280: Breaking through to level 21 as a Spirit Master and having your attributes forcibly reduced by 40% is insane!

"Get smaller, don't take up so much space."

Lu Sheng's voice carried an indisputable will.

It was a casual feeling, similar to telling someone to move their foot.

However, for those two Rule Behemoths that were just wreaking havoc moments ago, this was the decree of the creator.

"Whimper..."

Two low, plaintive whimpers filled with a hint of grievance and appeasement sounded.

The next second, a jaw-dropping scene unfolded.

The hundred-meter-long golden and fiery dragons, which originally occupied most of the treasury's space, began to tremble violently.

This wasn't disintegration, but extreme compression.

The sky-filling golden light and crimson fiery currents were sucked into an invisible vortex, collapsing inward with frantic intensity.

One hundred meters... fifty meters... ten meters... one meter!

In just three breaths.

Those two colossal entities vanished.

In their place were two palm-sized, exquisitely crafted miniature dragons, like works of art.

The golden dragon was entirely silvery-white, each scale no larger than a grain of rice, yet radiating a sharpness that seemed to cut one's vision; the fiery dragon was crimson as blood, as if carved from flowing rubies, with magma faintly swirling at its core.

Head to tail, one left and one right, they hovered behind Lu Sheng, slowly rotating.

A golden halo and a crimson fire ring complemented each other, forming a bizarre yet sacred "dual-colored divine ring."

The once-rampant energy fluctuations that could have destroyed the treasury at any moment vanished without a trace in an instant.

Only a heart-palpitating, heavy sense of order remained.

"That's... it?"

In the corner, Luo Tianfei widened her beautiful eyes, feeling her understanding being ground into the dirt once again.

Those were Rule Entities!

Compressing that kind of violent energy by thousands of times, and still maintaining stability?

Does this guy have a nuclear reactor installed inside him?

Lu Sheng had no time to bother with Big Stupid Bird's shock.

Because at this moment, the situation inside his body was ten thousand times more chaotic than outside.

To suppress the twin dragons earlier, he had nearly drained all his Mental Energy and essence blood. But precisely because of this, an almost "symbiotic" connection was established between his body and these two rule creations.

As the twin dragons returned to their positions, a surge of the purest feedback power, like a floodgate opening, instantly poured back into his limbs and bones!

[Ding! Detected completion of two Rule Entity constructions!]

[spirit source reserves overflowing! Physical Body strength meets the standard!]

[Beginning to impact—Rank 21 Spirit Master barrier!]

Boom!

Lu Sheng felt as if a supernova had detonated inside his Dantian.

That "Spirit Master Bottleneck" that had troubled countless geniuses for years, even decades, didn't even make a sound under his violent assault; it shattered into dust.

This wasn't a Breakthrough.

This was an overwhelming crush.

Inhale—Exhale—

Lu Sheng's previously withered muscles began to fill out. Every cell seemed like a miniature black hole, greedily tearing at the residual Spiritual Qi within the treasury.

The surrounding Spiritual Qi didn't even have time to flow; it was directly pulled by the powerful suction into visible white vortices, funneling into the crown of Lu Sheng's head.

"Crack."

A crisp sound.

Lu Sheng's aura changed.

If before he was a sharp blade, ready to strike at any moment.

Then now, he was an unfathomable abyss, capable of devouring everything.

This was a leap in life's hierarchy.

From borrowing elements to controlling rules.

The storm of intertwined golden light and crimson flames lasted a full ten minutes before slowly subsiding.

Lu Sheng stood in the center of the ruins, slowly opening his eyes.

Swoosh!

Two beams of substantial, sharp light shot from his eyes, actually leaving two fine, black scorch marks in the Void Realm that took a long time to heal.

He raised his hand and casually clenched his fist.

Between his fingers, the air was crushed, emitting crisp popping sounds.

That feeling of understanding the surrounding space intimately, even being able to casually modify its hardness and temperature, convinced him of one thing:

The current him could crush the him from ten minutes ago like an ant.

In his mind, the System notification arrived as expected, carrying a celebratory tone.

[Ding! Promotion successful!]

[Current Rank: 21 (First-tier Spirit Master)!]

[Five Viscera Golden Body: Advanced to Rule Golden Body!]

[spirit source: Transformed from gaseous to high-energy liquid state!]

"Spirit Master level..."

Lu Sheng looked at his hands, which hadn't changed yet seemed to hold the world, a cruel smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Since I've leveled up, let me see..."

"What overpowered cheat has been unlocked this time."

With a thought, a deep blue, semi-transparent panel instantly unfolded on his retina.

A gorgeous waterfall of data scrolled frantically, but Lu Sheng's gaze skipped directly over the basic values, locking onto the newly generated skill column.

There, the original [Dragon Domain] had transformed into a brand new icon emitting a dark golden luster.

[Skill: Five Elements Dragon Domain (Incomplete Version)]

[Range: 1000 meters]

[Trait 1: Twin Dragons Protect the Master]

Description: The Golden Dragon governs slaughter (innate 100% physical penetration + tearing effect), the Fire Dragon governs destruction (attached explosion + continuous rule burning). The twin dragons possess Elementary self-awareness, can operate independently from the host in combat, and can also merge to form armor/weapons.

