CHAPTER 43 — "WHEN THE SPEAR HOLDS THE SKY"
The battlefield had stopped being a battlefield.
It was a ruin.
Cracked earth.Burned trees.Blood sinking into soil that no longer remembered peace.
The Ironclad Dreadwyrm loomed above them, chest heaving, scales scorched and fractured, rage pouring out of it in waves so heavy they pressed against the lungs.
It was wounded.
But wounded beasts were the most dangerous.
Only three still stood.
Chen Wulian — barely upright, legs shaking, blood dripping freely from his chin, armor crushed inward.Ling Yifan — spear trembling, ribs screaming, breath shallow, eyes frighteningly clear.Ouyang Xue'er — frost aura pulled tight, restrained to a knife's edge, silent and focused.
Behind them—
Long Hao knelt, one hand pressed into the shattered ground, vision flickering, breath uneven.
And behind him—
The injured.
Jin Roulan.Bai Qianlan supporting her.The others barely conscious.
They couldn't move.
They couldn't run.
Chen wiped blood from his eyes and laughed.
Not loudly.
Not bravely.
Just… honestly.
"…Okay," he said hoarsely."Enough dancing."
Ling Yifan glanced sideways.
"You have something."
Chen nodded.
"Yeah."
He coughed, red splattering the dirt.
"Something stupid."
He pointed—weakly, but deliberately—at the dragon's chest.
"When it charges," he said, voice steady despite everything,"the throat scales separate. Just for a moment."
Ling Yifan understood instantly.
"…I'll need time."
Chen's grin widened.
"I know."
There was no hesitation when he stepped forward.
No speech.No dramatic pause.
Just a captain doing what a captain does.
Every muscle screamed.Every instinct begged him to stop.
But Chen didn't retreat.
"CAPTAIN CHEN WULIAN," he roared, voice ripping through the air,"CHALLENGES YOU!"
The Dreadwyrm reacted instantly.
Insulted.
Enraged.
It charged.
BOOOOOOM—!
The impact crushed Chen into the ground.
Stone exploded.Shockwaves tore outward.
Bones cracked audibly.
Blood sprayed.
And yet—
Chen didn't fly back.
Didn't break away.
He dug his heels in and held.
Even as the ground collapsed beneath him.
Even as pain erased the edges of his vision.
"…Move," he snarled at himself."…Just a little more."
The dragon pressed harder.
Chen laughed again—broken, furious.
"…You're not… getting past me."
The Dreadwyrm's pupils narrowed.
It's chest expanded.
The air warped.
Ling Yifan felt it instantly.
"…No," he whispered.
Heat gathered in the dragon's throat—far denser than before, compressed to the point that the air screamed.
This wasn't a strike.
It was extermination.
Chen's eyes widened.
"EVERYONE—!"
Too late.
The dragon opened its maw.
A torrent of incandescent dragon breath erupted—white-hot, roaring, wide enough to engulf the entire clearing.
Not aimed at one person.
Aimed at all of them.
At the wounded.At the fallen.At everyone behind the line.
Ouyang froze.
Bai screamed.
Long Hao tried to stand—and failed.
And Ling Yifan stepped forward.
He didn't think.
He didn't hesitate.
He moved.
Ling Yifan planted his spear into the ground and turned his back to the team.
"Behind me," he said.
Not shouted.
Stated.
The dragon breath hit.
LING YIFAN TAKES IT ALL
Fire consumed him.
Not metaphorically.
Actually.
The blast slammed into his body like a collapsing sun.
His clothes burned instantly.His skin blistered.His bones screamed.
The ground beneath him melted.
Ling Yifan dug his heels in and did not move.
His spear vibrated violently, screaming in protest as he poured everything he had into it—control, discipline, will sharpened over a lifetime.
Blood burst from his mouth.
His ribs shattered further.
Something inside him tore.
But the fire did not pass him.
It stopped.
Split.
Diverted upward and outward, scorching the sky instead of the people behind him.
Chen stared, disbelief cutting through pain.
"…He's shielding us."
Ouyang's hands trembled.
Bai covered her mouth, tears burning.
Ling Yifan's knees bent.
But he did not fall.
Something snapped.
Not his body.
Something deeper.
The limit he had respected for years.
The ceiling he had never once crossed.
Ling Yifan's vision sharpened until the world became lines and vectors.
His spear stopped trembling.
It sang.
The air screamed as energy compressed impossibly tight around the weapon.
Gold light fractured—
And turned white-blue, carrying a pressure that made the dragon recoil.
Even Long Hao felt it.
His eyes widened.
"…He broke through."
The system pulsed faintly inside Long Hao.
Not reacting to him—
But to Ling Yifan.
The spear lifted.
Ling Yifan exhaled once.
Slow.
Controlled.
"I will not let you burn them," he said quietly.
Then—
He moved.
The spear carved forward.
Not fast.
Not slow.
Perfect.
DIVINE SKILL — SKY-SPLITTING SPEAR: HEAVEN'S AXIS
The attack didn't explode.
It didn't roar.
It cut reality.
A line of absolute intent tore through the dragon breath, through scales, through resistance itself, carving a glowing gash across the Dreadwyrm's chest.
The dragon screamed.
A real scream.
Ling Yifan collapsed to one knee immediately after, blood pouring freely now, but the damage was done.
The dragon staggered.
Its breathing broke.
And—
Its throat scales separated.
Chen laughed weakly through broken ribs.
"…There," he rasped."…That's the moment."
Ling Yifan lifted his head, eyes blazing despite the blood.
"NOW!"
Long Hao forced himself upright.
His eyes glowed faintly as information aligned.
"…Three degrees left," he said calmly."Strike through the third frost node."
Ouyang Xue'er inhaled.
Stepped forward.
No fear.
No hesitation.
Her frost bloomed—not violently, but beautifully.
Controlled.
Divine.
"Frostbound Heaven: Silent Bloom."
A single spear of absolute cold formed.
She released it.
The frost pierced the exposed core.
No explosion.
No roar.
The Ironclad Dreadwyrm froze mid-motion.
Cracks spread.
Its eyes dimmed.
Then—
SHATTER.
The massive body collapsed into crystalline fragments, dissolving into light.
Ling Yifan dropped fully to the ground, spear embedded deep beside him.
Chen laughed from the crater, coughing blood.
"…Told you," he rasped."…Stupid plan."
Ouyang Xue'er stood still, frost fading, breathing steady.
Long Hao exhaled.
The system quieted.
[Unsealing Stable at 28%.]
Silence followed.
Then Chen grinned weakly.
"…Hero of the day goes to Spear Guy."
Ling Yifan smiled faintly—then passed out.
Bai rushed forward.
Ouyang looked at Ling Yifan, then at Long Hao.
"…We won."
Long Hao nodded.
"…Barely."
The island fell silent once more.
But now—
It remembered their names.
For a brief moment—
The island felt quiet.
Not hostile.
Almost respectful.
Then—
THUUUUUUUM.
The sound hit them like a hammer.
Deeper.Heavier.Closer.
[CHAPTER ENDS]