Five, Six and Seven immediately felt as though their bodies were being ripped from the inside out. Let alone 50% of their strength, they found it difficult to display even 30%.

After Dyon's battle with the Ancestor Sapientia, he made his plans to forcibly take Lionel, Eve and Chenglei under his wing even clearer. The moment he saw their talents, he knew he couldn't just arbitrarily kill them. Experts of such caliber were hard to come by, especially when he was a mere startup empire.

Though Eve hated him to her core for what he did to her foster mother, Matriarch Niveus, and Lionel stood by his wife's side in the same way she stood by his all those years ago, Chenglei was a bit different.

Inherently, Dragons were a prideful race. Their sense of kinship was relatively weak, or else there wouldn't be so many instances of young Dragon geniuses going off to form their own Clan, something that was a good portion of the reason why despite arguably being the strongest race on the Mortal Plane, the Dragons occupied just 5 quadrants and had no cohesion.

This wasn't to say that Chenglei wasn't enraged by his grandfather's death, but it was rather to say that he was more logical about it. Since his grandfather dared to scheme against Dyon, any lost he suffered was his own to bear. This was the ideology of the Dragons of the mortal Plane. The only one who seemed to go against this was True God Titus who Dyon hadn't seen since he sliced him in half.

Watching Dyon battle, Chenglei felt a change within himself

Though Dragons were a powerful race beyond the imaginations of most, they had a thickest barrier of entry to the Immortal Plane.

The truth was that of all the Higher Existences on the Mortal Plane, the highest concentration wasn't in the Nephilim Alliance, nor was it with the Sapientia Clan The Drago-Qilin Quadrants had more Higher Existences than the whole rest of the Mortal Plane combined!

However, despite this truth, Dragons had by far the lowest tally of successful Transcendants.

When Chenglei was watching Dyon battle Feeling changes within himself He suddenly felt he understood what this barrier was

How could one transcend and begin to forge one's own path When one was so bound by one's inherent nature? A nature handed forward by the very Heavens you were trying to break from?

This was it. This was the secret of the Dragon and Qilin races. They were birthed to be the representation of Sovereignty on the Mortal Plane. This talent made them the strongest beast race on the Mortal Plane, without competition.

Yet This very talent was holding them back from their true potential.

When Chenglei was watching Dyon battle, deep down, he knew what he was feeling was respect. But, something in his body kept fighting against it, as though he, as a Dragon, had no need to respect another living creature.

Before a Dragon, all others must bow down!

Those were his thoughts back then but why did he feel such disgust toward them? Why wasn't he allowed to appreciate what was before him Was Dyon not worthy of respect?

As Dyon battled, this disgust grew within Chenglei. The fight within his soul warred on for several months, until the balance finally shattered.

It was then Chenglei realized that his path toward sovereignty wasn't even his own path. Dyon was born and chose sovereignty, he chose to lord all others. Yet his Dragon race was born with this implanted into their minds

Was it still sovereignty if you didn't have a choice in the matter? How could you claim to control all things when something larger than yourself was always controlling you?

Chenglei felt his dao heart shatter, but he didn't feel any sadness. In fact, he didn't even experience any backlash.

He finally understood. The reason Dragons couldn't transcend was because they were chained to these Mortal Planes. If he wanted to rise up beyond this, he had to cast this so-called sovereignty aside

That wasn't to say he couldn't still be arrogant, nor was it to say he couldn't still be a sovereign. But if he chose to do so in the future, it would be his choice!

He would respect those he wanted to respect. He wouldn't blindly be arrogant for the sake of being arrogant, nor would he turn down a helping hand simply for the sake of being prideful. This was true sovereignty, the control over one's self!

Chenglei roared once more, his Dragon Soul blooming.

The reason these dao experts couldn't bring out more than a portion of their strength was because he no longer had a Bronze Dragon Soul. Thanks to Dyon, he fused with the Half-Step Emperor Grade Golden Dragon Scale. Because the Golden Dragon Race was known for their powerful Dragon Souls, the benefits were even more obvious that fusing with another Dragon Soul.

This was how Dragons improved, by swallowing the Dragon Souls of other Dragons and Qilins.

The Chenglei of the past would have never accepted this gift. But the current Chenglei simply wanted to grow stronger, he wanted to see what the top of the world looked like, he wanted to find his own path!

The seven Peak Dao Experts were blown back by the pressure of his breath, their skin blistering under the unconscionable heat.

Chengeli massive several kilometer-long body snaked through the air, his deep black scales pulsing with a dark gold hue.

'Peak King Grade Dragon Soul!'

Kaori's calm piercing eyes faltered.

Presence and Dragon Souls were often equated, but the simple truth was that the latter was far more potent.

A Gold Grade Dragon Soul, which Dyon's little brother Zaire was born with, was already the equivalent of King Grade Presence. A step forward, and King Grade Dragon Souls were already equal to Emperor Grade Presence!

What did this mean? It meant that the Half-Step Emperor Grade Dragon Chenglei absorbed was Half-Step into God Realm Presence!