[POV: Feng Ping]
“Are you stronger than a dragon?” the massive golden dragon before me asked.
If I were stronger than a dragon, I would have come here by myself.
The Purple Rope Hall had sent one Sixth Tier practitioner to act as commander, five Fifth Tier elite assassins to serve as second-in-command, and more than six thousand Fourth Tier assassins as rank and file. The only thing we lacked was a standard bearing the symbol of the Great Feng. With that, we would have been a proper army.
But we were assassins.
We were tools meant to be used from the shadows, not soldiers meant to march beneath banners.
Unfortunately, the army of slimy creatures had forced us into the open.
I had no idea that the dragon residing in these mountains possessed subordinates like these. Regardless, we needed to accomplish our objective. My strategy had been fairly simple. I detached a smaller elite unit to approach the mountains and pursue our primary targets, the escaped princess and the Sword General.
This unit consisted of me, four Fifth Tier elites, and more than four hundred Fourth Tier assassins from Squads One through Ten.
We had come expecting combat.
Even so, I still needed to buy time.
“This is a mistake,” I warned the golden dragon before me, doubling down on my earlier threats. “Think carefully about the consequences of going against us.”
Though dragons were solitary creatures, if word got out that the Great Feng was raising assassins and using them to clean up after the ministers, it would be a slap in the face to the Great Feng.
Forget a ruined reputation. News of the chaos within Great Feng would invite greater threats from external enemies. Our rivals would see weakness, and weakness was an invitation.
That was why I had no intention of leaving this foe alive.
But I could not make my move yet.
Not until we found the princess.
The civil war in Great Feng had created enough turmoil and political upheaval to tie the ministers' hands regarding the escaped princess. If the ministers wished to maintain their control and preserve the authority they had usurped from the royal throne, then they needed to deal with this quietly.
Clearly, the Sword General and the princess had taken refuge here in the Goldenreach Mountains, probably relying on the connection between the late King of Feng and this dragon to secure its protection.
I continued, “I have already sent a messenger back home carrying a missive detailing your malicious intentions and your theft of the Great Feng's princess. We will bring the full might of our armies to your home and denounce your evil deeds. However... If you bring the princess to me, then all of this can simply be considered a misunderstanding.”
I could not read even the faintest expression on the dragon's face.
Still, I could almost see the creature smirking in contempt.
“Kidnapping, is it?” the dragon said with a laugh. “Bringing out all the classics, I see. A dragon keeping a princess? What's next? Will you claim that I have a tower where I keep her?”
Its golden eyes narrowed.
“I admire your bravery, but not nearly as much as I despise your lying.”
The dragon began ascending into the sky, its mighty wings beating against the air.
At that moment, a small rope with a marble tied to its end crawled across the ground. It slithered up my leg before wrapping around my arm and climbing toward my hand.
I caught the marble.
The moment I touched it, a sound transmission entered my mind.
“Hall Master Feng!” one of my subordinates reported urgently. “We've found the princess! She's inside a residence on the opposite side of the mountains!”
There she was.
I brandished my bladed fan, feeling cold qi pulse through the steel as the golden dragon's roar shook the canyon walls.
“Form the killing circle!”
My voice was low and sharp enough to cut through the wind.
I activated sound transmission and issued the rest of my orders.
“Squads One through Three, head to the opposite side of the mountains and reinforce the recovery team. Squads Four through Nine, prepare the Dragon Sealing Talisman Formation.”
At my command, the assassins flew into the sky on their swords, each holding a talisman as they took their assigned positions. They were only Fourth Tier cultivators, and most of their training had focused on killing arts. It was doubtful that they could truly seal a dragon, but they did not need to.
The formation only needed to hinder the dragon. A moment of distraction was enough. If they could restrain the dragon even for a few breaths, that would be sufficient for us to finish the job.
“My elites,” I called softly. “Prepare yourselves. Today, you are going to become heroes.”
The four elite Fifth Tier members behind me moved like ghosts. Ye Lian's dual short swords whispered free of their sheaths. Old Bai's talismans flared with faint blue light. The twins took the high ground on either side of the broken ridge, arrows already nocked, their tips coated with poison-infused qi.
The heavy rain began to disperse.
Clouds parted overhead, revealing the sun.
