The People's God: Sacrificing Trillions to Ascend

Chapter 809 - Wicked Dragon Ascension

Veritas was shocked at Han Wu’s strength. Even in its prime, it had not been much stronger than Han Wu. With its soul separated from its body, it was only at roughly forty percent of its peak strength. It was clearly no match for Han Wu. Locked up and faced with Han Wu’s overwhelming might, Veritas decisively surrendered.

“Respected Defier, from this day forward, you are my boss. Use my power however you like. My power is your power. Your power is still your power,” Veritas pandered.

The submissive act left even the Feral Beast feeling disgusted. It hadn’t expected a dragon to grovel better than it.

Han Wu nodded with satisfaction and left.

The moment he was gone, Veritas turned on the Feral Beast and snarled, “You were just laughing, weren’t you? I’ll have to teach you a lesson.”

An Wicked Energy whip formed and lashed the Feral Beast repeatedly. The Feral Beast fell over itself, bowing and proclaiming Veritas its superior. Han Wu was undoubtedly number one in the chain of command, but Veritas could settle for being second. Thus, despite its frustration, Veritas was forced to let the Feral Beast live.

After defeating Veritas, Han Wu absorbed its power and gained a significant boost. Wicked Dragon Ascension, strengthened by Veritas’s presence, reached the legendary eleven-Ring tier. Beyond that, Veritas’s Soul Energy and Wicked Energy also merged the eight-Ring Reaper Seal and the eight-Ring Evil Seal, forming the powerful eleven-Ring Seal Art: the Wicked Dragon Soul Reaper.

Han Wu had gained Wicked Dragon Ascension and Wicked Dragon Soul Reaper, both eleven-Ring techniques, from this encounter. It was a productive trip.

Qin Shuang also obtained Veritas’s leg and wing. Though they did not carry Veritas’s consciousness, they still granted her two Seal Arts: Wicked Dragon Stomp, a nine-Ring seal that locked down a target’s leg movement, and Wicked Dragon Sky Lock, a nine-Ring seal that blocked a target’s ability to fly. Both were highly practical, and Qin Shuang was pleased with them.

As the two of them finished dealing with Veritas and were preparing to leave, the surroundings suddenly shifted. The trees twisted to form a cage that enclosed Han Wu and Qin Shuang.

Fire and steam condensed in the air. The ground trembled underfoot, and sharp stone spires pushed up from the earth. Someone was using Seal Arts to contain them.

“Who’s there? Show yourself!” Han Wu shouted, releasing his true strength.

His twelve-Ring presence forced the seal back. The fire, steam, shaking ground, and stone spires all subsided. Only the trees continued their slow coiling.

The five elders from the Sealing Gate Sect appeared above them: Jin Hua, Mu Xu, Huo Xiang, Shui Ta, and their own reluctant teacher, Tu Bie.

“Did the two of you enter the Sealing Gate Sect just to destroy the altar sealing the Wicked Dragon and release it to threaten the world?” Elder Tu Bie asked solemnly, a hint of sorrow in his tone.

Although Han Wu and Qin Shuang hadn’t been his students for long, it still hurt to see a student follow the wrong path.

Han Wu started to explain, “Elder Tu Bie—”

“Silence!” Elder Shui Ta cut him off. “You have no right to appeal to him after what you’ve done? You two entered the Sealing Gate Sect with ulterior motives. The evidence is plain to see. I say we seal them here and now so they can cause no harm to the world.”

“Agreed,” Elder Huo Xiang said.

“I’m in,” Elder Jin Hua added.

Elder Mu Xu prepared to act, trees still coiling slowly under his command. “Let’s not waste time.”

“Wait,” Elder Tu Bie called out.

“Tu Bie, the facts are right in front of you. What’s there to hesitate about? Look at them. They clearly have real strength yet chose to hide it. They joined your school under false pretences, then moved to destroy the altar and release the dragon. Their actions are inexcusable.” Elder Shui Ta sneered.

Elder Tu Bie stood his ground. “They were still my students, brief as it may have been. I owe them a chance to explain themselves. Go ahead. Tell me, why did you do this?”

Han Wu and Qin Shuang held no resentment toward the Sealing Gate Sect. If anything, they felt some measure of gratitude toward it. There was no reason to escalate this into a fight.

“Teacher, the real reason we came here is to find intelligence on the Magic Sealing Wave. As for destroying the altar, that was the dragon’s manipulation. But we’ve already subdued the dragon’s soul. It’ll cause no further trouble,” Han Wu explained.

The five elders exchanged glances. They knew of the Magic Sealing Wave. It was an ancient thing, classified as top secret even within the sect. However, all five took Han Wu’s claim that they had subdued the dragon soul as an excuse to buy time.

The Sealing Gate Sect had suppressed the Wicked Dragon for years, but it constantly fought the seal. It was not something that could be easily defeated.

As far as the five elders were concerned, Han Wu’s explanation meant only one of two things. Either he was trying to deceive them for long enough to escape, or the dragon had already possessed him and was trying to lower their guard so it could infiltrate the Sealing Gate Sect and break whatever remained of the seal. The five elders were not letting them go regardless.

“There’s no saving them at this point.” Elder Tu Bie sighed. “Seal them.”

At his word, all five elders combined their Seal Arts. The five elements came together. The sky and earth shifted as elemental energies roiled. This combined Seal Art from five ten-Ring Seal Masters reached, at minimum, eleven-Ring strength.

Han Wu knew words alone would not work. Arguing further was a waste of time. It was better to break through the seal and let his real strength convince them.

Mind made up, he activated Wicked Dragon Ascension, the eleven-Ring unsealing technique he had gained from absorbing Veritas. Energy gathered, forming an enormous dragon hundreds of meters long, which dove directly into the five-element seal.

The five elders poured more energy into resisting Wicked Dragon Ascension’s power. For a time, the two forces remained locked against each other with neither side able to break the stalemate. Below, Qin Shuang released the Chain Lightning Seal. The lightning chain flew out and threaded through all five elders.

An eight-Ring seal against ten-Ring Seal Masters had an extremely small success rate, well under one in one thousand. However, Qin Shuang’s mastery over lightning, combined with the chain’s conductivity, meant the chain could continuously loop through them. While the individual success rate was low, the repetition meant being caught was just a matter of time.

Elder Shui Ta’s lightning compatibility was the worst of the five and was caught first. The Chain Lightning Seal bound him. The combined seal’s power dropped sharply the moment one of the five elements was missing from the formation.

Han Wu seized the opportunity to attack the weakened seal with Dragon Ascension, shattering it.

The backlash struck the five elders at once. All five coughed up blood and fell from the air. Han Wu and Qin Shuang rushed to catch each of them and bring them down safely.

The winners of this battle were clear.