Origin Lake, Heart Island.
The giant whale let out a deep, resonant cry. The Origin Lake on its back was churning violently.
Such upheaval in the Origin could only mean one thing: a new Infant Transformation cultivator had been born into the world.
Yet moments later, a terrifying divine sense swept out from the island’s center—so overwhelmingly powerful that the whale’s defiance withered instantly. The pressure soothed it like a master’s hand, and the beast fell silent, sinking back into calm.
On the white jade tower.
Lu propped his chin on one hand, idly tapping a chess piece against the phoenix-feather guard in his other. Spiritual energy drifted around him in faint ripples.
Lei Liushui had broken through to Infant Transformation, offering Lu a modest influx of energy. To the current Lu, however, the harvest from a single Infant Transformation cultivator was barely worth mentioning.
“To think he actually stepped into Infant Transformation under Zhulong’s pressure…”
Lu gave a small, amused smile. Unexpected.
What a pity.
He’d have been better off never breaking through at all. At least then he wouldn’t have become the most pathetic Infant Transformation cultivator in history—one who got swatted dead the instant he ascended, exploding into the most dazzling blood-colored fireworks the world had ever seen.
Lu didn’t know whether to laugh or sigh.
Truth be told, Lei Liushui shouldn’t have ended quite so miserably. But to show proper respect to a newly ascended Infant Transformation, Zhulong had unleashed the half-chaos energy she’d only recently begun to comprehend. It wasn’t true Chaos power, yet it far surpassed Origin-level force. That terrifying might had gathered in her already monstrous tail.
One whip-crack later… well, the fireworks were gorgeous.
Lu withdrew his attention. There was no longer any suspense in this battle.
Twenty-seven Nascent Soul cultivators were nothing before the transformed Zhulong.
She hadn’t even used her strongest innate divine ability yet.
Danger? It didn’t exist.
Having grasped half-chaos energy and awakened her innate gift, Zhulong’s current combat strength could now stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Du Longyang.
The spirit-pressure chessboard glimmered faintly.
Lu placed the piece down with deliberate grace.
A gentle breeze swept across the island; the grass swayed, and from time to time came the delighted gasps of Ni Yu and Little Yinglong watching the fireworks.
Everything felt serene and refined.
…
Lei Liushui was stunned.
Breaking through to Infant Transformation should have been a joyous occasion. So why couldn’t he feel happy at all?
Because the dragon tail filling his vision was growing larger by the instant, and even as an Infant Transformation cultivator, a wave of utter, crushing despair crashed over him.
This girl… was a dragon.
A terrifying, ferocious dragon.
Nascent Soul? Tears rolled down Lei Liushui’s cheeks. No—this girl was the real Infant Transformation monster.
Crack!
A crisp explosion rang out.
Lei Liushui’s body shattered under Zhulong’s tail, bursting mid-air into a magnificent cloud of blood-mist fireworks.
The surging Origin energy in the heavens abruptly stilled and dispersed.
The onlookers below were speechless with shock.
They had just witnessed a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives—a spectacular fireworks show performed with utmost dedication by twenty-three Nascent Soul cultivators.
Hidden in the shadows, the cultivators from the Tianyuan Domain stood frozen, bodies trembling, faces ashen.
Every burst of crimson fireworks in the sky represented a Nascent Soul cultivator’s body being whipped into oblivion by an unstoppable force.
Just when despair began to settle in…
Lei Liushui rose from the brink of death, shattered his shackles, and soared into Infant Transformation.
He believed he now had the strength to fight.
He unleashed his ultimate attack, hurling a thunderous fist toward the descending dragon tail.
And then…
His body exploded.
A blood-colored firework far more brilliant than the rest lit up the sky.
Silence fell over the Tianyuan cultivators.
It was… tragic beyond words.
An unforgettable massacre.
Below, Tantai Xuan stood wrapped in imperial dragon aura, mouth slightly agape.