The dragon wheeled above us, its scales the color of molten gold beneath the sunlight. Every beat of its mighty wings sent waves of scorching heat rolling across the battlefield. Its eyes were twin pits of pure arrogance. They locked onto me the moment I stepped forward.
“Dragon Sealing Talisman Formation.” I imbued my words with qi, acting as both the anchor and the caster. “Release!”
A spherical barrier suddenly bloomed around the mountain.
The moment it formed, the dragon's flight was disrupted. Its enormous body plummeted from the sky, falling rapidly and unceremoniously toward the ground. I drew a slow breath and cycled wind qi through my steps. The world narrowed. The dragon disappeared from my awareness for a fraction of a heartbeat, then I vanished from the ridge.
I reappeared twenty paces to the dragon's left, my fan already rising in a silver arc aimed directly at the joint of its left wing. Steel met scale with a shriek of metal against metal. Sparks exploded. The dragon roared and twisted, a column of golden fire erupting from its throat. I easily dodged it by expressing the essence of the wind, moving at incredible speeds.
The heat singed the edge of my clothes, but I ignored it.
By the time I rose, I was already inside its guard.
“Now!”
Ye Lian and the twins struck in perfect unison. Poison-coated arrows sank into the softer scales beneath the dragon's jaw. Ye Lian's blades flashed across the tendon of its right foreleg. Old Bai's talismans detonated one after another, unleashing a chain of binding seals that locked the beast's hindquarters in place.
In three heartbeats, the creature remained bound.
My fan found the seam between two of the thickest scales on the dragon's neck. I poured every drop of killing intent I possessed into the strike. Wind qi surged down the edge of the blade as I unleashed my Mystery of Sharpness, the supernatural power capable of slicing through even the toughest metals.
The dragon convulsed.
Golden blood sprayed across my face, hot and metallic. Its massive head snapped toward me. Its jaws opened. They were wide enough to swallow a carriage whole. I did not retreat. Instead, I stepped directly into the bite.
My fan snapped shut. In the same motion, it transformed into a dagger. I drove the blade upward through the soft tissue beneath its tongue, then I twisted.
“Keep the pressure!” I snarled as the beast thrashed violently. “Do not let it take to the air again!”
Old Bai and Ye Lian immediately took thick chains from their storage rings. Sealing arrays had been carved into every link, glowing faintly as they wrapped the chains around the dragon's massive body.
The twins continued to pelt the dragon with poisoned arrows.
One after another, the arrows sank into its scales.
The beast struggled desperately, but its movements gradually became weaker as the poison coursed through its body. Its strength was being sapped little by little until its mighty struggles had been reduced to pathetic flailing.
We were winning.
At least, that was what I thought.
“Yaaawn…”
A long, exaggerated yawn came from behind me. My entire body stiffened. When I turned around, I saw the dragon in human form, the same man I had spoken to not long ago. He was lying on the ground as though he had merely woken from a nap. He rubbed his eyes lazily before looking at me.
“I apologize,” he said. “I was asleep, it seems.”
It seems?
My expression darkened, while my heart sank.
“Since when? How?”
I turned toward the golden dragon we had just subdued.
“What is this?”
The man stood up, still looking remarkably unconcerned. He was standing just outside the barrier. “Since the beginning,” he answered. “When I called you out. Forget about it. I don't have to explain myself to you. Now, let's get this over with. You should have just turned away when you had the chance.”
It suddenly occurred to me that it had not just been me buying time. He had been buying time as well. My blood ran cold. “Disperse the barrier!” I screamed. “Everyone, retreat! Abandon the formation and gather on me!”
The moment my order left my mouth, the bound golden dragon suddenly burst apart into slime. The enormous golden body collapsed into a mass of blue, gelatinous substance before rapidly shrinking into one of those round, slimy creatures we had encountered earlier.
Except this one was much larger.
Before Ye Lian could react, the creature lunged forward and swallowed her whole.
“Lian!”
I moved like the wind. My body blurred as I rushed toward the edge of the mountains, desperately searching for an opening. There was none. I stopped dead. The entire mountain range was surrounded. Blue, round, slimy creatures covered the surrounding terrain, their bodies wobbling as they closed every possible route of escape.
