Chapter 158: The Six Forms of the Divine Dragon

Fanying had no idea that he had just narrowly escaped a disaster. Feeling quite accomplished after acting as a peacemaker, he happily left the academy and used his lightness technique to head toward the Forest of Fear.

Hopefully, Yuqing could make peace with her family. How blissful it was to have a family! Family affection was something to be cherished; for someone like him who longed to cherish it, he no longer even had the chance.

About half an hour later, Luo Chen arrived at his usual hunting grounds.

Having learned how to control the rhythm of battle and after being tempered through practical training missions, Luo Chen had gained considerable insight into fighting multiple opponents simultaneously. He was no longer satisfied with hunting magical beasts one by one as he used to do.

Hmm, I must be cautious and not too greedy, Luo Chen evaluated himself. If they are level-four magical beasts, I will fight at most three at once, and for level-three magical beasts, I can handle four.

At that moment, he suddenly remembered the unsealed longsword, Dragon Emperor. Within the confines of Blue Emperor Academy, he could not fully unleash its potential, but things were different here in the Forest of Fear.

Now is the time to explore the other techniques embedded within the Dragon Emperor!

Luo Chen took the Dragon Emperor out of his jingle pouch. The longsword had reverted to its unadorned appearance, looking completely ordinary no matter how one looked at it. However, when Luo Chen channeled his spiritual energy into it, accompanied by a crisp, resonant clang, the Dragon Emperor shed its mundane exterior. A small golden dragon materialized, and the blade shimmered like a pool of autumn water, exquisite beyond compare.

Luo Chen gazed at the Dragon Emperor with fond attachment. It was too exquisite; this sword was crafted to absolute perfection. The craftsmanship alone deserved a hundred points, not to mention the powerful battle techniques embedded within the blade. He had never even heard of Alize's legendary weapon, the Dagger of Moonshine, having sealed battle techniques. Could this sword actually be of epic grade?

Luo Chen almost dared not imagine it. Buying an epic-grade weapon with bronze-grade coins—this pie falling from the sky was simply too enormous! Regardless, he now had one more fine treasure for self-defense. Very well, let us test more of its wondrous mysteries now!

Luo Chen surged his spiritual energy fiercely, channeling it into the first branch within the longsword and letting it circulate on its own. The golden dragon head shot forth violently, blasting a huge tree hole into the trunk of a towering tree in the forest. Although he had already experienced the might of this golden dragon head, Luo Chen could not help but click his tongue in amazement. So powerful!

Then, let us see if the second branch possesses a different battle technique!

Luo Chen fed spiritual energy into the second branch, and the longsword in his hand suddenly stood upright on its own. Resembling a divine dragon raising its head, it surged upward from below with the momentum of piercing the nine heavens, even pulling Luo Chen along so that he flew into the air.

Luo Chen guided the sword momentum toward the trunk of a large tree. With a flurry of tearing sounds, wood chips flew everywhere. By the time the upward momentum ceased and Luo Chen landed back on the ground, he saw that the main trunk of the giant tree had been carved with a long, deep gouge.

The power was equally astonishing. If used to deal with a magical beast or enemy leaping down from above, this move would undoubtedly be quite useful.

Luo Chen became more and more fascinated, just like a child receiving a fun toy. Now he desperately wanted to know what the battle techniques of all the branches were like, so he continued to channel spiritual energy into the third branch.

Completely different from the upward momentum of the second technique, this time the longsword pointed downward, plunging into the soil. Everything was calm. However, Luo Chen vaguely sensed something escaping from the tip of the sword, burrowing stealthily through the underground, and he could both sense and control the direction of the burrowing entity.

Snap! The ground more than ten meters away from Luo Chen suddenly exploded, golden battle qi scattering in all directions and blasting out a massive crater.

This was the third move, wonderful for an ambush! The battle qi lurking in the soil reached the enemy's feet without a sound, impossible to guard against unless the opponent could avoid touching the ground. Otherwise, they would have to constantly cope with sudden attacks from beneath the earth. Luo Chen loved such crafty moves the most.

The fourth battle technique attacked straight ahead. The Dragon Emperor swept across in a semi-arc before him. Amidst a piercing shriek that nearly tore the air apart, it slashed out four slender traces of battle qi, resembling the marks of a dragon claw's tear. It was somewhat similar to the "Sweeping the Army" technique among the level-three battle techniques, but far more ferocious, and featuring four claw marks simultaneously, providing a much broader attack surface.

The fifth battle technique attacked the rear. Luo Chen was driven by the Dragon Emperor to spin one hundred and eighty degrees, while a surge of battle qi wrapped around him, resembling a thick tail that had grown out. If facing an enemy pursuing from behind, this sudden counter-attack would catch them completely off guard.

The sixth and final battle technique: while the sword pointed at the ground, a large cylindrical wall of qi erupted around him, enveloping Luo Chen within it. This qi wall was golden and resembled countless scales; it should be a defensive technique.

***

Having tested them one by one, Luo Chen clicked his tongue in wonder. He truly had not expected the Dragon Emperor to seal six battle techniques within itself: ranged projection, sneak attacks, defense, long-range, mid-range, and close-combat—none were missing. It was remarkably comprehensive.

There were six forms in total, so let us call them the Six Divine Dragon Forms. Luo Chen quickly came up with names for these moves.

First form: the wave-punch-like projected golden dragon head—Dragon Roar!

Second form: taking the posture of a rising dragon, highly effective against aerial targets—Ascending Dragon Overlord!

Third form: lurking in the underground for a sneak attack—Hidden Dragon Do Not Use!

