Brilliant golden light shone in Chen Xia's eyes, and a notification appeared in his mind.
[True Dragon Qi 0/10000]
What lay behind him now was a thousand-zhang true dragon crouched upon the ground!
The enormous hand pressed down with savage force, accompanied by the howling lightning tribulation, bringing a terrifying sense of world-ending destruction!
Chen Xia tore off the tattered cuffs of his blue robe and casually tossed them to the ground, then spat out a mouthful of bloody foam and looked back at the enormous hand.
If that enormous hand was heaven...
Then he was an ant beneath heaven, crouched beneath its shadow, not worth mentioning.
But was he truly not worth mentioning?
A confident smile lifted the corners of Chen Xia's mouth. Even if that enormous hand truly was the vault of heaven...
He would ride the yellow dragon and cut down heaven!
Violent currents of air rolled downward, bursting houses apart and pressing down the water's surface. Within a hundred li, rivers churned and birds plummeted to the ground.
Chen Xia took his first step, steady amid the turbulent currents.
The thousand-zhang true dragon let out a piercing dragon's cry and coiled behind Chen Xia, having become his grand manifestation!
High in the heavens.
The divine senses of several mighty figures found the scene increasingly incomprehensible. They all frowned, their tones slightly astonished.
"What's going on? How did he even summon an ancient remnant species?"
"Just where did this kid come from? Which Great Emperor's reincarnation is he?"
"Doesn't look like it, but this is too strange. I've never heard of a cultivator capable of summoning an ancient true dragon. Even in the Immortal Realm, there are only a few true dragons, all raised by those dragon ancestors in the Dragon Abyss."
The mighty figures could not make sense of it, so they could only stop thinking about it. After all, there were so many things in the myriad worlds of the heavens. If they could understand them all, they would not still be mere Saints.
The most intense thing now remained the deadly struggle between Chen Xia and the enormous hand.
With his thousand-zhang true dragon manifestation, he held the enormous hand firmly at bay. As the two collided, they twisted and crushed the void, exposing the pitch-black space within.
The enormous hand could not press down, and the true dragon could not lift its head.
The two remained locked in this stalemate.
Chen Xia gritted his teeth, his hands like a dragon's head as he stubbornly resisted the enormous hand's pressure. The Qi and Blood throughout his body surged, and he poured out all his strength. Blood even began seeping from the corners of his mouth.
So he offered a suggestion that was not quite thought through.
"How about we both take a step back? You go home first and come back in another two hundred years. I'll be sure to give you a proper welcome then."
Perhaps this suggestion really was not quite thought through.
So much so that the enormous hand did not reply, but instead pressed down with even greater force. This single increase in strength shook the ground dozens of li away until it shattered, spreading cracks like a spiderweb.
Chen Xia, who bore the brunt of it, naturally struggled even harder. He coughed a large mouthful of blood from the corner of his mouth and looked at the enormous hand before him, growing somewhat angry himself.
If you don't agree, then don't agree. Why suddenly push harder?
Do you really take me for a soft persimmon you can squeeze?
Chen Xia gritted his teeth. Intense, brilliant golden light erupted from his pupils and swiftly spread across his body.
In mere moments, he had become a divine figure of golden light, riding a thousand-zhang yellow dragon into a desperate battle against the enormous hand.
Blood began bursting from the enormous hand as wounds large and small appeared across it. Its terrifying pressure weakened as its Qi and Blood drained away, as though it were losing its vitality.
With one hand, Chen Xia seized the edge of a fingernail on the enormous hand and violently ripped open a bloody furrow several thousand meters long, declaring with conviction as he did so.
"I'll give your finger a hangnail!"
Before the Qi and Blood scattered through the sky could reach the ground, the terrifying force of their battle evaporated it, dispersing it between heaven and earth.
The enormous hand seemed angry too. Rather than pressing down any further, it chose to close its fingers, intending to crush Chen Xia utterly within its palm!
Chen Xia did not dodge either. He simply charged madly at the enormous hand, determined to stain the blue heavens with its Qi and Blood!
From the distant heavens came an arrogant, cold declaration.
"An ant of a creature, yet you dare wreak havoc in my palm. I shall form a Great Dao within my palm, annihilate your soul and flesh, and scatter you between heaven and earth, never to enter reincarnation!"
The mighty figures in the heavens jolted and immediately spoke.
"A Quasi-Emperor?!"
"Why has a Quasi-Emperor from another plane come to this small world to harvest fortune?"
"Could he intend to rear this small world, harvest it for ten thousand years, and ultimately condense it into a Law Treasure?!"
The mighty figures continued speculating, but none dared act now, held back by numerous concerns.
Even setting aside the hundred-thousand-year Nascent Soul Lightning Tribulation still brewing in the heavens, this Quasi-Emperor alone was not someone they could readily provoke.
Besides, if they entered this small world, the suppression of its now-raging will of heaven and earth would limit their cultivation to golden core peak at most.
All in all, they would be of little use. Better to watch and see how things developed.
Whether this kid lived or died was his own fate.
If his fate was tough, he would live. If it was soft, he would die.
The struggle for the Great Dao between heaven and earth had always been this cruel and merciless, and no one would reason with you.
Was Chen Xia's fate tough?
If he were to answer that himself, he would certainly nod.
Because his luck had always been good. Those forty points in fortune had not been added for nothing.
He gritted his teeth, his fighting having stirred genuine fury. He stopped indulging the enormous hand and charged straight at its fingers.
The heavens shook violently, the Great Dao trembled, and the entire small world began swaying because of this battle.
Chen Xia fought ever more fiercely. The seven-colored golden core within him shone. He had not formed a nascent soul; instead, another distinct light lit up within his golden core.
A beam of golden light!
His golden core now held two distinct colors: brilliant white and golden yellow!
The brilliant white was the Great Dao of Time, and the golden yellow was the true dragon manifestation.
He had fought until he was bathed in blood, forcibly snapping off the little finger, dozens of li in size, and battering that mountain-range-like finger into a rain of blood that spread between heaven and earth.
The land drenched by the bloody rain began releasing vast quantities of Spiritual Qi, and all things grew.
Chen Xia himself was badly wounded too. The Qi and Blood throughout his body churned, and his blood frequently flowed backward, spilling from his mouth.
But when you fought until your eyes turned red, you would not care about your own injuries. Chen Xia had only one thought now.
Smash this enormous hand to pieces!
The enormous hand grew furious too. It began burning the power of its Qi and Blood, determined to crush this ant, Chen Xia, utterly!
Mountains across the world collapsed together, and rivers and seas surged backward.
Countless drops of bloody rain scattered over the mortal world, turning into vast quantities of Spiritual Qi that spread between heaven and earth.
The people stared blankly at the sky, watching the shadow looming over their heads shrink smaller and smaller until it vanished completely.
Yet the bloody rain kept falling.
Chen Xia stood alone between heaven and earth, panting nonstop, his body covered in blood. His strength had run dry and reached its limit, and his entire palm trembled.
Above the heavens, the ancient eyes that had silently watched the entire battle finally moved, fixing their gaze on Chen Xia without any other movement.
But the lightning clouds filling the sky began howling. Mountain-sized bolts of heavenly lightning flashed, carrying a murderous intent as they prepared to blast down!
Panting, Chen Xia looked helplessly at the dark clouds filling the sky and made one final decision.
He added the point he had just gained to fortune.
Fortune: 41.
He was going to gamble with his life.
Chen Xia straightened his body and faced the lightning filling the sky, his expression calm as he revealed one final smile.
The wind of fortune would blow from behind him.