
Only after truly beginning to practice did Jie Ming realize he had still underestimated its difficulty.
The very first step, Dharma Aspect Dissolution, was far more complex than imagined.
A true body five hundred kilometers tall could not simply be dispersed.
He had to disintegrate the entire true body into billions of particle streams, with each Dao resonance particle fully retaining the law information it carried.
Any deviation in a single particle would affect the subsequent Inner World Smelting, or even cause the entire true body structure to collapse.
Therefore, each attempt required him to rely on the Law-Crystallization Domain to repeatedly calibrate every Dao resonance particle.
It was an extremely tedious task that allowed no room for error.
Even with his current deductive abilities, a hundred years had only brought him to the tail end of the first step.
There was still a long road ahead before truly mastering the Mustard Seed Contains the Dao True Body Art.