next chapter
**Chapter 9: Dragon Valley Heist**
Shrek's Inner Court vault gleamed—soul bones ranked by age, elemental shards sorted crystalline. Huo Yuhao's "study grant" (Mu En's veiled test) granted access. He moved casual, Frostveil muting scans, cataloging:
- Fire Lizard 10kyr bone (trash)
- Water Serpent essence (B-grade)
- Dragonscale fragment (hidden Dragon Valley origin, A-rank)[1]
*Burn target acquired.* Nine Elements Lv2 hummed eager.
Night vault. Simulation cloaked form. Nine stellar orbits spun internal: **Sun incinerated** lizard bone to ash, **Moon refined** impurities, **Stars condensed** essence, Elements wove fire-water hybrid.
Result: **SS Hybrid Dragon Scale**—armor implant, dual-resist +60%, scale summon (5m shield).
*Yield: 2.3x prior burn.* Marrow spine pulsed approval.
Book logged: **Lv3 threshold (3/10).**
Teleport back dorm seamless. Tianmeng: *"Sneaky! Dragon Valley next?"*
*Affirmative.*
Dawn: "field training" request approved. Team: Ya/Bei core, dorm scouts, Shrek tag (Yan surveillance). Forest mid-core: aura walls thickened, tier 9 beasts prowled.
Mental map plotted Dragon Valley fold—pocket realm, god-remnant warped. Huo Yuhao led: Ice Realm chilled patrols, Sovereign clones scouted rifts.
Entry rift shimmered. Inside: seven-colored clouds swirled elemental chaos. Dragon specters wailed—sons of Dragon God, remnant souls feral.[1]
Bei Bei tensed. "Ancient aura. Careful."
*"Divide."* Huo Yuhao signaled. Team fanned: Ya vines bound wraiths, Bei hammer shattered cores, clones harvested bones.
Core chamber: nine-colored mist pulsed. **Dragon God shard**—split remnant, gold/silver crystals embedded (King essences).
Xue Di chilled space. *"Split origin. Volatile."*
Tianmeng: *"Suck it up! Power!"*
Electrolux: *"Sovereign's Will: bind, don't consume."*
Huo Yuhao extended. Plane laws resisted—god-rank echo—but Book shadow pierced. Shard yielded: souls (7 dragon sons), bones (elemental set), dual crystals sealed.
Burn cascade:
| Substrate | Burn Result | Implant |
|-----------|-------------|---------|
| Fire Son Bone | SSS Flame Sovereign Spine | Fire domain (30m inferno) |
| Water Son Soul | SS Tidal Heart | Water clone (10 max) |
| Gold Crystal | SS Dragon Authority | Bloodline amp (dragon summons) |
| Silver Crystal | SS Lunar Scale | Regen + illusion weave |
*Power spike: Rank 28. God-seed planted.*
Team stared hoard. Tang Ya: *"Dragon Valley?! Legend!"*
Bei Bei: *"Sect archives true..."*
Shrek tag pale. *"Report Dean."*
Exfil clean. Shrek summons: Yan/Mu En. "Explain."
Huo Yuhao bowed. "Compatible fortune. Shared."
Mu En probed—Book deflected. *"Unfathomable. Restricted zone access."*
Tang San thread snapped alert—golden fury from God Realm. *"Interference! Child of fate altered?!"*[1]
Counter: Nine Elements scattered false echoes (fake shards across plane). Thread thrashed blind.
Book tallied:
**Vault** ↑: Dragon set (SSS baseline), Crystals fused
**Allies** ↑: Shrek Restricted (high), Tang Sect loyalty max
**Threat** ↑↑: Tang San direct (intervention imminent)
**Tech** ↑↑: Lv4 (7/20), Sovereign Will Lv2 (law weave)
Xue Di: *"Silver King stirs afar. Approach?"*
*Strategic.*
Sun Moon border beckoned—soul tool empire, Tang San blind spot. War's horizon widened.[1]
Citations:
[1] huo-yuhao-2-1.txt