I am submissive in Journey to the West, I strike hard at the gods

"Third Prince?"

Jiang Wang seemed to have heard something amusing, and said in a light tone, "That guy who was born with the mark of a Saint of the Third Heaven, but has been stuck at the peak of the Third Heaven for three hundred million years and can't get out... a born idiot?"

Ao Batian choked, his dragon whiskers bristling with rage: "You, you're talking nonsense! The Third Prince's talent is the best in the world throughout history, he's just in seclusion comprehending the fourth level of the Heavenly Realm!"

Jiang Wang laughed even harder, his fingertip lightly touching the dragon horn at the very center of Ao Batian's forehead: "Seclusion? Is it seclusion, or was your Saintly Dao Fruit shattered and forcibly suppressed to be reborn?"

He spoke gently, as if chatting with an old friend: "Let me give you a piece of advice: instead of pinning your hopes on that good-for-nothing, you should face reality sooner rather than later."

Ao Batian's nine dragon heads struggled violently at the same time, the chains rattling, but he couldn't break free even a little.

Jiang Wang sighed: "I'm a very reasonable person."

Either you hand over a wisp of your true spirit, acknowledge me as your master, and pull my chariot for three thousand years. If your dragon race can come up with a ransom that satisfies me after a thousand years, I will set you free.

Either..."

He opened his palm, and a cloud of hazy, chaotic energy appeared in his palm, with the faint shadow of a heaven-opening axe appearing and disappearing.

"I will refine the nine of you into a Nine Dragons Locking Heaven Chain and hang it at the entrance of the Chaos Pearl as a watchdog chain. You can choose."

Ao Batian's nine dragon heads exchanged a glance, and finally the one in the middle slowly lowered its noble head, its voice hoarse yet filled with deep resentment:
"...My dragon race...will not be slaves."

Jiang Wang raised an eyebrow, his smile becoming even more gentle: "Oh? So it seems you're choosing the second path?"

Ao Batian suddenly looked up, his dragon eyes bloodshot: "But I can... hand over nine strands of true spirit in exchange for the freedom of my eight brothers! I'll stay and pull your cart for you!"

Its voice trembled, yet carried the stubbornness and pride unique to the dragon race.

Jiang Wang was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing, laughing so hard he almost cried.

"Good! Good! As expected of the dragon race, they have backbone!"

With a wave of his hand, most of the chains broke apart, leaving only Ao Batian's dragon head locked. The true spirits of the other eight dragons were forcibly extracted, transforming into eight streams of purple-gold light that flew out of the Chaos Pearl and returned to their original forms.

Ao Batian watched the eight streaks of light disappear into the distance, tears of blood streaming down his face, but he remained silent.

Jiang Wang patted its huge dragon head, his tone unusually serious: "Don't worry, it'll be a thousand years."

I, Jiang Wang, keep my word.

A thousand years from now, if you wish to leave, I will not stop you.

After a long silence, Ao Batian said in a low voice, "...My surname is Ao, and my given name is Batian. If you break your promise, I will become a vengeful ghost and bite you!"

Jiang Wang laughed and climbed onto the dragon's back: "We'll see then, big guy. Take me for a spin first. I want to see how fast your Saint-level dragon can pull a cart."

Ao Batian roared, and the nine dragon heads simultaneously raised their heads and howled to the sky. With a swish of their bodies, they transformed into billions of miles of purple-gold light, carrying Jiang Wang as they rushed out of the Chaos Pearl and into the boundless chaos.

The dragon's roar shook the heavens and resounded throughout the vast chaos.

At this very moment, beyond the primordial wilderness, in the direction of the Nine-Colored Realm, a ball of nine-colored flames is quietly approaching.

In the firelight, Hongjun was dressed in white, his gaze as deep and unfathomable as a bottomless abyss.

“Pangu… no, Jiang Wang.”

He murmured softly, his voice dissipating into the fire and burning into nothingness.

"Your good days are over."

