Golden liquid dripped continuously, seeping into Mu En's corpse, which had already lost all warmth.
As the golden liquid merged into him, something slowly began writhing inside his hollow chest. More and more appeared, until crimson granulation tissue squirmed throughout the wound and began growing at incredible speed.
The tissue turned into countless blood-red threads that collided and tangled together, slowly fusing into internal organs. Bones began growing around those organs, followed gradually by skin.
In less than five minutes, his once-hollow chest had actually healed completely. Even his previously wrinkled skin had become smooth, delicate, and highly elastic, while his graying hair slowly turned black. He no longer looked anything like an old man whose candle was guttering in the wind.
Ma Xiaotao and Zhang Lexuan were checking the inner court students' conditions, and neither looked up to discover this strange sight.
Mu En abruptly opened his eyes!
His scarlet eyes kept surveying everything around him, and he soon spotted Huo Yuhao suspended in midair.
Huo Yuhao's entire mind was immersed in the Golden Ancient Tree, completely unaware of the danger behind him.
"I actually... didn't die?"
"As expected, Ancestor Tang San hasn't abandoned me! Hahahaha!"
Mu En had never expected to come back to life. His face twisted hideously, his smile crazed, as his eyes fixed unblinkingly on Huo Yuhao before him.
He discovered that his physical condition was surprisingly good. To his astonishment, his body was in its prime.
Mu En sensed his Soul Power. It had actually surpassed rank ninety-nine and reached the Demigod realm!
Was... was this the power Lord Tang San had bestowed upon me?
To avoid being discovered, he immediately composed himself without making the slightest sound.
Although he had no idea what Huo Yuhao was doing, as long as he undid the threads binding him, he could silently deliver a fatal blow!
Mu En exerted a little strength with his arm. The threads were tough and sharp, slicing straight through his skin. A bloody cut instantly appeared, and beads of blood followed the threads straight down to the ground.
I couldn't force my way out. Even in my prime, I still couldn't break these bindings through physical strength alone.
Scales spread across his skin, covering the places bound by the threads to protect him.
"Ah!"
Excruciating pain shot through his spine, instantly reaching its peak.
Driven by his hatred for Huo Yuhao, Mu En gritted his teeth and endured it, doing everything he could to suppress his voice.
Zhang Lexuan and Ma Xiaotao on the ground still had not noticed what was happening above.
Swish, swish, swish!
Four or five bone spurs burst straight through his back. They were stained with bright red blood, with scraps of flesh hanging from them and faint wisps of steam rising.
Heart-piercing pain instantly struck. Mu En's face turned white, and sweat fell ceaselessly like raindrops, while the bone spurs on his back continued transforming.
The originally white bone spurs slowly turned golden, then sprouted tiny barbs. A membrane connected every spur, forming a dragon wing that forced apart the bindings around Mu En's right hand.
Mu En was overjoyed. This sudden transformation had freed his right hand outright, instantly giving him far more room to maneuver!
Before he could take his next step, the dragon wing behind him unexpectedly transformed again.
The dragon wing spread, and the right half of Mu En's body seemed to melt, drawing the wing toward it as his body and the wing slowly fused.
Countless scales flipped upright and began growing continuously, overlapping in layers until they completely covered Mu En's right eye.
The entire right half of his body became part of the dragon wing. Its joint twisted, dividing into two sections, while the outer joint kept growing, slowly becoming a fist-sized, three-fingered dragon claw, exactly like a pterosaur's wing.
The right half of Mu En's mouth began extending forward. His teeth fell out one after another, followed by sharp dragon fangs growing in, until it actually became a dragon's maw.
With only half his body transformed into a dragon, Mu En was a grotesque mismatch, hideous beyond measure!
Damn it, how could this happen?! Mu En thought.
I'd only just come back to life. Why had my body suddenly become like this?!
But his hatred for Huo Yuhao immediately suppressed his panic.
This little transformation was nothing. As long as I could kill Huo Yuhao, it could all be disregarded.
The sudden transformation was not without benefits. The once-tough threads began snapping inch by inch, no longer able to restrain him.
"Hmm? What's this?"
Ma Xiaotao crouched halfway down. White objects lay scattered across the ground, and for a moment, she could not recognize them.
When I passed through just now, these clearly weren't here. Had they suddenly appeared?
Light shifted through Ma Xiaotao's pink eyes. She glanced around in confusion, then slowly raised her head...
"He... he's alive!" Ma Xiaotao cried.
Zhang Lexuan abruptly turned to look up into the sky, her pupils contracting sharply!
"Roar!"
Mu En shattered the threads outright, driving his Soul Power at full force and gathering it in his right-hand three-fingered dragon claw before viciously grabbing at the back of Huo Yuhao's head.
The sword in Zhang Lexuan's hand moved. Her figure flashed as all the Soul Power around her erupted!
I had to! I had to make it in time!
