Putting on an Act

Above the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest, heaven and earth changed color.

The Nine-Colored Tribulation Cloud was no ordinary heavenly punishment. It was more like a pre-blessing trial drawn forth by some supreme law, aimed at the specific existence known as the "Dragon Clan." What churned within the clouds was not merely destructive lightning, but fragments of laws governing earth, water, fire, wind, light, darkness, space, time, and even creation and destruction. It was dazzling, radiant, and oppressive as a prison.

The first pillar of nine-colored lightning tore down from the heavens, striking straight at Di Tian, who stood proudly in midair. He had already assumed his humanoid combat form, clad in black dragon-scale armor and wearing a black dragon mask. His aura was as deep as an abyss and as steady as a mountain. Facing tribulation lightning powerful enough to destroy an ordinary Ultimate Douluo, Di Tian neither dodged nor evaded. The pale golden patterns that had recently appeared on his dragon scales suddenly lit up!

"Boom—!"

The lightning struck his body, yet failed to inflict the expected damage. Instead, the nine-colored electric serpents seemed drawn by some power of the same origin. They wound around him, seeped inward, and were ultimately slowly absorbed by those pale golden patterns! The golden light on his scales flowed all the more solidly afterward.

"Absorbing the power of heavenly tribulation?!" Far away, the Holy Spirit Douluo, Ya Li, cried out in disbelief, her eyes wide. "This... this is no longer enduring tribulation. It's more like... refining a tonic?"

As though thoroughly enraged by this near "blasphemy," the Nine-Colored Tribulation Clouds contracted violently. At their core, a blinding point of light appeared, making every observer's soul tremble. Immediately afterward, the nine-colored radiance collapsed and condensed into an extremely compressed spear of nine-colored light, only as thick as an arm. Ignoring space, it arrived instantly and viciously nailed itself into Di Tian's chest!

"Clang—!"

A muffled boom like a giant bell being struck spread outward. Di Tian's body trembled slightly, while black-golden light surged from his surface. The light spear, containing a portion of the power of laws, was actually violently knocked away the moment it made contact by an even more ancient and domineering force! The deflected spear shot diagonally toward the forest's outskirts, carving a scorched black rift through the air that lingered for a long time.

"Careful!" The Heaven-Piercing Douluo, Yun Ming, reacted with extreme speed, his Heaven-Piercing Spear transforming into a streak of light as he intercepted it.

"Clang!"

The spear radiance collided with the residual waves of deflected lightning, erupting in a piercing metallic shriek. The Heaven-Piercing Spear was actually sent flying back, and Yun Ming's wrist went slightly numb as he gripped it. His gaze instantly turned grave. Even the residual force of a deflection possessed such power?

Before anyone could think further, another change arose in the tribulation clouds. A streak of pure, majestic gold spread out from the heart of the nine-colored clouds, swiftly covering the entire cloud mass. An aura far older and more primordial than the Nine-Colored Tribulation Lightning descended upon the world, filled with absolute power and bloodline pressure. Golden clouds churned as a gigantic golden dragon claw, formed entirely from destructive lightning and Dragon Clan Law, reached out. Carrying the intent of scrutiny and trial, it slowly pressed down toward Di Tian. This was no longer heavenly tribulation, but the formal assessment within the Dragon God's, the Golden Dragon King's, inheritance system for one receiving a blessing!

Golden light burst from Di Tian's eyes, and a low dragon roar rumbled from his throat. He fearlessly raised a claw to meet it—the claw shadow was black as ink, yet pale golden law patterns flowed clearly and powerfully at its core! This was proof that, after taking the lead in absorbing and fusing a portion of the Golden Dragon King's leaked origin, the very nature of his power had risen!

The pure golden dragon claw and the black-gold divine dragon claw collided thunderously high in the sky.

In an instant, light swallowed every sound. Space twisted and shook like crumpled paper. A terrifying circular shockwave swept across the heavens and scattered the clouds. Below, even peak powerhouses like Yun Ming and Chen Xinjie had to circulate their Soul Power with all their strength just to remain steady, the fierce wind scraping their faces painfully.

"This destructive power... it's practically a force from an entirely different level." The Vast Sea Douluo, Chen Xinjie, looked ashen, sweat beading at his temples. He knew that if he had taken that claw head-on, his chances of survival would have been slim.

