Chapter 984 - Fire Dragon Spirit Esna
The flames, imbued with the power of a Divine Jurisdiction, exploded across Han Wu’s body. In an instant, they engulfed him in an even fiercer blaze. The flames carried both the might of fire and the power of Divine Jurisdiction that ate into his Fire Dragon King Transformation.
Han Wu opened his mouth once more, inhaled deeply, and swallowed the raging flames whole. The dragon scales that had been scorched rapidly regenerated as the converted energy from the flames restored his frame. He emerged completely unharmed, with even more energy.
Flames rippled across the Ancient God’s entire body. They had never encountered anything that their fire couldn’t burn.
Han Wu wasn’t one to take a beating without retaliation. Since the Ancient God had tried to burn him again and again, returning the favor seemed perfectly reasonable. The next moment, he charged at the Ancient God with his dragon claws.
The Ancient God consisted of pure elemental energy, so physical attacks couldn’t hurt them. Han Wu’s Fire Dragon King Transformation wasn’t purely physical, however. He blazed with powerful flames. He grabbed the Ancient God, tore away a massive chunk of their elemental form, and shoved it into his mouth.
Eventually, he decided that the method was too slow and started biting directly. The Ancient God unleashed every fire skill at their disposal against Han Wu, but none of them could inflict any meaningful damage. Meanwhile, Han Wu’s bites dealt real damage every single time.
They tried to flee, but Han Wu held them fast. Desperate, they opened their flaming jaws and bit back. Unfortunately, they couldn’t match Han Wu’s devouring speed!
When it came to devouring, Han Wu was the expert. Gradually, the Ancient God fell behind. They begged Han Wu to spare them, but he ignored them. Bite after bite, he consumed the Ancient God completely.
The moment the Ancient God was fully devoured, a complete Flame Jurisdiction appeared before Han Wu. This was the most precious treasure they had possessed.
Han Wu picked it up and used the power of Conversion to erase the Ancient God’s mark from it. Just like that, the Divine Jurisdiction became ownerless.
With that done, Han Wu finally relaxed. He reverted from the Fire Dragon King Transformation to his original form. The moment his feet touched the ground, weakness washed over him.
This battle had drained him completely. He had battled Corpse Fiend Hennibal, then the leader of the Fire Worship Cult, and finally the Ancient God without a moment to recover.
Thankfully, luck had been on his side. He had emerged victorious, accomplishing the miraculous feat of defeating three powerful enemies in succession. He let out a long breath and turned to look behind him.
Esquiem had already fallen into a deep sleep. All the essence Han Wu had devoured from the Ancient God remained inside Esquiem. Once it absorbed it, Esquiem would become an existence on par with the Black Dragon King Alpheus. That would take time, though.
Han Wu returned Esquiem to his space and stepped into the Fire Worship Cult’s secret chamber. Esquiem’s mother was still inside, suffering.
Han Wu approached her. Sensing the Defier’s aura on him, she opened her remaining eye, and a flicker of surprise crossed it. Only a few hours had passed, yet Han Wu was completely different from before. His overall aura had risen significantly.
“I killed the Fire Worship Cult’s leader and the Corpse Fiend. I’ve avenged you,” Han Wu said calmly, as though he had done nothing remarkable. Compared to devouring the Ancient God, it truly wasn’t.
Tears of gratitude rolled from her eyes. Han Wu then took out the complete Flame Jurisdiction that the Ancient God had dropped. It was the White Soul Civilization’s Flame Jurisdiction, so Han Wu didn’t dare bring it back to the Divine Civilization.
Every complete Divine Jurisdiction within the Divine Civilization was unique, and the same was true even of minor ones.[1] If two identical complete Divine Jurisdictions existed simultaneously and the civilization’s Will detected them, the milder outcome would be negotiations, with the God King of that Jurisdiction claiming and absorbing the duplicate. The worst outcome would be a divine war in which both sides fought to the death.
Han Wu had a decent relationship with the Blazing God King. He didn’t want this Divine Jurisdiction to drive a wedge between them. On top of that, Han Wu’s affinity for fire wasn’t particularly high. The moment he obtained the Flame Jurisdiction, he knew he couldn’t absorb it. Since he couldn’t use it himself, he might as well give it to an ally who could.
Esquiem was still young. Digesting the Ancient God’s essence alone would take a very long time. That made his mother the ideal choice. Han Wu was completely confident in her loyalty. The life-saving favor was one reason. The more important reason was that Esquiem was in his hands.[2] His mother had no choice but to be loyal to Han Wu.
“Will you become my strength?” Han Wu asked as he held out the complete Flame Jurisdiction.
Esquiem’s mother nodded firmly.
Han Wu smiled in satisfaction and brought the complete Flame Jurisdiction to the edge of her mouth.
She didn’t swallow it. Instead, she closed her eyes and guided her dragon spirit into the Divine Jurisdiction. She could no longer fight in her physical form. Rather than clinging to a broken shell, she chose to abandon it and pour the full power of the Flame Jurisdiction into her soul.
As her dragon spirit merged with the Jurisdiction, an aura similar to the Ancient God’s, yet more domineering, descended. Flames imbued with Divine Jurisdiction took the form of a massive dragon and manifested before Han Wu.
Then it knelt before him. “Great Fire Dragon Esna pledges herself to the honorable Defier as her master.”
As Esna’s gentle voice reached Han Wu’s ears, a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. It was done. The trip to the Fire Worship Cult had been worthwhile. Having lost her physical body, Esna could no longer truly call herself a Great Fire Dragon. More accurately, she was now a Fire Dragon Spirit.
With Esna’s pledge of loyalty, Han Wu was thoroughly satisfied. He was ready to leave, but she stopped him. Her gaze settled on the dragon carcass she had abandoned.
Although Corpse Fiend Hennibal had taken her limbs and drained her dragon core, a Great Dragon was still a Great Dragon. Despite its depleted state, the carcass still held considerable value.
Han Wu understood immediately what she meant. He shifted into his Crystal Lich King Form and used Summon Skeleton on the dragon carcass. After consuming a tremendous amount of energy, a bizarre dragon skeleton separated itself from the flesh. Without limbs, wings, or a tail, it looked rather comical. For an expert of the undead arts, however, this posed no problem.
He shifted once more into his Special Fusion Form. With a wave of his hand, countless grains of bone sand gathered around the dragon skeleton. The missing parts reformed in moments, giving birth to a Bone Dragon with Ninth Form strength. Another powerful warrior had joined Han Wu’s forces.
Han Wu mounted the Bone Dragon and rode toward the exit. As he passed the spot where the dragon carcass had been, his eyes caught something on the ground. After the flesh dissolved into light, it had left behind a piece of equipment.
Han Wu used his shadow to pull it into his hand. It was a Rank 9 fire-attribute greatsword. He hadn’t finished consolidating his Eighth Form yet, so he couldn’t equip such a powerful weapon. As such, he had no choice but to hand it to Esna beside him.
Using her soul to control the fire greatsword, Esna could unleash its full power. On top of that, the greatsword came from her own body, making it all the more precious to her.
1. While it seems that there are multiple Divine Jurisdiction copies, the author is explicitly stating that there will only be one complete Jurisdiction at a time, meaning only one God King of a certain Jurisdiction. The ones in the War faction used by their Major Gods were all incomplete War Jurisdictions. ☜
2. I think the Dark Archmage Form is already affecting him... Shady, shady ☜