142: Chapter 142 Dragon Transformation to Break the Demon

"Roar——!!!!!!" Chu Zhanxiao suddenly raised his head and let out a long howl!

This howl had already transcended the Realm of mortal humans; it was more like a True Dragon that wielded thunder in the ancient era, having broken free from the shackles of time and space, returning from the end of the primordial wilderness, raising its head to the heavens to unleash a sacred roar that shook the Myriad Heavens and Worlds and announced its return!

At first, it sounded like ten thousand pieces of peerless jade striking simultaneously above the Nine Heavens, clear and sonorous, cleansing the universe;

In an instant, it transformed into rolling, world-destroying thunder, exploding from the Chaos and void. The sound waves condensed into tangible silver ripples, like a world-ending tsunami, carrying the might to crush all things, ferociously rolling over every inch of air on the Martial Arts Arena, and exploding outwards in all directions!

"Hum——!" The spectators under the stage, regardless of their cultivation level, all felt their ears ringing with pain, their skulls vibrating, and their vision going black! The Spiritual Qi that had been surging and flowing within their bodies was actually intimidated by this howl containing supreme Dragon Qi, causing it to freeze and become sluggish!

And at this moment, inside Chu Zhanxiao—his blood and Qi were like world-destroying lava that had been sleeping deep within the earth's core, boiling for ten thousand years, surging and roaring crazily beneath his skin! In his blood vessels, what flowed seemed no longer to be blood, but scorching liquid thunder!

In the deepest part of his Dantian Qi Sea, that Golden Core, which had condensed his lifelong cultivation and the Origin of his True Dragon Dao Body, was rotating at an unprecedented, almost insane, and extreme speed!

The pale golden light from the core was blazing to the extreme, as if a miniature, eternally burning, brilliant sun had been ignited in his lower abdomen! The light was almost about to penetrate his skin, illuminating his body like a glazed statue of a god!

The vast, magnificent, and extremely pure thunder Spiritual Qi was no longer held back in the slightest, like a bursting galaxy, like a sky river flowing in reverse, transforming into the most violent torrent, crazily pouring into the silver thunder Dragon phantom behind him that was connected to his mind!

"Awooo——!!!" Having received this magnificent nourishment that was almost like an Origin sacrifice, the thunder Dragon, which had shrunk due to intense consumption, raised its head and let out a roar full of power, and its Dragon body began to swell crazily again at a speed visible to the naked eye!

Ten zhang! Fifty zhang! One hundred zhang!! In an instant, it had transformed into a behemoth over one hundred and fifty zhang long, almost reaching the top of the protective light barrier! It was as towering as a mountain; just by coiling there, the shadow it cast was enough to make people suffocate!

What made one's Soul tremble the most was that at this moment, every huge Dragon scale of the thunder Dragon was bursting with pure thunder light that was blinding and impossible to look at directly! That light was not covering the surface but radiating from within the scales, as if every single Dragon scale had been directly forged and condensed from the most fundamental Law of thunder between Heaven and Earth!

As the scales opened, closed, and rubbed against each other, they emitted dense popping sounds of "Crackle! Sizzle!", and every sound caused the surrounding air to violently ionize, twist, and tremble, transforming into a violent Domain of thunder where tiny electric sparks danced!

"Roar——!!!!!!" The thunder Dragon raised its mountain-like head and let out a world-destroying roar that was truly capable of tearing the sky apart and shaking the earth! In those huge Dragon eyes, which had originally flickered with spiritual brilliance, the last trace of intelligence belonging to the "creation" had completely vanished and faded away...

Replacing it was the most primitive, pure, and extreme will of destruction! It was the absolute Law itself, present at the birth of thunder, which split Chaos, cleansed filth, and executed the punishment of Heaven! It no longer coiled to guard, nor did it wait for commands.