Deep within the Dragon Palace of the East Sea, the side hall, woven from ten-thousand-year-old coral and icy iron, was now brightly lit. Nine purple-gold dragons coiled within the hall, their whiskers drooping and their scales reflecting a purple-gold shimmer on the walls.

The leader, Ao Batian, was three hundred feet tall, with dragon horns like those forged from purple gold and eyes like two purple suns. He was staring intently at the white-robed figure in the center of the hall, his voice so deep it seemed to shatter the void: "Jiang Wang, you dare to say that the Third Prince Ao Bing has mediocre talent after only two thousand years? My nine brothers have lived for more than a dozen kalpas, and which one of us didn't start cultivating from the beginning of chaos? Your three levels of spatial laws, could it have been built up over hundreds of billions of years?"

The eight purple-gold dragons behind him raised their heads in unison, their roars like thunder, causing the luminous pearl on the roof of the palace to tremble slightly.

Jiang Wang stood with his hands behind his back, his white robes fluttering even without wind. Hearing this, he simply smiled, a smile that carried a hint of laziness and an unfathomable depth: "Hundreds of billions of years? Ao Batian, you certainly know how to flatter me."

To tell you the truth, I've been cultivating for less than two thousand years.

"Hahahahaha!"

Ao Batian laughed so hard his dragon whiskers trembled, and the eight dragons behind him joined in the laughter, which almost lifted the roof off the palace. "Me too! I dare to say that too! If I could cultivate to your level in two thousand years, I would cut off my head and give it to you as a chamber pot!"

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

The eight dragons echoed in unison, each voice louder than the last, creating a deafening roar in the hall, like nine burly men having a shouting contest.

Hearing the deafening "Me too," Jiang Wang's lips twitched slightly, but his face remained calm and composed: "Alright, since you're so confident, let's make a bet."

"If I could, right under your noses, raise the laws of space from the third to the sixth level in a very short time, would you nine be willing to offer up thirty percent of your true spirits and acknowledge me as your master for eternity?"

Ao Batian was stunned for a moment, then his dragon eyes widened: "Are you serious?"

"The Great Way bears witness."

Jiang Wang raised his hand, and a wisp of silver light from the laws of space danced gently between his five fingers, like a galaxy flowing at his fingertips. "If I cannot do it, I will disperse a portion of my Great Dao Origin and let you do as you please."

The nine purple-gold dragons exchanged a glance, and Ao Batian suddenly swung his tail, smashing the palace bricks until they cracked inch by inch: "It's a bet! I, Ao Batian, swear on my true spirit that if you can truly push the laws of space to the sixth heaven within a hundred years—and I say a hundred years is a long time—within a thousand years, my nine brothers and I will immediately offer up thirty percent of our true spirits and acknowledge you as our master! Whoever goes back on their word, may their ancestors for eighteen generations be turtles!"

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

Another deafening chorus of agreement followed.

Jiang Wang smiled without saying a word, only snapping his fingers lightly.

hum!
The void rippled like water, and a completely black, ancient and unadorned stone house appeared out of thin air, suspended in the hall. Above the door were three large ancient seal characters: "Training Room".

It exudes a chaotic aura that sends chills down your spine.

The nine dragons felt a shiver run through their souls, as if a sleeping, ancient behemoth was hidden inside the stone house.

"A hundred years? A thousand years?"

Jiang Wang slowly tiptoed and patted Ao Batian's dragon horns, "You've been looking at things for too long."

He stepped into the training room, turned around and beckoned to the nine dragons with his finger: "Keep an eye on them, don't blink."

The stone house door slammed shut.

