I will eventually become a god through sheer hard work.

Even its own father, the 'Dragon God,' never gave it this feeling.

Trembling, fear, even—despair.

Without the slightest hesitation, it immediately activated its bio-force field to escape from here.

But, it's too late.

Xue Jing, carrying the Serpent Slayer, encountered no obstacles whatsoever. Every part of the Tree Dragon's body tore itself apart just before it touched the Serpent Slayer.

He entered the tree dragon's body without any hindrance.

Black flames burned in his pupils. The dark tree dragon's body did not obstruct his vision at all. Although everything in his field of vision turned black and white, he could still see it clearly.

He looked up and saw a fleshy ball about a meter in diameter, beating like a heart.

Its surface was crackling with streaks of lightning.

Xue Jing immediately understood that this was the core organ of the Tree Dragon.

He immediately stomped on the 'ground,' touched the soft stomach wall, and sprang out, leaping towards the core fleshy ball of the tree dragon.

"呲-"

As expected, the Serpent Slayer pierced through it.

The silvery-white claws emitted a dazzling light, and the fleshy ball began to swell wildly as if it were being inflated.

"Ow—!"

The tree dragon let out a terrified cry and froze in mid-air.

A few seconds later, it crashed to the ground with a loud thud.

……

Chapter 160 Invincible Heart, Susanoo-clad Great Buddha, One Man Destroys Four Kingdoms! (4K)

The enormous body crashed to the ground, causing the entire valley to tremble. A cloud of dust spread out from the spot where the tree dragon fell, extending for hundreds of meters.

The tree dragon's belly, which had fallen to the ground, began to slowly swell, growing larger and larger like an inflating balloon. Its rough, bark-like scales were stretched open, cracks appeared everywhere, and the taut, thin skin beneath the scales was revealed through the cracks.

"boom--!"

With a thunderous roar, the tree dragon's belly suddenly exploded, and a large amount of golden lightning burst out from the opening, scattering in all directions.

Within a radius of several hundred meters, the land, trees, and mountain walls... wherever the scattered lightning touched, were all shattered and turned charred black. Only one or two plants were not shattered after being struck, but instead were covered with lightning ripples, their bodies gradually transforming into a golden color, becoming dragon-lightning plants.

From the gaping hole in the tree dragon's belly, a figure wreathed in black flames and golden lightning slowly emerged.

Xue Jing moved forward slowly, taking one step at a time, using his Shadow Flame to dispel the dragon lightning on his body. Supporting himself against the increased gravity of more than ten times, he stepped onto the scorched earth, each step leaving a deep footprint.

As the last golden lightning on his body was burned away by the black flames, he immediately felt a sense of relief and his body regained its lightness.

[Slaying a special creature possessing divinity grants +327 divinity]

[Currently holding Divinity: 851]

"...Why didn't you tell me you had this trick up your sleeve sooner?"

The person in the mirror inside the bracelet was dumbfounded.

Xue Jing opened his palm and looked at the razor-slaying claws of the Serpent Slayer in his hand.

The claw no longer shimmered with a silvery-white light; instead, it appeared a dull, pale white, unremarkable, like an ordinary beast's claw, with nothing special about it.

"...Before using it, I didn't know this thing was so powerful."

Xue Jing raised an eyebrow.

Although I knew that the Serpent Slayer could counter dragons... I never expected the counter effect to be this exaggerated.

Because he had practiced the Hidden Dragon Style, he had previously experienced the restraining effect against natural enemies.

But probably because his essential race is human, and he only cultivated martial arts related to dragons, the restraining effect he experienced was not deep enough, and his understanding of it was not yet very real.

This tree dragon, however, was a pure dragon, a true dragon inside and out, allowing the Serpent Slayer's destructive power to be fully unleashed.

Its vitality, which could almost be described as immortal, was instantly extinguished when a single claw from the Serpent Slayer pierced its core organs.

The person in the mirror glanced at the claw in Xue Jing's hand, which had lost its silvery-white luster: "...This thing looks unusable."

"You don't only have this one, do you?"

"If there's only one, I definitely won't use it on this guardian dragon..."

Xue Jing smiled and took out four more silver claws from the pocket of his tactical uniform.

The person in the mirror's eyes lit up immediately. They stood up from Xue Jing's shoulder, rubbing their hands together excitedly, their expression eager.

"Good, good! If that's the case, even a pure-blooded dragon might actually have a chance..."

"This thing should be a conceptual-level alien god's power, right? Targeting dragons specifically? Where did you get it?"

