"ARGHHHHH!!!" Yuan Longshi bellowed out a ferocious roar that shook the skies and dispersed the clouds. His aura built up continuously without end and his body seemed to be undergoing immense changes. The latent bloodline residing in his body was abnormally active as it started to overtake and transform the basis of his DNA and physique.

This was the initiation of Draconification! It was a process that evoked exceptional changes within the body, and Yuan Longshi was experiencing those drastic changes. His body ballooned, his muscles thickening, his bones expanding, his spine enlarging, and his eyes no longer having any resemblance of a human!

He was originally about six feet tall, but he doubled that, and his chest bulged outwards as if his heart grew ten times in size. The sheer beating of it was like an ancient dragon roar from the mythological past as they washed over the auditory senses of everyone present.

Xue Yifei was in agony. She cried and fell to her knees. The old man arrived beside her, trying to help her, but he couldn't find anything wrong with her body. However, her mental fluctuations were abundantly vigorous at the moment. It was quite strange. Unwilling to peer into that considering the possible dangers, he could only ask her what he could do.

She couldn't respond and seemed to not hear him as she continued to clutch at her head in pain.

Wei Wuyin was calm before all these happenings. "You obtained a drop of dragon blood essence and used it to refine your heart. However, your body couldn't contain the remnant will within." Wei Wuyin thought back to his deal with Anu, the azure-scaled Horned-Firmament Dragon. One of the first things he ensured was that Anu had to erase his spiritual presence within his essence blood.

This was why.

Even if Anu himself didn't wish to cause trouble to him, simply the will itself would be massively difficult to absorb. And if he tried to forcefully do so, the feedback could shatter his spirit, mind, and soul.

He didn't know the full story, but somehow, they obtained a Dragon Soul and split it into two pieces. These two pieces were the Yin Dragon Soul and Yang Dragon Soul. They definitely belonged to a species or race like Anu, which contained a bloodline. The Yang Dragon Soul stabilized the essence blood and allowed Yuan Longshi to refine it safely. This was the basis of his Draconic Heart of Blood(line) and the beginning of his road of redemption.

However, Xue Yifei suffered the worst of the deal. Without the Yang Dragon Soul, she couldn't possess the physical body of a dragon. At most, he could use it to bolster her mental energies and gleam into some scattered memories. However, without the Yang portion, how could she refine a dragon's essence blood with or without the contained will?

If it wasn't for Eden and his Mark of Eden refining and pacifying it to the limit, even he couldn't.

"Unfortunately, your bloodline is quite impure and your True Dragon Transmutation Method seemed to have been cultivated half-way." Wei Wuyin noted as he lightly shook his head. By the time his words were said, Yuan Longshi had completed his transformation! His body was hunched, the curvature of his spine had a row of spikes protruding from it, and every layer of his skin was covered in hard, durable scales. His teeth had grown and portions of them left his mouth to remain free. It was quite monstrous.

His scales had an obsidian sheen to it that glistened in the sunlight. The bulging muscles barely contained by his scales and his three-meter tall body was daunting to the say the least. While he still had faint hints of a human within him, one could see his body was mostly of a dragon at the moment.

A demonic dragon.

'Quite a fitting nickname, If I was being honest.' Wei Wuyin's thoughts were quite casual at the moment as he idly thought about other things.

"You've brought this on yourself! Roar!" Yuan Longshi's voice went several octaves lower as he shouted and roared. His ferocious appearance could make kids cry. The oppressive draconic aura he emitted was terrifying to say the least. The ground quivered with his every breath and his dragon claws that seemed capable of slicing through steel was piercing into the Astral Array.

Boom!

Yuan Longshi's speed shattered the sound barrier as he moved, arriving before Wei Wuyin with remarkable speed. With a brutish roar, he slammed his claws into Wei Wuyin. From those claws, faint light of saber force remained. Clearly he hadn't lost his cultivation at this moment.

"Did your other cultivation method fade away?" Wei Wuyin asked as he tapped his foot on the ground. His body emitted a faint saber light as he vanished, seemingly dodging the claws by a hair-breadth.

「Way of the Saber: Attack In Retreat」

Booosh!

The ground that Wei Wuyin once stood on experienced a massive upheaval. The ground exploded into dust, rocks, and a cloud of smoke a hundred feet high. However, a tower of saber light gushed from that area and bathed it entirely. The sound of a saber keen was heard throughout the entire continent.

Both attacks shattered the Astral Array temporarily, causing the secondary protection of the continent to activate and withstand the blow by mitigation.

Wei Wuyin floated in the air while surrounded by wind force. This was his only means to experience momentary flight at the moment. His eyes peered below and he couldn't help but narrow his eyes. "That method that caused those marks to appear on his body was far more refined than his current state."

Boom!

Yuan Longshi seemed to have survived the attack as he shot explosively upwards. Slicing through the air, Yuan Longshi revealed his draconic form to everyone. At the moment, his body was littered with saber cuts that were both deep and shallow. The flesh and scales of his body was cut into and even split apart at certain areas. He seemingly transformed into a blood dragon as his monstrous body became drenched in his own blood.

Wei Wuyin shook his head. His saber force was quite potent and oppressive. In fact, if it wasn't for Yuan Longshi's strong body, he would've been split into noodle strings by now. He expected more from Yuan Longshi.

