Four Spirit-Treasury Assassins

Three dragons unlike any he had ever seen stood before him.

Their dragon heads were as distinct as the Little Defiant Dragon's, and their Ancestral Dragon tails had already fully emerged. What was happening? They had only brought back eleven young dragon kings from Dragon Island—twelve counting the Little Defiant Dragon, which had evolved later. How had three more appeared?

Xiao Chen's mind raced, but in an instant he understood.

Legend held that at the deepest reaches of the Southern Wastes, several primordial savage dragons had once dwelled, having escaped the sealing of Dragon Island in ages past. They were kings of the dragon race.

If the legends were true, whether those kings still lived or not, they had surely left behind bloodlines—and very noble bloodlines at that.

The origin of these three young dragon kings was truly extraordinary. In a sense, they were even more exalted than the young dragons of Dragon Island. Their background was too profound.

Xiao Chen's first thought was to claim them for himself. One had to experience a series of events to understand—two rare juvenile holy beasts had already driven cultivators to bloody, frantic battles. How much more would these three dragon kings provoke?

The thought was good, but the execution was far too difficult. Xiao Chen could clearly sense the hostility of the three young dragon kings. Their powerful draconic pressure silenced even the nearby beasts, and the forest fell still.

The three young dragon kings growled at Keke and the Little Defiant Dragon, their eyes burning with deep enmity and battle intent. Then they shot each other hostile glances, and in three directions burst into the primeval forest. Their speed was like lightning, leaving behind three afterimages in the ancient woods.

In the blink of an eye, they had vanished.

It seemed they had merely been ordered to escort the two little beasts partway. Now, without a trace of reluctance, they departed.

Though disappointed, Xiao Chen had no recourse. The origins of the three young dragon kings were too extraordinary; he did not wish to court trouble.

By now, Xiao Chen had a rough guess as to who had abducted Keke and the Little Defiant Dragon.

The two little beasts paid no attention to the departure of the three dragon kings. Instead, they kept gazing toward a certain direction.

The snow-white little beast looked especially cute. It seemed shaken, shrinking its neck in a rare display of fear, sneaking a backward glance. Evidently it had suffered in the past two days. The Little Defiant Dragon, too, bore an odd expression, looking back repeatedly as if it knew someone was watching them from not far away.

Thinking of that black gale wind, the towering beast silhouette, and the cold gleam of black scales, Xiao Chen understood exactly what manner of being was involved. He did not press further for now. He did not want more trouble. He led the two little beasts away swiftly, and it was not until they had traveled a hundred li that the two relaxed, returning to their usual state.

A holy beast's instincts were the sharpest. Xiao Chen knew that the unapproachable existence behind them had truly departed.

"What exactly happened?" Xiao Chen finally began to question them.

Keke immediately gestured and babbled excitedly. Xiao Chen spent a long time understanding. The little beast's way of expressing things was interesting—according to its understanding, it was a great demon, an ultimate great devil king!

As if dissatisfied with its explanation, Keke waved its limbs wildly, describing a being that could summon endless catastrophe, an evil existence of immense calamity.

The Little Defiant Dragon acted strangely, as if lost in thought. No matter how Xiao Chen pressed, it remained silent.

Left with no choice, Xiao Chen could only gather information from Keke. The details he gleaned astonished him.

The snow-white little beast told him that the great devil king was immensely powerful. Over the past two days, it had repeatedly intimidated Keke and had severely disciplined the Little Defiant Dragon. In Keke's understanding, it was a detestable big fiend.

Keke indignantly recounted its grievances, gesturing all the while.

The great devil king could fly. He had carried them all through the air to a distant region, entering a forest that shone with rainbow light. There, countless heavenly essences of earth and sky had made the snow-white little beast drool. And it was there they had met the three young dragon kings, and a vicious battle had broken out.

Keke had no trouble binding the three dragon kings. But then the great devil king had imprisoned her. The Little Defiant Dragon had fought desperate battles against each of the three dragon kings in turn. All four had nearly been mortally wounded, but the great devil king had healed them with some "inexplicable" method.

The great devil king had thoroughly taught the five little beasts a lesson. Finally, he sent the two back, with the three young dragon kings escorting them partway.

Half a day later, Xiao Chen brought the two beasts back to the ruins of the Heavenly God Palace. It was here that they had once discovered Suiren's fire-drill—a startling find. Xiao Chen decided to search more carefully.

But the two little beasts had no interest in this. They soon charged off into the primeval forest, the Little Defiant Dragon to seek out fierce beasts for battle, and Keke to search for heavenly essences.

A gentle breeze stirred, and the ancient forest rustled. Xiao Chen found nothing on the divine island itself. He wandered listlessly over the ruins on the ground, searching absently.

At that moment, his keen spiritual sense caught a thread of chilling murderous intent. Soundlessly, a human figure approached the ruins like a specter. The entire person seemed an unreal shadow, insubstantial and ethereal, standing still as he watched Xiao Chen.

At the same time, a strange aura rippled in the air. A figure drifted in amidst a shroud of grey mist, hovering in mid-air. Only two beams of cold light pierced through the fog, staring fixedly at Xiao Chen.

In an instant, two surges of killing intent erupted from the forest. Two figures, their bodies concealed by a faint cyan radiance, stepped slowly forward. Four people—from the air and the ground—had trapped Xiao Chen among the ruins.

An immense pressure enveloped him. Xiao Chen was horrified. This was a terrifying aura. A "domain" had already covered this space, suppressing him!

His body felt bound. He could not even spread his Undying Wings to fly up. He was trapped in a domain field.

Cold sweat trickled down. Xiao Chen knew he had met experts. These four were extraordinary individuals. Working together, they had laid down a "domain field," sealing this space. Their cultivation far surpassed his; at the very least, he currently had no such ability.