The Dragon body suddenly stretched, stirring up the winds and clouds in the sky, carrying the Domain of destruction that covered the entire space above the Martial Arts Arena, with silver snakes dancing wildly and thunder light like an ocean, like an enraged monarch of the thunder Dao, it actively lunged towards the filthy source of darkness opposite it!

"Well done! If I swallow this thunder Dragon that contains the Origin of your True Dragon Dao Body, my 'Heaven-Devouring Dragon Demonic Technique' will surely break through its shackles and advance further! Hahaha!"

Facing this world-destroying lunge, Nangong Tianlong was not afraid but delighted; like an addict seeing the ultimate drug, he threw his head back and let out a manic, twisted, and grim laugh filled with endless greed!

The last trace of humanity in his eyes was completely annihilated, leaving only the purest, fierce light of desire for power and destruction! He did not dodge or evade; he even actively met the attack!

The aura around his body, a mix of gold and black, evil and monstrous, rose into the sky like a volcanic eruption, rapidly churning, condensing, and deforming in mid-air—it actually transformed into a hundred-zhang Demonic Dragon, one that was not inferior in size, and even appeared more ferocious and bloated due to the surging Devilish Qi!

This Demonic Dragon was pitch black, like an eternal night that devoured all light. Its scales were not smooth but covered in countless hideous barbs that were pale green and constantly dripping with viscous, poisonous liquid! As the poison dripped, even the void space was corroded, emitting "hissing" white smoke and small holes.

Only its pair of Dragon eyes were scarlet as blood, like two balls of Hell fire forged from the sins and resentment of endless living beings, burning fiercely! The aura of devouring, destruction, and Chaos it emitted actually arrogantly pulled, twisted, and finally swallowed the surrounding light into that bottomless darkness!

One silver, one black. Two behemoths as large as ancient divine mountains, carrying diametrically opposed and irreconcilable Laws and wills, collided ferociously above the Martial Arts Arena without any frills!

"Boom——!!!" The silver Dragon swung its tail, the Dragon tail wrapped in billions of violent thunderbolts as thick as water buckets, carrying the terrifying force of billions of jun capable of collapsing mountains and rivers and splitting stars, it ferociously swept and lashed towards the Demonic Dragon's hideous head! Wherever it passed, the air was whipped into a vacuum, and the thunder light plowed charred black marks!

The Demonic Dragon did not dodge or evade but instead let out a provocative hiss. Its huge mouth suddenly opened, revealing layers of fangs that were stark white like a bone forest and dripping with corrosive black liquid, intending to swallow the sweeping Dragon tail, along with the destructive thunder upon it, into its bottomless demonic maw!

"Roar!" The silver Dragon howled in extreme rage. Inside its Dragon mouth, the blazing thunder light compressed to the extreme, transforming into a destructive thunder pillar several zhang in diameter, condensed into substance, and was ferociously spat out, intending to pierce through the Demonic Dragon's filthy body and purify its Origin!

The viscous Devilish Qi surging around the Demonic Dragon, however, was like billions of ghosts possessing independent life, crazily wriggling and gathering, transforming into countless twisted, hideous pitch-black ghost hands. Layer upon layer, wave after wave, they actually tightly wrapped and entangled the indestructible destructive thunder pillar, and at the cost of being largely evaporated themselves, they crazily corroded and devoured the pure thunder power within it!

"Boom! Bang! Sizzle——!!!" Every most direct collision, bite, and bombardment caused the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi above the Martial Arts Arena to completely riot, boil, and explode!

The brilliant silver-white thunder light, representing the punishment of the Heavenly Dao, and the pitch-black, filthy Devilish Qi, symbolizing the devouring of the abyss, crazily intertwined, annihilated, and exploded in mid-air!

The erupting light made the hanging sun lose its color, plunging the entire Martial Arts Arena into an eerie state of flickering, constantly switching between extreme brightness and deep darkness!

Even the high-cultivation chief referees and reclusive old monsters on the high platform had to circulate their pure Spiritual Qi at this moment, forming protection over their eyes, to barely look directly at the center of the collision without having their Divine Soul scorched!

