Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2764: Martial Spirit: Void Dragon

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Zhongguo (China), Liaodong Province, Shuntian Prefecture, Shenyang City, Imperial Palace, Inner Court

"Hahaha... even I want to see what I’m capable of now," Emperor Liao Long laughed in response to Corey’s taunt. His laughter echoed across the vast hall as he raised one hand and summoned his Martial Spirit, "Come forth, Void Dragon!"

The stone floor beneath his feet trembled. A moment later, golden light burst through the bottom of his feet, swirling upward like molten sunlight. From within that radiance, the shape of a colossal golden dragon apparition began to emerge.

Its serpentine body coiled upward around him, scales shimmering with blinding brilliance as it rose from the floor and lifted him into the air. The dragon carried him higher and higher until he hovered near the towering ceiling of the hall.

Gasps rippled through the chamber. His subjects, the imperial descendants, and even the seasoned guards stared in disbelief. They all understood what they were witnessing. Emperor Liao Long had raised his Martial Spirit to complete manifestation.

A moment later, the towering golden dragon apparition collapsed inward.

Its immense body shattered into countless streams of radiant light that rushed toward the Emperor. In an instant, the golden energy wrapped around him, condensing into a suit of scale armor that covered him from head to toe. Every scale and plate gleamed like molten gold, faint dragon patterns flowing across its surface as if alive.

Without hesitation, Emperor Liao Long pushed off from the air. The golden armor flared with blinding radiance as he shot forward like a meteor tearing through the atmosphere. The force of his descent cracked the marble beneath him and sent a shockwave rolling across the hall as he launched himself straight toward Corey.

Corey didn’t move to dodge. Instead, she stepped forward and met the Emperor’s incoming punch head-on, as if confident the attack would mean nothing to her.

The impact told a different story. The moment Liao Long’s armored fist connected, a thunderous crack echoed through the hall. Corey’s body was launched across the chamber like a ragdoll, her feet leaving the ground as the force of the blow sent her hurtling through the air.

She only stopped when she slammed into the far wall. The wall shattered on impact, and her body punched straight through it, leaving behind a human-shaped hole as fragments of stone and dust rained down across the floor.

"Fuck!" Climbing out of the debris, Corey spat a mouthful of blood onto the shattered marble. With a sharp crack, she shoved her misaligned jaw back into place and rolled her right shoulder until it settled correctly in its socket.

Standing within the human-shaped hole punched through the wall, she stared across the hall at the Emperor. She still couldn’t understand how he had managed to get past her mental field. But he had.

"Not bad," she said, wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth. "Even if you trained your entire miserable life, you still wouldn’t have raised your martial spirit this far. You got a bargain for your soul—"

Before she could finish the sentence, the Emperor launched himself forward again. The golden radiance erupted around him as he chanted, "Void Fist!"

This time Corey didn’t try to take the attack head-on. The moment his fist came rushing toward her, she used Dicing on the air itself, splitting countless air molecules between in an instant. Greeting the Emperor’s fist with a violent reaction ignited immediately.

A massive explosion erupted between them, blasting the corridor with blinding light and a wave of harmful radiation as the Emperor’s punch collided with the unstable air.

To Corey’s surprise, the Emperor passed straight through the explosion. The blast should have torn him apart. Instead, he moved through it as if it were nothing. More accurately, as if he were nothing.

In the next instant, his fist struck her again. The impact sent Corey crashing backward through one wall after another, stone and debris exploding outward as her body tore through the palace structure before finally coming to a halt amid a storm of shattered marble.

As she forced herself back to her feet, realization dawned on her. The Emperor’s martial spirit was not the same one she remembered.

The Void Dragon she once knew had been powerful in a straightforward way, durable, fast, and monstrously strong. It excelled at enduring punishment and overwhelming enemies through brute force.

But the one she was facing now was something entirely different. It could pass through her mental field. It could move through her explosions as if they didn’t exist.

When the Emperor had crossed the explosion earlier, Corey had caught a glimpse of something with her twin vision. For a split second, his cells had disappeared. More precisely, they had shifted into the void.

The moment he entered the explosion and brushed against her mental field, his physical form partially vanished, slipping into that empty state before returning to reality the instant he crossed the obstacle. That ability allowed him to move through attacks and defenses that should have destroyed him or rendered his attacks useless.

Corey thought quickly on her foot, going through everything she observed and concluded that there was a limit to how long the Emperor could shift himself to void. Meaning if she were to create a big enough explosion, she would be able to gauge how long the Emperor could stay in the void state so she could plan her attacks more strategically to exploit his vulnerabilities.

Having figured out what she needed to do next, Corey didn’t hesitate. She turned and retreated at her top speed, her body blurring across the shattered corridor. As she moved, she repeatedly used Dicing on the air between them, splitting clusters of air molecules apart in rapid succession. Each split triggered a violent reaction. Explosions erupted one after another, filling the space between them with blinding flashes and waves of harmful radiation. The detonations chained together like a collapsing row of dominos, turning the palace halls into a roaring tunnel of fire and light.

The Emperor didn’t slow down. Without understanding what Corey was planning, he chased after her with a feverish look burning in his eyes. The golden armor around his body flared brighter as he tore through the explosions.

In his mind, there was only one thought. After so many years, the fruit he had once been denied was finally within his reach. And this time, he intended to take it.