Five Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings

The pressure emanating from the ancient Dragon Kings had yet to fade when a gentle, slightly trembling thought suddenly entered Yu Chen's mind along the resonating bloodline.

"Lord..."

Yu Chen narrowed his enormous Golden Dragon eyes slightly, the two submissive phantoms reflected in his vast vertical pupils.

That voice had clearly come from the Ice Dragon King's remnant soul.

There were no further words, only that tentative call, yet it carried the vicissitudes and hope of ten thousand years. Though the two phantoms appeared solid, Yu Chen could clearly sense that their Soul Power fluctuations were extremely unstable, as if they could scatter between heaven and earth at any moment. They bore the marks of time—the unwillingness and obsession left behind after the dragon clan's fall, enduring bitterly until now for the sake of awaiting a true inheritor.

Feeling the deference that came from the depths of their souls, Yu Chen's thoughts stirred, and his sky-shrouding Golden Dragon body abruptly contracted.

Dazzling golden light receded like a tide, and his form returned to human shape. He stood beside the spring pool with his hands behind his back, though the dragon's might that looked down upon the world remained entirely unretracted.

He did not answer immediately. Instead, his gaze swept over the Infernal Delicate Apricot below, already terrified out of its wits. A teasing curve rose at the corner of his lips as he swaggered toward the spring.

"Since you've acknowledged me as your master, the rules here are changing."

"From now on, I'm in charge here."

Yu Chen dusted off nonexistent dirt from his clothes. His tone was as casual as if he had just bought a house. He casually kicked a protruding strange rock beside him. "Tang San's rules are void."

After saying that, he looked again at the two enormous dragon souls floating above the spring, his gaze seeming to probe through their illusory forms.

"Seriously, you two... do you still retain your memories from when you were alive?"

Upon hearing this, the phantoms of the Icefire Dragon Kings visibly froze.

A moment later, the two enormous dragon heads moved hesitantly. They first shook their heads, then nodded helplessly.

An aged, intermittent pulse of divine thought, mingled with the completely opposing auras of ice and fire, slowly entered Yu Chen's mind:

"Reporting to Lord... too much time has passed. Our memories have long been incomplete. What remains has become fragments, and most of it was lost to the years."

"Incomplete memories..."

Yu Chen nodded thoughtfully. Then his eyes sharpened as he stared directly into those two massive dragon eyes and voiced the question in his heart:

"If your memories are incomplete, why were you calling me 'Lord' so smoothly just now? What was that based on?"

The Icefire Dragon Kings exchanged a glance before both turning to Yu Chen. In that instant, Yu Chen felt as though he had been thoroughly scanned by two searchlights.

"Bloodline."

The divine thought became clear and resolute, carrying an instinctive reverence.

"Though your aura is restrained, I can still sense an exceptionally pure Golden Dragon King aura within it. Back then, the Dragon God split into two, with the Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King each controlling one side of its authority. Since the supreme bloodline flows through you, you are naturally our unquestionable lord."

"Bloodline suppression, huh..."

Hearing that, Yu Chen's lips curved upward slightly. His expression remained composed, and he simply stopped hiding it.

He stood with his hands behind his back, and his aura suddenly changed. The kingly dominance he had initially restrained surged forth once more as he declared in a clear voice:

"Since you've already seen through it, I'll come clean. No more pretending—I'm the Golden Dragon King's son."

The moment those words fell, the already quiet valley instantly plunged into deathly silence.

Clang—

The Infernal Delicate Apricot's enormous flower disk seemed to have been struck by shock and slammed straight to the ground. If it had possessed a jaw, it would probably have dropped to the floor by now. The surrounding immortal herbs, already trembling in fear, now had leaves that quivered wildly—Golden Dragon King's son? What kind of concept was that? He was the most formidable dragon royal descendant on this entire continent!

Yet the Icefire Dragon Kings, at the heart of the storm, reacted with unexpected calm.