We were trapped.
"Not yet."
Those creatures could not fly. I looked upward, and my blood ran colder. A winged, four-legged beast tore through the sky. It was the same creature I had seen before, the monster that had stolen the Sword General right from under our noses.
I finally understood. It was serving the dragon. The beast moved so quickly that I could barely follow it with my eyes. Every time it descended, another assassin died. Blood splattered through the sky. Bodies fell. Dozens of our men were slaughtered in the time it took me to draw a breath.
My fingers tightened around my storage ring. I summoned my sword. For the first time since entering these mountains, I understood the truth. This was my defeat. “Scatter!” I screamed, forcing every ounce of qi into my voice. “Scatter! Do not fight them! Retreat and regroup at the capital!”
My subordinates scattered in every direction, but it made no difference.
Old Bai suddenly charged toward the dragon in human form out of sheer desperation. The old man knew what he was doing. He knew he would die. Still, he rushed forward in a final attempt to buy the rest of us time. Unlike most of the assassins here, Old Bai was like me, someone who was transferred from the military.
The man-dragon merely raised his staff. He thumped it against the ground. Earthen spikes erupted from beneath Old Bai. The old man's body was impaled in a single instant. He died without even reaching his target.
The twins turned and fled toward the opposite side of the mountain, but they did not make it far. A figure dropped from the sky. Sword qi flashed. The twins were cut down in only a few exchanges. I recognized that figure immediately. It was the Sword General.
Sun Jian landed lightly among the falling bodies and looked directly at me.
“You are really still alive,” he said. His expression was one of genuine surprise. “How did you do it?”
I did not answer. I fled. I poured wind qi into my sword and shot toward the sky as swiftly as I could. I had no pride left, but I would survive. I must escape, reach the capital, and warn the ministers. I froze as I heard a voice, soft and almost gentle.
“Sun King's Ray of Destruction.”
A beam of sunlight zigzagged through the sky. I barely saw it, then a burning hole appeared in my chest. I looked down. My bloodied clothes fluttered around the wound. The beam continued past me, striking several of the assassins who had been fleeing alongside me.
One after another, they were pierced by sunlight. Their bodies began to burn. They screamed. They fell from the sky. Dozens died in an instant. The same thing was happening to me, except I was still alive. I had spent my entire life believing that if I planned carefully enough, calculated enough variables, and prepared enough contingencies, I could overcome almost anything.
But what could I calculate against a dragon that was not a dragon? What could I plan against an army of monsters that could surround an entire mountain? What could I do against enemies who had been playing with us from the very beginning?
My consciousness began to fade.
The sky spun above me.
My body continued falling.
Am I going to die?
Not yet.
I still had the Ring of Resurrection.
Even with my insides burning from the wound, I forced myself forward. Every cultivation tier granted something to those who reached it. Sometimes only a small improvement, other times a change far greater. For Spirit Mystery, cultivators gained a supernatural power, a Mystery born from the essence they had comprehended. But I had already reached the Sixth Tier, Essence Gathering.
At this level, I possessed the ability to freely embody the essence I had cultivated. However, there was more. It was called the Art of Elementalization, only achieved through complete understanding of the essence. Through Elementalization, I could transform my body into the very essence I had cultivated.
For me, it was wind.
I became wind itself. In a few breaths, I crossed a vast distance, leaving the battlefield far behind me. I had no intention of looking back. My body was already failing. The burning wound in my chest had robbed me of most of my strength, yet I continued to push myself onward. Just a little farther. I only needed to survive.
My vision darkened. My legs gave out. I fell to my knees. Then I died.
The world went black.
A surge of qi suddenly erupted from the ring on my finger. The Ring of Resurrection shattered, its stored power flooding into my body. My lungs filled with air. My heart beat. I gasped violently as I returned to life.
I immediately touched my chest. The wound was gone. There was not even a scar. I was alive. I was really alive.
I looked behind me. In the distance, I could make out the silhouette of mountains. I did not hesitate. I had no time to mourn the subordinates I had abandoned, no time to wonder about the fate of the princess, no time to think about the dragon, the Sword General, or the monsters surrounding the Goldenreach Mountains. I had survived. That was enough.
I immediately turned toward the forest and fled.