Chapter 119: A Dragon's Cry Shakes the World

One month later, in a lush, verdant forest.

The midday sun blazed down, pouring out boundless heat. This was the hottest season of the year, and the air itself radiated a startling warmth.

Beneath the shade of the trees, a few little squirrels were nibbling contentedly on some fruit, the stream below tinkled, and countless animals had gathered nearby to drink water and escape the heat.

"Buzz~~buzz~~"

At that moment, a faint tremor suddenly appeared. The ground began to shake for no apparent reason, as if some enormous monster beneath the earth was about to break through to the surface.

In an instant, countless animals seeking shade all stood up and turned to look, as if ready to bolt the moment they sensed danger approaching.

"Crack…"

A teeth-grinding sound rang out—it was the sound of a great tree being snapped by a massive boulder that had come from who knows where.

Not long after, amid a thunderous roar, a cave in the distance shattered completely.

The broken rocks turned into a shower of stone, shooting out in all directions, and several terrifying fissures split open across the ground.

In an instant, the thunderous roar, the swirling dust, and the shooting stones all converged at the epicenter of this disturbance.

An incomparably massive dragon head slowly rose, in a single moment surpassing the height of the lush forest.

Then the dragon head tilted upward, violently sucking in the surrounding air. In an instant, with so much air suddenly vanishing, a faint transparent vortex formed in the air, centered on that enormous dragon head.

This was because the air at a single point had been rapidly drawn away, creating a vacuum, causing the surrounding air to rush back in and form a vortex.

At this moment, the astonishing commotion finally roused the vigilance of countless animals seeking shade, and they all began to turn and flee.

But then, the transparent air vortex stopped. That massive dragon head, taller than the forest itself, opened its mouth, revealing countless fine, razor-sharp metallic fangs.

"ROAR—!!!"

A world-shaking dragon cry suddenly rang out, and in the blink of an eye it transformed into a terrifying, naked-eye-visible transparent ripple that spread outward in all directions from the dragon's mouth.

At that moment, all living things fell silent.

Everywhere this ripple swept past, the animals that had been fleeing froze in their tracks.

In an instant, the momentum of their still-running bodies sent them tumbling to the ground in heaps.

And just like the animals, the great trees were no exception—snapping at the trunk one after another with teeth-grinding cracks, kicking up clouds of dust as they fell.

In an instant, everywhere that terrifying transparent ripple passed was reduced to utter wreckage.

But this ripple did not slow its swift momentum, spreading farther and deeper.

At that moment, every living creature in the entire Duanlong Mountain Range heard that terrifying, far-reaching dragon cry.

Countless forest Banzhu and king-level great beasts uneasily raised their heads, gazing toward the direction from which the dragon cry had come.

At the same time, at the outermost foothills of the entire Duanlong Mountain Range.

"Tsk—"

Following a faint sound of grass being pulled, a youth carrying a bamboo basket on his back beamed with joy. He carefully extended a rough finger to stroke this dewy green plant, muttering to himself: "Another Blood-Strengthening Grass. Today I can buy some good medicine to treat Father's wounds."

Saying this, a faint smile of joy also appeared on his face.

"Ergou, Ergou. What are you standing there gawking at? Everyone's about to leave."

A man in the distance, also carrying a bamboo basket on his back, turned and called out to the youth.

"Hey, coming, Uncle."

The youth named Ergou raised his hand and waved in response, then gave the bamboo basket on his back a quick bounce and hurried to catch up.

"Where did you just go?"

"Hehe, Uncle, today I found a Blood-Strengthening Grass."

"Oh~~" Hearing this, the man turned his head in some surprise, then smiled and praised: "Not bad, kid. Looks like today you can sell it to those gentlemen for a good price, huh? Brother's wounds should heal even faster now."

"Mm!" Ergou responded heavily, a smile also spreading across his face.

"But not to nag you or anything, you've only just started following everyone into the mountains to gather herbs, so you must always keep an eye on the group's route. Don't wander off on your own. You should know these great mountains are very dangerous." The man spoke with earnest concern.

"Dangerous? Isn't this path been cleared by the adults and the hunters?" Ergou sounded puzzled instead.

"That's true enough, but those mindless wild beasts always have special exceptions that wander into this safe path. In the past, plenty have died from situations like this."

The man answered carefully.

"So once you've learned to gather herbs on your own, don't be blindly confident about this. Don't go too deep when gathering herbs normally. This mountain range—it's no simple matter."

"No simple matter?" Hearing this, Ergou's interest was actually piqued.

Thinking of the stories the village elders had always passed down, his eyes shone with curiosity as he asked: "Uncle, could there really be dragons in this world? Hidden in these mountains?"

"Ha~" Uncle laughed. "Dragons? What dragons? The dangerous things aren't dragons."

"It's those wild beasts!" A man up ahead wearing clothes patched in several places replied. "I was wondering why I hadn't seen you two today. Turns out you'd snuck to the back of the group."

"Oh, really no dragons?" Hearing this, Ergou, whose eyes had just been shining with excitement, lowered his head in disappointment.

"ROAR—!!"

But just then, a distant, ethereal dragon cry happened to drift out from deep within the mountains.

In an instant, the three of them froze, their necks stiffly turning like old, jammed machinery as they raised their heads and exchanged glances.

At that moment, anyone could see the shock filling each other's eyes.

After a long pause, Uncle finally swallowed dryly and said with difficulty: "Just now, just now what was that sound?"

The patched-clothes man was also full of shock, seemingly unable to catch his breath, and answered haltingly: "I-I don't know. Maybe it's some kind of wild beast."

Yet from their voices, one could tell the words didn't come from the heart.

"A dragon! It must be a dragon!" But at this moment Ergou cried out joyfully. "Uncle, didn't you say there were no dragons? Then what was that sound just now?"

In an instant, the youth's clear, bright voice rang out distinctly through the forest.

The moment these words left his mouth, Uncle's face went white with fright. He hurriedly clamped a hand over Ergou's mouth and looked anxiously toward the group ahead.

That place was also utterly silent, but observing their expressions carefully, some were delighted, some worried, some afraid—yet none were paying attention to them.

Only then did he lower his voice and say: "Trying to get yourself killed? You can't just say things like that. Reporting false information to the military gentlemen will get your head chopped off."

"Go, go! Let's head back!"

At that moment, Second Uncle grabbed his own elder brother's son and hurried straight back, no longer bothering with gathering herbs.

And once this happened, the herb-gatherers before them seemed to come to their senses as well, all turning back one after another.

As for whether it was out of fear, or because they wanted to secretly report the news to those gentlemen for a hefty reward, that remained unclear.

The only thing known was that at this moment, looking at the woods they had known so well in days past, everyone felt for the first time a terrifying fear.

Even though it was now the hottest part of midday, they still felt as though they were standing naked in a field of snow, shivering with cold.

A Strange Beast alone was already terrifying enough — any ordinary person who encountered one would die without a doubt — let alone the one standing at the pinnacle of all Strange Beasts: the dragon of legend.

Just how terrifying that truly was, no one could say.

Along the way, everyone walked faster and faster, as if some wild beast were chasing them from behind.

The heavens seemed about to change. A dragon had appeared here — this was not good news.

The area around this village was about to welcome a great number of gentlemen the villagers could not afford to offend.

And they, being the first to discover this news, would likely be press-ganged into service.

Whether it was the great army or that mysterious dragon, either one was a colossal thing to them — brush against it and you're hurt, touch it and you die.

……

(End of Chapter)