Black Dragon King Di Tian!

Within the sea of consciousness, Xiao Wu's spirit trembled violently, a shudder originating from the depths of her soul.

She stared fixedly at the black shadow tearing through the night sky outside, her voice laced with unconcealable fear:

"Ling Xuqing, be careful! He is the Black Dragon King Di Tian! He has over eight hundred thousand years of cultivation; I don't know the exact number, but he is absolutely the most peak existence on this continent!"

Ling Xuqing did not speak, simply standing quietly where he was.

He could feel the blood in his body, which had just fused with the power of Xiao Wu's sacrifice, boiling due to the terrifying pressure outside.

Above the horizon, that black shadow finally revealed its true form.

It was a massive black dragon over a hundred meters long, its entire body covered in dark golden scales, each one flowing with profound dark runes.

Its eyes were pure dark gold, without a hint of other colors, as if they could see through the essence of all things in the world.

Black Dragon King Di Tian.

He hovered in mid-air, his massive dragon head lowered slightly, his dark golden vertical pupils scanning the forest below coldly.

When his gaze swept over Ling Xuqing's position, Ling Xuqing felt his entire body tighten, as if he were being stared down by an ancient ferocious beast.

Di Tian's gaze scanned back and forth over Ling Xuqing, a flash of surprise appearing in his dark golden vertical pupils.

"Hmm?"

A low dragon roar exploded in Ling Xuqing's mind.

"Kid, who are you?" Di Tian's voice sounded directly in Ling Xuqing's mind, low, majestic, and devoid of emotion. "How did you convince a hundred-thousand-year soul beast to sacrifice itself voluntarily?"

His gaze shifted downward, landing at Ling Xuqing's feet.

"And... your soul power has actually risen to level twenty-eight?" Di Tian's tone carried a hint of confusion. "How did you do it?"

Ling Xuqing did not answer, but he knew that Di Tian had already seen through the clues.

The Golden Dragon King's origin power within him, combined with the Blue Silver Emperor A Yin's origin power, and the hundred-thousand-year origin power provided by Xiao Wu's sacrifice—the three forces had erupted completely during the fusion just now, causing his soul power to skyrocket from the peak of level twenty to level twenty-eight.

"Do you know her?" Ling Xuqing asked.

"Naturally." Di Tian's voice carried a hint of condescending indifference. "She is that hundred-thousand-year Soft Bone Rabbit who followed the Titan Giant Ape and the Azure Bull Python. How is it that with them not by your side, you were willing to sacrifice yourself to a human?"

In the sea of consciousness, Xiao Wu's body trembled violently.

"He... he recognized me?"

"However," Di Tian's tone paused slightly, "after a soul beast sacrifices itself, it should dissipate completely, leaving not even a soul behind. Since you have already sacrificed yourself, why can I still sense your aura?"

Ling Xuqing raised his head, looking directly into Di Tian's vertical pupils, and said word by word:

"Xiao Wu is not dead; she has simply become my soul spirit."

"Soul spirit?" Di Tian's vertical pupils contracted slightly. "What is a soul spirit?"

"A form of existence where our spirits merge and we share our lives."

Ling Xuqing explained, "She sacrificed voluntarily, but I preserved her complete spirit, allowing her to exist in my sea of consciousness in the form of a soul spirit. She will not die; instead, she will live and die with me."

Di Tian was silent for a moment, a flash of complex emotion crossing his dark golden vertical pupils.

"Fine, let's not talk about this little rabbit for now."

Di Tian's voice sounded again, his tone carrying an unquestionable pressure. "I only ask you, where did the Golden Dragon King's origin aura on you come from?"

Ling Xuqing's lips curled into an arc, and he said indifferently:

"It came from the Golden Dragon King sacrificing itself voluntarily, of course."

"Nonsense!" Di Tian's voice rose sharply, and an even more terrifying pressure descended with a boom. "How could the Lord possibly sacrifice himself voluntarily?! Kid, don't try to lie to me!"

"What benefit would I get from lying to you?"

