The Lion King Dragon and the Purple Dragon King

In the heart of the ancient city, the brutish dragons attacking the divine stele seemed to sense the disturbance in this area. A Lion King Dragon, its entire body blazing with golden light, charged over. From afar, it opened its maw and spat out a vast expanse of golden radiance. The scorching light was so intense that the cultivators could not open their eyes.

A piercing ghostly screech rang out. In the air, over a hundred skeletal birds shattered into pieces and rained down, their ghostly feathers scattering and dancing everywhere. Facing a Lion King Dragon of the royal dragon lineage, all the skeletal birds fled in terror. Even the thirty-meter-tall devil was cowed, its steps grinding to a halt.

The Lion King Dragon roared again. A golden rain of light descended from the sky, blanketing the towering devil like a storm of unstoppable blade beams. The massive fiend was forced to retreat swiftly to dodge.

But the Lion King Dragon seemed unwilling to let it go. Suddenly, it swooped down. A tremendous bolt of golden light tore through the void like lightning. The crowd saw a blur, then heard a thunderous splash. Geysers of blood erupted from the river as the colossal devil was swept into the blood river by the Lion King Dragon.

Amid wretched ghostly howls, the blood river seemed to boil. The devil thrashed violently, as if some malevolent spirit was dragging its huge body down to the riverbed. Waves of blood surged, then finally calmed. The thirty-meter-tall devil sank into the blood river, silent.

The Lion King Dragon swept its gaze coldly over the young cultivators in the air, but ultimately did not slaughter them. Its main purpose in charging here was to annihilate the evil ghosts. At last, the majestic Lion King Dragon, glittering with dazzling golden light, ran through the air back toward the central district of the ancient city.

Not far away, the three skeletons began slowly reassembling their frames, flexing their joints. The surviving cultivators felt as if they had awoken from a dream. To have escaped certain death filled each one with joy.

But before their smiles could fully bloom, they froze once more. A brutal, slaughterous aura was pressing in on them again. In an instant, King Qin Guang, King Yan Luo, and King of Reincarnation moved with lightning speed. Clatter and snap—they reassembled their skeletons in a flash, then bounded over to Xiao Chen in a few steps.

In the distance, over fifty Yin soldiers in ancient battle armor were approaching step by step. The bronze spears and iron halberds in their hands, though rusted and scarred, brimmed with a murderous aura that seemed ready to slaughter even a dragon king.

Behind the Yin soldiers came fifty celestial soldiers, clad in equally ancient armor. They exuded an aura of boundless antiquity, like fossils from a forgotten age. Their killing intent was just as fierce.

No one knew how powerful the celestial soldiers were, but they had already witnessed the strength of the Yin soldiers. Now, with so many Yin soldiers and celestial soldiers advancing together, resistance was futile.

Moreover, the eyes of these celestial soldiers and Yin soldiers were startlingly clear, indicating that their minds were fully lucid. This was far beyond the Yin soldier they had killed earlier. It was entirely possible that any one of these soldiers could annihilate them all.

Xiao Chen sighed inwardly. This truly was a city of the dead. Even a god, if trapped here, might not be able to break free.

"Flee!" someone shouted. Everyone dashed forward along the ancient street. Against so many celestial and Yin soldiers, fighting would be suicide.

Not only were the celestial and Yin soldiers closing in, but the skeletal birds that the Lion King Dragon had scattered were also regrouping and flying back toward this area. Even the spellmasters and spiritists had to fly at low altitude; otherwise, they would face attacks from the hundreds of skeletal birds.

Xiao Chen and the others sprinted through the ancient streets. This was a true race for life and death. The Yin soldiers and celestial soldiers, though not moving quickly, seemed to possess a divine art of shortening the earth, drawing closer and closer.

The skeletal birds in the sky grew more numerous, numbering in the hundreds. They renewed their assault on Xiao Chen's group. At the same time, wisps of black mist surged from various alleys as evil spirits emerged. Their strength was unknown, but they too converged and joined the pursuit.

At the center, the divine stele trembled violently, shaking the entire ancient city. The doors of many ancient residences began to creak open—an ominous sign. The fiends that had been dormant within those houses were finally stirring.

Meanwhile, a rumbling tremor came from the broad streets in the distance, as if many massive devils were running.

At that moment, the ancient city overflowed with slaughterous energy. The aura of death permeated everything. All the malevolent spirits grew agitated. Xiao Chen and his companions felt trapped. At this rate, where could they flee? They would be annihilated before long.

