Chapter 35: False Illusion: Shi Long Tuer Si

The palace doors swung open, and the members of the Giant Scorpion Band hurried to the sides.

Pade and Harris followed right behind.

The bandits weren’t fools—this door opening on its own was clearly suspicious.

If they didn’t move fast, they’d be the first to die if something went wrong.

But the doors were too wide; even after everyone had moved aside, they could still see inside.

A massive creature, eighteen meters long, crouched on the raised platform within.

It resembled a lizard, with a long, serpentine neck, and its head alone stood one meter tall.

Except for its neck, its entire body was covered in gray-brown stone-like clusters, layered and stacked like rock.

It looked exactly like a stone carving.

“This… is… the… baby… dragon… you… mentioned?!” Pade’s voice trembled.

On paper, a one-meter-tall head didn’t seem that big.

But imagine a head reaching halfway up your waist—and longer than your entire height.

One open mouth and it could swallow you whole. How could such a creature not terrify you?

Harris was shaking too; he had never seen anything so enormous.

Especially when it crouched atop the platform, it resembled a temple deity.

“I… didn’t know… they… said… it was… a… baby… dragon…”

The rest of the bandits were worse—shaking legs were the least of it.

Some were dripping urine down their pants.

“To hell with the baby dragon!” Pade shouted, briefly dispelling his fear.

He turned to flee—what did it matter if the intruder was a high-rank cultivator? Was this dragon any less deadly?

Kill a dragon? What dragon? Could you even survive one of its claws?

One swipe and it could crush an entire building.

“Shhh!”

Fang Shi suddenly appeared before Pade, blocking his path.

“Where are you going?”

For some reason, Pade suddenly found courage.

“Get out of my way! If we don’t run now, we’re all dead!”

“Shhh!”

The steel sword flashed like lightning. Pade felt a chill on his head.

He instinctively reached up to touch it—and felt only stubble.

His head wrap had vanished.

“Calmer now?” Fang Shi said coldly.

“Yes, yes, much calmer!”

Pade hurried to reply—he couldn’t believe he’d just dared to offend this man.

Could a dragon kill him? Could this man not?

“Get these people organized and attack the dragon.”

What?! Pade was stunned—this was a death sentence!

No, they had to run now.

He subtly reached for the knife at his waist.

Fang Shi saw it all and said calmly, “Still not calm enough?”

Pade gave a bitter laugh. “My lord, you must give us a chance. This dragon is enormous—even you couldn’t defeat it.”

“Hmph. You’re all fools. Can’t even recognize a phantom. Do you really think this dragon is that big?”

Phantom? Hearing Fang Shi’s words, Pade froze.

What… what was going on?

Fang Shi sneered again. “You’re ignorant. Don’t you know dragons have dragon aura?”

“The older and stronger the dragon, the more powerful its aura.”

“This dragon looks imposing—but its aura is worthless.”

“It can’t even shake my spirit. Besides, I carry a family heirloom that can pierce illusions.”

“The creature lying on the platform is just a tiny baby dragon—it’s trying to scare you.”

Pade suddenly understood. No wonder he’d felt something off earlier.

He had dozens of men under him.

How could he be this cowardly?

Fear was natural—but not to the point of trembling so badly he could barely walk, needing to shout to shake it off.

“Heh. You don’t even know how to handle a dragon, yet you dare hunt one? How brazen.”

Now calm, Pade didn’t mind Fang Shi’s mockery—he bowed and pleaded, “My lord, could I borrow your heirloom?”

“It’s not that I distrust you—but my men are too foolish. Without proof, they won’t listen.”

Fang Shi scoffed. “Your bloodline is too low to use such an artifact.”

Before Pade could ask further, Fang Shi added, “But exposing this baby dragon’s trick is simple. Watch.”

Fang Shi pulled out a prepared shortbow and shot an arrow at the towering dragon.

The arrow flew slowly—not even near the bow’s maximum speed.

Logically, the dragon shouldn’t even bother—it couldn’t pierce its scales.

Yet as the arrow neared, the crouching dragon tilted its head and exhaled a breath toward it.

The breath was grayish-brown. Upon contact, the arrow instantly slowed, as if frozen, then dropped straight down.

“This…” Pade didn’t understand.

None of the others understood either. Such a slow arrow could be dodged by anyone.

What was Fang Shi’s point? Tickling the dragon?

Most thought Fang Shi had lost his mind—instead of fleeing, he was provoking the dragon.

If they could move, they’d have fled the crypt long ago.

“Don’t rush.”

Fang Shi calmly shot two more arrows, both blocked by the dragon’s breath.

This seemed to anger the dragon. It rose from its crouch.

Its neck lifted eight meters high—like a three-story building.

