The half-dragonified King of Lin Qi became taller than before, one hand hoisting Huan’s neck, the other holding dragon blood.
His enlarged hands and feet were covered in jet-black scales, his dragon tail clearly visible, his eyes black-red, and his teeth transformed into a mouthful of fangs.
He had completely lost all human appearance.
“Huan’er, this is the gap between you and me.”
After saying that, he instantly slammed Huan heavily to the ground, and quickly placed the dragon blood in his hand between Huan’s lips.
Huan gritted her teeth and closed her mouth, trying to resist.
But the King of Lin Qi forcibly pried open her lips.
“Be good, Huan’er. After you drink it, you’ll be normal.”
“……”
Yue watched helplessly from the side.
She wanted to stop it, but unfortunately, her foot was severely injured, unable to walk, and she had lost her weapon nearby.
“Sister—”
“The tunnel has opened!”
These words suddenly appeared, and the King of Lin Qi looked around warily.
But he didn’t see any tunnel.
“Who’s talking!”
“Made it in time!”
CRASH!!
The tunnel was actually on the ceiling.
Yao Xing directly raised her longsword and chopped down toward the King of Lin Qi from midair.
The King of Lin Qi had no time to react, and the dragon blood was knocked over!
“My dragon blood!”
THUD
All the dragon blood spilled onto the ground, corroding the stone bricks.
Huan stared in shock at Yao Xing before her.
She had been saved by Yao Xing and was now protected behind her.
“Hero…”
Yao Xing smiled.
“Great! I finally managed to save you!”
….
“You…”
“You… all…!”
“These petty villains! To not know the value of dragon blood and spill all the rare dragon blood on the ground!”
The King of Lin Qi’s eyes turned red, clearly showing extreme anger.
His body grew larger and larger, seemingly about to break through human limits and fully dragonify.
Huan saw this and said in panic, “Hero, don’t worry about me. Open the door and escape quickly. After he fully dragonifies, he’ll be very dangerous!”
“Don’t be afraid.”
Those words fell like a calming needle.
Huan silently followed Yao Xing’s gaze and looked at the situation before them.
“King of Lin Qi, long time no see.”
The dragonifying King of Lin Qi turned his head distractedly, but was startled back a few steps by the black dragon scales.
“How is that possible, you are—”
Xu’s expression was calm, but the killing intent on his body was already apparent.
CRASH!
Without a word, the King of Lin Qi was kicked into the wall by Xu, interrupting his dragonification process.
“Puh—ah—”
The King of Lin Qi painfully walked out of the wall, but Xu was already standing before him.
“Thanks to you, I was turned into this state, and my father died because you harmed me!”
The King of Lin Qi said coldly, “Heh… blame your bad luck… you just had to appear before me… otherwise I wouldn’t have made you an experiment—”
CRASH—
CRASH—
CRASH—
CRASH!
Xu didn’t listen to any nonsense, countless fists raining down heavily.
The King of Lin Qi visibly deactivated his half-dragonification, and his body showed signs of fractures.
Compared to Xu, who had maintained a dragonified form since childhood, the King of Lin Qi was still too inexperienced.
“King of Lin Qi, today I will use your corpse to honor my father’s spirit.”
“Hehe… ridiculous… you ate your father… don’t make it sound like I killed him…”
Hearing this, Xu’s pupils trembled, and then an extreme rage washed over him.
CRASH CRASH CRASH—
CRASH CRASH CRASH!
Countless fists fell, giving the King of Lin Qi no chance to speak.
Until Xu’s anger subsided, the King of Lin Qi was already beaten completely out of shape.
“……”
Huan just quietly watched all of this happen.
Yao Xing looked at Huan’s heavy expression and apologized worriedly, “Sorry, to let you see such a—”
Huan shook her head.
“Father King deserved it. You don’t need to apologize for me… On the contrary, I am very grateful for your lifesaving grace.”
After saying that, a light sword appeared in Huan’s hand, and she walked toward the dying King of Lin Qi.
“Huan’er… open the storage cabinet… there… is what you want…”
Huan said nothing. After the King of Lin Qi stopped speaking.
STAB…
The light sword pierced into the King of Lin Qi’s body.
In an instant, all the wrongs the King of Lin Qi had done in that moment were returned onto himself.
Yue was thus able to walk again.
“Is it over like this…”
Xu silently watched all this, looking at the King’s final breath, but his displeasure could not be relieved at all.
Anuo jumped down from the tunnel in the air and walked toward Xu.
“This is bad. We’ve eliminated a country’s ruler…”
….
Leaving the underground palace, since Huan had no desire to deal with the King of Lin Qi’s affairs, Yue took the initiative to go with Yao Xing to the royal storage room.
They needed to open the storage cabinet the King had mentioned and obtain what he called “what Huan wants.”
Along the way, it was very quiet.
Yue spoke first.
“Thank you for saving my sister.”
Yao Xing was stunned for a moment, then replied politely, “You’re welcome.”
“As for the throne, Lin Qi cannot be without a king even for a day. Do you want to leave Lin Qi with me, or inherit the throne?”
Yue thought for a long time.
“If my sister were to choose, she would probably choose to inherit the throne. A good person like her, overflowing with sympathy, would definitely want to personally fill the void in Lin Qi.”
“If she washed her hands of it, then she wouldn’t be my sister.”
‘Is that so…’
‘But it’s also safe, since the threat of the King of Lin Qi is gone. If Huan inherits, it’s not all bad.’
Yao Xing continued walking, but her heart was a little uneasy.
“If Huan really inherits the throne… what if an assassin comes… what should we do…”
“Don’t worry, aren’t I here? I will protect my sister!”
