Trials of the Abyss

Long Yan leisurely approached Pang Jian in his dragon form within the blazing fiery domain.

The crimson scales that covered his body were as hard as refined steel and gleamed like red crystalline jade. Two fiery red horns jutted out from his forehead like sharp spears, radiating a mesmerizing light.

"I heard you have an extraordinary physique," Long Yan said with a toothy grin.

Transforming into a streak of fiery lightning, he clawed directly at Pang Jian's protective shield.

Though impervious to the raging flames, Pang Jian's protective shield was no match for Long Yan's claws, and it was quickly ripped apart with a sharp tearing sound.

"Heh! So this is all you've got?"

Long Yan lashed his tail out at the already torn protective shield like a whip.

The weakened protective shield was destroyed with a loud boom as it dispersed into a flurry of green light.

Pang Jian promptly summoned the Heart of Winter, shielding himself with its cold energy before swinging the Abyssal Demon Sword.

Dozens of radiant sword lights blasted toward Long Yan like a torrential downpour.

The Rank Eight Flame Dragon only bared his fangs as he sneered, "You've clearly never faced a truly powerful dragon. These feeble sword lights can't even scratch my scales!"

Indeed, Long Yan's scales withstood the relentless onslaught of sword lights without issue.

What could easily decimate ordinary Rank Eight Great Feys merely tickled his impervious scales.

Not a single scale even cracked.

"The Dragon Race really is as formidable as the White Lynx described," Pang Jian muttered.

He stood atop the Heart of Winter in the fiery domain, enveloped in dense white mist as he shielded himself from the fiery onslaught of dragon's breath.

The Dao of Fire within the dragon's breath collided with the Dao of Cold within the Heart of Winter's mist.

Seeing this, Pang Jian made a slight adjustment.

Streams of lunar energy and stellar energy flowed from the solid moons and stars above the fragmented land in his dantian.

Pang Jian also extracted a portion of lightning from the depths of the Thunder Pool, refined it, and infused it into his next sword strike, alongside the cold, stellar, and lunar energies.

This would be one of his more serious sword strikes.

Whoosh!

A frigid river of sword light shot out from the icy mist.

Crackling lightning streaked through the shimmering stars and moons that drifted along the river of sword light.

The moment the sword light burst onto the fiery domain, it nullified the many hidden dragon techniques embedded within the blazing fires.

When the sword light struck Long Yan's body, it drove one of his red crystalline scales deep into his flesh.

Despite this, the scale itself remained intact, without a single crack or fissure.

The defensive might of the Rank Eight Flame Dragon's body left Pang Jian in awe.

True God Fan Ao forced Long Zhan to repeatedly use the Dragon Race's blood escape techniques, resulting in the near-total destruction of his golden scales. If not for that, I likely wouldn't have even been able to damage his body, Pang Jian realized.

A Rank Eight dragon with a complete bloodline was a level above a Rank Eight Great Fey.

Perhaps only those with similarly noble bloodlines, like Celestial Phoenixes, Qilins, or black turtles could rival the dragons.

In this era, none of the other Fey Race on the Sacred Soul Continent was even in the same league as the Dragon Race due to their incomplete bloodlines.

It was no wonder the entire Fey Race submitted to the Dragon Lair Sect's authority. The White Lynx's deep-rooted fear of Long Zhan was also hardly surprising in this context.

"Try again! At least that sword strike carried some weight. I actually felt a bit of pain from that one," Long Yan taunted with a wide, toothy grin.

His massive draconic form circled Pang Jian, deliberately flying at a moderate speed to give him time to strike. Long Yan wanted to see just how much damage Pang Jian's most powerful sword technique could inflict.

Long Yan could not unleash his full strength in his human form, as his bloodline power was limited and his body's durability was not apparent.

Having reverted to his dragon form, he felt at ease enough to let loose, relying on his superior body to boldly withstand Pang Jian's sword strikes at close range.

Bring it on, Pang Jian thought as he steadied his mind.

Stood atop the Heart of Winter, he darted through the fiery domain, unleashing a flurry of sword strikes at Long Yan.

More sword light, infused with different energies, struck Long Yan's body, leaving faint marks on his red crystalline scales.

Eventually, a sword light imbued with solar, earthflame, and metal energies finally pierced through one of the scales.

Long Yan felt pain for the first time in the battle.

"So, the Primordial Chaos Spiritual Sea has some tricks up its sleeves! But it's still not enough to truly harm me!" Long Yan roared, twisting his massive body as he clawed at Pang Jian.

Incredibly sharp fiery blades seemed to tear through the very fabric of space, shredding Pang Jian's resummoned protective shield into pieces once more, leaving gruesome streaks across Pang Jian's Providence Realm body.

"Pang Jian, I could tear you apart piece by piece. I admit, you are indeed stronger than most human cultivators at the Nirvana Realm, even those in the later stages of it!

"Even so, you're still no match for the Dragon Race.

