The giant crimson sphere was quickly swallowed by dense, crackling lightning.
And yet, the Ancient Azure Dragon showed no intention of stopping.
It continued driving the storm overhead, sending wave after wave of thunder crashing down in an endless flood.
Under that relentless barrage, Adrian Vale's giant red sphere vanished entirely into the sea of lightning.
Seeing that, countless foreign viewers clapped their hands over their mouths in shock.
"How is this dragon even doing this?! Why can it control lightning so effortlessly?!"
"To it, thunder looks like nothing more than a toy it can play with at will!"
"Maybe this thing really is a thunder god. A real one."
"This time, that Dragon Nation contestant is definitely dead."
On the other side, Dragon Nation's viewers all widened their eyes, desperately trying to see through the endless storm.
"Damn it! Just how strong is that Ancient Azure Dragon?!"
"Why can it manipulate lightning whenever it wants? Is it because of its race?"
"If Old Heavenly Master Zhang Zhiwei were here, would he be able to stop this thing?"
"Longhu Mountain has always inherited lightning methods. Maybe he really could turn this around."
"Too bad they won't be meeting anytime soon."
"Eat-Stream Adrian Vale will survive. A guy like him doesn't die that easily."
"Exactly. A menace lives a thousand years. There's no way he goes down here."
At that same moment, Zhang Qilin calmly placed both hands on a massive chest before him.
Hum—!
A dense golden light burst outward in every direction.
The livestream instantly exploded.
"Holy crap, the golden glow's here! Is this a golden legend?!"
"I wonder what Zhang Qilin is about to get from the chest!"
"That last Divine Domain creature was A-rank. The reward has to be incredible, right?"
"Not necessarily. Treasure chests in the Divine Domain can contain anything!"
The golden radiance only grew more intense, to the point that many viewers could barely keep their eyes open.
And that only made Dragon Nation's people even more excited.
"The brighter the light gets, the better the reward must be!"
"As long as our contestants keep getting stronger, Dragon Nation will only grow stronger too!"
"At this rate, no other country will ever catch us!"
Even Zhang Qilin himself stood there quietly, watching the brilliant golden glow with restrained anticipation.
At last, the light began to fade.
Ding!
Under everyone's eyes, the giant treasure chest dissolved into countless golden motes and flowed directly into Zhang Qilin's body.
The chat immediately went wild.
"What was inside?! Zhang Qilin, hurry up and tell us!"
"Old Zhang, what kind of reward did you get? Stop hanging us out to dry!"
"Did that chest just boost your strength through the roof or what?!"
"Come on, Old Zhang, stop pretending! Just say it already!"
Zhang Qilin slowly closed his eyes.
Inside his body, he could feel a strange, powerful force circulating endlessly through his limbs and bones.
That force filled him with an almost euphoric sense of power.
Only then did the Will of Blue Star finally deliver the announcement.
[Congratulations! Dragon Nation contestant Zhang Qilin has opened an A-rank chest. Reward obtained: All Attributes +10.]
The instant the system message ended, Dragon Nation erupted into celebration.
"All Attributes +10?! Just how far is that going to push Zhang Qilin's strength?!"
"His base strength was already terrifying. With ten points to every stat, he's jumped several levels at once!"
"This is insane. His combat power must be exploding right now!"
Zhang Qilin opened his eyes wide and stared at his own hands in disbelief.
Then, slowly, a rare smile appeared on his face.
He could feel it clearly.
A tremendous power now flowed through him.
And not only that—his body itself was being refined and strengthened by that force.
His constitution had already been unusual from the start. Now, after gaining ten points across the board, he could clearly sense that every movement of his body had become vastly more dangerous.
Without another word, Zhang Qilin raised the black-gold ancient blade in his hand.
At once, a surge of force traveled from his body into the weapon.
Boom!
He swung.
A black sword arc nearly ten meters long shot forward in an instant.
Boom!!
With one devastating strike, the blade cut straight through the middle of a distant mountain.
A breath later—
Rumble!!
The entire mountain collapsed.
Massive boulders came crashing down one after another, smoke and dust swallowing the area.
Even Zhang Qilin himself couldn't hide the flicker of shock in his eyes.
"…So this is my power now?"
He tightened his grip on the black-gold ancient blade, his body trembling faintly.
His original attributes had already been exceptional.
Now, after gaining ten points across the board, every aspect of his physical ability had undergone a complete leap.
That overwhelming destructive force had only appeared because he still hadn't fully mastered the power newly flowing through him.
Once he adapted completely, he would be able to control every ounce of it at will.
