Chapter 58: Slaying the Dragon Thirty Li Away

“H-he he he...”

Yu Wei didn’t care about the tea splashed onto his snack dish, pointing at the spot where Li Hao had vanished, eyes bulging, stammering to speak.

“The man, the man’s gone?!”

Du Qiuyue also leapt to her feet in shock, gaping: “Where did he go?”

Nearby, Ren Qianqian froze, her gaze sweeping rapidly in all directions, meticulously searching—but found no trace of Li Hao, not even footprints.

In the blink of an eye, right before her eyes, he simply vanished.

Clearly, unless it was some kind of illusionary technique she’d never heard of, Li Hao’s movement speed was simply too fast for her eyes to track.

If he used this speed to attack me... Her pupils contracted slightly, fingers tightening around her sword scabbard.

“H-he, h-he, th-this...”

Yu Wei turned to Li Yuanzhao, gesticulating wildly, utterly uncomposed.

“Yuanzhao, what realm is your Hao-ge in?” Du Qiuyue regained her composure slightly and couldn’t help asking Li Yuanzhao.

Li Yuanzhao was equally stunned—he’d never seen Hao-ge display anything like this before.

What realm? Hao-ge cultivates the Body Refinement path, right? Mother said Body Refinement has a low ceiling—maxing out at Zhou Tian Realm, barely reaching Ji Hun Realm is hard.

Could Hao-ge have entered Ji Hun Realm?!

Li Yuanzhao’s heart trembled—he wasn’t completely ignorant. If he’d entered Ji Hun Realm, that meant he could channel heavenly energy, which meant his meridians were fully open! Hao-ge can cultivate!! The possibility sent him into a frenzy; his palm on the table began to tremble.

Meanwhile, fifteen li away.

As the black dragon woman was stunned, she wondered if she’d misseen—yet just then, she saw Li Hao step out from the tea stall, then surge forward like a golden lightning bolt.

So fast!

And he’s moving by body alone!

The black dragon woman’s face turned ashen, utterly horrified—this was the hallmark of a Fifteen-Li Realm cultivator! Could the son of Xing Wu Hou really be Fifteen-Li Realm?! How old is he?! Her mind went briefly blank; she’d thought this would be a simple matter of throwing a scale to sever his head from fifteen li away, yet now this absurd situation had arisen.

A crushing shadow of death enveloped her instantly—she snapped back to awareness, had no time to think, and instinctively spun to flee, desperate to reunite with her husband.

A flash of dark light—she shot upward, aiming for the distance.

But before she’d cleared the treetops by hundreds of meters, a golden light suddenly descended from the sky, and from within it, a pale, slender hand reached out, pressing down upon the black dragon woman’s head, then driving straight toward the ground dozens of meters below.

With a thunderous crash, the earth cratered into a massive hollow.

On the ground, the black dragon woman’s head was pinned into the earth pit by Li Hao’s palm, her face twisted in humiliation.

The black dragon woman was petrified with terror—she felt the hand on her head like steel, as if a thousand mountains crushed her, rendering her utterly immobile.

How could a Fifteen-Li Realm cultivator possess such power?!

She let out a piercing roar—like a bull’s bellow, like thunder—her entire body writhed with black demonic energy, revealing her true form.

A massive, grotesque dragon head burst through the mist, turning to bite—yet the next instant, a delicately embroidered boot shot out from the demonic fog, mercilessly stomping down upon the dragon’s skull, crushing it with a thunderous thud, forcing the enormous head deep into the earth.

The thick dragon tail whipped around, sweeping in from behind.

Li Hao didn’t turn—he merely swung his fist casually backward.

With a low, muffled boom, power exceeding ten million jin struck the tail, instantly denting and peeling off scales, sending the tail crashing back against the ground.

A muffled, beast-like scream rose from beneath his feet—yet her mouth couldn’t fully open or close, the sound thick and dull.

A gust of wind swept away the surrounding demonic mist. Li Hao stood with one foot planted on the uneven crown of the dragon’s head, the other hand braced on his knee, studying the demon beneath him closely.

“You tried to ambush me? You didn’t just want to kill me—someone sent you, didn’t they?”

Li Hao squinted, asking softly.

His voice held no anger—but the mother black dragon felt icy cold all over.

“W-who are you?!”

Her mouth barely moved as she asked, terrified.

In a single glance, she’d been utterly subdued—could he be a Tian Ren Realm cultivator?! Now she suspected their assassination plot had been exposed by the Shenjiang Mansion, and this was a trap, a counter-deception.

“There were so many people at the tea stall—you targeted me immediately. Don’t you know who I am?”

Li Hao gave a faint, cold smile—he thought himself unremarkable except for his appearance.

If this was aimed at the Shenjiang Mansion, then they’d come prepared.

