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--- Chapter 342 ---
Dead silence.
The Lake of Life became strangely silent after Han Yuan made his bold statements.
The reason? Han Yuan showed the Beast God, whom they revered, no respect at all, leaving them stunned and speechless!
Even Xiong Jun, the 450,000-year-old Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, whose strength rivaled Di Tian's but was still not quite there, didn't dare to utter a word.
Xiong Jun likes to challenge Di Tian, but not to the point of courting death.
Han Yuan ignored their shocked stares and spoke directly to Di Tian with indifference, "I don't owe you anything. You may be a hundred thousand years older, which could be considered elder to me, but that doesn't mean you can impose your seniority over me."
"I am here to cooperate with your Star Dou Forest, not to become your subordinate."
"Don't think that just because your realm is higher than mine, you can treat me like a pushover."
"So, I will not think myself wrong for speaking my mind, nor do I need your generous forgiveness."
"You should earn respect, not given, cease and point."
"Haha... Hahaha!" Di Tian couldn't help but chuckle before laughing at the sky with a smirk. "
"What you said is true. Seniority doesn't dictate everything."
"Respect should be earned, not given. Good saying!"
"However..." Di Tian continued, "You forget one thing."
"While seniority doesn't determine all, strength does. And my strength is not something you can challenge." With that, he released an immense pressure, his golden dragon eyes glaring domineeringly at Han Yuan.
The atmosphere around the Lake of Life shifted, becoming incredibly perilous.
The sky darkened rapidly as if responding to Di Tian's pure-blooded dragon's might, which filled the air, making it hard for everyone to breathe.
Yet, despite this overwhelming presence, Han Yuan remained unfazed. His clothes and hair caught in the breeze, but that was it.
Then, Han Yuan responded with an equally shocking presence.
BOOOOOOOM!!
As if the world had split in half, one side got swallowed by near absolute darkness while Han Yuan's side radiated life and electricity.
The two presences clashed fiercely in the atmosphere, causing the trees near the Lake of Life to turn to dust.
It was rather shocking that although these trees weren't spiritual, their cultivation level rivaled that of 10,000-year-old spirit beasts.
Nevertheless, they turned to dust when caught in the aura clash between Han Yuan and Di Tian.
Di Tian's eyes flickered with surprise. "You do have the qualifications to act this arrogantly."
"Not bad; you didn't waste Thunder God's legacy."
"But if you wanted to earn my respect with just this... It's not enough!"
"That should be my line!" Han Yuan retorted with a scoff.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
This time, as their auras clashed, a spatial force became involved, with a faint dividing line separating their powers.
However, both Han Yuan and Di Tian knew this was just the beginning of their contest over spatial control.
Di Tian was genuinely surprised that Han Yuan somehow countered his Spatial Manipulation. As far as he knew, there weren't many creatures on Douluo Star who could rival him in this field—perhaps only the priests of the Gods or some tentacled beings on distant continents.
Ultimately, Di Tian decided to push this thought aside for now. He was more interested in uncovering this human's secrets.
In an instant, Han Yuan and Di Tian vanished from sight, moving so swiftly that they left behind only afterimages as they clashed repeatedly in the sky.
Bam! Bam! BAM!
Their fists met again and again in the air, creating multiple shockwave bubbles.
"The strength of a dragon. This human's secret actually ties back to my Dragon Clan," Di Tian mused, surprised to find that Han Yuan's physical prowess bore a dragon-like aura.
Unknown to Di Tian, his assumption was mistaken. While Han Yuan did possess draconic power, it came from the condensation of life energy, making him essentially a human-shaped dragon.
At the same time, Han Yuan also analyzed Di Tian's dragon physique using the Eyes of Truth and confirmed just how extraordinary the so-called Beast God was.
Di Tian's blood and flesh were very abundant, and the density of his spirit power was nearly equal in purity to Han Yuan's newly converted Quasi-Divine Energy.
