Chapter 270: The Slumbering True Dragon Awakened?

"I— I got in?"

Gazing at this resplendent world, a realm as if it were an immortal paradise.

The old man too stared in utter disbelief, his hands—still raised instinctively from his sprint—hovering in the air, not knowing where to put them for sheer joy.

At this moment he was just like a clueless country bumpkin who had just arrived in the city, both thrilled and terrified beyond measure.

"We got in?"

"This is the legendary immortal realm?"

"Hahaha, this big daddy is about to get rich!"

"Treasures, where are the treasures?!"

In an instant, people kept streaming into this strange place one after another, and upon seeing an environment utterly unlike the outside world, they revealed all manner of expressions—some wild with joy, some unable to believe their eyes, others at a complete loss.

"Ah—"

But just then, a scream that cut off short suddenly rang out from the back of the crowd.

At that abrupt scream, everyone turned their heads to look.

Immediately they saw a man who looked honest and simple, his face expressionless, his hand pierced straight through another person's chest.

"Liu Laoer! You! What are you doing?!"

Someone recognized who that seemingly honest man was and could not help but roar in fury.

It was the man who had earlier stopped that woman from making things difficult for the old guide who spoke.

His surname was Liang, a butcher from the neighboring county. Don't be fooled by his being a butcher—the man actually looked refined and scholarly, quite the air of a scholar. But precisely because of this, a few years ago he had carelessly entangled himself with a newly taken concubine of a local lord, offended the local great lord, and had no choice but to hastily pack his valuables and flee the neighboring county. Relying on the strength and skill he had gained from slaughtering pigs, plus two or three crude moves he had later stumbled upon, he began to wander the jianghu.

A few days ago he had heard the rumors of this secret realm circulating about, and, hoping to imitate those lucky ones who had stepped into a secret realm, he organized this search for the secret realm. Who would have thought that now they had actually succeeded in entering, but before they could even find treasures and Treasure Medicine, they had run into such a turn of events.

"Me? What am I doing?" Upon hearing this, Liu Laoer slowly raised his head. The expression on his face was no longer the usual honest simplicity; instead, with a cold face and not a shred of emotion, he looked at the crowd, tilted his head oddly, and said: "Can't you see? Kill and silence them. What do you mortals think you're doing, laying hands on this secret realm? This belongs solely to us!"

"What?"

"Ah—"

Before they could think through what Liu Laoer meant by "mortals" and "us," the next moment the Liang butcher heard another scream ring out from within the crowd.

This time the one in trouble was the old guide.

Caught completely off guard, the old man was struck lightly on the palm by the woman who had earlier made things difficult for him, and immediately let out a heartrending wail of agony.

"N-no! I—I don't want to die…"

Clutching his searingly painful chest, the old man unwillingly sank slowly to his knees. Looking at the woman who had become utterly cold right before his eyes, and at the strange sights not far away that he had never seen in his entire life, his eyes were filled with unwillingness, resentment, and a trace of reluctance to part.

"H-hard-earned… ah!"

Before his last words could be finished, the woman, wearing a seductive smile and showing off her coquettish charms, raised a soft whip and lashed it down, then cackled: "Hard-earned? Don't want to die? Who do you think you are? You've taken my girl's Heart-Crushing Palm—your heart meridian is already severed, and you still want to struggle?"

"Enough, get to it."

Liu Laoer watched the woman's behavior and frowned slightly, but did not stop her. Having said that, he immediately began slaughtering among these ordinary people who had entered with beautiful dreams. First and foremost among them was the Liang butcher.

"N-no, no, don't!"

"Please, spare me, I still have money, I'll give you money."

"I don't want any of it, just let me—"

At this moment, these people were like ripe rice in autumn—amid various screams and pleas for mercy, they were cut down by that man and woman one after another, unable to put up the slightest resistance.

"Stop! What are you outsiders doing here?"

"Why are you creating slaughter here?"

"Stop at once!"

Just then, three different voices rang out from afar.

It turned out that the spirits who had been dozing under the big tree not far from here had seen the situation going badly and secretly run off to tattle to the three strongest great demons of the entire Demon Kingdom.

Not long after the words fell, three strange beings appeared in the distance before the eyes of Liu Laoer and that woman.

The one on the left was an ape-shaped lifeform formed entirely of peculiar gold-stone; the one in the middle was a child-shaped ginseng, emerald green all over, with legs; the one on the right was a twenty-meter-long great snake with a single horn on its head, seemingly about to transform into a flood dragon.

