Luo Zhen ran his fingers along the hide of the Silver Scaled Wyvern, marveling at the paradoxical nature of the material. To the touch, it was as slick as high-grade silk and possessed the negligible weight of a goose feather, yet the structural integrity suggested an imperviousness that defied physics. It was a masterpiece of biological evolution.
Embedded across the surface of the pale skin were scales the size of a human palm, appearing as though they had been cast from pure, molten silver. They shimmered with a cold, metallic brilliance, creating a pattern of overlapping armor that was nothing short of magnificent. Weaving through this silver tapestry were delicate threads of gold, distinct veins that ran from the creature's head down to the tip of its tail, adding a regal, opulent contrast to the monochrome silver.
Curiosity piqued, Luo Zhen decided to test its limits. He tapped his palm lightly against the air, summoning the Huiyuan Red Fire. The scorching, crimson flames surged from his hand, wrapping around the wyvern skin.
The heat of the Huiyuan Red Fire was intense enough to melt steel, yet as it licked against the hide, it found no purchase. The material didn't singe; it didn't even warm. Instead, a reactive defense mechanism was triggered. The silver scales vibrated in unison, discharging arcs of lightning that snapped and hissed, forcibly repelling the encroaching fire.
"Incredible," Luo Zhen murmured, his eyes widening. "Even in death, the scales retain enough latent thunder energy to mount an automatic counterattack."
The implications were staggering. Even without the complex processes of artifact refining, simply draping this skin over one's shoulders would provide protection equivalent to a top-tier defensive magical treasure. It was a raw material of the highest order.
Satisfied with the hide, Luo Zhen turned his attention to the massive silver horn that had once crowned Lei Nu's head. It was thick, heavy, and over a meter long, pulsing with a rhythmic silver light. Occasionally, stray arcs of electricity would dance along its spiraled surface, a lingering testament to the beast's affinity for lightning.
"A true treasure," Luo Zhen whispered, barely suppressing a grin.
He swept his hand over the items, stowing the skin and the horn into his spatial ring. As the artifacts vanished into the pocket dimension, the mechanical, disembodied voice of the System finally echoed in the recesses of his mind, breaking the silence with a cascade of notifications.
"Congratulations, Host. You have successfully refined the bloodline power of the Silver Wyvern Emperor, Lei Nu."
"Your bloodline rank has ascended to Saint Tier 2."
"Catalyzed by your bloodline evolution, your Huiyuan Red Fire has mutated. It has evolved into a Tier 2 Exotic Fire: Huiyuan Silver Fire."
"Skill Acquisition: You have learned the Silver Wyvern Emperor's ultimate technique—Thunderstorm Wild Kill."
"Skill Acquisition: You have learned the Silver Wyvern Emperor's ultimate defense—Thunder Realm Descent."
The notifications arrived in a rapid-fire stream, overwhelming his cognitive interface. Before Luo Zhen could even begin to parse the descriptions of these new abilities, the System chimed again, offering a synthesis that made his heart race.
"Analysis indicates 'Thunderstorm Wild Kill' and your existing 'Wild Thunder Strike' share a core lightning attribute. Do you wish to synthesize these skills?"
"Yes," Luo Zhen commanded instantly. In his experience, synthesis always led to exponential growth in power.
"Synthesis successful. Congratulations, Host. You have obtained a new skill: Violent Thunder Heaven's Wrath."
The euphoria of the upgrade wasn't over. The System continued its analysis.
"Your exclusive skill, 'Green Wyvern Break,' has been influenced by the assimilation of the Silver Wyvern Emperor's Lightning bloodline. Initiate upgrade protocol?"
"Yes."
"Upgrade successful. You have obtained a new skill: Thunder Wyvern Break."
Finally, the barrage of notifications ceased, and the System returned to its dormant state. Luo Zhen exhaled a long breath, feeling the changes in his body—the humming of new energy in his meridians, the sharper, crackling nature of his qi. He pulled up his attribute panel, the glowing text floating in his vision.
Host: Luo Zhen
Race: Wyvern Species (Tier 2 Saint Beast)
Species Name: Double-Headed Green Scaled Wyvern
Realm: Late-Stage Demon King
Bloodline: Green Scaled Wyvern (Saint Tier 2)
Exotic Fire: Huiyuan Silver Fire (Tier 2)
Key Skills: Violent Thunder Heaven's Wrath, Thunder Realm Descent, Demon Shadow Descent, Thunder Wyvern Break.
He scanned the data, a sense of immense satisfaction settling over him. He had crossed a significant threshold.
"Luo Zhen?"
The voice came from above. Bai Susu descended from the sky, her white robes fluttering in the ocean breeze. She looked slightly flushed, having averted her gaze earlier to give him privacy while he was shirtless. Now, seeing him fully clad and standing on the ocean's surface, she approached, confusion knitting her brows.
"What happened just now?" she asked, looking around the empty expanse of water. "Where is Lei Nu's corpse? A five-hundred-meter dragon doesn't just vanish."
