Three Bolts of Lightning Shatter the Dream of Becoming a Dragon

After receiving an invitation from Crown Prince Xue Qinghe with mixed feelings, Chen Ming hurriedly opened the box as soon as he entered his room. He held the fragment inside against his chest and carefully examined it from top to bottom.

But the moment he began inspecting it, Chen Ming was dumbfounded.

When he slowly injected Soul Power into it, the stone absorbed it without giving any response. When he slowly sent in his Spiritual Power, it absorbed that as well, again without any response.

If it were an inanimate object, Chen Ming could still vaguely sense an immeasurable amount of Life Force hidden within it.

But if it were alive, Chen Ming could not sense the most essential quality of a living being: "spirituality."

The spirituality inside this thing was probably only on the level of roadside Blue Silver Grass, far lower than the ornamental plants in his courtyard. Even some metal ores Chen Ming had seen before possessed more spirituality than this lump of debris.

After thinking it over, Chen Ming checked the surrounding area and, finding nothing else amiss, returned to the Quiet Room. Holding the fragment, he pressed his forehead against it and began trying to stir his own spirituality, hoping to observe the fragment's true nature through a method different from that of Douluo Continent Soul Masters.

Once, twice, three times...

Five times, ten times, twenty times...

He could not successfully stir his spirituality every time, and even when he did, the fragment showed no unusual reaction. It was not until Chen Ming had tried to the point of losing his composure, with impatience beginning to disturb his formerly calm mind, that the fragment, which had seemed like a dead object, finally reacted.

And at that moment, Chen Ming suddenly gained an insight.

"For spirituality, calmness is not necessarily always best. Perhaps emotions are also a valid direction for development."

The moment Chen Ming had that thought, he seemed to be pulled into another world. What appeared before him was a story that had once unfolded on this continent.

Who knew how many years ago, the heavens collapsed, and the dragons that had once resided in the Divine Realm fell onto the Douluo Continent.

The dragons' bodies shattered, and dragon blood soaked into the earth. While nourishing the land, it also gave rise to countless Dragon Blood Subspecies.

A dragon's body was a supreme treasure. A single dragon scale or a shred of flesh could completely transform a low-level Soul Beast.

After some dragons died, their Dragon Souls could still cling to their Dragon Pearls. Though their bodies were shattered, they could protect the Dragon Pearls, the most important thing to the Dragon Race, from harm. Yet for some reason, a very small number of dragons left behind not even a trace of Dragon Soul, while the Dragon Pearls within them, the most important thing to the Dragon Race, shattered along with their fall.

In that era, an azure dragon fell to the earth. Its body split apart, and its Dragon Pearl shattered. The scattered Dragon Qi and dragon blood transformed all things, causing a nest of centipedes that had originally possessed only a trace of Dragon Race bloodline to gain some traits of the Azure Dragon.

That nest of centipedes became the first generation of Azure Sky Jade Dragons.

After a brief period of time—or at least brief by a Soul Beast's standards—the bodies of the dragons that had originally been scattered across the continent were gathered by an unknown force. Only a few remnants remained, and few intact dragon corpses were left outside.

When dragons fell, all things flourished. An uncountable number of divine dragons had fallen upon the Douluo Continent. For ordinary Soul Beasts, it was nothing short of a heaven-sent blessing.

During that time, the Azure Sky Jade Dragon clan, having inherited part of the Azure Dragon's blood and Dragon Qi, devoured other Soul Beasts altered by dragon blood as well as the Dragon Race's remnants across the continent. This completely transformed their species, bringing them infinitely close to pure-blooded True Dragons.

But later, something happened that no Soul Beast had expected.

At some unknown point, a restriction appeared in the world that had once belonged to Soul Beasts. Once a Soul Beast's Soul Power broke through a certain threshold, lightning punishment filled with destructive power would descend from the heavens and reduce it to ashes. Only a few lucky ones survived.