Ling Xuqing did not back down. "Besides, I know it was the Silver Dragon King who sent you, right? As the Beast God, the Black Dragon King, you should know what the Golden Dragon King and the Silver Dragon King signify, right?"

Di Tian's body stiffened abruptly.

He stared at Ling Xuqing, a dangerous light flashing in his dark golden vertical pupils.

"Hmph, I don't care how you obtained the Golden Dragon King's origin." Di Tian's voice lowered. "Now I will give you two choices. First, come back to the Star Dou Great Forest with me and follow me to see the Lord. Second, I will drag you back to the Life Forbidden Zone right now; if the Lord can heal you, I will grant you a decent end. Otherwise—"

His voice suddenly turned icy:

"I will kill you right now and take your Golden Dragon King origin!"

In the sea of consciousness, Xiao Wu's body trembled violently. She wanted to speak, but found that under Di Tian's pressure, she could hardly even gather her consciousness.

Ling Xuqing felt the warm power belonging to Xiao Wu within his body, and his lips curled into a confident arc.

"And if I refuse?"

The moment the words fell, Di Tian's body moved abruptly.

"Boom—!"

A terrifying dark dragon power erupted from his body, transforming into a black dragon-shaped phantom that slammed down toward Ling Xuqing.

Ling Xuqing's heart stirred, and he instantly withdrew Xiao Wu's spirit into the depths of his sea of consciousness. At the same time, with a "chi" sound from his back, a pair of massive, gilded, finely-scaled divine dragon wings spread out!

"Dragon Wing Sky Soar!"

His body instantly soared into the air, the golden dragon wings carving a graceful arc through the night sky, narrowly avoiding the black dragon phantom.

"Thousand Feather Shattering Gale!"

The moment Ling Xuqing flapped his wings, thousands of golden scaled feathers and gale winds erupted from his back, strafing Di Tian from all directions.

The scaled feathers carried a destructive dragon power, cutting countless tiny cracks into the space around Di Tian.

"Interesting." Di Tian's voice carried a hint of surprise, his massive dragon tail sweeping horizontally to shatter all those golden scales.

Ling Xuqing performed a roll in the air, his hands instantly transforming into the sharp, peerless Purgatory Golden Dragon Claw.

"Dragon Shatters Mountains and Rivers!"

He transformed into a streak of golden light, diving down toward Di Tian's dragon head.

His dual claws condensed with the immensely heavy Dragon Emperor's might, carrying the special effect of absolute armor-piercing, and clawed fiercely at Di Tian's scales.

"Clang—!"

A sound like metal striking metal rang out. Ling Xuqing's claws had struck Di Tian's scales, yet they had only left a few shallow white marks.

"Such hard scales." Ling Xuqing sighed inwardly, flipping his body in the air to put distance between them again.

"Dragon Lock Nirvana!"

With a thought, golden binding dragon patterns erupted from his claws, locking precisely onto Di Tian's limbs.

However, Di Tian's cultivation was far too terrifying; those golden dragon patterns were shattered by a terrifying dark dragon power the moment they touched his scales.

"Kid, your strength is not bad."

Di Tian's voice carried a hint of appreciation. "But this alone is far from enough."

His body shook violently, and an even more terrifying pressure descended, pinning Ling Xuqing firmly in mid-air.

Ling Xuqing felt his entire body sink, as if a mountain were pressing down upon him.

His body began to sink slowly, and the trees beneath his feet snapped inch by inch under the pressure.

"Since you want to fight, then I will accompany you to the end!"

Ling Xuqing took half a step back, raising his eyes to look at Di Tian, a flash of determination in his dark golden eyes.

He flipped his right hand, and a golden spear with an ancient design, radiating an endless domineering aura, appeared in his hand.

Golden Overlord Spear!

Following that, two soul rings rose slowly from beneath his feet.

The first was a white-gold soul ring radiating an aura that intertwined holiness and dominance.

The second was a hundred-thousand-year red soul ring radiating a rich blood-colored halo.

