The void trembled as golden light tore through the oppressive blue of Sea God's Realm.
Golden Dragon Spear.
As though it had sensed its master's desperate brush with death, it tore through the air and came on its own. Its shaft was entirely golden, ancient dragon patterns flowing with a heart-pounding radiance. Carrying an edge sharp enough to make heaven and earth change color, it hovered steadily before Yu Chen.
Tang San's gaze fell upon the spear, and his pupils abruptly contracted.
"Golden Dragon Spear?"
He recognized it. How could he not? Back then, he had personally taken it from the Golden Dragon King. It should have been in his divine hall.
What he did not know was that the Golden Dragon King had already recalled it through their bloodline connection.
Tang San instinctively swept his gaze across the divine hall—the spot was already completely empty.
"Strange..." He furrowed his brow slightly, then let out a cold laugh. "Just a weapon, and it thinks it can defy fate?"
He shook his head, his eyes full of contempt. "You are not even god-level. Wielding a divine weapon is nothing more than a child swinging a greatsword—it cannot hurt others, only yourself."
On the sea, Yu Chen lay submerged in the water, golden dragon blood dyeing half the waters red. His dragon body was riddled with wounds. The gash running across his chest still bled, while his broken dragon claws hung limply.
Yet the instant his dim dragon eyes saw the Golden Dragon Spear, they lit up.
"You are right."
His voice was hoarse and low, as though blood foam had been forced from deep in his throat.
"I truly am not."
Before his words had even faded—
"Boom!"
Golden flames suddenly erupted from deep within his dragon body. It was the power of his bloodline, burning in its purest, most primal, most violent form.
Golden dragon patterns spread from the tips of his horns to the end of his tail. Every pattern resembled a blazing vein of fire, illuminating his shattered dragon body like a golden torch. Blood boiled and surged within him, while his bones creaked beneath the searing heat.
This was the Dragon Clan's most resolute forbidden art—Bloodline Frenzy. At the cost of burning his origin, it forcibly extracted power beyond his limits for a short time.
The Golden Dragon Spear sensed its master's resolve and released a clear hum. It transformed into a streak of golden light and shot directly into Yu Chen's chest cavity.
The forty-ninth rib.
He had originally possessed only forty-eight ribs. The golden spear turned into bone, forcibly creating space for a forty-ninth rib. Even if it was extracted in the future, that position would remain. Like Shi Hao, whose Supreme Bone had been removed, it would grow back someday.
"Roar—!"
A dragon roar surged into the heavens, vast and violent. At that moment, Yu Chen's dragon body swelled several times over, his aura climbing madly—
The limit of an Eight-Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast... had been broken through.
Nine hundred thousand years... nine hundred and fifty thousand years...
Infinitely close to god-level!
Although he had not yet entered godhood, at this moment, he already stood at the pinnacle of all mortal beings.
However, at the very instant his aura reached its peak—
The heavens changed.
Above the blue-gold sky of Sea God's Realm, dark clouds suddenly churned. They were purple-black thunderclouds carrying an aura of destruction, layered upon layer as though they would crush the sky itself. Lightning darted through them like enormous serpents, emanating heavenly might that made all things tremble.
The Million-Year Heavenly Tribulation.
Tang San looked up. He froze for a moment, then threw back his head and burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha! Good! You actually triggered the Heavenly Tribulation at a time like this!"
He laughed so hard that he rocked back and forth, as if he had heard the greatest joke in the world.
"With a God King hunting you from the front and the Heavenly Tribulation striking you from behind, death awaits whether you advance or retreat—Yu Chen, Yu Chen, were you sent by heaven just to entertain me?"
Yu Chen ignored him.
Because the first bolt of Heavenly Tribulation had already descended.
"Boom—!"
Purple-black lightning struck precisely across his back. Golden dragon scales exploded, and the charred wound sank deep enough to reveal bone. The pain pierced straight into his soul.
But he did not dodge.
Covered in burns and blood, carrying that horrifying lightning wound across his back, he charged fiercely at Tang San!
His dragon claws tore through space, while dragon breath surged forth carrying the power of destruction—he attacked Tang San and the Heavenly Tribulation at the same time.
Tang San's smile vanished.
"Madman."
He cursed under his breath, gripping his trident as he charged forward.
"Since you are seeking death—then do not blame me!"
Golden and blue-gold light collided wildly, but the outcome had been decided from the very beginning. Tang San, no longer holding back, carried the might of a God King in every strike.
The first trident strike severed his left wing, sending half a dragon wing spinning through the air.
The second strike blasted open his back, blood spraying everywhere.
The third strike shattered his ribs, bending his dragon body and sending golden blood gushing wildly.
With every trident strike, dragon scales shattered and a new bloody wound split open.
At the same time, the Heavenly Tribulation continued to strike.
The second bolt split his skull, while the third nearly cleaved his dragon body in two.
Yu Chen could no longer count them. He only knew that every time lightning fell, his body convulsed once; every time the trident came down, another wound that would never heal appeared upon him.
His dragon blood was nearly drained away, and the light in his dragon eyes dimmed.
But he did not fall.
Even though he had been beaten beyond recognition, even though every breath felt like swallowing shattered glass—he still attacked.
