Feicui Long is going to use a technique called the Body Integration Technique. This technique is primarily designed to allow a person to integrate, fuse, or replace their own body parts with those of another being.
Although this may seem like a rare technique that no one uses, and it is partially true, especially since not many cultivators use it, it is not for the reasons many people think.
There are so many reasons, including beliefs and moral implications, but the three main ones are as follows. The first is that this process is painful, and even if you don't have to remove the original ones before using the technique, the process is still painful, which, depending on the part, can range from mild discomfort to EXTREME PAIN.
The second is simple. The incompatibility between the body part and the cultivator's body may cause it to fail, harm the cultivator, or prevent it from reaching its full potential.
The third and most important reason is the risk of failure. Although failure does not always have consequences, when it does, they can be severe. The likelihood of failure increases depending on the body part involved. Some, like the heart or brain, have a higher probability of failure, making the risks more significant. The consequences also vary: the brain or heart can suffer severe damage, leading to brain damage or even death, while failure in other parts may cause only mild pain.
This last reason is the most crucial, because if one attempts the procedure again, they must endure the same pain once more while also risking the same severe consequences.
This is why many people avoid it. However, others are willing to take the risk, as some body parts are linked to certain skills, others possess their own skills, and some have special capabilities.
For example, the Third Eye technique not only allows one to obtain a newly created eye specifically for the skill, which is extremely painful, but also enables the use of another being's eye as a replacement. Many opt for this second option, as the Third Eye retains the abilities of the original eye, if it had any, and even enhances them.
Even other races use it, not just mortals as one might assume.
That is why he wants to use this technique, but he also has no chance of failing for one important reason. Others have to integrate highly incompatible body parts from different races or individuals, but he is using HIS OWN BODY PARTS. Even if they come from another race, his connection to them does not disappear, especially since he possesses his dragon core, dragon origin, and dragon soul.
Now, it is not like all of his collected parts have skills or special capabilities, only four do. the gems which are connected to his species capabilities to using space, time and dragon powers, as well as the three energies associated with them.
His eyes can see, things ranging from all dimensions and all places, to the past, present and future, also can see the power flow and energy flow, especially the related to the dragons, his heart which has skills from his species and his brain, this one has skills from his species but also from his too high cultivation realm.
The other parts do not have unique skills, but they are valuable materials for crafting. The exception is his backbone, which he wants to integrate, not only to improve his reflexes but also to gain better control over his energy and energy flow. More importantly, since the backbone contains bone marrow, it means he can recover his dragon blood, allowing him to transform back into a dragon.
Also, he does not want to integrate the gems because once he recovers his dragon form, they will grow again with it.
With that in mind, he took a deep breath and continued the process. He started with the least painful part, his heart. He placed one of his hands on his thigh while sitting cross-legged. With his other hand, he took the large heart, now reduced to a normal size, and brought it close to his chest. Then, with the same hand, he begin making signs quickly.
Then, a brilliant light started emanating from his chest, almost as if it were devouring the heart. Next, he pushed it into the light, causing a sharp pain that made him squeeze his thigh. After a few seconds, the light disappeared along with the heart.
He takes a deep breath; he is not stopping here. He grabs his eyes and stares at them, but no vision comes to him, not even a single image. Sighing, he takes them and repeats the process, making him arch his back from the pain.
After that, even though he is sweating pearls, he takes the backbone and carefully does the same. As the nerves and neurons reconnect to his backbone, an electrifying pain runs freely through his body.
Finally, while he is almost exhausted, he begins with the last part: the brain. While doing this, he takes extra care, slowly, even though he knows this prolongs his torture. However, he needs to do it with millimetric precision. When the integration starts, he can't help but let out a scream of pain. Next, he grits his teeth.
At a certain point, he starts losing consciousness from the immense pain, since he can sense every neuron in his body. Every touch is amplified by thousands... no, millions of times. Even the most delicate breeze causes him pain.
Thankfully, this only lasts a few minutes, but it makes him so tired that he can't avoid falling asleep beside Mariane.
...
A few hours have passed. He wakes up, remembers everything, quickly puts his shirt on, and carefully takes Mariane in his arms again, carrying her like a princess as he goes back the same way.
After this, he finally leaves the fortress and sees Isabella waiting for him at the established camp. She also sees him and quickly runs to hug him.
But she stops after seeing Mariane. At that moment, she fell silent. Feicui Long wants to explain this to her, but first, he needs to put Mariane in a safe place. So, he walks to the camp and places her on a spare bedroll.
He cannot see it, but Isabella has a sad and worried expression, almost as if she wants to cry. However, she holds back and now hugs him from behind.
Feicui Long turns around and returns her hug, but a loud sound catches their attention.
