“Shu Long, you and your father stay outside. We’ll go in and take a look,” Xu Zimo said after thinking for a mont.
It wasn’t the others he feared, but rather the unknown dangers that might lie within the Primordial Dragon’s inheritance.
Shu Long didn’t insist on following. He had co this far only to follow Xu Zimo and Wu Zhaodi anyway.
The others had already entered the cave after crossing through the tide of corpse worms. Xu Zimo and Wu Zhaodi exchanged a glance and followed after them.
As soon as they stepped into the cave, the light vanished. Darkness swallowed everything, they couldn’t even see their own hands.
In the stillness, the faint sound of dripping water echoed, each drop striking the stone and breaking the silence.
“Now can you tell who you really are?” Xu Zimo asked.
“You’re that curious?” Wu Zhaodi countered.
“I’m not curious about your identity,” Xu Zimo said. “There are just things I want to ask. If your background were too ordinary, there wouldn’t be much point.”
“Since we’ve gotten along fairly well so far, ask whatever you want,” Wu Zhaodi said. “If I know the answer, I’ll tell you.”
“Have you ever seen the Ancient Demon Race?” Xu Zimo asked.
“I have. The Celestial Luan God Realm sends envoys to pay homage to them every year. A few years ago, I happened to go a few tis myself,” Wu Zhaodi replied.
“Pay homage?” Xu Zimo said in surprise. “The Celestial Luan God Realm should be quite powerful, shouldn’t it?”
“In so ways, it’s no weaker than the Dragon God Imperium, perhaps even more powerful,” Wu Zhaodi said after thinking for a mont.
“So strong, yet still subject to the Ancient Demon Race?” Xu Zimo murmured. “Could the Ancient Demon Race really have beco that powerful?” After a pause, he asked, “Do you know what realm the strongest of the Ancient Demon Race has reached now?”
“That I truly don’t know,” Wu Zhaodi said, shaking her head. “Only the demons themselves know their true strength. In recent years, the Godfiend Abyss Heaven has had several major wars, but the Ancient Demon Race rarely participates directly. Ordinary people have almost forgotten about them, but those of us who know the truth understand that the demons are everywhere.”
As they talked, a sudden scream echoed from deeper within the cave.
Both frowned and quickened their pace.
Soon, they ca across a corpse, its heart gouged out, its flesh drained of vitality.
The body looked like it had been dead for so ti, yet they had just heard that scream.
“One of those black-robed n,” Wu Zhaodi said imdiately. “What happened to them?”
“Keep going,” Xu Zimo said indifferently. “We’ll find out soon enough.”
Wu Zhaodi crouched beside the corpse and pulled back the sleeve of its robe, revealing a wrist marked with a strange symbol, an eye.
“The Vast Heaven Imperium,” Wu Zhaodi said, eyes narrowing. “These black-robed n are from the royal family of the Vast Heaven Imperium.”
“How can you be sure? Just from that mark?” Xu Zimo asked.
“Yes. The Vast Heaven Imperium’s totem is impossible to forge,” she said with certainty. “It’s part of their bloodline, inherited from birth.”
“What kind of power is the Vast Heaven Imperium?” Xu Zimo asked.
“They border the Dragon God Imperium. Long ago, the two nations often fought,” Wu Zhaodi explained. “But ever since the Vast Heaven Saint Sovereign ascended the throne, the wars have stopped.”
“I didn’t expect that even for this Primordial Dragon’s inheritance, the Vast Heaven Imperium would send people,” she added.
“The Vast Heaven Saint Sovereign…” Xu Zimo murmured.
“Yes,” Wu Zhaodi said. “The Dragon God Saint Sovereign and the Vast Heaven Saint Sovereign are called the Two Sovereigns, the greatest rulers in their empires’ histories. If their nations had kept fighting, both would have weakened, letting outside forces like ours take advantage. But when these two ascended, the wars ceased, and instead, they allied.”
“I’ve heard that even in the empires, so demons hold positions of power,” Xu Zimo said.
“That’s true,” Wu Zhaodi confird.
Though they kept talking, both remained cautious, watching their surroundings.
Eventually, a faint light appeared ahead.
The narrow, oppressive cave finally opened up, and they quickened their steps.
When they erged from the darkness, they found themselves before a grand hall.
On one side stood the remaining survivors, the black-robed n of the Vast Heaven Imperium and Elder Qi Kuangyin of the Three Luan Holy Lands. These were the only two factions left.
They faced each other tensely, and Xu Zimo’s arrival broke the fragile balance.
“This young master, we’ve t before, at the Shu estate,” Qi Kuangyin said in surprise when he saw them. Then, with a forced smile, he added, “Why not join forces? We’ll eliminate these foreigners and then share the inheritance.”
“Share the inheritance?” one of the black-robed n laughed mockingly. “That’s the kind of lie you tell a three-year-old.”
“You two can stop arguing,” Xu Zimo interrupted lazily. “I’ll be taking the inheritance.”
He looked up toward the far end of the hall, and there, suspended in the air, were eight massive dragon skeletons.
Behind the dragon bones, they were dragging a coffin.
The Primordial Dragon pulling the coffin, the sight alone was awe-inspiring. The coffin itself was dark purple, nearly black, made of so unknown material.
That darkness seed to swirl like a vortex, so deep and endless that it drew the soul toward it, impossible to look at for long.
“Young man, for your age, your tone is quite arrogant,” Qi Kuangyin sneered. “In that case, let’s remove you first.”
He exchanged a glance with the black-robed man, and both attacked Xu Zimo at the sa ti.
“Weren’t you looking for revenge?” Xu Zimo asked Wu Zhaodi with a faint smile. “He’s yours.”
“He’s not my real target,” she replied. “Just soone I owe a beating to, on behalf of the Celestial Luan God Realm.”
With that, she leapt into battle against Qi Kuangyin.
Qi Kuangyin waved his hand, summoning three luans. These divine birds, though weaker than the true Celestial Luan, were still imnsely powerful.
But when Wu Zhaodi conjured her own Celestial Luan, Qi Kuangyin’s expression changed dramatically.
“You’re from the Celestial Luan God Realm,” he said.
Then his eyes narrowed as realization struck. “A Celestial Luan at your age, so you’re one of the fugitives they branded as a remnant.”
“Remnant?” Wu Zhaodi repeated coldly. Her aura flared even stronger.
“They’ll see soon enough who the real remnants are, those who betrayed their faith and defied heaven,” she said.
The two luans collided, unleashing waves of imnse power that rippled through the hall.
“You two should hurry up and finish,” Xu Zimo said casually, and in that instant, he seized the black-robed man by the throat.
With a flick of his wrist, he tore the man’s head clean off and flung it aside.
Qi Kuangyin froze in horror.
That black-robed man’s strength had been equal to his own, yet Xu Zimo had killed him effortlessly, like swatting a fly.
Xu Zimo didn’t bother to look back. He simply turned and walked, step by step, toward the coffin the Primordial Dragon was dragging.
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