Luo Zhen offered a small, enigmatic smile. "My constitution is unique. I possess the ability to devour the bloodlines of my kin and assimilate skills of similar attributes. The corpse isn't missing, Susu. It's part of me now. I've absorbed his essence."
Bai Susu froze, her beautiful eyes widening in genuine shock. "You… you swallowed him? You can actually do that?"
"I can, and I did. Not only did I inherit his bloodline power, but I also stripped him of his most potent abilities," Luo Zhen explained. He gestured toward the horizon. "Back away a bit. I need to test the volatility of these new powers."
Bai Susu hesitated for a split second before nodding. Her figure blurred, reappearing a thousand meters away in an instant.
Luo Zhen centered himself, focusing on the new neural pathways the System had carved into his mind. He triggered the offensive skill.
Violent Thunder Heaven's Wrath!
The reaction was instantaneous. The sky, which had just begun to clear, was strangled by darkness. In the blink of an eye, suffocating black clouds roiled into existence, blotting out the sun. The atmosphere grew heavy, smelling of ozone and impending destruction.
Then, the sky tore open.
A pillar of blinding lightning, thick as an ancient tree trunk, crashed down from the heavens. It didn't just strike the sea; it brutalized it.
BOOM!
The impact was a physical blow to the senses. The ocean surface detonated, sending localized tsunamis rolling outward. The sheer kinetic force shook the air, vibrating in Luo Zhen's chest.
"Excellent," he muttered.
He switched gears, activating his defense. Thunder Realm Descent.
The air around him ignited. A sphere of blue lightning, ten feet in diameter, materialized with him at the absolute center. The arcs were dense, weaving a cage of high-voltage energy that promised death to anything foolish enough to touch it.
Luo Zhen realized with a jolt of excitement that these skills were scaling. At his current Late-Stage Demon King level, he suspected he was barely tapping into one percent of their potential. As he grew, so too would the devastation he could unleash.
He dismissed the lightning and flicked his wrist. A pale, silver flame—the Huiyuan Silver Fire—danced across his fingertips. It was colder in appearance but hotter in reality; its power doubled compared to its red predecessor.
Finally, he tested the upgrade to his signature move. He thrust his palm forward.
Thunder Wyvern Break!
A thirty-meter illusion of a wyvern, composed entirely of roaring thunder and malice, erupted from his hand. It screamed across the water, slamming into the waves with the force of a meteor. The explosion created a void in the ocean, instantly vaporizing tons of water.
He was ready. He had the confidence now to face almost anyone in his rank.
Bai Susu flew back to his side, her expression a mix of relief and pride. "You've become stronger," she said, her voice soft.
She opened her mouth to say more, but the ocean beneath them gave a violent lurch.
A deep, resonant booming sound began to emanate from the seabed, rhythmic and terrifying. The water churned, frothing white as if the ocean itself was boiling.
Bai Susu's face hardened. She extended her divine sense, probing the depths. "This is bad," she whispered. "Master Qingyang. He's breaking the final seal of the Silver Wyvern formation. He's coming."
Luo Zhen's hand tightened around the hilt of the Green Brilliance Blade.
He remembered Qingyang. The man was a vampire in the truest cultivation sense, capable of restoring his vitality by draining the blood essence of others. In the underwater carnage of the Crystal Palace, Qingyang had feasted on dozens of Demon King-level wyverns.
"He won't be the desiccated corpse we ran from," Luo Zhen warned. "He's fed."
Bai Susu noticed the tension in his shoulders. "Don't panic. Even at his historical peak, Qingyang was only at the Fifth Level of the Emperor Realm. I match him in rank. We can fight him."
"Right." Luo Zhen nodded, steadying his breathing. It wasn't cowardice; it was the rational fear of a Demon King facing an Emperor. In this world, a gap in realms was usually a death sentence.
Suddenly, the water erupted.
A figure shot from the depths, hovering imperiously in the void. It was Master Qingyang, but transformed. Gone was the shriveled, zombie-like creature. In his place stood a middle-aged man with skin flush with vitality, his muscles taut and body agile. The only remnant of his dark arts was the suffocating aura of demonic energy that rolled off him like smoke.
Qingyang's gaze swept the horizon before locking onto Bai Susu.
"Silver Wyvern Island..." he mused, his voice smooth and cultured. "Since when did it harbor another Emperor Realm expert?"
His surprise quickly morphed into something far more predatory. His eyes roamed over Bai Susu's figure, stripping her with a look of grotesque appraisal.
"Not bad," Qingyang said, clicking his tongue. "Truly, not bad at all. You are a rare specimen—a perfect blend of purity and seduction. Your bloodline aura... it surpasses even the Wyvern Emperor. You are no ordinary beast."
He grinned, revealing teeth that seemed too white, too sharp. "Fate smiles upon me. I find myself in need of a dual cultivation partner. You will fill that role nicely. I promise I won't mistreat you."
