The Crystal Bear's Roar
The observation screens painted two different pictures of composure under pressure.
Long Hengxu watched Gu Yue's retreat with a nod of professional approval. "Precise elemental application. She's using the environment, not just her own power. That's advanced tactical thinking for someone her age."
Wu Changkong allowed a trace of pride to show. "She's always several steps ahead in her calculations. Her spatial teleportation is instinctual. She's not running in panic; she's controlling the engagement range." His eyes flicked to the tactical overlay on the adjacent screen, where four dots glowed. His brow furrowed slightly as he saw the dot representing Gu Yue altering its chaotic retreat into a deliberate, arcing path. A path that intersected decisively with another dot—Yao Xuan's. 'A calculated convergence,' he thought. 'Or is it instinct seeking strength? Interesting.'
On the platform, Yao Xuan finished his meditation. The solidification of his soul spirit's growth was a palpable warmth in his core. Six hundred and twenty years of cultivation. The path to a thousand was clear, a milestone that promised a qualitative leap. He rose, ready to seek another challenge.
The forest parted not with a beast's roar, but with the whisper of displaced air and the faint scent of ozone and frost. Gu Yue emerged from the treeline, her silver hair slightly disheveled, a sheen of exertion on her brow. Her usual impeccable poise was edged with a believable urgency.
"Yao Xuan?"
Her voice, when she saw him, carried a note of genuine surprise that seamlessly blended into relief. It was a masterful performance, rooted in a truth: she was relieved to see him.
"Gu Yue? What's wrong?" Yao Xuan's posture shifted instantly from rest to readiness, his gaze scanning the forest behind her.
"A Crystal Bear. Millennium grade. I can't break its defense alone." Her explanation was crisp, devoid of theatrical fear. She stated a problem, her silver eyes meeting his with a look that was both a request and an assessment. The faint flush on her cheeks and the quickened rise and fall of her chest spoke of a real, taxing effort.
"Understood. We'll handle it together." His response was immediate, no hesitation. There was a protectiveness in it, but it was clean, born of camaraderie and the unspoken bond that linked their past and present. He turned, soul power already stirring.
"Ancestral Dragon, possess me!"
The transformation was swift. The majestic dragon spirit coalesced and merged with him, scales sheathing his form, claws extending. The air hummed with a deepened, more potent primordial authority.
Gu Yue felt it like a physical wave. Her Silver Dragon King bloodline, the sovereign core within her, sang in resonance. It wasn't lust. It was a profound, cellular recognition—the call of the origin to the most refined descendant. Her breath hitched. The analytical part of her mind raced, cataloging the increased purity and pressure of his aura. 'The bloodline concentration is intensifying. His compatibility is... staggering.'
The Na'er part of her felt a simple, overwhelming sense of rightness and safety. The girl who trusted him completely saw the dragon and felt only that her protector was here.
To an outside observer, her silver eyes might have seemed wide with something akin to awe or deep focus. Yao Xuan, attuned to her in a way no one else was, saw the complex layers within that gaze: the sovereign's piercing analysis, the dragon's instinctual reverence, and beneath it all, a flash of the pure, grateful trust he remembered from Na'er.
'Her bloodline is reacting strongly,' he realized, his own understanding of their connection deepening. 'It's not about me personally, not in a base way. It's the dragons within us recognizing each other.' This clarified things, elevating their bond from the potentially mundane to the realm of destiny and profound mutual essence.
A thunderous roar shattered the moment. The Crystal Bear burst into the clearing, a moving mountain of opaque, yellowish-brown fur and crystalline claws. Its gem-like eyes fixed on them, radiating a dull, deadly intelligence. Where it passed, a thin film of glistening crystal veneered the foliage before it was crushed to dust.
"It's here! Its claws impart a crystallization effect. Direct blocks are dangerous," Gu Yue reported, her voice all business now, the fleeting vulnerability locked away. She was his strategist now.
"Noted. I'll draw its focus. Support and strike when it's overextended."
He didn't wait for confirmation. Soul power burned brighter as he triggered his second soul ring. "Ancestral Dragon Overlord Body!" His aura spiked again, the dragon-scale patterns glowing faintly. He became a figure of concentrated, formidable power.
The Crystal Bear hesitated, sensing the shift in the spiritual weight before it. The Ancestral Dragon's pressure, even indirectly, imposed a hierarchy.
"Wind's Favor!" Gu Yue's voice was clear. Her first soul ring flashed, and a swirling, gentle breeze wrapped around Yao Xuan, not hindering but guiding, making his movements potentially swifter, more efficient. It was a subtle, powerful assist.
Simultaneously, she gestured downward. The earth beneath the bear's feet softened and liquefied into a patch of clinging mire—Earth Manipulation: Quagmire. The beast's charge slowed abruptly, its powerful legs sinking.
Seizing the opening, Yao Xuan moved. Empowered by the Overlord Body and Gu Yue's wind, he was a golden blur. He didn't charge the center mass. He angled to the side, aiming for the bear's flank, his claws aimed not at the thick hide, but at the back of its knee joint—a tactical strike to limit mobility.
The bear, hindered and enraged, swiped a massive, crystal-clawed paw. The air whistled. Yao Xuan didn't test the crystallization effect. At the last possible moment, he pivoted, the Ancestral Dragon Shattering Void Step allowing him to blur and reappear a meter closer, inside the bear's guard. His claw struck true.
THWACK!
The sound was like an axe hitting seasoned hardwood. Scales met crystal-imbued hide. Yao Xuan felt a jarring impact, but his claw bit deep, drawing not blood, but a shower of sparkling, crystalline fragments and a roar of genuine pain. He'd damaged it, but the hide was incredibly tough.
He disengaged before the bear could grapple, his movements a testament to their synchronicity. As he leaped back, lances of ice formed from the humid air and shot past him, peppering the bear's face and eyes—Gu Yue's follow-up, perfectly timed to cover his retreat and further irritate the foe.
They fought not as two individuals, but as a unit. Yao Xuan was the relentless, piercing spearhead, drawing aggression and testing defenses. Gu Yue was the encompassing force of nature, controlling the battlefield, creating openings, and delivering precise, debilitating strikes. There were no longing glances mid-fight, only the sharp, focused communication of shared purpose and mutual trust.
The Crystal Bear, powerful but outmaneuvered and facing a draining two-front war against a superior bloodline's pressure and cunning elemental control, was being methodically taken apart. Its roars grew more frustrated than furious. The sovereign in Gu Yue observed Yao Xuan's every move, each successful strike further evidence of his burgeoning legacy. The girl within her fought alongside him, her every spell cast with the implicit, absolute faith that he would be where he needed to be, and that together, they were unstoppable.