THE DRAGON GOD AGAINST THE HEAVENS

8.

The Following Day...

The previously deathly silence at the bottom of the abyss was slowly replaced by the sound of steady, calm breathing.

Wang Chen groaned softly. His tightly closed eyelids fluttered before finally opening slowly. For a moment, his vision was blurry, catching only the silhouettes of large boulders and the lingering density of the black fog, which had now grown thin.

"I’m... I'm still alive?"

His voice was raspy, echoing through the silence of the ravine. He attempted to pull himself up, but the minor movement startled his nerves.

There was no pain. None of the sensations of fractured bones that he rightfully should have felt. Quite the contrary, he felt a surge of strength he had never experienced in his entire life—a current of energy that was hot, wild, and profoundly dominating.

Wang Chen stared at his hands. His skin now appeared smoother, brighter, and every time he clenched his fingers, his muscles felt as though they could crush steel.

"How is this possible?" His brow furrowed deeply, and utter bewilderment began to take over his mind.

His last memories flashed like a bolt of lightning. The agonizing pain tearing through his chest, the grip of savage fangs ripping his flesh, and the sensation of falling from a height that should have made survival absolutely impossible.

"That Blood Fang Wolf..." he muttered, his eyes narrowing as he tried to recall the moment of his near-death. "That claw should have pierced right through my chest. At the very least, my ribs should have been shattered."

He touched his chest, the very spot that ought to be a gaping hole from that fatal attack. Yet, bizarrely, his skin was flawless without a single scar, let alone a scratch.

He immediately stood up straight. His body now felt incredibly light, as if the weight of over a decade of degradation and insults had completely vanished.

"Am I dreaming? Or is this... the afterlife?" Wang Chen looked up, staring at the canyon rift far above him, where the dim sunlight appeared incredibly miniscule.

Suddenly, he felt a warm pulse beneath his sternum. It was no longer pain, but a presence—something grand and comfortably hot that now resided within his bone marrow.

"No. This is not death," he whispered, his gaze progressively turning sharp.

Wang Chen closed his eyes tightly, attempting to focus his awareness into the core of his body. The moment he reached his inner depths, he no longer encountered the void that had been his curse for over a decade.

Instead of clogged and darkened energy pathways, he could now see a vast, glowing expanse of meridians, pulsing with a magnificent golden energy.

Until suddenly...

"Akkkkh!" His head throbbed with a slight ache, followed by an onset of foreign yet deeply familiar memories flooding his mind like a torrent.

Ten minutes later.

His eyes snapped wide open, radiating a sharp golden gleam.

"Bloodline... I actually possess the Ancient Divine Dragon Blood?" he whispered, his voice trembling.

The information came like a whisper of destiny. His lineage was no mere coincidence, but a grand heritage that had been buried by an ancient seal—a seal that was now entirely obliterated.

Along with the emergence of this information, his mind began to fill with an invaluable scroll of knowledge. He saw visions of thousands of lethal martial techniques, arts that did not even exist in the historical records of any clan on this continent.

"The Universe Devouring Dragon Cultivation Technique... The Dragon Shadow Step, The Sky Shattering Fist..."

Each move felt naturally etched into his brain, waiting to be summoned. And the most shocking piece of information was something he felt he absolutely had to master...

"...a manual of the Divine Dragon Transformation."

After spending some time observing the sheer volume of techniques and other information, Wang Chen suddenly realized something else had changed within his body.

"My meridians..." Wang Chen traced his energy pathways with a sense of utter disbelief.

"Completely healed? No, this is more than just healed. My meridians are many times wider and sturdier than those of anyone I have ever secretly studied."

"In fact..."

Wuuuuuush!

Suddenly, his eyes went wide because he could accidentally see and feel it. His cultivation had now crossed into the five-star Initial Fighter realm.

**

Temporary Cultivation Realm Information:

1. Mortal Human: One to Five Stars

2. Initial Fighter: One to Five Stars

3. Earth Fighter: One to Five Stars

4. Sky Fighter: One to Five Stars

5. King Fighter: One to Five Stars

The cultivation realms will progress further as the plot unfolds.

***

"I-I’ve become a five-star Initial Fighter? H-how is this possible?"

Sitting cross-legged at the bottom of the abyss, Wang Chen tried to delve into some of the information residing in his mind.

'How to control the element within the body...'

After spending five minutes comprehending the information that surfaced at his will, a small smile appeared on the corner of his lips.

"Is this how it's done?"

WOOOOOOOOOSH!

The Dragon Flame residing within Wang Chen's body suddenly danced atop the palm of his hand.

Gazing briefly at the flickering Dragon Flame, the look in his eyes turned incredibly sharp. For he knew that his goal in leaving the Wang family territory was not for a vacation, but to travel to a major city to buy or search for the Earth-grade cultivation recovery pill he had swallowed to save Mei Lu.

"Father... As long as you can keep Mei Lu safe, I won't hold too much of a grudge against you. These two months... should be enough for me to obtain that Earth-grade recovery pill."

Extinguishing the flame dancing on his palm, Wang Chen immediately looked toward the walls of the Abyss of Despair.

"It's too high. It seems I can only traverse this dark place until I find an exit, wherever its end may be..." he expressed as he began to walk forward.