A beam of deathly light swept down from the grey mist in the air, swift as lightning. Before Xiao Chen could react, it struck him hard, sending him flying. A thread of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. A single blow had already wounded him.

Clearly, the spiritist in the air had cultivation greater than his—he could not contend with them!

The three on the ground had surrounded him: the one in shadow was insubstantial, almost invisible, while the other two were wreathed in cyan light, their true faces equally obscured.

The figure in shadow struck a palm toward Xiao Chen. The spiritual energy in the air seemed to be drained away, then all of it was concentrated and slammed into Xiao Chen's vicinity.

A booming shockwave. The overwhelming power was everywhere. There was no chance to dodge. It blasted him flying, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Slowly rising from the ground, wiping the blood from his lips, Xiao Chen coldly swept his gaze across the four. "Who are you? Why do you want to kill me?"

"You deserve to die!" The figure in the grey mist spoke coldly.

"We'll take our time with you." The two men wreathed in cyan light stepped forward simultaneously, striking together. Twin beams of green light intersected as they blasted toward Xiao Chen.

Though he could not fly up, trapped as he was in this peculiar domain field, Xiao Chen could still move—like struggling through a mudflat. With difficulty, he dodged, and at the same time unleashed the Collapse technique from his Four Scattered Hands. Blinding shafts of light tore outward.

But absolute force shattered even the most exquisite divine arts. His enemies' cultivation was far above his. The intersecting beams of green light directly sent him flying again. He coughed up a large mouthful of blood. His internal organs felt as if they had shattered. His entire body blazed with agony.

All four had cultivation greater than his. They seemed in no hurry to end his life.

Four experts of such power, attacking him together—Xiao Chen could not resist. These four enemies were definitely in the Spirit-Treasury realm. Killing him would be easy.

On the ground, the one who had always stood in shadow moved as silently as a ghost, like a phantom materializing abruptly before Xiao Chen. He grabbed him by the hair and savagely slapped him across the face, sending him spinning.

Ignominy!

Absolute ignominy!

Xiao Chen felt his blood surge. Not only was his body wounded, but being beaten and humiliated this way was so stifling he wanted to roar.

The figure in the grey mist in the air, his eyes like two icy swords, flashed down like lightning, appearing before Xiao Chen in an instant. He raised his foot and stomped.

Though Xiao Chen exhausted every effort to dodge, and even raised his Reverse Chaos technique to block, he could not resist. The powerful spiritual art transformed into a shield of energy around the man's right foot, directly breaking through Xiao Chen's guard and kicking him flying.

The two men blazing with cyan light on the ground advanced together again, simultaneously stamping on Xiao Chen's body.

Crack, crack.

Two dull sounds. They used their immense force to break Xiao Chen's arms.

Barefaced humiliation. They could kill him quickly, but they deliberately chose to torture and humiliate him.

The gap was too vast!

Xiao Chen knew these four were far too strong. They were not of the same level as him—at the very least, they were Spirit-Treasury realm experts. Killing him would take no effort at all.

These were definitely not people of his generation. Even the most brilliant geniuses of the younger generation could not defeat him so easily.

Four unfathomable experts of the Spirit-Treasury realm had plunged Xiao Chen into a life-or-death crisis.

Thud.

The shadowy figure on the ground dashed forward like a wraith, kicking hard at Xiao Chen's chest. The force of the domain field trapped the heavily wounded Xiao Chen like quicksand, leaving him utterly unable to break free or dodge.

It felt as if his breastbone cracked. Xiao Chen's body flew backward, a long trail of blood blooming in the air.

Shame!

Xiao Chen felt the threat of death. Rage burned in his heart to the utmost. This defeat was rooted in the gulf of years; his opponents were a generation older, their cultivation years far exceeding his, and hence their power far greater. But he had no way out.

The figure in the grey mist descended to the ground and pressed forward with the other three.

Four pairs of eyes shone with icy light. Cold laughter echoed among the ruins.

"In your eyes I am already dead. There's no need to hide anymore. May I see your true faces? Let me die with understanding." Xiao Chen stood up, looking calmly at them.

"You're nothing. You're not worthy to see us. You know what you've done!" The shadowy figure stepped forward, kicking the increasingly powerful domain-confined Xiao Chen flying again. Then he strode seven or eight meters and stamped down hard on one of Xiao Chen's arms.

Crack.

The sound of bone breaking rang out.

Then the two men wreathed in cyan light also advanced. They grabbed Xiao Chen and simultaneously struck, breaking his shoulder blades with two more cracks. His arms hung limp.

"Boy, killing you is like crushing a stinking bug!" They sent him spinning with a savage slap.

Xiao Chen spat out a mouthful of blood, sneering coldly. "So you're from that degenerate family. Come to avenge your worthless descendants today, haven't you? You things that cannot bear the light. If I'm not mistaken, the lot of you are over forty years old. After all these years of cultivation, you've only reached the Spirit-Treasury realm, and you dare brag before me? If you were twenty years younger, at my age, the four of you together wouldn't even be worthy to carry my shoes!"

"Your mouth is hard!" The spiritist who had descended from the air, protected by an energy barrier, charged forward like lightning. Grabbing Xiao Chen's dark hair, he drove a fierce knee into his face. Xiao Chen's mouth and nose sprayed blood, and he flew backward.

"The four of you are nothing but minnows. Combined, your ages total several centuries, yet you can only gang up on a junior like me. You will never become true experts. You can only skulk in the shadows like this." Though Xiao Chen was continuously wounded, his eyes held undisguised contempt. All this was only to buy time, to make his enemies so angry they would torture him rather than kill him at once.