They couldn’t see Zhulong’s true draconic form.
But in a single instant, they watched twenty-three Nascent Soul cultivators—including the strongest among them, Lei Liushui, who had radiated an aura of apocalyptic terror—burst into gorgeous, tragic clouds of blood mist.
Tantai Xuan was shaken to his core.
The thousand Xuanwu Guards behind him were equally stunned.
The dragon-aura-wreathed Tantai Xuan was so overwhelmed with excitement he could barely speak.
All his thousand words boiled down to one:
“Holy shit, that was ruthless!”
All hail Sister Zhulong!
When the blood mist finally cleared, the air reeked of iron and death.
Zhulong reverted to her human form—demure as a sheltered young lady—and stood quietly atop the bluestone.
Twenty-three Nascent Souls, now stripped of their bodies, fled in mindless panic.
If they didn’t run, they’d die.
They finally understood: this girl wasn’t a Nascent Soul at all. She was a terrifying Infant Transformation dragon.
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That idiot Lei Liushui had dragged them all here to die!
The Nascent Souls floated in the air, some the size of a fist, others barely half that—proof of the vast differences in their former cultivation.
Zhulong closed her eyes.
“Kill them all. That way no one will ever say I have a bad temper.”
She raised a slender hand. A thread of what seemed to be chaos energy coiled around her fingertip.
Flick!
A milky-white thread shot out faster than lightning.
Among the fleeing Nascent Souls, Lei Liushui’s was the most conspicuous—larger than the rest and wrapped in crackling thunder.
He became her first target.
“No!”
Lei Liushui’s soul, clinging to his Nascent Soul, roared in fury and summoned a storm of lightning to shield himself.
But—
Pfft.
Like an arrow piercing flesh, a tiny hole appeared between his Nascent Soul’s brows.
Boom!
Burning agony erupted. His soul collapsed, his consciousness dissolved…
He turned to ash and scattered across the sky.
Thus was born—and ended—the shortest-lived Infant Transformation cultivator in history. Less than ten breaths from ascension to annihilation.
The milky-white thread did not slow. It streaked onward.
The remaining Nascent Souls burned through their divine sense and soul essence in frantic escape.
This place was a devil’s lair!
Yet the thread was too fast—its trajectory impossible to track.
Pfft. Pfft. Pfft.
No more fireworks. Just silent, chilling extinction.
One by one, the Nascent Souls winked out, reduced to drifting ash.
A young girl flicked a thread from her finger and erased Nascent Soul cultivators like dust.
Boom!
A terrifying aura erupted in the heavens.
“Sister Zhulong…”
A towering figure appeared in projection across the distant sky.
“It’s City Lord Du!”
“Lord Du, save us!”
“I don’t want to die—please, City Lord Du, save us!”
Hope flared in the desperate Nascent Souls as they screamed for mercy.
The projection was Du Longyang’s divine-sense avatar.
Zhulong stood atop the bluestone, tilting her delicate chin upward.
Du Longyang—she knew he was strong.
But she wasn’t afraid of him.
She believed herself no weaker.
“On their behalf, I apologize,” Du Longyang’s projection said solemnly. “These men will never set foot outside Tianyuan again. Please, Sister Zhulong, spare their lives.”
When Lei Liushui’s aura vanished right after his breakthrough, Du Longyang had sensed something wrong and immediately sent his divine sense through a nearby Martial Emperor City disciple.
He never expected to arrive to this carnage.
Twenty-three Nascent Soul cultivators… what a horrifying slaughter.
Zhulong considered for three full seconds, then gently shook her head.
“No. If they die, no one will ever say I lose my temper.”
The moment the words left her lips, the thread quivered and shot forward again.
Du Longyang’s projection sighed.
“Then… forgive my offense.”
Boom!
Overwhelming spear intent exploded outward.
Terrifying will collided with the milky-white thread.