As they talked, they arrived at the storage room.
The guards outside, still unaware, simply stepped aside to let the princess and the hero enter.
Inside the storage room, a safe was shockingly placed on the table.
But they didn’t know the password.
Yue had to guess randomly.
“Try the father king’s birthday?”
“What about mother’s birthday?”
“Could it be sister’s birthday?”
“Date of Lin Qi’s founding?”
“Grandmother’s birthday?”
In the end, all wrong.
Until this one attempt.
“Hero, try my birthday?”
CLICK…
It worked.
The password for this safe was actually Yue’s birthday?
Curious, Yue puzzledly opened the safe.
“Ah!!”
Suddenly, the dragon blood hidden in the safe burst out horribly, splashing heavily onto Yue’s face!
“Yue!”
Seeing Yue stagger back in pain, Yao Xing quickly took out a gold silk cloth and hurriedly wiped Yue’s face.
“Yue…”
The dragon blood had already, unpredictably, seeped into Yue’s mouth and eyes.
Yue’s face was also covered with burn marks from the dragon blood.
‘Damn it! That damned King of Lin Qi actually set such a trap!’
Yue could no longer speak and fell heavily unconscious.
….
“That’s how it is…”
Everyone gathered in Yue’s room.
Looking at Yue’s obvious burns on her face and her unconscious state.
After hearing Yao Xing’s explanation, Huan didn’t casually blame anyone, but said guiltily, “If I had known, I wouldn’t have asked you to open that safe…”
Xu silently looked at Yue, then at everyone’s expressions, before speaking.
“A second blood infusion is more dangerous than the first. But if an auxiliary master is present, perhaps the pain from the dragon blood’s corrosion can be alleviated.”
Hearing this, Huan nodded, then glanced at Yao Xing before quickly walking out of the room.
Watching Huan’s back, Yao Xing followed closely.
Along the way out of the palace, Huan was filled with worry.
“The magic I rely on… is useless at this time… The King of Lin Qi is gone… my light sword can no longer return any damage…”
The palace corridor seemed especially cold under the moonlight, Huan’s steps hurried and erratic.
Huan’s usually elegant and rational demeanor completely crumbled at the moment her sister’s life hung in the balance.
“Why… Even though Father King is dead, why won’t he let us go?”
Huan leaned against a stone pillar in the corridor, her body trembling slightly, the light in her eyes flickering.
“Light magic can heal external wounds and dispel evil, but it is completely powerless against this dragon blood curse that has seeped into the marrow.”
Yao Xing quickly caught up.
She looked at Huan’s expression, which seemed almost swallowed by guilt, and the intense unease in her heart finally became tangible.
‘Is this the malice of the world? I saved Huan, but pushed Yue into a deeper abyss…’
“Huan, calm down.”
Yao Xing grabbed Huan’s sleeve.
“Xu said earlier that if an auxiliary master is present, it can be alleviated. There must be such a person in Lin Qi City, right?”
Huan gave a bitter smile and turned to look at Yao Xing.
“Hero, the strongest mages in Lin Qi territory all serve in the royal palace.”
“But they pledge loyalty to the ‘king’. Although news of my father’s death hasn’t spread yet, once they discover the truth, they won’t save Yue’er—instead, they’ll immediately make a move to seize power.”
She looked at the land beneath her feet.
What was once a proud homeland now seemed like a monster ready to open its jaws at any moment.
“Yue’er was right just now. I can’t let go of Lin Qi. But if the price of saving Lin Qi is letting Yue’er die in pain… I would rather this throne…”
Yao Xing took a deep breath, her mind racing.
She thought of Xu’s calm face, and also of the “red pupils” underground that had been watching her.
‘Wait… Since Xu knows how to alleviate the second blood infusion, it means he must have seen someone survive it, or…’
“Let’s go back and find Xu!”
Yao Xing decisively pulled Huan around.
“He must be hiding something—”
….
When they returned to the room, Xu was standing by the window, the moonlight stretching his black robe extremely long.
Meanwhile, Anuo was guarding the bedside with a tense expression, constantly using a wet towel to wipe the sweat beading on Yue’s forehead.
“Xu, tell me the truth.”
Yao Xing pushed the door open and walked in, staring directly into those scarlet vertical pupils.
“The way to save her isn’t just an auxiliary master, is it?”
Xu turned around, looked at Yao Xing, then at Huan’s desperate expression behind her.
“Indeed, an auxiliary master can only prolong life. To truly suppress the second erosion, pure dragon blood resonance is needed.”
Xu’s voice was cold as ice.
“The purest dragon blood in the world would be that of the dragon race, one of the Seven Generals of the Demon King’s Army.”
Huan was stunned.
“Seven Generals of the Demon King’s Army…”
“So, this is the result you want. But there’s no need to worry too much. Dragon blood is a last resort for Princess Yue’s long-term unconsciousness. For now, the primary task should be to confirm whether Yue can wake up on her own.”
Xu looked at Huan.
“But the prerequisite for your sister’s peaceful recovery depends on the struggle for the throne.”
The air instantly solidified.
The freedom she originally wanted to escape to, and the heavy crown she had to wear to save someone, now became the most cruel single-choice question before Huan.
Yao Xing looked at Huan.
She knew that if Huan chose the throne here, all previous plans to escape Lin Qi would turn to nothing.
“If I become king…”
Huan looked down at her own hands, her voice weak but gradually firm.
“I cannot leave with you… Lady Yao Xing…”
Yao Xing said nothing, just silently bit her lip, her heart a mix of emotions.
A bird that longs for freedom is always trapped by its tether.