Boom!
As if the great sun had descended, the Golden Crow emerged from the sea!
Blood energy surged, like a volcanic eruption, engulfing the body in bloody flames, radiating intense heat. Arcs of electricity crackled around, hair flying in the wind, each strand illuminated by blood-red light. A crimson aura emanated from the entire body, which grew from 1.85 meters to 2 meters tall. Beneath the clothes, the crimson muscles were as hard as divine metal, and the whole body was enveloped in a crimson flow, emitting an aura as deep as an abyss.
The fierce blood energy enveloped Gu Yuan within a radius of tens of meters, all shrouded in crimson blood aura, forming a heaven and earth furnace tens of meters wide and high! It continuously emitted boundless heatwaves.
Hoo!
Gu Yuan exhaled a puff of white mist, a result of his rapidly rising internal temperature vaporizing his body's moisture.
Xuan Yuan Tian Xia looked at Gu Yuan with a solemn gaze. In his perception, Gu Yuan radiated pure power, a strength that made even his own body, infused with the five-clawed golden dragon, feel pressure.
Yet, this pressure did not make him retreat; it only intensified his fighting spirit.
With a thought, a dragon's roar echoed through the arena.
A golden light shot out from within Xuan Yuan Tian Xia's body, forming a golden creature dozens of meters long above him!
It had a head like a camel, horns like a deer, eyes like a rabbit, ears like a bull, a neck like a snake, a belly like a clam, scales like a carp, claws like an eagle, and paws like a tiger. It bore eighty-one scales on its back, had whiskers around its mouth, a bright pearl under its chin, and an inverted scale beneath its throat.
Gleaming golden all over, it was none other than the five-clawed golden dragon Gu Yuan was most familiar with from his previous life!
It exuded an incomparably noble might.
The entire crowd erupted in astonishment. This was even more shocking than Gu Yuan's Heaven and Earth Furnace, for true dragons had always been considered divine beasts, in any world.
Gu Yuan looked up at the five-clawed golden dragon circling in the sky, radiating an endless aura, his eyes filled with a hint of nostalgia. He had always called himself a descendant of the dragon in his past life, and now he had the chance to fight a real five-clawed golden dragon.
"Heh, this feeling is truly wonderful!" Gu Yuan murmured softly.
Behind him, countless crimson blood energies condensed, forming a blood-red dragon exuding scorching heat, which appeared in the air, standing as an equal to Xuan Yuan Tian Xia's five-clawed golden dragon!
On the referee's bench.
An old man watched the five-clawed golden dragon suddenly appear from within Xuan Yuan Tian Xia's body, his eyes widening in shock. He trembled, accidentally pulling out a portion of his beard.
He paid it no mind, his gaze fixed on the five-clawed golden dragon suspended above Xuan Yuan Tian Xia's head. After a long while, he finally came back to his senses.
He marveled, "I never expected it! The Xuan Yuan family has a true dragon. Could this era truly allow the Xuan Yuan family to repeat the glory of ancient times?"
"Tsk tsk, who can say for sure? But Gu Yuan is not bad either. Well, his physique at the True Qi realm has directly broken through to the Blood Qi Furnace realm. He is walking the path of a physically enlightened being!" another old man sighed.
He was very old, and even his own blood energy was not as vigorous and powerful as Gu Yuan's.
Dao Kuang, standing nearby, was perplexed. He looked at the solidified blood energy furnace on Gu Yuan's body and wondered, "Wasn't Gu Yuan originally a master of swords and lightning? How, in just a few days, has he revealed such a formidable physique? Was his previous display merely a disguise for his physical prowess?"
Gu Yuan crouched slightly, then exploded!
Boom!
With a heavy thud, Gu Yuan instantly turned into a blood-red meteor, hurtling towards Xuan Yuan Tian Xia at a speed imperceptible to the human eye!
