The Little Defiant Dragon's First Test

They sat together in the same private room. A long table had been set aside for the two little beasts, laden with delicacies no less lavish than those before the fat man and Xiao Chen. As for the Wheel King and his companions, they sat without eating or drinking, and the fat man did not press the matter.

The fat man clearly noticed the emotional stir among the two little beasts. Lowering his voice to Xiao Chen, he said, "Tell me, brother, are these two little beasts truly sentient? Why do I seem to hear them grinding their teeth at me?"

"It's not just seeming. You mistook a terrifying little fiend for a kitten, and the other for a money tree you wanted to trade. Do you expect them not to want to bite you?"

All things considered, this was still a pleasant gathering. The fat man, Zhuge Liang, had indeed shown enough sincerity. He agreed to Xiao Chen's request that the Little Defiant Dragon could have opponents daily, but not in the arena for public spectacle.

The fat man was born into a beast-fighting family. Though not of the main line, he had genuine talent for the trade, with an innate sharp instinct. The moment he saw the Little Defiant Dragon that day, for reasons he could not explain, his blood had already risen. He felt he might have discovered an unopened treasure.

If his instinct proved correct and he unearthed a supreme fighting beast, his standing in the family would multiply. The position of head was hopeless, yes, but his power and status would certainly rise dramatically.

As for the conditions Xiao Chen had raised, he had no worries. Such was the nature of the trade: the rarer and more promising a fighting beast, the less often it should appear on stage, to build the audience's anticipation.

"Now then, brother, we've talked long enough. I've agreed to your terms, so let's go see what the Little Defiant Dragon is truly capable of."

The Little Defiant Dragon seemed reluctant, showing no fondness for the fat man.

"Don't worry, little one," Xiao Chen whispered, stroking its scales. "This is all for your good. If you want to metamorphose into a dragon king, what you lack is opponents. From now on, they'll arrange them for you." The Little Defiant Dragon blinked its large eyes, then nodded firmly, agreeing with excitement.

A battle maniac! Xiao Chen sighed inwardly.

"I'm only here on an inspection tour for the family. I didn't bring any particularly powerful fighting beasts with me. I wonder if the family's arena in this town has one or two decent spirit beasts."

Before long they arrived at the arena. From a distance, they could hear the roars of beasts mingled with the excited screams and shouts of the crowd.

The place was packed with energy.

Beast fighting—truly the mightiest industry on the continent.

The arena was vast, divided into several combat zones. Each zone teemed with spectators, all shouting in near-frenzy.

The fat man Zhuge Liang went directly to the local supervisor and ordered him to arrange a "trial of beasts." In their jargon, this meant testing the abilities of a newly acquired spirit beast.

Knowing the fat man was on an inspection tour from the family, the supervisor dared not delay and hurried to make arrangements. The testing grounds were usually closed to outsiders, located far from the combat zones.

Because the beasts being tested were still wild and uncontrollable, the trials were conducted inside massive iron cages.

But the Little Defiant Dragon could not be treated that way. Not only would it rebel, but Xiao Chen would never permit it. So they held the trial in the open air.

The arena supervisor looked at the Little Defiant Dragon—barely a meter long, so small—and felt the whole affair was overblown. He started by releasing an ordinary leopard, thinking it would be enough. The fat man said nothing, watching with a grin, eager to see the little dragon's true strength and happy to let it fight a few rounds.

The result left everyone dumbfounded. The Little Defiant Dragon bared its fangs, and the leopard collapsed on the spot.

Everyone was stunned. Only Xiao Chen understood that the little dragon had been angered by the contempt, unconsciously releasing a trace of draconic aura. How could an ordinary beast not collapse in fear?

The arena supervisor wiped cold sweat from his brow. For the second round, he released five lions. The result was even more astonishing: the Little Defiant Dragon lashed its tail five times, sending all five lions flying.

Looking at the creature—body of a tiger and leopard, tail of a tyrant dragon, scales covering its frame, a single horn on its head—the arena supervisor stood open-mouthed. A meter-long beast possessing such strength was almost unbelievable.