This had long since surpassed a simple collision of power. This was a head-on collision between "Dao" and "Demonic"! It was a life-and-death struggle between the Law of light and the abyss of darkness! It was the ultimate contest between the thunder that purifies everything and the Demonic Technique that devours all things—two completely opposite and absolutely antagonistic "paths"!

The spectator stands were deathly silent; one could hear a pin drop. Hundreds of thousands of people seemed to have turned into clay statues and wooden carvings, having even forgotten to breathe. Everyone held their breath tightly, their pupils contracted to the extreme, reflecting the Peak duel above the Martial Arts Arena that surpassed imagination and was worthy of being recorded in epics.

Some people unconsciously clenched their fists tightly, their nails digging deep into their palms, blood seeping out without them even noticing; some were dumbfounded, their mouths wide open to the extreme, their faces filled with extreme shock, confusion, and the disbelief of having their worldview repeatedly crushed—

By this point, the battle had long surpassed personal honor and disgrace, or the victory or defeat of a Sect. This was clearly a life-and-death battle between the glorious Righteous Path and the sinister Demonic Path, between the purest Origin power in the world and the most filthy forbidden power—these two completely different paths!

Chu Zhanxiao stood in the center of the thunder ocean he had created. Beneath the skin all over his body, those profound thunder Dao patterns were like ancient thunder snakes that had completely awakened, flickering with silver light, circulating and moving on their own.

His original green robe had long been dyed and assimilated by the violent thunder light, transforming into a flowing, pure silver-white color, clinging tightly to his body, outlining smooth and explosive lines.

His long, ink-black hair, wrapped and stirred by billions of wildly dancing electric snakes, flew and danced wantonly as if it had a life of its own, with fine thunder light jumping on every strand.

At this moment, he was like an Innate god born from the Origin of thunder, a god of thunder descended to the world, wielding the punishment of Heaven, with endless majesty!

His fingers, like phantoms traversing between the Void Realm and reality, were changing seals at a speed that had already surpassed the limit of the naked eye; one could only see a blur of afterimages, precisely and violently controlling that hundred-zhang thunder Dragon, launching a wave of destructive attacks, each fiercer than the last, like roaring waves crashing against the shore.

However, his brows, covered in fine thunder light, furrowed almost imperceptibly. The "devouring" characteristic of that Demonic Dragon, its eeriness and might, far exceeded his initial estimation!

In every most intense collision, although the thunder Dragon's attacks could purify and evaporate a large amount of Devilish Qi, there was always a small portion of the most pure thunder Origin power that was forcibly stripped, devoured, and converted by the Demonic Dragon in some way that defied common sense!

With one waning and the other waxing, the opponent's pitch-black demonic flames were not suppressed; instead, through each "feeding," they became increasingly solid and blazing!

Nangong Tianlong hovered above the head of the hundred-zhang Demonic Dragon, his aura completely connected to the Demonic Dragon beneath his feet, forming a seamless whole. The demonic might surging around his body, as he continuously "devoured" thunder, became increasingly monstrous, stirring up the winds and clouds in the sky.

On his face, that smug, manic, and greedy expression grew increasingly intense, almost overflowing! His hands waved like a demon lord dancing with claws, controlling the black Qi around the Demonic Dragon, transforming it into countless twisted sharp claws, pointed bone spurs, and fangs dripping with poison, from all sorts of tricky angles, constantly eroding, tearing, and gnawing at the towering body of the thunder Dragon, which was condensed from thunder.

Attempting to drag this creation of glorious Heavenly power, bit by bit, into that boundless abyss of only darkness and destruction!

The battle had reached its most tragic, critical, and dangerous moment! Would thunder purify the demonic abyss? Or would the demonic abyss... devour the thunder?

Seeing that the Demonic Dragon was actually able to contend on equal terms, and even use his own attacks to "nurture" itself, becoming fiercer the more it fought, a trace of icy, bone-chilling, yet star-like... determination suddenly flashed in Chu Zhanxiao's eyes!