These were the three strongest beings of the entire Demon Kingdom, the results of Baichuan's experiments over the years—beings with tremendous potential who had successfully survived the combination of the three systems.

Yet facing these three "strongest" of the entire Demon Kingdom, the woman gave a disdainful smile and continued to savor that wonderful feeling of having countless lives in her grasp, while Liu Laoer stopped his slaughter and, watching the three approaching, subconsciously licked his lips.

"How dare you!"

The one to speak first was that gold-stone lifeform. Seeing the two outsiders below still continuing their slaughter after being rebuked by them, he too was somewhat angered.

He was then seen leaping directly past his two companions to charge downward, a staff appearing from nowhere in his hand, and he brought it crashing down head-on.

Under this staff, a wave of air surged up. Amid the piercing sonic boom, a shimmering Spirit Qi coiled around the staff as it smashed toward Liu Laoer.

Seeing this, Liu Laoer just stared blankly at the scene, only his lips still twitching and moving, as if he had been stunned by this heaven-shaking staff and was subconsciously begging for mercy.

Yet if anyone had been near Liu Laoer at this moment, they would have seen him muttering to himself, "…the intel wasn't wrong, the momentum and power are roughly three hundred years of cultivation…"

The next instant, just as the staff came crashing down, while a smile appeared on that peculiar gold-stone lifeform's face, Liu Laoer moved. His entire body suddenly erupted with a fierce wave of air; under the billowing of this air, his clothes began to flutter without any wind, faintly revealing the tough, tempered muscles beneath. As he moved, he was like an illusion, leaving layer upon layer of afterimages, then clenched his fist and punched out.

"Boom—!!"

A thick white cloud barrier rose up—that was the sonic boom cloud produced by the excessive speed.

Under that sonic boom cloud, the gold-stone lifeform was sent flying back even faster than he had come.

"Second brother!"

The gold-stone lifeform being suddenly sent flying also greatly startled the two behind him. In their shock, the snake and the ginseng hurriedly caught the dazed-looking gold-stone lifeform.

"Who exactly are you people? What did you come here for?"

At this point, the great snake, whose aura was the strongest, finally fixed a grave gaze on the man below. By now Liu Laoer had already transformed into a muscular man wreathed in air currents all over his body. If anyone who had known him in the past saw him now, they would certainly not dare to recognize him as that honest, simple fellow who only knew how to unload cargo at the docks.

"Heh~ haha…"

"Who are we?"

Before Liu Laoer could open his mouth to answer, the woman, who had finished dealing with the people who had come with them, walked step by step with her long legs to Liu Laoer's side, letting out an odd laugh. "People here to seize this secret realm."

"Little ones, such an extraordinarily precious treasure land — this isn't something you three tiny things, who don't even have a thousand years of cultivation, can guard. Better hand it over to us, the Heaven Reverers."

Hearing this, Liu Laoer, who had previously been expressionless and taciturn, frowned slightly, seemingly somewhat disgusted by the woman's words.

"Ara ara~~ Brother Liu, don't make that scary face at me~~" As if sensing the change in Liu Laoer's expression, the enchanting woman once again covered her mouth and laughed softly, her alluring eyes rippling like waves. "They're just three tiny things, and it matches the intelligence we received. Why must you be so wary, Brother? Given their bloodline potential, why not take them for our own use? The Honored One might even be pleased."

At this, Liu Laoer's gaze flickered briefly before he fell silent, lowering his eyes, seemingly leaving everything to the woman.

"Heaven Reverers? You want to take our home?"

Hearing this, the great demons of the secret realm — even the golden-stone lifeform that had just recovered from being sent flying earlier — all wore somewhat strange expressions.

They actually dared to seize this place that was their home? It seemed this group of outsiders, just like the other ordinary beings within the home, had taken the three of them to be the true masters of the home.

Unfortunately, this subtle change in expression was interpreted by the man and woman, who were unfamiliar with the expressions of strange beings, as fear toward themselves.

After the three little ones exchanged glances, the great snake's eyes flickered and it spoke again. Perhaps because of Baichuan's unintentional favoritism, even though the little white mouse also had the most outstanding aptitude, this great snake was clearly a bit more intelligent than the other two. "You seem to want to subdue us? What exactly are you Heaven Reverers?"

"Eh~" The enchanting woman exclaimed in surprise, then laughed somewhat oddly: "You little snake are a bit clever, surprisingly so reasonable. You should know that the demon clans we've met before would have long been furious beyond reason at such words, ready to perish together."

