The feeling of total paralysis was driving Evan Chu crazy. His wounds were rapidly healing under the wood element’s power, but he still couldn’t move. Seeing the Savage Earth Dragon appear, Evan hurriedly called out, “Earth Dragon, go check if that thing’s dead! If it isn’t, finish it off. I’m completely numb from the lightning and can’t move at all right now.”
“Don’t worry, Golden Dragon Lord. I’ll take care of him right away,” the Savage Earth Dragon replied, then quickly descended toward where the Galeclaw Eagle had fallen.
Watching the Savage Earth Dragon descend, Evan gave a bitter smile. “I didn’t expect lightning to be this vicious. I wonder how strong the Thunder Pool’s lightning is—if it’s anything like this, getting the Thunder Spirit Pearl is going to be hell.”
After landing, the Savage Earth Dragon found the Galeclaw Eagle sprawled on the ground, its golden feathers now dull and lifeless. The earth was stained with a huge pool of blood—clearly, it had suffered a devastating blow.
“Galeclaw Eagle, weren’t you all high and mighty before? Why aren’t you acting tough now? Get up and fight me for three hundred more rounds!” the Savage Earth Dragon taunted, full of swagger.
The Galeclaw Eagle glared weakly at the Savage Earth Dragon. “Don’t get cocky, Savage Earth Dragon. In terms of pure strength, you’re still my defeated underling. I just didn’t expect you to find such a powerful human to deal with me. Falling into your hands today is just bad luck, but killing me won’t be so easy.”
The Galeclaw Eagle tried to struggle up from the ground, but the backlash from burning its demon core and its severe wounds left it unable to stand. Right now, it was enduring the worst pain it had ever felt.
“Galeclaw Eagle, you’re still running your mouth at a time like this? Let’s see how you like my black fire!” The Savage Earth Dragon spat out a jet of black flames that instantly landed on the Galeclaw Eagle.
The Galeclaw Eagle wanted to dodge but was powerless. Black fire, flames on par with Heavenfire, could burn through anything. In no time, the Galeclaw Eagle was swallowed up by the flames.
Piercing, agonized screeches erupted from the Galeclaw Eagle’s beak. It was at the end of its rope, unable to extinguish the black flames on its body, and could only watch as the fire burned away its golden feathers.
“Savage Earth Dragon, even if I die, I won’t let you get off easy!” The Galeclaw Eagle knew this was the end for it. If it had known things would turn out like this, it would’ve self-destructed its demon core from the start—no matter how strong that human’s defenses were, they’d both have gone down together.
But it was too late for regrets. Its demon core had already shriveled, with only a tiny bit of energy left inside—a reserve it’d kept for future recovery. If it burned all of its demon core energy now, even if it survived, there’d be no hope of regaining its strength.
That last bit of energy was still enough to trigger its own self-detonation, though the blast would be much weaker—but still far deadlier than its usual lightning attacks.
The Savage Earth Dragon seemed to notice what the Galeclaw Eagle was doing. “Trying to self-destruct? Not so fast!” It whipped its massive tail toward the eagle.
With a thunderous boom, the Galeclaw Eagle’s huge body was sent flying through the air—only to instantly morph into a gigantic fireball. The next moment, a heaven-shaking explosion erupted overhead.
The shockwave flattened everything within several kilometers—trees, rocks, all razed to the ground. The Savage Earth Dragon had dodged fast, but the blast still left it badly wounded, forcing it to hide underground and cough up blood.
“Damn that Galeclaw Eagle’s self-detonation—who knew it’d be this strong? Looks like it’ll take at least ten days to half a month for me to recover,” the Savage Earth Dragon muttered, staring at its nearly shattered tail.
Evan Chu was also blasted hundreds of meters away by the shockwave, spitting pale-gold blood again. But this time, the numbness in his body was finally starting to fade.
His countless bone-deep wounds were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. “The power of a beast’s self-detonation is just insane. That guy only blew up after burning his demon core—if he hadn’t, I’m not sure I could’ve survived the blast,” Evan muttered to himself.
“Evan, you really underestimated beast self-detonations. That Galeclaw Eagle was an eighth-layer Saint Martial Realm monster—if it hadn’t burned its demon core first, this entire hundred-mile radius would’ve been wiped out. You’d be nothing but dust, and even your undying body wouldn’t save you. It was beyond dangerous,” Luna, the Sword Spirit, said.
Evan felt a chill run down his spine after hearing that. He’d never imagined such overwhelming power before. Thank goodness the Galeclaw Eagle burned its demon core first—otherwise, he wouldn’t even know how he died, and so many people would be devastated if he was gone.
He thought of Lin Ruoxi, Ouyang Qian, and the others—what would they do? His mother was still trapped in suffering. He couldn’t afford to be reckless anymore; if something really happened to him, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Shaking off his worries, Evan focused on healing. Suddenly, he remembered the Savage Earth Dragon—if even his own defenses couldn’t withstand that explosion, the earth dragon must be in terrible shape too. He darted toward the ground.
The ground was a scene of utter devastation—shattered rocks and splintered trees everywhere. Sensing Evan’s approach, the Savage Earth Dragon slowly emerged from the soil.
“Are you alright? How bad are your injuries?” Evan asked.
“I’m not dead yet, but recovery will take a while. How are your wounds, Golden Dragon Lord?” the Savage Earth Dragon replied.
“I’ll be fully healed by tomorrow at the latest. Stay here and rest for now. Tomorrow I’ll head to the Thunder Pool. If you recover, wait for me at the edge. I’m not sure I’ll make it out in one piece this time,” Evan said.
The Savage Earth Dragon wanted to say more, but seeing Evan’s determined gaze, it swallowed its words. The Golden Dragon Lord’s defiance of fate was something it deeply respected—maybe even the Thunder Pool couldn’t harm him.
Evan took out two supreme-grade Starstones from his storage ring. “I need to recover my Stellar Power—you should heal up too. Remember what I said: if I’m not back from the Thunder Pool in a month, it means I probably died inside. Don’t wait for me—just go back to your Skywind Valley.”
If I somehow make it out alive, I’ll take you to the Dragon Shrine myself. You have my word.”
“Golden Dragon Lord, I’ll wait for your return—ten years, a hundred years, I’ll wait as long as it takes. If you never come back, I’ll keep waiting here,” the Savage Earth Dragon declared.
“Suit yourself. Go heal up.” Evan sat down and began absorbing the Stellar Power from the Starstones…