I will eventually become a divine being through accumulating constantly

Attacking the Dragon God at close range... Regardless of what happens to the Dragon God after the attack, her own fate seemed quite obvious.

Would she die?

Xue Jing didn\'t answer immediately but pondered for a moment before replying earnestly,

"I can\'t guarantee that to you, Renea."

"Your actions are very dangerous, and I would not deceive you about that."

"You might die, or you might not... The probability of death is much greater than that of survival."

"All I can say is, I will do my utmost to protect your safety wherever possible."

"What you are about to do is indeed that dangerous."

Xue Jing reached out and gently touched her head, saying softly,

"If you are afraid, you can refuse this mission; you shouldn\'t feel burdened, it\'s only human."

Renea was stunned, somewhat lost in thought.

A glimmer of light appeared in her eyes, and she murmured, "Why, why don\'t you lie to me and say it\'s not dangerous?"

"Why don\'t you threaten me, force me to do this?"

Hearing this question, Xue Jing couldn\'t help but give a wry smile.

"...I\'ve not fallen so low as to deceive and coerce a young girl."

He paused, continuing gently, "Our partnership is based on mutual willingness, an equal cooperative relationship. Besides that, you are my friend; I would not do such a thing to you."

Renea\'s eyes lit up, "What if I choose to refuse?"

Xue Jing laughed, "Then I will go and slay the Dragon God by myself."

Renea\'s eyes shone even brighter, "Without my help, it will be very difficult for you, right?"

Xue Jing nodded, "Honestly, yes."

"If you do not help me, the probability of killing the Dragon God will be very low... close to impossible."

Renea\'s voice trembled slightly, "Is it impossible without me?"

Xue Jing said solemnly, "It is impossible without you, only you can help me, only you can do it."

Tears suddenly slid down the corners of the girl\'s eyes.

"Only I can do it..."

"After hearing such words, how can I refuse..."

The girl, labeled as the \'most useless\' shrine maiden in history, for the first time in her life felt her self-worth affirmed.

...

"Were you acting just now? Were you deceiving her?"

In the valley, Xue Jing strolled, searching for the Dragon Thunder Plant.

The dozen or so Dragon Thunder Seeds he had were almost destroyed in the deadly fight with the third Guardian Dragon; facing a Pureblood Dragon Species, he needed to collect even more.

In response to Mirror Person\'s question, Xue Jing smiled and said,

"Why do you ask? Do I look like I was acting?"

After a moment of silence, Mirror Person shook their head, "You don\'t seem to be acting, but I feel that this child is very good at acting."

"...I\'m just purely curious whether you intentionally played the emotion card to make her volunteer?"

After thinking for a while, Xue Jing said, "A third of it was intentional I suppose."

"I did feel that saying it that way would touch her, prompting her to volunteer for the task."

"...However, not a single word I said was a lie."

"If she\'s unwilling, I wouldn\'t force her; this is a partnership based on mutual consent and willingness."

"I need to slay the Dragon God, and she does too. Given that we both need this outcome, I merely gave her a small nudge."

Xue Jing squatted down in front of a golden crown of flowers, his fingers gently touching the petals, imprinting them with a Pact Seal.

"If after all this, Renea still decides to refuse out of fear,"

"then it only shows that her courage only extends so far. Such a person, I wouldn\'t trust to hand over a crucial \'claw\' to..."

With a sigh, Mirror Person said, "You are very mature... not like a child."

Xue Jing put the golden seed into his pocket and laughed, "Is that a compliment?"

The Mirror Person folded his arms across his chest, not responding verbally but instead glanced at the glasses Xue Jing wore and teased,

"Actually, you have a much simpler method to make her wholeheartedly do things for you."

Xue Jing obviously understood what it meant but simply shook his head, saying,

"If it really becomes necessary, I won\'t be stingy in using this face."

"The premise is that it really becomes necessary."

The Mirror Person snorted lightly, teasing, "Did I ever talk about your face? You really love yourself."