Furthermore, Di Tian possessed a Yin-Yang Complementary Soul Core that not only gave him unmatched energy recovery for his realm but also enhanced his understanding and manipulation of the laws of heaven and earth.
In this backwater era, the Three Ultimates of Sky, Land, and Sea couldn't hold a candle to Di Tian. If Qian Daoliu, Tang Chen, and Bo Saixi were to face Di Tian without their respective divine buffs, they would get slaughtered mercilessly.
BAAAAAAAAAM!
As they repelled from their final fist meeting, Han Yuan and Di Tian got separated by a hundred meters.
"I guess... that's enough warm-up," Han Yuan said, gazing at Di Tian with a small smile.
Di Tian chuckled back, "Yes, it's time to get a little serious."
Without further ado, Han Yuan summoned a silver spear seemingly made of jointed bamboo with an incredibly sharp tip, and Di Tian condensed his dragon's aura and darkness energy into a three-meter-long sword.
Then, they clashed again. This time, more skillful and meticulous as they wield their respective weapons.
Clank!
Countless sparks appeared as the spear and sword met each other.
Di Tian's sword is fast, accurate, and deadly. Every swing he launched at Han Yuan aimed perfectly at his weak points.
Even then, Di Tian couldn't hit them for some reason. Han Yuan's spear play is too chaotic and ever-changing.
Not to mention, Han Yuan seemed to have touched upon the artistic concept of spearmanship.
No, he has mastered it!
Di Tian must admit that Han Yuan's talent is unique.
He could feel a resemblance to the [Thunder God's Heavenly Judgement] from Han Yuan's spear play, yet this young human not only refined the Divine Technique further, but also made it truly his.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
Han Yuan deflected Di Tian's sword strikes, which cleaved the space, and then countered with a rain of spear thrusts.
Each thrust becomes more explosive as it develops from a pure clash of weaponsmanship to a clash of divine skills.
A rift appeared one after another in the sky, opening a thin entrance to the void.
The ferocious beasts trembled under this chaos. One rift alone is enough to injure them greatly, but there are at least thirteen rifts that can tear them apart.
Xiong Jun already transformed into her 'true' form and used his massive and strong body to shield everyone from the rift. His body constantly emitted a firm yet sharp golden light.
'My brother, he's enjoying this fight... Just a little.' Di Yating commented inside Han Yuan's spiritual sea. 'Strictly speaking, besides Gods, no one could pose a threat to him in the Douluo Star.'
'Well, except you, just how long are you going to play around with my brother, Han Yuan?'
'Facing my brother, shouldn't you be a little more serious?'
Han Yuan dismissed Di Yating's comment without saying a word, but did not deny that he wasn't serious throughout this whole fight.
Di Tian similarly stared at Han Yuan, who stopped amid their exchange of moves. He frowned slightly as he felt something was wrong about this human.
Suddenly, Han Yuan became one with nature, no, the world, and pointed his spear at Di Tian nonchalantly. His silver eyes seemed to see through Di Tian's very essence as a dragon. The Golden-Eyed Black Dragon.
"Break... down..." Han Yuan said in a low tone.
As those words echoed in the atmosphere, the sky crumbled, which caught Di Tian off guard. Whether it was elemental power, spatial and temporal stability, everything is simultaneously breaking down into pieces.
The sky is no more, and all that is left is a void.
Di Tian looked up in awe and saw a pair of ghostly silver eyes open in the deepest of the void. Then, he felt goosebumps all over his body.
"Not good!' Di Tian sensed something was wrong and crossed his sword before his chest.
He caught a needle made of purple silver electricity, coiling and spinning like crazy against his sword.
Yet, catching isn't stopping. The purple silver electricity drilled through Di Tian's sword before breaking it into dark particles.
"You... You actually nullified my control over Law of Darkness!" Di Tian said with a shocked expression.
"I didn't nullify it..." Han Yuan shook his head gently.
"I broke it... With my own hands."