There was a green landscape where animals were running free and birds flying through the sky. It was incredible scenery that soothed any weary heart.
Next to a huge lake, tens of thousands of strong cattle were resting and slowly drinking from the clean lake water.
Everything seemed peaceful, and yet it was filled with danger. Many Magical beasts, such as lions, tigers, wolves and bears were staring at the cattle hungrily. They were waiting for one that was vulnerable.
Suddenly, a black shadow appeared in the middle of the clear lake. With a great roaring sound, a gigantic mouth swallowed a few cattle. The cattle were crushed under the gigantic teeth, blood was flowing and bones were cracking.
The cattle all cried out when they saw the scene...
They were startled by the sudden attack. They ran in all directions frantically.
Tens of thousands of cattle stampeding was a scary sight to behold. All the predators surrounding the lake couldn't react and escape in time, they were crushed into a bloody pulp under the feet of the cattle.
Just when the cattle were running, a dragon flew out from the mountain and spread its giant wings. It dived into the crowd of animals and shredded them into pieces. Its fangs pierced into their bones as it ate the cattle one by one. The cattle were panicking, but there was nowhere to go. They were like sheep to the slaughter, running around aimlessly.
The flying dragon was satisfied and flew away after swallowing almost a hundred cattle, leaving behind the bloody body parts, many frightened cattle, and a land tainted with blood.
Not very far from here, under the same sky, was woman with long white dress and black hair. Her face calm and undisturbed by the bloody scene. She saw something and sighed.
"Lady Zhenluo, please follow your humble servant and come back home. Your older brother is leading an army outside, and he's worried about you, so he sent us to protect you. Please be considerate of his worries."
"My safety wasn't the concern. He was scared that if something should happen to me, we won't be able to join with the Hai Family through marriage, isn't that right?" Yun Zhenluo said calmly, but a killing intent flashed through her eyes. She turned to the old man,
"Good, very good. The two of you are my brother's right hand men. You helped him win many wars. However, you dared to touch my apprentice. Wu Dong has already gone to kill Xuanyuan, isn't that right? You must think very little of me. If I taught him the secret scriptures of the Yun Family, do you think I wouldn't leave something to protect him? Do you think I would teach an irrelevant boy the Yun martial arts? How dare you insult me like this."
Wu Ming, who was very close to Wu Dong, kneeled down immediately and begged,
"Lady Zhenluo, please forgive me. However, I'm sure you know already, that the boy will never be able to make a breakthrough to the higher realm. He'll be a warrior forever. There are many realms, master realm, spiritual realm, wild realm, king realm, grandmaster realm, imperial realm, and emperor realm... He'll never be able to reach any of them. Please, lady Zhenluo, have mercy for Wu Dong. He served the Yun clan with utmost loyalty. Please don't kill him."
Yun Zhenluo was still unmoved. After a pause, she gave a long sigh,
"How could I blame you? You are loyal to the family and put the family's interest as your top priority, even if that means you'll have to die. I wouldn't do that to you. Wu Dong probably hasn't attacked yet, otherwise my protection would have been activated. If Xuanyuan's in danger, I would have felt it."
Just when Yun Zhenluo finished, Wu Ming started shaking. He screamed out in surprise,
"Wu Dong... has already been killed. Impossible, how can that boy kill him? Is lady Zhenluo aware of any danger?"
Yun Zhenluo was surprised too, and she shook her head and said,
"It’s not activated. No matter how he died, he wanted to kill Xuanyuan. He had no one else to blame other than himself for being killed. Wu Ming, stop pursuing Xuanyuan or there will be consequences. You know full well even my brother would be mortally injured if I use the 'Light of the Heavenly Dragon' on him."
She had seen enough deaths like this through her years in the Yun Family. They wouldn't be able to scare her. She was disappointed about her betrothal to the Hai Family and chose to leave.
Wu Ming didn't dare to say anything else but "Understood."
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Wu Dong didn't think Xuanyuan could hurt him, so he put his hand behind his back, waiting for Xuanyuan's attack, then he could kill the boy.
He did not expect this rusty dagger would pierce through his body into his heart like it was cutting soft clay. Wu Dong was a powerful practitioner and his heart was strong. Even though his heart was stabbed, he would not die immediately.
Fighters refined their skin; warriors their flesh, masters their bones, spirituals their veins, wilds their marrows, kings their five organs. Wu Dong didn't practice “The Way of Heavenly Dragon” to refine his five organs, but his power was still within a higher realm. Even if his five organs were dug out from his body by an upper ranked sacred instrument, he still wouldn't die immediately.
However, when Xuanyuan's rusty dagger pierced through his heart, a black light radiated throughout the treehouse. Thousands of black threads reached out from the mysterious dagger and pierced into Wu Dong's body. It was as if Xuanyuan had become the dagger and he felt that the muscles in his body were being purified.
His power increased exponentially from thirty three bulls.
"Thirty eight!"
"Forty three!"
"Forty nine!"
The increase in power only stopped when it reached forty nine bulls. He could feel the fighting Qi lingering in his muscles. It was like he had inexhaustible strength, he felt incredibly strong.
Wu Dong's body was wilting in an alarming speed. A large part of his power was sucked into the dagger.
Some of the rust fell from the dagger and a black light shone. If you stared at it, you felt as if you would be swallowed by it.
Xuanyuan was dumbfounded and couldn't react for a while.
"What a powerful dagger."
Suddenly, Xuanyuan was shaken because Wu Dong's body imploded into a cloud of gray dust. There was nothing left of him, except for a sword and a ring on the ground.