“Gather the lightning in your eyes, then release all of it up close. If you destroy the dragon’s armor, it will deal a grave wound to its soul.”

  The Asura froze for an instant at the unexpected message, and the dragon immediately seized the opportunity, launching a mighty axe kick from above. Cade’s body hurtled toward the ground with a deafening boom, leaving a glowing trail like a crimson comet.

  He slammed into the barren earth, triggering a minor earthquake that caved in a large patch of ground around his point of impact. Loose stones and clumps of upturned soil shot over two hundred feet into the air. Cade spat out several mouthfuls of blood, his teeth creaking under the strain of barely restrained fury, yet he forced himself to hold back, channeling ignited blood qi to heal his internal injuries.

  Among the disciples, cultivators began to take sides.

  “The Asura is losing. It’s just a matter of time now,” a Sword Dao core disciple remarked with satisfaction. He was the one who had gazed into the lightning eyes and suffered for it. Aria, who stood next to him, lightly shook her head in disagreement, her black eyes betraying no emotion.

  “I think it’s too early to decide the winner. They’ve been pretty evenly matched so far,” she commented.

  “I can’t believe we get to experience this fight! Two ancient monsters are going at each other’s throats right in front of our eyes,” one of the Shadow Dao Palace men said, rubbing his hands with excitement.

  While the disciples were discussing the clash, the cogs in Cade’s mind were turning at full speed.

  Gather the golden lightning…?

  He hadn’t considered this before, unaware such a thing was even possible. He swiftly began to examine how best to put Night’s suggestion into action. Shooting upward from within the massive crater, he once again leveled with his soul-armored opponent, whose glowing eyes maliciously stared from within its draconic helmet.

  The golden lightning’s spirit had joined with Cade’s soul, yet it was only a preliminary union, not a full integration. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get it to channel any of the lightning into his eyes.

  “Senior, I’m unable to command the lightning within my soul. How else could I do this?” Cade’s mind avatar responded, a shadow of frustration darkening his tone. He really didn’t want to take out Legion—doing so would burn every bridge he had worked hard to build. And if it failed to pierce the dragon’s soulforged armor, it would be an utter waste.

  “Switch to your mindscape, and place the avatar for the eyes inside the avatar of golden lightning, then open up your soul. It won’t speed up their refinement, but it will allow the eyes to siphon some golden lightning directly from your soul. Don’t overdraw on it, or you will hurt yourself,” Night explained, her soft, steady voice serving to calm him down. Cade’s irritation had already substantially fueled the river of rage building up inside his heart.

  He did exactly as she instructed while exchanging more meaningless blows with the dragon, who once again began taunting him, clearly assured of its victory.

  “Remember, you need to get close. Right now, you have no control over the lightning; it will simply erupt in a frontal cone. You can’t be further than six feet from the dragon. Try coming closer for the best effect,” Night reminded him.

  Oh, I’ll get close. I’ll get really fucking close, Cade snarled in his mind.

  “Thank you, Senior Night. I’ll do exactly as you say.”

  He closed his eyes, his spirit lifting as he sensed them drink in the golden lightning as if it were the light of creation itself.

  Shameless, cheating bastard. Using soul armor at such a low cultivation rank? You just wait. What is a dragon anyway? A glorified serpent.

  “Boy, why not let it end? Just politely become my dinner. You know you can’t win.” Cade could barely endure the silver dragon’s hoarse laughter, but he forced himself to ignore it.

  He felt the level of golden lightning in his soul growing dangerously low and closed off the connection at the last moment. His eyes were now brimming with energy, prickling beneath his closed eyelids.

  “You think so? I was taking it easy on you so far. You know what—I’ve decided. I’ll defeat you with my eyes closed!” Cade released a loud chortle, mirroring the dragon’s posturing.

  “You! Hmph. Not only could I kill you with my eyes closed, but I will only need one arm to do it!” the dragon boasted. In every bestiary, it was said that transformed beasts were extremely proud, while their intelligence wasn’t necessarily the highest—at least not at low cultivation ranks.

  The silver-scaled beast closed its eyes without concern, fully convinced of its invincibility. Cade allowed it to land a few clean blows, most of which did genuinely hurt. Its strength was undeniable. It seemed the creature had some way of tracking him despite its lack of sight—whether through scent or body heat, he wasn’t sure. When the dragon’s blows landed on his hydra scales, it was as if two mountains clashed, and even the cultivators several miles away could hear the impacts.