“You really are Xing Wu Hou’s son? How is that possible? Age can’t be faked—Xing Wu Hou’s son is only fourteen! Yet you’re Fifteen-Li Realm!” The black dragon woman exclaimed, her voice trembling with disbelief, even edged with anger and grievance.

Fourteen years old, Fifteen-Li Realm?

Even the top prodigies among the Nine-Class Body Types would be terrified to reach Shen You Realm at this age!

“You know my father?”

Li Hao raised an eyebrow, instantly recalling the assassination attempt when he was seven—his eyes narrowed: “You’re not from Yanbei, are you?”

He could’ve killed the demon right there at the tea stall—but he chased after her to learn the reason.

“You really are his son?!”

Hearing Li Hao’s words, the mother black dragon’s dragon eyes widened in shock; she strained upward, trying to study the boy’s face again.

Li Hao pressed his foot down slightly and spoke coldly: “Tell me—what’s the situation in Yanbei? Why has it been stuck in stalemate for so long? Don’t your demon kind even understand the might of the Dayu Dynasty? Even without our Li family, if you break through, other Shenjiang Mansions will rush to reinforce, and the Dayu Imperial Clan’s own Dayu Army stands ready to march. Are you truly that desperate?”

“Don’t pretend your human race is united. Taking Yanbei is only the first step.”

The black dragon woman sneered, then realized her slip—she immediately turned furious: “With your talent, you could join a famed mountain sect, become renowned across the land—why hide your strength and pretend to be a waste?!”

First step? Li Hao frowned. This demon force attacking Yanbei seemed enormous—aiming to devour all of Dayu? How could that possibly be achieved? It would require countless demons to unite! He stared at the mother black dragon beneath him: “Hide my strength? I simply never had the chance to show it. I caught a dragon when I was twelve—you weren’t there to witness it. Can you blame me? If you cooperate, I might consider sparing you.”

“You fished for a dragon at twelve?” The black dragon woman froze, her heart turning to ice, speechless with shock.

“Have you decided yet? Cultivation isn’t easy—don’t throw it away lightly.” Li Hao said.

The black dragon woman snapped back to herself, terror gripping her—she had only one thought: she must survive, and carry this terrifying intelligence out.

If Bai Shenjun learned of this child’s talent, even without the Yanbei battlefield incident, he would spare no cost to kill him—otherwise, he’d become a dire threat.

Originally, sending her and her husband was considered overkill, meant to leave no chance—yet they’d vastly underestimated.

Not the Shenjiang Mansion’s protection—but the prey itself!

Seeing the black dragon remain silent, Li Hao muttered: “Fine. Want to die? Good—I haven’t eaten dragon meat in a long time. Today I’ll take your liver—hope you’re well-fed.”

The black dragon woman’s pupils shrank—like a demon whispering above her head.

Only demons eat humans—yet this boy wanted to eat a demon, and not even for the core, just for the liver’s flavor?

“Husband, save me!”

As Li Hao prepared to strike, the black dragon woman screamed desperately.

“Hmm?” Li Hao paused slightly—another one? His spirit sense shot upward, scanning the surroundings, and soon spotted a fierce battle thirty li away atop a hill.

A massive, thick black dragon was fighting two men.

Li Hao had already noticed these two—he’d followed them all along. One was Fu Bo.

The other he didn’t recognize—not from the Shenjiang Mansion—he guessed she was sent by Ren Qianqian’s backer.

Their battle was dire—Fu Bo was wounded, forced into a supporting role.

“Lend me one of your scales.”

Li Hao’s eyes flashed with killing intent; he bent down, plucked a scale from the black dragon woman’s head, and hurled it—transforming into a streak of dark light, vanishing instantly into the sky.

The black dragon woman stared, then screamed in horror: “W-what are you doing?!”

Thirty li away.

The two fighters were retreating step by step. Li Fu’s face was pale—he never expected to encounter a Fifteen-Li Realm demon here. He was only at the Shen You Realm—he could barely escape, luckily aided by another Fifteen-Li Realm cultivator.

But the situation was grim—his earlier distress signal had been swallowed by the demon; he had to find another way.

“Die!”

The black dragon roared fiercely, slamming the burly man off the hillside, then diving to tear him apart—when suddenly, a piercing whistle pierced the air.

“Hmm?”

The black dragon turned in shock—its pupils widened to see a black scale rapidly expanding.

With a thunderous crash, it struck at an impossible speed, piercing straight into the eyeball, then churning violently inside the skull, destroying all brain tissue!

The black dragon spat a gout of blood, its remaining eye filled with disbelief—the black light, it recognized: it was Mei’s scale. But how...?

A roar echoed—the black dragon plummeted, its life fading rapidly.

One scale, slaying a dragon thirty li away.

(End of Chapter)