Chapter 456 Breakthrough as Easy as Drinking Water? The Azure Dragon Returns!

"Still breaking through?! After evolving, it's ranking up again?!"

Someone in the crowd blurted this out first, their voice cracking from sheer shock, sounding like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

But no one cared to mock them, because everyone's gaze was nailed to that cyan-purple pillar of light piercing the sky, and everyone's Face wore the same four words: How is this possible?

Inside the pillar of light, the hundred-zhang projection of that Ancient Wind-Thunder Divine Peng was slowly retracting its wings that covered the sky.

The most dazzling stage of the evolution light had passed, but before anyone could recover from the shock brought by the evolution, a brand-new energy fluctuation, completely different from the evolution, erupted from the depths of the light pillar.

It was a Breakthrough. A genuine Realm Breakthrough.

The cyan-purple pillar of light suddenly expanded by a whole circle in that instant. The already thick pillar now pierced the clouds like a giant pillar supporting the heavens. The wind and thunder inside the light pillar were no longer the elegant and ancient rhythms from before, but had become violent, surging, and unstoppable.

Countless purple electric arcs, as thick as arms, exploded out from the light pillar, carving numerous hideous cracks in the Void Realm. The sound of each arc exploding was like a heavy hammer on a celestial drum, making the eardrums of everyone in the square buzz.

At the same time, cyan wind blades condensed into visible storm rings around the periphery of the light pillar. The rings rotated at high speed, crazily pouring the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi within dozens of miles into the body of the slender bird shadow at the center of the light pillar, like a whale swallowing water.

And the aura of that bird shadow, amidst this violent energy vortex, climbed upward at a jaw-dropping speed.

Gold Rank Nine.

This threshold had already been crossed the moment the evolution was completed.

Before the aura of Gold Rank Nine could stabilize, it was pushed hard by an irresistible giant force, crashing directly into the chasm barrier between Gold Rank and Purple Gold Rank.

Then, under the gaze of all the Liu family Disciples, that barrier was smashed open in one go.

"Purple Gold Rank!!!"

In front of the mystic light mirror, several sharp-eyed Elders roared these three words almost simultaneously.

Their voices were filled with uncontrollable trembling—not out of fear, but a physiological reaction forced out by one shock after another.

"It broke through to Purple Gold Rank! Immediately after evolving, it broke through to Purple Gold Rank! What kind of monster Aptitude is this?!"

An Elder deacon with great seniority held his head with both hands, his fingers dug into his graying hair, his Face filled with the bewilderment of someone who felt they had lived their life in vain.

Another management Elder beside him retreated several steps, not even realizing he had bumped his back against a stone pillar at the edge of the square, just shaking his head mechanically.

Muttering over and over, "Impossible! This is impossible!"

However, the Breakthrough was far from over.

After breaking through the Purple Gold Rank barrier, the aura in the light pillar not only did not slow down, but instead, like a wild horse that had broken free from its last restraint, continued to surge upward with an even more fierce and unstoppable momentum.

Purple Gold Rank One Early Stage, Middle Stage, Peak.

Then came a crisp energy explosion, as if something had been forcibly broken through in the depths of the light pillar, and the aura suddenly jumped to a new level.

"Purple Gold Rank Two!!!"

This time, it was Supreme Elder Liu Yunshan who shouted.

This Grand Elder, who had seen all kinds of storms and waves, could not care about being calm and dignified at this moment.

His finger pointing at the mystic light mirror was trembling violently, every wrinkle on his aged Face was stretched out by the shock, and his lips twitched for a long time before he could squeeze out a few fragmented words from his throat.

"It's still rising... It's still rising... After evolving, it breaks through, and after breaking through, it continues to break through small stages... This, this, this..."

He didn't finish his sentence.

The aura in the light pillar jumped up another notch.

Purple Gold Rank Two Peak!

Break!

Purple Gold Rank Three!

Three Stage Early Stage, Middle Stage!

Break again!

Purple Gold Rank Four Early Stage!