It spread its twenty-meter wings and roared into the sky.

“Roar!”

Everyone present trembled violently, as if seized by a fever.

Pade, who had just escaped the dragon’s aura, felt his hands shaking again.

“M…y…lord… w…what…do…we…do…now?”

He was beginning to suspect Fang Shi was lying.

Fang Shi ignored him. Unaffected by the aura, he drew his shortbow again, smoothly as flowing water.

“You felt the dragon aura.”

“Your will resisted it. For a time, you will be immune to its effects.”

He fired two arrows at once—the first slightly slower, the second slightly faster.

As the first arrow neared the dragon’s breath, the second caught up.

It struck the first arrow, deflecting its path away from the breath.

The first arrow then plunged straight into the dragon’s body, the fletching vanishing inside.

“Did you see that?” Fang Shi turned to Pade.

Pade stared in disbelief. “Could a shortbow pierce the dragon’s scales? And why isn’t it bleeding?”

Fang Shi replied calmly, “Don’t you understand yet? An illusion is an illusion. This dragon is tiny—the arrow went right through.”

“Technically, you should’ve had some resistance to the dragon aura.”

“But seeing such a massive form triggered your instinctive fear—and your will failed the test.”

These words answered Pade’s doubts—and confirmed the dragon was an illusion.

Anger flared in him. “I understand, my lord. I’ll rally the men and attack the dragon.”

He ran to the center of the hall and shouted to the bandits: “Brothers! Don’t be fooled—this is just a baby dragon!”

Then, following Fang Shi’s method, Pade exposed the dragon’s illusion.

Of course, he lacked Fang Shi’s skill—but the bandits were many. Each threw something, making verification easier.

Fang Shi watched, a faint smile appearing on his face.

In truth, he had seen through the baby dragon’s trick the moment it appeared.

One reason was the dragon aura. The other was the dungeon key.

The dungeon key’s restriction meant he could never face an enemy stronger than level five.

How could a mature dragon possibly appear?

Fang Shi had recognized it: a Shi Long.

The adult Shi Long’s biological rank was at least Level 16.

That was Third-Rank power—far beyond Fang Shi’s current state.

Even Fang Shi in his previous life would have been one-shot by a Level 16 adult Shi Long.

If he faced such an enemy now, he might as well kill himself.

He might even get another rebirth.

So this might be an illusion.

Though some illusions could manifest as truly real.

But this exceeded the secret realm key’s limits.

To prevent the dragon’s aura from driving these cannon fodder insane,

Fang Shi decided to expose the dragon’s true nature.

He first fired a single arrow, exploiting the Shi Long’s fear of exposure.

He depleted the Shi Long’s breath attacks.

After the Shi Long grew angry, he employed techniques from rapid-fire arrows, shooting arrows into the illusion’s body.

These pathetic techniques would earn nothing but sneers from any Ranger.

But they were enough for this situation.

A gentleman avoids standing beneath a crumbling wall; better to let the bandit gang charge ahead than face the dragon alone.

Once the Shi Long’s deception was revealed, under his command, the bandit gang would dare fight the dragon.

Pade’s demonstration still held weight—he reassembled the Giant Scorpion Bandits.

One by one, they abandoned honor, launching arrows from a distance at the Shi Long.

Those without bows grabbed any thrown objects and hurled them.

The Shi Long was no fool; it saw the humans’ actions and knew its ruse had been uncovered.

It dropped the illusion, revealing a sphere one meter in diameter.

“Damn! How dare you insult the Great King of Earth and Mountains, Turs.”

“I will kill you all.”

A low, childish voice echoed as the sphere stretched.

A miniature Shi Long appeared, identical to the adult form—but smaller.

Only its head was disproportionately large: a true baby dragon.

“Hah! It’s really a baby dragon!”

“Shoot! Shoot! Kill it fast!”

“Fuck! A baby dragon dares to act this way and make me look like an idiot!”

Curses erupted from the bandit gang—they didn’t care about the baby dragon’s threats.

They felt humiliated: terrified into wetting their pants by a creature the size of a calf? What a joke.

Turs was furious—these weak ranged weapons couldn’t pierce its scales. Where did these people get the courage to think they could kill it?

The bandits realized the problem too.

Turs never dodged; arrows struck its scales with thuds, but none penetrated.

Under Pade’s orders, the bandits began advancing toward Turs.

They decided to defeat the dragon in close combat.

“Fine, fine. Since you’re so insane, I won’t hold back.”

Turs’s eyes flickered with pain as it spat out a ring.

After muttering a phrase in Dragon Tongue,

Four earth-yellow lights appeared within the hall.

Immediately, nearly five-meter-tall earth elementals rose from the lights.