"Oh my god, Ryan Ling, you—you finally did it! The Divine Dragon! This is the real Huaxia Divine Dragon!" Even inside my body, the Ghost Elder was shouting with excitement.
With a deafening dragon roar, every flame on the surrounding sea was instantly extinguished. Yamata-no-Orochi, who had been an invincible force before Ryan Ling, was nothing but tiny and insignificant before the Divine Dragon.
In an instant, all of Yamata-no-Orochi’s arrogance vanished. Before, it was so cocky, barely acknowledging Ryan Ling or any living thing in Huaxia. But now, fear finally showed in its eyes—pure shock. Instinctively, it tried to bolt back into that black vortex.
But before it could even move, Matsumoto Saikon and every Japanese invader nearby exploded instantly—their bodies wiped out, clean as a whistle.
Clearly, the Divine Dragon had made its move. As Huaxia’s guardian, it was duty-bound to protect its domain—no way it’d let Japanese invaders run wild. When the Divine Dragon acts, it’s the ultimate nemesis. These little invaders? Instantly dead, no contest.
"Beautiful! Just beautiful!" Ryan Ling’s heart shook with excitement. He couldn’t help but shout, absolutely thrilled—he’d waited for this moment forever.
Watching Matsumoto Saikon get obliterated, Yamata-no-Orochi clearly knew it couldn’t go back. Suddenly, it gathered all its power and charged straight at the Divine Dragon. Gotta admit, the serpent had a bit of that Japanese Bushido spirit—even facing a godlike enemy, it’d rather go down fighting than do anything else!
"Hisssss!" Yamata-no-Orochi shrieked like crazy, its massive body unleashing waves of black energy and spewing jet-black flames everywhere. This black fire was obviously its signature move—once it came out, the whole world seemed to be dyed pitch black.
Saint‑Realm beings can command both the forces of heaven and earth. No doubt about it.
But just as Yamata-no-Orochi was screaming and charging with everything it had—the Divine Dragon got pissed!
The Divine Dragon, furious, let its colossal body flicker in and out of the clouds. Suddenly, a gigantic dragon claw shot down from the sky, grabbing Yamata-no-Orochi in one swift motion. That serpent was massive—almost half the size of Sansha Island—but compared to the Divine Dragon, it was nothing. In a flash, the whole serpent was caught in the dragon’s grip.
Yamata-no-Orochi tried to break free, but there was no chance. All you could hear was crack-crack-crack—bones shattering as the serpent’s body started to break apart, vertebrae snapping one by one, its scales slowly peeled off.
"Hissss!" Yamata-no-Orochi let out a bloodcurdling scream—clearly, it was in absolute agony. But up against the Divine Dragon, none of its so-called ‘divine powers’ worked. Everything it tried was child’s play in front of the dragon.
"Finish it! Finish it!" Ryan Ling yelled in excitement, bursting up from the ocean depths.
"Unreal... That’s not even the real Divine Dragon—just its phantom!" the Ghost Elder suddenly exclaimed.
"What?" Ryan Ling’s scalp tingled at those words. A phantom? That’s just a shadow, not even a thousandth of the real thing’s power! And yet, even this ‘shadow’ could grab a full Saint-Realm Yamata-no-Orochi and leave it totally helpless. It was mind-blowing—he couldn’t believe anything in the world could be this strong.
"If my guess is right, the Divine Dragon’s real strength has reached Heaven-Tribulation level," the Ghost Elder said, voice trembling. Clearly, that realm was something even he could only look up to.
"Heaven-Tribulation? Holy crap, that’s basically a god!" Thanks to the Ghost Elder, Ryan Ling already had a rough idea of cultivation ranks: first Qi-Refining, then Foundation-Building, then Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and above that is Heaven-Tribulation. Heaven-Tribulation has nine layers, and at that stage, you could literally flatten the world with a single slap.
Right now, he was just Foundation-Building—barely an Immortal cultivator. He was still miles away from becoming a true Immortal master, and he couldn’t even match the top martial artists yet. Sure, Immortal cultivation and martial arts have their differences, but both have crazy power levels. Above Void Realm is Saint-Realm, and apparently there’s an even higher realm after that.
But in Ryan Ling’s eyes, the martial arts Saint-Realm was basically the same as the Golden Core stage in cultivation. Saint-Realm fighters were probably the real backbone of the nation. Yamata-no-Orochi’s power was the strongest he’d ever seen.
But compared to the Divine Dragon, even a Saint-Realm powerhouse was nothing but an ant!
With the Divine Dragon raging, Yamata-no-Orochi let out its most agonized scream yet. Its whole body shattered in an instant—the serpent’s life snuffed out in a flash, and its massive corpse crashed down from the sky.
"Ryan Ling, hurry up and collect that serpent body! That’s a Saint-Realm corpse—it’ll be a huge boost for your cultivation!" The Ghost Elder yelled from inside.