Then, that violent upward momentum finally slowed down in the Middle Stage of Purple Gold Rank Four, like a surging flood finally finding a reservoir that could temporarily contain it, and began to stabilize bit by bit.

The electric arcs exploding in the light pillar slowly decreased, the storm rings rotating on the outside also gradually slowed down, and the slender bird shadow in the center of the light pillar slowly retracted its wings. The wind and thunder light around its body shifted from a violent explosive state to an introverted circulation state.

Purple Gold Rank Four!

From gold rank eight peak.

It leaped directly to Purple Gold Rank Four.

It spanned across Gold Rank Nine, Peak Gold Rank 9, Purple Gold Rank One, Purple Gold Rank Two, Purple Gold Rank Three, and finally stood firmly on the stage of Purple Gold Rank Four.

Such a range of Breakthrough could no longer be described by the word "shocking."

The entire square, thousands of Liu family Disciples, was silent.

Then.

"Whoa!!!"

A roar of uproar, more intense than any before, exploded like a flash flood.

Thousands of people exclaimed, screamed, swore, stomped their feet, and slapped their thighs simultaneously. The sound waves gathered together, almost blowing the roof off the entire treasury square.

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!!! Purple Gold Rank Four! That's Purple Gold Rank Four!! Jumping from gold rank eight peak directly to Purple Gold Rank Four!! Breaking six ranks in a row!! Is this even a Beast Taming?! This must be a fairy, right?!!"

"That True Dragon from before jumped from Peak Gold Rank 9 to Purple Gold Rank Six, which was already outrageous enough, but this one is even more outrageous!! Jumping directly from gold rank eight peak to Purple Gold Rank Four!! It crossed more ranks than that True Dragon!! Is Grand Tutor Dongxuan's Beast Taming Breakthrough as simple as drinking water?! Even drinking water isn't this smooth! At least you have to swallow when drinking water; they don't even need to swallow when breaking through!!!"

"Do you know, my Beast Taming spent three whole months in seclusion to break through from Gold Rank Five to Gold Rank Six, using over a dozen bottles of Medicinal Pill and hiring a Purple Gold Rank Protector to guard the whole time. But look at them; a few hours, evolution with Breakthrough, Breakthrough with consecutive jumps, Rank Six!! Rank Six!! I gain one rank in three months, they gain six ranks in a few hours! I want to cry!!"

"It really is as simple as drinking water... No, wait, drinking too much water makes you bloated, but they look like they're still not satisfied after breaking through! Look at the bird shadow in that light pillar, it's still circling, not even panting! Even a Legendary Bloodline couldn't do this, right?! What kind of fairy Beast Taming is this?!!"

"Grand Tutor Dongxuan, please withdraw your Divine Ability! Our hearts can't take it! From the moment the True Dragon started breaking through until now, my legs have been weak; I haven't been able to stand up at all!"

The Liu family Disciples were completely crazy.

Some were shaking their companions' shoulders frantically, some were squatting on the ground holding their heads in disbelief, some were jumping three feet high in place and then jumping again after landing, while others were laughing at the sky and muttering something.

"I witnessed history!"

"This life was worth it!"

And other such words.

And those esteemed Liu family Elders, who usually remained calm no matter what happened, had expressions no better than the young Disciples at this moment.

A white-haired Elder deacon reached out tremblingly, wanting to stroke his beard to calm his mood, but his hand shook so violently that he pulled out a few strands of his beard, wincing in pain but completely unable to care.

Another old friend beside him had his hands behind his back, standing straight, but that was because his whole body's muscles were stiff from being too shocked, and he couldn't bend down at all.

"I have lived for over two hundred years, and I have seen no fewer than eight hundred geniuses."

The Elder deacon finally found his voice, but it was as dry as sandpaper rubbing against stone.

"Those who can break through a small rank or two while breaking through a major Realm can already be called geniuses who are not seen in a hundred years. But this Grand Tutor Dongxuan's Beast Taming, it breaks through immediately after evolving, and after breaking through, it breaks through several ranks in one breath, going straight from gold rank eight peak to Purple Gold Rank Four without a pause. I haven't even heard of such a thing, let alone seen it. Even the descendants cultivated by those hidden families who haven't appeared for ten thousand years probably couldn't reach this level."