Yet Du Longyang’s pupils shrank.
His spear intent—infused with his Dao Intent—shattered on contact.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
One Nascent Soul after another had their brows pierced and vanished into nothingness.
A tragic dirge.
But one they had brought upon themselves.
Du Longyang’s projection gave Zhulong one last deep look.
That milky-white power… was terrifying.
What on earth was it?
Wind swept past, lifting the hem of Zhulong’s robe.
Blood mist and soul-ash drifted from the sky like crimson snow.
The world was steeped in sorrow.
At the foot of Buzhou Peak, a black-robed figure extended a vine-wrapped palm. A flake of blood-stained ash landed upon it.
A faint, wistful sorrow crossed the hidden face.
So… she never needed me after all.
The figure crushed the ash, turned silently, and vanished beyond the horizon.
…
Another battlefield.
Azure Dragon was being toyed with by two peak Nascent Soul cultivators. They kept their distance, attacking with artifacts like children flying kites.
Azure Dragon’s greatest strength was his physical body—if he could land one solid hit, either opponent would die instantly. But they refused to close in, infuriating the proud dragon until his scales bristled.
High above, the two Nascent Soul cultivators chuckled leisurely.
“Fancy trying to slay a dragon?”
“Hardly realistic. Azure Dragon’s scales are nearly impregnable. Killing him would be harder than climbing to heaven.”
They shook their heads and abandoned the tempting idea.
Azure Dragon grew anxious. He could win—he just needed them to fight properly.
Suddenly, his dark-golden eyes flickered with shock.
The next instant, one of the cultivators fired a beam of energy that struck Azure Dragon square on.
BOOM!
A violent explosion erupted.
Azure Dragon let out a tragic roar as scales shattered and dragon blood sprayed five hundred meters into the sky—exactly as scripted.
From deep in his throat came a low, unwilling howl of pain.
Roar!
The two Nascent Soul cultivators froze.
Wait…
They hadn’t done anything special!
How had this thick-skinned dragon suddenly start bleeding like a fountain?
Yet when they looked into the distance and saw twenty-three brilliant fireworks blooming across the sky, their faces drained of color.
“Damn it!”
“This dragon played us?!”
Boom!
Space tore open.
Thick mist rolled, and a seven-colored dragon tail lashed out.
Crack! Crack!
The two peak Nascent Soul cultivators didn’t even have time to flee.
Their bodies burst into blood mist.
Their Nascent Souls were pierced by the milky-white thread and turned to dust.
Azure Dragon sucked in a cold breath and sealed his self-inflicted wounds.
Big Sis… is terrifying.
…
The sect master of South Dou Mountain felt chills crawl up his spine.
All will to fight had vanished.
Blood rain fell from the sky along with the ashes of destroyed Nascent Souls.
Twenty-three Nascent Soul cultivators—including Lei Liushui—wiped out entirely.
Heavens!
Was this a demonic abyss?!
“Fight!”
The headless Overlord, now restored to peak power and wreathed in demonic energy, swung his axe with Sima Qingshan’s inked mountains amplifying the strike.
The distracted South Dou sect master screamed as half his body was nearly cleaved apart.
He crashed to the ground, scrambled up, and fled in panic.
The headless Overlord stood domineeringly halfway up the mountain.
Sima Qingshan sat on a rock, brush dipped in ink, but did not paint again.
The sect master had fled.
When a Nascent Soul cultivator truly wanted to escape, they could not stop him.
BOOM!
Yet he didn’t get far.
A colossal shadow blotted out the sky and whipped down.
BAM!
The earth cracked open like a dried riverbed.
Both the Overlord’s headless body and Sima Qingshan shuddered.
The South Dou sect master’s body exploded.
His Nascent Soul leapt out, shrieking, only to be instantly annihilated.
Twenty-seven Nascent Soul cultivators had come roaring from the east.
Now all returned to dust.
