nder the effects of the Martial Soul Fusion Ability: Golden Holy Dragon, Yu Xiaogang could feel the immense, overwhelming power coursing through the dragon's body.
In that moment, he no longer felt like trash.
Bathed in golden light, when he saw that Ye Yu had only summoned five Spirit Rings along with his Blue Silver Jade Tree Martial Soul, a trace of scorn flickered in Yu Xiaogang's eyes.
Just a mere Spirit King!
Today, I—the Grandmaster—will use the Golden Holy Dragon to teach you the price of disrespecting me!
As this wave of excitement and exhilaration surged through him, Yu Xiaogang immediately controlled the Golden Holy Dragon, sending it diving with a mighty roar. Its jaws opened wide, unleashing a blast of golden lightning directly toward Ye Yu.
But Ye Yu calmly activated his Spirit Abilities:
First Spirit Ability: Undying Rooting
Second Spirit Ability: Starlight Absorption
Sixth Spirit Ability: Parasitic Devour
Within the camouflage of the Blue Silver Domain, only five Spirit Rings lit up around him, despite his actual strength.
In the next instant, the Blue Silver Jade Tree began to grow wildly.
Its roots plunged deep into the ground, and its trunk expanded rapidly, splitting into countless vines of translucent blue crystal, snaking through the air like massive serpentine whips. Together, they formed a massive wall of blue crystal.
Boom!
The Golden Holy Dragon's golden lightning smashed into the wall, blasting a gaping hole straight through it. Shards of crystal branches, leaves, and silver blossoms scattered like rain.
But Ye Yu hadn't unleashed the full potential of his Martial Soul—not the strongest growth, not the Blue Silver Wood Dragon—so the damage was superficial.
In fact, once the debris hit the ground, the fragments of the Blue Silver Jade Tree began to sprout roots again, embedding into the earth and rapidly regenerating.
In the blink of an eye, entire new trees shot out of the ground.
"That's insanely fast regeneration!" Dai Mubai, Oscar, and Ma Hongjun stared in disbelief.
Having blocked the lightning blast, Ye Yu soared into the sky like a bolt of lightning, summoning more Blue Silver Jade Trees mid-air. The serpentine trees twisted and curled, lunging at the Golden Holy Dragon from all directions.
In response, under Yu Xiaogang's control, the Golden Holy Dragon let out a defiant roar, unleashing more golden lightning and lashing out with its massive claws, tearing apart the crystalline trees in a brutal clash.
Though Ye Yu could have ended the fight instantly by activating the Parasitic Devour function of his Sixth Spirit Ability, he held back.
That ability—at 90,000 years of cultivation—would've allowed his vines to latch onto the dragon, drilling into it through tooth, claw, and flesh, and begin devouring its Spirit Power and life force.
But Ye Yu had other plans.
He deliberately made it look like he was struggling—letting the Blue Silver Jade Tree's tenacity and regeneration slowly wear the dragon down. That way, the blame for the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's destruction would fall squarely on Bibi Dong and the Spirit Hall.
Meanwhile, Yu Xiaogang had intended to use the Golden Holy Dragon to beat Ye Yu into submission—then threaten him into revealing his secrets about Martial Soul evolution and how he could defeat Spirit Sages bare-handed.
But to his horror, he realized mid-battle that the regeneration speed of the Blue Silver Jade Tree far outpaced their ability to destroy it.
No matter how much the Golden Holy Dragon tore and burned, the trees simply grew back stronger and faster.
"First Spirit Ability: Thunderous Flatulence, Earth-Shattering Luo Sanpao!"
In his fury and desperation, Yu Xiaogang finally used his infamous first ability. A blinding burst of golden gas exploded from the dragon's tail, firing a golden cannonball toward Ye Yu like a bomb.
In response, Ye Yu summoned another dense wall of Blue Silver Jade Trees.
Boom!
The blast blew a large hole in the wall, but it regenerated almost immediately. The tree network swarmed like a tidal wave, wrapping around the dragon once more.
With Flender and Liu Erlong's Spirit Power severely drained, the Golden Holy Dragon's strength waned.
And under the passive effect of the Third Spirit Ability: Tribulation Ascension, each failed strike against the ever-recovering trees caused the Blue Silver Jade Tree to evolve—just as the Thunder Hell Vine had done after its own tribulation.
Now, the moment the trees latched onto the Golden Holy Dragon again, they didn't let go.
Enraged, the dragon thrashed, but couldn't break free.
Though Ye Yu hadn't used the "parasitic" function this time, the devouring effect of the Sixth Spirit Ability: Parasitic Devour was still active.
The roots pierced deep into the dragon's body.
From within, the Blue Silver Jade Tree began siphoning Spirit Power and life force.
But strangely, Ye Yu felt something more…
Since the Golden Holy Dragon was built upon the Martial Soul Luo Sanpao, it carried a unique energy signature.
As the trees absorbed its essence, that mysterious power was drawn into Ye Yu's core—the very heart of the Blue Silver Jade Tree Martial Soul.
There, a startling transformation began.
A portion of the tree's form began to materialize into a physical, living entity.
And more astonishingly, Ye Yu sensed a tiny spark of sentience begin to bloom within the tree.
It was faint—barely a whisper—but real.
Not enough to form true self-awareness yet, but it was a beginning.
This revelation shocked and thrilled Ye Yu.
From absorbing just one Golden Holy Dragon—just one battle against Luo Sanpao—his Blue Silver Jade Tree had gained partial corporeal form and even a faint flicker of soul.
Then what if he absorbed Luo Sanpao multiple times?
Could he eventually make the Blue Silver Jade Tree fully materialize?
Could it evolve into a true sentient Martial Soul?
Just like Luo Sanpao?