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- Several Minutes Earlier, Outside the Cave -

"𝑯𝒂𝒉𝒂𝒉𝒂! 𝑭𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒔, 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒆! 𝑻𝒓𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓!"

As the Golden Wyvern laughed and taunted, continuing to play with its prey, the human masters were slowly running out of energy to keep up. The Ninth-Order Magic Beast seemed to have an infinite amount of Qi and vitality, and the longer that the battle dragged on for, the weaker the humans became. They outnumbered the beast, sure, but what did that matter? It was like a swarm of maggots trying to take down an elephant—worthless.

"… This is not looking good, City Lord Yun Liao," an elder from the Sky Cloud Sect muttered, who had also came here to help. "We've hit it with so many attacks, but most of them didn't do any damage to its stupidly tough scales…"

"… And the few that did were instantly regenerated back with its natural self-healing powers," the old elder from the Stealing Heart Sect muttered, stroking his beard. "Apologies, city lord, but there does not seem to be any hope of winning this fight. As such, my sect's disciples and I will be taking our leave h…"

Before he could finish his statement, he trailed off, interrupted by the Golden Wyvern's next words.

"𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚? 𝑪𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔! 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒘—𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏!"

Apparently enraged by the thought of the old elder trying to run, the Wyvern began charging up a powerful golden supernova inside its mouth, blazing with flames. The Origin Transformation and above masters gritted their teeth and covered their eyes using their arms to avoid being blinded by its radiance, but they were out of options.

"Quick—we must run!" Another elder yelled, attempting to back away, but Yun Liao could not take it anymore and roared in response.

"I'd like to see who dares to run!"

At this, all the other masters present fell into silence briefly, while the Wyvern continued preparing his attack and Yun Liao activated a defense array that he'd set in place beforehand in preparation for a situation like this.

"… My city is in that direction," Yun Liao said quietly. "If we run away here… it will be the city that gets destroyed. The hundreds of lives there that will be lost. I cannot allow it."

The supernova was blindingly bright and enormous, no doubt powerful enough to burn an entire city to the ground. Yun Liao was right.

"As such…" the city lord continued, bowing his head. "… This Yun humbly requests that all the other masters present help me in fueling this defense array. It probably will not be enough, but… at the very least, I can say I tried."

"This…"

The other masters still seemed hesitant, but Sky Cloud Sect's elder then stepped forward beside Yun Liao and activated his own Qi to supply the array.

"I will support you, City Lord. Your loyalty has moved me—not to mention the good relationship my sect and your city have held for the past many years."

Yun Liao made a solemn martial arts salute with his hands in response. "Thank you, Elder Kun."

Following this, many others decided to do the same, stepping forward and offering their assistance. After all, their respective sects' reputations were on the line here. If they just ran away like cowards when others offered to stay and defend, it would not reflect well on them when word got out.

"I will assist you as well, City Lord."

"Brother Yun, how can we just run after you said that? I will lend you my full strength!"

"That's right. My Glacial Heights Pavilion will remain as well."

Even Stealing Heart Sect's Origin Monarch stage elder was forced to stay behind as a result of this, though he did so very reluctantly.

"… Very well. As one of the strongest cultivators present, I cannot leave either."

Yun Liao, seeing this, smiled in gratitude.

"This Yun offers everyone his sincerest thanks. In that case… let us face this threat together."

At once, the masters poured their Qi into the defense barrier, forming a massive translucent wall between themselves and the Wyvern, who was nearly finished charging its attack.

"Prepare yourselves—it's coming!"

The supernova grew brighter and brighter, and the Golden Wyvern's eyes shone intensely red as its energy reached peak levels. The charging completed, and the Wyvern reared its head back, about to fire it.

But then…

… It suddenly stopped.

It froze in place, as a thought flashed through his head.

'𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒑 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅? 𝑰𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆... 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒔𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒗𝒆!'

Swallowing the supernova back down into its stomach with no time to waste, it spun around and ran back into its cave as fast as it could go. It couldn't fly due to the cavern's dimensions, so it was forced to run—but that didn't matter. All that was on its mind at that moment was the safety of the Divine Dragon Egg.

If the elders back at Dragon Island Temple found out that it had lost the egg or got it damaged somehow… this Wyvern was going to face a fate worse than death.