And for some unknown reason, although there were quite a few Azure Sky Jade Dragons, not a single one could successfully overcome the lightning punishment. The Azure Sky Jade Dragon clan, originally born from the dragons' fall, was nearly wiped out by lightning, leaving behind only a small number of second- and third-generation dragons.

The remaining Azure Sky Jade Dragons reproduced slowly, and whenever they reached a certain level, they would be destroyed by lightning.

After an unknown span of time, just as the Azure Sky Jade Dragons were nearing extinction, a special newborn was born within the clan.

As Azure Sky Jade Dragons aged, the Dragon Qi within their bodies would increase and become purer, gradually bringing them closer to Azure Dragons. Only after ninety thousand years would their heads fully transform into dragon heads. Yet this newborn was born with a dragon head, and it possessed considerable intelligence from birth.

As this Azure Sky Jade Dragon grew older, unwilling to die beneath the Lightning Tribulation, it went to the Star Dou Great Forest to seek out the legendary Beast God Di Tian for a solution.

After causing a great disturbance, it found the legendary Beast God, the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian, deep within the Star Dou Great Forest. Yet when faced with its questions, the legendary Beast God refused to provide an answer. He merely told it to wait, saying that a solution might appear before long.

In the Azure Sky Jade Dragon's view, the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King must have looked down on trash like it, which had only luckily obtained True Dragon blood. It bore a grudge and secretly infiltrated the Star Dou Great Forest once more in search of a solution.

During its search, it discovered a type of Soul Beast called the Jade Swan. These Soul Beasts possessed powerful Life Force, perhaps enough to become its opportunity to break through the hundred-thousand-year threshold.

Thus, while all the ferocious-beast-level Soul Beasts had gathered beneath the Lake of Life for some unknown purpose, it ambushed and killed several Jade Swans close to a hundred thousand years old that had inexplicably gathered together. It escaped the Star Dou Great Forest under the siege of numerous Soul Beasts and hid in an utterly unremarkable little place.

After it refined the Life Force of several Jade Swans close to a hundred thousand years old, it condensed into a piece of metal about the size of a human pinky finger. This metal was exceedingly mysterious, brimming with seemingly endless Life Force.

Using that Life Force, it reversed the death attribute in its body into life. Yet although it had drawn even closer to the Azure Dragon, it had also come closer to the hundred-thousand-year threshold, as though it could sense that destructive aura at any moment.

Having gone this far, it went back to the place where it had been born and devoured every member of its clan, as well as every Soul Beast carrying its clan's bloodline. Then it returned to that little place and prepared to overcome the hundred-thousand-year Lightning Tribulation.

Only...

The hundred-thousand-year Lightning Tribulation it faced was unlike the tribulations faced by ordinary Soul Beasts. It was lightning that seemed nearly endless, devoid of all life and all limits, existing solely to destroy it.

An ordinary hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast's Lightning Tribulation lasted only several hours, while a rare few lasted nearly a full day. It had already prepared itself to endure three days and three nights of lightning, but in truth, only three bolts descended.

Space shattered, heaven and earth wailed, and all things lost their color. That was power on the level of the gods.

It was not a Lightning Tribulation any Soul Beast should have encountered. It left behind not even the slightest chance of survival—only pure destruction.

The first bolt shattered all the Soul Power and scales covering its body. It also shattered the near-ultimate life and death attributes, along with the deadly poison within it.

The second bolt reduced its body, nearly identical to that of an Azure Dragon, to ash, leaving a massive wound in the earth.

The third bolt descended and struck its Dragon Pill. Even with the Life Force provided by the Essence of Life Gold, its Dragon Soul completely dispersed. Its Dragon Pill fused with the Essence of Life Gold and fell to the ground like a meteor.

Three bolts of lightning shattered the Sky Blue Jade Dragon's dream of becoming a Divine Beast. At the moment death descended, it finally understood that it was merely one ant among countless others.

This era belonged to no Soul Beast.