Chapter Forty-Eight: The Fire Dragon Encircles the Body

Li Hu followed the spiked trail all the way, arriving at the site where Li Pingyang had just fought, only to find it deserted. The ground was littered with broken branches and leaves; the surrounding trees had been ravaged. On a patch of grass, he spotted a line of dripping blood.

Touching it, he found the blood was fresh. The two of them followed the bloody trail, which led ultimately to a vast cavern.

The cave was carved vertically into the mountainside; the entire interior seemed to be the lair of those Ghost Mother Venom Spiders. For safety’s sake, Li Hu instructed Little Dragonfly to grasp his legs, while he lay prone at the entrance to observe.

The depths were pitch-black, bottomless—a funnel-shaped structure. Wild grasses, sharp and slippery, grew thickly along the cliff walls.

Fortunately, a layer of spider web covered the walls, which could be used to climb down. Li Hu tugged at it, testing its strength. Once satisfied, he withdrew.

He flexed his feet, signaling Little Dragonfly to pull him back up. In that moment, a chill wind swept by, and suddenly Li Hu’s nose itched.

He nearly sneezed—a single sound would have startled the spiders within. He held it in with difficulty.

Little Dragonfly, tense with worry, relaxed upon seeing Li Hu suppress the sneeze.

Then, together, they began their descent along the web.

At first, all went smoothly. But halfway down, Li Hu abruptly stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Little Dragonfly whispered.

Li Hu lifted his head, face tense, and pointed below, saying he thought he had stepped on something.

He told Little Dragonfly to remain still, then gripped the web with one hand and fished out a fire starter with the other.

He opened it, brought it to his lips, and gently blew to ignite it. The sudden flare illuminated the space below—what he saw startled him into silence.

Beneath him lay a field of white cocoons, neatly stacked together. The air was thick with webs; a cluster of Ghost Mother Venom Spiders rested quietly atop them.

And beneath his left foot, he was stepping on one!

…

Elsewhere, Li Pingyang had already lost consciousness within the cocoon, his body limp, eyes tightly shut.

His awareness drifted once more into the suspended secret realm, but this time, he found himself in an entirely new environment.

The surroundings were damp and cold, the ground flooded, the space utterly dark—nothing visible.

He heard the drip of water and a deep, rumbling breath—an inhuman breath.

He chased the sound, running through water, sending ripples across the surface. The closer he drew, the more uneasy he felt.

Then, bursting from the darkness, he found himself before a familiar waterfall. He paused for several seconds, recognizing it—one of the nine waterfalls within the secret realm, though he couldn’t fathom how he’d arrived here.

The breathing emanated from within the waterfall.

Looking closely, he saw a pair of eyes staring out from the cascade, startling him into a quick retreat.

The torrent slowed to a gentle stream, and Li Qingyang suddenly noticed a transparent water dragon concealed within.

The dragon slowly revealed itself—first the outline of the head, then the body and tail, until a blue giant dragon appeared.

It opened its mouth and charged toward him. Li Pingyang, unsure why it attacked, instinctively leapt aside.

The blue dragon crashed into the stone wall, its body dissolving into countless droplets, only to revive from the waterfall. As long as there was water, this creature could not die.

Another charge came. Li Pingyang didn’t dodge this time; he conjured his short sword and lunged forward, eager to see if his attack would work.

The moment his blade struck the water dragon, he was sent flying, soaked from head to toe—a wave of defeat washed over him.

He picked up his sword once more, waiting for the dragon’s next assault.

Moments later, the dragon roared and plunged down from the sky. Li Pingyang didn’t blindly hack at it, but instead waited for the right moment, thrusting beneath its head.

This time, he managed to wound the dragon, though he was still knocked back and drenched. But instead of anger, he laughed foolishly.

And so it went—again and again, he tried, was defeated, then stood up once more…

He trained from day to night, through countless cycles; the water dragon always accompanied him.

Though ages seemed to pass in the secret realm, in reality, only a few minutes had gone by.

Unbeknownst to him, Li Pingyang’s swordsmanship had grown. He could now channel sword energy into the form of a dragon, unleashing a white dragon to contend with his foe.

His father had taken three years to cultivate true energy into dragon form. Unexpectedly, the boy had achieved it in less than a month!

The water dragon attacked from all directions and angles, honing Li Pingyang’s extraordinary hearing—he could sense the dragon’s location and defend accordingly.

From the dragon’s attacks, he discerned its weakness—a technique known as “Weakness Perception” in the Domineering Sword Art.

Through repeated attempts, he finally pinpointed the water dragon’s vulnerability. After a roar, the blue dragon appeared again; Li Pingyang grinned and tightened his grip on the sword.

“Come on! Ahhhh—!”

Li Pingyang shouted, leaping skyward, sword energy transformed into a dragon—the white giant dragon slashed toward the charging blue dragon. The two collided.

In the secret realm, time seemed to freeze.

The water hung suspended in midair, falling snowflakes paused, even the howling wind fell abruptly silent.

The blue dragon’s body fractured piece by piece; with a crisp sound, it shattered in the air—Li Pingyang’s white dragon had defeated it.

He fell from the sky and was caught by the One-Horned Kun, lying trembling and laughing on its back. “One thousand nine hundred and eighty-one times—success at last!”

After vanquishing the water dragon under the waterfall, the remnant blade in his dantian—bound by eight iron chains (one previously broken)—now snapped another link.

At fifteen years old, Li Pingyang had become the first myth in history to fully master true energy—though he himself remained unaware.

Within the cocoon, his body began to emit red lights, which slowly gathered and took shape.

A red fire dragon finally emerged, circling Li Pingyang’s body. He suddenly opened his eyes, irises transformed crimson, and the cocoon exploded.

The wound on his shoulder, pierced earlier by the spiked fang, quickly healed, while the fire dragon absorbed the remaining venom.

Surviving this ordeal, he had gained a new power—self-healing!

He moved his limbs and looked around, finding himself standing atop a massive spider web. All around him lay heaps of dried bones.