The Rat Cultivator

Chapter 178: The Ability of the Dharma Treasure

The moment Wu Yuan lifted the bone bowl, the crystal-clear skeleton of Daoist Dragon Snake instantly lost its luster. It withered into a dull, lifeless gray before collapsing into a pile of fine ash, scattering into the subterranean winds. Only the small bowl in Wu Yuan’s paw remained.

“Even a cultivator of this echelon can perish so completely,” Wu Yuan sighed, a rare flicker of existential dread crossing his mind. “What will become of me in the end?”

He dug a small pit, solemnly burying the ashes. Then, clutching the bone bowl, he sprinted out of the Spiritual Qi barren zone. He could feel his Demon Power stagnating with every passing second, his body bound by invisible shackles. Moreover, the Dharma Treasure prototype vehemently resisted entering his Storage Bag; he had no choice but to carry it by hand.

Emerging beyond the barren zone and his shattered Formation, Wu Yuan paused in surprise. The scorched, cratered battlefield had already been meticulously leveled and raked. The scattered flood dragon blood and severed scales had been completely harvested; not a single drop remained.

They work fast, Wu Yuan noted with quiet approval. Soil drenched in peak-stage flood dragon blood was an invaluable substrate for cultivating spirit herbs. Once fermented by his earth spirit worms, it would yield a peerless, hyper-nutritious fertilizer.

The comatose fire flood dragon had already been hauled back to the subterranean caverns. The area was peaceful.

His core lieutenants gathered around, their eyes glued to the small bone bowl in Wu Yuan’s paw.

“Is that what you went through all that trouble for, Boss?” Big Old Black asked, scratching his head. “You nearly died to a fire flood dragon and let Snake Valley get vaporized… just for a bowl?”

“It looks completely ordinary,” the Winged Tiger chimed in, squinting at the bone. “I don’t sense any Magical Artifact aura off it.”

Wu Yuan was in far too good a mood to mind their ignorance. “Its true power is currently sealed,” he explained smoothly. “Its primary function is related to draconic transformation.” He deliberately omitted that it was a Dharma Treasure prototype; such apocalyptic secrets were strictly on a need-to-know basis.

The demons exchanged skeptical glances. “Great King, are you sure you weren’t scammed?” the Winged Tiger asked cautiously. “There’s no way that little thing can trigger a dragon transformation.”

Big Old Black immediately bristled, his eyes bulging. “Watch your mouth! How dare you doubt the Boss!”

Wu Yuan raised an eyebrow. Is Big Old Black actually developing some magical intuition, or is he just looking for an excuse to bully the tiger?

Big Old Black proudly puffed out his chest. “Whatever the Boss says is the absolute truth! If he says a rock is a dragon, then it’s a dragon!”

Wu Yuan rolled his eyes. Blind fanaticism it is.

Suddenly, Wu Yuan felt a tug on his hand. Little Yellow had managed to wedge his entire furry head inside the bone bowl, his muffled squeaks echoing from within. “Boss, I need a personal rice bowl! This one is the perfect size!”

Wu Yuan grabbed the hamster by the scruff of his neck, plucking him out of the artifact and tossing him onto the Winged Tiger’s back. “Your appetite is too big for your own good. I’ll forge you a rice bowl later. Hands off this one.”

Pouting, Little Yellow crossed his tiny arms and turned his back to Wu Yuan, sulking atop the tiger’s head.

“Perfect timing,” Wu Yuan said, striding toward the underground caverns. “Let’s test this artifact’s capabilities.”

The entourage arrived at the frigid subterranean pond. Beneath the crystalline surface, the Sinking Gold Carps swam with vibrant, predatory grace.

“Your Majesty’s husbandry techniques are flawless,” Bibo praised, his eyes gleaming as he observed the school. “Their dragon scales are fully formed, and their barbels are nearly mature. To possess two distinct draconic traits… even the legendary Dragon Palace would consider them rare treasures!”

Ignoring the flattery, Wu Yuan initiated his experiment. He tossed roughly 200 Spirit Stones into the palm-sized bone bowl. Then, he added chunks of raw dragon meat, freshly harvested scales, and vials of essence blood extracted from the captive fire flood dragon. In defiance of physics, the tiny bowl swallowed the massive volume of materials effortlessly—a true bottomless pit.

Channeling his Demon Power into the sealed artifact, Wu Yuan bypassed its dormant sentience and forcefully activated its base biological functions. The Spirit Stones and draconic biomatter rapidly dissolved, smelting together until nothing remained but a single, heavy drop of milky-white liquid.

The moment the liquid formed, the Sinking Gold Carps in the pond went berserk. Driven mad by the intoxicating, hyper-concentrated draconic aroma, they breached the surface, their jaws snapping wildly as they begged for a taste.

One particularly aggressive carp, its body surging with violent spiritual power, launched itself out of the water like a torpedo. Despite its small size, it radiated an unstoppable, feral momentum. As it soared toward Wu Yuan, it emitted a deep, guttural roar that echoed with the terrifying cadence of a true dragon, sending violent ripples across the pond.

Wu Yuan watched with an amused smile. The aggressive carp slammed headfirst into the pond’s containment Formation, instantly knocking itself unconscious, and plummeted back into the water with a heavy splash.

Reaching out, Wu Yuan casually fished the comatose fish from the water. “Fascinating. Its physical vessel is stunted and its scales are dull, yet its behavioral aggression perfectly mimics the dragon clan.”

This specific, malnourished carp was a runt—part of the defective batch originally abandoned by the Red Refined Fire Snake. Ostracized and constantly brutalized by the larger carps, it had survived purely through spite, recklessly attacking its larger kin to steal food. Wu Yuan had never intervened, allowing the ruthless ecosystem to forge a perfect, fearless test subject.

“Your time has come,” Wu Yuan murmured.

He tilted the bone bowl, letting the single drop of milky-white liquid fall into the runt’s gaping mouth.

The reaction was instantaneous and horrifying. The runt’s body snapped rigid. It jolted awake, its eyes bulging as its facial structure grotesquely contorted in unimaginable agony. The liquid was triggering a violent, hyper-accelerated mutation. Dense, jagged slabs of muscle ruptured beneath its scales, writhing and pulsing under its skin like trapped snakes trying to burrow out.

Having administered the catalyst, Wu Yuan clinically tossed the mutating subject back into the freezing pond.

The moment it hit the water, the scent of pure, evolving dragon blood dispersed into the current. The surrounding school of Sinking Gold Carps descended into an absolute, cannibalistic frenzy.

They swarmed the helpless, mutating runt. Jaws unhinged to reveal rows of razor-sharp teeth as they ruthlessly tore into their kin. The water churned crimson as they ripped the rapidly evolving dragon flesh from its bones in a horrific, bloody feeding frenzy.