Dragon's Blood Stains the Rich Earth, Spirit Pearl Shines the Heavens

Donghua said nothing. He merely flicked his right arm in a casual gesture.

The flowing golden sleeve of the Pure Yang Daoist Robe draped over him swept across the void like a drifting cloud, or like a scar left upon the heavens, following this seemingly effortless motion.

Ao Qiu's pupils shrank to pinpricks. The attack appeared graceful and unhurried, yet it moved faster than thought itself, carrying with it an undeniable, majestic momentum!

His colossal draconic frame had no time to dodge. He could only rely on the formidable physical resilience of the dragon race to withstand the blow.

Boom—!

The golden sleeve, seemingly soft and light, struck his ten-thousand-zhang-long dragon body.

A dull thud rang out, as if hammering against primeval divine iron.

The next instant, Ao Qiu's protective divine light shattered on impact. The tough dragon scales at the point of contact instantly cracked into a web of fissures, emitting a grating crackle as they burst apart, revealing bloody flesh beneath.

An overwhelming force slammed into him, wrenching his head violently to the side!

Crack!

One of the majestic dragon horns atop his head, a symbol of power, snapped clean off, tumbling down with a trail of dim spiritual light!

"Argh—!"

Ao Qiu let out a roar mingled with searing pain and furious shock. His massive dragon body staggered under the force, rolling and crashing back down toward the place he had emerged from.

He struggled to lift his head, the broken horn sending stabbing agony through him. His scales were split all over, leaving him a battered, wretched sight.

The greed and disdain in his draconic eyes were gone, replaced only by horror and blazing rage.

Donghua still stood motionless in the void, slowly withdrawing his arm. The golden sleeve fell back into place, radiant with divine light, as if he had merely brushed away a speck of dust.

"Interesting."

Donghua hovered in the void, gazing at Ao Qiu, whose scales were merely cracked and whose horn was broken.

Though the Pure Yang Daoist Robe was primarily defensive, as a top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure with thirty-six layers of forbidden restrictions, even a casual strike from it was no weaker than a mid-grade offensive Innate Spiritual Treasure.

This crawling worm before him, though possessing the Magic Power of a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, had only the cultivation of the Taiyi Realm. To withstand such a blow without dying—merely suffering flesh wounds and a broken horn—meant the famed resilience of the dragon race's physique was indeed no empty boast.

"Thick-skinned and tough-fleshed, I suppose."

"My dragon horn! Die! Die, you ant!"

Staring at the broken horn lying on the ground, its spiritual light utterly extinguished, Ao Qiu's reason was instantly devoured by boundless ferocity and madness.

This was not merely a wound to his body—it was the cruelest trampling of his draconic dignity!

His ten-thousand-zhang dragon body coiled abruptly. A torrent of savage Baleful Intent, mingled with his surging Magic Power, erupted outward, plunging the surrounding ten thousand li into a dark, oppressive Dragon Domain.

Blood streamed from the broken horn, adding a grim and savage edge to his appearance.

His massive maw gaped wide, and he spat out his Natal Dragon Pearl—a murky yellow orb wreathed in the phantom shadows of towering mountains!

The moment the pearl appeared, it blazed with billions of rays of light. The Earth Spirit Law, heavy as an ancient divine mountain, poured forth from it, warping and collapsing the surrounding space under its extreme pressure.

"Die, you ant!"

Ao Qiu roared savagely. The murky yellow pearl, carrying the unstoppable force to crush stars and suppress the cosmos, transformed into a streak of yellow light and hurtled straight down toward Donghua's head!

Clang—!

Just as the earth-shattering pearl was about to strike Donghua, a deep, resonant bell toll rang out, freezing the incoming pearl in place—and freezing the clamorous heavens and earth as well.

Above Donghua's head, an ancient bell of dark azure, encircled by Dao patterns, materialized out of thin air. It was his companion Spiritual Treasure—the Jingyang Bell!

Unlike the Pure Yang Daoist Robe, which contained only the Pure Yang Law, the Jingyang Bell also held a thread of the Time Law.

Against a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal who likewise commanded a Law and had transcended the river of time, this thread might only serve as a brief hindrance, hardly deciding victory or defeat.

