Luo Zhen sat in the subterranean silence, his focus narrowed to the flickering spark before him. It took him a grueling half-day of absolute mental exertion to strip away the primitive, stubborn consciousness of the Earth Vein Essence Fire. It was a silent siege, a battle of wills between a rising king and a primal force of nature. Finally, the resistance crumbled. The fire was his. With a measured breath, he drew the refined essence into his core, swallowing the heat whole.
To Luo Zhen, those hours felt like an eternity. To the outside world, however, such a feat was nothing short of miraculous. If word were to leak into the wider world of the Demon Kings, it would have sent shockwaves through the hierarchy. A Grade 1 Extraordinary Fire was a temperamental, lethal thing; most cultivators approached such a force with the trepidation of a man handling unstable explosives. Usually, a Demon King would spend years, perhaps even a decade, carefully siphoning and refining the fire thread by thread to avoid being incinerated from the inside out.
But Luo Zhen was not a typical cultivator. He hadn't just survived the conflagration; he had conquered it in a single afternoon.
This victory hadn't been won by the System alone—a rarity in his journey. Instead, the credit belonged to his Green Jade Spiritual Body. Its sheer defensive density and near-instantaneous regenerative properties acted as an internal shield, allowing him to endure the agonizing heat that would have reduced anyone else to a pile of charred bone. Without that physical resilience, even his Devouring function wouldn't have saved him. Had he swallowed the fire without the protection of his jade-like constitution, he would have been a dead man before the conversion process even began.
As the essence settled into his dantian, the cold, familiar voice of the System resonated in his mind:
"Detection complete. Host's Green-scaled Fire and the Earth Vein Essence Fire are both classified as Extraordinary. Synthesis is available. Do you wish to merge these two flames?"
"Do it," Luo Zhen commanded. He wasn't here for mediocrity; he was here for evolution.
"Synthesis in progress... Analysis complete. Integration successful."
"Congratulations. You have obtained the Yuan-Returning Red Fire (Grade 1 Extraordinary Fire)."
Luo Zhen felt the shift immediately. A new, deeper heat bloomed within him. He pulled up the display, his eyes scanning the details of his new acquisition.
Name: Yuan-Returning Red Fire
Grade: Grade 1 Extraordinary Fire
Passive Ability: Accelerates the recovery of the Host's Demon Power.
Status: Bound to Host Luo Zhen.
Description: A fusion of Green-scaled and Earth Vein essences. Beyond its terrifying, destructive capacity, it serves as a metabolic catalyst, allowing for the rapid restoration of internal energy reserves.
Luo Zhen allowed himself a grim smile. In the world of high-stakes cultivation combat, stamina was just as lethal as a blade. Every spell, every divine ability, and every magic treasure required a steady drain of Demon Power. In the vernacular of his past life, he had just acquired a permanent "Blue Buff." He was no longer just a glass cannon; he was a self-sustaining engine of war. He could now replenish his "mana" in the heat of battle, a tactical advantage that fundamentally shifted his combat ceiling.
With a sigh of satisfaction, he flicked his wrist. A dark, crimson flame surged from his palm, warping the air with its sheer intensity. It didn't just burn; it seemed to vibrate, causing the surrounding World Essence Qi to ripple like a disturbed pond. He spent a few moments shaping the fire—turning it into spears, shields, and various grotesque shapes—until the flame obeyed his every whim. Only then did he retract it into his body.
He checked his status one last time, looking at the numbers that defined his existence:
Host: Luo Zhen
Race: Flood Dragon (Grade 1 Saint Beast)
Species: Two-headed Green-scaled Flood Dragon
Bloodline: Saint Grade 1
Aura: Early-stage Demon King Realm
Treasures: Green Brilliance Blade (Peak-grade), Beast King Armor (High-grade)
Experience: 5,520,000 / 6,000,000
He was close. So incredibly close to the next breakthrough. But power was more than just numbers on a screen; it was influence. It was the ability to dictate the terms of his own life. To reach the next stage, he needed resources, and the best way to acquire resources in the Red Desert was to own the source.
It was time to claim Red Rock City.
Luo Zhen activated his Earth Tunneling skill, surging upward through the layers of rock and sand. When he broke the surface, he didn't stop. He ascended straight into the sky, his body expanding until he revealed his true, terrifying form: a two-hundred-meter-long, two-headed green flood dragon. He unleashed the full weight of his Demon King aura, a suffocating pressure that fell upon the city like a physical hammer.
"Citizens of Red Rock!" his voice thundered, echoing off the sandstone walls. "The brothers Bear Mountain and Bear River are dead. Their reign has ended by my hand. From this moment forward, I am the Lord of this city!"
He paused, his golden eyes scanning the streets below. "If anyone disagrees, step forward and challenge me. I will be waiting."
The silence that followed was absolute. The City Lord's Mansion and the nearly 100,000 demon beasts residing within the walls were frozen in a state of collective shock. For over a century, the Black Bear brothers had ruled with iron fists. To hear they had been extinguished so casually was a paradigm shift most couldn't process.