...

All day long, Xue Jing had been collecting Dragon Thunder Plant seeds throughout the territories of the Guardian Dragons.

The final yield was about twenty-five or twenty-six.

It wasn\'t that he couldn\'t collect more, but rather that the limit of the Plant Pact had been reached.

To contract more seeds, he even used 1200 points of Divinity to upgrade the Plant Pact once again, reaching the same level 6 as Shadow Flame.

Now, he had thoroughly pushed his strength to the current utmost limit, without a single drop of Ban left.

By the time he returned to this nation, it was close to noon the following day.

At this moment, the altar had been completely set up at the plaza.

All sorts of ritual vessels were placed around the plaza, the meat of numerous creatures, and a variety of local foods, unrecognizable to Xue Jing, served as offerings and filled the now-transformed plaza altar everywhere.

Hundreds of citizens of this nation, each dressed in different colored ceremonial garb, were each positioned and ready, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Atop the central high platform of the altar, Renea, her face covered in heavy makeup, wore the Shrine Maiden\'s ceremonial attire and a splendid ceremonial crown, her hands each holding a hooked-blade-like ritual vessel, sitting quietly on her knees.

Xue Jing did not enter the city but stood far away on a hillside, looking down at the worship scene below.

Time slowly passed until, when the sun was directly overhead at noon, the ritual ceremony officially began.

The Shaman below the platform seemed to be saying something and, after he finished speaking, all the participants of the ritual began their own actions, with Renea also starting to dance gracefully atop the platform.

As the ceremony progressed, a mysterious and invisible power seemed to be gradually emanating from the altar.

"BOOM—!!"

An earth-shattering peal of thunder came, and Xue Jing\'s gaze turned toward the center of the Intersecting Boundaries—the Roaring Great Waterfall.

Golden giant lightning bolts struck down from the sky incessantly, after which, with some delay, he could hear a thunderous boom.

"Whoosh—"

Under Xue Jing\'s watch, a massive shadow shot up from the Roaring Great Waterfall into the sky.

Its speed was so fast that, due to the distance, it didn\'t seem very impressive.

But the continuous sonic boom screams from its body and the white airwaves spreading along its path of advance all emphasized a fact.

Xue Jing\'s pupils narrowed, "Supersonic..."

At that speed, he reckoned his body couldn\'t endure it just by standing on its back, let alone being hit by something moving at that speed...

Xue Jing looked closely, his extraordinary vision imprinting the supersonically flying creature clearly in his eyes.

Without a doubt, it was—a dragon.

Having entered the Intersecting Boundaries, Xue Jing had already seen quite a few Dragon Breeds, but never had any dragon given him such a strong sense of \'dragonness.\'

It was enveloped in a kind of absolute, domineering aura that overshadowed all other creatures, placing it at the top of the food chain.

It had an air of natural superiority as if it were destined to be above all other creatures from birth, with no room for doubt, its pride taken to the extreme, its natural authority taken to the extreme.

The dragon scales, like bark, didn\'t have the roughness of the three Guardian Dragons but were finely crafted as if molded attentively by deities, elegant and magnificent.

Huge wings, streamlined and elongated body, swaying slender tail, as well as two sharp, upward-curving Dragon Horns on the top of its head.

Around the Dragon Horns wrapped twisting brown branches with beautiful flowers blooming on them, resembling cherry blossoms.

"That is the Pureblood Dragon Species... a True Dragon," Xue Jing inferred excitedly.

"Be careful, stick to the plan, and don\'t be impulsive," the Mirror Person reminded.

"Don\'t worry," Xue Jing said softly, watching the True Dragon slicing through the air, leaving a trail of sonic booms.

He took a deep breath, touched the Crouching Rabbit Sword hanging at his waist, and looked up to the sky.

The cloudless sky featured only one sun at its zenith, casting down strands of sunlight.

"Nice weather, just right for Slaying the Dragon."

...