Ryan Ling nodded hard. He knew Yamata-no-Orochi wasn’t just any monster—sure, it was an evil god in Japan, but at this level, every part of its body was a top-grade treasure. Without a second thought, Ryan instantly stashed the entire serpent corpse away.
Now that’s what you call hitting the jackpot! Never mind anything else—just this serpent body alone was enough for Ryan Ling to take on his Golden Core tribulation and officially break through from Foundation-Building to Golden Core!
And just as Yamata-no-Orochi died, the Divine Dragon suddenly glanced at Ryan Ling. Those enormous dragon eyes radiated sacred majesty—Ryan only met its gaze for a second before the sheer pressure made him bow his head.
It was a soul-shaking terror—enough to make him collapse. If the Divine Dragon hadn’t been friendly, just that one look would’ve vaporized him, body and soul, right on the spot!
"Ryan Ling, don’t just stand there—the Divine Dragon wants you to hand over the Dragon Egg!" The Ghost Elder gulped and quickly reminded him.
"Got it!" Ryan Ling was clearly stunned for a second, but with the Ghost Elder’s reminder, he snapped out of it and hurriedly offered up the Dragon Egg with both hands.
Immediately, the Divine Dragon’s gaze softened. The Dragon Egg slowly floated up and quietly landed in the dragon’s claw. The Divine Dragon let out an even more majestic roar, but this time it wasn’t destructive—instead, the whole battered ocean returned to its usual calm and beauty, and Sansha Island, which had nearly been overturned, was restored to its original state.
"The Divine Dragon is just insane!" Ryan Ling felt nothing but awe at this point. But then he suddenly remembered Cindy Nang lying in his arms—she was on the verge of death, and he instinctively wanted to beg the Divine Dragon for help.
But before Ryan Ling could even say a word, Cindy Nang slowly opened her eyes.
"Thank god, you’re finally alive! Thank god!" Ryan Ling was overjoyed and hugged Cindy Nang tight.
Cindy Nang gasped softly, trying to push Ryan Ling away. She couldn’t help but complain, "You’re squashing my chest!"
"Don’t care. From now on, you’re mine!" After surviving this ordeal, Ryan Ling wasn’t about to let Cindy Nang go.
"Who says I’m yours, you shameless jerk!" Cindy Nang grinned, still trying to push Ryan Ling away.
"Fine, forget what I said. Go ahead, I’m not short on women anyway!" Ryan Ling quipped, pretending to push her away.
But before he could finish, Cindy Nang grabbed him, pounding his chest with her little fists while instantly turning on the charm: "I don’t care! If you dump me, I’ll just die again! From now on, I’m sticking to you, life or death. And tonight, I’m gonna be your woman—so go ahead, press me however you want, my whole body’s yours, hmph!"
Seeing Cindy Nang act so cute—even the Divine Dragon up in the sky couldn’t help but smile.
"Alright, hold up—don't go acting all rude in front of the Huaxia Divine Dragon! It saved your life, so get over there and thank it properly!" Ryan Ling grabbed Cindy Nang, urging her on.
Cindy Nang knew how sacred the Huaxia Divine Dragon was, so she dropped to her knees right away: "Thank you, Divine Dragon, for saving me! Even if I was smashed to bits, I could never repay your kindness. Please accept my three bows!"
With that, Cindy banged her head to the ground three times in a row.
The Huaxia Divine Dragon let out a mighty roar. Instantly, flowers bloomed everywhere, the crashing waves turned into cheerful music, and even the fish, shrimp, and crabs started dancing—like the dragon itself was blessing them all.
"Thank you, Divine Dragon, thank you! Even a thousand deaths wouldn’t be enough to repay you!" Cindy Nang was so moved she burst into tears. Honestly, it felt like the Divine Dragon was personally officiating their wedding—getting its blessing was pure happiness.
Right then, Cindy Nang felt like she was the luckiest girl on earth.
"Ryan, your turn! You’ve got the best rapport with the Divine Dragon—just say what you want and it’ll make it happen!" The Ghost Elder gulped inside him, practically drooling.
Ryan Ling nodded—he knew perfectly well it was finally his turn. Everything else was done; now all that was left was to wait for the Divine Dragon’s favor.
But before Ryan could even open his mouth, the Huaxia Divine Dragon already knew what was up. It looked his way, opened its jaws, and blasted him with a surge of purple qi.
"Holy crap, that's Dragon Breath! It's second only to Immortal Qi—grab it, quick! With this, your Golden Core breakthrough is locked in, and your future growth will skyrocket. Take your time and absorb it—this is the essence of a top Heaven-Tribulation cultivator. Dragon Breath is literally priceless!" The Ghost Elder's eyes nearly popped out—this was treasure beyond treasure for him.