Woosh! Yuan Longshi arrived once more fearlessly as he clawed towards Wei Wuyin.

With an expertly timed shift of Element within his grasp, Wei Wuyin met Yuan Longshi in a clash, but this time, he gently exerted his force to perform a parry. Yuan Longshi was startled as his claw was sent aside, his momentum chaotic and unstable, but Wei Wuyin wasn't idle at this opening. With a flip of his palm, he twisted Element and sliced into Yuan Longshi arm!

"AHHHH!" A terrifying roar of pain and a severed arm later, Wei Wuyin twisted his body like a hurricane and his leg shot out like a torpedo, kicking into Yuan Longshi's abdomen with exceptional accuracy.

BOOM!

The enlarged and monstrous body of Yuan Longshi crashed into the ground and seemingly went silent. Wei Wuyin halted his momentum and grasped towards the severed arm. It landed into his palm still bleeding profusely from its severed area. He gave it a slight sniff and he frowned. With another wave, the arm was encapsulated in elemental metal force and kept in his storage ring.

Finally, he peered down into the devastatingly cloudy mess that Yuan Longshi had produced. A crater about three thousand meters in width and hundreds of meters in depth was created. If it wasn't for the Astral Array, countless lives would've been lost by this alone.

"I've established one hundred and thirty-eight methods to kill you today. I did not expect you to be so disappointing." Wei Wuyin slightly lamented at his own overestimation of Yuan Longshi. He had thought he would have a trump card like Long Chen. This trump card might be in the form of an ancient expert or even a real dragon sleeping within the continent, but to think it was just a fragmented Dragon Soul.

"When are you going to do it?" Wei Wuyin's eyes narrowed. He was just waiting for a particular moment. After all, this concerns his future woman's life. He already knew that they were bonded, and he couldn't kill Yuan Longshi without killing Xue Yifei. Perhaps Xue Yifei hadn't known this fact, but it was the truth.

If the Yang Dragon Soul were to die, the Yin Dragon Soul would detonate and vice versa.

They were truly bonded together. It was highly likely they couldn't even be a certain distance apart from each other without complications arising. He had never seen such a circumstance, but with his Celestial Eyes, he could see the resonance and reflection they possessed.

If it wasn't for that, he wouldn't have allowed this battle to go more than three exchanges. He wasn't like other bull-headed and flashy fighters, and he preferred to end life and death battles with decisive quickness unless there was a beneficial reason for him to do otherwise. If he couldn't ascertain victory in those three exchanges, he would be plotting his immediate retreat.

He definitely wouldn't stand around as his opponent transformed. It was such an obnoxious act of hubris that was tedious and borderline suicidal.

Rumble!

From below, within Yuan Longshi's three hundred meter crater, there was finally some movement. However, whoever was within that crater had a feeble life aura. Yuan Longshi dragged his body upwards, clutching his severed arm, and climbing to reach the edge of the crater.

His heterochromia eyes beheld a sense of exhaustion and fear. Even in his strongest, fastest, and most durable state, he wasn't a match for Wei Wuyin. This alchemist that was widely regarded as the Prince of Everlore was so horrifically strong! In every manner, he outclassed him.

He didn't know what to do. If it was Qi Lang, this form might be enough to claim his life in an all-out battle, but he couldn't even touch the hem of Wei Wuyin's robes. He had never felt so frustrated and useless before.

'I guess it's true...there's always someone stronger.' Since he was given renewed life on his path of cultivation, he had broken many conventional beliefs and outclassed opponents a phase or two above his own. He fought one to ten thousand and escaped relatively unharmed. He established legend after legend. He was renowned as a genius.

He had dreams. He would take Xue Yifei beyond this continent, explore the starfield, and reach a cultivation where he could establish his own sect that rivals the five hegemonic powers. His name would one day resound with as much reverence and respect as the King of Everlore, the Abyss Master of Demons, Grand Monarch Wu Yu, Divine King Han Xei, and the Sacred Elven Queen.

All those legendary figures. He would be mentioned beside them in the same breath. The Demonic Dragon Lord Yuan Longshi. How glorious would that have been?

"...Am I already calling my death? Ha...haha…" He found it funny. Quite funny. Was his spirit broken? His Heart of Cultivation shattered by Wei Wuyin's overwhelming difference? Perhaps, but it was still funny.

He had struggled from nothing, fought injustice, and claimed victory facing all odds. Shouldn't his ending be rewarded with a glorious future and brilliant legacy? Now, he was going to be killed and remembered as a footnote, a stepping stone of Wei Wuyin. How many stepping stones had he made? How many lives had he trampled on to reach his current point? He felt his thoughts were slightly hypocritical but his heart still held grievance.

HE DIDN'T WANT TO DIE!

not like this…

he never thought it'd end like this…

As his mind seemed to descend into defeat, a miraculous event was occurring. Within his heart, the lingering Yang Dragon Soul that was used to suppress his bloodline was shining with a brilliant golden glow! Its abnormal activity was indicative of a change!

Perhaps this change would overturn his fate! And the hope in his heart was stirred!!

When this glow seemingly engulfed Yuan Longshi's demonic dragon body, the expected shock, disbelief, solemnness, and confusion that he might believe to be spread across Wei Wuyin's expression was non-existent. The only emotion was...excitement filled with relief!

"Fucking finally! We can end this."

His eyes closed for a moment and when they reopened, his pupils became sharp and vertical!