The two colossal beings merely nodded with extreme composure, looking as though they had long known it and even carried a hint of "just as expected."

A divine thought drifted over, its tone holding the self-evident certainty of ancient times:

"Just as expected. What ordinary dragon could possess talent and pressure like yours? With the Golden Dragon King's bloodline, even calling you Young Lord would be an understatement."

"Fine, got it."

Yu Chen waved his hand casually, looking as relaxed as if he had just heard a subordinate report some trivial matter.

"Since you've acknowledged me as your master, this matter is settled. You two are nothing but battered remnant souls, yet you insisted on coming out to scare people. Maintaining these phantom forms must be exhausting, so disperse and go back to rest."

Upon hearing this, a trace of relief appeared in the Icefire Dragon Kings' enormous eyes. Their lingering obsessions had not faded, and forcibly manifesting themselves truly consumed a great deal. Seeing that this "Young Lord" had no intention of keeping them, how could they dare linger?

The two enormous dragon bodies bent slightly and bowed to Yu Chen once more. Then they transformed into icy blue and crimson streams of light, plunging back into the depths of the spring like tired birds returning to their nest.

"We obey Lord's decree."

As the two phantoms dispersed, the suffocating ancient pressure in the valley finally receded completely.

Yu Chen no longer paid attention to the immortal herbs around him, which still lay on the ground without daring to move. He took a deep breath of the valley's life energy, so dense it was nearly liquid, and felt all seven of his orifices clear.

He walked to the fertile earth, warm and smooth as jade, and without bothering with any formalities, sat down cross-legged and slowly closed his eyes.

"I've watched enough of the show outside. Time to get down to business."

He adjusted his breathing, and the Soul Power that had long been unable to restrain itself instantly surged through his body, charging straight at the barriers of his meridians.

"I've been stuck for so long. It's time to break through this fifth ring."

Yu Chen sat cross-legged, his consciousness sinking into his body as immense Soul Power circulated wildly like a river bursting through a dam.

Buzz—

Accompanied by a crisp hum, a brand-new soul ring suddenly condensed above his head.

Yet the moment this soul ring formed, its color seemed strange. It began as a faint white glow, but did not remain there. In an instant, as though ink had spread through it, its color deepened madly. In the blink of an eye, it crossed the hundred-year yellow and thousand-year purple, directly settling on the black that symbolized ten thousand years.

The black soul ring slowly revolved above his head, emanating heavy, profound fluctuations. Yet this was clearly not the end.

Yu Chen's brows furrowed slightly as he shouted, "Break for me!"

The inky-black soul ring seemed unable to withstand some terrifying pressure, and blinding blood-red light suddenly erupted from within. Amid the grating sounds of transformation, the ten-thousand-year black patterns shattered inch by inch, replaced by a crystalline scarlet as brilliant as ruby!

Ten years, a hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years...

Until that crimson hue finally stabilized, the terrifying pressure unique to a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast descended with a thunderous crash!

The hundred-thousand-year soul ring was complete!

Yet this was only the beginning.

At the instant Yu Chen officially entered the hundred-thousand-year level, the noble Golden Dragon bloodline within his body seemed to receive the call of a monarch ascending the throne. It instantly erupted with incomparably tyrannical golden light that swept across his entire body.

The first four soul rings, which had long since formed, seemed to sense some supreme command beneath the wash of that golden light and began to tremble violently in unison.

There was no obstruction and not the slightest pain. At the moment the fifth ring achieved one hundred thousand years, the first four rings directly completed a leap in life. Their colors surged upward madly, all stabilizing at the blood-red color that symbolized ultimate majesty!

For a time, the light behind Yu Chen even eclipsed the multicolored mist of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.

Five dripping-blood-red hundred-thousand-year soul rings pulsed in orderly succession behind him. Their scarlet radiance turned the entire valley into something like a divine realm, exuding an unparalleled dominance that left one breathless.