A Monarch's Fall, A New Terror Emerges
The force of the collision traveled up Yao Xuan's arm like a seismic shock. He was driven downward, his boots impacting the scarred earth with a heavy thud, carving a shallow crater surrounded by a spiderweb of fractures. A dull ache bloomed in his shoulder, and his chest constricted for a moment, forcing a sharp exhale.
Yet, beneath the Ancestral Dragon Scales and his fortified body, the damage was superficial. The numbness in his arm faded quickly, replaced by a thrilling, electric hum. The sheer, raw power of the exchange ignited something primal within him.
"That was exhilarating!" he breathed, the words a low rumble in his throat. His eyes, fixed on the struggling lion, burned with a fire not of rage, but of pure, focused fighting spirit. The battle had ceased to be a mere trial or a mission; it had become a test of his very essence. "Again!"
Soul power cycled. The first purple ring flashed, a beacon of violent potential. The familiar, devastating energy coalesced around his draconic right claw. With a push fueled by both muscle and spatial distortion, Yao Xuan blurred forward, aiming to close the distance beside the lion where its broken right leg offered an opening.
"Die!"
He launched himself, a vertical strike aimed to pierce down through the lion's neck. The Flame Lion Leader, driven by survival and hatred, twisted with surprising speed. It met Yao Xuan's descending claw with a swipe of its uninjured left forepaw, flames sheathing its talons.
BANG!
Another punishing impact. Another sickening crack as the Absolute Armor Penetration shattered bone. Yao Xuan's strike was deflected but not stopped, his claw carving deep grooves across the lion's massive shoulder instead of finding the killing spot.
And in that moment of recoil, the lion played its final, desperate card.
Its maw, vast and lined with dagger-like teeth, yawned open. But no roar emerged. Instead, a torrent of condensed, blue-white fire—a lance of pure incineration several meters long—spewed forth with terrifying speed, aimed point-blank at Yao Xuan's upper body.
"Danger!"
The heat was instantaneous, searing the air before it even arrived. Yao Xuan's blood ran cold. There was no time for a calculated step. Pure instinct, honed by countless hours of reflexive training, took over. He wrenched his body sideways in mid-air, a graceless, desperate twist.
SIZZLE—CRACK!
The tongue of superheated flame grazed past his side, close enough to scorch his tunic and send a wave of blistering pain across his ribs. It continued, striking a centuries-old oak as thick as a barrel. There was no explosion, only a terrifying, silent vaporization—a entire section of the massive tree simply ceased to exist, replaced by a plume of superheated steam and ash. The beam then scarred the earth, leaving a deep, glassy trench that glowed with residual heat.
Yao Xuan hit the ground in a roll, coming up with his heart hammering against his ribs. The smell of his own singed clothes and the ozone-stench of vaporized wood filled his nostrils. 'A final burst of its core flame… Had that connected…'
But the cost for the lion was immense. After unleashing that cataclysmic breath, its formidable aura guttered like a dying candle. The flames around its body dimmed to embers. Its head drooped, massive chest heaving with ragged, wet-sounding breaths. The savage intelligence in its eyes was clouded by exhaustion and approaching death.
"Now," Yao Xuan said, his voice quiet but carrying absolute finality. "Rest."
He didn't roar. He didn't grandstand. He simply gathered the remainder of his strength, charged forward in a straight, efficient line, and delivered one last, perfect Ancestral Dragon Sky-Splitting Strike. The nine-colored light punched through the lion's weakened defenses and shattered its forehead with a clean, decisive crack.
The massive body stiffened, then all tension fled. The Flame Lion Leader, monarch of its pride, collapsed. The last of its demonic flames winked out, leaving only the fading warmth of its body and the scent of blood and scorched earth.
[Slayed 2400-Year Flame Lion Chieftain. Gained 90 Gold Evolution Points.]
[Temporary Mission Complete: Slay the Flame Lion Pack (30/30). Final Rewards: 500 Gold Evolution Points.]
The notifications were a secondary pulse in his awareness. More immediate was the thick, potent river of purple spiritual energy that erupted from the fallen king. His Ancestral Dragon Soul Spirit manifested momentarily, a semi-transparent, majestic silhouette that drew in the energy with a deep, resonating pull. Yao Xuan felt its cultivation solidify and climb, its presence within him growing more profound and weighty.
He stood amidst the silence, the adrenaline receding and leaving behind a deep, resonating fatigue—not just of the body, which the system had repaired, but of the spirit. The intense, hour-long focus, the constant dance with death, weighed on his mind.
