Within the pitch-black void, a figure traversed the space, riding atop a massive dragon.
As a rank five great demon, the Thunder Dragon was born with a natural affinity for all the world's elemental attributes. Yet being a dragon of thunder at its core, its command over heavenly and earthly lightning was exceptionally formidable.
Li Guanqi had also marveled at the fact that the Thunder Dragon was already a rank five great demon right from birth, yet not a single heavenly tribulation had appeared for it.
Just as he was puzzling over this, however—
*Rumble, rumble, rumble!*
A rolling crash of thunder abruptly detonated!
Li Guanqi's expression shifted, and he muttered a curse under his breath. "Talk about jinxing it!"
The Thunder Dragon also sensed the gradually emerging heavenly might.
With a flick of its tail, it shattered the void in an instant and breached back out into the mundane world.
By stroke of luck, the immediate surroundings were a barren, rolling mountain range, largely untouched by mortal traces.
By the time they emerged, the area for ten thousand feet around had already become blanketed in dense, gloomy clouds!
A crushing wall of thunder felt poised to plummet from the sky, and a flicker of fear surfaced in the depths of the Thunder Dragon's eyes.
Li Guanqi gently stroked its head, comforting it. "It's all right. Cross your tribulation with an easy mind!"
As he spoke, he flung out several hundred high-grade spirit stones along with several spirit-gathering array discs, embedding the stones into them.
Instantly, the space spanning a thousand feet within the arrays flooded with dense white mist, rich spirit qi condensing into plain sight.
Li Guanqi then cast out several bottles of healing pills. The Thunder Dragon saw that these little pellets held immense power, opened its gaping maw, and swallowed them all down in one gulp.
Yet the scene that followed left Li Guanqi standing dumbfounded, his jaw dropping.
The heavenly tribulation's thunderclouds did not brew for long. Amid deafening roars, several impossibly thick bolts of lightning came crashing down!
Seeing that it was lightning, the Thunder Dragon—which had initially shown a trace of fear—suddenly had its eyes light up.
With a subtle twist of its massive serpentine frame, it charged straight at the thunderbolts!
*Boom!*
With a single headbutt, it shattered a bolt of lightning, then opened its maw to spit a breath of lightning that blasted another bolt apart.
In an instant, lightning detonated across midair, countless shattered arcs scattering through the sky.
The spirit-gathering array discs burst apart with a bang, but the Thunder Dragon simply gaped its jaws and swallowed the final bolt straight into its belly.
Before Li Guanqi's stunned gaze, the dragon's eyes shone brightly. It opened its mouth wide and inhaled every last wisp of the dissipating lightning power.
The Thunder Dragon stuck out its tongue and licked its chops, looking as if it had barely whetted its appetite.
The tribulation bolts that followed ended up heading straight down its gullet as well.
The dragon scales across its body gleamed with an uncanny purple luster. Amid the flashing lightning, its aura grew considerably stronger than before, faintly beginning to close in on mid Soul Formation.
*Rumble, rumble, rumble!*
As if provoked by this insolence, the heavenly tribulation grew several times fiercer.
The stray lightning arcs alone were enough to tear through the void, and whenever one struck the earth, it blasted a crater several hundred feet across.
Even Li Guanqi fell back several thousand feet. The tribulation lightning appeared completely harmless to the Thunder Dragon, but if even a single bolt were to strike Li Guanqi, it would likely mean his demise and the end of his cultivation path.
Yet the Thunder Dragon soared joyfully through the heavens and earth, devouring the descending lightning without restraint.
To it, these forces were the finest nourishment imaginable.
The thunderous rumbles did not last long. Soon after, a dense, mystical mist manifested between heaven and earth, all of which was devoured by the Thunder Dragon.
This was a boon bestowed exclusively by heaven and earth. Once it had finished feeding, the Thunder Dragon's eyes shifted, and it inhaled all of the surrounding spirit qi in a single gulp.
Its belly swelled at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Its body gave a slight shudder, and a wisp of spirit qi drifted out from its mouth.
