Attempt

Zhong Shenxiu had not lied. He really did have something to do.

Even as Gu Yue chattered nonstop beside him, Zhong Shenxiu did not slow down and headed straight back to the dormitory.

Gu Yue followed behind him, going on about their weekend plans. "Are you really not going to consider it? That newly opened Soul Beast-themed restaurant—apparently, their signature dish uses hundred-year Soul Beast meat. It's limited, and if we get there late, it'll be gone..."

Zhong Shenxiu did not answer.

"And that bookstore—the owner said they received a batch of rubbings from ancient dragon clan documents. They aren't originals, but they'd still be very helpful for researching dragon history..."

Zhong Shenxiu's steps paused briefly, but he ultimately did not turn back.

Gu Yue watched his back disappear through the dormitory entrance. She stood where she was and let out a soft sigh.

A trace of complicated emotion flickered through her black eyes.

Of course, she knew Zhong Shenxiu would not go.

She simply... wanted an excuse to stay by his side a little longer.

The feeling was strange.

As the Silver Dragon King, she had once looked down upon all living things and surveyed the world with disdain. Over hundreds of thousands of years, she had seen far too many people and events, long since losing interest in everything beneath the heavens.

Yet Gu Yue could not help wanting to get closer to him.

After a long while, Gu Yue withdrew her gaze from Zhong Shenxiu, who had entered the dormitory building without the slightest hesitation, then turned and left.

She had things of her own to do as well.

Zhong Shenxiu entered the dormitory and locked the door behind him.

The dormitory was empty.

Wang Hao and Zhao Tiezhu's beds were spotless, their blankets folded into neat, standard squares. Ever since they had taken over all the dormitory cleaning, this had become their habit before going home every weekend. In a sense, being able to stay away from a murderous fiend like Zhong Shenxiu was entirely something worth celebrating.

Zhong Shenxiu did not care in the least.

He walked over to his bed and sat cross-legged.

The room was quiet, with only the occasional sound of wind drifting in from outside the window.

The lingering light of sunset filtered through the glass, casting a warm orange glow across the floor.

Zhong Shenxiu slowly closed his eyes.

His breathing gradually became long and steady.

His awareness began to sink, and sink, as though plunging into an endless deep sea—

When he opened his eyes again, he was already standing in another world.

Dragon Fighting Space.

Endless starry skies stretched overhead. Hundreds of millions of stars formed a vast galaxy that slowly revolved, spilling down soft silvery-white light. There was no ground, no ceiling—only profound darkness and eternally twinkling stars.

Four hundred-meter-tall statues floated in the four directions of the starry sky, like guardian gods that had existed since time immemorial.

To the east stood the East Sun King Dragon, golden from head to toe, its scales like molten sunlight-gold. It held a massive bow, its posture proud and soaring, as though it could pierce the heavens with an arrow at any moment.

To the west stood the Luo Sea God Dragon. Its deep blue scales resembled crystals from the ocean floor, and it wore a cloak formed from waves. A Giant Cannon rested on its back, its expression solemn yet compassionate.

To the south stood the Overlord God Dragon. Its earthy yellow scales were thick and heavy as mountains, its muscles bulging. Holding a shield and raising its head, it gave a silent roar.

To the north stood the Heavenly Mountain King Dragon, immense and blue-green, thin mist curling around its body. It held a staff, wore a Divine Sword at its waist, and looked down in thought.

Behind the four God King Dragons, twelve Star Dragon Statues stood arrayed in every direction—Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Shui Ping, and Pisces—each radiating a uniquely majestic aura.

Zhong Shenxiu floated amid the stars, quietly looking at those statues.

Nine years.

From the moment he had transmigrated and been reborn, he had fought, battled, and died alongside these beings in the Dragon Fighting World. He had gone through countless cycles and countless rebirths.

He remembered the terror he had felt when first facing the Aries Star Dragon.

He remembered the wild elation of defeating the Taurus Star Dragon for the first time.

He remembered the despair of being torn apart by the Leo Star Dragon for the first time.

He also remembered the madness when he stood before the Black Death Dragon for the last time and watched that Giant Dragon, which embodied darkness and destruction, collapse before him...

There had been no excitement, no joy. Only the exhaustion of it was finally over.

Then he had become the Plane Master of the Dragon Fighting World.

Those dragon clans that had once fought him to the death within his dreams now existed only as remnant souls, sealed within the statues.

His duty was to use energy to activate the plane and gradually revive them.

Zhong Shenxiu drifted toward the central altar.

The altar was badly dilapidated, its stone slabs covered in cracks as if they might collapse at any moment.

Yet directly above it floated a fist-sized crystal, emitting a faint glow.

It was the core of the Dragon Fighting World.

Zhong Shenxiu landed on the altar and pulled a large bag of palm-sized metal blocks from the simple storage Soul Tool at his waist.

Soul Guidance Batteries.

He had bought them with the money he had saved over the past few months by making basic Soul Tools, after deducting his food expenses.

In Zhong Shenxiu's view, although the Eternal Myriad Dragon Source Art cultivated at an astonishing speed and could even operate on its own without pause to temper his bloodline, using that method to slowly pour Soul Power into the crystal and nourish those slumbering dragon souls would take at least a thousand years, perhaps eight hundred, before the crystal's first stage could be activated.

He could not wait that long.

Soul Beasts were nearing extinction in this world. Obtaining energy by hunting Soul Beasts was nearly impossible. Going to the Spirit Ascension Platform? The cost was astronomical, far beyond what an ordinary student like him could afford.

But what about Soul Guidance Batteries?

These consumables were mass-produced by Soul Tool factories to power all kinds of Soul Tools. Although the energy they contained was far inferior to a Soul Ring from a Soul Beast of the same rank, they were cheap, abundant, and could be acquired continuously.

If energy storage items like Soul Guidance Batteries could provide energy to the crystal, then even if the conversion efficiency was low, it meant he had found a viable path—a path that traded money for time.

This was an experiment.

Zhong Shenxiu placed the Soul Guidance Batteries in his hand onto the altar. He picked one up and brought it close to the floating crystal.

The crystal seemed to sense something. Its faint glow flickered slightly, like an instinctive craving.

He pressed the battery against the crystal's surface.

The next instant, a pulling force emerged from the crystal.

The pull was not strong, but it carried an overbearing force that could not be resisted—like a desert dry for hundreds of millions of years finally receiving a drop of water. That craving, that greed, that nearly mad urge to seize it all.

The Soul Power energy inside the battery drained away at a visible rate.

Three seconds.

Only three seconds.

The fully charged Soul Guidance Battery completely lost its luster and became a worthless piece of scrap metal.

The crystal's glow, meanwhile, seemed to have grown just a little brighter than before.

Only a little.

It was negligible. If Zhong Shenxiu had not been staring at it the entire time, he would not have noticed at all.

But he noticed.

The corners of his lips rose slightly.

It would work.

As that thought flashed through his mind, a light almost resembling... hope appeared in those pale golden vertical pupils for the first time.

Zhong Shenxiu did not stop. He took out the remaining Soul Guidance Batteries one by one and repeated the same process.

One.

Two.

Three.