His level twenty-eight cultivation erupted completely at this moment, and a dragon might no less than Di Tian's gushed out from his body, standing toe-to-toe with that terrifying dark pressure.

Di Tian's vertical pupils contracted sharply. He stared fixedly at that white-gold soul ring, his voice laced with unconcealable shock:

"God-given soul ring? No... this is a god-level soul ring! Your first soul ring is actually a god-level soul ring, how is this possible?!"

Ling Xuqing held the Golden Overlord Spear, his lips curling into a confident arc:

"Nothing is impossible. Don't think that just because you have eight hundred and fifty thousand years of cultivation, I will be afraid of you!"

Di Tian felt the power contained within that white-gold soul ring, and his expression changed abruptly.

"This is... the aura of Lord Dragon God?!"

His voice rose sharply, his dark golden vertical pupils filled with disbelief.

"Why do you have the aura of Lord Dragon God on you? Who exactly are you? What is your relationship with Lord Dragon God?!"

In the sea of consciousness, Xiao Wu's spirit trembled violently. Her voice carried unconcealable shock:

"Dragon God... the aura of Lord Dragon God?!"

Ling Xuqing looked at Di Tian's shocked appearance and said indifferently:

"Relationship? It is that Lord Dragon God you speak of who, in the Forbidden God Land, took the initiative to control the Golden Dragon King's origin power and sacrifice it to me, reshaping my physical body and bloodline, and sending me into the Douluo Continent. Furthermore, he also gave me the Golden Dragon Spear and the Ascending Dragon Pillar."

As his words fell, he raised his left hand, and a pillar radiating holy golden light from top to bottom slowly emerged above his palm.

Ascending Dragon Pillar!

The pillar was only a foot long, condensed entirely from pure golden dragon patterns, with countless lifelike dragon totems carved upon it.

The surface of the pillar flowed with holy light, radiating a supreme aura that made all dragon-kind submit to it.

"As... Ascending Dragon Pillar?!"

Di Tian's voice suddenly began to tremble. He stared fixedly at the pillar in Ling Xuqing's hand, his dark golden vertical pupils filled with disbelief.

"It really is our dragon-kind's supreme treasure, the Ascending Dragon Pillar! With the Ascending Dragon Pillar, the Lord can recover from her injuries, recover from the hidden wounds left by the Asura God! You actually possess the Ascending Dragon Pillar..."

"Are... are you the successor chosen by Lord Dragon God? Where is Lord Dragon God? Have you seen Lord Dragon God? How is Lord Dragon God doing?!"

His voice carried a hint of urgency, even a hint of pleading.

In the sea of consciousness, Xiao Wu's spirit was completely stunned.

Although she was not of the dragon-kind, she knew what the Dragon God meant to the soul beast race.

That was the true Lord of the entire soul beast race, the true co-ruler!

And Ling Xuqing was actually the person chosen by Lord Dragon God, the successor of Lord Dragon God!

"Heaven... I actually met the successor of Lord Dragon God, and even sacrificed myself to him, becoming his soul spirit..."

Xiao Wu's voice carried unconcealable shock and a hint of fortune.

Ling Xuqing looked at Di Tian's agitated appearance and said slowly:

"The Dragon God... perhaps he is already gone."

"After all, back in the Forbidden God Land, he could still rely on the Golden Dragon King to resist the erosion of the laws of chaos. But now, the Golden Dragon King's origin power and bloodline have fused with me, and the Golden Dragon Spear and the Ascending Dragon Pillar are under my control. As a mere remnant soul, how could he resist the erosion of the laws of chaos at the edge of the God Realm?"

As his words fell, the surroundings fell into a deathly silence.

Di Tian's body trembled slightly, a flash of grief crossing his dark golden vertical pupils.

After a long while, he slowly retracted the dragon wings on his back and restrained the pressure from his entire body.

Then, under the shocked gazes of Ling Xuqing and Xiao Wu, this Black Dragon King with eight hundred and fifty thousand years of cultivation slowly stepped forward and knelt on one knee.

"Subordinate Di Tian, pays respects to the Young Master!"