The Dragon King's words carried a touch of playful mockery. If the seal of Rex Lapis were so easily broken, she wouldn't have been imprisoned beneath the earth for over a thousand years. She assumed Su Han's boast was merely a sweet lie to win her favor.
Still, hearing such words was pleasant. She didn't refuse.
Su Han chuckled. "Alright... let me give it a shot!"
He drew the Tessaiga from his waist. As his fingers gripped the hilt, the blade—which usually shimmered with a silver-white light—transformed. It took on the chilling, desolate color of a starlit void. To break Zhongli's seal, ordinary strength was useless. But perhaps the Meido Tessaiga (Path of the Underworld) had a chance.
The Dragon King's avatar tilted her head. "I recall your weapon absorbed the power of the Storm Terror. Why does it look like this now?"
"You saw that?" Su Han was surprised; that battle was over a month ago.
"I was bored," she shrugged. "My consciousness wanders. I caught a glimpse of your fight... so, this blade can steal the power of others?"
"Exactly. Tessaiga is a demonic blade; it evolves by devouring the power of those it cuts. This current form is the Meido Tessaiga. It possesses absolute spatial cutting power. I'm hoping it can tear a hole in that seal."
Su Han spoke with total candor. He knew that lying to a being of this caliber was a fool's errand. The Dragon King nodded in approval but sighed as Su Han approached the entrance of the Dragon-Queller cave.
"That power... it won't be enough to break his mark," she whispered.
Spatial power was rare, but in the Archon War, Morax had faced many who wielded it. Against him, there was only despair. His was the power that suppressed all.
[The Challenge to a God]
Inside the cave, a terrifying pressure suddenly erupted. Su Han's aura surged past the level of an Adeptus, creating a massive atmospheric vortex above the cavern.
"HAA!"
A dragon's roar echoed from within. The sheer force caused the surrounding rocks and earth to hover in mid-air. Qiqi stumbled, nearly falling, until the Dragon King's avatar caught her.
"Big Brother..."
"Don't worry," the woman comforted her, though her eyes were fixed on the cave. "He's fine."
Inside, Su Han was treating this as a trial—a direct challenge to the strength of the strongest Archon. He poured every ounce of his cultivation into the blade. The Tessaiga began to groan under the strain; its surface started to crack, the starlit steel splintering under the pressure of his intent.
SHING—!
He unleashed a savage strike. The target: one of the massive stone pillars—the Stone Spears of Morax. In reality, these pillars were hundreds of meters tall, each saturated with the absolute authority of the God of Contracts.
BOOM!
The black spatial rift struck the stone. Deep within the seal, the Dragon King's true, massive form opened its eyes. In those golden pupils, there was hatred, strangeness, and a flicker of nostalgia. Once, long ago, another man had carved through the world to save her.
But Su Han was still too weak compared to that God.
The blade hit, yet the Stone Spear remained unmarred. Not a single chip fell; not a single ripple appeared on its surface.
"Again!" Su Han roared.
He pushed his Haki to the limit. His hair stood on end, and his aura expanded until the Tessaiga's blade seemed to grow with his spirit.
BOOM!
The earth shook, but the seal held. This time, the backlash was so violent that a bloody gash tore open across Su Han's arm. Golden blood sprayed across the stone, but he didn't care. He swung again, and the recoil shattered his shoulder.
[The Observer in Liyue]
In the bustling streets of Liyue Harbor, Zhongli sat at a tea house. He paused mid-sip and smiled. "Interesting."
He hadn't expected Su Han to actually take a swing at his seals. He wasn't angry; their time together had built a silent understanding. He knew exactly what Su Han was trying to do.
"Trying to rescue Ruo Tuo? Well... I can't make it that easy for you."
Zhongli took a sip of tea. A golden glint flashed in his eyes. Miles away at the Dragon-Queller, the Stone Spears suddenly pulsed with light, their defensive power doubling instantly.
"Morax... you go too far!" the Dragon King's avatar hissed. Her fury flared—not because of the seal, but because of Morax's perceived coldness toward Su Han's resolve. Her resentment and the accumulation of "Erosion" began to boil.
"Don't struggle!" Su Han's voice rang out in her mind. "This is my fight. I promised I'd pry open a corner for you!"
The massive body beneath the mountain suddenly relaxed. The shackles of the seal dimmed as her resistance ceased.
Su Han was covered in blood now, but he didn't stop. He shifted his stance, incorporating the power of gravity he had mastered.
"Gravity Blade: Meido Shattered Wind!"
The strike was a tier above the previous ones. The ground beneath the pillar was crushed into a crater, and finally—finally—a faint, spiderweb-like crack appeared on the Stone Spear.
It worked!
Su Han plunged into his subconscious, drawing every drop of spiritual energy he possessed. He inscribed an amplification array beneath his feet with a flick of his fingers. His hair turned white with the strain.
"If one power isn't enough... then I'll fuse them all."
The Tessaiga turned a blinding, molten gold.
"Dragon-Slaying Strike!"
He vanished. His speed was so great that even the Dragon King couldn't track his movement.
BOOM—!!!
A massive shockwave erupted, shaking the entirety of Mt. Hulao. The ten surrounding peaks splintered and cracked. A cloud of thick dust billowed from the cave, and within it, a broken figure was sent flying.
Su Han hit the ground, sliding for meters. The Tessaiga in his hand was in ruins—the blade shattered and useless. His armor was gone, and he was drenched in blood.
"Big Brother!" Qiqi ran to him, her hands glowing with healing talismans. She had been studying medicine with Baizhu and Su Han, and her talent for healing was immense. Under the flow of her cryo-talismans, Su Han's wounds began to close.
Half an hour later, he sat up. He looked at the Dragon King's avatar with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry... I couldn't break it. Not even one pillar."
The woman looked at him and smiled gently. "No... you worked hard enough. Thank you."
She began to fade, but instead of returning to the depths, she walked out of the cave. In her hands, she held two objects: a glowing glob of Dragon's Essence Blood and a shimmering Dragon Scale.
"Use these to fix your blade," she said. "It will carry my strength now."
"But... you're free?"
"My spirit is," she said. "The body remains pinned, and I cannot stay out forever. But today, you did enough."
As she spoke, her mature form shrunk back into the small, dazed girl with blue hair. She put her hands on her hips and pouted at Su Han. "Now, take me to get some food. I have a thousand years of missed meals to catch up on! Don't just sit there!"
Su Han laughed, standing up with Qiqi's help. Deep inside the cave, on the central pillar of the seal, ten thousand cracks remained—and on the Dragon King's true heart, a fresh scar pulsed, the mark of a Sovereign who had moved a God.
100+ chapters are available now and daily updates! @patreon.com/Zefyrus