Everyone turned in shock. Wu Zhao, who had been lying unconscious on the ground, now stood behind the Yiren King, his hand plunged into the Yiren King’s chest, pulling out a bloody inner core. To everyone’s astonishment, a small golden dragon was sleeping within that core.
“A golden dragon?” Mu Jiu exclaimed. “How can the golden body of Twilight be here?”
“That’s not Twilight’s original body,” Fan Yue explained. “A thousand years ago, Twilight used two dragon scales to create the Bound Spirit Array. One became the dragon soul at the city gates, and the other turned into the array’s core, the dragon’s body.”
“Just as expected from the Hao Yue Hall’s master—knowledgeable as always,” Mu Jiu praised, raising his thumb.
Fan Yue blinked in surprise, frowning slightly. Somewhere in his mind, he felt that this wasn’t exactly his memory, though there was no time to ponder such matters.
At the same moment that the Yiren King’s inner core was extracted, a deafening wail erupted from the Yiren spirits within the blood pool, once again transforming into waves of black resentment.
Outside the city, the massive dragon shadow that had been fading let out a long roar and reformed in full.
“This is bad! The God-Slaying Dragon Soul has reawakened!” Jin Yao’s face turned ashen.
In the stone hall, the Yiren King, his inner core now removed, spat blood and collapsed to the ground.
“No!” Hua Hong leaped forward, catching the Yiren King as he fell.
The king’s crown slipped off, and his face turned pale. Reaching out a trembling hand toward Hua Hong, he murmured, “Hong… Hong’er…”
Hua Hong looked at him in bewilderment.
The Yiren King coughed up blood in agonizing spurts, a heartbreaking sight. “It was my fault. I doomed the Yiren clan… Don’t hold resentment against Yong’er, and live well…”
Summoning the last of his strength, he placed a faintly glowing light upon Hua Hong’s forehead. The soul light faded, and, with it, the Yiren King’s life.
Hua Hong stood stunned for a moment, then glanced at Hua Yong’s sleeping form nearby. Rising with rage, she grabbed her iron staff, her eyes bloodshot as she glared at the figure holding the Yiren King’s inner core.
“Why?” she demanded.
“You should have stayed away.” Wu Zhao shot a cold look at the Yiren King’s corpse and avoided Hua Hong’s gaze.
“Was it you who used dark arts to steal all the Yiren clan’s spirits?” Bai Shuo suddenly interjected.
At that moment, understanding dawned on her. It was Wu Zhao, trusted by the Yiren King, who had silently siphoned away the clan’s spirits and poisoned Hua Yong with a demonic toxin.
“Indeed, it was I. I placed the demon poison on Hua Yong, and I took the spirits of the Yiren clan,” Wu Zhao answered expressionlessly.
“Why would you betray the Yiren clan?” Hua Hong’s voice quivered.
“Why? Because they deserve death! The Yiren King deserves death, Hua Yong deserves death—they killed your mother! They must pay!”
“Is it because of the Mei consort?” Bai Shuo thought, recognizing the hatred in Wu Zhao’s eyes. Could it be he held feelings for the late consort of the Yiren King?
Hua Hong yelled, “The people were innocent! You would bury the entire city to avenge one person?”
“Why not?” Wu Zhao pointed to the wailing spirits in the blood pool. “My foster father sacrificed his power to that ungrateful scum for the sake of these wretches rejected by the heavens. And because of him, your mother died! The Mei family defended this city for a thousand years, only to be left in ruin!”
Wu Zhao was, in fact, the foster son of the Mei family’s old general. This explained why Hua Hong showed him any warmth upon her return to the Yiren City.
“No, my father didn’t…”
“Silence! He’s unworthy of being called your father!” Wu Zhao roared, cutting her off. Grasping the Yiren King’s sword, he flew above the blood pool. Waves of black energy surged into the Yiren King’s inner core, and the small golden dragon within was tainted by dark energy, its eyes snapping open.
The dragon’s eyes, devoid of spirit, radiated pure killing intent. The instant they opened, murderous energy surged straight at Fan Yue, binding him tightly. The dragon’s reawakened body, infused with malevolent energy, targeted any divine force.
The dragon’s killing intent struck with immense power. Fan Yue’s mind felt as if it were ablaze, his face twisted in pain.
“Mumu!” Bai Shuo paled, running toward him.
“Stay back!” he shouted in alarm.
But the dragon immediately turned its gaze toward Bai Shuo, and a barrage of dark energy shot from its eyes, hurtling toward her. The dragon’s overpowering aura overwhelmed her, and Bai Shuo, unable to resist, was struck and sent flying.
“Master!”
“A-Shuo!”
Two voices called out in unison within the hall. Fan Yue, still bound by the dark energy, tried to reach her but was held fast. Enraged, he swung his silver chain at the energy constricting him, managing to cut a few strands.
The dragon’s fury intensified, and its killing intent focused on Fan Yue’s forehead. He coughed up blood, the silver chain dropping to the ground with a mournful clink. Chong Zhao leapt forward to catch Bai Shuo as she fell.
At that moment, a dragon’s roar echoed from the heavens, shaking the stone hall. Everyone felt a massive force surging toward the Yiren Palace.
Chong Zhao’s face went pale. “The other dragon scale’s dragon soul has awakened!”
Once the dragon soul and the golden dragon body fused, they would become a true God-Slaying weapon.
The entire hall shook. Seeing Fan Yue suffering under the dragon’s killing aura, Bai Shuo pulled herself free from Chong Zhao’s grasp and shouted at Wu Zhao.
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