Meanwhile, in the Battle Through the Heavens Plane.
East Dragon Island, outer patrol camp.
"Crack! Crunch!"
A teeth-grating chewing sound rang out.
Di Tian, clad in Purple Gold Void Dragon Armor and built like a tower, was crouched in a corner of the stable, clutching a watermelon-sized fruit wreathed in a crimson flame-like glow. He was devouring it with juice running down his chin.
It was a Red Flame Dragon Fruit, a premium feed used to nourish the elders' mounts in the Ancient Void Dragon Clan.
But in Di Tian's eyes, it was a peerless divine medicine!
"Burp!"
After polishing off the fruit, Di Tian let out a satisfied belch. A wisp of purple dragon breath, threaded with spatial fissures, puffed from his mouth.
Boom!
The aura within him surged once more, smashing straight through that thin barrier!
Feeling the surging power within him, Di Tian casually wiped the fruit juice from the corner of his mouth. Wild light gleamed in his purple, slit-pupiled eyes.
"This life is simply heavenly!"
"Back in the Star Dou Forest, I had to sleep for tens of thousands of years just to absorb a little energy from heaven and earth!"
"Here, I sneak a couple of pieces of feed while tending the horses every day, and I can break through three levels in a row!"
Di Tian had long since been reborn.
His true form, the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, had completely evolved into a Purple Gold Void Flood Dragon.
He still wasn't a pure-blooded ancient dragon, but he already possessed a portion of the authority over the void.
His dragon claws were sharper, able to tear through space with ease;
His scales were incredibly hard, and even a divine skill from the Douluo Continent would only throw off a few sparks.
More importantly, he had learned how to get by.
"Hey, Little Tian, stealing feed again?"
Just then, a teasing voice rang out.
A young man with a pair of gray dragon horns sauntered over, looking like a bit of a hoodlum.
He slung an arm around Di Tian's shoulders and said familiarly, "If the steward catches you, don't be surprised if he docks half a month's worth of Dragon Blood Pills."
The young man was named Gu Li, a low-ranking patrol guard on East Dragon Island. He was also the big brother Di Tian had gotten to know quite well lately.
"Heh, Brother Li, you're joking."
Di Tian immediately put on a fawning smile and deftly pulled a jug of liquor from his robes.
He'd traded some old dragon scales he'd shed for it at the market: Fire Cloud Brew.
"I was just hungry."
"Come on, Brother Li, try some. I just traded for it yesterday. It's got quite a kick!"
Gu Li took the jug and gulped down a mouthful, smacking his lips in satisfaction. "At least you know how to behave."
"Sure, you came from some backwater place called Douluo, but you've got more sense than those blockheads in the clan."
The two squatted beside the stable, drinking and bragging.
After a few rounds, Gu Li suddenly lowered his voice and leaned close to Di Tian's ear, all mysterious. "Hey, Little Tian, don't say your big brother doesn't look out for you."
"I recently got an inside tip. Interested in pulling off a big score?"
A big score?
Di Tian's eyes lit up at once, his purple slit pupils narrowing to pinpricks. "Brother Li, tell me! Are we stealing spirit herbs from the northern island, or hunting Void Thunder Beasts?"
"Just say the word, and this hide of mine is yours to use as a shield!"
"Get out of here. Steal spirit herbs? That's beneath us."
Gu Li rolled his eyes. Then his expression turned solemn, and he pointed toward a spot deep in the void. "It's a Dragon Tomb."
"A couple of days ago, the spatial turbulence went berserk, and an ancient cave hidden in a rift in space came to light."
"Reliable sources say it's the resting place of an ancient wandering Ancient Void Dragon at the Half-Saint level!"
A Half-Saint?!
Di Tian shuddered, and the jug in his hand nearly slipped to the ground.
A tomb belonging to a Half-Saint-level ancient dragon?
How many treasures would be inside?
"Brother Li, does a nobody like us really qualify to enter a tomb of that level?"
Di Tian swallowed, feeling a little uneasy.
"If it were an intact Half-Saint's tomb, of course we wouldn't get a look in. The elders would've cleared everyone out already."
Gu Li chuckled, greed flashing in his eyes. "But the spatial storm wrecked this tomb pretty badly, splitting it into several regions."
"We can't get into the core area, but the elders don't care about the broken spaces on the outskirts. That leaves them for patrol guards like us!"
"Think about it—it's the tomb of a Half-Saint!"
"Even if we just pick up a broken piece of Saint-tier dragon bone, or a drop of dried Saint-tier essence blood—"
"Then the two of us breaking through will be a sure thing! We might even have a shot at reaching Dou Sheng someday!"
Dou Sheng!
The words seemed to hold magic, instantly setting a wild hope ablaze in Di Tian's heart.
Although he wasn't weak by the standards of the Battle Qi Continent, in the Ancient Void Dragon Clan he was still just a gatekeeper.