Golden light and black-golden radiance intertwined and annihilated each other. In the end, the phantom of the golden dragon claw slowly dispersed. Having unleashed that final strike, the Nine-Colored Tribulation Clouds also seemed to have exhausted their strength. They churned unwillingly before gradually fading away, leaving the sky clear once more.

Di Tian remained suspended where he was, but his bearing had changed completely. His figure seemed even more imposing, and though the pale golden patterns on every black scale were fine, they resembled law brands, circulating a restrained yet noble radiance. The space around him rippled faintly, a sign that his surging power had yet to be fully tamed.

Standing with his hands behind his back, his black dragon mask facing the human powerhouses below whose hearts had been violently shaken, he spoke calmly, yet with unquestionable authority. "After watching for so long, does anyone wish to personally 'test' me?"

It was provocation, a naked display of power!

"You beast, don't be so arrogant! Take this punch!" Chen Xinjie had the fiercest temper. As the master of the War God Hall, when had he ever suffered such contempt? Furious and alarmed, azure light erupted around him. The phantom of the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud appeared, while nine red soul rings and one orange-gold soul ring shone together. His lifetime of cultivation condensed into a Vast Sea Boundless Fist, carrying an immense fist intent as though it could drown an entire continent, and blasted directly toward Di Tian!

Facing this earth-shattering attack, Di Tian did not move in the slightest.

A bizarre scene unfolded. Chen Xinjie's fierce forward charge came to an abrupt halt without warning roughly thirty meters from Di Tian! His entire body seemed frozen within amber formed from solidified space. Azure Vast Sea light flashed madly as the enormous Soul Power of an Ultimate Douluo erupted in a raging attempt to break free. Yet that invisible spatial confinement was incomparably tough, locking him firmly in midair until he could barely move even a finger!

"Spatial confinement?! How could it be so effortless..." "He didn't even move!"

Yun Ming, Ya Li, Qiangu Dongfeng, Zang Xin, and the others' pupils shrank abruptly as chills ran through their hearts. Instantly, silently, and completely confining an Ultimate Douluo erupting with full force was utterly beyond their understanding! Even Yun Ming knew that he could never accomplish something so effortless.

Yet Di Tian inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Perfect timing, Chen Xinjie!

All of this stemmed from a law bug caused by an error in sequence.

Ancient Dragon Clan Law stipulated that to receive the Dragon God's Blessing, to accept the inheritance of higher Dragon Clan power, one first had to pass the Blessing Trial of tribulation lightning and bloodline testing. Once the trial was passed, the blessing would descend, the power would fuse, and the laws would grant recognition.

But Di Tian's circumstances were unusual. What he had absorbed was the incompletely sealed leaked divine power of the Golden Dragon King, which Huo Yuhao had extracted from Tang Wulin's body. In essence, it was a portion of the Golden Dragon King's origin power. In the understanding of Dragon Clan Law, Di Tian had effectively "received the blessing" first by fusing that power without undergoing the formal trial.

However, the law's "program" was still running. Thus, the "Blessing Trial," the Nine-Colored Tribulation Lightning and the Golden Dragon King phantom claw, still arrived. And by relying on the power he had already acquired, Di Tian successfully "passed" the trial.

That created a problem: he had passed the trial, but the blessing had already been "issued" and "received" in advance. At that moment, the Dragon Clan blessing laws fell into brief logical confusion—the blessing process seemed complete, yet also seemed not to have fully run its course. The temporary authority of "Dragon Clan Law Supremacy," meant to ensure the blessing's authority and suppress non-Dragon Clan divine power, should have stabilized after the blessing was formally completed. But due to the disordered process, it was now activated yet had nowhere to settle, suspended and about to dissipate.

This state was extremely unstable and might last only a few seconds. But it truly gave Di Tian, for a brief moment, a portion of the law priority originating from the Dragon God, the Golden Dragon King.

At that very moment, Chen Xinjie attacked. His martial soul, the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud, carried an extremely faint trace of Sea God divinity. From the perspective of the suspended Dragon Clan Law, that trace of divinity immediately marked him as a "non-Dragon Clan divine entity requiring temporary suppression by Dragon Clan Law."

Therefore, when Di Tian used the spatial power he already excelled at to attempt confinement, the suspended law authority automatically attached itself and strengthened it. What Chen Xinjie felt was not only Di Tian's spatial seal, but suppression from bloodline laws of a higher level. The efficiency of his Soul Power, which contained a trace of Sea God attributes, instantly plummeted by nearly half! As one side weakened and the other strengthened, it created this seemingly inconceivable confinement effect.

