Chapter 42: Sword Drawn

“Captain, Teacher Xiao Xu drank the Instinct Potion. I don’t know exactly what it is, but the flames she released were identical to the ones the He Ju Beasts used before… and the Candle Dragon’s too…”

There was no time left for them. Ye Jingqiu clenched her fists in anxiety, and drops of blood immediately seeped through the snow-white bandages.

Shi Zui carefully pried open her little teammate’s palm, applied the medicine bit by bit, and wrapped it up again. She nodded. “I understand. I’ll do everything I can to bring her back.”

Captain Shi tied a neat bow on the bandage, gave Ye Jingqiu’s hand a reassuring pat, and slipped two pills inside. Bluntly, she said, “Emergency meds to ease the side effects of Instinct. You still have the Awakening Ring, right? Once you’re out, Ning Wan will…”

“Captain!” Ye Jingqiu tossed her head back and swallowed the pills in one gulp. She cut Shi Zui off impatiently. “I’m coming with you.”

Shi Zui frowned slightly. Ye Jingqiu’s current physical state made her utterly unfit to reenter the fray. But this was also Shi Zui’s first venture into the Golden Hall Space. Sending Xiao Qiu out again would waste precious time on the round trip—time that could very well decide everything.

This wasn’t the moment to agonize over it. After a brief pause, Shi Zui simply agreed. She gripped the Dragon Trapping Box once more. In a flash, Yinghuo was unleashed, and two clusters of black flames danced atop Ye Jingqiu’s hand and the Candle Dragon Scale in Shi Zui’s grasp.

The Key to Pandora’s Box unlocked the Golden Hall. The interrupted progress bar reloaded, and the gray mist before them thickened. But before Ye Jingqiu could react, Shi Zui had already shrugged off her windbreaker with swift efficiency, revealing the thin black tank top beneath—her only layer.

The woman’s lean, fluid muscles rippled with a distinctive power, beads of sweat tracing the curve of her arm and slipping over countless faded, dark scars. It was a beauty beyond words.

Ye Jingqiu let out an “ah.” If this weren’t a five-alarm emergency, she’d have frozen on the spot, staring for a good while before murmuring with drifting eyes, “Captain, you should watch out—you’ll catch a cold like that.”

But with the crisis at hand, before she could even finish her exclamation, Shi Zui had torn the windbreaker into strips and bound them securely around her with thunderous speed.

Ye Jingqiu: “?”

Shi Zui flashed a rare, satisfied smile and patted her shoulder. “Stay far from the battlefield. Search for anything connected to the Candle Dragon as best you can. But I doubt you’ll get far, so the key is…”

The gray mist cleared, and the temperature around them shot up. Explosions of air and the howl of gales detonated in their ears. Ye Jingqiu looked up instinctively. The once-resplendent Golden Hall had become a demon’s hellscape. Azure flames erupted in layers along the dragon’s body, and amid agonized roars, a figure plummeted from the distant Golden Dome.

“…take care of yourself.”

Shi Zui’s final words vanished into the indigo gale. Amid the vast sea of fire, Ye Jingqiu watched a figure streak upward into the sky, catching the falling Xu Xianyue squarely.

Xu Xianyue’s condition was dire. Her body, scorched once by ferocious flames, now radiated an icy chill. It was her first time wielding the Azure Lamp—a cataclysmic offensive instinct—and injuring herself in the process was par for the course.

Her breathing was all but gone. Shi Zui could feel the life ebbing rapidly from this shattered form. She swiftly fed Xu Xianyue several emergency pills, then tucked her into a secluded corner of the hall. No divine savior could work miracles now; all they could do was pray for one.

Even the Candle Dragon’s state was precarious. Pure azure flames blazed across its dragon scales, light and heat multiplying exponentially through its frame.

The sight was unimaginable. What manner of beast was the Candle Dragon? A creature that bore a blazing torch in its maw should reign supreme in the domain of fire instincts. By all rights, an S-rank Exotic Beast like this could command every inferno—yet this divine dragon was helpless against a mere half-lamp of azure light, cold as a starless night.

Unbelievable. But Shi Zui had no time to puzzle it out. Azure flame, black flame, or a puny spark—anything that hurt the Candle Dragon was on her side!

The charred scales carbonized in an instant, crumbling into ash laced with embers. The Candle Dragon roared in agony. Shi Zui seized the opening. Her Gale Blade Domain unfurled in a heartbeat. Air surged at hurricane speeds, the everyday innocuous element turning assassin. Hissing like king cobras filled the air.

Tons of oxygen were sucked from every corner of the Golden Hall. For a split second, Ye Jingqiu struggled to breathe. Eerie creaks echoed from the Golden Dome—like colossal rodents gnawing bone, chilling to the core. Airflow was carving through the gold at impossible velocities.

Centered on Shi Zui, the vortex of gold dust and scale ashes spun at blinding speed. The Aether Domain crept forward, its edges shimmering gray-blue. The blistering flames from clashing Hurricane Blades were relentless.

A horrific aura crashed in. The Candle Dragon lifted its head briefly. It bared its fangs; steel-hard scales inhaled vast gulps of oxygen. A globe of pure black flame erupted silently!

Yinghuo-hot inferno. A dazzling crimson realm barreled toward Shi Zui like a rampaging elephant. But her face showed no fear—this was the Dragon Flame she craved.

Oxygen made the perfect accelerant.

The coiled gale vortex detonated. Hurricane and flame fused; the already blistering black flames threatened to melt the Golden Hall outright.