Just as the gate closed, three familiar yet aged voices suddenly rang out in Jiang Wang's sea of ​​consciousness. It was an urgent message from the clones he had left on the Three Pure Ones:

"Jiang Wang, be informed immediately! Hongjun has just forcibly opened a passage to another world outside Zixiao Palace, drawing the Phoenix Clan of the Nine-Colored Realm into the Primordial World! The Phoenix Clan's ruler, the Nine-Colored Divine Phoenix, has personally led three hundred Quasi-Saint Phoenixes and three hundred and sixty thousand descendants of Heavenly Phoenixes into the East Sea, claiming to seek justice for the Dragon-Phoenix Calamity of that year! The East Sea is now in chaos, and your Dragon Palace may not be able to withstand it!"

Upon hearing this, a cold glint flashed in Jiang Wang's eyes, but a slowly intrigued smile curved his lips.

"Old man, you still couldn't resist stirring things up after all." He chuckled softly, his fingertips lightly tracing the void, and a system light screen silently appeared. "But so be it. If I don't accept the merit you've offered me, wouldn't that be too disrespectful to the Dao Ancestor?"

A thought flashed through his mind, and the system notification sounded coldly:
"Host's current luck points detected: 1562 points. Would you like to exchange them for Great Dao Merit?"

"Exchange all."

"Ding, 1562 points of luck have been exchanged for 156 yuan of Great Dao Merit. Current total Great Dao Merit: 556 yuan."

Jiang Wang closed his eyes and sat cross-legged in the center of the training room. The chaotic airflow around him automatically swirled, like countless silver snakes burrowing into his pores.

Outside the training room, nine purple-gold dragons stared intently at the tightly closed stone door. Ao Batian's dragon whiskers fluttered even without wind, and his voice was deep: "Do you think that kid can really achieve this within a thousand years..."

Before the words were finished, the stone house suddenly trembled violently, and strands of pure spatial law fluctuations surged out like a tide, instantly filling the entire side hall!
On the first day, the fluctuations in the laws were just a trickle.

By the third day, it was surging like a river.

On the seventh day, the space of the entire side hall began to distort, and countless fine silver cracks appeared on the bricks, as if it would shatter into fragments of the void at any moment.

On the tenth day, the nine purple-gold dragons all changed color. They clearly felt that the concentration of spatial laws inside the stone house had broken through the fourth level!
Ao Batian's eyes widened, his voice trembling: "This...it's only been ten days!"

On the fifteenth day, the fluctuations of the spatial laws surged once again, reaching the fifth level! The peak of the fifth level!
Day 19, early stage of the sixth heaven!

On the morning of the twenty-third day, the stone house door suddenly burst open.

Jiang Wang took a step forward, his white robes fluttering, his long hair moving without wind, and his body surrounded by a silver halo formed from six layers of spatial laws, layer upon layer, like a silver lotus in full bloom.

With a casual wave of his hand, the space within a radius of ten thousand miles rippled like water, then instantly returned to calm, as if he had merely dusted off the dust from his sleeve.

The nine purple-gold dragons stood there dumbfounded.

Ao Batian's enormous dragon body suddenly thudded.

With a thud, he knelt down, his dragon horns striking the ground with a loud crash, his voice hoarse: "Master...Master!"

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

This time, the voices of the eight dragons were perfectly synchronized, yet they carried a tremor that came from the depths of their souls.

Jiang Wang lowered his eyes to look at the nine purple-gold dragons lying prostrate on the ground and smiled gently: "Get up."

The nine dragons quickly transformed into human form, and nine tall men in purple-gold dragon robes knelt on one knee. Ao Batian even tore open his chest, revealing a ball of purple-gold true spirit fire, which he respectfully presented to Jiang Wang: "Master, this is thirty percent of the true spirit, please accept it!"

Jiang Wang didn't stand on ceremony. With a flick of his finger, nine balls of true spirit fire flew up simultaneously, transforming into nine purple-gold runes that entered his brow.

Contract complete!
With a thought, the life souls of the nine purple-gold dragons were already connected to his bloodline; life and death were only a thought away.

Having subdued the Nine Dragons, Jiang Wang was in high spirits and patted Ao Batian on the shoulder with a smile: "Not bad, not bad, very obedient."