His thoughts, in one ten-thousandth of a blink, were like lightning and flint, clearly illuminating everything: "The utmost Yang and rigidity are easy to unleash but difficult to retract. If I blindly attack and strike hard, if I cannot completely crush the core of his Demonic Technique in one blow, I will instead continue to fuel his demonic flames, nurturing a tiger that will cause trouble..."

"The root of this fiend's Demonic Technique lies in that bizarre and overbearing 'Devour' characteristic, which can corrupt and convert external forces. To break this situation, there is only..."

The thought struck like lightning, parting the fog!

"With a power of Origin that is pure, clean, and condensed to the extreme, ignore all external changes and entanglements, strike straight at the heart, and penetrate the 'root' of his Demonic Technique—its most core and fragile point—with a single blow!"

As the thought arose, the move changed!

Chu Zhanxiao's violently shifting hand seals suddenly stopped!

He no longer attempted to control the Thunder Dragon to launch even fiercer attacks; instead, he brought his hands together before his chest in a slow, solemn posture that was the complete opposite of his previous violence, forming an ancient, simple sealing gesture that seemed to contain the supreme principle of 'All Laws Returning to the Source.'

His lips parted slightly as he softly uttered a single word. The voice was not loud, yet it carried the undeniable majesty of an imperial decree, ringing out clearly amidst the roaring of the thunder sea and the hissing of the demonic dragon:

"Return."

Once the word was spoken, the Law followed the command!

"Boom—!!!"

That silver sea of thunder dancing across the sky, and that towering, hundred-zhang True Dragon phantom carrying the power of world-destruction, reacted to the sound as if receiving a decree from a supreme monarch. Without a hint of hesitation, they shuddered in unison!

Immediately, they transformed into billions of streams of pure, extreme silver thunder. Like a hundred rivers returning to the sea or ten thousand dragons bowing to their ancestor, they surged backward at a speed impossible to track with the naked eye, all sinking into... Chu Zhanxiao's body!

Above the arena, the suffocating sea of thunder and the massive dragon shadow vanished without a trace in an instant.

It was as if the world-destroying scene from just a moment ago had been nothing more than an illusion.

Dead silence.

A silence, even more oppressive and unsettling than before, descended upon the arena.

Everyone was stunned, confused—why had Chu Zhanxiao withdrawn all his power at such a critical moment? Was he planning to concede? No, that was absolutely impossible!

Just as the Thunder Dragon completely vanished and all the thunder power returned to him—

A sudden change occurred!

"Hum..."

A low, ancient vibration rippled slowly from within Chu Zhanxiao's body.

Fine, dazzling silver dragon scales, as if smelted from the stars of the Nine Heavens, quietly emerged from beneath the skin of his neck.

Immediately, as if traced by an invisible divine brush, or like a silver tide washing over a beach, they spread and covered him at an incredible speed!

From his slender neck to his broad shoulders, down to his well-defined chest, waist, abdomen, arms, and legs... all the way to his ankles!

In the blink of an eye, a layer of dense, perfectly fitted dragon scales shimmering with cold silver radiance had covered Chu Zhanxiao's entire body!

These dragon scales were not merely covering him; they were perfectly fused with his muscles, bones, and Bloodlines. The smooth, explosively powerful muscle lines were clearly outlined by the scales, presenting a strange, perfectly harmonious aesthetic of life that combined the supreme majesty of the Dragon Clan with the agility and vigor of a human body!

Each scale was about the size of a fingernail, with edges as thin as a cicada's wing yet as sharp as a heaven-opening divine blade. They gleamed with a cold, holy metallic luster, as if they had been tempered and forged over eons from the purest thunder Origin of the Nine Heavens!

On the surface of the scales were naturally branded complex, ancient thunder patterns filled with the charm of the Dao. These patterns were not inanimate; they were like living silver snakes, slowly moving and flickering within, emitting a vast, primordial aura that made one's Soul tremble.

