I Can See Your Combat Power
Chapter 1784 - 217: Imminent, Picky

Chapter 1784: Chapter 217: Imminent, Picky

Red Cloud Mountain, Unparalleled City

After the great victory, Unparalleled City returned to tranquility following a night of revelry—a calmness that almost mirrored its usual state.

The inner and outer cities quickly regained their hustle and bustle. As public order improved, the status of the garrison posts and Marshal Star Pavilion rose considerably. Along the way, residents greeted armored warriors on patrol with respectful bows and smiles.

Meanwhile, merchant ships suddenly multiplied as if, overnight, the resource-poor Red Cloud Mountain had transformed into an enviable haven. Many merchants flooded into the municipal hall requesting to buy property, and their arrival swiftly revitalized the previously desolate marketplace, which had suffered from the mass exodus during the recent turmoil.

The municipal hall became overwhelmingly busy, feeling as if they’d haphazardly won a war only for all things to start falling into place. Even the Wind Media, who previously never missed an opportunity to criticize the Unparalleled Academy, had ceased writing their usual disparaging articles.

The only blemish amidst this otherwise promising picture was the sudden disappearance of Zhu Huolong, who had come to study, and the exhaustion of Lei Dong’s divine abilities in the Qiyao Temple, leaving him completely incapacitated in terms of combat power.

Compared to the warriors of the Marshal Star Pavilion, who returned from the front lines with only minor injuries, Lei Dong became the most severely wounded "person" in this battle—a grievance that found no advocate.

Fortunately, this direct disciple of the Qiyao Temple expressed no intention of pursuing the matter. He merely stated that he would leave Unparalleled once his injuries were healed. With such a promise, the municipal hall opted to drop the issue.

Everything seemed to march toward brighter prospects until a dragon roar that shattered the heavens erupted from the mountain’s rear.

On the rear mountain platform, Fu Yuanshan, the dragon beast recovering from injuries, suddenly seemed as though his soul was cast into fire. The unbearable pain forced him onto all fours; his sharp claws dug deep into the earth. His dragon eyes shimmered with purple light as his arched spine mimicked a crescent moon. Amid agonized howls, intricate, radiant markings emerged across his body, shining brightly while absorbing and consolidating Heavenly and Earthly Qi.

"Roar... Roar... Roar..."

It was as if millions of needles pierced him simultaneously, fragmenting his roar into intermittent cries. The excruciating pain crashed over his Sea of Consciousness like relentless waves, and soon Fu Yuanshan lost consciousness.

At the very instant he succumbed to unconsciousness, his dragon eyes erupted with purple light, taming the chaotic Primary Qi around him, guiding it in a calm, orderly manner into his dragon body.

His limbs and torso expanded like inflating balloons—three zhang, five zhang, seven zhang—his enormous limbs swelled into log-like proportions, his scales and claws radiating with brilliance under the pressure of Spiritual Power.

The instructors disturbed by the beast’s roar reacted quickest, swiftly passing through the corridors to the rear mountain. There, they encountered the dragon beast, now vast like a mountain, surrounded by a ring of dense Spiritual Energy emanating from its body.

Faced with such a scene, the instructors assumed it was retaliation from the Longzhou Beast Taming Clan and immediately rushed forward, fearing the dragon beast might attack the academy.

But as they closed in on the massive beast, glowing with ethereal energy, its daunting purple eyes glanced at them scornfully. Then, with a casual swipe of its claw, a torrent of Heavenly and Earthly Qi transformed into impact waves that sent the ascending instructors flying like sparrows.

Though anyone qualified to serve as an instructor at the Unparalleled Academy was at least of Martial Ancestor Level, in front of this dragon beast, they appeared weak and insignificant—like mere mosquitoes.

The ferocious, world-shaking Spirit Art of profound rank launched against the dragon beast was no more effective than a tickle.

Watching the instructors get knocked away with every charge only to be repelled repeatedly, the disciples in the Commerce Department felt as though their previously established understanding of strength and weakness had utterly collapsed.

If even Martial Ancestor-level powerhouses could be swatted away like flies, then what could their own breakthroughs in cultivation ever amount to?