The person in the mirror, with his vast knowledge, immediately deduced the characteristics of the snake-slaying vanguard.

Xue Jing stroked his chin: "Hmm... I found it on the road."

The person in the mirror pursed their lips and snorted, "If you don't want to say, then don't. I'm not that curious anyway. At least there's hope."

"...I see. You want to use Renia, the Dragon God Priestess, to get her to get close to a pure-blooded dragon and use her claws to reduce its 'health' in advance...or see if you can just kill it outright."

The person in the mirror seemed to be deep in thought.

"This method is indeed feasible to some extent; it just depends on how well that girl, Renia, can pull it off."

"...However, while there is hope of killing pure-blooded dragons, it is only hope."

"The restraining effect of these claws is very powerful, impeccable in terms of 'quality,' but slightly lacking in 'quantity.'"

Xue Jing asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

The person in the mirror looked at the tree dragon's corpse: "The power of the alien god contained in a single claw, even after piercing the core organ of this guardian dragon, only managed to completely extinguish its life force."

It pointed to the claws in Xue Jing's hand that had lost their silvery sheen.

“The vitality of a pure-blooded dragon is not limited to this level... If you can pierce its core organs with all four remaining claws, that should be enough to kill it.”

"But that's only in an ideal situation."

The person in the mirror sat back on Xue Jing's shoulder, pondering:

"Pure-blooded dragons are strong in all aspects, and their speed and reaction are quite fast. It is difficult for you to get close to their core organs. You are lucky if you can even hurt their body."

"In addition, you also need to consider the two guardian dragons. To kill them, you will also need to use your claws... otherwise, given their vitality, you will be dragged to your death."

Xue Jing thought for a moment and said, "Then let's beat each one half to death first, and then kill them with our claws. That way, we should only need to use one claw to kill two guardian dragons, saving one claw."

The person in the mirror nodded. "The remaining three... although not quite enough, if used properly, should greatly reduce the vitality and combat power of that pure-blooded dragon."

"Then it will be up to you... Even a pure-blooded dragon with greatly weakened combat power will be a difficult challenge for you."

Xue Jing smiled and said, "I'll do my best."

Perhaps it was the continuous victories he had achieved that had cultivated an invincible mindset... Even though he was about to face a terrifying monster that was unlike anything he had ever seen before and far surpassed him, he felt no fear whatsoever.

It was as calm as if I wasn't going to face a pure-blooded dragon, but rather going out to the supermarket; there was no fear at all.

He didn't know whether this mindset was good or bad.

Fear is an emotion that has both negative and positive effects.

Excessive self-confidence has both advantages and disadvantages.

However, so far, it seems that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

At least he won't make any operational mistakes due to inner turmoil during the battle.

"Only with an invincible mind can you unleash an invincible fist..."

Xue Jing stared at his clenched fist.

"Your belief is your magic!"

……

Xue Jing wandered around the valley in the Tree Dragon Territory, his eyes scanning the surroundings. Every now and then, he would squat down and lift up the cracks in the rocks, as if searching for something.

"What are you looking for?" the person in the mirror asked.

Xue Jing raised his hand and used his strength to pry open a large rock, saying, "Dragon Thunder Plant."

"I need to maximize the combat strength I can currently increase..."

As he spoke, Xue Jing's gaze shifted, looking towards a small forest in the distance.

He could vaguely see a glimmer of gold through the gaps in the trees and weeds.

With a stomp of his feet, he vanished from the spot.

Before long, he entered the small forest and quickly found the source of the golden light.

A golden flower, shaped like a lotus, is blooming among the roots of a large tree.

Xue Jing reached out and touched the flower crown, activating the planting contract. A 'contract seal' immediately appeared on the golden lotus flower.

With a thought, he caused the golden lotus, whose contract had been completed, to grow in reverse, retracting all its petals and roots, and curling up into a golden seed. Xue Jing picked up the seed and put it in his pocket.

Upon opening the panel and glancing at it, the skill name of [Plant Pact] seemed to have dimmed even further.

"The more the better. I need as many Dragon Thunder Plants as possible to deal with Dragon Thunder."

Xue Jing thought for a moment, then clicked on the upgrade option in the [Plant Contract], spending 800 points of divinity.

【Planting Contract Lv5 (51/1200)】

Seeing the skill name light up in pale gold again, Xue Jing nodded.

"Keep looking."

……

Three hours later.

Xue Jing stood on the bank of a river, gazing upstream at a massive dragon that was lying on the ground, leisurely drinking water.