The tiny figure gradually blurred within Mu Wanwan’s vision.
A mottled beam of warm sunlight fell beside the wall, stretching his shadow longer and longer. On the filthy stone path, the outline of little Mr. Dragon’s immature horns was reflected upon the ground.
Just like that, he ran farther and farther away.
Like the flower lanterns hanging from Moteng’s branches, whose lights were gradually fading—
He could no longer be seen.
Mu Wanwan struggled to open her eyes wide, but all she could see was darkness.
At that moment, it was as though she had even forgotten how to extend her spiritual consciousness. Instinctively, she tried to grasp the fragments of dragon horn scattering around her, but she could not catch anything.
A bitter ache was trapped within her throat. Her cheeks and eyes burned, but when she opened her mouth, she could not utter a single word.
The dragon horn had shattered.
She might have lost her dragon.
As soon as that thought appeared, Mu Wanwan instinctively tugged at the corners of her lips.
She wanted to smile.
She still remembered—
She remembered how that dragon had clung to her, embarrassed yet affectionate, and quietly assured her beside her ear that he was confident he would succeed.
Mr. Dragon.
Silly dragon.
Stupid dragon.
It was impossible for him to break a promise.
He had promised her.
How could he break his promise?
Half of her hand touched Aunt Hua’s life-bound flower.
Almost immediately, Aunt Hua, who had just repelled a witch, sensed Mu Wanwan’s vital signs fluctuating so violently that they were on the verge of collapsing.
Aunt Hua’s face turned pale.
She retreated two steps, intending to rush to Mu Wanwan’s side.
However, after taking only those two steps, her spiritual consciousness detected that Wu Yao, who had remained outside the battlefield without moving, had disappeared.
The howling wind, rain and thunder produced by the battle between so many dragons suddenly became much quieter.
Even the dragons who had previously been attacking ferociously seemed to have decreased in number.
Uncle Chen also noticed the change.
The instincts of a powerful cultivator screamed that danger was approaching. His brows furrowed as he quickly shielded Aunt Hua, who had been about to rush towards Mu Wanwan, beneath his body.
“Danger!”
As soon as his voice fell, those with faster reactions immediately defended themselves or attempted to evade.
Even so, they were still slightly too late.
When the light disappeared, many third-rank fighters effectively lost their sight.
Their abilities had never been particularly powerful to begin with, and after fighting throughout the entire night, they had already reached their limits.
Although they heard Uncle Chen’s warning, their exhausted bodies reacted half a beat too slowly.
Aunt Hua only had time to use her life-bound flower to partially envelop Mu Wanwan and Mengmeng before an enormous explosion erupted beside her ears.
**Boom—!**
A massive, dazzling pillar of light soared into the sky.
With terrifying speed, it slammed into a vulnerable edge of the barrier.
Moteng reacted quickly. Almost the instant the pillar struck the barrier, he redirected a vast number of vines to cover the impact point and block it.
**Whoosh—!**
The resulting shock wave exploded alongside countless shattered, withered branches.
They shot out like sharp swords, piercing the bodies of fighters whose defences were weak.
Jiu Qing swept away a large number of branches with her tails. A layer of fur was stripped from them, and blood seeped from her forehead, leaving her looking utterly miserable.
When another cluster of dead branches swept towards her, Hai Jiu, who had been hiding beside her and finishing off weakened enemies, gritted her teeth.
She manipulated the moisture in the air and violently shattered the branches coming from every direction.
Through her spiritual consciousness, Jiu Qing saw the strain on Hai Jiu’s face and could not stop herself from smiling.
This little mermaid did not seem quite as irritating as she had previously thought.
Accompanied by the fighters’ agonised groans and the worried expressions of Hai Ren and the others, the weakened barrier could no longer withstand the attack—
**Crack—!**
It shattered.
“This is bad!”
The shock wave from the explosion had not yet dispersed.
As the dust gradually settled, Hai Ren’s spiritual consciousness detected a vast swarm of blood insects flapping their wings, accompanied by the roaring dragons as they rapidly dived towards them.
Unable to concern himself with anything else, he urgently shouted,
“Danger!”
Moteng, who had been severely injured, did not stubbornly continue resisting and instead chose to retreat.
Although he was a vine-type special lifeform with extraordinary vitality, he had lost a great deal of life force during this battle.
While the barrier had remained intact, they might still have been able to endure.
Now that it had shattered, however, he could no longer continue sheltering everyone.
If they kept fighting, the casualties would inevitably become devastating.
Their best option now was to escape while minimising their losses as much as possible.
The pillar of light illuminated most of the sky.
With the barrier broken, torrential rain poured down amid blinding flashes of lightning, washing away the blood from the wounds covering the fighters’ bodies.
The originally thick layer of ice was also pierced by the Witch Clan’s various poisonous insects.
They burrowed beneath people’s skin, biting open bloody holes and causing anguished screams to echo everywhere.
After Ao Qin’s bout of madness, he finally calmed down slightly.
He transformed into a half-dragon state, a vicious smile covering his face.
Wu Yao stood beside him. His complexion looked terrible, as though he had severely overexerted himself, but his eyes were filled with excitement.
His burning gaze was fixed upon Mu Wanwan, who remained motionless on the raised platform—
He and Ao Qin had paid a considerable price to work together and destroy the barrier.
He had done so because he wanted to absorb her soul while it was still fresh and untouched by anyone else.
Now, he finally no longer needed to wait.
