"Master!"
Huo Yuhao had just beamed with joy at his master's successful breakthrough.
The next second, his expression froze. His newly awakened Double Pupils, now at Silver Grade after his Second Awakening, contracted sharply.
The instant Gu Yuejin opened his eyes, before he could say a word, he sank straight down like a stone, without the slightest struggle, plunging deeper into the terrifying red-and-white vortex.
He didn't even leave a bubble.
"Master... has he gone mad from cultivation?!"
Huo Yuhao was horrified and instinctively prepared to jump in and save him.
"Stop, stop, stop! Yuhao, calm down! That's where the Extreme Heat Yang Spring and Extreme Cold Ice Spring meet. You'd be gone in an instant!"
In the Sea of Consciousness, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm hurriedly called out to stop him, its plump body twisting anxiously.
"What kind of person is your master? How could he possibly drown?"
"But..." Huo Yuhao still wasn't reassured.
"No buts."
Ice Empress snorted, her tone carrying a hint of "blind confidence" in Gu Yuejin, along with a trace of instinctive wariness:
"That guy's as cunning as a fox. He never does anything unless he's sure of it. If he dared to go down there, he must have some grand plan."
"And... do you feel it?"
Snow Empress, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke. Her usually cool voice held a rare note of gravity.
"Deep in this spring, there's an Aura that makes even me feel uneasy."
"He's... probably after whatever's down there."
Listening to the Spiritual Trio's analysis, Huo Yuhao finally forced himself to calm down and pulled back his outstretched foot.
He stood at the bank, staring at the surging spring water, his fists clenched tight.
"Master's challenging an even stronger being, and I... don't even qualify to watch?"
Get stronger!
He had to get stronger!
Meanwhile, deep beneath the spring water.
Gu Yuejin rapidly descended, enduring immense pressure strong enough to crush steel.
Just as Snow Empress had said, he had a clear goal: the true source of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eyes, where the Water Dragon King and Fire Dragon King had fallen.
As soon as he had descended a hundred meters, a desolate, ancient, and supremely domineering pressure surged toward him.
It was Dragon Might.
Pure, supreme Dragon Might from the ancient dragon race, carrying the fading radiance of divinity.
"Crack, crack..."
The bones throughout Gu Yuejin's body gave a faint series of pops under the pressure.
Before, even as a Seven-Ring Soul Saint, he would have had to think twice before facing pressure of this magnitude. His blood vessels might even have burst under it.
But now—
"Just what I wanted!"
A brilliant gleam flashed in Gu Yuejin's eyes, and the corners of his mouth even curled into a look of enjoyment.
He had just swallowed the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, Narcissus Jade Bone, and Earth Dragon Golden Melon in great haste. Their terrifying medicinal power had accumulated inside him without fully dissolving, leaving him painfully swollen with energy.
This mountain-like Dragon Might was now the finest of forging hammers.
With every squeeze, it pounded that wild medicinal power deep into his marrow and flesh, making his "Golden Body" more and more refined.
"No wonder the plants above were able to cultivate for a hundred thousand years. Bathed in divine Dragon Might every day, even a pig could become an immortal."
He continued descending.
Three hundred meters, five hundred meters...
The pressure around him increased exponentially.
It felt as if he were walking through the deep sea with two mountains on his back. Every inch of skin cried out, and every muscle trembled.
An ordinary Titled Douluo would have been crushed into a meat pie by now.
"Interesting, but still not enough."
Boom—
Brilliant golden light burst from every pore in his body.
His Body Martial Soul erupted in full!
This time, it wasn't simply Soul Power coating his body. It was his "Golden Body," reforged by five Immortal Herbs, manifesting in full. He looked like a divine statue cast from gold.
The once-dark waters instantly turned golden.
The surrounding, churning ice-and-fire spring water violently roiled at the touch of the golden light, like boiling water, then was forcibly pushed aside!
Golden light shielded him; all laws could not touch him.
Like an unstoppable golden meteor, Gu Yuejin tore through the darkness and plunged straight into the abyss.
At last.
After descending for who knew how long, the ground vanished beneath him.
He passed through the final barrier and entered a vast, gloomy underground space.
The space was astonishingly huge, like a world apart from the outside.
When Gu Yuejin saw what lay before him, his pupils still contracted slightly, despite his being prepared.
The sight was simply too overwhelming.
There were two skeletons.
One was icy white all over, crystalline as jade, and exuded a chill that could freeze space and time;
The other was scarlet as fire, seemingly carved from rubies, and burned with eternal flames.
They coiled around each other, head to tail, forming an enormous Taiji symbol.
They were enormous.
A rough estimate put each dragon's bones at over a thousand meters long!
Though only bones remained, the terrifying aura rushing toward him still made it hard to breathe and sent tremors through his soul.
"So these are the first-generation Dragon Kings... the Water Dragon King and Fire Dragon King."
Gu Yuejin hovered before the two giant dragons, as insignificant as a speck of dust.
Compared to these two giants, even Mu En's Bright Sacred Dragon, belonging to the strongest Soul Master of the present day, was nothing special.
These were the true rulers of the dragon race, the Dragon God's right and left hands. Beneath the divine level, all were ants.
Near the heads of the two skeletons,
a fist-sized mass of glowing flame hovered above each one.
One was scarlet, pulsing with raging fire; the other was icy white, radiating an eternal chill.
They writhed and flickered, like two torches that would never go out, burning in this dark underground for countless ages.
The terrifying Dragon Might came from them.
With every step Gu Yuejin took toward them, the golden light around him wavered more violently.
If he hadn't just eaten a whole "Immortal Herb buffet" and pushed his physical strength to a freakish level, the lingering Dragon Might would have torn him to pieces by now.
"It looks like only a wisp of each of their lingering will remains."
Gu Yuejin narrowed his eyes as he watched the two masses of light, a gleam flashing through his gaze.
If he could defeat them, or pass the trial of their final lingering wills, he could claim the Dragon Kings' legacy.
Dragon souls powerful enough to let anyone rise to the heavens in a single leap.
"Heh heh heh—"
Gu Yuejin couldn't help letting out the villain's trademark laugh.
"I never thought that even I, an Outerworld Sky Demon, would get to enjoy such a feast today."
"These are divine-level dragon souls! What a tonic!"
But the very next second, he seemed to realize something. He hastily coughed twice, stopping his villainous laughter.
His expression turned solemn, and he instantly switched into "righteous and noble" mode.
"Ahem..."
"I, Gu Yuejin, am a righteous True Body Soul Master. How could I stoop to such wicked conduct as taking advantage of the helpless and devouring souls?"
He bowed slightly to the two skeletons, his face full of compassion.
"You two seniors have lain exposed in the wilderness for so many years. You must be lonely... and cold."
"This unworthy junior has come to help you two... rest in peace."
"And, while I'm at it, inherit your legacies."
Having convinced himself, Gu Yuejin didn't hesitate any longer.
He flashed forward, straight toward the two Dragon Soul Origins, opening his hand to touch the two divine flames.
At the instant his fingertips were about to touch the glowing flames—
Boom!
The two masses of flame, which had been burning quietly, suddenly surged and transformed into two enormous phantom dragon heads.
Two ancient yet imperious roars erupted simultaneously in the depths of Gu Yuejin's soul, carrying boundless divine might.
"Brazen human!"
"How dare you defile the Dragon Kings' remains! Die!"
Before you continue