Rylan’s draconic talons were laced with hair-fine cuts. Blood trickled between scales and hissed wickedly when it struck the hot stone.
His aura turned ragged, Dragon Transformation burned energy faster than could draw it, while Jared’s aura remained as steady as before the duel started.
“Impossible! No way are you only Earthly Immortal Realm Level One!” Rylan roared, crimson pupils flaring.
He could not accept that a mixed-blood Draconian at Earthly Immortal Realm Level Eight was being manhandled in raw combat by an Earthly Immortal Realm Level One cultivator.
Jared brushed a thin ribbon of blood from his lip; the last claw strike had landed, yet the scratch felt as trivial as a paper cut.
“Cultivation level is a measuring stick, not the whole of strength,” Jared said, voice cold enough to frost steel. “You parade Earthly Immortal Realm Level Eight yet never learned to wield real power. Your defeat is earned, not stolen.”
“Bullsh*t!” Rylan spat. He flung his jaws wide.
A column of teal dragon breath burst out, hot enough to boil seas and char skies, hurtling toward Jared. The dragon breath was the nascence power of his Draconian bloodline, far surpassing ordinary divine power. Even an Earthly Immortal Realm Level Nine struck by it would be reduced to ashes in an instant.
The Imperial Guards recoiled in panic, armor clanged as rows of soldiers scrambled for distance. Yuliana’s gaze flashed, leaped forward, but the moment had already fled.
Cold determination flickered across Jared’s eyes. He inhaled once. Spiritual energy flooded his meridians, surging into clenched fists while Focus Technique braided a filament of chaotic energy around his knuckles.
A muted gray glow seeped from his skin, subtle to sight, heavy enough to crush mountains.
“Break!” Jared shouted.
His twin fists slammed forward, and a colossal gray imprint materialized in mid-air, colliding head-on with the teal-colored dragon breath.
Detonation followed, an earth-shattering boom rippled across the training ground.
Marble pillars around the martial arts arena toppled, the floor spider-cracking into canyons as dust erupted to blot the sky.
The shockwave hurled armored Imperial Guards through the air before smashing them earthward, crimson arcs of blood splattering across shattered stone.
Yuliana wrapped herself in spiritual energy, weathering the gale while pulse hammered, eyes stayed fixed on the swirling haze at the center of the martial arts arena.
At last, the dust thinned, revealing two individuals.
Rylan lay crumpled in a widening pool of blood. Wings torn, scales missing, aura a faint rattle, his strength was gone. Jared still stood where the blast began. Aside from shredded sleeves and a wan complexion, the cost of channeling chaotic energy, looked untouched.
Silence fell across the arena. Every Imperial Guard stared at Jared, reverence and dread wrestling behind widened eyes.
No one dared belittle the cultivator whose cultivation level was Earthly Immortal Realm Level One, yet whose power felt like a calamity given form.
“Impressive display, Mr. Chance,” Yuliana said, hurrying to his side, fists clasped in formal salute. “Commander Drake was…”
“A wager is a wager,” Jared cut in, eyes flicking to the fallen Rylan. “Commander Drake, I expect one million celestial gems, promptly…”
Rylan writhed on the shattered flagstones, lungs burning, every muscle refusing the order to rise. Blood trickled past the corner of his mouth as propped himself on one elbow, glare blazing hotter than the torches ringing the arena.
“Fine… I yield!” spat, the words tasting of iron and humiliation. “One million celestial gems. I’ll have them delivered to your door!”
Pride still clawed at his heart, but even pride had its limits. Weapon in hand or bare-knuckled, finally understood the truth, against Jared Chance, was utterly, irreversibly outmatched.
“Yet I cant help thinking you’re still not satisfied,” Jared said to Rylan, voice low and almost curious. Rylan offered no reply, jaw clenched until it creaked.
Ha! He must have concealed his real power, lured me in, then caught me off guard. He beat me with shadows I never saw coming, and I will not forget!
