Chapter 7: The Dragon's Fury and the Phoenix's Ascent
**Huo Wujiu** did not return to his workshop. He barely made it back to his apartment, the moment he crossed the threshold, his legs giving out beneath him. The rush of pure spirit energy absorbed from Gu Yue's elemental attack, combined with the physical trauma from testing the **Golden Dragon Fragment**, had pushed his body past its breaking point.
He stumbled to his cultivation bed, ignoring the pain. He knew the Silver Dragon King would already be analyzing his weakness, calculating her next move. He had to cross the final barrier *now*.
He focused entirely on the searing, pressurized spirit power coursing through his channels. The energy spike from the duel with Gu Yue had already forced him to the very edge of the bottleneck. With a final, agonizing push, Wujiu channeled the last reserves of his consciousness and willpower into the **Phoenix God Cultivation Manual**.
The breakthrough was a violent, incandescent explosion of heat. The ambient spirit power in his apartment was instantly vaporized, leaving a vacuum of pure energy. His core resonated, the sound like a star being born. The **Rank 20** barrier shattered, his spirit power stabilizing at a new, formidable level. His consciousness immediately pulled the high-quality, millennium-level fire attribute soul ring he had secured into his body.
The process of integration was swift and brutal. The dark-red spirit ring wrapped around his body, and the overwhelming heat threatened to incinerate his internal organs. Yet, the **Primordial Phoenix Divine Flame** was ready. It didn't fight the ring; it *purified* it. The fire attribute power of the millennium beast was instantly refined into a higher, purer form of flame energy.
When Wujiu finally opened his eyes, the first true **red-gold spirit ring** of the Primordial Phoenix rested around his body, radiating an aura that felt less like a spirit master and more like a contained volcano. The ring did not provide a new, named skill, but instead bestowed a fundamental ability: **Phoenix Divine Might (Minor)**, a passive augmentation to his fire's destructive, purification, and recovery powers. He was now a **Rank 20 Spirit Elder** with a millennium ring and the raw physical strength of a Spirit Ancestor. He had achieved the first major milestone.
***
Meanwhile, across campus in the quiet isolation of the female dormitories, **Gu Yue** was burning. Not with fire, but with a frigid, absolute fury. She was seated on her bed, her silver hair spilling over her shoulders, her hands clenched so tightly her knuckles were white. The room's temperature had dropped several degrees, a subtle manifestation of her inner turmoil.
*Huo Wujiu.*
The name was a bitter taste in her mouth. She had expected to sense the return of the Dragon God's aura—an ancient resonance she could guide and protect. Instead, she found him: the **Phoenix**. The power was identical to the legends—scorching, pure, and utterly **opposed** to her own.
What infuriated her most was not his power, but his *contempt*. He was a mortal boy, yet he wielded the Primordial Fire with a crude, arrogant mastery, treating her divine essence like a common enemy. And he had *stolen* her energy. When her Ice Dragons had met his purification fire, she felt her essence stripped away, refined, and absorbed by his core. It was an insult only a rival deity could deliver.
*He is hiding something,* she thought, calming her elemental fluctuations and forcing her mind back into calculated strategy. *His physical defense was impossible for a Rank 19 Spirit Master, even a genius. And the speed of his spirit ring breakthrough... it means he has access to resources or methods that defy our continent's rules.*
She realized her mission had changed. This was no longer about guiding the Dragon God's evolution; it was about neutralizing a threat. She couldn't kill him—the chaotic repercussions of striking a peer divine bloodline could be catastrophic—but she could certainly dominate him. She needed to know the source of his anomalous physical strength and how he was accelerating his power.
Gu Yue rose, moving to her window. She looked out toward the dark, isolated corner of the academy where Wujiu's workshop sat. She knew her cold fury was her greatest weapon, but against the Phoenix, she needed something more precise. She needed a way to penetrate his purification defense, and to do that, she had to stop relying on raw, uncontrolled elemental power. She needed *finesse*.
***
Wujiu, recovering from the breakthrough, felt a renewed sense of urgency. The successful challenge had bought him time, but it had also solidified him as Gu Yue's primary target. He had his first spirit ring, but he knew exactly what came next.
The arrival of the third major player was imminent. The Silver Dragon King had reacted to the Phoenix, but the **Golden Dragon King**—the true purpose of Gu Yue's initial mission—was still destined to arrive.
Wujiu activated the Omni-Source System to check the timeline. The System provided a precise countdown. **[Golden Dragon King Host (Tang Wulin) Arrival at East Sea Academy: T-Minus 7 Days.]**
*A week,* Wujiu thought, a cold smile touching his lips. He had exactly seven days to fully master his new Rank 20 abilities and prepare the trap. He had the Silver Dragon's attention, and soon, he would have the Golden Dragon's essence. The true battle for fate was about to begin.
Next Chapter