Chapter 125: The Wind Rises, the Seed

Now, whenever he recalled that scene from before, he felt as though he had been trapped in a nightmare.

That day, he had pressed deep into the dense forest, but before long he realized something was starting to go wrong with his condition.

First, as though dizzy and drunk, he began to lose his footing; then the scene before his eyes began to sway.

And at that moment, a true dragon over ten meters long appeared before him.

In his agitation, he fought it fiercely, and after a bitter struggle—

He finally unleashed his potential and in one sword stroke beheaded the true dragon, drank its Dragon Blood, and successively broke through to become the strongest man in all of Great Zhou.

Since returning to Tiandu, countless heroes and champions had praised him and sought his favor, and the most renowned beauties of the jianghu had given him their hearts and shared his bed.

Even the Zhou Tianzi had treated him with great courtesy, implementing his suggested benevolent policies.

However, not long after—

Just as he was once again in the throes of passion with a princess, a sudden sharp pain shot through him, and with a start he woke up.

The sight that met his eyes made him collapse on the spot!

In his dream he had been sharing intimacy with several beauties and a princess; in reality, he was leaning against a wild boar covered all over in a mud-caked shell, while his right arm was wrapped around a red-bottomed, grinning monkey, locked in a passionate kiss with it.

And the sharp pain from moments ago had come from that very monkey biting him in resistance to his kiss.

In the distance lay a headless wolf corpse.

In an instant, he came to his senses as though plunged into an icy pit, and realized exactly what had happened.

The true dragon he had beheaded in his dream was that wolf corpse; the beauty he had leaned against was the wild boar; the princess he had been passionately kissing was this yellow-toothed, matted-fur monkey—and at this very moment, that monkey was even straddling him.

And the real true dragon… no, that was an evil dragon!

That evil dragon was watching him from afar, and the utterly human look in its eyes filled him with unbearable shame and fury.

In an instant, a violent wave of nausea surged up within him, making him want to retch.

At this moment, he felt shame, anger, fury, and fear all at once—truly every emotion at once; he had tasted the full range of life's bitter and sweet in a single mouthful.

He understood he had fallen, fallen inexplicably at the hands of this evil dragon.

He silently raised his head, and two drops of scalding tears slid down from the corners of his eyes.

A man does not weep lightly, only when his heart is truly wounded.

After a long while, he let out a long, low sigh, raised his palm, and thought to end his life, lest he leave behind a heavy stain that would destroy the spotless reputation he had built in his first half of life.

As for resistance—he had fallen without even knowing what the enemy's methods were; what talk was there of resistance?

It would only bring him further disgrace. Better to end this impure body and leave behind a good name before anyone discovered the truth.

At least the great hero Huang Zhongtian had not let the world down; if he died, he died in battle against the evil dragon, outmatched.

But the evil dragon seemed to have read his thoughts; a ripple swept through his body in an instant, and a flood of information violently invaded his mind.

The images showed everything he had just done in his hallucination—from when he first strayed into the evil dragon's territory, to his inexplicable muttering to himself before a few attacking animals, and finally to…

The entire sequence was so clear that every movement, every expression, every twitch of muscle, every single thing was laid bare.

Once it finished, before he could react, a message began to slowly gather in his mind, forming a sentence: "If you don't want what just happened spread for all to know, I ask, you answer."

In an instant, his raised palm froze; he opened his eyes and stared at this dragon in disbelief—this was a true evil dragon!

Is this something a dragon could do?!

Truly vile beyond measure!!!

If he had sinned, let the heavens punish him—not let an evil dragon humiliate him like this!

At this moment, in his fury, he didn't even dare open his mouth to curse, because those images were still fresh in his mind.

He understood that since this dragon had not killed him, it must need his help with some request.

Now he no longer cared whether he would survive afterward; he only hoped that after he honestly answered its questions, this evil dragon would let him end this impure body.

With a long, low sigh, his expression somewhere between crying and laughing, he began to obediently answer all of Baichuan's questions.

And this nearly amounted to leaking everything he currently knew about all of Great Zhou.

But unexpectedly, the evil dragon did not kill him afterward.

Over the next few days, right before his eyes, it killed every infamous hero and heroine it later captured.

He understood—this evil dragon meant to cut off his standing among humans entirely.

This made him, now calm, truly realize that this evil dragon was unlike any other Strange Beast he had known.