Meanwhile, the human masters outside were left stunned, wondering what the hell was going on. They stopped pouring energy into the defensive array, and under Yun Liao's orders, remained idle, awaiting further instructions.

The Golden Wyvern could feel sweat forming on its forehead—something that should not happen considering how used to heat it was—but this sweat was not the type born from exercise. It was cold, born from fear. Fear at what would happen to it once it got back to the island. Worse yet, would it even be able to return at all, or be instead cast into exile as punishment?

No matter—it couldn't afford to be thinking about that right now. The situation was not yet hopeless—the trap had just been triggered. There was still time.

After several minutes, the Wyvern came across the trap it had laid down beforehand—a golden prison that confined anyone who stepped past it, and lifted them up to the ceiling to hold them there until the Wyvern could return to finish off the perpetrators with a horrible death. Contained within were three humans—two old, one young. None of them had cultivation levels worth mentioning, and the Golden Wyvern narrowed its red eyes.

"𝑯𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒔... 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑾𝒚𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏'𝒔 𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒓?"

Upon spotting the massive creature before them, the three imprisoned humans gasped in fear, but the youngest one amongst them actually managed to speak—impressively so.

"A-Ahem… great Wyvern, forgive us for our trespasses. However, the reason we are in here is actually to protect your treasure. In other words, we are helping you."

At this, the Golden Wyvern slowly lifted an eyebrow in suspicion.

"... 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆?"

"Y-Yes. You see, a while back, we spotted a suspicious figure heading in the direction of your greatness's cave, so we decided to follow to see what he was up to. As it turned out, he was searching for something in here, and tricked us into triggering the traps you set in place for him… resulting in what you see now."

"... 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆?" The Wyvern growled deeply, eyes narrowed.

"Deeper in, your greatness," Zhou Hai replied, as politely as possible. "He appears to have found whatever it is he was looking for…"

"... 𝑮𝒓𝒓... 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆..."

"D-Don't worry! I promise I am not lying. He is in there—he must be!"

Anger lining its flaming scarlet gaze, the Golden Wyvern stepped deeper into its lair and sniffed the air.

'... 𝑺𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏.'

Approaching the direction the smell was coming from, the Golden Wyvern slowly peeked its head over the pit in the ground, where the Divine Dragon Egg was stored. As expected, beside it sat a human, who smiled happily after seeing the Wyvern.

'𝑯𝒆'𝒔... 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈?'

Confused, the Wyvern furrowed its brows and demanded an answer.

"𝑩𝒐𝒍𝒅, 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒚𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎."

In response, the human—Xuan—let out a soft chuckle.

"A mere Wyvern wants to make me quake in fear? Serpent, even if your Dragon Emperor came here himself, I would not spare him a second glance."

Narrowing his eyes in caution at this arrogance, the Golden Wyvern began to notice a strange familiarity coming from this man. It wasn't just his appearance, but rather, his aura and demeanor. That forever calm and cold tone that stated such conceited words as if they were simply facts.

"... 𝑯𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏. 𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖?"

Xuan smiled before bending down, picking up the Dragon Egg, and jumping straight out of the pit with his now-enhanced physical attributes. With the Divine Dragon Body, he landed solidly on the edge of the hole, pausing for a moment before straightening up and staring the Wyvern fearlessly in the face.

"Perhaps you'll recognize me more… once I do this."

Taking out Ruo Xi's brooch from his pocket, Xuan disabled the appearance changes he'd used on himself. In an instant, any blemishes on his face went away—the freckles and the shifts in his facial features. The beauty mark he had beneath his right eye was revealed, and the signature red runic mark on his forehead appeared once more.

At this sight, the Golden Wyvern nearly fainted.

"𝑰-𝑰-𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖...?!"

"Mm. Long time no see," Xuan replied calmly. "Or was it your ancestor I met…? Ah, I can't remember. Tell your Dragon Emperor I said hello."

In response, the Golden Wyvern gulped, quickly taking a few thunderous steps back. "𝑾-𝑾𝒂𝒊𝒕, 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒁𝒆𝒓𝒐, 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒈𝒈 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝑫𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒏 𝑰𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔-"

"And if I insist?" Xuan interrupted with a warning tone, narrowing his eyes. "… Did you forget what I did to the Dragon Emperor when he opposed my wishes?"

"𝑬𝒓... 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍..."

