Fierce Battle

Seeing Gulanxiu sent flying, the creature resembling an Armored Dragon Beast did not press its advantage. Instead, it watched him warily and spoke in a rumbling voice: "Human! The Blood Spirit Wasteland is no place for you. Leave now, and I will let bygones be bygones!"

By this time, Gulanxiu had already steadied himself. A glint of battle intent flashed in his eyes as he looked at the Armored Dragon Beast, and he said with a smile: "You want me to leave? Defeat me first!"

With that, he charged forward again, swinging his massive axe toward the Armored Dragon Beast.

Facing the onrushing Gulanxiu, the Armored Dragon Beast's eyes flickered with anger. It let out a low roar and swung its sharp claws to meet him.

Confronting this heavy, powerful strike, Gulanxiu's form flickered, and nearly a hundred afterimages appeared in the air. In an instant, he dodged the incoming claws and closed in on the Armored Dragon Beast.

His giant axe spun as he carved a large gash in the beast's belly, then swiftly retreated before its tail could whip around.

The Armored Dragon Beast roared in fury and gave chase, but its comprehension of the laws was far inferior to Gulanxiu's. He easily evaded its attacks while opening two more wounds on its body.

After a brief exchange, Gulanxiu had already gauged the Armored Dragon Beast's strength. In terms of realm, it was also a Domain Lord Level 9, matching Gulanxiu in his Heavy Metal Stym armor.

Of course, as a desolate beast, this Armored Dragon Beast possessed immense physical power—roughly five times that of an ordinary human. Its scales and claws were extremely tough. If it had faced anyone other than Gulanxiu, even a typical Domain Lord might not have been able to break through its defenses.

However, the beast's comprehension of the laws was mediocre. It had only grasped some aspects of the Gold Law, and with that level of insight, it couldn't even pass the third floor of the Sky Bridge.

That was to be expected. If its understanding were deeper, it would have already broken through to become a Realm Lord. As a native desolate beast of the Bloodfall Continent, it had no reason to suppress its level.

The vast gap in law comprehension between them ensured Gulanxiu's invincibility.

Of course, Gulanxiu didn't want to lose such a good sparring partner just yet. So he stepped forward again and continued fighting the beast.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" As the exchanges went on, Gulanxiu noticed that the beast's most powerful strike came from its tail hammer. Every time his axe clashed with that tail, he felt overpowered in terms of raw strength.

The Armored Dragon Beast's claws, however, only matched Gulanxiu's blows evenly. The fierce battle made his blood surge, filling him with a sense of exhilaration.

But just as Gulanxiu parried the beast's claws once more, a flicker of cunning appeared in its eyes. Blood-red patterns suddenly lit up on its hardened tail hammer, and its already terrifying power doubled in an instant as it smashed down toward Gulanxiu's head.

At that moment, Gulanxiu was still riding the thrill of battle. He noticed the red glow on the tail but paid it no mind, raising his axe to meet the blow.

"Boom!" Caught off guard, Gulanxiu was sent flying like a baseball.

The immense force shattered the bones in both his arms, and a searing pain shot through his entire body.

Gritting his teeth, Gulanxiu pulled out a fruit and stuffed it into his mouth. This fruit was called the Life Fruit, capable of instantly healing all physical injuries below the Immortal level. In the treasury, it cost one point for two. Before coming to the Bloodfall Continent, Gulanxiu had specifically bought ten of them.

A cool, life-giving energy coursed through his body, and his shattered arms began to mend rapidly.

Though the Armored Dragon Beast's law comprehension was lacking, its combat experience was decent—at least it knew to press the advantage. Seeing Gulanxiu injured, it charged after him quickly, shouting: "Damn human, die!"

With that, it swung its tail hammer, now glowing with blood-red secret patterns, toward Gulanxiu.

Gulanxiu's form flickered, leaving a trail of afterimages in the air as he narrowly dodged the terrifying blow.

The beast's killing strike missed, and its massive body tumbled forward under the immense inertia, crashing into the ground.

"Boom!" The earth shook, dust flew, and the sturdy ground of the Bloodfall Continent was blasted into a hundred-meter-wide crater.

If this had been an ordinary life-bearing planet, the destructive force of that single blow would have been enough to annihilate a large city in an instant.

By now, Gulanxiu's arms had fully recovered. But he was furious—a mere Domain Lord-level desolate beast had actually managed to wound him.

He admitted that he had been careless earlier, only thinking of practicing his techniques against the beast without intending to kill it quickly. He hadn't expected the beast to seize the opportunity and land a heavy hit.

Now, Gulanxiu was determined to finish this quickly. He charged forward again, shouting: "Second Axe!"

The giant axe in his hand suddenly expanded, and the space ahead seemed to freeze, trapping the Armored Dragon Beast in place. The air before the axe blade twisted slightly, leaving black cracks in its wake.

Facing this overwhelming strike, fear flickered in the Armored Dragon Beast's eyes. Even before the axe reached it, it could sense the terror of the blow.

The powerful binding force made it impossible to move, let alone use its tail—now fused with a Bloodfall Crystal—to block. It could only watch helplessly as the giant axe drew closer and closer, powerless to resist.

Finally, the axe cleaved into the Armored Dragon Beast's head. There was no earth-shattering roar, no violent shockwave. Like a wooden blade slicing through tofu, as Gulanxiu's axe passed through, the beast's body split in two and fell to either side.

Gulanxiu coldly regarded the bisected Armored Dragon Beast. To his surprise, two blood-red crystals lay inside its stomach sac.

With a wave of his hand, the two crystals flew into his palm. Feeling the mysterious power within them, Gulanxiu murmured to himself: "So these are Bloodfall Crystals?"

Suddenly, as if sensing something, Gulanxiu stowed the crystals away and raised his axe to strike the left half of the beast's body.

This wasn't an act of desecration. He had realized that the Armored Dragon Beast wasn't dead yet. His strike, though powerful, had only cleaved through its physical body without damaging its Core Nucleus.

For a Domain Lord, the most vital thing was the Life Core. Their soul resided within the Core Nucleus, while the body was merely flesh-and-blood energy.

That wasn't to say the body was unimportant. The soul still needed energy to sustain itself. Without the body's support, the soul within the Core Nucleus would soon fall into slumber.

In essence, the body and the Core Nucleus complemented each other. Like this Armored Dragon Beast, until it regenerated its physical form, it was completely helpless.