After laughing a few times, perhaps because she was about to mention the true master behind them, the enchanting woman's expression also grew solemn. "The Heaven Reverers are a force composed of extraordinary talents who follow the will of the heavens, existing solely to assist that one Honored One. You only need to know that the one behind the Heaven Reverers will inevitably be a supreme existence who shall reign over all the world in the future. So, will you join us?"

"If you join now, when that Honored One reigns over the world in the future, you might be granted the merit of following the dragon and be enfeoffed as divine spirits who govern the world~~"

"Merit of following the dragon, divine spirits…" The great snake murmured to itself in a somewhat dazed expression, then, under the enchanting woman's expectant gaze, resolutely shook its head. "I refuse!"

The next moment, before the words had even faded, the great snake's eyes flashed with murderous intent. Taking them off guard, it opened its great maw glittering with cold, venomous fangs and lunged forward in a vicious bite.

"What? How dare you—"

The lethal venomous fangs tore through the air in an instant. The sudden attack caught her completely off guard, causing the woman to turn pale with shock as she hastily retreated step after step.

However, how could an attack the great snake had long plotted be so easily dodged?

Seeing that great maw reeking of venom drawing near, the very next instant, just as the great snake's lunge was about to strike, Liu Laoer, who had been silent all this while, moved once again.

Under the powerful wind pressure, the lean, slightly swarthy man appeared before the woman as if by teleportation, then suddenly threw another punch.

Under the fierce pressure of the fist, even the great snake had no choice but to abandon its attack and retreat.

But how would Liu Laoer let this opportunity slip?

With a single stride, using the momentum from shattering the earth beneath him, he closed in and once again gathered strength, aiming a punch at the great snake's head.

But at this moment, countless green vines from underground spread forth like living snakes, while from above, the shadow of a staff trailing violent gusts of wind swept in right behind.

It was the other two little ones who had reacted and followed up.

Faced with this, even Liu Laoer had no choice but to retreat, but his original objective — rescuing his companion — had already been accomplished.

"Good, you treacherous and cunning snake demon!"

Coming to her senses, the woman also gnashed her teeth in furious embarrassment, her face dark with rage.

The great snake's sudden attack was undoubtedly a slap across her previously smug face.

In her fury, the enchanting woman no longer thought about subduing some precious exotic species to please the Honored One. With a single whip-crack, she unleashed her full power and pressed forward together with Liu Laoer.

……

"Boom—"

A quarter of an hour later, as the great snake, which had struggled tenaciously until the end, fell in unwillingness, and the other young spirits nearby trembled in fear, there was no longer a single being in the entire secret realm who could resist them.

Under such circumstances, even Liu Laoer, who had been taciturn since the slaughter began, couldn't help but show a faint smile.

If even Liu Laoer was like this, the enchanting woman naturally laughed until she shook all over, her face full of satisfaction.

Because of the grudge from the great snake's earlier attack, she had already taken revenge from beginning to end — the wounds covering the great snake's body were proof.

"How about it, little one? I told you to submit to big sister earlier. Why are you demon clans all so stubborn?"

With no more danger, the enchanting woman's habit of talking too much once again revealed itself. Looking at the great snake, which was on its last breath with only hatred-filled eyes fixed on her, she couldn't help but feel a strange sense of satisfaction.

"The… great… one… will not let you off…"

Even in such circumstances, with not a shred of strength left to resist, the great snake showed no sign of submission, murmuring softly to itself.

Hearing this, the enchanting woman was taken aback. Because the great snake's murmur was too soft, even she couldn't quite make it out, but her intuition told her that the information conveyed by that sentence was extremely important.

"Little one, what were you just saying……?"

In her puzzlement, the enchanting woman couldn't help but lean in closer and ask softly.

However, the next instant, her pupils contracted sharply in horror, and she found herself unable to speak.

Because in the great snake's enormous eyes, she clearly saw the great snake's gaze filled with joy, and reflected in its mirror-like pupils was the scene behind her.

In that scene, the towering mountain at the very center of the secret realm — which should have been wreathed in clouds and mist like an immortal realm, emanating an ancient aura — was now silently moving. Amid the falling of great boulders and trees being uprooted from the earth, an ancient, colossal creature, still covered in large amounts of soil and rubble, slowly rose from the shattered mountain—

It was a dragon!

A true dragon that had slept here for who knows how long, having merged with its surroundings and become the towering mountain itself!

And they had, without knowing it, completely awakened this true dragon — the creator of the secret realm — from its slumber!

……

(End of chapter)