If he could break through to Dou Sheng, he could become a full-fledged member!
He could become a true Dragon Guard!
He might even have territory of his own!
"Brother Li! I'm in!"
Di Tian sprang to his feet, his Purple Gold scales clattering crisply. "It's just an expedition, right? My strength may be low, but my eyes are especially sensitive to spatial fluctuations."
"I can scout ahead! I can look for traps!"
"As long as you toss your little brother a sip of soup while you're eating the meat, I'll be happy!"
"Ha ha ha! Good!"
Gu Li gave Di Tian's shoulder a hearty slap. "I like that ruthlessness!"
"Go back and get ready. Bring your gear."
"Midnight. We'll meet at the Void Lightning Pool."
"There are two other brothers coming along. The four of us will form a Grave Robbing Squad and make a killing in that Half-Saint's tomb!"
Meanwhile, on the Douluo Continent, in the Star Dou Forest.
"Gulp—"
Watching Di Tian on the screen, his face flushed with excitement at the prospect of robbing a tomb, Xiong Jun swallowed hard.
"A Half-Saint's tomb..."
"Picking up a bone could let you break through?"
"Picking up a drop of blood could help you reach that Dou Sheng thing?"
Xiong Jun turned to Gu Yuena beside him, unable to hide the longing in his voice. "My Queen."
"We've guarded the Dragon God Ruins for all these years, and it feels like we haven't gotten anything out of it..."
"Look at him. He just goes out for a stroll, digs up a tomb, and gets a Half-Saint's opportunity."
Gu Yuena had gone completely numb by now.
Watching Di Tian make himself right at home, living it up like a carefree rascal, she couldn't summon the slightest bit of anger. All she felt was deep envy.
"Indeed..."
Gu Yuena gave a bitter laugh and looked at the broken Dragon God Scale in her hand.
She had once treasured it like a priceless jewel.
Now, it looked like a broken roof tile.
"Lord Dragon God, it's not that we aren't loyal."
"It's just that the treatment over there is too good."
"Even a blockhead like Di Tian gets to rob a Half-Saint's tomb..."
"If I went over there..."
Unbidden, an image rose in Gu Yuena's mind: using her spatial talent to rampage through that Half-Saint's tomb, snatching every treasure in sight.
Too tempting.
The scene shifted above the Sky Screen.
The Void Lightning Pool, midnight.
Di Tian carried a Sixth-tier Magic Core greatsword he'd traded for with Deep Sea Heavy Silver. Following Gu Li, he met up with two other Ancient Dragon Clan warriors.
The four-man team slipped into the raging spatial turbulence like ghosts.
Di Tian walked at the front. His Purple Gold slit pupils gave off an eerie glow as they swept constantly across the spatial fissures around them.
"Brother Li! Three o'clock to the left! There are signs of folded space! That's the entrance!"
"Brother Li! Watch your step! Those are Void Thunder Beast droppings. They're poisonous!"
"Brother Li! I can smell it! There's a Seventh-tier Dragon Blood Grass hidden in that floating meteor ahead!"
Di Tian was astonishingly professional, like a born guide to the void!
At that moment, he was no longer the Beast God of Douluo.
He was the Ancient Void Dragon Clan's East Dragon Island branch's first-ever Gold-Touching Captain: Di Tian!
Watching him swim through the spatial turbulence as easily as a fish in water, the Soul Beasts of the entire Douluo Continent wept with envy.
How was this an expedition?
This was picking up money!
Battle Through the Heavens Plane, deep within the spatial turbulence, on the outskirts of the Broken Half-Saint Tomb.
A dead, silver silence surrounded them. Countless spatial storms, each powerful enough to tear a Dou Zun expert apart with ease, darted around them like fish.
"Watch your step. Don't tread on the Void Moss."
Walking at the front, Gu Li casually cast out a spatial barrier to block a gust of fierce wind. Then he turned and warned them in a low voice, "This moss may look harmless, but once it touches you, it'll cling to your bones and drain the Dou Qi from your body. Even a Dou Zun wouldn't dare mess with it lightly."
Hearing this, Di Tian hurriedly pulled back the claw he'd just stretched out, hoping to pry off a piece of moss for study.
"Good grief, even moss can drain a Dou Zun dry?"
"This place is way too dangerous!"
Di Tian swallowed, his Purple Gold slit pupils straining to their limits as he watched the fluctuations in every inch of space around them.
The four-man team was walking along a narrow, suspended path paved with broken meteorites.
Besides their leader, Gu Li, the other two members were Gu Meng, a burly man responsible for taking hits, and Gu Ling, a nimble fighter responsible for covering their flank.
As the only transfer student from another world, Di Tian had been placed in the middle of the formation.
His job was to scout ahead with his mutated Void Divine Pupil.
"Stop!"