But they weren't stupid. They saw the massive dragon in the sky. They felt the overwhelming power of a Demon King. If the bears were still alive, they would have already emerged to tear this interloper apart. The fact that the sky remained occupied only by Luo Zhen spoke volumes.
Yet, the city didn't surrender immediately. It waited. In the world of demons, loyalty was a dangerous currency, and betrayal carried a high price. If they submitted to the dragon and the bears returned, they were dead. If they resisted the dragon and he stayed, they were also dead.
So, Red Rock City held its breath.
Luo Zhen, unfazed by the lack of an immediate response, descended to the highest point of the city and entered a meditative state. He spent the next fifty days in plain sight, alternating between his human form and his massive draconic body. He didn't force submission; he simply made his presence an undeniable fact of life.
By the fiftieth day, the tension finally snapped. The realization settled in: the Bear brothers were truly gone. Whether they were dead or had fled in terror mattered little—they weren't here to protect their hoard.
A massive procession began to form. Thousands of demon beasts, led by the city's minor factions and the mansion's original guards, marched toward Luo Zhen. They knelt in the dust, a sea of claws, fur, and scales, bowing before him.
"We pay our respects to the new City Lord!" they shouted, their voices a unified roar that signaled the start of a new era.
Luo Zhen opened his eyes. The city was his.
He moved into the City Lord's Mansion, a fortress of opulence and strategic defense. He was met there by a Sand Rat demon general, a Peak-stage Demon Core expert who had served as the bears' chief of staff. The Rat was a consummate opportunist, the kind of creature that could smell a change in the wind before the breeze even blew. He didn't skip a beat, immediately pivoting his loyalty to Luo Zhen and providing a comprehensive briefing on the city's logistics, the black market trade, and the accumulated wealth of his predecessors.
"One more thing, my Lord," the Sand Rat said, bowing low after an hour of administrative reporting. "According to the traditions of the Red Desert, a change in leadership must be announced to the neighboring cities. We are a significant hub; your name should be known."
"Spread the word," Luo Zhen replied, leaning back in his new throne. "Tell them Luo Zhen is the Master of Red Rock."
"And the City Ranking Tournament?" the Rat asked tentatively. "It is the primary way we negotiate territory and tax rights for the coming year. It begins in less than fifteen days."
Luo Zhen's eyes sharpened. "I'm aware. I'll be ready."
The tournament was the key. To dominate it, he needed to be more than just an "early-stage" King. He dismissed the Rat and ordered the mansion's entire reserve of high-grade medicinal herbs and Grade 5 spirit pills to be brought to him. He was a few hundred thousand experience points away from his next evolution, and he wasn't going to leave it to chance.
Locked in the inner sanctum of the mansion, Luo Zhen began his feast. He devoured rare Black Bone Flowers and potent spirit pills, each one dissolving into a surge of raw data and energy that the System hungrily processed.
"Experience gained... Experience gained... Threshold reached. Host, do you wish to initiate the breakthrough?"
"Begin," Luo Zhen whispered.
The atmosphere around the mansion changed instantly. The clear desert sky was swallowed by an unnatural darkness. Heavy, charcoal-colored clouds swirled into a vortex directly above the hall, crackling with arcs of violent blue electricity.
This was the Lightning Tribulation—the heavens' way of winnowing the weak from the strong.
CRACK!
A bolt of lightning, thick as a tree trunk, tore through the roof of the hall. The structure disintegrated instantly, leaving Luo Zhen exposed in the center of a scorched crater. The guards outside watched in horror as their new Lord was buried under a deluge of celestial fire.
Inside the storm, Luo Zhen didn't flinch. He channeled the full power of his Green Jade Spiritual Body, his skin taking on a translucent, emerald sheen. The lightning lashed against him, trying to tear his molecular structure apart, but his Beast King Armor flared to life, manifesting a golden cloak of energy that absorbed the worst of the impact.
After several grueling minutes, the thunder subsided. The smoke cleared to reveal Luo Zhen standing amidst the rubble. His clothes had been vaporized, but his body was flawless, glowing with a faint, holy radiance. He pulled a fresh set of black robes from his spatial ring and dressed with calm deliberation.
"Breakthrough successful. Congratulations, Host. You have attained the Mid-stage Demon King Realm."
Luo Zhen felt the surge of power—a doubling of his previous capacity. His aura expanded, a visible wave of dark energy that rolled out from the mansion and washed over the entire city, letting every inhabitant know that their Lord had just ascended to a new level of lethality.
He clenched his fist, feeling the raw, refined strength vibrating in his marrow. The sensation of growth was an addiction, a high that no treasure could match. He opened his panel, looking at the new reality of his power:
Realm: Mid-stage Demon King
Next Goal: Natal Magic Treasure Forge
He looked out over the Red Desert, toward the horizon where the other cities lay. The tournament was coming, and for the first time in his life, Luo Zhen didn't feel like a participant. He felt like a storm. And storms didn't compete; they reshaped the world.