At the same moment, behind Rheydan, two massive dragon phantoms emerged.
One was gold, radiant and domineering.
The other was black, deep and oppressive.
They coiled around his body instinctively, their presence warping the air as if they were living beings rather than mere manifestations of qi.
But just as the dragons fully formed, Rheydan’s thoughts halted.
The Tyrant Heaven Dragon Convergence Canon stirred on its own.
A surge of divine perception spread outward, piercing through flesh, aura, and concealment alike.
Information flooded his mind with brutal clarity.
His eyes narrowed.
“You…” Rheydan spoke slowly, disbelief slipping into his voice.
“Your Realm is merely Golden Core?”
He had thought that the man before him had concealed his cultivation, but with his Tyrant Heaven Dragon Convergence Canon, he had detected that the man had never hid his cultivation.
What he displayed outward was his cultivation.
The tattooed man let out a rasping laugh.
He tilted his head to the side, studying Rheydan like prey that had finally become interesting.
“Seems like you’re not that tough after all.”
The glint in his eyes deepened, turning crimson.
One by one, the runic tattoos carved into his body ignited, glowing with an eerie red light.
Dark smoke, black mixed with blood red, began to ooze from his pores, coiling around him like living mist.
The ground beneath his feet cracked under the pressure.
The air grew heavy.
Rheydan’s expression finally turned serious.
The dragons behind him growled softly, their eyes locking onto the tattooed man as if sensing a hidden danger beneath the surface.
His body tilted forward, muscles tightening as if every sinew had been drawn to its limit.
With a light thrust of his foot against the ground, he burst forward like a released arrow.
Rheydan had been caught off guard more than once already, but that did not mean he was weak in combat.
On the contrary.
Fighting was the one thing he had never lost confidence in.
Seeing that his opponent had no intention of wasting words, Rheydan’s gaze sharpened.
The moment the distance between them closed, a terrifying surge of power erupted from his body.
His blood roared, his bones rang, and the Twin Dragons behind him coiled tighter, their presence becoming more pronounced.
Both of them moved at the same time.
They clenched their fists and drew their arms back in perfect unison, like bows pulled to their absolute limit.
Then, they struck.
Their fists collided head-on.
BOOM.
The earth screamed.
The ground beneath them cracked and caved in, fissures spreading outward as though a colossal giant had turned in its sleep beneath the surface.
Shockwaves rippled through the air, shredding snow, splintering frozen soil, and sending debris flying in all directions.
Rheydan felt a violent force surge through his arm, his muscles trembling as raw physical power slammed into him without any hint of restraint.
His boots dug into the ground, carving deep trenches as he was pushed back several steps.
Across from him, the tattooed man slid back as well, boots grinding against the fractured earth.
His eyes widened slightly, a flicker of surprise flashing across his feral expression.
For a brief moment, silence followed.
Then, slowly, a grin spread across the tattooed man’s face.
It was no longer mocking.
It was delighted.
“So this is it…” he muttered, voice thick with excitement.
“The strength of the son of the Unrivaled.”
Rheydan straightened, rolling his shoulders as his aura surged higher, the Twin Dragons letting out low, thunderous roars within his body.
For the first time since the clash began, both of them understood the same thing.
There would be no one-sided humiliation.
Their collision shook the land.
The moment their fists met, the earth beneath them cracked and split, fissures racing outward as if something ancient had been disturbed from its slumber.
The shockwave rippled through the frozen ground, scattering snow and dust into the air.
When the aftermath finally settled, both figures remained standing.
For a brief moment, neither spoke.
Each looked down at their own fist.
“I lost…”
“I barely won?”
The tattooed man stared at his hand, veins bulging, skin pulsing with lingering strength.
A slow breath escaped his lips, and his feral grin faded into something closer to contemplation.
“It seems that what that old man said was right,” he muttered inwardly.
“There really is a much larger world outside my home.”
Across from him, Rheydan stared at his own fist.
It was trembling.
The realization struck him like a hammer to the chest.
A surge of disbelief rose within him, difficult to suppress.
“How…”
His eyes narrowed, jaw tightening.
“How did I lose… so one-sidedly?”
Before the frustration could fully settle, something stirred deep within him.
The Technique he had recently condensed began to resonate.
A subtle vibration echoed through his body, spreading from his core to his limbs, as fragments of understanding surfaced in his mind.
Images, sensations, principles he had overlooked only moments ago suddenly aligned.
Rheydan’s pupils shrank.
Rheydan stared at the tattooed man, his breathing slowly stabilizing as realization struck him like thunder.
“Nine Extremities Physique?!”
The words escaped his lips almost unconsciously.
The Nine Extremities Physique was among the most terrifying physiques known across the Continent of Godfall.
Even his father, Karon the Unrivaled, had once spoken of it with a rare hint of caution.
That alone was testament enough to how monstrous it truly was.
The reason for its fearsome reputation was simple.
With every ascension into the Sanctification Realms, the bearer of the Nine Extremities Physique would awaken an Innate Power.
These Innate Powers did not remain stagnant.
As cultivation advanced, they would evolve, refine, and eventually transform into nine distinct Divine Powers, each one capable of overturning battlefields and rewriting the limits of combat.
Rheydan clenched his faintly trembling fist.
No wonder.
No wonder he had been overwhelmed so thoroughly in a direct clash of bodies.
The tattooed man noticed the change in Rheydan’s gaze and let out a low chuckle, rolling his shoulders as the red tattoos across his body slowly dimmed.
His expression was no longer mocking.
Instead, it carried a strange mixture of acknowledgment and restraint.
“So you noticed,” he said calmly.
“Not bad.”
Rheydan exhaled slowly, forcing the storm of emotions within him to settle.
Shock.
Frustration.
Disbelief.
And beneath it all, a fierce spark of exhilaration.
A true opponent.