The Price of Potential

‘A mere illusion?’ Su Han mused. ‘I didn’t expect this… I was careless.’

“It wasn’t carelessness,” Bailuan countered, a smirk playing on his lips. “You simply overestimated yourself and underestimated me.”

Though caught off guard, Su Han quickly regained her composure. The ‘Dragon Transformation’ ability was sealed, rendered unusable by Bailuan’s curse, leaving her in a state akin to having her power points drained.

With no other choice, Su Han activated the ‘Gluttony’ technique. She condensed and triggered a localized explosion of her own blood, generating an upward thrust that allowed her to descend slowly to the ground.

The sheer force of her blood had fractured several ribs, yet this outcome was infinitely preferable to plummeting headfirst from such a height. After all, the sight of a shattered watermelon spilling its red contents was hardly as appealing in reality as it might be in imagination.

The moment her feet touched the earth, Su Han, with lightning speed, unleashed a Blood Explosion Art towards Bailuan. Just as she attempted to manipulate his bloodline and ignite his very essence, an invisible force erupted from the void.

It struck Su Han with immense power, sending her sprawling across the ground.

Crimson liquid seeped from Su Han’s beautiful eyes, tracing a path down her cheek before dripping away. Her once pristine, alluring chin and the knees of her slender legs were now abraded, oozing thin rivulets of blood.

She cut a truly wretched figure.

Bailuan, by contrast, seemed utterly unfazed. With a swift teleportation, he materialized behind Su Han, then launched a palm strike.

The technique, subtly imbued with the profound essence of the ‘Sorrowful Soul Palm’, landed squarely on Su Han’s back.

Su Han’s chest trembled, and then a mouthful of fresh blood erupted from her lips, scattering like crimson petals upon the ground. She had barely managed to push herself upright before Bailuan’s next palm strike sent her flying once more.

Her solitary, trembling form twitched incessantly upon the cold, unforgiving earth.

What appeared on the surface to be an ordinary palm strike was, in truth, imbued with potent internal energy. The condensed battle qi surged into Su Han’s body, relentlessly tearing through her vital organs from her back.

Swirling currents of energy transformed into miniature wind blades, ravaging her insides. The beads of white, cold sweat trickling from her forehead were a stark testament to her excruciating agony.

‘Why?’ Su Han’s mind screamed, ‘I’ve worked so hard, yet why am I still no match for him…?’

“Do you know?” Bailuan began, slowly advancing towards Su Han. “A ‘waste’ who rises still remains a waste. A ‘salted fish’ that flips over is still just a salted fish. They can never escape their predetermined fate.”

“And you,” he continued, his voice laced with cruel satisfaction, “are similarly bound by destiny, unable to break free.”

Bailuan’s steps were light, almost playful, as he drew closer to Su Han. When only an inch separated them, he abruptly lifted his foot.

He then slammed it down onto Su Han’s forehead, grinding it forcefully from side to side, crushing her with immense power.

“Heh, is that so? I suppose I’ve lost,” Su Han murmured, her gaze unfocused and scattered. Her hazy eyes aimlessly swept across her surroundings.

Streaks of foul blood dripped onto her retinas, blurring her vision and distorting everything in the world around her.

Su Han’s eyes were vacant, devoid of light. ‘Perhaps this is it,’ she thought. ‘Perhaps I’m going to die. But… I won’t get to see Xinyan again.’

‘I’m sorry, Xinyan… It seems I was too reckless after all. Even though I’m about to die, I’m so unwilling to accept this. I had so much hope for a beautiful future, so many goals to strive for, but today, it all comes to an end…’

Bailuan’s foot continued to brutally stomp on Su Han’s forehead. Her face contorted in a grotesque grimace, veins bulging on her temples. She strained with every ounce of her strength, desperate to lift her head, but Bailuan’s overwhelming power held her pinned.

She struggled, managing to raise her head a mere two centimeters from the ground, only for Bailuan to forcefully press down again. With a sickening thud, her temple struck the earth, her pristine forehead now smeared with dirt.

She was a picture of utter wretchedness, a sight too gruesome to bear.

Confronted by an insurmountable force, Su Han surrendered all resistance, leaving herself entirely at Bailuan’s mercy.

“Bailuan, what are you doing? Stop this at once!” Ruolin cried out, unable to bear the sight of Su Han, teeth gritted and veins throbbing, and roared at Bailuan.

“What am I doing?” Bailuan responded with a soft smile, one that was enchanting, like an angel bathed in the spring breeze. Yet, even as he spoke, the pressure of his foot on Su Han’s forehead intensified dramatically.