Di Tian could clearly feel the law power reinforcing him receding swiftly like the tide.

Five seconds! He counted silently.

At the fifth second, just as Chen Xinjie's face turned blood-red and the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud buzzed as though about to rupture, on the verge of breaking free, Di Tian appropriately "swayed slightly," as if his strength were failing, and voluntarily released the confinement.

"Urgh!" Chen Xinjie suddenly broke free, and the Soul Power he had been gathering recoiled into his body. He grunted and flew backward in a sorry state for dozens of meters before stabilizing himself. His expression was a mixture of fury and shock as he stared fixedly at Di Tian, but he no longer dared approach. That strange, utterly incomprehensible sense of suppression had left his heart pounding with fear.

Di Tian steadied himself inwardly. That was close. Another half-second, and I would've been exposed. Outwardly, however, he remained as immovable as a mountain. His gaze slowly swept over the human powerhouses below, whose expressions kept changing, before finally settling on Qiangu Dongfeng, master of the Spirit Pagoda. His voice turned cold. "Qiangu Dongfeng, the borders of the Star Dou Great Forest should return to what they were two thousand years ago. I do not wish to see those eyes and ears that should not exist any longer. You..." He paused, his tone faintly mocking. "You are not the Ice Douluo, after all. My patience is limited."

Qiangu Dongfeng's expression turned incomparably ugly. Expanding the forest and installing surveillance were important strategies of the Spirit Pagoda. But the power Di Tian had displayed was unfathomable, and those bizarre methods were unheard of. He forced out a smile and spoke quickly. "Senior Di Tian, please calm your anger. This matter... was mishandled by the Spirit Pagoda. Two days! Within two days, all personnel and monitoring facilities will certainly withdraw from the relevant areas. We will never repeat this!" Inwardly, he was already rapidly calculating how to make up for the losses.

Di Tian neither confirmed nor denied it, then looked toward Zang Xin, deputy master of the Tang Sect. His tone was calm. "That recent 'movie' was rather novel. God of Emotions: Battle of the Dragon King!... The Tang Sect certainly has its methods." He paused slightly over the words "Battle of the Dragon King."

Zang Xin's heart tightened, and a chill ran down his back. The film had been led by the Violet Dragon Pavilion, with the Tang Sect involved in its distribution, and its content had portrayed Di Tian being "defeated." He hurriedly gave a dry laugh. "Senior, you jest. It is merely entertainment, nothing more than a joke. It must not be taken seriously! The Tang Sect absolutely had no intent to offend you. If there is anything inappropriate, Zang is willing to personally apologize and discuss compensation!" His posture was extremely humble.

Seeing how nervous he was, Di Tian said no more. At last, his gaze turned toward the Heaven-Piercing Douluo, Yun Ming.

Suppressing the turmoil in his heart, Yun Ming asked in a deep voice, "Di Tian, as far as I know, you are far from the end of your lifespan. This tribulation seems not to have been for prolonging your life, but rather... for another opportunity?"

Di Tian glanced at him and replied blandly, "Yun Ming, who says tribulation lightning can only be drawn down when one's lifespan nears its end? When the path ahead is seen and one's power stirs, tribulation descends from heaven. As for what path I saw..." He paused briefly and offered no further explanation. He merely waved his sleeve, his voice turning cold.

"Now that you've seen enough, all of you—get lost."

The word "lost" was utterly impolite. Yet before such an absolute gap in power and the bizarre, unfathomable means he had just displayed, no one dared argue.

Yun Ming gave Di Tian a long look, said nothing further, and nodded slightly to Ya Li before transforming into a streak of light and leaving first. Chen Xinjie's face was livid. He glared fiercely at Di Tian, then led the people of the War God Hall away after Yun Ming. Qiangu Dongfeng and Zang Xin felt as though they had been granted amnesty, hurrying off with their people.

In the blink of an eye, the outskirts of the Star Dou core region were devoid of people. All that remained was scorched earth ravaged by tribulation lightning, turbulent elemental energy that had yet to settle, and a faint lingering dragon might in the air.

Di Tian stood alone in the Void. Only after every human powerhouse's aura had completely vanished beyond the edge of his perception did he slowly descend.