Fourth form: multiple dragon claws attacking over a large area simultaneously—Dragon Tear!

Fifth form: using tail-like battle qi for a revolving counter-attack to the rear—Divine Dragon Wags Its Tail!

Sixth form: the scale-like defensive qi wall—Reverse Scale of the Dragon!

Now, let us test their effects in actual combat! Luo Chen flipped open the map given to him by the hunter Taylor and found a species of level-four magical beasts accustomed to moving in groups of two or three, called Xiangma.

Engaging in group combat for the first time without any team members around, Luo Chen remained very cautious even with the Dragon Emperor in hand.

After scattering beast-attracting powder, Luo Chen lurked in the shadows. Soon, three Xiangma came running over.

This magical beast was extremely repulsive and terrifying in appearance: its body was smooth and hairless, with a shark-like head and sharp teeth, looking very much like the extraterrestrial creatures from old-civilization sci-fi movies. Inside its mouth grew a long, sharp thorn, which was its tongue. This was also an offensive weapon, immensely hard and capable of shooting out over three meters. Its innate skill, "Piercing," was executed using this tongue; if it struck a giant tree in the forest, it would pierce right through it.

Luo Chen channeled his spiritual energy and poked the Dragon Emperor toward the ground. The battle qi traveled underground toward one of the Xiangma, and the monster remained completely unaware. The battle qi lurked beneath its feet and suddenly detonated. The Xiangma was instantly blasted flying, shredded into a bloody mess by hundreds of golden rays of light; it looked like it could not possibly survive.

Using "Hidden Dragon Do Not Use" for the first time yielded miraculous results. Not bad, not bad!

Following the attack, the remaining two Xiangma also detected his presence and rushed over with low hisses, their steel-hard barbed tongues darting in and out.

With a point of the Dragon Emperor, Luo Chen unleashed a golden dragon head.

The first of the Six Divine Dragon Forms: Dragon Roar!

The Xiangma's piercing tongue failed to puncture the Dragon Roar; instead, screaming miserably, the beast was knocked flying backward.

Using such a formidable battle technique to control the rhythm of battle was truly using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, Luo Chen chuckled to himself. At that moment, the remaining Xiangma leaped into the air, looming over him from above with its tongue suddenly extending three meters.

Yellow light flashed. A golden dragon surged upward with a ferocious, irresistible momentum.

Crack, crack, crack...

Following a series of continuous, crisp snapping sounds, the Xiangma's tongue was shattered, and even all the bones in its body were smashed to pieces. Upon landing, it turned into a pool of mud.

***

Such an overbearing battle technique! After landing, Luo Chen could hardly believe it. The power of the Ascending Dragon Overlord was actually this fierce; this name truly lived up to its reputation!

The Xiangma that had been knocked away by the Dragon Roar crawled back up at that moment and seized the opportunity to launch a sneak attack from behind. Luo Chen spun around fiercely, revolving one hundred and eighty degrees, and swept the longsword carrying a potent surge of battle qi across its body.

Fifth form—Divine Dragon Wags Its Tail!

Bang!

A crisp and solid strike hit the magical beast's abdomen, sending the Xiangma flying entirely. It rolled more than ten meters upon landing before coming to a stop. Luo Chen leaped forward, his longsword slicing out four claw images to tear the magical beast apart.

The battle thus ended, far easier than Luo Chen had imagined. Using the Dragon Emperor to deal with level-four magical beasts required no technique whatsoever; sensory prediction and rhythm control all became passing clouds!

After gathering the spoils of war, Luo Chen continued hunting several more groups of magical beasts with great excitement. Everything went equally smoothly, and he even believed that, relying on the Dragon Emperor, he could probably handle three level-five magical beasts simultaneously without any problem.

Thus it continued until midday, when Luo Chen engaged a few more level-four magical beasts. He channeled spiritual energy into the Dragon Emperor to execute Dragon Tear, but this time, there was no reaction at all.

Luo Chen was stunned for a moment. The magical beasts had already pounced forward, so he hastily used the Vajra Fist to knock them flying, and then slowly dealt with them one by one using sensory perception and rhythm control methods.

After catching his breath, he tried testing the other forms, but they also could not be activated. Luo Chen could not help but ask in puzzlement, "Nicole, how can this be?"

Nicole hesitated for a moment before replying, "It seems... the stored power within the Dragon Emperor has been exhausted!"

"Oh! Right, I almost forgot. It must be so!" Luo Chen nodded. Then he asked again, "Nicole, does that mean I won't be able to use those battle techniques anymore in the future?"

"No, Master. This sword itself is forged from special ores and can slowly absorb the spiritual energy in space. When the stored energy reaches a certain level, those battle techniques can be used again, though it requires some time to accumulate. Alternatively, Master, you can input a massive amount of spiritual energy to support those battle techniques, but the consumption might be quite large!"

Luo Chen nodded, feeling a slight sense of regret. Killing just now had been truly exhilarating! The role a good weapon could play was simply too massive.

However, the power of those formidable battle techniques did not belong to him after all, and he had gotten somewhat carried away just now. If he always fought using this sword, while it was certainly thrilling, it would be of no benefit to his personal growth.

Alize rarely used her Dagger of Moonshine. Once, when Luo Chen curiously asked her about it, Alize's reply was that once a person habitually relied on a divine weapon, it would restrict their own development.

Powerful as the Dragon Emperor was, he should only use it at critical moments; otherwise, it would only become an obstacle on his martial dao path rather than a helping hand!

Thinking of this, Luo Chen put the Dragon Emperor back into his jingle pouch. Next, he decided it was better to continue fighting using sensory perception and rhythm control methods!