The surface of the arena where Gu Yuan had stood was even imprinted with a pair of footprints several centimeters deep, caused by his explosive force. This was an arena made of tier-four materials, giving a glimpse of the immense power Gu Yuan unleashed in that instant!
Xuan Yuan Tian Xia's eyes were fixed on Gu Yuan, who was cloaked in a torrent of airflow and creating sonic booms. Golden true qi began to emanate from within him, carrying an aura of dignity and righteousness. A blurry figure, clad in a nine-dragon divine robe, slowly materialized behind Xuan Yuan Tian Xia, resembling an ancient human emperor!
Golden true qi slowly gathered in his hand, forming an eight-faced Han sword. One side was inscribed with the heavens and earth, the other with the mundane world, exuding a profound aura of humanity!
Gu Yuan's expression remained unchanged. The vast ocean of blood energy behind him surged, and a colossal whale leaped out, its body expanding immeasurably in mid-air, engulfing the sea of blood energy. With a flick of its tail, it stirred up waves of immeasurable height. The immense weight of the whale and the descending waves were added to Gu Yuan's right fist.
The Qian Xiang, which had been continuously cleansed by his blood energy day and night, also emitted a power tinged with red. Gu Yuan's blood energy could not originally reach the Qian Xiang, but surprisingly, after the surrounding particles transformed, they became contactable. This filled Gu Yuan with immense joy.
The Eight Elephants Body Calamity, which he had cultivated since the beginning, no longer required the peculiar energies of heaven and earth to grow stronger. It only required constant, day-and-night cleansing with blood energy for reinforcement.
The Eight Elephants Body Calamity, which had begun to fall behind Gu Yuan's development pace, could now be used in combat.
Gu Yuan's entire being, inside and out, was enveloped by this Qian Xiang power. The Zhen Xiang within him, originally containing blue lightning, had now been transformed into blood-red by his blood energy.
The blood-red lightning coursed through his body, stimulating his physique to unleash even more formidable strength.
A flash of crimson flickered in Gu Yuan's eyes. Like a falling meteor, he collided with Xuan Yuan Tian Xia with unparalleled pressure.
Ever since cultivating the Heaven and Earth Furnace, Gu Yuan had deeply fallen in love with the feeling of directly charging forward with his physical body.
Xuan Yuan Tian Xia raised the eight-faced Han sword in front of him, golden true qi surging endlessly. The anomaly behind his back, at some unknown point, had also materialized an enlarged version of an eight-faced Han sword in its hand.
Sensing a hint of scorching heat, Xuan Yuan Tian Xia's golden eyes flashed, and he instantly brought the eight-faced Han sword down.
It slashed directly towards Gu Yuan's colliding Heaven and Earth Furnace.
Golden light and blood-red light continuously wore away at each other. Where they met, countless surges of energy erupted. The airflow, mixed with blood-red or golden light, struck the activated arena defense formation with immense power.
Clang!
A sound like a great bell echoed as Gu Yuan's fist, shielded by the Heaven and Earth Furnace and the Qian Xiang power, collided directly with Xuan Yuan Tian Xia's eight-faced Han sword.
An incomparably sharp aura silently cleaved through the solidified blood energy furnace.
A whale's cry sounded from Gu Yuan's back, adding an immeasurable weight to his right fist.
Feeling the pressure on the sword, Xuan Yuan Tian Xia transformed his left hand into a sword finger and chanted words:
"Judgment!"
The five-clawed golden dragon, locked in a stalemate with the blood dragon above, let out a dragon's roar. Its body suddenly erupted with countless golden rays, causing many spectators in the arena to close their eyes to avoid being blinded.
Layers of clouds appeared out of thin air. The five-clawed golden dragon swam within them, and finally, whirlpools emerged. From within them, a golden eight-faced Han sword shot out, identical to the one in Xuan Yuan Tian Xia's hand.
Gu Yuan's heart tightened. With a thought, the blood dragon in mid-air surged into his body. He shook his fist, separating them.
Looking up at the sky, Gu Yuan knew this sword was unavoidable!