In that moment, the disciples who gathered to witness the battle found their spirits thoroughly crushed, standing dumbstruck as they watched the dragon beast, unshaken and dominant, drive away their revered instructors—the very figures they had idolized like divine beings.

What stunned them even further was that from beginning to end, the dragon beast had done little more than lazily swipe its claws, remaining boldly stationed in its position as if waiting for someone.

The attacks on the instructors weren’t intended to kill but merely to repel. Otherwise...

Imagining what the dragon beast could achieve at full power left the crowd trembling in fear.

"Is... is this a King Beast?"

Less-informed students gazed despondently at the awe-inspiring dragon beast, murmuring to themselves.

The growing commotion in the academy’s rear mountain attracted more and more attention. Even Tang Luo, who had been immersed in simulations of creation from atop his tower, was awakened, diverting some of his focus to investigate the rear mountain.

Upon witnessing the transformation of Fu Yuanshan’s dragon beast, Tang Luo set aside his brush and paper and rose to his feet.

From the moment he stood up, he appeared at the cliff top of the academy’s rear mountain. As soon as he arrived, he captured all of the dragon beast’s attention.

The dragon beast, previously idle and indifferent as if merely swatting flies, now regarded Tang Luo as a mortal enemy. The condensed ring of Primary Qi exploded violently, transforming into massive shockwaves seemingly intent on leveling the land beneath them.

Tang Luo had no doubt that if such an intricate and explosive force were unleashed unchecked, the rear mountain of Red Cloud would be reduced to ruins—this could not be allowed.

Within his silver-irised eyes, ethereal wheels rotated. The feral Heavenly and Earthly Qi bowed to their supreme mandate, and the violent shockwaves were disassembled at their core, dissipating into gentle breezes that casually spread in all directions.

"A storm of chaos looms ahead; dragons and snakes will rise together. Yet someone of your stature emerges in Xiehe, and I had no inkling?"

With the fierce outburst reduced to naught but a tranquil breeze, the dragon beast glanced left and right at the dissipating Qi before locking its gaze onto the diminutive figure atop the cliff.

In the dragon beast’s eyes, touched by the essence of a King’s Will, Tang Luo appeared one with the cosmos—a nexus toward which all Spiritual Energy seemed to converge faintly.

In Tang Luo’s eyes, however, the immense dragon beast was far more intriguing. The consciousness that belonged to Fu Yuanshan had been entirely swept away by the storm of Spiritual Power. Now, what controlled the dragon beast’s body was the intricate markings encircling its form.

More precisely, an unparalleled intent, carried through the resonance of these markings, was now manipulating Fu Yuanshan’s dragon beast.

"So this was your true purpose."

The diminutive figure on the cliff stared directly into the dragon beast’s purple eyes before curling his lips and speaking, "Expending so much effort just for this? Vulgarity seems to be etched into the marrow of your being."

"Hehehe."

The dragon beast’s twin purple eyes revealed no spoken words, yet its intent was conveyed without error, its mocking tone undiminished: "You, now, are truly intriguing. To have stepped so far past the shore yet remain unknown—your origins make me exceedingly curious!"

"Given your distinguished arrival at Red Cloud, flattery surely isn’t the sole reason."

Tang Luo replied coolly, "Good sir, state your purpose."

"I invite you to Luyang to study Soul Dao with me!"

Cao Lie, ever forthright, directly extended an invitation through intent: "Regardless of your origins, your ability to erase eighty miles of sigils in an instant grants you the right to not only participate but even lead this research. If we succeed, the Xihesa Holy Land will be yours to command. Would such an opportunity not far surpass lingering in this little Red Cloud Mountain, playing house?"

"You can’t give me what I want."

Tang Luo rejected him outright without hesitation. "Besides, I have no interest in your crude research. Please, seek someone else more talented."

"You may wish to reconsider."

The dragon beast’s purple eyes chilled further. "Cooperation with me would surely serve you far better than opposition."

"Sorry, I don’t have many virtues, but I’m quite picky when it comes to choosing friends."

Tang Luo shrugged. "No matter how I look at it, we just don’t seem like compatible collaborators."