Chapter 648: Maximilian vs Four Celestial Dragons

"You were ordered to remain hidden until you turned adult," Felix shouted, his face pale with a mix of anger and nervousness. "Now that you have shown yourself, you must spend two more decades in hiding!" His voice cracked on the last word, and he hurriedly cleared his throat, as if that could hide his fear.

Felix’s words fell on deaf ears as Maximilian continued walking forward. With every step, spider web-like cracks spread beneath his feet from the sheer pressure, and the rainwater pooled on the floor retreated from him as if it were afraid to touch his soles. Above him, the heavy rain kept hissing into vapour against his scales, leaving a thin veil of mist trailing behind him.

On the vine platform, not a single cultivator dared to breathe. Even the rain seemed louder in that silence, drumming relentlessly against the floor. Some of them clutched their chests, while others had their eyes fixed on Maximilian’s back, still crossed with wounds that the rain hadn’t yet washed clean.

When the distance between them had shortened to less than fifty metres, four figures appeared in front of Felix in a blur. Two elders from the Neige Clan and two from the Floraisan Clan stood shoulder to shoulder, forming a wall between the Young Master and the man advancing towards him.

"Are you trying to defy the order of the Almighty Sovereign?" the First Elder demanded, pointing at Maximilian. His voice was stern, yet the sweat running down his temple was not entirely rain. "Don’t make it worse for yourself. Go back, Maximilian."

Maximilian didn’t stop. As he raised his foot for the next step, black lightning danced across his silhouette, crackling against the falling rain. The hair on the back of every spectator’s neck stood on end.

The next moment, he was gone.

"It is Your Highness for you."

Maximilian’s voice came from above the First Elder. Before the old dragon could even lift his gaze, a claw-like hand clamped over his head and slammed him into the floor. The ground shattered beneath the impact, and the water around it burst outward in a ring of white spray. The First Elder’s roar of pain was swallowed by the crack of breaking stone.

The spectators flinched in unison. Even the Demi-Gods felt their hearts skip a beat. They hadn’t even seen him move. Felix took an involuntary step back, his fingers curling tightly into his sleeves.

"Don’t be so cocky, you brat!" the Second Elder shouted, releasing a wave of crimson rose petals at him.

The petals moved through the air like countless small blades, shredding the falling raindrops in their path. At the same time, the First Elder, still pinned beneath Maximilian’s hand, swung his sharp claw upward in retaliation.

As the attacks were about to land, a rotating disc formed of numerous interconnected dark swords appeared before Maximilian.

Sparks erupted as the sharp petals and the First Elder’s claw struck the disc, lighting up the dark, rain-soaked hall for a brief second.

Maximilian’s eyes narrowed. The drops of rain around him had begun to freeze.

They hung in the air as tiny beads of ice, glittering, before clattering to the floor like scattered pearls. The temperature of the surroundings dropped rapidly, and the puddle beneath his feet turned into a sheet of ice. The frost crawled up to his feet and spread to his legs, pinning him in place. The breaths of the nearby spectators turned into pale clouds that vanished as quickly as they came.

The two elders of the Neige Clan had finally made their move, attacking him from behind.

"We have been searching for you for over three decades," the Third Elder shouted, his claw cutting through the fabric of space as it came for Maximilian. "Now that you have finally shown yourself, I will be the one to take your life!"

"Or it will be me who kills the bane of the dragons!" the Fourth Elder shouted, thrusting a spear of ice towards him.

Meanwhile, the two elders of the Floraisan Clan had rapidly increased the flow of crimson petals from the front. The disc began to shake under the pressure, the swords scattering away one by one.

"Master!" Gumiho screamed in worry, her hands trembling as she watched four attacks from four different directions about to land on him.

"FREEZE!"

Maximilian’s deep voice echoed across the ruined hall.