“You… you… you…” Ruolin spluttered, choking on her rage. Her chest heaved with agitated breaths, her face flushing purple as she struggled to form words.

Su Han tried to speak, but the crushing pressure prevented her from opening her mouth. Her teeth chattered, and blood began to seep from her gums.

“Me? What about me?” Bailuan pressed, his aura overbearing and sharp, completely silencing Ruolin.

“Teacher Ruolin, I never realized you cared so much about this ‘waste’,” Bailuan sneered, increasing the pressure of his foot once more.

‘I had set my mind on a goal, a path to pursue,’ Su Han thought, ‘yet I couldn’t even take the first step…’

“Sister Ye Qi, what are you doing?” Michele exclaimed, about to intervene, but Ye Qi stopped her with an outstretched hand.

“Wait a little longer.”

“Wait? What more are we waiting for? Su Han is dying! How can we just stand by?” Michele’s voice rose in desperation. “If this continues, she will truly die!”

Facing a frantic Michele, Ye Qi merely shook her head gently. “Just a little longer…” she insisted.

It wasn’t that Ye Qi didn’t want to act; quite the opposite, she was itching to intervene. However, every member of the Destructive Dragon clan possessed extraordinary talent. Their true potential could only be unleashed most effectively through trials of life and death, under the immediate threat of annihilation.

Ye Qi was patiently waiting for that precise moment. She intended for Su Han to ignite her ultimate potential under Bailuan’s crushing pressure, undergoing a profound sublimation. This would allow her to experience a massive transformation, a rebirth from the ashes, emerging far stronger and with even more terrifying talent.

In truth, her method was sound and typically effective. However, it was useless for Su Han. Ye Qi was unaware that Su Han had already undergone such a profound sublimation once before—the time Bailuan had given her the Limit-Breaking Pill.

Thus, Ye Qi’s gamble was doomed to fail. Su Han’s fate, it seemed, was irrevocably sealed.

Her voice, or perhaps her internal resolve, was no longer filled with its usual domineering power, but was instead utterly weak and powerless.

As Bailuan’s foot pressed down harder, he paid no mind to Su Han, who had reverted to a weaker, child-like state due to the loss of her magical power. He simply increased the force of his torment.

Su Han’s head could no longer withstand the pressure. With a sickening ‘bang’, it exploded.

Red and white matter splattered all over Bailuan. His pristine white robes and handsome face were now drenched in blood and brain matter.

Had Su Han truly fallen?

‘Did she fail? Was she ultimately a failed product?’ Ye Qi wondered. ‘As the last Destructive Dragon, is her talent truly inferior to Chilian’s?’

Ye Qi believed Su Han hadn’t unleashed her potential, deeming her talentless and without a future. She remained unaware that Su Han had already undergone such an awakening once before, which led her to this conclusion.

Despite her misjudgment, Ye Qi still bore responsibility for Su Han’s death. Thus, she finally spoke.

“You dare harm my person?”

Bailuan, wiping the blood from his face, retorted, “And what if I did? What can you do to me?”

Ye Qi swept her arm, pointing a finger into the distance. “Do you dare to fight?”

“Why would I not!” Bailuan scoffed.

Nearby, Ruolin was utterly distraught, lost in the overwhelming grief of losing Su Han. She offered no words of dissuasion to either combatant, simply staring blankly into space.

Not a single person in the vicinity dared to utter a sound, let alone intervene or mediate. Thus, an earth-shattering battle erupted between Ye Qi and Bailuan, the first and second ranked on the Heavenly List.

The sheer shock among the onlookers far surpassed even the news of Su Han’s demise.

As Ye Qi and Bailuan engaged in their desperate struggle, Michele, off to the side, muttered incantations. She seemed to be chanting some forbidden spell, tracing Su Han’s blood in the air to form a hexagram, as if performing an ancient ritual.

However, the battle between Ye Qi and Bailuan was too cataclysmic, a clash that would make heaven and earth weep. As their combat spread, Michele was caught in the collateral damage.

She coughed up a mouthful of blood, and the diamond-shaped light above her head gradually faded. It seemed she had suffered a backlash, nearly succumbing to qi deviation.

“I… I failed…” Michele murmured, her face pale and haggard. She had intended to save Su Han, but caught in the battle’s destructive wake, she not only failed to rescue her friend but also sustained severe injuries herself.

She had gambled half her life away, truly a case of losing both the wife and the army.

Unbeknownst to her, however, a fragmented wisp of soul drifted along the dissolving formation, fading into the vast expanse of the world.

Let us now shift our perspective to another scene, and return to the story from the moment Ye Qi and Bailuan first clashed…