Heavenfire Judgment

As Xu Tianming pondered, another mental ripple emanated from the Radiant Flame Dragon. It was extremely faint, like a candle guttering in the wind, yet its intent was crystal clear.

It could not hold on any longer.

The Rift Realm Core was devouring the last shred of its sanity. Before long, it would completely become a lord of the Rift Realm, losing all consciousness and turning into an empty shell driven only by the desire to destroy.

Rather than die after being consumed, it would be better to offer everything it had left to the being before it.

The great sovereign.

Its dragon bloodline told it that this human youth before it was the supreme king of their dragon race.

The Radiant Flame Dragon opened its intact golden vertical pupil and looked at Xu Tianming, slowly nodding once. The beast's ferocity was gone from its eyes, leaving only respect and obedience.

Xu Tianming fell silent for a moment.

"Since you are so sincere."

His voice was exceptionally calm when he spoke.

"How could I bear to refuse?"

"When I ascend to the pinnacle, I will remember your contribution."

After saying that, Xu Tianming muttered inwardly, Damn, so this was where my first Soul Ring had been waiting for me.

The Star Core's damned wish-fulfillment mechanism had ultimately gotten the job done. The process had just been a little dangerous and troublesome. If he had not possessed the Golden Dragon King's Divine Core, and if Karna had not been standing behind him to guard him, the Star Core would probably have gotten him killed here today.

But then again, a nearly hundred-thousand-year dragon soul beast voluntarily offering itself as a sacrifice, combined with the power of a Rift Realm Core—this setup was already absurdly overpowered, even if it still could not compare to Huo Yuhao's Skydream Iceworm and Electrolux.

Xu Tianming stopped hesitating. He took two steps back and sat cross-legged on the ground.

The Sun Martial Soul appeared above his head. The golden sun wheel slowly began to turn, brightening the surrounding Rift Realm.

The Radiant Flame Dragon let out a low roar. There was no pain in it, only relief.

Its massive body gradually came apart, and its dark-purple Star Crystal shell fell away as well. Brilliant golden dragon scales were revealed beneath it, then turned into specks of light. Gold and purple blended together like a meteor shower flowing upstream, all of it pouring into Xu Tianming's body.

Xu Tianming began circulating the Sun Moon Meditation Method.

Violent energy surged through his meridians like boiling magma. An ordinary soul master would have already burst apart from the strain, but the Golden Dragon King's Divine Core guarded his chest while the Golden Dragon Blood suppressed all dragon power.

The Radiant Flame Dragon's soul power did not resist. Instead, the divine core neatly arranged it into perfect obedience.

As for the Rift Realm energy, there was even less reason to fear it. The Rift Realm itself was a product born under the Star Core's influence. He was a Star Core Spirit—could energy from his own source possibly harm him?

What utter nonsense.

Golden and purple light enveloped him.

Karna stood outside the sphere of light, his turquoise eyes sweeping the surroundings as the Golden Spear emitted a faint glow.

Farther away, the disturbances caused by Jing Hongchen, Shangguan Weier, and another powerful opponent were still ongoing, but those fluctuations soon gradually ceased.

An hour passed.

The Radiant Flame Dragon's thirty-meter-tall body had completely vanished, leaving only a heap of dark-purple Star Crystal debris behind.

As golden-red light burst forth, a Soul Ring rose from beneath Xu Tianming's feet.

The Soul Ring's color was exceptionally unusual. Its main body was a blazing golden red, wrapped in dark-purple star patterns. The two colors intertwined and fluctuated, and the pressure it emitted was far stronger than that of an ordinary Soul Ring.

It was neither a hundred-year Soul Ring, nor a thousand-year one, nor even a hundred-thousand-year one. It was a special Soul Ring whose initial strength had already reached the hundred-thousand-year level and could continue to grow.

The Radiant Flame Dragon had been a soul beast and had fused with the Rift Realm Core, causing a mutation after its sacrifice.

A Rift Realm Lord would not leave behind a Soul Ring after being slain. The Radiant Flame Dragon's situation had arisen only through the combined alignment of timing, location, and circumstance.

Xu Tianming opened his eyes and stood up, clenching his fist to feel the surging power within him.

His soul power had risen from level ten to level thirteen.

"Three levels... just right."

He was not greedy for more. Raising it too much would only give him a greater headache.

The energy gained from absorbing a Soul Ring was not as pure as the soul power he cultivated himself. If too much were added at once, it would definitely affect the quality of his soul power.

Those pill-popping soul engineers of the Sun Moon Empire were a cautionary example. They used external means to raise their levels quickly, leaving their foundations unstable. When they tried to break through to Titled Douluo, every last one of them got stuck so badly it was unbearable.

Even those lucky enough to break through to Titled Douluo would be trapped at the bottleneck of level ninety-four, unable to advance even a single step. At present, nearly all of the Sun Moon Empire's top Ninth-Rank Soul Engineers were stuck there.

With his current identity and status, along with Karna guarding him, he would not encounter any danger. Nor did he lack time. His foundation had to be solid.

Moreover, even if he wanted to absorb all the energy, his current body could not withstand it. He could only rely on the divine core's power to sort and suppress it.

The excess Soul Ring energy was mainly used to condense soul skills and nurture that growth-type Soul Ring. Another portion was absorbed by the Golden Dragon King's Divine Core, becoming nourishment for it.

Though to the divine core, that tiny amount of energy did not provide even the slightest improvement.

"Heavenfire Judgment."

Xu Tianming gave a soft shout. The golden-red Soul Ring within him lit up instantly, its radiance gathering toward his hands.

Two handguns appeared out of thin air.

The guns' main bodies were forged from an unusual black-and-white metal, their lines cold and sleek. Fine crimson light patterns ran across the gilded barrels. At the safety catches where the two guns connected was set a diamond-shaped crimson core, within which seemed to be sealed a flame compressed to its utmost limit, ready to erupt at any moment.

Dark-gold anti-slip patterns wrapped around the grips, fitting snugly against his palms and feeling icy to the touch.

Xu Tianming raised the twin guns. After pouring in soul power, the crimson cores lit up. He lifted his hands and aimed at the crystallized forest a hundred meters away.

Bang!

After the thunderous blast, the ground trembled faintly.

A blazing streak of fire tore through the dark-purple sky at astonishing speed. Wherever it passed, the air warped slightly.

The fiery streak pierced through three crystallized trees in succession. Their trunks exploded from the heat, fragments scattering everywhere and leaving behind three charred holes that smoked white.

Even from a hundred meters away, its power had not weakened in the slightest.

Xu Tianming weighed the twin guns in his hands with satisfaction. This was his first soul skill, Heavenfire Judgment.

On the surface, it was one soul skill, but in truth, it was divided into three stages.

The first stage was the twin-gun mode: long-range shooting that condensed soul power of different attributes into bullets. Its range exceeded a hundred meters, and its power was considerable.

The second stage was called Heavenly Fire Drawn.

The twin guns connected to become a greatsword. Its blade was formed from pure heavenly fire, greatly increasing its lethality, though the burden on his body also increased significantly.

The third stage was called Heavenly Fire Calamity Annihilation.

This was the fully unleashed Calamity Annihilation mode. Its power was the greatest, and its destructive force could rival divine punishment. However, if he forcibly used it with his current physical condition, there was a high chance he would burn himself half to death.