Chapter Thirty: Family Heirloom—Radiant Dragon Heaven-Slaying Claw!

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After leaving the school, Xu Zhao bade farewell to the other three. He had originally intended to visit the Blacksmith Association and study the basics of forging under his teacher.

However, the moment he got into the car, the driver informed him, “Young Master, the family head wishes to see you. Please return home first.”

“Grandfather wants to see me?” Xu Zhao wondered. He then leaned his head against the soft cushion of the seat, closed his eyes, and pretended to sleep.

“Then let’s go home.”

The time when school let out at noon also happened to be when people finished work for their lunch break.

And since Bright City was the political center of the Federation, traffic at this hour was exceptionally congested.

Yet no matter how heavy the traffic became, it could not delay Xu Zhao’s return home.

Because the soul-guided car he rode in could fly.

An aerial car was an advanced soul-guidance technology still under development by the Federation. It had only officially entered its trial phase in the middle of this year.

There were not many people in all of Bright City qualified to use the trial aerial cars, but the Xu family was one of them.

Moreover, since aerial-car technology was still in the development stage, the trial vehicles were bound to suffer various accidents.

Therefore, to ensure the safety of their passengers, the drivers of every aerial car were high-ranking soul masters.

The personal driver arranged for Xu Zhao by the Xu family was a Soul Saint who possessed two-word battle armor.

Under the driver’s control, the car’s soul-guidance power system quickly activated. The vehicle shot into the sky and soon vanished from sight.

…

More than half an hour later, in the deep inner compound of the Xu family estate.

Xu Minghuang led his grandson through a landscape of layered hills and rugged artificial mountains, finally stopping before a stone door concealed beneath tangled vines.

With the humming sound of a mechanism activating, a dark and secluded passageway appeared before them.

“Our family actually has a secret passage like this?”

Following closely behind his grandfather, Xu Zhao took out the pair of Sun-and-Moon Jade Pearls held in the claws of his Primordial Ancient Dragon. The pearls floated beside him and his grandfather, dispelling the darkness within the passage.

“Grandfather, what’s kept at the end of this passage couldn’t possibly be our Xu family’s inherited soul bones, could it?”

He quickly guessed the truth and voiced it aloud.

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“Zhao’er, you really are clever.” Xu Minghuang turned back and smiled kindly.

“That’s right. There are several secret chambers at the end of this passage, and one of them contains several inherited soul bones belonging to our Xu family.

“Over the course of tens of thousands of years, our family has obtained no small number of soul bones. But those that can truly be considered inherited treasures of the Xu family are either soul bones with an age of more than one hundred thousand years, or soul bones over fifty thousand years old whose attributes perfectly match our family’s three great inherited martial souls.

“Among the few inherited soul bones our family possesses, the branch of the Dark Demon Scythe took five with them when it split away. Your grandfather has two, and your father has two as well. That leaves only seven in the secret chamber.

“Of those remaining seven inherited soul bones, four are compatible with the Moon martial soul, one with the Sun martial soul, and the final two with the Purple Radiant Annihilating Heaven Dragon.”

By the time he finished speaking, Xu Minghuang had already led his grandson to one of the secret chambers.

He stood before the door, pierced the tip of his index finger, and let a drop of blood fall onto a certain spot.

In the next instant, a dusky violet-gold radiance spread across the chamber door. Then, amid a faint trembling sound, the door slowly opened.

Xu Minghuang entered the chamber and picked up a metal box placed in its exact center. Turning toward Xu Zhao, he said, “Zhao’er, the two soul bones compatible with the Purple Radiant Annihilating Heaven Dragon are inside this box.

“They are a pair of external dragon-claw soul bones known as the Radiant Dragon Annihilating Heaven Claws. They are also the Xu family’s ancestral treasure.

“Because no one in the family has ever been able to absorb them, this pair of Radiant Dragon Annihilating Heaven Claws has been passed down from the first ancestor of our family to the present day.