It possessed intelligence; not only did it speak to him with strange, beguiling words, but it had also been secretly observing Great Zhou for who knew how long, waiting only until it understood everything before truly striking.

Such an intelligent life—Great Zhou was in peril!

"Sigh~~"

Huang Zhongtian let out a sigh and sat down right on the ground, no longer caring whether it was dirty or not.

One must remember that he had once been a renowned noble young master, who wore only white and insisted on being spotless wherever he went, even using his power to maintain it.

One could only say: times change.

"Buzz~ buzz~"

The ground suddenly trembled; Huang Zhongtian didn't even need to look to know the evil dragon had returned.

Sure enough, as a figure was tossed down, a half-dead man was thrown before him, the look in his eyes so glaring, so shocked.

Huang Zhongtian didn't need to look to know what he was shocked about.

It was nothing more than disbelief that the disheveled man sitting on the ground before him was the Huang Zhongtian famed throughout the jianghu.

The great hero Huang Zhongtian had been a kind and righteous man his whole life, never slaughtering villages for breakthroughs, and had devoted himself to helping the poor and suffering common folk!

Why then had he now betrayed humanity and followed at the side of a Strange Beast?

And indeed, the man who had just been captured looked at Huang Zhongtian, who could not even raise his head to meet his gaze.

After a moment's stunned silence, he came to his senses and furiously cursed: "Hero Huang, why have you betrayed us and thrown in with a beast… a monster! What are your intentions? You traitor to humanity!"

At this, Huang Zhongtian could only swallow his bitterness like a mute eating huanglian—he couldn't even lift his head to retort.

Regarding this, Baichuan didn't press further — this was enough for now; pushing more might cause him to break down.

With a single claw pressed down, he crushed the man who was still cursing.

He looked at the man before him, and recalling the experiences of this Time, found it somewhat amusing.

No one had expected that he merely wanted to capture a human to question, and upon seeing this man appear, he used the Snake Venom LV3 that he hadn't used in a long time, transforming it into a hallucinogenic poisonous mist, combined with the dizzying effect of the Super-wave Ultrasonic — the effect turned out to be remarkably significant.

The combination of several abilities directly created terrifying hallucinations, exposing the thing his heart desired most.

At that moment, when he discovered his disgraceful state, he knew in an instant that his chance had come.

Perhaps he could subdue this human — not only could he learn from his mouth the current arrangements of the Great Zhou, but after he dealt with the Great Zhou, the man could serve as his spokesperson among humans, gathering various resources for him.

Of course, all of this would have to wait until after he tested his character — what he needed was someone who cared about face, dignity, and reputation.

Only this way could the information he previously held briefly coerce him; if the man were shameless, he'd actually be harder to control.

Looking at it now, this man was passable.

It seemed time for the next step — three days had already passed, the great army the Great Zhou had gathered should be about here, right? He could already hear the thunderous noise of voices at the foot of the mountain.

Baichuan slowly turned his head to look outside the mountain range. Now, he had finally, with Huang Zhongtian's help, barely understood the specific situation of the Great Zhou, and roughly gauged his own position.

"You may leave."

The indifferent words drifted into the man's mind just like that.

In an instant, Huang Zhongtian, who had been hanging his head, raised it in shock. "You're not killing me?"

At this moment, he looked at this evil dragon silently gazing into the distance, and for the first time found it somewhat incomprehensible.

Since he had already lost his utility value, and the Great Zhou's great army had also arrived.

Why not kill him? Wasn't he afraid he'd leave and report the information?

"Why would I kill you?"

"Aren't you afraid I'll go report the information?"

"Would you?"

"I..."

"Don't you think this Great Zhou is too rotten?"

"Are you not still pitying those common people?"

"If so, why seek death?"

"Go. After I finish tidying up everything, do whatever you wish, as long as you can meet my requirements."

Huang Zhongtian fell silent, then took a final quiet glance at this evil dragon. Setting aside the initial experience, it seemed He was not as evil as he had imagined.

He left, without looking back.

Baichuan quietly watched him leave. The seed had been planted — whether it would sprout depended on fate.

Success or failure didn't worry him too much; if this one didn't work out.

If he truly needed human resources in the future, there would be plenty of people begging to work for him.

A three-legged toad is hard to find, but aren't two-legged humans easy to find?

It was just that he saw in him some qualities he considered those of a true great hero, so he said a few extra things to him, that's all.

The wind rose, and the flood serpent vanished.

(End of this chapter)