The Ancestral Dragon Pool, as the Golden Dragon Emperor mentioned, was originally meant for dragons to cleanse their blood and grow.
This process was not just a matter of the body, but also the spirit.
The "blood cleansing" process is the last that takes place before one exits the pool. Before one can gain the opportunity to cleanse their blood, they first needed to obtain the approval of the ancestors.
This was naturally done through a series of tests taken once one dove to the limit of their endurance, offered by the remnant souls slumbering in the specified area.
After obtaining the approval of an ancestral dragon, the young dragon would be granted a portion of the ancestor's bloodline memories and power, which would help them define their future growth path. The immense combined benefits of these many processes would gradually show themselves as the genius grew, manifesting as heaven-defying talent and potential.
Knowing this, one might question: just how could the Golden Dragon Clan maintain the Ancestral Dragon Pool?
Regardless of the clan's power, it couldn't change reality. Every ancestral soul wisp could at most choose a single genius before losing its power, so how could the Ancestral Dragon Pool support the clan for generations on end?
It wasn't due to an excessive number of deceased predecessors, that much was for sure.
Actually, the Ancestral Dragon Pool wasn't a treasure of the Golden Dragon Clan at all.
The truth was far, far more mystical.
The true Ancestral Dragon Pool resided in the Heavenly World, far removed from Grand Heavens Boundary.
However, the Ancestral Dragon Pool was one of the Dragon species' greatest treasures. It was able to project itself anywhere it could find dragons and present them with a minimized version of itself, empowering and uniting the entire Dragon species under a single umbrella.
No matter how terrible feuds between Dragon Clans became, they would never openly attempt to exterminate each other.
At least, as long as there weren't extraneous circumstances such as a fate of enslavement.
Nevertheless, the secret to why the Ancestral Dragon Pool could support the entirety of the Dragon species lay in the nature of Dragons themselves.
It wasn't known to many, but the soul of every dragon that reached the nine revolutions of extreme peak 4th class or higher would be lain to rest within the pool.
It wasn't just one clan or even one universe, but every dragon in existence that was subject to this.
Therefore, how could the Ancestral Dragon Pool ever run out of energy?
Its closed positive feedback loop was precisely what allowed dragons to become such fearsome existences with both knowledge and power in spades.
Most young dragons didn't make it very deep in the pool, but since the pool tested potential rather than strength, it wasn't too rare for those ancestral souls in the 5000-kilometer depths to take interest in those who don't even make it halfway to their perch.
However, the 5000 kilometers of area below that point marked an absolute turning point.
Every dragon soul existing in this area was extremely powerful, each a renowned expert of their era,
It was rare for geniuses to reach these depths, and even rarer for these dragons to take interest.
Unfortunately, today wasn't a day where they could maintain their nonchalance.
ROAR!
A terrifyin— no, a terrified roar rang out.
A dark red dragon soul rushed through the depths with all its power, swerving through the deathly phenomena around it with precision and using everything it possibly could to block the path behind it and delay its pursuer.
Yet, nothing it did worked.
Voom!
A pulse of pitch-black mana spread through the water and instantly dispersed everything it contacted. Rocks and obstructions were directly dissolved into nothingness, while every dragon soul and mana phenomenon was devoured and recycled for a good cause.
The dragon soul panicked. It tried to escape with all its power, but there was quite literally nothing it could do.
Shiver!
Its body suddenly shook. An eerie sensation crawled up its proverbial back.
The dragon soul froze.
Its only option was to die.
It didn't realize this until the very last moment.
Whoosh!
The dragon soul was swallowed up by a beastly maw of mana. Its memories rushed into Damien's head while its power incorporated with his own, strengthening both his mana and his bloodlines.
'Good! The more of these souls I absorb, the easier it is to exist in this water!'
While Damien didn't know it, one was originally only supposed to absorb a single soul, and consensually at that.
But why did he need to care? In the first place, this trial was rigged against him.
Since that mysterious dragon shadow wanted him to go all out, he was going to give it a great show.
'After all, a dragon shadow that can directly suppress the Ancestral Dragon Pool is definitely not a simple character.
And even if it was, Damien would just devour it for fooling him.
His plan was perfect.
He was currently 8000 kilometers deep in the Ancestral Dragon Pool, and this red dragon soul was the 36th he'd absorbed.
He slowed down his pace and set up a barrier so he could peacefully absorb the dragon soul's memories.
Well, it wasn't like any dragon soul would take initiative to approach him after his rampage, but that was beside the point.
'As I thought, the position of these dragon souls isn't determined by strength, but by Legend.' Damien confirmed after watching through the memories.
'Of the dragons I've devoured so far, only 5 or 6 of them were at the Demigod level when they were alive, but their souls were so deteriorated that they couldn't maintain the ability to speak coherently. The rest are all at varying revolutions of the extreme peak, but what all of them have in common is…'
The 6th soul Damien absorbed was a great general who led countless armies to sweep the Nox 10,000 years ago. His efforts allowed the universe several years of respite, which then allowed the universe's forces to make an informed counterattack that almost drove the Nox out of the universe.
The 13th soul was a reaper who served under a Death Dragon Godbeast. He was in charge of managing hundreds of millions of souls that were reaped every day to aid the Demigod in his training. However, appalled by the inhumanity, he rebelled against the Demigod with the help of several allies he met in his travels and overthrew him, bringing safety to an untold number of people in his era.
The 36th soul, the red dragon soul, belonged to a youth no older than 20 years. His life was short, but he was a heaven-defying genius who was able to reach the extreme peak in that tiny amount of time. And while he didn't live long enough to have a long string of grand accomplishments, he held the monumental achievement of exploding his blood vitality to seal an Abyssal Corridor that opened in his sector, both preventing invasion and saving the entire sector from imminent doom.
'…they were all the "protagonists" of their generations.'
The feats that supported their Legends were varied, but they were all fantastical stories of people who accomplished things many never would, even after ascending to Divinity.
In fact, Divinities were even less likely to build pronounced Legends, because they were more cautious than anyone.
'It's interesting. I should experiment more.'
Damien grinned to himself as he clenched his fist and panned his gaze across the surroundings like a predator searching for prey.
It truly was interesting.
These Legends were so great that they couldn't be wholly contained. A portion of their power leaked into Damien's Legend when he absorbed them, empowering him and adding their stories to his own.
It was a strange feeling that he couldn't quite pinpoint, and he wanted to know more about it.
'As expected, this Ancestral Dragon Pool really is exciting.'