"And I, Long Yan, am among the most powerful of the Rank Eight dragons!"

Long Yan did not have to rely on any artifacts as his body itself was his strongest weapon. After enduring another sword strike from Pang Jian, he lashed out with an enlarged claw.

The claw tore through the bone-white mist and ripped a massive chunk of flesh from Pang Jian's back.

"Human bodies, no matter how refined, will never compare to those of the Fey Race, let alone the Dragon Race!" Long Yan sneered, tossing the chunk of flesh into the fire to sizzle and cook. "Pang Jian, you're my prey. I'll be sure to savor your blood and flesh slowly."

Pang Jian gritted his teeth through the searing pain in his back and channeled the boundless blood essence from his Providence Mystic Reservoir Acupoint to heal his wounds.

Facing Long Yan, with his nearly invincible body, Pang Jian finally understood the terrifying strength of the Dragon Race.

His body is almost invincible, but what about his soul?

Pang Jian refused to believe that any living being could be flawless, or that any race could exist without a single vulnerability.

Just as Long Yan opened his massive maw to devour the chunk of flesh he had ripped from Pang Jian, a sudden change occurred.

Pang Jian's eyes turned a brilliant gold.

His golden divine soul shot out of his body, through the fiery domain created from dragon's breath.

Having endured the tempering of magma, Pang Jian's divine soul remained unscathed in this fiery domain. In the blink of an eye, it reached Long Yan's forehead, about to enter his soul sea.

"Soul Wandering?" Long Yan sneered disdainfully.

The two horns on his forehead radiated an intense magnetic field, forming a sea of light interwoven with his crystal bloodline chains.

This sea of light transformed into a barrier that stood guard over his forehead.

"You were right to assume that our souls are vulnerable, but we prepare thoroughly to counter human cultivators skilled in soul techniques precisely because of that."

A dark red iron ring flew out from under Long Yan's tongue and embedded itself into the small sea of light.

Pang Jian's golden divine soul detected an extraordinary soul fluctuation from the dark red iron ring.

Within the small sea of light, a dancing Fire Phoenix, a blazing Vermilion Bird, a majestic Fiery Qilin, and a ferocious Blazing Lion manifested from crystal bloodline chains tied to soul-related secret arts.

The soul forms of these four ancient beasts resided in the expanded dark red iron ring embedded within the sea of light.

These four beasts intercepted Pang Jian's golden divine soul when it attempted to pierce through into Long Yan's soul sea, making his progress exceedingly difficult.

A streak of lightning suddenly struck the dark red ring and instantly annihilated the four ancient beasts.

Pang Jian's physical body had unleashed a sword strike imbued with the Dao of Lightning—a natural counter to soul constructs—to obliterate the four ancient beasts.

Whoosh!

His golden divine soul pierced through the sea of light and dove straight into Long Yan's soul sea.

Long Yan let out a bloodcurdling roar.

Pang Jian seized the opportunity to launch another sword strike.

This time, he decided to close in on Long Yan's massive body instead of striking from a distance with sword lights. Wielding the Abyssal Demon Sword, he slashed down repeatedly.

Crack!

The unparalleled sharpness of the black-gold divine sword was on full display as it sliced cleanly through Long Yan's defensive scales.

Pang Jian broke through Long Yan's defensive layer of dragon scales, compounding the damage with every strike.

"Pang Jian, you bastard!" Long Yan howled in agony, injured body growing until he was in his over-thousand-zhang-long dragon form.

He resembled a winding wall of ancient crimson jade.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Flames erupted from the gaps in his scales and the bloodied wounds on his flesh. Even his eyes and nostrils spewed blazing fire.

His soul sea also transformed into an inferno capable of obliterating everything.

The razor-sharp blade formed from Pang Jian's golden divine soul cleaved Long Yan's fiery soul into fragments but it stubbornly reassembled itself once more.

Whoosh!

Long Yan's soul condensed into a single bead and vanished from his soul sea. His soul sea then erupted with a terrifying, self-destructive aura.

Instinctively sensing danger, Pang Jian's golden divine soul swiftly retreated.

"Pang Jian! The enmity between us is irreconcilable. I will kill you, no matter what!"

The thousand-zhang-long red dragon twisted and turned through the air, scattering a trail of blood as it flew away.

Pang Jian did not give chase, simply standing atop the Heart of Winter as the fiery domain dissipated.

Li Jie remained huddled beneath the Qilin Bell nearby, though Pang Jian did not know if he was still alive.

Pang Jian hesitated to pursue Long Yan, fearing Xuan Ying of the Demon Scale Race would seize the opportunity to sneak in and kill the artifact refiner prodigy of the Divine Treasure Sect's Li Family.

"The Dragon Race is ridiculously powerful!" Li Jie exclaimed, voice trembling with awe. "That Rank Eight Flame Dragon was probably powerful enough to challenge an Immortal Realm cultivator!

"Pang Jian, you've really made us humans proud!"