Di Tian suddenly shouted. His dragon tail wrapped tightly around a jutting rock, forcing him to a halt.
"What's wrong? Why are you making such a fuss?" Gu Meng grumbled, his heavy hammer itching for a fight.
"The road ahead is broken."
A fine sheen of cold sweat beaded on Di Tian's forehead as he pointed at the seemingly level path. "My eyes can see that the space there has been folded!"
"That isn't a road. It's a spatial meat grinder."
"If you take one step onto it, your body will be teleported to three different coordinates at once and torn apart!"
"What?!"
Gu Li was startled. He hurried forward and shot a probing stream of Dou Qi toward the spot Di Tian had indicated.
Zzt!
The moment the Dou Qi touched it, it was like a piece of tofu tossed into a rapidly spinning propeller. It was shredded into nothingness in an instant, without even a scrap left!
"Yikes, that was close!"
Gu Meng's face turned deathly pale. He instinctively touched his neck.
If Di Tian hadn't called a halt, he'd probably have ended up with his head on East Dragon Island and his feet on West Dragon Island.
"Not bad, kid! You've got something!"
Gu Li gave Di Tian's shoulder a hearty slap, genuine admiration showing in his eyes for the first time. "You spotted even a hidden spatial-folding trap like that at a glance? Those eyes of yours were made for tomb robbing!"
"Heh, you flatter me, Brother Li. I got lucky, that's all."
Di Tian smiled modestly, but inside he was howling, "Lucky my ass! I was the boss of the Star Dou Forest for hundreds of thousands of years. Maybe I don't have any other skills, but the instinct to stay alive is carved into my bones!"
At last, after avoiding the deadly trap, the team entered the first layer of the tomb.
The place was full of crumbling walls and floating colossal skeletons.
"Damn, another outer section."
—
Gu Li kicked aside a thigh-thick white bone glowing faintly at his feet, his face full of disdain. "These are the bones of the attendant magical beasts buried with that Half-Saint. It's been thousands of years, and most of their energy has dissipated. They'd make lousy firewood—the smoke would be awful."
With that, Gu Li and the other two didn't spare the bones a second glance. They headed straight for the depths.
But after they'd gone a few steps, Di Tian lingered behind like a thief.
Trembling, he picked up the discarded bone Gu Li had kicked away.
Hum!
The moment he held it, Di Tian felt a stream of pure earth-origin energy, so dense it nearly suffocated him, flow from his palm into his body!
"T-this is the leg bone of a peak Seventh-tier Earth Violent Bear!"
"Most of its energy has dissipated? This clearly still holds energy equivalent to at least a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone!"
"Lousy firewood?!"
Di Tian's heart bled. These Ancient Void Dragons were truly wasting a heaven-sent treasure!
If this thing were taken back to Douluo Continent, it'd be a top-grade Torso Soul Bone!
It was enough to start a war between two nations!
"Take it! Take it all!"
Quick-eyed and nimble-fingered, Di Tian took advantage of no one paying attention and frantically stuffed the garbage on the ground into his Storage Ring.
A Seventh-Rank Magical Beast's skull? Take it!
A broken fragment of a high-grade Xuan Tier Dou Technique? Take it!
A Half-Saint's chamber pot? Take it!!
Along the few hundred meters of corridor, Di Tian was like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden. Wherever he went, not a blade of grass was left standing. He even pried up two floor tiles.
However, just as Di Tian was having the time of his life picking up trash—
Rumble!!
The space ahead suddenly shook violently, and a brutally ferocious roar rang out!
"Roar!!"
"Not good! It's a tomb-guarding beast soul!!"
Gu Li cried out in alarm.
Di Tian hurried forward and saw, before a massive stone gate—
An Ancient Sky Demon Puppet, entirely translucent and formed from pure soul power, stood in their way, gripping a broken spear!
Though the puppet had no physical body, the aura it gave off had astonishingly reached the level of a One-Star Dou Zun!
"Damn it! The intel was wrong! Why is there a Dou Zun-level tomb-guarding puppet here?!"
Gu Meng was swept away by the puppet's spear. The dragon scales on his chest shattered, and blood sprayed from his mouth.
"Brother Li! This one's too tough! Let's retreat!" Gu Ling panicked, too. Under the pressure of a Dou Zun, he couldn't bring his speed into play at all.
"Retreat? Where to? The space behind us is nothing but spatial turbulence!"
Gu Li gritted his teeth, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes. "We fight! As long as we scatter its Soul Core, this puppet will be our spoils!"
"Ancient formation! Form up!!"
The three quickly took their positions, trying to form the Ancient Void Dragon Clan's combined attack formation.
But one person was missing!
"Di Tian! Where the hell are you?! Get over here and fill your spot!!" Gu Li roared.
But when he turned around, he saw that Di Tian wasn't in the defensive position. He had vanished?
"Damn it! Did that otherworldly lizard run off?!"
Before you continue