“After your grandfather awakened the Purple Radiant Annihilating Heaven Dragon martial soul, your great-grandfather—that is, my grandfather—once took out these soul bones and had me try to absorb them.

“Unfortunately…” Xu Minghuang let out a deep sigh. “Although my Purple Radiant Annihilating Heaven Dragon martial soul was able to resonate with the Radiant Dragon Annihilating Heaven Claws, when I attempted to absorb them, I was rejected by them just like all the ancestors before me.

“Or perhaps ‘rejected’ is not the right word. It would be more accurate to say that they looked down on us. Although our martial souls share the same origin as theirs, we still lacked the qualifications to become their master.

“However, although I was unable to become their master, you may be able to, Zhao’er.”

He looked at his grandson and smiled.

“Your Primordial Ancient Dragon has fused the three great inherited martial souls of our Xu family, as well as the astral power of the Ye family’s Star Saint Sword. If even a Purple Radiant Annihilating Heaven Dragon that gathers the power of the sun, moon, and stars cannot absorb them, then I truly cannot imagine who in this world could.”

After saying this, Xu Minghuang took out a peculiar, crystal-clear key and inserted it into the metal box.

With a faint click, the box opened.

At once, an ancient dragon might filled with an aura of absolute destruction spread from within.

Through the opened lid, one could see a pair of skeletal dragon claws lying quietly at the bottom of the metal box.

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The dragon claws were translucent, resembling flawless crystal. Violet-gold marrow flowed within them, creating the uncanny impression that they were not dead objects at all, but living creatures.

The ancient dragon might carrying the aura of destruction soon spread over Xu Zhao.

At that very moment, an unexpected change occurred.

The pair of Sun-and-Moon Jade Pearls floating around him suddenly burst into dazzling light. Behind Xu Zhao, a starry sky composed of countless stars emerged.

From the depths of that starry expanse, the illusory figure of a violet-gold divine dragon appeared. The Sun-and-Moon Jade Pearls transformed into streaks of light and returned to its left and right claws.

The Primordial Ancient Dragon seemed to have been provoked. Without Xu Zhao deliberately summoning it, it manifested on its own.

In an instant, an even more ancient dragon might erupted from his body and collided with the destructive dragon might of the Radiant Dragon Annihilating Heaven Claws.

“What is this…?” Xu Zhao had not expected such a situation.

“Can there be no room for two kings?”

“Hmph! You’re nothing but a dead object, yet you still dare to stir up trouble!”

With a cold snort, he immediately channeled the power of his Mind martial soul into the Primordial Ancient Dragon.

The Primordial Ancient Dragon’s might had already held the upper hand. With the support of the power of the mind, it overwhelmed the destructive dragon might of the Radiant Dragon Annihilating Heaven Claws with absolute superiority.

Before long, it forced the destructive dragon might back into the dragon claws themselves. Even the claws seemed to tremble slightly.

At the instant the dragon claws shook, Xu Zhao seemed to hear a dragon’s cry that sounded almost like a plea for mercy.

He was certain that the Radiant Dragon Annihilating Heaven Claws were dead objects and had not developed consciousness.

Therefore, that pleading dragon cry must have originated from instinctive bloodline suppression.

Among soul beasts, bloodlines reigned supreme. Among dragons, bloodline supremacy was even more absolute.

Dragon might was the manifestation of a dragon’s bloodline. Since the destructive dragon might of the Radiant Dragon Annihilating Heaven Claws was no match for the Primordial Ancient Dragon, the bloodline remaining within the claws had instinctively issued that cry for mercy.

And because of his Mind martial soul, Xu Zhao was able to hear it.

Since the Radiant Dragon Annihilating Heaven Claws had pleaded for mercy, that meant he would become the master of this pair of ancestral treasures of the Xu family.

“The Radiant Dragon Annihilating Heaven Claws—my second and third external soul bones. They’re mine!”

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