Rip!
Blood coated the dragon claw as it plunged straight into the Golden Ancient Tree.
"Lord Shadow!"
Ma Xiaotao's pupils instantly trembled. Her legs gave out, and she dropped to her knees.
She had watched that dragon claw pass straight through the back of Huo Yuhao's head and pierce the ancient tree.
Seeing this from midair, Zhang Lexuan's hands went limp, and her sword slipped free. Her eyes widened as a stream of clear tears flowed uncontrollably.
"No!..."
Mu En laughed wildly, his Adam's apple bobbing as he kept letting out piercing roars. It seemed that after the right half of his body underwent Dragon Transformation, he could no longer speak and could only express his joy through constant howls.
"Mu En! I'll take your life today!"
Ma Xiaotao roared furiously. A pair of wings abruptly spread, her legs drove hard, and her wings swept up countless fierce gusts as her entire figure vanished in an instant.
Ultimate Fire erupted at full force, a towering pillar of flame charging straight toward Mu En's enormous dragon body!
The crescent moon behind Zhang Lexuan suddenly turned blood-red. Countless ripples undulated through the space around Mu En, and countless blood-colored chains shot out, instantly binding his body.
Mu En's body jerked. Dragon scales scraped against the chains, and the blood-colored chains around him actually snapped inch by inch!
Zhang Lexuan grunted, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. The blood moon behind her began flickering in and out of sight; she had clearly suffered considerable backlash.
Mu En's dragon eye shifted, and the ball lightning in his hand attacked Ma Xiaotao below.
The ball lightning collided with Ultimate Fire, crushing through it like rotten wood as it continued attacking downward.
Ma Xiaotao increased her Soul Power output, but only held it back for a moment. The ball lightning instantly shattered Ultimate Fire and struck her delicate young body.
Boom!
The lightning carried Ma Xiaotao crashing hard into the ground before suddenly erupting. The ball lightning became a sea of lightning, descending ceaselessly with terrifying might and stirring up countless clouds of dust.
The dust slowly cleared. That ball lightning had actually blasted out a deep crater over fifty meters across. Ma Xiaotao had already lost consciousness, her robe in tatters and large stretches of skin exposed to the air.
Inside the Golden Ancient Tree, Sadness and Joy heard the commotion and immediately rushed out, just in time to witness this scene!
"How did he come back to life?!" Tang Ya exclaimed in shock.
Her gaze shifted slightly, instantly spotting Huo Yuhao pinned against the tree by Mu En, blood still dripping continuously from that dragon claw.
Tang Ya's eyes instantly turned crimson, and she was about to charge up to fight Mu En to the death.
Jiang Nannan hurriedly held her back. Letting her charge up like that would be no different from sending her to her death.
"Sadness, take those two and leave first..."
Zhang Lexuan gritted her teeth, struggling to remain afloat as a trace of resolve flashed through her eyes.
"Leave... roar! Can... you... get away? Roar!"
White breath kept spilling from Mu En's dragon maw as he forced out the words, his dragon eye filled with mockery.
I'd already surpassed the level of a Limit Douluo. Even if that brat Huo Yuhao faced me, I'd still slaughter him on the spot!
Besides, Huo Yuhao could hardly save himself now.
As Mu En thought this, his dragon head slowly turned toward Huo Yuhao against the tree trunk...
"Hey, old geezer? Had enough fun? Look what you've become. Still barking?"
His voice was not loud, but everyone present heard it with perfect clarity.
Zhang Lexuan was instantly overjoyed. Her entire body went limp, and she fell straight out of the sky.
Jiang Nannan flew up immediately, her long legs stepping through the air. After two flashes, she reached Zhang Lexuan, caught her in her arms, and landed on the ground.
Tang Ya quickly calmed down, anticipation in her eyes as she helped Ma Xiaotao up from the crater. Black slime slid from her palm onto Ma Xiaotao, covering her exposed intimate areas.
Mu En's dragon eye instantly widened as he stared incredulously at Huo Yuhao beneath his claw, thinking he must have misheard.
Under everyone's gaze, Huo Yuhao raised his right hand and slowly grasped Mu En's dragon wing.
Abruptly, a ring of blood appeared around Mu En's joint, and blood sprayed out violently!
Mu En's dragon wing broke cleanly into two sections. The wound was as smooth as a mirror, as though a sharp blade had severed it in an instant.
Huo Yuhao exerted a little strength with his hand, pulling the half-wing embedded in the tree trunk straight out and holding it.
He wiped the blood from his forehead, looking disgusted. Mu En had sprayed blood all over him.
"Roar!... Roar, roar, roar..."
Mu En's eye widened as he stared at his dragon wing in disbelief.
When had this happened? Why hadn't I felt anything at all?!
Hadn't I already broken past Limit Douluo? How could Huo Yuhao possibly break through my defenses and hurt me?!
Countless questions swirled through Mu En's mind.
