"...small tricks."

Instantly, the Demon Emperor's figure paused slightly, its voice tinged with annoyance. The next moment, it raised its hand and swept it remotely towards Su Zhou. Abundant wood qi, mixed with gray mist, swirled around its palm, and a condensed scarlet miasma, like an air cannon, blasted towards Su Zhou.

Su Zhou remained unafraid, simply sidestepping. The scarlet miasma projectile grazed his body and slammed into the ground, leaving a crater in the wooden Heavenly Palace floor in the distance.

"You look like a human too. Just because you have some dragon scales, you think you're a dragon?"

He turned his head, his face full of malice, his tone dripping with the nitpicking of a client: "A dragon needs the majesty of a dragon, the aura of a dragon, the power of a dragon—you look like a tree root with two horns stuck on. You obviously never studied design, did you? You dare call yourself a dragon? A clump of earthworms looks better than you!"

Clearly, the Demon Emperor wasn't the乙方 (Yifang - the party fulfilling a service contract in China).

It probably had never been subjected to such abuse in its life.

A furious snort could be heard, and the twisted wooden humanoid shone with a gray-brown spiritual light. Its entire being transformed into a cloud of mist once more, disappearing before Su Zhou's eyes.

The next moment, explosions rang out!

Boom boom boom! In an instant, more than a dozen enormous wooden roots erupted from the top of the Eternal Peace Heavenly Palace's altar. These roots were nearly a meter thick and dozens of meters long. At first glance, they looked like huge, slender 'fingers,' and all dozen of them whipped through the air with explosive booms, slamming towards Su Zhou, who was standing in the center of the altar, like a deformed hand rapidly clenching into a fist!

But Su Zhou remained calm. He did a backflip, dodging along the path he had taken when he rushed over, avoiding most of the tentacle strikes.

Strangely, a wooden root seemed to be forming in the direction Su Zhou was dodging. If it had formed, there was no way Su Zhou could have easily avoided the combined attack of so many roots—but its writhing speed was too slow, and every time it lifted halfway, it would seem to lose strength and fall again.

On the trunk of this tentacle, a scarlet crack was gradually widening, and a sinister, soul-corrupting energy, along with a bloody demonic poison, was spreading within.

That was the gun mark left by Su Zhou as he dragged his spear across the ground!

"As expected, the entire Heavenly Palace, including that gray mist, is alive. I knew something was wrong when I used my spiritual vision before."

Gracefully dodging the beating from a dozen roots, landing on the only relatively flat area of the altar, Su Zhou didn't stop. As all the roots slowly lifted, seemingly preparing to strike again, he smiled slightly, then placed his right hand on the hilt of his blade and took a step forward.

Boom! As he stepped out, scattering wood chips everywhere, Su Zhou transformed into a phantom.

Crack!

Accompanied by a crisp snapping sound, lightning and fire blazed forth. The dazzling blade drew a bright arc in the air that seared itself into people's retinas. A huge wooden tentacle was instantly severed by Su Zhou's Blade of Annihilation, and large amounts of green wood sap spurted out, vaporizing into mist by the raging fire that ignited at the severed end!

"Ah!"

A pained cry could be heard from an unknown location. Countless fine roots were spreading from the severed end of the wooden tentacle, seemingly trying to suppress the flames and regenerate, but the Blade of Annihilation didn't just sever flesh; it severed the soul as well. That strike had completely annihilated the spirituality and soul within the wooden root. Before that part of the soul could regenerate, the root tentacle had no chance of rebirth.

Boom boom boom! Immediately afterward, responding to the fury of the Demon Emperor, whose location was still unknown, the other tentacles that had finished charging began to whip at Su Zhou again—the force of each wooden tentacle was enough to instantly collapse an entire mansion. If they struck the ground, they could create a small earthquake. Now, their frenzy caused the entire Eternal Peace Heavenly Palace to shake, and the air was churned by the violently flowing shockwaves, even forming vacuum vortices between the tentacles!

"Too slow, too slow!"

But Su Zhou didn't care. Laughing loudly, he carried his spirit-iron spear on his back and held the Blade of Annihilation in his hand, leaping back and forth on the rapidly whipping tentacles, as if dancing with the huge tentacles themselves, sharing a close dance with them.

But the price of dancing with Su Zhou was high. With every few leaps, Su Zhou would find an opportunity to forcefully draw his blade and strike, or raise his spear and stab, leaving huge fiery gashes on the wooden roots or ever-spreading scarlet toxins!

Just a few dozen seconds later, when Su Zhou jumped off a wooden tentacle once more, all fourteen giant wooden roots had been destroyed. They had either been severed, paralyzed by toxins atop the Heavenly Palace, or were still writhing in agony in the flames, unable to launch any effective control or attacks.

"Any other tricks, Demon Emperor?"

He said as much.

"...Hmph."

As if the entire Heavenly Palace was shaking, the man's deep, angry snort resounded: "Mortal little dragon, do you really think this is my full strength? Don't be so naive."

Boom!

Along with those words, the entire Eternal Peace Heavenly Palace began to shake again—while the original wooden roots had not yet completely died, more and more 'slender fingers' than before grew out from the walls and ground of the Heavenly Palace!

But this time, they didn't whip at Su Zhou. Instead, as if attracted by something, they converged towards the azure wooden pillar in the center of the altar, the treetop of the sacred tree!

"I was merely testing the power of the so-called divine weapon, the 'Blade of Annihilation,' which is said to be able to slay the undying."

Incredibly dense gray mist gathered, turning the entire top of the Heavenly Palace into a bottomless abyss of fog.

Crack crack crack crack... The sound of branches and bark rubbing together echoed, and a deep, sinister male voice reverberated in the mist.

Then, in this mist as thick as a lightless night, a dragon claw composed entirely of wooden branches and burls extended, then retracted again—the gray-black mist rapidly dissipated, just as it had gathered before, revealing once more to everyone a strange wooden dragon coiling around the wooden pillar, half of its body rooted in the Heavenly Palace!

—Divine Wood Dragon, Panlong! (Coiled Dragon)

As expected.

Seeing this scene, even with his preparations and the divine blade in his hand, Su Zhou's smile couldn't help but become somewhat stiff.

This kind of form, this kind of vitality, this kind of spiritual power, there was no doubt—

The Demon Emperor had successfully transformed into a dragon—

It had reached the Xiantian (Innate) realm!

"And the power of this divine weapon—my conclusion is—nothing more than this!"

The wood dragon, coiled around the azure wooden pillar, stared at the incredibly tiny human in its eyes. It opened its maw, filled with sharp, azure wooden stakes, revealing a hideous 'smile': "But even so, it is still a weapon that can harm me, and this world does not need a second dragon."

"Die."

Without much more words, the huge wood dragon raised its head and opened its maw. The tips of its horns shone with a dazzling azure spiritual light, forming a triangular pattern of spiritual light between its horns and the center of its maw.

Then, accompanied by a wave that shook even the atmosphere, an incredibly condensed ball of azure wood qi was spat out by the Panlong, suspended high in the air, radiating a bright light!

"Not good!"

At this moment, Su Zhou felt a sudden chill. He raised his head, his heart filled with foreboding: "It's an area attack!"

The next moment, centered on that wood qi ball, streams of light bloomed from within, then fell like rain, landing on the entire cloud-top altar!

Instantly, the entire altar was filled with the rolling, explosive wood qi tide!