Chapter 59: Like a Dragon

Chick Eagle Star.

“A Golden Core True Immortal strikes, and Foundation Establishment experts hang dead… This other world is truly dangerous.”

“I’ll just stay here and train hard…”

Fang Xing sighed, glancing at his attribute panel.

His top priority now was naturally to break through the Great Dragon Stake!

Cultivating this stake art to the fourth realm would immediately grant him the ‘Dragon’s Ambience’!

This would be a qualitative transformation and leap in his power.

“Dragon Blood Pills now barely affect me… but there’s only a sliver of progress left—I can push through it myself…”

…

The environment of Chick Eagle Star was remarkably peaceful and stable, being a remote education planet in the Heishan Star System.

Unless outside demonic deities interfered, there was virtually no danger.

For Fang Xing, as long as he didn’t cause trouble, school would bring him no issues—instead, he received full guidance from Teacher Xia Long.

As a fifth-rank martial artist of the External Realm, Xia Long naturally had deep insight into the Dragon-Tiger Ambience.

Fang Xing even suspected Xia Long had already achieved Dragon-Tiger status—only he hadn’t yet forged a Dragon-Tiger Golden Core…

After all, if martial Golden Core were a towering skyscraper, the Dragon-Tiger Ambience was merely its foundation—though laying a solid foundation was essential, it was still far from completing the structure…

In short, once he calmed down and trained silently, he easily slipped into a state of total focus, undisturbed by the outside world.

Until this day.

Inside the Happy Garden Residential Complex, the wind was biting, leaves lay yellow and dry, and light snow drifted in the sky—yet the training room was warm as spring, faintly overheated, as if a great furnace burned within.

Fang Xing was standing the Great Dragon Stake.

His Great Dragon Stake had now reached 【Great Dragon Stake: 199/200 (Proficient)】—he had mastered it to perfection.

The third stage of the Great Dragon Stake had made this martial art better suited to him.

Even now, he felt a vague premonition in his heart.

Now!

This time!

He would surely break through!

Roar!

Fang Xing lifted his head with subtle upward force, and faintly heard again that ancient dragon’s roar.

He seemed to see a divine creature—serpent body, fish tail, four claws on its belly, horns on its head… a dragon!

“Like a Dragon!”

—Dragon’s Ambience!

In that instant, Fang Xing felt his spirit undergo a qualitative change—threads of spiritual energy coalesced at his third eye, sinking deep into his mind, as if about to open a third eye.

‘This is the Nìwán Palace stirring!’

‘A Jade Warrior of the third martial realm must awaken the Nìwán Palace to break into the fourth realm—Courage!’

Feeling the Nìwán Palace’s agitation, Fang Xing remained expressionless—he knew he couldn’t open it now: “But I’m not a Jade Warrior—I lack internal Qi cultivation of the five organs and six bowels… my body can’t support opening the Nìwán Palace!”

Yet this understanding of the Dragon’s Ambience, purifying the Nìwán Palace with spiritual energy, lays a solid foundation for future breakthroughs… If I also understand the Tiger’s Ambience, my accumulation before reaching the Courage Realm will be even deeper!

Martial cultivation is like this—each step is firm; every drop of sweat shed today becomes power after the next breakthrough!

Fang Xing opened his eyes, touching his third eye: “So this is… the Dragon’s Ambience?”

He felt the latent spiritual energy hidden within his Nìwán Palace—like a dragon slumbering in the abyss, ready to erupt like thunder.

“If my current simulated attacks with Ghost God Blade and Extreme Passion Sword have an attack power of 1, the Dragon’s Ambience is at least 20…”

“This kind of ambience attacks the spirit—could it threaten even Qi Condensation peak, or even Foundation Establishment cultivators?”

Fang Xing felt that every movement of his now carried a faint aura of majesty—like ‘Dragon’s Might,’ though subtle.

“This is a problem. I’ll need to take a few days off to suppress it—otherwise I won’t even be able to go out…”

He frowned, making his decision.

Then he looked again at his attribute panel:

【Great Dragon Stake: 1/400 (Master)】

“After Proficient comes Master?”

Fang Xing murmured.

If Proficient level Great Dragon Stake made the stake adapt to him, Master level was true perfection.

“But clearly, there’s still progress to grind—meaning the Great Dragon Stake has another realm beyond this!”

Fang Xing’s eyes glinted slightly.

He felt the Great Dragon Stake had reached perfection—if he pushed further, wouldn’t he approach—or even equal—the creator’s realm?

At that level, perhaps he could freely modify the Great Dragon Stake?

“To achieve Dragon-Tiger Ambience, one must subdue the Dragon and subdue the Tiger, harmonizing yin and yang—making them flow effortlessly.”