Never in his wildest dreams had Mu En imagined that the instant he attacked, Huo Yuhao had awakened from within the Golden Ancient Tree.
In that fleeting instant, Huo Yuhao's sword had severed Mu En's dragon wing, moving so fast that even Mu En's own body had failed to react.
That half-wing had actually remained connected to his body for quite some time. Only when Huo Yuhao grabbed it had that balance finally broken!
If his returning spiritual body had not needed a brief period to merge, Huo Yuhao might already have attacked outright.
Huo Yuhao casually tossed down the half-wing in his hand, and a longsword condensed in his hand once more.
"You relied on outside power to break past Limit Douluo. Do you think that power belongs to you?"
Huo Yuhao posed this soul-searching question to Mu En.
Mu En was greatly alarmed. A Golden Dragon head condensed in his left hand, and he blasted it straight out.
Huo Yuhao raised his longsword and gently chopped forward. The dragon head was split straight apart and dissipated into the air.
"Roar... no, roar!... Impossible! I'm... the strongest!"
Mu En howled, the muscles of his left hand suddenly swelling. His entire arm transformed into a dragon claw, striking toward Huo Yuhao's head with the force of thunder.
Huo Yuhao tilted his head slightly and moved his wrist, sweeping his blade diagonally upward, his sharp longsword unstoppable.
Whoosh!
A dragon claw flew high into the air!
Blood sprayed in torrents from the root of Mu En's arm!
Above Huo Yuhao's right eye, flames of Soul Power danced freely within his gaze.
"When I was young, I pondered how I should become stronger. But the human body's strength is ultimately limited. However powerful the flesh, it still cannot rival the might produced by colliding atoms."
Then he raised his right foot high and stomped down hard. Dark purple Soul Power erupted beneath his foot, spreading an energy field outward with him at its center.
Within that energy field, countless lines of Soul Power arranged themselves neatly and regularly, like precise formulas, enveloping all of Sea God Island.
The enormous black canopy also turned purple in an instant, countless lines of Soul Power arranging themselves across it.
"A path to becoming the strongest through outside power does not exist!"
Shadow's robes billowed outward as a terrifying presence slowly began rising!
Those densely packed lines of Soul Power slowly emerged across Huo Yuhao's body.
Soul Power pulsed along those patterns, rising and falling, flickering with faint gleams.
"To avoid being vaporized by a nuclear bomb, become a nuclear bomb yourself!"
The Soul Power around Huo Yuhao turned into threads, constantly circling his body as Soul Power patterns flashed continuously within his eyes!
The fear of death suffocated Mu En. In panic, he tried to attack, only to discover that both his hands had already been severed.
He swung his remaining half-wing, smashing it fiercely toward Huo Yuhao!
Mu En could sense that Huo Yuhao was gathering power. If that power erupted, he would undoubtedly die!
Bang!
The dragon wing slammed down!
"Ah... roar!"
Mu En's dragon wing actually snapped outright in the collision. Countless bone fragments scattered, and it slumped limply where it was.
He froze completely. Huo Yuhao had not even moved his hands just now, yet his dragon wing had actually broken on its own from the collision!
Huo Yuhao looked down imperiously at Mu En before him. "Etch the true strongest into your heart!"
"Everyone! Evacuate immediately!"
Zhang Lexuan used every last bit of strength, unleashing her Soul Power at full force to carry her voice into the ears of every Garden member.
Members shot out of the Golden Ancient Tree one after another, taking all the unconscious inner court members and following the Four Shadows toward the outside of Sea God Island.
Huo Yuhao raised his longsword high with both hands. The entire blade turned purple from bottom to top, Soul Power threads winding around it before spreading apart like flower petals.
"I... Am... atomic!"
Holding the longsword in one hand, Huo Yuhao spun it once in the air, then swung it down. A dazzling purple ring flashed above his head before rapidly dissipating.
The boundless purple curtain of light vanished in an instant, and everything immediately fell still!
An ultimate purple sword light suddenly flashed once, then abruptly vanished!
A purple sphere enveloped Huo Yuhao and Mu En, transforming into a boundless pillar of light! It erupted with infinitely blinding radiance! Both their figures vanished outright!
The surrounding space trembled. Terrifying purple light expanded in an instant, immediately engulfing all of Sea God Island. That purple light was so intense that no one could open their eyes!
Extreme heat erupted! The Golden Ancient Tree vanished outright within the pillar of light!
The pillar spread outward, enveloping everything. The land on Sea God Island crumbled inch by inch, disappearing into the light!
The pillar pierced the clouds, illuminating all of Shrek Academy! It illuminated all of Shrek City! It wantonly destroyed everything around it!
Deep within the Star Dou Great Forest, numerous beast kings stared toward Shrek Academy, the earth-shaking residual might making them tremble!
On this very day, Shadow began enveloping the entire Douluo World!