"Come, tell your master, do you possess any magical treasures? The more the better, the more the better, as I'm currently lacking experience points."

Ao Batian scratched his head and smiled sheepishly: "Master, we dragons are used to melting spiritual treasures into our dragon scales to increase our defense. I really don't have many decent ones left on my body."

Jiang Wang's smile froze instantly.

No, no, no?

He, a dignified purple-gold dragon with nine peak Taiyi Golden Immortals and half-step Daluo, doesn't even have a single extra spiritual treasure?
He was so heartbroken he felt like he was going to vomit blood on the spot.

Just then, Ao Wu, the third-ranked purple-gold dragon, suddenly lit up and leaned closer, his voice low: "Master, do you want to refine a large amount of top-tier materials for treasures and exchange them for experience points?"

Jiang Wang glanced at him sideways: "You have?"

Ao Wu chuckled, revealing a mouthful of gleaming white dragon teeth: "Have you forgotten? Last time you went on a killing spree in the Dragon Palace, beheading more than five thousand of our dragon clan's traitorous quasi-saint golden dragons... Those corpses are still frozen in the North Sea Abyss!"

Jiang Wang's eyes lit up instantly.

More than five thousand quasi-saint golden dragons!
Every single one is made of top-quality materials!
Dragon horns, dragon tendons, dragon scales, dragon blood, dragon soul...

Any one of these items would be a priceless treasure that even a Great Luo Golden Immortal would fight tooth and nail for!

If all of them were refined into a single acquired treasure...

Jiang Wang licked his lips, a faint green light flashing in his eyes: "Ao Wu, you reminded me just in time."

Ao Wu immediately puffed out his chest, his dragon horns almost pointing to the sky: "Master, rest assured! I'll take my brothers to the North Sea right away and drag those five thousand-plus dragon corpses back! What do you want to refine them into? A postnatal treasure? A postnatal merit treasure? Or..."

Jiang Wang raised his hand and gently pressed it on his shoulder, his voice low and pleasant:
"Refine them all; not a single drop of blood can be wasted."

He looked up towards the distant East China Sea, where the faint sound of a phoenix's cry could be heard, and the nine-colored divine fire illuminated the sky in a dazzling display.

Hongjun, oh Hongjun, what a wonderful gift you have sent...

I accepted it.

Jiang Wang sat cross-legged on a jade futon deep in the purple bamboo forest, his fingertips lightly tracing the line of pale gold characters that had suddenly appeared, his breath catching in his throat.

[The host has been detected to gain experience points by refining acquired treasures.]

For each low-grade acquired treasure crafted, one can gain 18 million experience points.

For each mid-grade acquired treasure refined, one can gain 54 million experience points.

For each superior-grade acquired treasure refined, one can gain 180 million experience points.

Current redemption limit: 5,500 acquired treasures, for a total of 100 billion experience points.

One hundred billion!

Jiang Wang's pupils dilated slightly, and his heartbeat was clearly audible in the silent bamboo forest.

The process of going from the peak of the sixth revolution to the early stage of the seventh revolution in "Nine Revolutions Spirit Treasure Record" requires a total of 60 billion experience points.

Once the seventh stage is completed, it will take nearly 40 billion to advance to the eighth stage.

With 100 billion experience points, he could rush to the seventh stage of the Great Perfection in one go, and even touch the legendary eighth stage threshold that almost no one could cross!

Almost instinctively, a smile, almost impossible to suppress, appeared on Jiang Wang's lips, but it froze halfway through.

He doesn't know how to forge weapons.

They couldn't even ignite the most basic spiritual fire, let alone the extremely complex process of refining spiritual materials, inscribing restrictions, and nurturing spirituality.

Outside the bamboo grove, a sea breeze wafted by, bringing with it a faint, salty, damp scent.

Ao Tie was dozing against a purple bamboo when he heard Jiang Wang's telepathic message. He lazily swayed over, his dragon horns gleaming with a cold, bluish light in the sunlight. (End of Chapter)