The void shattered. Several nearby dead stars detonated in succession, exploding into boundless debris that hurtled in every direction.
When a Star Domain Master flew into a rage, the entire Star Domain bore the consequences.
A dragon's roar erupted, a long cry that soared above the nine heavens. In a flash of golden radiance, a colossal golden dragon materialized with unhurried majesty. Its dragon eyes glowed with imperial authority as it gazed down upon heaven and earth—all living beings mere ants before it—then shook its head and lashed its tail, charging straight toward that enormous cyan palm.
"Dragon Tongue!" The feather-crowned man's expression shifted, filled with shock and disbelief. That abstruse, arcane language—he had heard it once before. It was unmistakably Dragon Tongue, and this resplendent golden dragon was plainly a secret art of the Dragon Clan.
What was going on?
"What is your relationship with the Dragon Clan?" he roared, and the downward strike of his cyan palm faltered for a moment.
Even if Yang Kai was a Star Domain Master, offending him gave this man every right to cut him down. At worst, he'd receive a reprimand back at the Star Court. But if the brat before him actually had ties to the Dragon Clan, that was a matter requiring the utmost caution.
The Dragon Clan was supremely arrogant, and supreme arrogance meant they protected their own and held grudges forever.
Provoking a single member of the Dragon Clan meant provoking the entire Dragon Island. Even he did not have the nerve to face the full wrath of Dragon Island. And as far as he knew, both Dragon Tongue and the Dragon Clan's secret arts had always been reserved for those of the purest Dragon bloodline alone—they alone were qualified to learn and capable of mastering them. Those beings with only half-dragon blood could never hope to comprehend the mysteries of that tongue.
Could it be that this brat hadn't merely cultivated some art that let him take on a half-dragon form, but was an actual member of the Dragon Clan?
The moment Yang Kai unleashed his Dragon Tongue secret art, wariness immediately took root in the man's heart, and the might of his divine ability waned involuntarily.
Yang Kai's spirits soared when he saw this. In a flash of insight he grasped everything, marveling inwardly that the name "Dragon Clan" truly served as an excellent shield—even here in a lower-plane Star Domain it could make someone hesitate. Their reputation truly preceded them.
As if he would bother to explain anything. In a life-and-death battle, the slightest carelessness could prove fatal, let alone when his strength was genuinely inferior to his opponent's.
Amid the dragon's roar, the golden dragon collided with the cyan palm. Energy surged violently, and both the cyan palm and the golden dragon suddenly locked into a strange stalemate. Halos of cyan and gold shimmered against each other as invisible shockwaves blasted outward.
Yang Kai thought to himself how close that had been—the man had held back slightly just now, otherwise he truly wouldn't have been a match.
"Boy, answer my question!" the feather-crowned man commanded, his voice sharp with authority.
Yang Kai's eyes bulged, blood vessels fracturing at their rims, and he drove the dragon blood within him to even greater frenzy, bellowing: "The Dragon Clan can kiss my ass! I'm going to be the Dragon Head!"
The words froze the feather-crown man in place.
Dragon Head. That was a title of supreme, transcendent authority.
Although Dragon Island currently had several Grand Elders governing the island and the entire Dragon Clan together, not even Grand Elder Zhu Yan could claim the title of Dragon Head. The Dragon Head was the head of all dragons, ruler of every dragon under heaven, the pinnacle of the Dragon Clan.
What an absurd declaration. A ludicrous notion instantly sprang to mind, and the man mocked himself inwardly—had he become too cautious? Even if this brat had coincidentally learned some Dragon Clan secret art, that didn't necessarily mean he had any real connection to the Dragon Clan. The Dragon Clan would never look like this. And yet, the words didn't sound like simple arrogance. They sounded like a natural, inevitable goal—one that would be achieved sooner or later.
Crack… crack… crack…
The sound of bones shifting reached his ears. The feather-crowned man focused his gaze, and his eyes narrowed sharply.
Yang Kai, who had already stood twenty zhang tall, was suddenly growing even taller. In the span of a single breath he had surged to twenty-five zhang. Not only had his stature increased—the various dragon characteristics across his body had become far more pronounced. The horns on his head had lengthened further, the dragon scales adorning his body had taken on a richer, more lustrous hue, and his facial features shifted and twisted until they had transformed completely into a massive dragon head. A pair of golden dragon eyes gleamed with lofty disdain, as though all things beneath heaven were beneath notice.
Under this tremendous pressure, Yang Kai's Dragon Transformation Art had actually broken through once more—a leap in progression at that.
The dragon blood within him flowed ever more swiftly and joyfully. In some ineffable way, Yang Kai felt his vision and his very temperament undergo a subtle shift. An involuntary sense of superiority rose within him, as natural as breathing.
The Dragon Clan called themselves the foremost of all living spirits, the chief of the sacred beasts. Though others might call it self-proclaimed, no creature ever refuted it—simply because none had the right. Every dragon was born arrogant, born to look down upon everything.
Meeting those imperious dragon eyes, the feather-crowned man could not suppress the sudden lurch of his heart, and ripples spread through his mind.
And after Yang Kai's breakthrough in the Dragon Transformation Art, the power of his Dragon Clan secret art seemed to surge along with it. Where it had been locked in stalemate with the cyan palm moments ago, it now showed signs of gaining the upper hand.
The feather-crowned man gritted his teeth and added his own strength at the same time, barely managing to hold off Yang Kai's counterattack.
"Divine Dragon Sweeps Its Tail!" Yang Kai roared. His body stayed motionless, but the dragon tail behind him swept around and lashed out in a vicious horizontal strike toward the feather-crowned man.
In a moment of disorientation, the feather-crowned man felt a terrifying force barreling toward him. He was about to dodge when the dragon tail had already smashed solidly into his body.
Completely caught off guard, the sweeping tail seemed to disregard the constraints of space entirely—even one as powerful as he had no time to react.
His entire body was struck as if by a colliding star. He could not help but grunt, and the sound of bones fracturing echoed from within. Fortunately, he had been on guard, so the blow didn't send him flying in an embarrassing manner.
But such an attack had unquestionably enraged him completely. In an instant, killing intent surged like a tide, and he snarled through clenched teeth: "Did you really think I wouldn't dare kill you?"
Being humiliated again and again—even a true member of the Dragon Clan would deserve execution for this, let alone a brat whose actual connection to the Dragon Clan remained unclear.