Atop Buzhou Peak, Zhulong sat cross-legged on the bluestone.
“Not one missing. All accounted for.”
She raised her pretty face, long lashes fluttering, and looked beyond the peak.
There, the hidden Tianyuan cultivators scrambled away in blind terror—even the proud geniuses of the Human List like Zhong Nan, Xiao Yue’er, and Feng Yilou fled for their lives.
Buzhou Peak was a devil’s den, a place of certain death.
Twenty-seven Nascent Soul cultivators had died here.
The thought alone was enough to give anyone nightmares.
Even many cultivators from the Five Phoenixes continent fled in fear.
They were technically on the same side… but still, she was terrifying.
Zhulong paid them no mind.
She drew the bamboo flute from her waist, brought it to her lips, and began to play.
A soft, lingering melody drifted across the peak.
…
Wolong Ridge, Tianji Pavilion.
Mo Tianyu, belly bared to the wind, climbed to the summit.
On the final step, Lü Mudui laughed heartily, thumped his chest, and coughed blood onto the inkstone.
“Above Buzhou Peak, twenty-seven Nascent Soul cultivators fell like gorgeous fireworks, quiet and beautiful as autumn leaves.”
On the profound yellow paper, the blood-red words burned into the eyes.
This battle was worth Lü Mudui coughing blood to record!
Mo Tianyu twirled three copper coins and chuckled.
Lü Mudui looked at him and grinned.
“Why didn’t you go to Buzhou Peak to admire the fireworks yourself?”
Mo Tianyu flicked his sleeve with a carefree smile. “No need.”
“When those twenty-seven Tianyuan Nascent Soul cultivators headed north, this humble one gave them a free divination.”
“Never have I seen such an auspicious sign. My heart couldn’t bear it, so I divined twice more… still greatly auspicious.”
He sat cross-legged.
Lü Mudui leaned on his bamboo staff. The two men looked at each other and burst into hearty laughter.
Coo-coo.
The Tianji Pigeon spread its wings.
A pure white feather fell, transformed into a streak of light, and shot across the sky.
…
Dongyang County, Martial Emperor City.
Within a sealed chamber.
Du Longyang opened his eyes.
Gravity and helplessness filled his brow.
“Idiots.”
Twenty-seven Nascent Soul cultivators.
One had even reached Infant Transformation.
A devastating loss.
All because that fool Lei Liushui coveted the Candle Dragon Eye.
Though the dead were only second- and third-rate powers of Tianyuan, the blow to the domain was still immense.
With a thought, Du Longyang sent a message.
The Grand Elder of Martial Emperor City hurried in.
“Inform the Qian Female Palace, Absolute Blade Sect, and Heavenly Void Palace…”
“Each of the four great powers is to dispatch Nascent Soul cultivators to take over those fallen second- and third-rate factions. Do not let chaos spread.”
The elderly elder was briefly stunned—he still didn’t know what had happened at Buzhou Peak.
But if the City Lord commanded it, there was reason.
“Yes, sir.”
He withdrew.
Soon after, another Martial Emperor City Nascent Soul elder arrived, face pale as paper, handing over a sheet of profound yellow paper from White Jade Capital’s Tianji Pavilion.
The message made the Grand Elder’s eyes sink deep into their sockets.
Now he understood.
Du Longyang closed the chamber door again and exhaled heavily.
“What exactly was that power?”
He stared into the darkness.
Zhulong’s milky-white energy had shattered his spear intent in an instant.
His spear intent carried Dao Intent!
Though not yet minor accomplishment, the boost was significant.
“What power could it be…”
Du Longyang drew a deep breath.
“Heh.”
“Want to know what that power is?”
Suddenly—
Du Longyang’s scalp exploded with dread.
A soft laugh had rung out inside his sealed chamber.
Someone had slipped in without him noticing?!
He whirled around.
In the shadows sat a white-shirted youth in a wheelchair, gazing at him with a half-smile.