  “I feel like these Asura demons are overrated. I bet a few of us could easily take it down if we worked together,” the Sword Dao core disciple grinned, and several other disciples nodded, eyes gleaming with greed. After all, who knew what secrets an Asura body contained?

  Tarron, who was feeling a little better, sighed, wearily shaking his head. He was alive thanks to the demon’s intervention. While he didn’t believe the dark-scaled monster valued their lives, it was an undeniable fact that he wouldn’t have been here if not for the Asura allowing them to leave.

  “When I send you back into the wheel of reincarnation, let your ancestors know that Thror Silver Fang brought you to your knees!” The dragon roared, growing excited. It sensed the victory was within its grasp. The beast disregarded all defense, throwing a powerful uppercut at its opponent, no longer concerned with leaving an opening.

  However, instead of blocking the blow or using the opportunity to strike back, the Asura took it head-on. Letting out a pained huff after having nearly all the air forced from his lungs, Cade used their close range to bind the dragon’s upper limbs with his own, wrapping his arms around its chest in a crushing bear hug.

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  "Fool! What do you think—” Thror didn’t get to finish, as the Asura opened its eyes.

  Golden lightning arcs engulfed the dragon’s upper body, consuming his soulforged armor like a tide of starving snakes. Wherever the armor disappeared, the lightning arced forward, bypassing the dragon’s scales to greedily devour the blood qi within its body, utterly disrespectful of its physical defenses. In the areas the golden lightning scoured, the silver scales dimmed and fell away, revealing necrotic flesh—a result of death laws taking hold due to rapid blood qi depletion.

  The golden lightning takes life by destroying blood qi and soul qi...? What a terrifying power!

  “Bastard, let go!” the dragon roared in tremendous pain, attempting to pull away, but its arms were caught in the Asura’s unrelenting hold. Its physical power was roughly equal to its opponent’s, and freeing itself was no easy task, especially while its soul was being refined out of existence.

  Cade ignited all of his blood qi, further reinforcing his strength to ensure the dragon had no chance of escaping. The moment the golden lightning devoured the beast’s draconic helmet, Cade pulled his head back, tensing his overdeveloped neck muscles, and delivered a wall-crushing headbutt to the dragon’s nose bridge.

  Feral Path: Ghost Touch!

  A spinning formation circle blazed beneath the Asura’s forehead before it struck right below the dragon’s crystalline horns. The resulting crushing thud was so wince-inducing that the disciples watching from afar involuntarily grimaced, snapping their heads away.

  The dragon felt a jolt lance through its brain straight to its energy core, and all of its muscles seized before involuntarily relaxing—a sign the disabling diagram had taken full effect. Cade knew this infirm state wouldn’t last long and went to work without delay.

  Laughing like a mad demon, the Asura repeatedly smashed his reinforced, scaled forehead into the dragon’s skull, every blow producing a brutal rumble audible from miles away. Strike after strike—each underscored by a minor shockwave—the dragon’s face gradually turned into a meaty pulp, bits of broken bone and brain matter scattering in all directions.

  “What the…?” the Sword Dao core disciple gasped, blinking several times, unsure if what he was seeing in the glowing orb was real.

  “Did the Asura… headbutt a true dragon to death?” Aria’s whisper cut cleanly through the momentary stillness.

  Everyone remained silent, watching the scene with their mouths half open. Those disciples who had considered going against the Asura began to swallow nervously, retreating one after another. The more shattering blows landed on the dragon’s disfigured head, the quicker they ran. Soon, only a few people remained, as everyone else decided it was in their best interest to get the hell away from that place.

  Cade stood in the air, breathing deeply through gritted teeth, his face frozen in a maniacal grin, golden lightning crackling in his eyes in exhilaration. His dense mane of dark hair was soaked in blood, his scaled face resembling a mask of carnage. He still held the dragon in his wrap-around grip, floating in the air together like two lovers unwilling to separate. The silver-scaled body was now completely limp, and despite its partially shattered skull, the flame of life still flickered inside the beast—though only barely.

  Then the Asura slowly turned his head in the direction of the onlookers. All the disciples immediately took a step back from the orb, realizing those eyes overflowing with crackling golden lightning were staring right at them, like an ancient god of thunder ready to deliver judgment. They saw the monster release one arm, holding the dragon’s body in the other. Then it slowly wagged its scaled finger.

