Radiant Flame Dragon's Sacrifice

Boom!!!

The first barrage struck the Radiant Flame Dragon head-on.

Explosions rang out one after another where the beams intersected. Powerful shockwaves kicked up clouds of dust, and the crystallized dead trees nearby snapped apart in the aftermath.

But before the dust had even settled, a pair of battered dragon wings stretched out from within.

The Radiant Flame Dragon violently flapped its wings. Golden and purple beams intertwined and shot from the edges of its wing bones, piercing through the dust and striking the Soul Guidance Array with perfect accuracy.

Crack!

The two outermost Soul Guidance Cannons exploded on the spot. Metal fragments flew everywhere, only to be corroded into black ash by the purple energy before they could hit the ground.

More beams swept across them.

The remaining Soul Guidance Cannons exploded as well. Flames blossomed continuously beneath the dark-purple sky, and the attack formation Jing Hongchen had set up quickly lost more than half its power.

With the Soul Guidance Cannons no longer suppressing it, the Radiant Flame Dragon lowered its head and brought down its massive dragon claw. Before the claw even touched the shield, terrifying pressure had already descended first.

The air was forcibly crushed apart.

A piercing shriek reached their ears. Countless silver streaks appeared across the shield, flashing rapidly before a crack emerged within seconds.

Then came a second.

A third.

Cracks began to spread across the Soul Guidance Shield.

"Master."

Karna appeared behind Xu Tianming. He raised a hand, and the Golden Spear was already in his grasp.

"Do you need me to act?"

"No."

Xu Tianming raised a hand to stop him. Karna asked no further questions. No matter what decision Xu Tianming made, he would carry it out. Thus, the Son of the Sun, who possessed Limit Douluo-level combat strength, put away his weapon and stood quietly behind Xu Tianming.

Boom!

The Radiant Flame Dragon's enormous claw finally came down.

A huge dent appeared in the silver Soul Guidance Shield. Cracks rapidly spread across its entire surface, and the shield shattered with a thunderous crash. As it dispersed into countless motes of light, Xu Tianming did not retreat. The dragon claw was only a few meters above his head.

Just as he was about to be slapped into pulp, the Golden Dragon King's Divine Core within Xu Tianming suddenly awakened.

Boom~

Golden power erupted from his chest.

Xu Tianming's right arm changed first. Dense little dragon scales quickly emerged across his skin, his fingers lengthened, and his knuckles enlarged. In the blink of an eye, it had become a dragon claw covered in golden scales.

The golden scales spread upward along his arm.

Every dragon scale on his neck, face, and shoulders shone with dazzling golden light, while crimson flames burned in the gaps between them.

Bulges rose on both sides of Xu Tianming's forehead, and golden dragon horns burst through his skin, their tips pointing toward the sky. His short golden hair was lifted by divine power. Xu Tianming had now completely transformed into a little dragon-man.

Immediately afterward, dragon might far surpassing that of the Radiant Flame Dragon radiated from Xu Tianming's body.

As golden ripples spread outward, tyrannical bloodline pressure surged in every direction. The dragon might released by the Radiant Flame Dragon could not hold out for long before it was forcibly suppressed by the golden divine might.

Crack.

The enormous dragon claw hanging above Xu Tianming's head suddenly stopped. Its scales collided in midair with a dull sound. The Radiant Flame Dragon remained in its lunging posture, its claw only several meters from Xu Tianming's head, yet it could no longer press down any farther.

For the first time, clear fear appeared in its golden vertical pupils, the parts not yet covered by Star Crystal. It was fear born from its bloodline.

It did not know why the human child before it could release such terrifying dragon might, nor did it know why, upon encountering him, it instinctively wanted to submit.

Xu Tianming raised his head. His red eyes had become vertical pupils, and golden-red flames burned within them. The dragon horns on his forehead also shone with sacred yet domineering light.

"Get on your knees."

His voice was not loud, but it sounded like a command from the deepest depths of dragon bloodlines.

The Radiant Flame Dragon's body trembled incessantly as it tried to resist. Its limbs strained repeatedly, the ground beneath its claws gradually crumbling as dark-purple Star Crystal rapidly grew, trying to support its massive body.

But all struggle was futile. Before the Golden Dragon Divine Might, its so-called draconic bloodline no longer had the right to resist.

Boom!!!

The Radiant Flame Dragon's forelimbs crashed down with a thunderous boom.

Then its huge body lay prone on the ground, its wings pressed against the earth and its dragon head lowered. Even its incompletely crystallized golden vertical pupils did not dare meet Xu Tianming's gaze.

It had truly knelt. Only the sound of heavy dragon breaths remained in the air, along with the faint noise of Star Crystal slowly growing from the ground.

Xu Tianming shook his dragon-claw-like right hand. The gleaming golden dragon scales clung tightly to his arm as power flowed through them, giving him an intense sense of control.

This Radiant Flame Dragon had not only withstood the consecutive bombardment of the Soul Guidance Cannons, but had also destroyed the Soul Guidance Formation Jing Hongchen had set up in a very short time.

In terms of destructive power, it had already reached the level of a Titled Douluo.

After Xu Tianming approached, divine flames burned in his golden vertical pupils. His scale-covered right hand pressed directly onto the Radiant Flame Dragon's lowered head.

Scales and Star Crystal scraped against each other, producing a grating noise.

"Tell me."

Xu Tianming's voice was quiet, yet full of authority.

"What happened to you."

The Radiant Flame Dragon could not speak. Its cultivation was nearly a hundred thousand years, and it had developed intelligence, but it had never crossed that threshold. Under the suppression of the Golden Dragon King's divine might, the Rift Realm's corrosion within its body was forcibly suppressed for an instant.

A moment of clarity appeared in its intact golden vertical pupil, and a mental ripple slammed directly into Xu Tianming's mind.

Images surged before his eyes.

Inside a black cave, the Radiant Flame Dragon had been resting. After space was torn apart, it was forcibly dragged into this Rift Realm. Then, a fist-sized dark-purple crystal core floated before it.

The crystal core contained energy so overwhelming that even a dragon found it difficult to breathe. Driven by instinct, it swallowed the core, hoping to break through the hundred-thousand-year threshold.

Yet what it swallowed was not an opportunity, but poison.

The crystal core took root in its abdomen. Rift Realm energy seeped into its bloodline, bones, and nerves with devastating force. In a very short time, it transformed from a top-tier subdragon with the Golden Dragon Bloodline into the half-dragon, half-crystal monster it was now.

Xu Tianming withdrew his hand, and his expression became extremely strange.

"That crystal core... was the Rift Realm Core?"

He murmured to himself.

If that was true, then Jing Hongchen and Shangguan Weier had been searching for the wrong target from the very beginning.

They had followed the location where their soul guidance devices detected the strongest energy, believing it to be the Rift Realm Lord. But in truth, after the Rift Realm Core was swallowed by the Radiant Flame Dragon, it fused with the dragon. That was why the Radiant Flame Dragon was the Rift Realm Lord, yet could not be considered one completely.

At its core, it was still a soul beast—a soul beast slowly being assimilated by the Rift Realm Core. That was why the soul guidance devices had not worked, and why Jing Hongchen and Shangguan Weier had chosen the wrong target.