His fingers became sharp and elongated, transforming into peerless, razor-sharp dragon claws that shimmered with the cold light of frigid iron! His hands and arms were also covered in fine, tough scales. As he slightly flexed and opened his fingers, fine silver electric arcs leaped and cracked at the tips, emitting a soft "crackling" thunder sound.

A vast Dragon Might, far more terrifying, profound, and closer to the "True Dragon" Origin than when he had controlled the hundred-zhang Thunder Dragon, began to awaken and permeate from within Chu Zhanxiao's body, like a primordial Ancestral Dragon that had slept for eons!

This pressure was as heavy as the arrival of Mount Buzhou; its mere existence seemed capable of collapsing the ancient firmament and making the creatures of the myriad worlds bow their heads.

It was also as deep as the inverted sea of the Return to Ruins, bottomless and profound, making one feel dizzy and enchanted just looking at it, as if one's Soul were about to be sucked into that endless abyss of Dragon Might.

Within it, it contained the supreme heavenly might of the thunder Law—violent, destructive, and cleansing everything.

It also carried the ancient majesty of the Dragon Clan, that supreme species of life—a nobility and holiness born from the Bloodline and carved into the Soul, transcending all spirits!

Compared to the evil, chaotic, blood-filled, and devouring desire of the demonic dragon might of Nangong Tianlong opposite him...

It was like the bright moon of the Nine Heavens compared to the phosphorescent fire of a ditch; like the vast blue sky looking down upon a muddy swamp! It formed the most extreme contrast—the difference between clouds and mud, light and darkness!

"This... could this be... the legendary Dragon Transformation?!!!"

On the high platform, an Elder from an ancient dragon-taming family, white-haired and knowledgeable, was struck as if by lightning. He sprang up from his seat, shouting in shock, his voice trembling violently and nearly cracking due to the extreme shock and the subversion of his understanding!

"He has not used any external objects, nor has he consumed dragon blood or dragon marrow, yet he has... he has completely gathered and internalized the power of the 'True Dragon Dao Body,' fusing it into his own body to reach the supreme Realm where man and dragon are one, indistinguishable?! The mere snippets of speculation in ancient texts actually exist?! Such talent, such control... unheard of, unseen!"

"Transforming the body into a dragon, wielding the Origin Dragon Qi! So that's it! So that's it!" Beside him, another burly Elder proficient in the art of Body Refining was so excited that his beard stood on end and his face turned flushed. He stared fixedly at the silver figure on the arena, as if he had seen the ultimate miracle of the Body Refining path. "That hundred-zhang Thunder Dragon from before was merely the 'form' of the Dao Body's power manifested externally! This state right now is the most original, powerful, and true combat form of the True Dragon Dao Body! Returning to the basics, power returning to oneself! Wonderful! Wonderful!!"

The crazy, greedy, and confident grin on Nangong Tianlong's face was, at this moment, instantly frozen as if by ten-thousand-year black ice, completely stiffening on his face!

His pupils uncontrollably contracted wildly, shrinking to the size of pinpricks, reflecting that figure completely covered in silver dragon scales, like an Incarnation of the Thunder Dragon.

From Chu Zhanxiao at this moment, he felt an absolute oppression and restraint that originated from the level of life's source, from the very Origin of the Bloodline!

That was the pure, supreme, and inviolable orthodox Dragon Might!

It was like a True Dragon emperor ruling the world and commanding ten thousand dragons, coldly looking down upon a despicable thief who had stolen dragon blood, polluted the dragon veins, and forcibly combined twisted powers using evil methods!

It formed an Innate, crushing, and absolute restraint against the Demonic Path power formed by his "Heaven-Devouring Dragon Demonic Technique," which was essentially the most vicious defilement and plunder of the Dragon Clan Bloodline!

"Wuu..."