Behind him, another management Elder spoke with a complicated expression, his voice tinged with a bit of bitter self-deprecation.

"Our Liu family cultivates Beast Taming, focusing on gradual progress and accumulation. For a Gold Rank Beast Taming to break through to Purple Gold Rank, the preparation alone takes months or even years: accumulating Spiritual Qi, tempering the Physical Body, polishing the Bloodline, taking auxiliary Medicinal Pill, setting up Breakthrough Formations... After this whole process, successfully breaking through is already a blessing. But look at them? In the treasury, in the gaps of the challenge, they let the Beast Taming evolve casually, then casually let it break through, and then casually let it jump several ranks. We work hard for several years, and it's not even as good as them messing around for a few hours. This gap is no longer a question of Aptitude; it's a gap of the entire level."

And in the area where the Grand Elder was, the atmosphere was even more heavy to the extreme.

Supreme Elder Liu Yunshan's lips were pressed into a pale line, his two hands clasped in front of him, his knuckles turning pale from excessive force.

His gaze was nailed to the bird shadow circling in the cyan-purple light pillar in the mystic light mirror, and after a long silence, he slowly exhaled a turbid breath, his voice as low as a sigh.

"First the True Dragon broke through and jumped six ranks, then the Divine Peng evolved and jumped several ranks. Two Beast Tamings, in just a few short hours, completed the leap from Gold Rank to Purple Gold Rank, and they did it easily, without a ripple. Such foundation, such means, such Aptitude... I truly believe now that this Grand Tutor Dongxuan's identity is far from as simple as we guessed before. A force capable of cultivating such Beast Tamings, let alone our Liu family, even looking at the entire Central Province, I'm afraid there are not many forces that can afford to provoke them."

When he said this.

His gaze glanced intentionally or unintentionally at Liu Lie not far away.

Liu Lie's Face could no longer be described in words.

If his Face looked like he had been slapped when Little Fire broke through and jumped six ranks before, then now that Little Skylark had evolved and broken through and jumped several ranks, his Face looked like it had been slapped back and forth with a shoe sole a dozen times, and then thrown into a dyeing vat.

Red, white, cyan, purple—all kinds of colors, each representing a level of being slapped.

His lips were trembling, the corners of his eyes were twitching, and his hands were clenched into two iron lumps in his sleeves, his nails digging into the flesh of his palms without feeling any pain.

What did he say before?

Even if Grand Tutor Dongxuan let the Beast Taming break through, so what? Purple Gold Rank One is still crushed by Diamond Rank One.

As a result, they went straight to Purple Gold Rank Six in one breath.

He wanted to say something to make up for his Face, but then their second Beast Taming evolved, and after evolving, it broke through to Purple Gold Rank Four.

Purple Gold Rank Six plus Purple Gold Rank Four, two top-tier Bloodline Beast Tamings teaming up, facing a Diamond Rank One True Dragon remnant soul, the odds of winning had turned from impossible to "hard to say," and from "hard to say" had slid quietly toward "very likely."

The fragments of the teacup at Liu Lie's feet were still lying there; that was what he had shattered when he said spiritedly that if they could take the seventh-floor treasure, he would eat the teacup in public.

Now that piece of broken porcelain was reflecting a glaring white light under the illumination of the moonstone, just like a silent mockery, reminding him.

Your Face has already been beaten swollen, so swollen that you don't even recognize yourself.

And at the very front of everyone, Liu Qingyun's expression was far more complicated than Liu Lie's.

As the head of the Liu family, his mood at this moment was like being fished out of an ice cellar and thrown into a frying pan.

On one hand, as the head of the family, seeing the most precious ancestral foundation in his own treasury about to be taken away by someone, that kind of heartache and unwillingness was like ten thousand ants gnawing at his heart, making every breath he took taste bitter.