“Thus, to achieve Dragon-Tiger Ambience, one must at least bring both the Subdue Tiger Stake and Great Dragon Stake to the fifth stage for any real chance…”

Only by reaching the creator’s realm could one fuse two different arts and forge a new path of one’s own!

Everyone is different—so the Dragon-Tiger Ambience each person understands is unique!

Only by making ‘Self’ the core, altering and reshaping these two stake arts into the form most suited to oneself, could one forge the strongest ‘Dragon-Tiger Ambience’!

“Teacher Xia Long never said it outright, but he’s always had this expectation…”

Fang Xing glanced again at his martial realm and nodded: “Great Dragon Stake has achieved Dragon’s Ambience, Subdue Tiger Stake has surpassed Proficient… with abundant resources, my bone-refining speed is surging—perhaps I can reach fullness by winter…”

“Then, combined with that one ‘Primordial Pill,’ I can directly ascend to the third martial realm—Jade Warrior!”

“My cultivation speed is accelerating—life is becoming more promising…”

…

One day later.

Old City District.

Fang Xing wore black clothing, a mask covering his face, radiating a faint aura of majesty.

“Ugh…”

Along the roadside, several two-headed mutant hyenas, upon meeting his gaze, immediately sensed grave danger, whimpered, and fled with tails tucked.

“Still can’t fully suppress the Dragon’s Might… right now, to others, I probably look like some bully who’d get kicked by stray dogs…”

He muttered to himself, arriving at the convenience store at the black market entrance.

“Welcome to the Worry-Free Convenience, customer…”

The young clerk, brown-haired and round-faced, wearing the store uniform, lowered his manga book, his expression turning serious—he sensed Fang Xing was not to be trifled with.

Thud!

Fang Xing casually tossed his backpack onto the counter, producing a dull thump.

The zipper was half-open, revealing a gleam of brilliant gold within.

“All of these—exchange for cash.”

His voice was low.

To suppress the Dragon’s Might, he’d taken a few sick days from school—perfect timing to earn some money at the black market.

“Please wait…”

The clerk expertly counted and calculated: “After handling fees, you’ll receive 12,986,700 Star Credits…”

“Good. I’ll buy a ‘Metal Detection Spectrometer’—deduct it from this sum!”

Fang Xing eyed the store shelves.

“We have one ‘Juliang Group’ RDT93—secondhand, 80% new… does it meet your needs?”

The clerk smiled politely.

“Yes, I’ll take it!”

Fang Xing took the notebook-sized spectrometer, nodded: “Also—where in your black market can I find interesting things?”

At this, the clerk’s expression turned grave: “It seems you’re not just looking for weapons… but we’re a legitimate black market—no illicit goods here.”

“Alright…”

Fang Xing took the black market communicator, smiled faintly, and stepped onto the black market avenue.

In the Prevention Bureau, he couldn’t enter red zones—but he could listen when others talked while drinking.

It proved true: many weren’t tight-lipped, and often leaked information in daily life.

For example…

Fang Xing knew of several junk shops in the black market that constantly sold strange items—including artifacts from alien worlds and demonic cultists—repeatedly raided, yet as stubborn as cockroaches.

He found one without much effort.

It looked like a junk shop—goods piled chaotically: weapons, food, even several eighteen-plus game helmets he’d played before—of course, pirated copies.

‘What a mess—everything and anything here…’

He picked up a laser pistol—seemed decent, but in reality broke after a few shots—he mentally scoffed.

“Heh, rare to get a customer—what are you after?”

A pale old man slowly emerged from the shadows.

His skin was deathly white, covered in wrinkles and age spots, his scalp bald except for a few white hairs.

He looked like a corpse.

"I'm here to buy some items—here's the list... I hope you won't disappoint me!"

Fang Xing spoke with intent, pressing the comm device to project a screen.

"Forming Water, Dark Birth Box, and LIQ714 concentrate? Hmph... not simple at all..."

The dying old man’s eyes flashed with cold light: "Several of these items have been modified—they seem capable of detecting demonic god energy... Though admittedly, these are outdated methods of the Prevention Bureau... Could it be that you possess something similar?"

He grinned, revealing a gumline with barely a few teeth left.

"I never knew buying on the black market required explaining your reasons..."

Fang Xing snorted coldly.

In reality, due to the thriving interstellar smuggling in the Federation, many households likely possess some alien artifacts.

Alien artifacts aren’t inherently dangerous, but there’s always a chance some slipped through—even mixed with demonic god creations!

After all, smuggling—how could there be strict quality control?

If you don’t trust the Prevention Bureau or have secrets you don’t want them to know, you must handle it yourself.

"Alright... actually, you don’t need to be so cautious—my shop has a remnant of the Prevention Bureau’s recently decommissioned 'Sense-God Gate,' refurbished and still barely functional, for just ten million..."

The dying old man wore an expression of a massive discount.