With broken claws, with ruined wings, with shattered dragon teeth, he lunged at Tang San again and again.
Tang San's trident was covered in golden dragon blood. He looked at this horribly mangled giant dragon, his brow slightly furrowed.
He did not understand. How could something on the brink of death still remain standing?
At that moment, a sudden change occurred.
The Heavenly Tribulation seemed to have been enraged. Thunderclouds churned as dozens of lightning bolts appeared at once, gathering power to erase the entire area in a single strike.
Tang San's expression shifted slightly, and he prepared to withstand it head-on—
Then the Heavenly Tribulation stopped.
It stopped without any warning.
The dozens of lightning bolts seemed to be seized by an invisible hand, freezing in midair before retreating into the clouds like a receding tide. The thunderclouds churned wildly several times, then dispersed at an astonishing speed.
In the blink of an eye, the sky stretched cloudless for thousands of miles. The Heavenly Tribulation had vanished completely.
Tang San was stunned. "The Heavenly Tribulation... retreated?"
The Heavenly Tribulation was the will of heaven. It never retreated halfway through. Unless—there was something even heaven itself did not dare continue against.
He did not know that the laws of the universe had intervened.
They had erased Yu Chen's Heavenly Tribulation. Not out of mercy, but to ensure the purity of the trial. They did not interfere with life or death. They only watched to see how far Yu Chen could go in this desperate situation.
"You have played long enough."
Tang San's voice turned cold, like a basin of ice water poured over the battlefield. All mockery faded away, leaving only pure chill.
"It is time for me to get serious."
Blue-gold divine power surged out like a tide, making the entirety of Sea God's Realm tremble. The sea surface sank dozens of zhang, exposing the dried rock bed beneath.
Then the chains came.
Countless blue-gold Sea God Chains materialized from thin air. Twisting like living creatures, they wrapped around Yu Chen.
Yu Chen wanted to dodge, but he could no longer move.
The chains showed no mercy.
First, they bound his limbs, cutting into his scales as golden scales shattered one after another.
Then they coiled around his dragon body. The thickest chain cut into the wound at his waist and abdomen, embedding itself in flesh as golden blood dripped down the links.
Finally, they locked around his dragon neck like a constricting python. Scales burst away, exposing bruised purple dragon flesh.
This was Tang San's most famous skill after becoming a god—Entanglement. Also known as "Mother's Entanglement," because the more one struggled, the tighter it became, until it snapped tendons and bones.
"Now let us see how you move."
Tang San walked over slowly, casually planting his trident into the sea surface. His tone was calm.
With a flick of his fingertip, the chains abruptly tightened.
"Crack—"
The last two finger bones in Yu Chen's right claw snapped in response. Golden broken bones forced their way out and fell to the ground.
"Pfft—"
A mouthful of golden blood sprayed out, scattering into a mist of blood. His dragon body convulsed violently, yet he did not let out a single groan.
Tang San nodded in satisfaction. He walked before Yu Chen, crouched down, and lifted that blood-smeared dragon head.
The golden dragon eyes had dimmed to the extreme. Blood seeped from cracks in his skull and ran down Tang San's fingers, glaringly conspicuous against his blue-gold divine armor.
"Such a powerful bloodline..."
Tang San's gaze swept over the dragon body, carrying the greed of someone examining premium material.
"It should belong to my Tang Family."
He rose to his feet, a long, slender golden syringe condensing in his palm—it was a divine tool for extracting bloodlines.
"If I can extract this Dragon God-level bloodline and fuse it into myself..." Fanatical ambition flashed through his eyes. "Then find the Silver Dragon King, and combine the golden blood with the silver blood—I, Tang San, can become the new Dragon God!"
A deranged curve formed at the corner of his lips. When that happened, in the God Realm and the lower realms, no one would be able to oppose him.
But he did not know that the Dragon God inheritance could only be inherited by one acknowledged by the Dragon God.
Without that acknowledgment, no matter how much bloodline was poured in, one would only become a grotesque abomination.
And at this moment, the true Dragon God was traveling day and night through Dragon Valley.
He held the long-sealed Ascension Dragon Pillar in his hands, eagerly intending to give it to that grandson of terrifying talent. The old man had no idea that his own flesh and blood was bound in chains by a God King, hanging by a thread.
The scene returned to Sea God's Realm.
Yu Chen was bound tightly, yet he still struggled.
An instinctive, unwilling struggle.
Every time he moved, the chains tightened another degree.
His scales shattered, dragon flesh peeled back, and his bones emitted creaks that made one's teeth ache.
He no longer resembled a dragon. He looked more like a lump of golden rotten flesh crushed by a meat grinder.
The wound in his chest had split open, exposing his beating heart; his waist and abdomen were constricted so tightly that his organs were forced out and pressed back in; only bone stumps remained of his left wing, while his right claw was a bloody mess; his dragon head hung low as blood poured down.
With every breath, gurgling water sounds came from his chest—that was the sound of blood filling his lungs.
The light in his dragon eyes had weakened to its limit, like an oil lamp about to burn out.
Yet even so—
That flame still had not gone out.
Weak, flickering, ready to die at any moment.
But it simply would not go out.
Before you continue