Chapter 214

“Ye Zheng!”

Following the sound, the griffin flew toward a corner of the hunting ground that had already been reduced to ruins. Ye Zheng flipped down from its grip and pulled Bai Muqing up from the corner.

Bai Muqing’s clothes were torn in several places and stained with blood. With Ye Zheng’s support, she managed to stand and said, “They’re all fine. I can sense it.”

“I used moving obstacles to block its line of sight. For now, you don’t need to worry about them.”

Ye Zheng nodded. She reached out and touched Bai Muqing’s collar. 【Stream】 flowed down from her fingertips, healing the fine wounds. At first glance, it looked as though she was simply helping the other woman straighten her clothes.

“What exactly happened outside just now?” Ye Zheng asked.

“Pei Xi and the other two were fighting it outside, and then… Sykes was thrown over here.”

“I’m sorry. They were a bit far from the hunting ground at that time. I couldn’t warn you in time.”

“…It’s fine. Just a small accident.”

Originally, she had used the lure of restoring his memories to invite Sykes to a private meeting at the hunting ground. Yet he had unexpectedly gone mad at the banquet. Still, after going in circles, he had ultimately ended up here.

Ye Zheng hadn’t expected Sykes to find her like this. The pull of fate had delivered him to the center of the stage in a somewhat ridiculous manner.

Looking around, more than half of the magnificent hunting ground and castle had collapsed. Broken walls and ruined structures filled her vision. Stones continued rolling down from the debris. In the distance, thick smoke rose from the palace, burning fiercely like the brilliant lights that should’ve been shining on this night.

The scene almost perfectly replicated that manga spoiler, except for the weather.

Ye Zheng tilted her head upward. The building above had been completely destroyed the moment Sykes smashed into it. The stars in the night sky were quietly twinkling, looking incredibly beautiful.

It was a fine day today, bright and sunny during the daytime, with clear stars and moon at night.

Ye Zheng leaned against the broken pillar behind her. Her expression grew a little calmer as she asked, “Muqing, will it rain tonight?”

“From the looks of it, no.” Bai Muqing’s tone was firm and absolutely certain.

In the original plot, it was clearly meant to be a night of pouring rain. Yet now, when she needed a heavy downpour the most, the sky remained cloudless for thousands of miles, with not a single sign of rain.

“Ye Zheng, the Church Knight Order is waiting near the city gates. Perhaps you could send someone to bring them over right now.”

Bai Muqing seemed to hesitate for a brief moment before she made that suggestion.

“No. If we can’t handle it ourselves, having them come would only increase the casualties.”

This wasn’t ancient warfare where sheer numbers could overwhelm the enemy. Truly powerful monsters couldn’t be crushed by manpower alone, no matter how many were sent.

More importantly, her enemies weren’t limited to Sykes standing right in front of her. Until now, the imperial family still hadn’t sent any decent ability users to stop Sykes. She had no idea what they were truly planning. In a situation like this, Wende and the others needed to stay outside with their forces even more, keeping a close watch on the royal family’s movements while waiting for her return.

Ye Zheng cast a light glance at the side of Bai Muqing’s face. She looked deeply troubled.

The current situation indeed called for powerful reinforcements, and both of them understood that clearly. The person who should have arrived most of all was Bai Muqing’s father, Bai Yi, whether from a social standpoint or a family one.

But he still hadn’t shown up. Ye Zheng was almost certain now that he wouldn’t be coming at all.

“Muqing, can you sense where Pei Xi and the other two are?”

“They’re hiding over there.” Bai Muqing turned her head toward the right. “Pei Xi is heavily injured and seems to have lost consciousness. His two friends are guarding him.”

Ye Zheng was slightly surprised. Pei Xi had already used his regression once, yet he was now severely wounded and unconscious. It looked like he’d gone through an extremely difficult battle.

For Pei Xi to end up like this, he must’ve also dealt considerable damage to Sykes. After all, the two of them were fated rivals.

“By the way, Pei Xi has a sword. That sword is…” Bai Muqing seemed uncertain about how to continue.

“Mm, I know.”

Ye Zheng looked past the broken pillar. The black dragon was coiled atop a small mountain of gray ruins. Its head slowly turned in all directions, clearly showing signs of restlessness. With a single sweep of its black tail, it smashed a fleeing monster from the hunting ground into a pulp of flesh and blood.

Its body was covered in black scales. The relatively softer underbelly bore no scales, and a deep, heavy gash ran across it.

