The Rat Cultivator

Chapter 179: Disintegration Dragon Transformation Ritual

Big Old Black watched the cannibalistic frenzy with a face full of sheer horror. “Boss, isn’t that Sinking Gold Carp just going to get eaten alive?!” he asked, his eyes glued to the churning water of the cold pond.

Bibo, however, narrowed his eyes, a glimmer of ancient recognition flashing across his gaze. “Is this… the Disintegration Dragon Transformation Ritual?” he asked, his tone laced with disbelief.

Wu Yuan glanced at the turtle with genuine appreciation. “You truly are a living encyclopedia. I’m impressed you know about such an obscure, forbidden rite! I only learned of it myself from reading Daoist Dragon Snake’s personal handbook.”

Back when Wu Yuan had successfully captured the Black Water Flood Dragon Snake and looted its Storage Bag, he had found very little of immediate value. The giant serpent had likely fed most of its accumulated resources directly to the Sinking Gold Carps to cultivate their bloodline.

However, hidden among the meager spoils was a singular, priceless text: the Daoist Dragon Snake’s Handbook.

The Black Water Flood Dragon Snake had originally migrated to Polong Lake chasing rumors of the Sinking Gold Carp. During its hunt, it had stumbled upon a hidden subterranean ruin and recovered the ancient diary. It was a stroke of cosmic irony that the serpent had gathered the biological specimens and the theoretical manual, only to hand deliver both to Wu Yuan.

The handbook detailed the life’s work of Daoist Dragon Snake. He had originally been a human cultivator belonging to a beast-taming Sect, but he harbored a fanatical obsession with draconic Demon Beasts. Blessed by Fated Chances, he had acquired several fragmented, ancient legacies regarding dragon ascension.

Driven by genius, he had successfully reverse-engineered those fragments into functional, albeit horrific, secret techniques designed to forcefully stimulate draconic mutations in lesser beasts—primarily focusing on carps and serpents.

When Daoist Dragon Snake began selling these artificially ascended beasts on the black market, he became an overnight sensation. Dragon-type Demon Beasts were incredibly powerful, yet he produced them cheaply and in massive quantities. He even offered bespoke genetic customization for wealthy clients.

He amassed a staggering fortune in Spirit Stones, funding further, darker research. His Cultivation skyrocketed; in less than a century, he was on the absolute threshold of the Golden Core realm.

But his hubris was his undoing. He grew too bold, actively selling beasts that possessed true flood dragon bloodlines—genetic property strictly monopolized by the East Sea Dragon Palace.

When the Dragon Palace discovered his black-market operation, they exploded in rage. To sell their sacred bloodline like cheap cattle was an unforgivable insult. They issued a legendary, realm-wide kill order. Pursued by entire hit squads of Third-Tier True Dragons, Daoist Dragon Snake was forced into a life of desperate, paranoid exile.

Yet, his intimate knowledge of draconic biology allowed him to consistently evade his executioners. He survived long enough to attempt his Golden Core breakthrough, fully intending to rebuild his empire afterward… only to be absurdly crushed to death by the falling Azure Spirit Mountain Range.

“What exactly is the Disintegration Dragon Transformation Ritual?” Big Old Black pressed, his curiosity entirely overriding his horror.

“It is a biological crucible designed for dragon-type Demon Beasts that possess the bloodline, but lack the natural talent to Awaken,” Wu Yuan explained clinically.

“The subject offers its own physical vessel to be devoured by its kin. In exchange, the ritual allows the subject to parasitize and absorb the latent draconic aura from the very kin that are eating it. The goal is to accumulate enough stolen aura to forcefully trigger ascension.”

“However, it is a race against time,” Wu Yuan continued, his eyes locked on the pond. “The subject must successfully drain enough aura to trigger the mutation before its physical body is completely consumed. If it fails, it simply dies a horrific death.”

“The milky-white liquid synthesized by the Dharma Treasure Embryo acts as the ultimate biological catalyst. It bypasses the need for a complex, drawn-out ritual array. I only had to provide the simplified Formation materials and the verbal incantation to initiate the sequence.”

Big Old Black scratched his head. “But why choose the runt? Why not a strong one?”

Bibo looked equally puzzled, turning to Wu Yuan for the answer.

“Because dragon aura is an ethereal, conceptual energy. It cannot be touched or seen,” Wu Yuan lectured. “The Sinking Gold Carp is merely a spirit fish, not a true Demon Beast. It lacks Demon Power and spiritual senses. Therefore, the only way it can forcefully tear the aura from its attackers is through sheer, unadulterated willpower.”

Wu Yuan pointed at the churning water. “The stronger the will to survive, the stronger the parasitic pull. And there is no will stronger than a runt that has spent its entire life fighting for scraps. Look. The ascension has begun.”

In the freezing pond, the emaciated Sinking Gold Carp was a gruesome sight. Half of its physical body had already been torn away; its internal organs were completely hollowed out by the ravenous school. Yet, anchored by the ritual’s power, it clung to a violent, hateful sliver of life.

Its eyes bulged, burning with a ferocious, psychotic hatred as it watched itself being eaten alive. It wanted nothing more than to devour the world that had tortured it.

It unhinged its jaws and inhaled sharply.

A nearby carp suddenly froze mid-bite. A thick strand of pale yellow aura was violently ripped from its scales, sucked directly into the runt’s gaping maw.

The influx of draconic energy hit the runt like a super-stimulant. Its remaining, mangled fish head violently elongated, the bone structure snapping and reshaping into the distinct, angular silhouette of a dragon.

With a vicious lunge, the mutating runt clamped its jaws over the head of its paralyzed attacker. With a sickening crunch, it shattered the carp’s skull and violently sucked out its brain matter.

The surrounding school froze in absolute terror, shocked by the sudden, brutal retaliation of their prey. But the scent of evolving dragon blood was too intoxicating. Driven mad by instinct, they resumed their assault with even greater ferocity, tearing into the runt from all sides.

The runt didn’t flinch. It didn’t care about the pain. It threw its horrifying, elongating jaws open and began frantically inhaling the ambient dragon aura radiating from the swarming school, sucking it down like mist.

As the stolen aura flooded its system, the runt’s biology went into overdrive.

Its skull extended outward, its small, rounded mouth stretching into a massive, predatory snout. Rows of jagged, dagger-like teeth erupted from its gums, gleaming with cold, metallic light. Its spine violently snapped and extended, producing new vertebrae like bamboo stalks shooting up after the rain. A long, sinuous serpentine tail burst from its hindquarters, thrashing wildly in the blood-soaked water.

Completely ignoring the chunks of flesh being torn from its flanks, the ascending beast unleashed a massacre. It recklessly tore into the surrounding carps, its new teeth shearing through their scales like paper. The ordinary Sinking Gold Carps were no longer facing a runt; they were fighting an apex predator in the throes of a true, draconic metamorphosis.