That scene left foreign viewers utterly dumbfounded.
"This can't be real. How can a human being do something like that?!"
"Even Eastern Isles' Sword Saint shouldn't be able to pull this off!"
"And he didn't use any tricks at all. He just swung once!"
"So this is what All Attributes +10 means?"
"It's absurd. If Dragon Nation's contestants keep growing like this, what are the rest of us supposed to do?"
Dragon Nation, meanwhile, had already reached a new high.
"As expected of our Qilin! All Attributes +10—another massive leap for Dragon Nation!"
"This is perfect. At this pace, we really are going all the way!"
"Let this keep going!"
Elsewhere, Fahai was continuing forward at a steady pace.
Through the barrage of livestream comments, he had also learned what happened to Zhang Qilin.
"Oh? So Benefactor Zhang has gained an even greater power? That truly is good news."
"When we meet next, I'll have to spar with him properly."
"I wonder just how far his strength has risen after those additional attributes."
"It's truly worth looking forward to."
Then Fahai tucked away his kasaya, securing it at his waist.
Without further hesitation, he moved ahead.
Before him stretched an endless wasteland. He would have to continue crossing it if he wanted to discover the resources hidden within it.
Not far away, Wuxian floated quietly in midair, observing two Divine Domain creatures locked in battle in the distance.
One of them was a giant spider.
Nine spider legs lashed wildly, carving deep grooves into the earth.
Its opponent was a massive python.
The python's body was covered in twisting black-and-white patterns. From a distance, it almost looked like three giant snakes had been braided together into one.
The two Divine Domain creatures fought viciously in the open—
and Wuxian simply hovered there, a mere fifty meters away.
From the start, he had made no effort to hide himself.
And yet neither creature seemed capable of noticing his existence at all.
Boom!
The giant snake's body snapped through the air, its tail whipping outward and striking the spider directly.
The spider reacted instantly, three of its legs crossing in front of it to block.
Bang!
The two collided with a heavy shockwave that rippled outward.
But when that wave reached ten meters around Wuxian, it faded into nothing more than a faint breeze.
Seeing that, viewers everywhere were astonished.
"What is going on? Why can't those shockwaves enter within ten meters of Wuxian?"
"There has to be something strange going on. I'm telling you, he has some secret treasure on him—or some mysterious Dragon Nation technique."
"Did anyone else notice? Those Divine Domain creatures haven't even realized Wuxian is there!"
"How is he doing that?"
Divine Domain creatures had always possessed frighteningly sharp senses.
Even Adrian Vale had never been able to completely avoid their detection.
And yet Wuxian had done exactly that.
Dragon Nation's viewers, too, were stunned.
"That's right—even Eat-Stream Adrian Vale couldn't do this. So how is Wuxian pulling it off?"
"Does this mean every creature just instinctively ignores him?"
"If that's true, then couldn't Wuxian just stroll into monster nests, grab all the treasure, and walk out without being seen?"
"That would be completely ridiculous."
Back inside the studio for I Came to Watch the Divine Domain, Bingbing spoke excitedly.
"Professor Luo, Captain Ryan Cole—do you think that comment might actually be right?"
"Could Wuxian really enter a creature's lair without being detected?"
Professor Luo frowned slightly.
"Judging by what we've seen so far, yes—that possibility does exist."
"But we still don't know what kind of cost Wuxian has to pay to maintain that state."
"If the cost outweighs the gain, then it may not be worth relying on too heavily."
Captain Ryan Cole nodded in agreement.
"I think people may have overlooked something even more important."
"The two creatures fighting right now are already S-rank."
"And yet neither of them can perceive Wuxian at all."
"That alone proves that Wuxian can calmly stand within range of S-rank Divine Domain creatures without being threatened."
"That's already an astonishing ability."
After all, every time an S-rank creature had appeared before, it had been a disaster-level threat for contestants from every nation.
And elsewhere, the endless storm of lightning at last began to fade.
The giant red sphere still floated there intact.
And it was still pulsing.
Boom!
Then, with a massive cracking sound, the crimson sphere split apart.
Adrian Vale emerged from within, completely unharmed.
He lifted his head and looked coldly at the Ancient Azure Dragon.
"I prepared this for a long time just to deal with something like you," he said flatly. "And after all that, this is the best you can do?"
"If that's really your limit, then there's no point continuing this fight."
Rumble!
But at that exact moment, the entire Dreamlike Forest began to shake violently.
The earth trembled beneath everything, as though some enormous structure deep below it had just started collapsing.
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