The Legendary F Rank

As the wall crumbled into pieces the red glow and heat radiating from the crack burst in into the tunnel and with its initial blast before slowly dying down as the hot air escaped put in the direction they had just come from. 

"Woah… We found it." Li Jun announced to both Haru and Lao.

Haru took a few steps forward before stopping at Li Jun's side to see the sight before them. Suspended in the air there was a solid layer of rock with stalactites like spikes pointing down from it. But as he looked closer he quickly noticed that it wasn't just rock. 

There was the imprint of large scales and then it went all the way up to the top of the volcano in a long line like the body of a dragon. That was when he noticed that they were, in fact, looking at the body of the dragon that had been encased in molten rock before it cooled down, leaving behind a statue similar to the turtle that was outside. 

"Li Jun free it for me. I want to have a closer look." Lao announced to Li Jun who followed the order without a second thought. Li Jun raised his hand out toward the dragon and suddenly the whole mountain began to shake as crumbs of rocks rained down upon them. With his other arm, he raised it above his head creating a barrier of golden light as a barrier formed around them to stop the rocks from touching them.

The rocks dropped to the ground as they slowly got larger and larger but as they did the huge slab of rock suspended from the ceiling began to move before floating in the sky like the stone connecting it to the walls vanished. 

The lava pool in the centre of the cave began to bubble as the rock feel down into it. But there was so much of it that it covered the lava pool completely in stone creating a solid ground that could be stood on. 

Li Jun began to lower his hand, bringing the dragon body lower and lower before shaking his hand a little causing the stone that surrounded it to all break free. There was nothing left and the mix of green and blue scales became visible. 

The dragon had been dead for thousands of years yet it was perfectly preserved. There wasn't even a sign of it beginning to rot. The stone obviously helped with that but Haru had the feeling that even without the stone it wouldn't have rotted.

The amount of Qi he could feel coming from the dragon's body was unlike anything he had ever felt in his life. Just standing near it was enough for the amount of Qi in his body to begin to rise. He felt himself growing stronger and stronger as it replenished all of the Qi that he had used to break through the wall. 

But even after he had gotten all of his Qi back it continued to rise. There was nothing that he could do to stop it. His flooded soul ocean was becoming bigger and bigger and expanding at an alarming rate. 

"What's happening to me?" Haru asked as blue light began to glow from the veins within his arms. He rubbed the skin on his arms with confusion. 

"That's…" Li Jun turned to see what was happening to Haru's body with a worried expression since he recognised what it meant. 

"Unification… How is this possible?" Li Jun asked as the attention shifted from the dragon to Haru.

"Unification!? A human has managed unification!?" Lao began to laugh. 

"You have the ancestral dragon to thank for this. His Qi is so powerful that it has managed to unify Haru's dantian. Lao said in between laughs.

"Unification? What does that mean?" Haru asked. He was still worried about what was happening to him but he didn't even know if he should be. 

"It is something that usually happens to beast races. Their mind, body and soul becomes one. All three of them will get stronger even if you only train one of them.

So you can train your cultivation and your body will become tougher and your soul will become more durable. I don't know how it happened though.

I wonder… I don't think anyone has hit the limit to the flooded soul ocean since the amount of Qi you would have to absorb would be insane. But not only did you absorb the Qi from a high-level expert from the upper realm but also the Qi from an ancestral dragon… 

It's not a surprise to think that some unnatural things would happen. But you shouldn't worry this is a good thing. You should try to absorb as much Qi as you can for now." Li Jun explained to Haru to put his mind at ease and stop him from worrying.

"Absorb the Qi from the dragon? But doesn't Lao need It?" Haru asked. He didn't know anything about taking over a body but he assumed it would take a lot of power to do it.

"I have my own Qi, This dragon was strong but he died too young. If he had lived even half as long as me then his body would have covered your world in Qi, Everyone would be born as a cultivator. So take as much as you want." Lao announced, Giving Haru permission to take the rest of the Qi from the dragon's body. 

He sat down on the ground as fast as he could and began to cultivate before he had time to change his mind about giving him all of the Qi. Leaving Lao and Li Jun alone to inspect the body.

"What do you think about it?" Li Jun asked Lao. To him, the body seemed fine but Lao was the expert on dragons and only he knew what he was looking for in a body for himself.

"It looks good. The bones have held up nicely and the skin is tough. There is only one problem with it." Lao said while looking at the dragon corpse.

"A problem? What is it?" Li Jun asked. He couldn't see any physical damage with it at all. To him, it looked the same as it did when alive even after thousands of years of being dead.

"Yeah, A big problem. Not with the body. With the heart. If I put my soul into that body the heart would constantly be in pain and it would limit my growth. 

His pain felt from seeing his son sacrifice himself for him is engraved on his heart. It's a waste. We came here for nothing. But at least Haru can get something out of it." Lao said with disappointment as he looked at the dragon when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

"Really? I thought this time you might actually have a chance of living again. I'm sorry it didn't work out. It always turns out to be something like this whenever we get close to finding you one." Li Jun said also disappointed that he couldn't be of any more help.

"Wait… What is that? Li Jun moved his wing out of the way." Lao demanded as he spotted something small and pale sticking out from underneath the dragon's wing.

"The wing? What is it?" Li Jun asked before doing what was asked of him and moving the wing to reveal the body of a human wrapped within the wing.

The clothes had all been vaporised so the body was completely naked as it rolled out onto the floor. He had long blue hair down to the bottom of his back and pale white skin. 

"This is it!?" Lao shouted out as he saw the human body lay on the ground. 

"The son of a dragon. A half-dragon! He ended up dying but his heart was clear of all regrets. It's perfect and I could live in secrecy so I wouldn't have to hide in the ring any longer. 

It feels kind of cramped in here, after staying inside for so long." Lao laughed, It felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest as he knew that he could be free once again.

"The cultivation is low… But it's good. You will be able to live alongside Haru without causing trouble. None of the humans here are strong enough to know that you are a dragon. But are you really willing to live in the body of a half-dragon?" Li Jun asked. 

"You know me. I am past the point of being proud. The dragon race is all but dead. What is the point in looking down on humans when they have outlived our species? You guys are strong and just maybe with this body I will eventually become even stronger." Lao said before the green orb floated over to Haru.

"Hey wake up." Lao's voice boomed around the inside of Haru's head causing him to open his eyes. 

"What is it?" He asked as he opened his eyes to see both Lao and Li Jun looking down upon him. 

"I need your help," Lao said. Haru looked up confused but didn't question it. He got to his feet.

"What is it?" He asked. He was willing to do whatever he would ask.

"I want you to put the dragon emperor's ring on that human body over there. I will take care of the rest." Lao said with an excited tone to his voice. 

Ever since Haru had met Lao he had never heard him speak this way so he knew the importance of what he was asking and then did exactly as he said.