Within his body, that black-gold Devilish Qi, which had been rampantly surging and devouring thunder, seemed to have encountered its natural enemy. It began to uncontrollably churn and fluctuate violently, emitting faint sounds like wails, and its operation became sluggish and difficult, as if it were about to... collapse and disintegrate under this pure Dragon Might at any moment!

"Playing god! It's just some side-door transformation technique, bluffing! Watch me... devour you!!!"

The uncontrollable palpitation and fear deep within Nangong Tianlong's Soul transformed into even more hysterical madness!

He forcibly squeezed out his last bit of mental energy, emitting a sharp, ear-piercing shriek like a broken gong being smashed, attempting to dispel the fear originating from his Bloodline.

With his hands in a posture that almost tore his tendons and bones, he frantically formed one evil, twisted Demonic Path hand seal after another!

"Ao—!!!"

Beneath his feet, the hundred-zhang demonic dragon seemed to sense its master's resolve, emitting a hiss mixed with pain and violence, and opened its heaven-devouring maw that seemed to connect to an endless abyss—

Inside the giant mouth, it was no longer simple darkness, but thick, sticky, liquid-like corrosive Devilish Qi churning and rotating crazily, forming a terrifying vortex that devoured everything!

The devouring power was so formidable that the surrounding space groaned with a "creaking" sound; light, dust, and even Spiritual Qi were barbarically pulled, twisted, and collapsed into the giant mouth, disappearing!

This bite seemed as if it would swallow the heavens and erode the earth, swallowing the Dragon-transformed Chu Zhanxiao, along with this entire space, into that eternal dark abyss!

Facing this fierce devouring strike that would make even a Nascent Soul Cultivator pale, Chu Zhanxiao's handsome face, covered in exquisite dragon scales, was devoid of joy or sorrow, as indifferent as polar black ice that had never melted for eons.

Only his eyes, which had completely turned into the purest, coldest silver, were like two precious orbs containing all the thunder of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds, ready to erupt into a world-destroying thunder prison. They were cold, ruthless, and clearly reflected every flow of Devilish Qi in the demonic dragon's maw and the core trajectory of the devouring power.

He did not dodge, did not retreat, did not form any hand seals, and did not even mobilize the vast Dragon Might and thunder power around his body.

He simply, cleanly, raised that right fist—covered in streamlined silver dragon scales, with five fingers already transformed into sharp dragon claws.

The movement was steady, slow, and even carried a strange composure.

There was no dazzling burst of thunder, no roaring torrent of violent energy, and not even a scream of air being stirred up.

Only the small patch of space around his fist was silently, violently twisting, collapsing, and groaning! It was as if the Laws of heaven and earth in that area could not bear the destructive power within that fist—internalized, compressed, and condensed to the extreme—and were groaning on the verge of shattering!

However—

Everyone present, regardless of their cultivation level or stance, felt their Souls tremble violently and uncontrollably at the same moment!

It was a terrifying fluctuation, suppressed to the extreme, as if it were about to burst the galaxy and reopen the heavens in the next instant!

Like a world-destroying volcano that had been silent for hundreds of millions of years, having long since accumulated enough heat and pressure inside to burn and destroy the Major Thousand Worlds...

On the surface, it was calm and waveless.

Inside, however, it had reached the critical point of eruption!

"Break."

A single word was softly uttered.

The voice was not loud, yet it was like a thunderclap from the Nine Heavens, exploding in the silence where all sounds had ceased, clearly branded into the depths of everyone's Souls.

The moment the words had not yet fully faded—

"Boom-crack—!!!!!!"

His right fist, covered in dragon scales and shimmering with cold, frigid light, had transformed into a bolt of silver lightning that tore through the boundary between reality and the Void Realm!

It was not an external release of energy, but the fist itself, carrying all the unified thunder Origin and True Dragon power within his body, in the purest, most direct, and most overbearing way—

Without deviation.

Facing the heaven-devouring maw of the demonic dragon that devoured everything and resembled the entrance to an abyss.

Fiercely.

Penetrated!!!!!