All color drained from Morven’s face. He, at last, understood that the Jared standing here was nothing like the man who had fled before them three days earlier.
The change had nothing to do with a simple rise in cultivation level, it came from something else, that aura. The same crushing presence that made the very blood in Morven’s veins quiver. It was the oppression of the Dragon Sovereign Bloodline.
Three days ago Jared had been badly wounded, his energy sealed, unable to tap the bloodline’s true strength. Today the wounds were gone, the Binding Collar had been removed, and the bloodline was fully awake.
In this moment Jared was the true Emperor Deragon. An unnamed unease rushed through Morven; his shoulders twitched and he edged one step back.
Right then, Jared moved. He took a single step forward. In Morven’s eyes that step flipped heaven and earth over on themselves.
An invisible weight slammed down, solid as stone, crushing against his body. Dragon blood inside him seemed to congeal; his knees buckled and nearly hit the ground.
“N-No… Impossible…” Morven mumbled, “You’re only High Immortal Realm Level Three… How can you…”
Jared offered no reply. He merely lifted his hand and pointed at Morven. A muffled pop rang out. A thread of golden light shot from his fingertip.
The beam looked faint, yet the instant it appeared Morven felt death descend on him. He tried to dodge, but his body felt nailed in place. The gold light bored straight through his forehead.
Morven froze where he stood, the look on his face fixed forever. A thumb-thick hole opened between his brows, dark red blood leaking out. His mouth worked, searching for words that would never come.
Bang! The corpse hit the ground. Morven had fallen. From the body, the Dragon Sovereign Seal drifted over and settled into Jared’s palm.
Seeing this, Quentin and Silas stood stupefied. They had not even processed what happened before Morven was already dead.
Quentin let out a furious roar and turned to flee. Silas bolted right after him. They had flown less than ten yards when Jared appeared before them.
“Why the hurry?” Jared’s tone stayed calm. “Weren’t you here to kill me and steal my bloodline?”
Despair flashed in Quentin’s eyes, he threw everything he had into a punch aimed at Jared. Jared neither dodged nor raised a guard. He simply stayed where he was and let the fist crash into his chest.
Bang! The strike landed squarely. Jared did not so much as sway, yet agony shot through Quentin’s hand, every knuckle shattered.
“Y-Your body…” Quentin’s eyes widened. Jared looked at him and spoke softly, “Ah… The Dragon Essence Elixir Darian gave me didn’t just raise my cultivation, it tempered my flesh. My body now matches True Immortal toughness.”
He raised his hand and tapped Quentin lightly on the forehead. Quentin’s brow caved in, the light in his eyes went out, and the body dropped from the sky.
Silas stared at what had just taken place. The faint light in his eyes guttered out as though someone had pinched the wick.
With a dull splash he dropped to his knees and knocked his forehead against the ground again and again “S-Spare me! Your Majesty the Dragon Emperor, spare me! I submit I’ll follow you!”
Jared lowered his gaze to the kneeling figure. His eyes stayed as calm as still water.
“Submit?” In a voice barely above a murmur he repeated the word, then added, “When you chose the demons, did surrender ever cross your mind?”
Silas shook from head to toe. His mouth opened, but no sound escaped. Jared looked away, raised one hand, and brought his palm straight down.
Splat…
Silas’s body keeled over and landed in a widening pool of blood. The three Demon Dragons were finished, every last one of them. From Jared’s first move to the final corpse, only ten breaths had passed.
Jared stood between the bodies. His robe remained spotless; not a single drop of blood had dared touch it. He turned and looked toward
Dominic, who had wedged himself into a cleft at the base of the cliff, shaking so hard, his back thumped against the rock.
A small line formed between Jared’s brows. Dominic was nowhere in sight. All that remained on the ground was a damp patch and the faint residue of a teleportation talisman.
Jared lifted his eyes. Far out on the skyline a single figure fled with everything it had, then slipped beyond the horizon.
“Teleportation talisman…” Jared said, the words carrying a thin edge of disappointment.
He did not give chase since he knew once a talisman like that ignited, it hurled its user a thousand miles in an instant. Catching up was impossible.
So be it…
In Jared’s eyes, rubbish like Dominic made no difference alive or dead. He let the horizon go and turned toward Vivian.
Vivian still sat collapsed on the ground, every limb drained of strength. Even so, her wide eyes clung to Jared and had not shifted for a single heartbeat.
Everything that had just happened had unfolded right in front of her.
The guards who had hunted her for three straight days and nights had been crushed by Jared the way someone snaps an ant between two fingers. The three fearsome Demon Dragons had been cut down inside ten breaths.
Dominic, the man who had driven her past the brink of terror, had wet himself and bolted the moment Jared’s gaze fell on him.
Her lips parted, but only silent words formed, “This man…”
She felt Jared stood at a height she could scarcely imagine. His power was not merely cultivated strength, it pulsed from his very marrow, something he seemed born with. That presence bent knees, drew worship, and, before she could stop it, sent a quick spike through her heartbeat.
Jared reached her, crouched, and met her eyes with a warmth that steadied her breathing. “Miss Chance, can you walk?”
Vivian blinked, color seeping into her cheeks. Head lowered, she whispered, “My… My legs won’t hold me…”
Jared let out a quiet laugh and lifted her to her feet with a steady hand. She rose, Jared’s cloak draped over her shoulders, leaning into him while a rare sense of safety settled over her.
“Jared…” Her voice floated out as a breath. “T-Thank you…”
Jared shook his head. “Save the thanks. I was late, that hardship falls on me.”
Moisture welled in her eyes, tears threatened to slip free again. He patted her back in a light, calming rhythm. “Come on. I’ll take you somewhere.”
Vivian nodded, pressed against him, and let him guide her toward the depths of the mountains. Behind them, corpses lay strewn across the ground.
The three Demon Dragon bodies rested in their own blood, silent and still. High in the distant air, a faint, barely formed awareness hovered and watched everything that had unfolded.
A few moments later, that hidden awareness thinned and drifted away.
