The Dragon King's skeletal remains stretched across the throne hall like a petrified river, its vertebrae cracked where obsidian talons had pierced armor scales thicker than warship hulls. Zhao Rui counted seventeen such carcasses before giving up—each leviathan corpse telling tales of apocalyptic battles fought when humanity still cowered in caves.
Dun Che's claws clicked against jade tiles as he peered around a crystalline pillar. "Brother! The shiny ones are fighting over..." His ursine nose wrinkled. "...a scroll case and fancy oil lamp?"
"Quiet." Zhao Rui pressed against the vibrating column, its internal fractures humming with residual draconic qi. Through the forest of shattered ribs and cracked pearls, he watched the standoff unfold.
Hua Yang Zhenjun stood atop a dais formed from interlocked dragon skulls, his black hair streaming despite the water's stagnation. The Tribulation Transcendence cultivator's presence warped reality itself—schooling fish froze mid-swim within his aura's event horizon.
"Pathetic." The True Monarch's voice cracked stone. "You termites dare claim rights to Heaven's Breath?"
Li Yongzhe emerged from shadow, silver hair catching the glow of floating spirit lanterns. "What we dare, Zhenjun, is prevent your ascension to godhood." Behind him, Cha Feixiong's scarred face twisted in hateful glee.
The Demon Sect contingent parted as Li raised the Dragon King's Golden Blood—an amphora of liquid sunlight pulsing with primordial rhythms. "This essence fueled the Nine Dragon Thrones' dominion. You'd wield it alone?"
Zhao Rui's golden motes surged in recognition. The God-Sealing Tome pages burned against his chest, their song harmonizing with the Golden Blood's vibrations. Through the haze of competing auras, he glimpsed their true prize—the Ten Thousand Laws Soul-Stealing Tome resting on a bed of shattered scales, its parchment pages breathing.
"Not book," he murmured. "Lungs."
Dun Che scratched his horn. "Lungs need air. Fish don't—"
"Metaphorical lungs." Zhao Rui's fingers traced energy currents swirling toward the manuscript. "That's no scripture. It's the Dragon King's crystallized last breath."
The fox demon's eyes glinted. "So when they say 'Heaven's Breath'..."
"...they mean literally."
Cha Feixiong chose that moment to strike. Frostfire talismans ignited across his arms as he lunged for the Golden Blood. Hua Yang's laugh shook corpses from their resting places.
"Insolent maggot!"
The Tribulation Transcendence cultivator's pinky finger twitched. Space folded. Cha's left leg separated at the thigh, the severed limb continuing its trajectory to shatter against Li Yongzhe's barrier array.
"Pathetic?" Li caught his screaming comrade. "You who needed three centuries to breach these wards?" His sleeve rippled, revealing forearms carved with anti-dragon banishment sigils. "We let you pick the lock, old man."
Hua Yang's smirk died as six sect leaders stepped forward—Qingcheng's Water Sword Matriarch trailing riverweed, Huashan's Six Sun Patriarch burning with stolen daylight. Their combined auras pressed the hall's ancient stones into powder.
Dun Che tugged Zhao Rui's sleeve. "Brother! The glowy blood's..."
"Quiet!"
Too late. The Golden Blood amphora trembled as the fox demon's words disrupted delicate energy balances. Hua Yang's head snapped toward their hiding pillar.
"Vermin in the walls."
Zhao Rui reacted faster than thought. The God-Sealing Tome pages erupted in azure flames, their protective sphere barely deflecting the Tribulation cultivator's casual backhand swipe. The crystalline column behind them vaporized, revealing:
Three Sword Sect disciples impaled on stalactites.A Spring Snow Pavilion elder petrified mid-escape.The true Dragon Throne—a mountain of fused dragonbone cradling something that should never have been unearthed.
"Interesting." Hua Yang floated toward them through disintegrating architecture. "The Shi Clan's pet mongrel and... is that a taxidermy project?"
Dun Che bared fangs glinting with stolen jewels. "Dun Che the Magnificent, actually."
The Golden Blood's glow intensified as Zhao Rui's golden motes synchronized with its rhythm. Behind Hua Yang, Li Yongzhe's eyes narrowed in dawning comprehension.
"You." The Six Paths Master breathed. "You're the variable."
Cha Feixiong's laughter bubbled through pain. "Kill him! The Codex foretold—"
"Silence!" Twin bolts of energy from Hua Yang and Li Yongzhe vaporized the Demonic Master's remaining limbs.
Zhao Rui seized the moment. His palm struck the amphora, sending Golden Blood arcing toward the breathing manuscript. Liquid sunlight met living parchment.
The Dragon King's final exhalation materialized—a hurricane of compressed time and forgotten magic. Sect masters screamed as their cultivation bases unraveled, centuries of stolen qi returning to the draconic cycle.
Hua Yang's perfect hair whitened. "You insignificant—!"
Zhao Rui's fist closed around the Ten Thousand Laws Tome. "You sought heaven's breath?" Golden motes swirled in his eyes. "Breathe this."
The Dragon King's last curse activated.