The underbelly was almost entirely stained red with blood, but upon closer inspection, that ferocious wound had already stopped bleeding.

Ye Zheng observed its eyes again. Not long ago, Bai Muqing had controlled a building to pierce one of its eyes. That eye was now half-open, its golden pupil covered by a thin layer of white film.

Its regenerative ability was extremely strong.

Ye Zheng felt they couldn’t wait any longer. Sykes had stayed motionless for the moment, perhaps because he was also waiting for an opportunity.

Ye Zheng pulled out a bone from the inner side of her white robe and handed it over to Bai Muqing.

“Take this and give it to my mother. Tell her to go to the deepest part of the tunnel.”

The tunnel where the monsters were imprisoned was, in fact, the best-preserved area in this region. To prevent the monsters from rioting, the tunnel had been constructed using the largest quantity of heterogeneous stones. It was extremely sturdy and could isolate auras.

Bai Muqing took the white bone. At a moment like this, Ye Zheng’s choice to protect her mother and keep her out of danger was understandable. What puzzled her more was this bone. It gave her an inexplicable sense of unease.

“Wu Shu and I will support you. Go ahead, Ye Zheng.”

Ye Zheng had already leapt onto a heap of ruins. Hearing this, she turned her head and smiled. Under the hazy moonlight, her face looked both gentle and resolute, almost unwavering in its calm.

“Alright. We’ll stay in contact.”

Within 【Divine Domain】, Bai Muqing could communicate with her through consciousness alone.

In the distance, the black dragon suddenly let out a long howl toward the sky. It opened its maw filled with sharp fangs and spread its wings that blended into the night, as though it would swallow the crescent moon rising on the horizon in the very next moment.

✧✧✧✧✧

Below the city walls, the gathered crowd watched the giant dragon suddenly move and fell into yet another wave of panic. A fat man wearing a tall top hat fainted right on the spot, and the guards standing behind him scrambled in haste to catch him before he hit the ground.

In the crowd, Duke Bai, a man of high position and authority, stood surrounded by knights as he loudly reassured everyone. The imperial family had already dispatched people to eliminate the monsters. The Aberrant Realm would soon vanish, and they would all be able to leave safely.

Bai Mulin stood at the edge of the crowd, watching his father. Seeing the crowd calm down once more, he silently stepped forward, then grabbed Bai Yi and quickly pulled him into a remote, deserted corner away from the others.

“Father, why are we deceiving them? Why aren’t we sending people to actually deal with that monster?!”

“I’m not deceiving them. We’ve already sent people to find the core of this Aberrant Realm.”

Bai Mulin froze for a moment, then pointed at the giant dragon in the distance. “Isn’t the core of the Aberrant Realm right there? Is there something even stronger than it in this realm?”

The fact that the strongest monster served as the core of an Aberrant Realm was common knowledge in the empire, something even three-year-old children knew.

Bai Yi clasped his hands behind his back and slowly shook his head. “He’s not. He is… the Demonic Dragon.”

Bai Mulin grew even more agitated. “I don’t care what the hell he is, we still have to deal with him! Besides, my little sister is in there! Muqing is inside!”

“Your daughter is inside there too!”

The middle-aged man turned his head away, deliberately avoiding his son’s disappointed and accusing gaze.

“Muqing is my proudest child. The Bai family will always take pride in her.”

Bai Mulin’s eyes abruptly widened. He instantly understood the meaning behind those words.

“Just stay here quietly. Once the Aberrant Realm disappears, you’ll leave. Don’t do anything foolish. Your mother and I can’t bear to lose a second child.”

“Blame me if you want. Hate me if you want. Once everything is truly over, Mulin, you’ll understand why I did this.”

The man’s voice sounded as though he had aged several decades in an instant. Bai Mulin could no longer understand a single thing he was saying.

“Only by learning to give things up can one go even further. That applies to you, to the Emperor, and… to the empire as well.”

Bai Mulin stared at his father’s departing back in utter disbelief. What the hell had happened? Why had his father so completely abandoned the rescue plan after meeting with the Emperor? He had even given up on Muqing?

What exactly was the origin of that monster? How could they simply allow it to rampage unchecked like this… This was the seven-hundred-year foundation of the Aston Imperial Family, yet the Emperor was choosing to turn a blind eye to it.

Bai Mulin stared into the far distance. The black dragon spread its wings once more. Its colossal body nearly swallowed the moon itself, fusing seamlessly with the endless darkness of the night sky.

A suddenly descended Aberrant Realm, and a black dragon that had appeared out of nowhere… could this truly be the apocalypse spoken of in the prophecy?

