Chapter 59: Dragon or Dog

"Tiankong, can we begin?"

Meng Fan stood on the second floor, looking through the glass at the central experimental platform where a chaotic entity, roughly three meters in length, was placed.

After a long silence, Meng Fan said, "Begin the induced evolution!"

"Understood!"

Before Meng Fan lay a massive display screen showing various data regarding the chaotic entity.

As purified gene vials were fed into the chaotic entity's mouth, Meng Fan, following his original plan, linked his innate breath (*Xiantian Yiqi*) through instruments to the experimental platform to induce, aggregate, and transform it.

The objective of this experiment was: to forge a dragon!

A dragon possesses nine likenesses: antlers like a deer, a head like a camel, eyes like a rabbit, a neck like a snake, a belly like a giant clam, scales like a fish, talons like an eagle, palms like a tiger, and ears like an ox.

It could be said that the dragon held a unique and profound significance for the land of the Divine State, which was why Meng Fan had chosen the dragon as his second mythical beast creation.

The dragon was inherently a creature favored by the spiritual essence of heaven and earth, gathering the utmost refined breath of all living things. Therefore, the dragon created by Meng Fan naturally had to incorporate the finest traits of living organisms.

For the scales resembling a fish, Meng Fan selected the scales of a arapaima, which possessed a natural metallic sheen; for the talons resembling an eagle, he chose the claws of a harpy eagle, which were exceptionally sharp—even sharper than those of lions and tigers, capable of easily piercing ordinary iron plates.

For the other parts, Meng Fan also selected the most majestic attributes available.

In addition, Meng Fan transplanted genes related to the electric eel. After all, how could a dragon not be able to summon thunder and command lightning?

Watching the chaotic entity react continuously under the influence of the gene vials and guided by Meng Fan's beast-aggregating techniques, its body began to undergo constant transformations.

However, this process was uncontrollable and required Meng Fan to conduct continuous experiments, constantly calibrating with Er-zhuang and the supercomputer to find the optimal ratio.

"Upregulate piscivorous scale genes by 3.14 percent, downregulate serpentine neck genes by 9.83 percent..."

Meng Fan meticulously carried out the operations. While observing the screen data, he used his innate breath to slice, aggregate, and regulate the genes within the chaotic entity's body.

Reconciling the genetic data of ten different creatures simultaneously was a monumental challenge for Meng Fan; the Splitting Flower Mink had merely been an aggregation of four creatures.

To make matters worse, this time he was conducting "secondary processing" on an already near-perfect biological aggregate.

Gradually, the chaotic entity's body began to elongate, losing its fatness and becoming agile and vibrant. A metallic, pitch-black scale armor gradually grew across its surface.

Immediately afterward, hard, sturdy claws sprouted from the chaotic entity's limbs, scratching deep gouges into the surface of the experimental platform.

The face, which previously bore no facial features other than a mouth, gradually sprouted dragon horns, dragon eyes, dragon whiskers, and dragon ears, increasingly transforming into the image of a dragon.

It was much like a lump of clay being molded by master artisans, turning the rotten into the miraculous.

Yet, this "dragon," much like the original chaos, still emitted soft, squeaking sounds.

Meng Fan's brow twitched slightly. He watched as the laryngeal cartilage of the dragon shifted and its structure changed. Then, a dragon roar resembling a thunderclap burst forth directly.

"Roar—!"

The dragon created by Meng Fan was a Azure Dragon. Its dragon horns stood tall and proud, its whiskers drifted like sinews, its dragon eyes gleamed with spirit, its body was covered in ink-like, iron-hued scales, and its fangs were ferocious.

Across its draconic body, faint golden divine patterns resembling archaic seal script were outlined, rendering it sacred and inviolable, exuding an air of majesty and dominance.

The three-meter-long Azure Dragon stepped down from the experimental platform. Because it was unaccustomed to its newly born body, it crawled along the ground just like the original chaos.

A dragon that should have looked deeply impressive had its image completely ruined by this clumsy display.

It looked like a dragon suffering from rickets, entirely devoid of any due majestic posture. It was perhaps the most unsightly dragon seen since ancient times.

Meng Fan walked into the experimental arena and looked at this disappointing dragon. He directly employed the techniques of a beastmaster to communicate with it, then commanded it to move.

"Take a couple of steps?"

The dragon struggled to prop its body up with its claws, then cautiously lifted a paw, took a step forward, lifted its left paw, lifted its right paw...

Slowly...

Uh, everyone, have you ever seen a dragon with a pacing gait—moving the limbs on the same side together?

Meng Fan had one right in front of him, the kind that left one utterly helpless. Even when Meng Fan forced it to walk correctly, the motion still looked extremely bizarre.

Meng Fan simply summarized it as: a four-legged snake scrambling about!

Azure Dragon: Who hasn't just been born as a baby? I simply cannot control my own paws.

Other people's dragons were actual dragons, but the creature Meng Fan created was doing a disservice even to be called a four-legged lizard. It felt as though the four dragon claws didn't belong on its body at all.

That clumsy appearance reduced the other researchers to laughter.

Meng Fan had initially thought the experiment had failed due to a lack of harmony between body and soul. However, after a careful inspection, he found that was not the case at all; he would simply have to wait for it to gradually grow accustomed to its own body over time.

Finally, Gao Dazhuang and Chen Duo walked in together, looking at the tangled, dragon-shaped biological knot.冯宝宝 even poked it with a branch.

"So, you're saying this is Experimental Subject Number Two?" Gao Dazhuang asked curiously.

The truth was, this indescribable, darkly twisted, crawling dragon-shaped creature had no comparison whatsoever with the massive chaos!

It would even startle itself by accidentally discharging a spark of lightning—truly frightening itself with its own power.

Though Meng Fan was loath to admit it, he cupped his face with a darkened expression and said, "Indeed, this is Experimental Subject Number Two, the Azure Dragon!"

Had he known, he would have tuned its spiritual intelligence a bit higher; otherwise, it wouldn't have ended up looking this foolish.

Of course, this three-meter-long Azure Dragon was not its true form either. Meng Fan called everyone out to the martial arts arena to truly "liberate" the Azure Dragon's body.

A length of one hundred meters, fierce and domineering—it had to be said that the Azure Dragon's appearance after utilizing the "As You Will" shrinking and growth divine power was still quite impressive, carrying a rather deceptive aura of majesty.

Naturally, that was only if one ignored the way it was acting like a lapdog trying to curry favor with Meng Fan.

Feng Baobao even took a large marrow bone to tease it before tossing it out: "Go, fetch it back."

"Awooo—!"

As a result, after being played with by Feng Baobao for a few days, it actually learned to crawl at flying speeds once it grew familiar with its four paws. What on earth was the right way to tame a dragon anyway?

However, Meng Fan was actually pondering a certain question.

A dragon can grow large or small, can ascend or conceal itself; when large, it stirs up clouds and exhales mist; when small, it hides its form within a mustard seed; when ascending, it soars between the universe; when concealing, it plunges beneath the surging waves.

Perhaps a creature like a dragon was never meant for running on the ground in the first place—they were meant to drift through the skies. Walking on the ground naturally made them look like crawling four-legged snakes!

In Meng Fan's original plan, he had indeed intended to endow the dragon with the ability to rise into the rosy clouds, ascend to the heavens, and ride the mists.

Moreover, Meng Fan already had a clear train of thought.

As a descendant of the Divine State, who could possibly refuse the prospect of having a dragon as a mount?