Shi Zui commanded every gas in the zone. Oxygen smothered the Candle Dragon, turning its own power against it. Wind blades and black flames sheared its body, mercilessly grinding exposed flesh sans scales, boring into its vitals like power drills!

The Candle Dragon unleashed another piercing screech—shrill with torment, like a vampire splashed with holy water. Hissing steam from boiling blood wafted through the air, the Golden Hall reeking like a slaughterhouse.

Shi Zui froze. She hadn’t anticipated a dragon of such immense power acting like a dimwitted child, clueless on resistance. But pity had no place here—least of all for a savage beast!

She wasted no more time. The clasp snapped open with a click. The Silver Box housing the Eight Gates Soul Lock Dragon Trapping Array flew wide. Eight ancient swords thrummed in eager unison. The Celestial Stem Bronze Sword popped free, thrusting itself into Shi Zui’s waiting hand.

These were bloodstained divine weapons forged over millennia in battles between humans and exotic beasts, each one crafted specifically for the Candle Dragon. Only by bathing in dragon blood and embedding themselves in dragon bone could they reach the destiny they so eagerly craved.

Shi Zui drew her sword! Hurricane Blade erupted instinctively once more. The instant her hands gripped the hilt of the bronze sword, a pale azure gale swept across every inch of the blade. Inconceivably, the thick layer of verdigris simply peeled away with the wind, revealing a peerless blade that had concealed its sharpness for a thousand years.

A cold gleam flashed through the air. Shi Zui clenched the hilt with both hands and seized the moment to thrust downward viciously—

“Shkk—”

The Celestial Stem Bronze Sword pierced through flesh and blood, pinning the Candle Dragon’s tail firmly to the floor of the grand hall.

The eight ancient swords rang out in long cries once more as aether elements gathered. The soul lock array began to take shape faintly. Had they succeeded with one-eighth of the dragon-slaying plan just like that?

Ye Jingqiu, who was shielding Xu Xianyue, stared in stunned disbelief. Logically speaking, the remaining seven swords should only grow easier to wield. The light of victory seemed to be beckoning them already.

After the bitterness comes the sweetness. Ye Jingqiu suddenly felt that her wounds and tears hadn’t been for nothing. See? The grand happy ending was right there within reach. Soon she’d carry Teacher Xiao Xu out and find an ambulance.

But Classmate Xiao Ye hadn’t finished basking in the moment when the struggling behemoth suddenly stirred. Its four claws slammed down hard onto the hall floor. Before Shi Zui could draw the second Earth Kun Profound Sword, the Golden Hall’s floor began to shudder violently!

“Boom—”

A thunderous crash echoed as the several-ton slab of golden pavement beneath Ye Jingqiu’s feet cracked with a snap. Fractures spiderwebbed across the surface like a second earth dragon rolling over.

No way—mutual destruction?

Before Ye Jingqiu could dwell on the thought, a frantic chorus of crane cries and bird calls erupted around her ears, followed by wolfish howls of anguish. The Golden Hall’s golden floor plunged downward abruptly.

In the chaos, Ye Jingqiu hooked onto a hall pillar at top speed while cradling Xu Xianyue. She hadn’t even had time to wonder where these bestial cries were coming from when the answer hurtled right into view.

Tens of thousands of Shu Si and Kui Que swarmed toward the vaulted ceiling, while He Ju Beasts and Mountain Tigers leaped about in frenzied celebration.

The grand hall disintegrated entirely, giving way to a far vaster, more expansive world. Only the white jade High Heaven Throne remained standing proudly at the heart of the former Golden Hall.

Now the scene finally matched the vision from Ye Jingqiu’s Mirror Domain exactly. Flowing mercury coalesced into rivers, lakes, and seas; hissing mists billowed upward. It was a riotous paradise for exotic beasts.

Ye Jingqiu finally understood why only the captain had entered—because everyone else was posted outside, holding the line against these exotic beasts. She and the captain were just the vanguard; the other Awakeners formed the true bulwark.

It was all over. A single mighty but mindless Candle Dragon posed no real threat, but throw in this horde of exotic beast legions and it was a different story. A mere flap from the Shu Si’s wings would send the two of them hurtling who-knew-how-many miles away.

But reality proved even more dire than Ye Jingqiu imagined. The bellowing Candle Dragon parted its jagged maw, and countless exotic beasts began hurling themselves into its mouth in a mad, suicidal rush.

What in the world? Were they volunteering as sacrificial burial offerings for their Dragon Lord?

No—no, no!

Cold sweat drenched Ye Jingqiu in an instant. She recalled how that He Ju Beast had departed in ritualistic sacrifice. These exotic beasts were actually the sacrificial burial offerings for her and the captain! The Candle Dragon was using them to replenish its strength.

This dungeon’s Yan Kingdom map was dragging on forever.

Ye Jingqiu reeled in shock, but the Candle Dragon afforded her no time to recover.

The world inverted. Azure Flame still licked along the dragon’s body, but such details were irrelevant now. Destruction reignited in the Candle Dragon’s slitted pupils. It flicked its tail with deceptive gentleness, and the rent flesh knit back together. Pulsing veins forcibly ejected the Celestial Stem Bronze Sword.

The Eight Gates Soul Lock Dragon Trapping Array flickered and dimmed in unison. The Candle Dragon gazed down imperiously upon the humans, its ancient, resonant roar reverberating through the air.

“Humans.”

The Candle Dragon cracked an ugly grin, flakes of Shu Si and He Ju flesh tumbling from between its teeth. At last, this dragon had regained its wits. It inhaled the familiar scent. “Long time no see.”