✧✧✧✧✧

Ye Zheng raised her head and looked toward the black dragon in the sky. The instant she intentionally revealed herself atop the ruins, its gaze immediately locked onto her.

“Come, Sykes.”

Ye Zheng spoke in a low voice, her tone exceptionally calm. Across the devastated ruins and the immense distance stretching between heaven and earth, the black dragon seemed to hear her words with perfect clarity and answered with a thunderous roar. It plunged directly toward her!

A nimble shadow darted swiftly across the shattered walls and ruined structures. Ye Zheng ripped away her outer robe, exposing silver light armor that shimmered with a sharp and icy gleam. She charged head-on toward the black dragon as well!

Within only a few breaths, that enormous black shadow that blotted out the sky had already swallowed the moonlight above. Ye Zheng sprang down from a gigantic boulder, deftly evading the sudden strike of its razor-sharp claws.

When she turned back to look, the enormous boulder that had been touched by those claws hadn’t shattered into pieces at all. Instead, it had completely disintegrated into ash and scattered through the air.

It was Sykes activating 【Destruction】.

A faint laugh escaped Ye Zheng’s lips. 【Stream】 silently spread across the surface of her skin.

The black dragon that had just flown overhead abruptly changed direction. Its massive, mountain-like body crashed down before Ye Zheng, the impact shaking the earth beneath them. It lowered its elongated neck, and the enraged roar bursting from its throat even blasted the Rubble scattered across the ground into the air.

It completely sealed off Ye Zheng’s path forward. Its enormous shadow swallowed the tiny human figure beneath it like an unscalable mountain standing before her.

Ye Zheng halted her steps and slowly drew the longsword hanging at her waist.

At the sight of this, the giant dragon narrowed its golden pupils. Several heavy snorts escaped from its throat, as though it were openly mocking her.

——Just moments ago, I witnessed the so-called legendary divine sword said to slaughter dragons. It was nothing impressive. And besides, you’re nothing more than a blasphemer swinging around a counterfeit divine sword.

The giant dragon gazed down from above while Ye Zheng raised the longsword high into the air.

It watched the blade being lifted, its tip aimed directly toward itself. Yet in the very next instant, Ye Zheng gripped the hilt tightly with both hands, lifted it over her head, and violently plunged it downward!

It was clearly such a plain and almost laughable sword strike, yet it triggered an overwhelming tremor.

The already collapsing ground instantly split apart with even wider cracks. The moment the sword pierced downward, it felt as though the very earth itself had been forcibly levered upward by the blade. Fractures spread wildly across the entire surface.

Those lofty golden pupils suddenly constricted. The dragon let out a furious roar, as though it had been thoroughly mocked and toyed with, and immediately lifted one of its front claws to crush her beneath it. Yet halfway through the movement, an immense opposing force abruptly stopped its action.

Ye Zheng yanked the sword back out while breathing heavily and quickly retreated several steps. Immediately after that, a gigantic pillar of water burst violently into the sky!

The massive water column exploded upward from beneath the ground, surging straight into the heavens. Countless dense droplets of water poured down from above. The noisy sound of rain striking the earth drowned out every other noise around them, just like a sudden and violent torrential downpour.

There was only one possible explanation for why the original storyline’s storm-filled night was completely different from today’s cloudless skies. It wasn’t fate mercifully sending rain from above. It was “Ye Zheng” herself who had created the storm!

The imperial palace’s underground drainage system connected directly to the moat beyond the city walls. Earlier, she hadn’t been trying to confront Sykes head-on at all. Instead, under Bai Muqing’s guidance, she’d been searching for the most suitable breakthrough point, and in the end, she finally located the underground water pipe connected to the outer moat.

The freezing droplets hammered against the black dragon’s scales. Under the sudden impact of the surging water column, its massive body staggered backward again and again. Realizing the situation had turned against it, it spread its wings, preparing to lift off from the ground. At that very moment, a blade of water suddenly cleaved through the torrent before it and slashed into its underbelly without warning!

It struck the exact same place that had already been wounded before. The injury that hadn’t yet healed was ripped open on the spot. The dragon threw back its head and released a howl filled with agony.

Ye Zheng watched it with icy eyes. Today, even if she had to drain the entire moat dry, Sykes would die here!

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Authors Note  

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If nothing unexpected happens, he should be dead by tomorrow. These past few days I’ve been buried rushing my graduation thesis, busy enough that I’ve practically been flying all over the place, which is why the updates have been slow…