The island's volcanic cliffs trembled as Hua Yang Zhenjun descended, his restored flesh glowing with the telltale iridescence of Dragon-Tiger Mountain's forbidden alchemies. The scent of charred cinnamon and fermented tiger marrow clung to his resplendent robes - olfactory evidence of the Celestial Masters' intervention. Beneath his reconstructed chest, a corrupted golden core pulsed with unstable energies, its rhythm syncopating between draconic resonance and bestial fury.
Dun Che planted his clawed feet in the obsidian sand, sulfurous steam rising between his toes. "So the righteous Celestial Masters shelter rabid dogs now?" The fox demon's tail lashed behind him, stirring ashes from Zhao Rui's meditation circle where the Dragon King's Golden Blood still hummed in the air.
Hua Yang's laughter cracked a basalt pillar. "They recognize useful predators." His gaze locked on Zhao Rui's levitating form, the second The Spirit's golden armor now encasing his physical body in liquid light. "That mongrel stole what belongs to heaven. I'll peel his soul from-"
Dun Che's Soulflare Barrage exploded at Hua Yang's feet, molten rock spraying across the cove. "You'll taste my fangs first, corpse-walker!"
Dance of the Cornered Fox
The battle unfolded in fractal patterns - Hua Yang's corrupted dragonfire met Dun Che's stolen phoenix ashes in superheated cyclones. Each clash etched glowing scars across the island's flesh, the very air rippling with conflicting energies.
"Persistent vermin!" Hua Yang batted aside a plasma orb, his reconstructed arm shimmering with tiger-stripe meridians. "Your mongrel master's aura peaks. Shall we test his concentration?"
Dun Che's answering roar shook seabirds from distant cliffs. His claws raked through Hua Yang's defensive arrays, shredding celestial silk to reveal pulsing grafts of dragon scale and tiger bone beneath. The stench of rotting spirit flesh filled the cove.
Within his meditation trance, Zhao Rui felt the Ten Thousand Laws Tome shiver against his thigh. Its pages flipped autonomously, revealing illustrations of Dun Che's ribs cracking beneath Hua Yang's boot.
Golden Crucible
Zhao Rui's consciousness hovered at the event horizon between cultivation and catastrophe. The refined Golden Blood coursed through his meridians like liquid starlight, its purity clashing with residual traces of the Dragon King's ancient rage. His second The Spirit's armor now pulsed in time with the Tome's warnings, celestial script scrolling across its surface:
Corruption detected: Dragon-Tiger hybrid essence
Threat level: Celestial-tier
Recommended action: Full manifestation
The meditation circle's protective arrays shattered as Zhao Rui's eyes snapped open - one pupil burning solar gold, the other void-black.
Reckoning of Kings
Hua Yang froze mid-strike, tiger-clawed hand inches from crushing Dun Che's windpipe. "Impossible! The Celestial Masters assured-"
"Your masters lied." Zhao Rui's voice resonated with overlapping harmonics - mortal timbre underlaid by dragon's rumble. "Their patchwork soul unravels even now."
The revelation triggered Hua Yang's catastrophic implosion. Tiger meridians battled dragon scales beneath his flesh, their warping energies erupting through alchemical sutures. Screams not entirely his own echoed as his reconstructed body disintegrated into shimmering dust.
Dun Che crawled from beneath the dissipating horror, bloodied muzzle twisted in a grin. "Took you... long enough..."
Zhao Rui collapsed beside his friend, the second The Spirit's armor retracting to reveal skin mapped with glowing draconic veins. "Rest, brother. This debt flows deeper than one madman."
As the island's fires dimmed, the Tome fluttered open to a new illustration - dragon and tiger spirits entwined in eternal combat above Dragon-Tiger Mountain's pagodas.