Fatty Zhuge Liang was overjoyed. He had seen all kinds of strange beasts and knew that the power of certain extraordinary creatures could not be measured by size. The more fearsome the fighting beast, the truer this was. The Little Defiant Dragon's potential was clearly incalculable. The results of this initial trial pleased him greatly.

The arena supervisor was now drenched in sweat. This time he made no conservative estimate. He brought out the arena's strongest fighting beast: a massive white wolf, six meters long, that stood overlooking the crowd. Its wolf eyes gleamed green with menace, and its limbs were oddly covered in fine scales—clearly a vicious opponent.

"Awooo..." The white wolf was evidently intelligent, sensing that the Little Defiant Dragon was no ordinary beast. It did not underestimate its smaller foe. With a howl, it transformed into a flash of white light and pounced ferociously.

Swish!

The Little Defiant Dragon left an afterimage and dodged. Xiao Chen narrowed his eyes. This was exactly the ancient draconic combat technique the winged dragon couple had spoken of. The little dragon's movement was peculiar, like a true human expert shifting position.

"Grrr..." The white wolf roared, opening its mouth to spew a sheet of flame. Truly a strange breed, capable of spellcasting.

The Little Defiant Dragon dodged again, but this time it did not counter with brute force. Instead, it became a streak of black light, moving like lightning. It darted in close several times, tearing horrific wounds across the great wolf's body.

Sky Wolf Bays the Moon. The white wolf threw back its head and howled. The fine scales on its limbs suddenly blazed with divine light, and then it left the ground, taking flight.

A true strange beast, possessing such power. Without a doubt, the white wolf was formidable. The Little Defiant Dragon found itself in a perilous position, almost entirely on the defensive, only able to guard itself and unable to reach the airborne giant wolf.

The arena supervisor's face gradually showed a smile. If this arena had no beast that could suppress a one-meter-long unicorn beast, he would lose face.

But his smile did not last. The flying white wolf seemed ready to finish the battle with a final strike, diving at the little dragon's head, which had been strictly on the defensive.

At that moment, the Little Defiant Dragon erupted. Its scales flashed with light, and it leaped upward, meeting the descending wolf, shooting up between its claws, and gouging deep into the wolf's chest and belly. Blood poured. The white wolf howled in pain and crashed to the ground.

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" The fat man applauded. "First, bide your time, then strike with a killing blow. These are the instincts of battle-hardened fighting beasts. The Little Defiant Dragon has such natural talent! Born for battle, living for battle!"

Then he waved his hand, signaling the arena supervisor and the others to withdraw. Fixing an eager gaze on the Little Defiant Dragon, he said, "I will make you the brightest star. I'll make those noblewomen scream for you, make those men go mad for you."

Xiao Chen thought the man himself had gone mad.

"Ha ha... When we get to the Heavenly Emperor City, I'll treat you to the finest red wine, and introduce you to the most beautiful women..."

The snow-white little beast seemed unable to tolerate this. It leaped onto his head, ruffled his hair into a mess, then jumped onto Xiao Chen's shoulder.

The fat man was not at all offended. He chuckled. "Getting carried away. But this little beast has genuine potential. Though this arena's champion is nothing compared to the beasts of the imperial arenas, it's enough to prove the Little Defiant Dragon is extraordinary. After all, it's still very young, with a long road ahead. Boundless potential! A tiger-leopard body, a tyrant dragon's tail, and its head bears a single horn, almost like a dragon king. Could this little one... actually be a dragon?"

The shrewd merchant Zhuge Liang looked at the Little Defiant Dragon with suspicion. One had to admit his eye for beasts was extremely sharp.

"You can treat it as a dragon," Xiao Chen said.

Hearing this, the fat man laughed heartily, shedding his doubts. But he was very confident. "This little beast's potential is no less than a dragon's. I believe it may well grow into a legendary sacred beast. When the time comes, even fighting dragons will be no problem. Wahaha... I'm the one who discovered it! When that old, dim-sighted head of the family sees this, he'll have to assign me a few nation-toppling female cultivators for protection, won't he? Heh heh... heh heh..."