[part:gemini-3.5-flash]

But on the other hand, as an onlooker who had witnessed Jiang Yun create miracles in the Ancestral Land and crush his understanding time and again in the Star Pavilion, there was a faint, inexplicable sense of relief deep in his heart.

After all, that was Grand Tutor Dongxuan.

He had created so many miracles; what was there to be surprised about if he created one more?

But the heartache was still very real.

That was ancestral dragon essence blood, a Legendary Medium Grade treasure. The Liu family had only this one drop in hundreds of years.

Liu Qingyun took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, repeating this several times before barely managing to suppress the complex emotions churning in his heart.

He turned to look at Elder Liu Lan beside him, only to find that her expression was much calmer than his.

This Grand Elder of the Liu family merely shook her head slightly and said something in a soft voice that made Liu Qingyun feel even more stifled.

“Family Head, let's just wait and see how things develop. We can't stop it anyway, can we?”

Indeed, they couldn't stop it.

They couldn't stop it from the very beginning.

In the mystic light mirror, the blue-purple light pillar that pierced through the sky began to slowly recede.

Just like when Little Fire's Breakthrough ended, the diameter of the light pillar shrank inch by inch. The power of wind and thunder churning within the pillar also gradually turned from violent to gentle, and finally to calm.

The phantom of the hundred-zhang giant peng circled one last time in the light pillar, then transformed into a sky full of blue-purple light spots. They fell like a shower of stars inside the pillar, illuminating the slender bird-like shadow in vivid detail one last time.

The thirty-meter wingspan slowly folded, the three purple feathers on its head swayed gently in the rain of light, and its tail feathers drooped like ribbons. The entire scene was as beautiful as a scroll of ancient mythology.

Then, the light pillar completely dissipated.

The wind stopped, the thunder ceased, and the huge Spiritual Qi vortex in the sky, which had been stirred up by the two Heaven-Defying light pillars, also began to slowly close.

Sunlight spilled once more through the gaps in the clouds, shining on the thousands of shocked Faces in the square.

The entire square fell into a brief silence.

“I-Is it over?”

“Both light pillars have disappeared... The light pillar for the True Dragon's Breakthrough and the one for the divine peng's evolution have both disappeared.”

“The Breakthrough is complete? The evolution is complete too?”

“Then what's next? What is Grand Tutor Dongxuan going to do next?”

As soon as this question was asked, the crowd, which had quieted down slightly due to the dissipation of the light pillars, became restless again.

Indeed, the tamed beasts had broken through and evolved, but Grand Tutor Dongxuan himself was still on the seventh floor of the treasure vault.

What was he going to do next?

Would he continue to challenge?

Or would he stop there and leave the treasure vault?

“He will definitely continue to challenge!”

A young Disciple of the Liu family said, his eyes shining and his Face flushed with excitement.

“Think about it, why did he go to so much trouble to make his tamed beasts break through and evolve in the treasure vault? Isn't it just to challenge the treasures on the seventh floor? Now that his beasts are ready, how could he possibly stop?”

“But the challenge rule for the seventh floor is a gap of ten Realms!”

Another Disciple nearby countered, though his voice was clearly lacking in confidence.

“Even if his True Dragon has broken through to Purple Gold Rank Six and that divine peng has reached Purple Gold Rank Four, the Realm suppression of that Azure Ancient Dragon's phantom is still ten levels. Purple Gold Rank Six fighting Diamond Rank Seven—the gap is still huge!”

“A ten-Realm gap is nothing!”

Someone immediately retorted, their tone filled with blind worship of Jiang Yun.

“Grand Tutor Dongxuan has both of his beasts working together now! A True Dragon plus a divine peng, double Bloodline suppression—what does a ten-Realm gap even matter!”

“Exactly! And did you notice? Grand Tutor Dongxuan has been incredibly calm from start to finish. Even after the Breakthroughs, he's still sitting inside unhurriedly to stabilize his Realms. This is called confidence! This is called self-assurance! I bet Grand Tutor Dongxuan will definitely obtain a treasure from the seventh floor!”