'1540 Gold Evolution Points… Enough for the next bloodline limit break. A worthy harvest.' He allowed himself a slow, weary breath of satisfaction before turning to find a secluded spot to rest.
Outside the platform, the silence was profound, broken only by the hum of soul equipment.
Long Hengxu's fan lay forgotten on the console. "He… he actually did it. Not just survived, but exterminated them. A tactical purge." There was no jealousy in his voice now, only stunned reverence. "That final dodge… that was the instinct of a veteran battlefield survivor, not a student."
Wu Changkong's stern face was etched with undisguised pride. "He assessed, adapted, and executed. He respected the enemy's power and never underestimated it, even at the end. That is the mark of a true warrior." He glanced at the other students. "This is the benchmark. Not just power, but the mind to wield it."
The younger boys were a mosaic of inspired shock. Tang Wulin's eyes shone with a fiery determination, his own dreams feeling both more distant and more tangible. Xie Xie simply shook his head, a grin of pure disbelief on his face. "Monster. Certified, absolute monster."
Zhang Yangzi and Wang Jinxi exchanged a look, a silent pact passing between them to train until their bodies broke.
Gu Yue had not moved. Her silver eyes were wide, reflecting the flickering light of the observation screen now showing the aftermath. Internally, her mind was a quiet storm.
*'Analysis concluded. Victory margin: 17%. Higher risk tolerance than optimal due to emotional engagement in the combat flow. The near-miss at 00:17:43 was attributable to underestimating the target's capacity for a final, concentrated energy expulsion. Lesson: Terminal-phase soul beasts of the fire attribute remain critically dangerous.'*
The clinical report streamed, a fortress of logic. But the fortress walls trembled.
The moment the blue-white flame had lanced out, her breath had caught in her throat. Her fingers, hidden in the sleeves of her academy uniform, had curled into tight fists. A visceral, alien sensation—a lurch in her stomach, a cold splash of fear that had nothing to do with strategic calculations—had short-circuited her thoughts.
It was Na'er's fear. Pure, simple, and devastating. The memory of a younger self watching her Big Brother Xuan push himself too hard, of the helpless dread that came with caring for someone who faced danger. That old, profound worry had surged up and slapped aside the sovereign's analysis.
As Yao Xuan rolled away, scorched but alive, the fear receded, leaving a strange, tender ache in its wake. Her gaze softened imperceptibly as she watched him sit wearily amidst the ruins of his victory. The admiration in her eyes, noted by others, was only the surface. Deeper down, it was fused with a protective, aching fondness that was becoming increasingly difficult to compartmentalize.
After half an hour of meditation under a relatively untouched tree, Yao Xuan opened his eyes. The mental fog had cleared, replaced by a serene sharpness. The battles had sanded his instincts to a finer edge. He could feel the latent memories within his bloodline stirring, offering fragments of deeper combat understanding.
"Time to push deeper," he murmured to the quiet forest.
He moved with renewed purpose, leaving the charred battlefield behind. The forest grew denser, older. The air grew heavier, not with heat, but with a subtle, oppressive pressure that spoke of ancient, formidable territories.
And then, he saw it.
Ahead, where two massive gnarled roots formed a natural archway, a shadow moved. It resolved into a figure that seemed hewn from living metal and nightmare. Over three meters of sheer, brutal mass covered in dark golden fur that glimmered dully in the fractured light. Its shoulders were like boulders, its torso a wall of muscle. But it was the arms that commanded horror—unnaturally long, thick as ancient tree trunks, and ending in paws armed with claws. Each claw was over a meter of curved, sickled darkness, gleaming with a faint, cruel golden light at the very tip, looking capable of shearing through soul metal like parchment.
It turned its head slowly. Small, deep-set eyes glowed with a ruddy, intelligent malice. It sniffed the air, catching the scent of dragon and blood on Yao Xuan.
A low, ground-shaking rumble issued from its chest, a sound that vibrated in Yao Xuan's bones.
—Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear.
The name appeared in his mind, accompanied by a cascade of transmitted knowledge from his bloodline: apex physical predator; claws that ignore most defenses; territorial and relentless; a soul beast that could challenge dragons.
Every sense Yao Xuan possessed screamed a warning far more urgent than any Flame Lion's roar. This was not a pack to be outmaneuvered. This was a solitary monarch, and he had just stepped into its domain.