“How do I absorb it?” “Stir your bloodline power,” Darian said. “The orb will recognize its master on its own.” Jared did not hesitate. He reached out and closed his hand around the orb.
In that instant a torrent of draconic energy surged into him. The rush was so dense that his meridians brimmed to bursting almost at once, his entire body straining against the flood.
Yet Jared’s expression stayed steady. He drove his bloodline power in a wild circuit, swallowing the incoming energy. Darian watched the scene, the shock in its eyes growing with every heartbeat.
This human… No, this Successor of the Dragon Sovereign Bloodline….. Is actually taking the Dragon Orb’s draconic energy head-on?
That energy has stacked up for ten thousand years. Even the average Draconian refines it grain by grain, step by step… Swallowing it whole like that is nothing short of suicide!
Yet Jared did not fall. On the contrary, each pulse he drew in grew fiercer than the last. The power wrapped around him and pushed upward. Top Level High Immortal Realm Level One…
A few breaths to reach High Immortal Realm Level Two…
Then High Immortal Realm Level Two middle phase. Seconds later, reaching the Top Level High Immortal Realm Level Two…
Boom! A violent surge burst from Jared’s body and rippled across the water. He opened his eyes. Gold streamed through his pupils, and an unspoken pressure rolled out with every breath he drew.
Top Level High Immortal Realm Level Two!
Only a single step short of High Immortal Realm Level Three. Darian stared, his huge frame quivering so hard the waves slapped against his scales.
“This… How can this be…” He muttered. He swallowed the Dragon Orb’s energy directly and still broke through. Even Emperor Deragon back then could not manage that…
Jared let go of the Dragon Orb and looked at the dragon in front of him. “Well? Something bothering you?”
A jolt ran through Darian; his enormous head slammed against the lake’s surface with a loud thud.
“Subordinate Darian pays homage to the Dragon Emperor!” The declaration rolled out low, every word hammered into the air. “Your Majesty’s talent stands unmatched. From this day forward, I will march through fire and water at your command!”
Jared glanced at the once-towering dragon now flattened against the water, the corner of his mouth lifting a fraction. “Get up…”
Darian raised his head inch by inch.
Seeing Jared’s expression unchanged, the dragon finally let his breath ease out. He was about to speak when a sudden tremor in the surrounding aura cut him off. His pupils tightened.
“Your Majesty, the fluctuations you caused while absorbing the Dragon Orb were too strong. The Dragon Sovereign Bloodline’s signature has most likely spread.”
Jared lifted a brow. “Spread?”
Darian nodded. “The Draconians vanished ten millennia ago, yet not all were wiped out. Inside the Fourteenth Firmament a few branches still hide. They could have sensed what you released…”
He paused, a shadow crossing his eyes. “Especially the Sky Dragon Lineage.”
A sharp light flickered across Jared’s gaze. “Sky Dragon Lineage?”
A moment earlier, Darian had said he himself was an Elder of the Sky Dragons. That meant Dragonmere was originally a secret realm of that very line.
Catching Jared’s doubt, Darian explained, “Within the Draconians, bloodlines follow strict rank. The Five-Clawed Golden Dragon stands at the peak below it come branches. like the Sky Dragon, Winged River Dragon, and Flood Dragon… My Sky Dragon Lineage sits right beneath the royal blood.”
He added, “When Emperor Deragon foresaw the calamity ten thousand years ago, he scattered the clans. Some of my kin took refuge in hidden corners of the Fourteenth Firmament. They are still alive.”
Jared listened without comment, his expression unchanged.
Darian looked up at him, choosing each word with care. “They may send someone to investigate. When that happens…”
The sentence trailed off, leaving the outcome hanging between them. If the Sky Dragons came, friend or foe remained uncertain.
Silence stretched, then Jared’s lips curled. “Let them come.”
His voice stayed even. “I’m curious to see what scraps of the Draconians have survived ten thousand years.”
Darian lowered his gaze once more, the membranes above his eyes quivering.
The Successor’s bearing matched his strength, neither had fallen behind the tales of Emperor Deragon.
Jared stowed the Dragon Orb and looked at Darian. “What else is hidden in this Dragonmere?”
Darian thought for a moment. “Your Majesty already claimed ninety percent of the treasures. The leftovers hold little value. However…”
He turned toward the dark patch deep beneath the water. “There is the Demon Dragon Bloom’s seal. Would Your Majesty care to inspect it?”
Jared’s brows knit by a thread.
Demon Dragon Bloom…
After a heartbeat he nodded. “Lead the way.”
With a single sweep of his colossal tail, Darian pivoted and glided toward the bottom of the pool.
Jared followed close behind, man and dragon closing in on that eerie patch of midnight water. The nearer they swam, the heavier the baleful presence pressed against them.
Jared could already tell the power sealed inside the black blossom ran completely counter to draconic energy. If draconic energy carried light and vitality, then the Demon Dragon Bloom radiated darkness and lifeless decay. It fed on draconic energy and rotted the Draconian race from the inside out.
No wonder the clan had branded it a forbidden thing…
Jared stopped in front of the seal and studied the black flower in silence.
The bloom was as wide as a millstone, every petal shone pitch-black, and blood-red light pulsed inside the stamen Each gentle sway siphoned another wisp of draconic energy.
He could sense a twisted force coiled within the petals, a force that made his heartbeat falter for half a breath. At the same time, a fierce hunger surged up from inside his body.
The craving sprang from the deepest layer of his bloodline. His Golden Dragon Bloodline wanted to devour the Demon Dragon Bloom. Jared’s gaze sharpened.
What in the world was this reaction?
Even a Golden Dragon Bloodline hungered for a clan taboo? Darian noticed the change on Jared’s face and ventured a worried call. “Your Majesty, what troubles you?”
Jared forced down the throb in his veins and shook his head. “It’s nothing…”
He gave the Demon Dragon Bloom one last lingering look, then turned away. This thing could not be touched… At least not yet…
But one day, he would return.