Then both get out of the tent and look at the Fortress. In the air, Carlotta is flying. She loudly declares in the Absolute Language: "My sovereign, my work here can finally end. I'm going to wait for your return in the empire, so quickly recover your strength to face what is coming next. This Carlotta is loyal to you, in this life or another. I wish luck to both of you."
In the next moment, the same space rift that Feicui Long saw that night appears. Carlotta flaps her large wings and enters the rift, but that's not all. Isabella and Feicui Long can see how the buried Fortress starts to emerge, and at the same time, the ground below it begins to recover its previous state...
Or so it seems, since Feicui Long knows what is happening. Although it may appear that way at first sight, if you look closely, there is no energy coming from the Fortress to restore the ground. Furthermore, the earth in the buried Fortress is not falling and filling the hole as it normally would.
But it is being restored in layers because time itself is restoring this zone. Feicui Long can see some trees returning to a previous state. Even the distracted Isabella is now noticing something strange.
This is the Time Rewind Formation of the Dragonic Fortress. Originally, he placed this formation to restore the damage to the Fortress, since the original function of this artifact is to defend the expansive universe borders.
Because a universe is in constant danger from extra-universal invaders. For example, some dangerous individuals who want to conquer it, exiled people from another universe, or criminals fleeing from their own universe.
But the most dangerous ones are those who live in the "void" between universes, or at least, that's what many people think. Since the space between universes isn't empty, it is there that one can find the Infinity Ocean. Although it is not filled with water, it is instead composed of pure, savage, and ruthless energy.
When a cultivator reaches the Astral King Realm, they can survive in space for one to three hours without air while enduring radiation. Upon reaching the Epic Realm, this time increases to three to five days. Once they reach the Spirit Realm, they can survive from one to three months. Of course, between these major increases, there are smaller increments in other realms.
What does this have to do with anything? A lot. Since they can survive even in the void of space, they can now endure the Infinity Ocean. And that is only considering mortals; for other races, it is easier. The problem is that the Infinity Ocean not only contains powerful and infinite energy, but it also has currents, storms, and other dangers, making survival extremely difficult. Although the Infinity Ocean contains some planets and even galaxies, this happens because sometimes a planet, a galaxy, or other celestial bodies get expelled through a rift from a universe, forced out by the universe's borders or due to other phenomena.
So, in other words, it is a hellish place to live. Even in the planets or galaxies that survive the punishment of the ocean of energy, many beings who endure that environment want to enter a universe. However, due to the harsh conditions in which they evolved, they are often highly hostile, disruptive, and dangerous. It is not uncommon for one or two universes to fall to these beings, whether due to misplaced trust or outright invasion.
However, it is not like Feicui Long does not accept people who genuinely want to live here. Whether they come from another universe or the Infinity Ocean, he accepts them, but he cannot tolerate invaders or disruptive ones.
This is why he made the Draconic Fortress, the Space Fortress, and the Time Fortress to keep them in check. However, even with those, he still has to fight some of them. So, he made these three artifacts as durable as possible. By the way, they are not the only artifact buildings he has created; he has made even bigger ones.
Although he has to admit, they are not really that great as artifacts since they are quite simple. This is because he concentrated all of his efforts on designing them for attack, defense, speed, and recovery.
By the way, each of the three fortresses specializes in one area. The Draconic Fortress focuses on attack, having the highest attack power, low defense, medium speed, and medium recovery. The Space Fortress prioritizes speed, with the highest speed, medium attack, medium defense, and low recovery. The Time Fortress excels in defense and recovery but has low speed and low attack.
That's why this formation is necessary, but he only designed it to affect the fortress and the people inside it...
Who can modify it? More importantly, how did it enter this world? Although, he thinks it is probably due to the connection between him and the fortress.
He and Isabella watch as the bastion rises into the air, revealing the true size of the artifact building. Isabella's mouth drops in shock. The bastion spans 21 square kilometers (8.108 square miles), with walls 21 meters (68.90 ft) high and 15 meters (49.21 ft) thick. It has towers reaching 35 meters (114.83 ft).
The doors are massive, standing 15 meters (49.21 ft) tall and 15 meters (49.21 ft) wide. The central building rises 55 meters tall and spans 45 meters wide. Beneath the fortress, a formation projects energy, illuminating the night across the entire area.
When the Draconic Fortress reaches the space rift, many chains emerge from within, wrapping around the fortress. Their mere presence radiates immense power, and they pull the fortress like a toy, submerging it into the space rift.
Feicui Long, witnessing all of this, frowns and shakes his head. He doesn't know where the chains come from, but it is very annoying to see someone else taking what belongs to him as if they had created it.
He sighs again and hugs Isabella from behind, saying to her, "My wife, thinking about this is a waste of time, so let's go to sleep."
Isabella, a bit surprised, happily follows him.