Li Guanqi pressed a hand to his forehead with a helpless, bitter smile. This little fellow was truly gluttonous... It was bloated with gas to the bursting point and still refused to open its mouth to let any escape.
With a flick of its tail, the Thunder Dragon appeared beside Li Guanqi in an instant, nudging him affectionately with its massive head.
The scales on its body looked far more radiant now, though a hazy gray film seemed to coat them.
As if it felt an itch, the Thunder Dragon shuddered, shedding every single scale across its entire body in one go!
Seeing this, Li Guanqi swiftly reached out and scooped them up, pocketing every fallen scale!
His eyes shone faintly, and he muttered under his breath, "These are genuine dragon scales. They'll fetch a pretty penny..."
Glancing at the Thunder Dragon, which was now rolling its eyes and hiccuping, Li Guanqi murmured to himself, *I should give it a name...*
Mounting the Thunder Dragon, Li Guanqi spread his arms wide as they soared between heaven and earth.
The Thunder Dragon roared toward the sky, unleashing waves of dragon cries. Wherever it passed, the demon beasts on the ground crouched flat, shivering in terror.
"'I wish to ride the wind and tread upon the nine heavens!'"
"Let's name you Jiuxiao!"
Li Guanqi looked down at the Thunder Dragon beneath him and said softly, "From this day forth, you will be called Jiuxiao. How about that?"
The Thunder Dragon seemed to grasp only half of it, but it let out an exceptionally delighted cry nonetheless.
Remarkably, Li Guanqi could feel the joy in its heart. That was likely thanks to his continual nourishment of it with his essence blood.
Li Guanqi broke into a grin. Standing atop its head, he pointed forward and laughed aloud.
"Let's go, Jiuxiao!!"
"Together, we'll see all the world's mountains and rivers, and meet every prodigy of the Six Domains!!"
*Roar—!*
A clarion dragon roar burst from Jiuxiao's maw. Lightning surged across its body as it flicked its tail, shooting forward like a bolt of lightning.
"Hahahahaha! What a thrill!"
Standing atop the dragon's head, Li Guanqi unhooked his wine gourd and tipped strong liquor down his throat.
As the potent brew washed down his gullet, a surge of grand ambition welled within his chest.
*Clang!*
A resonant sword chime rang out, and the Red Lotus sword instantly materialized beneath Li Guanqi's feet.
Flying on his sword, Li Guanqi began to race against Jiuxiao.
After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, Li Guanqi called out helplessly, "All right, all right, I yield! Come back!"
Indeed, he had lost the race...
Even with the Flash-Thunder Movement Art engaged, he still fell short against Jiuxiao.
Its speed was simply too terrifying. Furthermore, it was already a rank five great demon by nature.
Li Guanqi chose not to consult his map, flying aimlessly instead.
Along the mountain range, Li Guanqi spotted two rank four ironclad bulls.
He gave a shout: "Jiuxiao! Go get them!"
Yet moments later, Li Guanqi's face darkened...
Under the crushing weight of the dragon might, those two massive ironclad bulls gave up all resistance entirely, lying flat on the ground and allowing Jiuxiao to tear them apart alive!
Li Guanqi harvested the inner cores of the two demon beasts, then let Jiuxiao tear into their flesh for a bit.
He noticed that while hunting demon beasts, Jiuxiao's eyes gleamed with a vicious, soaring bloodlust.
Yet once the killing was done and it looked back at him, it reverted right to that silly, docile demeanor.
"I suppose that's just the instinct of a demon beast..."
He had originally intended to hone Jiuxiao's hunting abilities, but now it seemed completely unnecessary.
Ordinary demon beasts couldn't endure its dragon might in the slightest. Perhaps only demon beasts of the same rank could resist even a fraction of it.
As dusk settled in, Li Guanqi simply gathered some dry firewood, preparing to spend the night here.
Both he and Jiuxiao needed to consolidate their realms as quickly as possible.
Chapter 341