Chapter 184: The Thief

Madam Aishar unfolded the newly received royal decree, her violet eyes narrowing slightly: "Leibadon's actions are faster than anticipated."

Leiao took the decree, gave it a hurried glance, his pallid pupils flashing with cold: "He actually demands that all nobles of the Western Realm appear at the imperial city within three days? That's clearly an attempt to wipe them out in one fell swoop!"

"Not so," Madam Aishar said, violet flames rising from her fingertips, the decree instantly turning to ash. "He's forcing us to choose a side."

She stepped out of the camp tent; under the night‑shrouded scorched earth of the Western Realm, a Purple Bauhinia Knight was escorting the last batch of surrendering nobles.

These once‑arrogant lords now wore terrified expressions, the thorn collars around their necks emitting a cold glow of anti‑magic runes.

"Leiao, what do you think…" Madam Aishar laughed lightly. "If we deliberately let a few nobles slip away now, making them 'accidentally evade' the decree, what would happen?"

Leiao narrowed his single eye, his tone calculating: "They'll scatter like birds startled by a drawn bow, fleeing everywhere, spreading panic throughout the Eastern and Southern Realms."

"Exactly." She flicked her fingertips, several rune lights flashing, the collars of a few nobles loosening silently. "Only amid chaos can we discern who the true opponent truly is."

Meanwhile, Robin and Fengling had reached the edge of the Bone‑Burial Grounds.

The biting gale hurled sand and gravel, scraping Robin's face like a Sharp Blade; the Tang Sword at his waist trembled slightly in its scabbard, as if some unknown force were summoning it.

Fengling swept quickly over the rugged mountains ahead, streams of data flashing wildly in her ocular implants: "Energy readings abnormal; a strong energy field lies ahead!"

Robin's knuckles whitened from exertion; he silently activated the Dragon Devouring Breathing Method, his aura sharpening: "Melinda's 'gift' is right there."

In an instant, a blood‑red moonbeam pierced the heavy clouds, pouring straight onto the ancient altar at the mountain's center.

On the altar's surface, a Dragon Blood emblem writhed like a living thing, emitting an eerie dark‑red sheen.

At the altar's very center, a rust‑stained long spear was lodged diagonally in the ground; atop its tip, dried golden bloodstains, though faded, still exuded a heart‑pounding majesty.

Fengling's mechanical pupils contracted sharply, her voice trembling involuntarily: "That is…"

"Dragon‑slaying Spear," Robin whispered, his tone laced with unmistakable awe. "Legend says the last great dragon met its end beneath this spear."

Robin's fingertip hovered an inch from the Dragon‑slaying Spear; the spear's shaft shivered, rusted iron fragments shedding off.

Winding Dragon Scale patterns emerged on the shaft, identical to the Dragon Scales that had manifested on Robin's neck from the Dragon Devouring Breathing Method.

"This isn't a weapon," Fengling's mechanical eye zoomed in, magnifying the golden bloodstain on the tip. "It's a Dragon Horn."

The moment Robin's palm pressed against the spear's shaft, the Dragon Devouring Breathing Method went berserk on its own.

Golden filigree spread from his arm across his entire body, and the scene before his eyes warped abruptly.

Within that hazy vision, ancient images flickered like a revolving lantern.

Legend says that in an age beyond human language and memory, a colossal dragon deity waged a terrifying war across the Bawier Continent, its draconic shadow cloaking the land.

In that moment of despair, the sky over Soranian blazed with dazzling light; holy Knights answered the yearning for illumination, and under the gods' protection forged the Dragon‑slaying Spear capable of piercing a dragon's soul.

The spear was not forged from ordinary iron but taken from a dragon's Horn, condensing draconic power and the Knights' conviction.

The birth of the Dragon Devouring Breathing Method stemmed from a light‑clad ascetic obsessed with combat and a battle‑hardened veteran; to counter a powerful Wizard, they together devised a rudimentary breathing method based on regular breath cycles and corresponding movements.

Later, after study by multiple factions and cruel human experiments involving Wizards, the breathing method and magic elixir system gradually took shape.

Among them, the Beast Breathing Method, prized for its combat potency and low risk of mental collapse, became the primary choice for most combat classes.

It wasn't until the rise of the Light Knights that, using the theory of body‑spirit linkage, they founded a lineage of Temple Knights, abandoning magic elixirs, focusing on refining the breathing method's faith and spirit training to gain spirit power centered on divine speech, thereby breaking the barrier that simple breathing methods could not advance to heroic ranks.

Although Robin's practiced Dragon Devouring Breathing Method has evolved, it seems inexorably intertwined with this Dragon‑slaying Spear by countless unseen threads.

The illusion shattered like broken glass, and Robin dropped heavily onto one knee on the altar, a coarse gasp spilling from his throat.

The Dragon‑slaying Spear quivered violently in his palm, the metallic resonance syncing perfectly with his heartbeat, as if an ancient life were awakening.

"Hold on!" Fengling swiftly steadied Robin's wobbling body, casting a spell to check his vitals. "The golden filigree is corroding the nervous system!"

Before she could finish, Robin suddenly seized her wrist; the scorching heat from his fingertips made her skin emit a faint sizzling sound.

"So we've all been living in a lie," he spread his palm, the golden filigree flowing beneath his skin like liquid metal. "What we call Dragon Devouring is merely a clumsy mimicry of the draconic breath rhythm."

"But that doesn't explain the royal family's secret," Fengling brushed his hand away, her eyes projecting a hologram, cold blue light illuminating her narrowed pupils.

The Mechanical Church's classified files scrolled rapidly:

'Bright Era Year 237, Temple Knight Order secret experiment "Dragon Breath Resonance Project"'

'After the Shadow Council intervened, the breathing method merged with the magic elixir system, giving rise to the first Dragon Devouring Elixir.'

"Wait—" Robin suddenly froze the projection, his fingertip sliding over an encrypted file. "This timestamp coincides exactly with the rise of the current royal ruler."

"You really are lucky," a cold female voice called from the shadows.

A stranger woman emerged in the moonlight, black mist winding around her fingertips swallowing the surrounding light. "Anyone who touches the Dragon‑slaying Spear never lives more than three minutes." She glanced at the spear in Robin's hand, a teasing curve at the corner of her mouth. "Looks like the dragons are hungrier than I thought."

Fengling instantly assumed a combat stance: "You've known the royal family's Dragon Blood secret all along?"

"I know more than you imagine." The woman flung a wisp of black mist; Robin instinctively raised his spear to block, and where the tip met the mist, dazzling golden light erupted.

"This spear is a curse of the dragons," she said, staring at the Dragon Scale pattern on Robin's neck. "And your beloved royal family are merely thieves who stole the breathing method."

The ground quaked and mountains shuddered, the rock layers of the Bone‑Burial Grounds tearing apart like sheets of paper.

A hundred‑meter‑long silver dragon bone erupted from the earth, golden flames dancing within its hollow eye sockets.

That was precisely the light generated by Robin's breathing method.

(End of Chapter)