“I also bet he can win! Although I don't know how he's going to fight, I just feel like he'll win!”

The Disciples' discussions grew warmer and more excited, and the air was filled with an irrepressible sense of anticipation and excitement.

Those Elders and deacons who had originally been skeptical of Jiang Yun also shut their mouths one after another.

It wasn't because they were convinced, but because they were truly afraid of being slapped in the Face again.

Within just a few short hours, Grand Tutor Dongxuan had slapped everyone present in the Face with the Breakthrough and evolution of his two tamed beasts.

Who would dare to stand up now and say he couldn't do it?

If he won again in a moment, where would they hide their Faces?

Elder Mo and Master Fu Shan stood side by side at the very front of the crowd, the eyes of the two Grand Tutor Level masters still fixed on the mystic light mirror.

Elder Mo stroked his beard, pondered for a moment, and spoke slowly.

“The Breakthroughs are complete, and now it's time for the real deal. Old Fu, do you think he can obtain one of the Liu family's treasures on the seventh floor?”

Master Fu Shan remained silent for a long while.

Only then did he slowly shake his head.

It was not a sign of negation, but rather a helpless expression of truly not knowing.

“Before today, this old man would have definitely said it's impossible. But after today, this old man will never say the word 'impossible' to this little friend Dong Xuan again. As for whether he can win or not, I do not know. But what I do know is that the upcoming battle will definitely be spectacular.”

...

Meanwhile, inside the Beast Taming Space.

Jiang Yun knew nothing of the earth-shattering shock and discussion outside the Star Pavilion.

At this moment, he was standing on the lake shore, looking up at the beautiful giant bird slowly folding its wings in the sky, the smile on his lips as bright as if he had just eaten a whole jar of honey.

Purple Gold Rank Four.

Four new skills.

Wind-Thunder Calamity Domain, Ancient Wind-Thunder Wing Slash, Wind-Thunder Heavenly Feathers, and Nirvana Thunder Prison.

Domain, armor penetration, field-clearing, and control.

Not a single one missing.

“This time, that Azure Ancient Dragon is really going to have its hands full.”

Jiang Yun muttered to himself, his tone filled with an irrepressible eagerness to try.

Little Fire was stabilizing its Realm at the bottom of the lake, while Little Skylark was circling in the air, adapting to its newly born power of wind and thunder. Both tamed beasts were in unprecedentedly good condition.

Jiang Yun shifted his gaze away from them and turned toward the shadow-covered area in the deepest part of the Beast Taming Space.

There, Nether Abyss was still coiled inside the dark gray light cocoon. The dark-attribute origin law crystal had shrunk to the size of a walnut, and the Law threads on the surface of the cocoon were several times denser than before. Every pulsation released a pure dark attribute Origin aura that was suffocating.

The crack that had previously appeared on the surface of the light cocoon was still there. The dark Origin aura seeping out of the crack was already as thick as physical ink, dyeing the surrounding shadows even deeper and purer.

Almost ready.

But it wasn't finished yet.

Jiang Yun did not disturb Nether Abyss.

Refining a Law Crystal was extremely delicate work that tolerated no distractions.

Forcing an interruption would only cause all previous efforts to go to waste, and might even cause damage to Nether Abyss's Origin.

Furthermore, with the current states of Little Fire and Little Skylark, the two Purple Gold Rank tamed beasts working together already had the confidence to directly challenge the remnant soul of the Azure Ancient Dragon.

If their dual Domains were stacked and coordinated properly, it was not impossible to defeat that True Dragon phantom.

If that really didn't work, he could then summon Nether Abyss. With all three tamed beasts acting together, it would be a three-on-one fight, which gave him an even greater chance of winning.

After pondering for a moment, Jiang Yun had already made a decision.

Fight first.

Fight now.

“Let's go.”

He took one last look at Little Fire at the bottom of the lake and Little Skylark in the sky. With a thought, his Divine Sense withdrew from the Beast Taming Space like a receding tide.

However, when his consciousness returned to his body, he was stunned.

