As far as their eyes could see, the skies were clear. The Lichuan Plains were already within sight, the silvery riverâs meandering outline faintly visible.
The White Ice Morning Dragon wasnât as big as the Eagle Dragon, so bearing the weight of two humans was actually rather taxing. He was currently able to maintain his flight speed by mainly relying on his control over wind magicâŚ
Duan Lan had not yet overcome the trauma of Ke Beiâs death, her gaze dispirited.
âWeâre arriving soon!â Zhu Minglang announced, pointing to the ground.
The three rivers and the streams slowly converging in the middle of the plains meant that they were not far from Ancestral Dragon City State.
After arriving at the Dragon Tamers Academy, Luo Xiao would be courting his own death if he continued chasing them.
âYuâŚâ the White Ice Morning Dragon cried out, alerting his passengers.
Zhu Minglang furrowed his brow, and he turned around to look. He saw the clear sky behind them was scarlet red, an eye-catching mass of flame at a higher altitude quickly closing in on them.
The heat wave had already swept over them. The unrelenting Luo Xiao and Gilded Fire Dragon had finally caught up!
âWeâre very close to the Academy now.â Before Zhu Minglang, a large spread of blue lake was visible far from the stream.
That was where the Dragon Tamers Academy was located. However, given Baiqiâs speed, theyâd be intercepted by the domineering Gilded Fire Dragon first.
âAo!!â Suddenly, the Deep River Dragonâs roar rang out. A Summoning imprint appeared, and a flood dragon with azure scales came flying out of thin air. Surrounded by circles of watery waves, it rammed into the oncoming Gilded Fire Dragon.
âQianlin!â Duan Lan didnât Summon it. The Deep River Dragon was coming out of her spirit domain of its own will!
Forcibly coming out of their masterâs spirit domain would damage the Dragon Tamer to a certain extent. However, the Deep River Dragon obviously didnât want to see his owner dying tragically under the claws of the Gilded Fire Dragon. He wanted to buy the last bit of time for Zhu Minglang and Duan Lan!
âQuickly recall your Deep River Dragon!â Zhu Minglang hurriedly urged her.
Baiqi was already gathering the wind. It might be possible for them to return to the Dragon Tamers Academy before the Gilded Fire Dragon caught up to them if they flew at top speedâŚ
Of course, it was a very risky gambit!
Baiqi didnât have much stamina left, nor battle strength. He had no way of assisting the Deep River Dragon. The Deep River Dragon wouldnât end up any better than the Eagle Dragon if it fought the Gilded Fire Dragon one on one now!
âCome back,â Duan Lan activated her imprint, letting the Deep River Dragon return to her spirit domain.
Alas, the Gilded Fire Dragon had already arrived. Luo Xiao immediately noticed the blue Summoning imprint, and he quickly ordered the Gilded Fire Dragon to charge toward it!
âTeacher Duan Lan, watch out, heâs attacking the imprint!â Zhu Minglang hurriedly warned her when he saw this.
The Deep River Dragon had no intention of returning, and Duan Lan didnât close the gateway, either. The Gilded Fire Dragon slammed heavily into the imprint, which then completely fell apart in the air, like glass breaking.
âPuu..!â Having suffered a serious shock to her soul, Duan Lan spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. She lost all vitality, nearly falling off the White Ice Morning Dragonâs back.
Zhu Minglang hurriedly caught the now-feeble Teacher Duan Lan. He saw her clothing was dyed red with blood, then shifted his gaze to the Deep River Dragon, who was fighting the Gilded Fire Dragon recklesslyâŚ
The Deep River Dragonâs judgment was correct. Even if they flew at Baiqiâs top speed, they wouldnât arrive at the Academy in time!
Why were Teacher Duan Lan and the Deep River Dragon doing this? In order to leave a path of retreat for the other, Duan Lan deliberately chose to not recall her imprint when facing an enemy attack, even though she clearly knew doing so would injure her soul. On the other hand, the Deep River Dragon chose to leave the spirit domain to save its master, willingly using itself as a meat shield to hold back the Gilded Fire DragonâŚ
âYu!âŚâ The White Ice Morning Dragon didnât stop for even a moment, continuing flying in the Academyâs direction. His wings were so sore that he could no longer beat them, and could only rely on wind magic to continue gliding.
Every dragon had their own thoughts. Even if Zhu Minglang chose to fight, Baiqi wouldnât listen. He only wanted Zhu Minglang to survive this!
His eyes clear like ice, the White Ice Morning Dragon turned around to look at the Gilded Fire Dragon as he flew on. It seemed like he wanted to burn the appearance of the Gilded Fire Dragon into his heart!
Given some time, he would definitely shred this arrogant fire dragon to pieces in the future!
Similarly, Zhu Minglangâs heart was burning with rage. It had been years since someone made him this angry!
He was surely going to back this grudge tenfold!
ââ
The clear skies were covered in scarlet flames. Countless blue scales fell from the Deep River Dragonâs body, fresh blood covering its entire body. Even if it still had sufficient magic, it couldnât win against the Gilded Fire Dragon.
âDamn it, damn it, damn it!!â Luo Xiao flew into a rage. The Deep River Dragon had thwarted his chance to kill Zhu Minglang. The White Ice Morning Dragon was about to fly into the Dragon Tamers Academyâs borders!
âToss it aside and give chase!â Luo Xiao commanded.
Originally, the Gilded Fire Dragon wanted to chomp off the Deep River Dragonâs head. After hearing his order, it threw the dying dragon violently to the ground.