"… Hmm?" Xuan lowered his voice even further, and the Golden Wyvern suddenly burst out in awkward laughter, scratching behind its ears.

"𝑨-𝑨𝒉𝒂𝒉𝒂! 𝑶𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑫𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒏 𝑬𝒈𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒏 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆'𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔! 𝑨𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒃 𝑸𝒊 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝑾𝒚𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅, 𝒂𝒉𝒂𝒉𝒂..."

Xuan smiled. The Wyvern just told him what to do without making it seem like it was telling him what to do and being impolite. Clever indeed.

"Good. I will take care of this egg for you," he replied, tapping on the surface of the egg as the Golden Wyvern gulped nervously. "Relax, I will not harm your Dragon Island's next heir… that is, as long as you don't make any more trouble for me."

"𝒀-𝒀𝒆𝒔, 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆! 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝑾𝒚𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒃 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒇𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓!"

Immediately, the Golden Wyvern spun around and attempted to leave, but Xuan wasn't done yet.

"Wait. Right after calling me 'human' so condescendingly, you want to leave?"

"𝑬-𝑬𝒓, 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆... 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝑾𝒚𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏 𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒔," the Wyvern said, turning back to face Xuan and bowing his head. "𝑰𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅!"

"Beast Cores. As a member of the Dragon race, you have nine inside your body, don't you? Each representing 1,000 years of lifespan. I want five."

"𝑼𝒉... 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔..."

"Alternatively, I could kill you right here, right now, as painfully as possible. Lose 5,000 years off your life, or lose it altogether in a real gruesome manner. Your choice?"

The Golden Wyvern immediately got into a genuflecting position and slammed his head into the ground to kowtow.

"𝑻𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔, 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆!"

Saying this, the Golden Wyvern extracted five beautiful white pearl-like orbs from his chest, and handed them over to Xuan respectfully. Xuan inspected them in his hands, nodding in satisfaction, before sending them all to his inventory and waving the beast off.

"Satisfactory. You may leave now—but before you go, finish off those three for me."

"𝑬-𝑬𝒉?" The enormous Magic Beast tilted his head, confused.

"The three you captured with your trap," Xuan clarified. "Give them horrible, painful deaths, but don't destroy their Souls. Understand?"

"𝒀-𝒀𝒆𝒔! 𝑹𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆!"

Obediently and immediately, the Wyvern crawled back towards Zhou Hai and the two Origin Transformation stage elders, while Xuan sat down underneath the golden fire chandelier and began his breakthrough process to the Core Formation stage.

The quest requirement to break through was 10 Beast Cores or 5 Magic Beast Cores, so since he'd just obtained 5 of the latter—not to mention the highest level of them all—there was no reason to dawdle any longer. The golden flame above his head also provided incredibly pure World Qi, so there was no better time than now to do this.

Meanwhile…

Zhou Hai and the two old men, who saw the Golden Wyvern return unscathed, lit up their eyes.

"Your greatness has returned! How was it? I didn't lie to you, right? You caught the thief, correct?"

What came out of the beast's jaws next, however, was not something any of them expected, and left them in shock.

"𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒐𝒕𝒔... 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒁𝒆𝒓𝒐? 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉!"

"Wha-?! Zero…? The legendary figure, rumored to be the strongest cultivator under the heavens?" One of the old masters yelled in shock. "Impossible! They say he's in a higher world, not in Asphodel!"

"Zero? Who's that?" Zhou Hai raised an eyebrow, ignorant.

"... 𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓," the Wyvern muttered in reply, opening his mouth. "𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘... 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆!"

"Wait, your greatne- AHHH!"

With screams of agony, the three were consumed whole by a ray of golden fire, leaving nothing behind but wisps of their Souls. Their bodies were completely reduced to black ash, and any sign of their existence was erased, just like that.

Then, without turning back, the Golden Wyvern immediately dipped—by dashing straight through the top of the cave, nearly completely destroying it in the process. He did not want to stay even one second longer here—who knew when Xuan would call him back again for another task?

The Wyvern wanted to get away from this horrible monster called Zero as fast as possible—he needed to report this matter back to the elders at Dragon Island.

'𝒁𝒆𝒓𝒐... 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑳𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝑨𝒔𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒅𝒆𝒍...?'

Those were the Wyvern's thoughts as he flew, high into the sky and out of sight.

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