The insult hit the air like a physical slap. Bai Susu's expression turned icy, a translucent blade of qi materializing at her fingertip.
But before she could move, Luo Zhen stepped in front of her.
"Hey, Qingyang!" Luo Zhen shouted, his voice dripping with contempt. "Why don't you take a piss and look at your own reflection? You look like a bear trying to pass as a human. You think you're worthy of touching my woman?"
Qingyang blinked, looking at Luo Zhen as if a bug had just spoken. "Your... woman?"
He squinted. "You? A Mid-Stage Demon King? Oh, wait. You've advanced to the Late Stage. How quaint." He scoffed, waving a dismissive hand. "It doesn't matter. Even a Late-Stage Demon King is an ant. How could an ant deserve such a divine beauty?"
His eyes narrowed. "Ah, but I recall you still have my Taixuan Demon Mantises."
With a cold snort, Qingyang opened his mouth and spat a beam of condensed black light. It shifted in mid-air, forming a razor-sharp blade that sought Luo Zhen's throat.
Luo Zhen raised his blade, but a flash of white overtook him. Bai Susu's sword qi intercepted the black light, shattering it with a deafening boom before continuing its trajectory toward Qingyang.
Startled, Qingyang summoned a wall of demonic mist, blocking the strike, though the force knocked him back ten meters. His blood churned from the impact.
"You protect him?" Qingyang looked at Bai Susu with genuine confusion. "You really are his woman?"
Bai Susu's face flushed a brilliant red, but her eyes remained fierce. She bit her lip. "I am."
"Master Qingyang," she continued, her voice steel. "With me here, you cannot touch him. Listen to reason. We have no deep blood feud. You want your mantises? Fine. We return them, and we go our separate ways. A truce."
"A truce?" Qingyang threw his head back and laughed, a sound that grated on the soul.
"You refuse?"
"If I hadn't met you, perhaps I would have accepted," Qingyang sneered, his lustful gaze returning to her. "But now? Hehe. Things have changed. I will take my mantises, I will butcher this boy, and I will take you. A woman of your quality... I simply must have you."
"Impudent!" Luo Zhen roared.
He didn't hold back. He swung the Green Brilliance Blade, unleashing the Violent Emperor Kill. A hundred-meter-long emerald blade shadow cleaved the sky, carrying the weight of a mountain.
Simultaneously, Bai Susu attacked, firing seven streaks of ferocious sword qi that crisscrossed through the air.
Qingyang's expression shifted from arrogance to caution. He ignored Luo Zhen's attack entirely, focusing on Bai Susu. He performed a hand seal, and a thick, unnatural darkness—a Demon Cloud—erupted around him, swallowing him whole.
Bang!
Luo Zhen's massive blade shadow struck the cloud and vanished without a trace, absorbed like water into a sponge. Bai Susu's attacks fared slightly better, causing the cloud to rumble, but they failed to pierce the defense.
Bai Susu turned to Luo Zhen, urgency in her voice. "I have to fight him with everything I have. His cultivation is too high for you. You need to—"
She stopped.
The air behind Luo Zhen began to warp.
A pressure, ancient and malevolent, descended upon the ocean. Behind Luo Zhen, the fabric of reality seemed to tear, revealing a projection so massive it defied logic.
It was the Nine Infants—the Jiuying.
A nine-headed serpent of catastrophic proportions manifested in the void. Its body was a column of darkness connecting the sea to the sky, stretching beyond the horizon. Its nine heads were the size of mountain peaks, swaying high in the atmosphere, their eyes burning like hellfire.
"What... what kind of beast is that?" Bai Susu gasped, her mouth falling open. The sheer scale of the projection paralyzed her.
"Susu," Luo Zhen said, his voice calm amidst the rising energy. "Watch closely. Today, I show you that I can arm-wrestle an Emperor."
The mental command was given.
Behind him, three of the colossal snake heads reared back, their jaws unhinging.
As Luo Zhen's power had grown, so too had the capabilities of his summon. The Demon Shadow was no longer just a spectral image; it now possessed the strength of a Third-Level Emperor.
The three mouths opened, and the world turned gold.
Three torrents of concentrated golden energy vomited forth. In mid-air, they converged, spiraling into a single, devastating river of flame that roared toward the black Demon Cloud.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The impact was apocalyptic. It was as if a tactical nuke had detonated just above the water. The shockwave instantly vaporized millions of gallons of seawater, creating a vacuum that the ocean struggled to fill.
The thick, black Demon Cloud didn't stand a chance. The golden torrent shredded it, punching through the defense with contemptuous ease.
As the smoke cleared, Master Qingyang's face became visible for a split second. The arrogance was gone, replaced by pure, unadulterated terror.
BOOM!
The golden river swallowed him whole. His screams—"Ahhh! Ahhh!"—were brief, quickly drowned out by the roar of the explosion as the Sage was engulfed by the Dragon's wrath.