The crimson petals from the Second Elder, the claw of the First Elder and the Third Elder, and the spear of the Fourth Elder all stopped completely, frozen just inches from Maximilian’s body. It wasn’t only their attacks. The elders’ very bodies had been locked in place, only their eyes still able to move, wide with shock and disbelief.

They freed themselves in the very next second. But by then, Maximilian had already vanished.

BOOM!!!

The ice and the rose petals clashed in a cataclysmic explosion, sending debris flying in every direction. The shockwave tore through the rain, blasting the downpour outward in a ring and leaving a circle of dry air where a moment ago there had only been water.

The Demi-Gods were forced several feet back, their robes whipping against their bodies. The beasts were protected by Mriga, who raised a transparent shield before them just in time to avoid the aftermath. Behind the shimmering barrier, Vyaghra’s fists clenched tight, though his eyes never left Maximilian.

On the platform, the cultivators shrieked and ducked as pieces of broken floor flew over their heads. Several of them fell backward, trampling each other in panic.

Within the mushroom cloud of dust, the movement of something gigantic became visible. Shimmering scales of purple and white bulged out from the cloud. The falling rain slowly pressed the dust back down to the ground, and the cloud, several hundred metres wide, was scattered away as towering figures emerged from inside.

Four gigantic dragons, two silver and two purple, each more than two hundred metres long, floated in the air at four different positions. Their heads faced the centre, where a single man stood in the air, a dark sword in his hand.

Gumiho and Vyaghra’s eyes widened as they realised that the form of these dragons was completely different from the one they had fought before.

The dragons no longer had wings. Their bodies had grown long and sinuous like those of serpents, every inch covered in glittering scales. Branching horns rose from their heads like antlers, their long whiskers swaying in the wind, and each of their claws was as large as a pavilion. Their manes flowed behind them like rivers of silk, wet and heavy with rain.

"They...they have turned into Lóng..." Mo Feng whispered, his voice shaking.

"Hahaha, this is the adult form of a dragon," Felix laughed, spreading his arms, the petals around his burnt arm fluttering in the rain. "You only broke through to the Celestial Realm ten years ago. Do you dare to fight four Middle-Stage Celestial Realm Dragons in their final transformation state?"

Maximilian didn’t respond. His expression darkened, and his golden eyes glowed like stars in the dim atmosphere.

The sword in his hand trembled ever so slightly, blood flowing from his palm and trickling down the blade from how tightly he gripped it. The rain washed it away, only for more to follow. The sight of Gumiho being forced to remove her clothes wouldn’t leave his mind, and it fuelled his rage to the point that his thoughts were almost turning blank with fury.

The four Lóng rushed at him from four different sides, their jaws so wide that they could have engulfed several buildings at once. They avoided attacking at the same time so that they wouldn’t crash into one another, their huge bodies coiling around him like a living cage.

Maximilian moved skilfully, dodging them with his lightning speed. As the dragons passed by him, he dragged the vajra along their bodies, but their scales were too thick for the blade to pierce through.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Ear-deafening sounds echoed through the sky as space twisted and shattered around him. Sparks scattered across the dark sky, and each time the sword struck, the rain around the point of impact exploded into steam. Thunder rolled through the clouds, as if the heavens were reacting to the battle below.

Bam!

The Third Elder managed to land a decisive attack, sending Maximilian crashing to the ground. Or, more accurately, Maximilian let him land it. The impact tore a deep crater into the ground, and muddy water rushed in to fill it.

The moment Maximilian landed, putting a distance of several hundred metres between himself and the four Celestial Dragons, he formed a rapid series of hand signs. His fingers moved so fast that they blurred in the rain.

It was only when the clouds above the dragons began shifting that they realised Maximilian no longer had the sword in his hand.

"Stop him!" the First Elder shouted as he rushed towards him. However, it was already too late.

Maximilian clasped his hands together and whispered in a threateningly low tone that still managed to reach every ear.

"Seventy Two Swords Formation: Descent of the Limit Breaker Vajra!"