[Trait 2: Rule Suppression]

Description: This is the true essence of the Spirit Master level! All hostile targets within the Domain will suffer a mixed-dimensional attack from Dragon Might + dual-element rules.

Effect: All attributes are forcibly reduced by 40%!

(Note: This effect ignores all defensive measures of the same Rank! For higher-Rank enemies, the effect decreases based on the Rank difference, retaining a minimum of 10% suppression!)

"Hiss—"

Seeing this line, Lu Sheng couldn't help but suck in a cold breath, feeling a chill in his gums.

"Weaken by 40%?"

"And it's a forcible reduction that ignores defense?"

Lu Sheng blinked, repeatedly confirming he hadn't misread the decimal point.

What the hell kind of concept is this?

When two evenly matched masters fight, victory or defeat often hangs by a thread.

If you start by cutting your opponent's attributes by nearly half, what's there even to fight about?

It's like everyone is playing a competitive game, and you directly turn on a cheat, making your opponents fight you with broken hands and feet.

"This isn't a Domain..."

Lu Sheng stroked his chin, his smile gradually turning perverse, "This is clearly carrying around a 'Debuff Aura'!"

Within the same Rank, whoever enters becomes crippled.

Even that so-called Half-step Spirit King, if they dare enter this circle, will have a layer of skin peeled off!

[Ding!]

Just as Lu Sheng was immersed in joy, the System seemed to think this wasn't stimulating enough, immediately popping up a huge golden window.

It was a grand, complex, and immensely tempting blueprint.

[Five Elements Missing Three!]

[Detected host has gathered the dual-System divine objects "Metal (Great White)" and "Fire (Red Lotus)", constructing the twin dragon Foundation.]

[If the water (Ultimate Purity), wood (Ultimate Life), and earth (Ultimate Weight) three-System divine objects of the same level can be gathered, and used to construct the corresponding five-clawed dragons...]

[The Domain will ultimately evolve into—Five Elements Dragon Domain!]

In the description box, there was only one short yet domineering line:

[Five Elements flow, endlessly regenerating, forming a world unto itself. As long as you stand upon the earth, you can withstand rule erasure, undying and indestructible!]

"Forming a world unto itself... undying and indestructible..."

Lu Sheng licked his slightly dry lips, the ambition in his eyes growing wildly like wildfire.

If the twin dragons before only gave him top-tier enforcers.

Then this "Five Elements Dragon Domain" was the admission ticket for him to become a "Creator God."

"Water, wood, earth..."

Lu Sheng's gaze instantly turned greedy.

This wasn't just a System task; it was a necessary checkpoint on the path to invincibility.

Even if he had to rob, steal, or dig up the ancestral graves of those Holy Lands, he had to get his hands on these three things!

He withdrew from his internal vision state, his aura slowly retracting.

He turned to look not far away.

Luo Tianfei had also stood up by now.

A layer of faint purple Divine Phoenix phantom surrounded her, and behind her, a pair of dazzling fiery wings were faintly visible. Clearly, that piece of Phoenix Tree Divine Heart had also benefited her greatly, allowing her to successfully step over the threshold of Rank 21 Spirit Master.

But at this moment.

When she looked at Lu Sheng, especially seeing the golden and red dragon phantoms circling beside him like obedient pets.

That trace of pride belonging to a Genius that had just risen in her eyes instantly cracked.

Without comparison, there is no harm.

Her Domain only made the flames more obedient and more lethal.

And this guy... directly created two living rule creatures!

Luo Tianfei took a deep breath, straightened her chest, forcibly maintaining the haughty posture of the "Divine Phoenix."

"It seems you've broken through too."

She snorted coldly, trying her best to make her voice sound less sour, "It's just two more pets, that's all. In a real fight, my Divine Phoenix Domain might not lose to yours."

However, the slightly trembling fingertips hidden in her sleeves still betrayed the shock and turmoil in her heart.

"Is that so?"

Lu Sheng smiled dismissively, his gaze like that of someone looking at a stubborn child.

With a thought, the miniature golden dragon behind him suddenly raised its head and let out a "roar" towards Luo Tianfei.

Hum!

An invisible suppressing force instantly swept over.

Luo Tianfei's face paled. She felt the circulation of spirit source in her body momentarily stagnate, her strength inexplicably weakened by a large margin.

"This..." Her pupils constricted sharply.

"We'll practice another time if there's a chance. No time to play with you now."

Lu Sheng waved his hand and directly turned around.

Those newly upgraded [Dragon Eyes] instantly activated full-power scanning mode.

Two golden searchlight beams directly pierced the darkness deep within the treasury, beginning to frantically sweep over the mountain-like pile of treasures.

Now that he knew he needed the Five Elements divine objects, what was he waiting for?

This was Dengxian Island's accumulated wealth over thousands of years. If there weren't some good goods here, then this Dengxian Island was truly too poor.