But against a Taiyi Realm dragon with nothing but brute force, it was more than enough!

Donghua's form flickered, and he appeared before the pearl. With a thought, the murky yellow orb fell into his palm.

His Divine Sense flowed like water into the pearl, piercing through the dragon qi that masked its surface, reaching its inner core. It was a naturally formed Innate Spiritual Treasure, forcibly branded with a draconic imprint, its origin sullied.

A sharp gleam flashed in Donghua's eyes, finally settling into a look of enlightened admiration.

As expected of a technique created by the Ancestral Dragon, a Golden Immortal of the Origin—to use a Spiritual Treasure as a foundation and refine it into a Natal Dragon Pearl! Brilliant, truly brilliant!

Every dragon could nurture a Natal Dragon Pearl, which possessed remarkable uses and was often kept as a trump card.

This dragon before him was fortunate indeed—he had actually refined an Innate Spiritual Treasure into his pearl.

With a wave of his hand, Donghua directly purified the pearl, revealing the Spiritual Treasure's true form.

"Ah—!"

Ao Qiu let out a heart-wrenching scream. The pearl was tightly bound to his soul, and Donghua's forcible severance of that connection was like hacking away a piece of his Divine Soul!

Agony drowned out every thought. The arrogance in his eyes vanished without a trace, replaced by nothing but primal terror.

His massive dragon body twisted violently. Without a moment's hesitation, he plunged straight into the earth, fleeing headlong toward the depths of the land veins without looking back!

For someone like him, possessing one Innate Spiritual Treasure could be called a stroke of fortune.

But to possess two at once meant either he was a mighty being of vast supernatural power capable of intimidating all around him, or he had a teacher behind him whom no one dared to provoke.

Spiritual Treasures could be found again—but there was only one life. Ao Qiu burrowed downward with all his might.

Donghua's right hand curled slightly, and he made a gentle grasping motion toward the earth below.

The hard veins of the earth's crust were as nothing beneath his palm; the ten-thousand-zhang dragon body that had already burrowed deep within was yanked out by an invisible, colossal force!

Ao Qiu felt the space around him solidify, and in the next moment, the world spun as he was hurled into midair.

He hastily coiled his dragon body, all arrogance gone, his dragon head lowered and his voice trembling:

"Forgive me, Senior! This little dragon spoke recklessly, failing to recognize a true mountain! I beg you to spare my life!"

"Karma clings to you, blind to the will of heaven—this calamity was fated." Donghua's gaze was calm as still water.

"Since a cause has been sown, the fruit must be reaped."

Donghua pressed two fingers together like a sword and pointed them faintly at Ao Qiu's brow.

A flash of Pure Yang Immortal Light passed, and Ao Qiu's dragon eyes instantly dimmed. Before he could make any reaction, his Divine Soul and true spirit were utterly erased.

Donghua did not destroy his dragon body; after all, this was a dragon at the peak of the Taiyi realm. With a little refinement, it could yield a Houtian Spirit Treasure.

Profound yellow qi swirled in Donghua's palm, and the treasure that Ao Qiu had mistakenly refined as a dragon pearl finally revealed its true form—the Earth Spirit Pearl.

This treasure contained thirty-five Innate Restrictions, making it a genuine high-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure.

More crucially, this pearl was not a solitary existence; it was one piece of a set of Innate Spirit Pearls.

If one could gather the corresponding Metal, Wood, Water, and Fire Spirit Pearls, they could set up the Lesser Five Elements Innate Grand Formation.

Though this formation could not match the Innate Five Elements Grand Formation, which was laid with the Innate Five Directions Banners as its foundation and stole the very creation of heaven and earth, it was still a top-tier trapping and killing formation in the primordial wilderness.

Once the five spirit pearls formed the array, even a Golden Immortal of the Origin trapped within would find it difficult to escape.

Most importantly, compared to the elusive Innate Five Directions Banners, each with its own master, the hope of gathering the Five Elements Spirit Pearls was undoubtedly far greater.

Donghua flicked his sleeve and put away the floating Earth Spirit Pearl. His gaze, as placid as an ancient well, finally fell upon the true target of this journey—the gently swaying Innate Spirit Root.