As the fat man laughed, he suddenly heard the grinding of teeth again. He found the Little Defiant Dragon glaring at him and quickly quieted down.

"Brother Xiao, let us swear brotherhood! We need not share the same birth, but we shall share the same death."

Damn! A cunning merchant—now he wanted to curry favor after seeing the little dragon's potential. Xiao Chen cursed inwardly.

Of course he would not swear brotherhood with this fellow. But Xiao Chen did not dislike the fat man either; the man was fairly personable.

"Brother Xiao, when we get to the Heavenly Emperor City, we must thoroughly develop the Little Defiant Dragon's potential. Let me think... For its first match... we'll go after that bastard Corras's Six-Eyed Golden Lion King Beast. That spirit beast is nearly invincible among small-class beasts. The Little Defiant Dragon is still young. After some training, when its strength improves, it will be just the one to take on that little beast king. Ah, the Heavenly Emperor City is a grand place—over a million people, the largest city in the southern part of the Eternal Continent, with several imperial beast-fighting arenas. We'll have plenty to keep us busy." The fat man had already begun planning.

Zhuge Liang then told Xiao Chen many things, and finally said, "Brother Xiao, wait for me here. At least five days, at most seven, then we'll go to the Heavenly Emperor City together."

The fat man, besides being on an inspection tour of some family properties, also had to gather legends about strange beasts in the Southern Wastes for the Zhuge family, so that in the future the clan could send experts to hunt. If the strange beasts truly existed, capturing even one would be an unimaginable bounty.

This time, the fat man had already completed his mission, but he was eager to make more contributions and wanted to personally explore the fringes of the Southern Wastes.

Xiao Chen had planned to stay in this town for a few days anyway, so upon hearing the fat man's explanation, he had no objection.

Time passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, ten days went by. The fat man had not returned, far exceeding his promised time. Xiao Chen waited another five days, but after half a month, there was still no sign of him.

During this time, Xiao Chen went to the arena to ask, but received no news. There, he saw once more how red-hot the beast-fighting industry was. He thought that if he ever had no income, he could bring the Little Defiant Dragon to the arena a few times and live comfortably.

Twenty days passed. Still no word from Zhuge Liang. Xiao Chen felt it was useless to wait any longer. The fat man had probably lost his way in the Southern Wastes.

Xiao Chen set out, heading toward the Heavenly Emperor City, about two thousand li away. Along the way, there seemed to be only a few large towns. Because the Southern Wastes were considered unlucky in ancient legends, the population was especially sparse.

Legend said that the Ancestral God Suiren had once lived in seclusion in the Southern Wastes. But Xiao Chen, having returned from Dragon Island, was skeptical. He was carrying a piece of burial shroud. If the legend were true, then the Ancestral God Suiren should no longer exist. The Southern Wastes had little contact with the outside world; the roads were too desolate and broken, some places nearly impassable. After three or four days of travel, Xiao Chen and his companions could not find the path.

But the snow-white little beast and the Little Defiant Dragon were in their element. The spiritual treasures they had brought from the Undying Gate were long gone, and as they wandered through the old forests of the Southern Wastes, Keke often found ginseng kings and other heavenly treasures. The Little Defiant Dragon fought with ferocious beasts daily. Fortunately, they did not encounter any particularly dangerous creatures.

However, Xiao Chen grew uneasy. If they could not find the road, they risked losing themselves completely in the Southern Wastes, especially since the beasts they encountered were growing more ferocious, many of them primeval variants. This suggested they were penetrating deeper into the Southern Wastes.

Just as Xiao Chen and his companions were nearly lost, the fat man Zhuge Liang, accompanied by two or three others in tattered clothes, returned to the town. They had been lost in the wilderness for over twenty days, and only a few had survived.

When he learned Xiao Chen had already left, he grew anxious. At the same time, he received a message carried by carrier pigeon from the Heavenly Emperor City: someone had appeared there with a Dragon King and had fought beasts in three imperial arenas. The fat man, as if injected with stimulant, immediately rushed on his way—both to catch up with Xiao Chen and to see the Dragon King.