  At that moment, everyone who was still watching—whether in Skeletal Reinforcement or True Core—glanced at each other, a glint of terror in their eyes.

  “Run!” they all yelled in unison, scrambling away in a bout of primal panic. Aria instantly grabbed Tarron’s forearm and shot away, burning through her reservoir as she tore through the air at full speed.

  Cade watched the disciples flee as if chased by an army of demons, impishly chuckling to himself. He returned his attention to the dragon, which had in the meantime given its final breath, and reached into its mashed-up brain with visible distaste, retrieving its glowing energy core. He smiled bitterly upon realizing it was more than half full.

  Bastard had the energy reserves of a whole squad of True Core cultivators.

  He then collected what he assumed was the dragon’s storage pendant—a small silver fang on a chain—and gently removed a small, glimmering scale from its neck.

  This should be the reverse scale! I can feel a couple of drops of potent blood within.

  He sent the dragon’s body into his red band for blood essence extraction. He didn’t dare do the same with the scale; it was safer to retrieve the blood manually. Despite the dragon’s cultivation being only at the second tier, the potency of its blood was superb. The beast’s reverse scale should be a perfect match for his dual-blooded War Form.

  If I could take some of those spatial laws for myself… Just thinking about the possibility made him excited.

  “Congratulations on your victory,” Night’s pleasant voice brought him back to reality, and Cade immediately cupped his fists, bowing in the direction of the underground hall.

  “Senior Night, if not for you, this fight’s outcome would have been disastrous. I am once again in your debt,” Cade stated solemnly.

  “It is only natural that I help you. After all, you could be considered my Master’s personal disciple. In my eyes, this makes us family,” Night responded warmly.

  “Senior, I am honored!” Cade exclaimed, bowing at the waist.

  “I think it’s about time you stopped calling me Senior,” Night laughed quietly. “Since you’re my Master’s inheritor, that makes you my Junior Brother. Address me as Senior Sister instead. I will now return to the matters of the Divine Realm, as I want to bring its spirit back into full operation as quickly as possible. If you need anything, call into your mindscape; I will hear you.”

  “Thank you, Senior Sister!” Cade exclaimed, his voice touched by emotion. He remained in a bowed position, his tone weighted with immense gratitude toward the guardian spirit.

  “Who knows, maybe one day it will be you helping me?” she said playfully, before her presence disappeared.

  “I’ll do anything within my power to not disappoint Senior Sister Night,” Cade said, slowly straightening up. He unleashed his life sense, noting with satisfaction that there wasn’t a single living thing within fifteen miles.

  Still, there was no reason to take unnecessary risks. He flew down to the ground, flashing into a random ruined palace where he cleaned himself with a water crystal and linen towels.

  After sitting down on a piece of a destroyed wall, the Asura looked closely at his cauterized stump. He had no idea how long it would take to regenerate his leg, but he couldn’t show himself among the disciples without fully recovering. Pulling out a jug of Rank 3 blood essence, Cade drank greedily, refilling his voracious heart. He then pushed a large amount of ignited qi into his leg, revolving it in accordance with the main Flesh Fortification diagram.

  Thin tendrils of pink muscle erupted from the stump, and a white growth pierced through the middle of the charred flesh. The thin strands wriggled, wrapping around each other like living beings, forming individual muscles and attaching themselves to his rapidly growing femur. After observing the fascinating process for some time, he decided to pull out the dragon’s storage necklace, curious about its contents.

  It was a beautiful little thing, exquisitely crafted. For some reason, Cade wasn’t able to open it, no matter how he tried. Frowning, he checked for any residual spiritual marks, but found none—everything seemed intact. Not sure why this was happening, he decided to focus on recovering for now, not wanting to break the artifact by injecting it with too much of his powerful blood qi.

  Several hours later, he tested his new leg with a gaze full of wonder. He had fully regenerated a lost limb. This was no small feat. Qi cultivators and body refiners would require expensive pills and months of recovery time—at least those at a similar level of cultivation.

  The Asura have the best bodies, period! Hydra blood has once again proven its worth. To think that Treasure Emporium valued it at a meager six million crystals.

  With deep satisfaction, Cade shapeshifted back into his human form. Afterward, he wrapped himself in his black Sword Dao robe, concealing Blood Wings underneath.

  Finally, he securely tied a piece of tribulation cloth around his eyes, before launching in the direction of the Beast Battlefield.