Beneath him were the cold cyan obsidian floor tiles, above his head were the moonstones arranged in a star map on the dome of the Star Pavilion's seventh floor, and around him were three dark-gold display stands arranged in a triangular Formation, their restrictive barriers slightly distorting the light under the illumination of the moonstones.

The hall.

Why was he in the hall?

Jiang Yun blinked, taking several breaths of time to react.

Right, he had sat motionless in the Challenge Space for several hours. The Ten Thousand Beast Battle Formation had probably determined that he had not summoned any tamed beasts for a long time, so it automatically teleported him out.

Just like last time, the Challenge Space had some kind of hidden time limit. If no challenge was conducted after a certain period of time, it would automatically terminate and teleport the challenger back to the position where they entered.

“So that's how it is.”

Jiang Yun muttered to himself as he stood up, patting off the non-existent dust on his robes, his expression as calm as if nothing had happened.

It was fine to be teleported out anyway, as he had intended to re-enter regardless.

Now that everything was ready, he just had to do it again.

He took a step forward and walked without hesitation toward the dark-gold display stand where the ancestral dragon essence blood was displayed.

In the center of the display stand, that drop of dark-gold blood still floated in mid-air, its surface flowing with lifelike golden patterns. Every time they flowed, they would ripple a visible dragon-shaped phantom around the blood.

Across that invisible restrictive barrier, that ancient-to-the-extreme True Dragon pressure was still faintly seeping outward, like an ancient dragon king sleeping in the deepest depths of the long river of time, waiting for some reckless challenger to wake it up.

Jiang Yun took a deep breath, reached out his right hand, and touched the invisible restrictive barrier.

The moment his fingertips touched the Restriction, a familiar white light surged from all directions, engulfing his vision.

The teleportation light membrane lit up around him, and the space distorted slightly for a moment before returning to calm.

When the white light dissipated, Jiang Yun opened his eyes again.

It was still that familiar world.

Beneath his feet were rolling green hills, and knee-high wild grass surged into green waves in the wind.

In the distance, the stream like a silver ribbon still wound through the mountain valleys, the water mist splashed by the stream hitting the rocks refracting a rainbow halo under the sunlight.

Further away, several mountain Peaks stood in layers, shrouded in clouds and mist at their mid-slopes, with waterfalls faintly visible hanging between them.

The translucent boundary thousands of feet above his head was still faintly visible, isolating this small world from the outside.

Everything was just as it had been before.

Including that deep blue dragon shadow slowly circling in the sky.

Its body length was still about ten meters, entirely covered in dark blue scales, with the edges of each scale glinting with a cold metallic luster.

On its slender dragon head, two ink-black dragon horns curved backward. Its dragon eyes were narrow, and there was no emotional fluctuation in its vertical dark-gold pupils, only that high-and-mighty indifference, as if looking down at ants.

Its circling posture was calm and elegant. Every flick of its tail would ripple a faint blue wave in the void, and every flap of its wings would cause the surrounding wind-attribute Spiritual Qi to emit a low resonance.

Even though he had seen it once before and was fully prepared mentally, when Jiang Yun faced this remnant soul of the Azure Ancient Dragon again, the pressure stemming from Bloodline instinct still made him tense his back involuntarily.

There was no release of Realm aura, no active suppression of dragon might; it merely existed there, like an ancient mountain floating in the sky, requiring no action to make the entire world submit beneath its shadow.

This was the True Dragon Clan.

Even if it was just a phantom formed from a wisp of remnant soul and a drop of remnant blood, it was still an existence standing at the very top of all living things.

Jiang Yun slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, but the corner of his mouth curved into an angle completely opposite to the feeling of pressure.

The last time he faced this Azure Ancient Dragon, he had only taken a hasty glance before being forced to recall Little Fire and flee in a hurry.

At that time, he indeed had no chance of winning.

Peak Gold Rank 9 against Diamond Rank One—a gap of ten Realms was like an ant trying to shake a giant tree.

But things were different now.

Although it was still a gap of ten Realms.

This time, however, Jiang Yun had quite a bit of confidence...