Flames swirling around it, the Gilded Fire Dragon flapped its strong wings, chasing in the Academyâs directionâŚ
The Deep River Dragon fell faster and faster. If it crashed directly into the ground, it was sure to turn into meat paste.
Luckily, the Lichuan River was directly underneath it. It fell into the rolling stream, its blood spreading in the water. It dyed a large spread of the river red, painting a harrowing scene.
Soon, it floated to the surface, its belly face up, washed down the quick-flowing stream like an abandoned corpse. No one knew where it would drift off toâŚ
ââ
At the stalls by the bridge in Phoenix Falls Town, the vendors were saying their goodbyes to one another happily, picking up their carrying poles and getting ready to have dinner at home.
The peach girl, Niannian, also hefted her bamboo basket on her back. However, the bamboo basket didnât contain any peaches, but stinky silkworms. With an unwilling look on her face, she walked toward the lakeside.
Pursing her lips, Fang Niannian really didnât understand how she became a caretaker after selling some merchandise to someone. By what right did that person leave a big, black, and ugly crocodile spirit to her to feed? Not even if he paid a caretaking fee!
After arriving at the lakeside and feeding the big crocodile spirit, Fang Niannian looked bored when suddenly, an idea struck her.
âHow about you go catch a few big fish for me to cook soup with? Treat it as my reward for feeding you,â Fang Niannian suggested to the black crocodile spirit in the water.
The crocodile spirit had been bored out of his mind for a long time. Zhu Minglang had limited him to a small area of activity. Since someone was willing to bring him to the waterfall, it wasnât considered him wandering off on his own!
Following Fang Niannian, the big crocodile spirit went walking around in Phoenix Falls Town. Although they were taking the smaller, out of the way paths, they still came across some people. Fortunately, the people from Phoenix Falls Town were used to seeing Dragon Tamers who didnât have their own spirit domains yet. Seeing someone walking their crocodile spirit wasnât something unexpected, just that theyâd take the initiative to avoid them.
After detouring and arriving at the pond under the waterfall, Fang Niannian pulled up her sleeves and started ordering Heiya around randomly.
âYouâre so stupid, you dumb fish. Do you have the blood of a pig in you? Why did you stop chasing halfwayâŚâ
Just as Fang Niannian thought to jump into the pond to do the catching herself, a huge silhouette that seemed to be an ancient water snake suddenly appeared in the rapid stream of the waterfall, crashing down into the pond.
The odor of blood spread. Fang Niannian turned pale from fright, and fell into the water.
Luckily, she was in a shallow area of the pond. When she got back up, Fang Niannian went to take a look at the creature that fell from the waterfall. To her surprise, it actually turned out to be a flood dragon!
Why did a dragon suddenly fall from above!?
And this dragon⌠it appeared to be dead, allowing the waterfall to continuously crash onto its body, showing no signs of vitality.
âOuou!⌠Ouou!âŚâ
Heiya kept crying when he saw the flood dragon, and he went swimming toward the corpse-like creature.
The pond was huge, and the odor of blood spread very quickly, especially since it belonged to a real flood dragon. Soon, the creatures nested in this pond emerged from the water, one after another, including some Demon Spirits that nested behind the waterfall. They, too, followed the scent of blood and came here.
Seeing the demon spirits gradually appearing in the pond, Fang Niannian grew so scared she no longer dared to speak louder.
-Why didnât I see so many monsters in this pond before?
-Could it be that all of them want a piece of this flood dragonâs corpse?-
Indeed, the monsters gathered around the blue flood dragon. Given the number of those demons, it wouldnât take long for them to completely devour the flood dragon, leaving not even the bones behind!
âWuo!!!â
âWuo!!!â
The big crocodile spirit guarded the flood dragon, showing no intention of leaving. Feeling the threat of the little demons from all directions, he roared at the group of water demons.
âWhat are you doing, Heiya?! They want to eat the flood dragon!â Fang Niannian shouted.
The big crocodile spirit continued roaring, staring at the approaching demons.
One of the creatures, a water snake, bared its fangs, in a posture ready to lunge at its prey. At this moment, the big crocodile spirit seized the initiative to attack, jumping right at it and biting down on this thick poisonous snake, tearing it into two halves in front of all the other demons!
The nearby demons retreated a bit in caution, but more and more demon spirits came gathering at the odor of blood, surrounding the Deep River Dragon in circles, staring fiercely at Heiya.
Fang Niannian didnât understand what this big stupid crocodile was doing.
Given its cultivation as a crocodile dragon that was about to dragonize, it should be able to get the lionâs share, no matter what. As long as it didnât try to monopolize the blue flood dragon for itself, the other water demon spirits wouldnât try to gang up on it.
Why did it have to anger all the demon spirits in the pond!?
âOuou!!!â the big crocodile spirit roared again. However, his cries were drowned out by the surrounding demons. The nearby demonsâ eyes were all shining with killing intent, and they all pounced toward the delicacy that was the Deep River Dragon at the same time.
Heiya held his position, not retreating at all. He met the group of water demons head on, and started fighting with them in the pond. In no time at all, the entire pond was dyed red with blood!
âIâll go find back up. Big guy, you hold on!â Fang Niannian realized Heiya wasnât trying to monopolize the delicacy for himself, but that he was actually protecting the flood dragon!
Ignoring her soaked body, she dashed toward the Dragon Tamers Academy with all her speed.
The roars were deafening. At this moment, the little demons hiding in the deep pond became much more ferocious than usual. The carcass of a two-hundred-year-old Violent Catfish was already something they were ready to fight for, not to mention a real flood dragon!