A youthful dragon's cry rang out. Yes, youthful—clearly the roar of a baby dragon. A flash of purple light, and a dragon a little over a meter long charged toward them, wreathed in purple mist. Its form was very much like the legendary Qilin: a body resembling a deer or horse, wolf-like hooves, dragon scales. But it also differed from the traditional Qilin—its tail was a crocodilian divine tail, gleaming with purple splendor. Its scales were brilliant, and the purple-gold double horns on its head were like antlers. Its head closely resembled the legendary Ancestral Dragon!

It was the Purple Dragon King. Many of the cultivators present had seen it before, and Yan Qingcheng, along with Kailuo, Wang Tong, and others, had once ambushed this Companion Dragon King—only to fail.

Though the young Purple Dragon King was barely a meter long, it exuded powerful dragon qi and the oppressive majesty of a beast king. It cast a wary glance at the crowd, then happily rushed toward the mysterious woman within the colored mist, nuzzling affectionately against her.

The result left everyone dumbfounded. The Purple Dragon King had been tamed!

This was the first dragon king ever found on Dragon Island, likely also the first Companion Dragon King born. That meant it would be the young Ancestral Dragon's most formidable rival—perhaps even capable of replacing it. If it grew to maturity, it would become a terror that could make gods tremble.

The young Purple Dragon King turned and ran forward, as if guiding the mysterious woman in the colored mist.

"Everyone, follow me," came the woman's heavenly voice, and she took the lead.

The fiends and evil ghosts behind still pursued, but the skeletal birds in the sky, seeing the young Companion Dragon King, seemed to hesitate. They feared attracting the adult brutish dragons that might be behind the dragon king.

The Yin soldiers and celestial soldiers did not stop. The evil spirits wreathed in black fog showed no such restraint; they too were closing in fast. Suddenly, the Purple Dragon King spun around. Purple divine flames danced over its entire body as it roared at the fiends behind.

Its cry, gentle when soft, was like thunder when angry, shaking heaven and earth. In that instant, it actually made the evil spirits slow their steps. The sight of the Purple Dragon King seemed to stir some ancient memories within them.

People realized that the young Purple Dragon King was leading them toward the area of the divine stele. The result made many evil spirits halt. Only the Yin soldiers and celestial soldiers continued their unhurried pursuit.

"Can we trust this dragon king?" someone questioned.

The young Purple Dragon King turned back and let out a low growl, glaring at the cultivator. It was extremely intelligent, its expression almost human. This made Xiao Chen think of Keke. Was that adorable little beast still sound asleep? He hoped nothing had happened to it.

"At this point, if we don't trust it, do we have another way out?" someone countered.

"Just follow. It won't lead us astray," came the soft voice of the woman in the colored mist. She moved forward like a flying bird, gently stroking the Purple Dragon King's horn.

"How did you tame it?" someone finally couldn't help asking. After all, many had set their sights on the Purple Dragon King, but all had failed.

The mysterious woman said with surprise, "I never tamed it. I simply treated it as a friend. Out in the mountain forests, it often appeared by my side. I never expected it to follow me into the ancient city, and now it seems to be guiding us."

The cultivators exchanged glances. The mysterious woman's detached nature had actually won the Purple Dragon King's trust. It was both enviable and admirable. Yet some did not believe her. If she hadn't come for the dragon king, why enter Dragon Island?

"Not long ago, why were you all fighting each other? Especially you, Dugu Jianmo—your bloodlust is too strong. If I hadn't stopped you several times, you would have killed far more," the mysterious woman said, clearly disapproving of Dugu Jianmo.

These words surprised the other cultivators. Was this woman truly so pure and virtuous? Was she truly an otherworldly paragon of purity? Though they harbored doubts, they could not dwell on them now. Escaping with their lives was the only priority.

Dugu Jianmo responded only with a cold snort.

Xiao Chen grew more and more convinced that the mysterious woman seemed familiar, but he could not recall where he had seen her. On Dragon Island, he had glimpsed many female cultivators in passing. Perhaps she was one of them.

As they spoke, the young Purple Dragon King had already led them to the area near the divine stele. Of course, "near" meant the region beyond the reach of the energy radiance. Ahead, light flashed as the Buddha's dharma wheel, bronze trigrams, and other artifacts continued to bombard the divine stele. In the high sky above, there were countless brutish dragons...