Ao Qin and Wu Yao exchanged glances, seeing the satisfaction within each other’s eyes.
They were no longer in any hurry.
They slowly flew towards Mu Wanwan.
After all, the greatest threat had already lost his life within the inheritance grounds.
Nobody present was capable of defeating them.
With nothing left to obstruct him, Ao Qin occasionally threw attacks towards those below as though he were merely playing.
Any third-rank fighter struck by one of his techniques died almost instantly, unable even to scream.
The witches or dragons fighting against them would then cry out,
“Long live the Sovereign!”
The surrounding dragons would follow in unison.
“Long live the Sovereign!”
In the past, whenever Ao Qin heard someone address him as the Sovereign, he had always felt somewhat uneasy.
That orphaned dragon had suppressed him for so many years. As long as he remained uncertain whether the dragon was truly dead, Ao Qin could never relax.
But now, even the dragon’s horn had shattered.
What was left for him to fear?
The repeated praise filled his entire body with pleasure.
From this day onwards, he would be the ruler of the Dragon Clan.
…
Uncle Chen avoided the attacks continuously raining down around them and helped Aunt Hua to her feet.
Feng, Hai Xize and the others, who had suffered minor injuries, also noticed that Ao Qin and Wu Yao were heading towards the raised platform.
Chi Yan clicked her tongue.
Calling Hai Ren’s name, she attempted to rush towards Mu Wanwan.
The pillar of light had completely faded, but a large group of witches and dragons had already crossed through the broken barrier, obstructing their path.
“Damn it.”
Chi Yan was being restrained by a powerful fifth-rank witch and was repeatedly forced backwards, only able to defend herself awkwardly.
“You want to disturb our Witch King while he eats?”
The witch’s entire body was green. His head was completely bald, and his eyes were an eerie blood-red.
He was unbearably ugly.
“Become my blood puppet!”
Chi Yan’s brows furrowed.
She desperately wanted to wash her eyes.
Hurriedly dodging backwards, she silently apologised.
She was afraid she would not be able to reach Mu Wanwan anytime soon.
The others were in the same situation.
Without the protection of the barrier, the surviving demonic creatures and half-demons had fallen into an even more dangerous position.
The fluctuations transmitted through Aunt Hua’s life-bound flower weakened slightly.
She breathed a small sigh of relief and slapped away a little Golden Dragon that had attempted to bite through the stem and leaves of her original form.
Before she could relax, she heard Uncle Chen release an angry growl.
The dragons who had charged inside were preventing them from advancing.
Aunt Hua gritted her teeth.
She could barely sense her life-bound flower being violently crushed, causing her worry to deepen.
The smile on Ao Qin’s face grew wider.
He and Wu Yao had already agreed that Ao Qin would personally kill Mu Wanwan to vent the fury within his heart.
Afterwards, the two of them would divide her soul.
Ao Qin floated in mid-air and looked at Mu Wanwan’s tear-filled eyes.
An indescribable pleasure filled his heart.
A cluster of purple light appeared within his palm.
“How would you like to die?”
He was a merciful dragon.
He could grant her the method of death she desired.
Of course, he only meant the method by which her physical body would die.
Mu Wanwan bit her lip tightly.
Under the faint remaining light, she stared at the refined-looking Ao Qin before her.
At that moment, she felt as though she had returned to the time when she had first transmigrated into this world.
Back then, she had constantly worried that the irreversible plot would cause her to die at Ao Qin’s hands.
After everything she had endured, it appeared that she still could not escape the original Mu Wanwan’s fate.
Even he was gone.
Mu Wanwan clenched her empty hand.
She lowered her head and stared at her gradually transparent fingertips while Ao Qin’s “merciful” words and the fighters’ miserable screams echoed within her mind.
She could not accept such an ending.
“Chirp—!”
Mengmeng’s ferocious cry awakened her.
Mu Wanwan saw Mengmeng’s feathers standing completely on end.
It spread its wings and stood protectively before her.
Its usually delicate chirping voice sounded remarkably steady at that moment.
Ao Qin looked at Mengmeng impatiently.
After examining it for two breaths, he softly exclaimed in surprise.
“Oh?”
Mu Wanwan’s eyelids twitched violently.
She secretly took out the teleportation scroll Mr. Dragon had left behind and reached towards Mengmeng with her other hand.
No matter what happened, she wanted to save Mengmeng.
“What are you doing?”
A sinister voice came from behind her.
Her wrist was brutally stepped upon and smashed against the broken stones on the ground.
Most of the bones inside it shattered.
Wu Yao picked up the scroll that had fallen from her hand and spoke mockingly.
“Trying to escape?”
“Chirp!!”
Mengmeng realised that Wanwan had been hurt.
Furiously, it turned and spat a mouthful of fire at Wu Yao before nimbly flapping its wings and attacking him.
“You’re courting death!”
Wu Yao grinned and viciously struck Mengmeng.
Mu Wanwan could only watch as the fluffy bird she had raised for so long was seized tightly around the neck.
Ao Qin admiringly examined Mengmeng’s sturdy little body and exclaimed in surprise,
“This is actually a phoenix fledgling.”
**Bang!**
Before Ao Qin could finish marvelling, an unexpected change occurred.
A fist struck him violently across the face.
Uncle Chen had finally arrived and sent Ao Qin flying with one punch.
Ao Qin reacted quickly, and the two began fighting fiercely in mid-air.
At the same time, Jiu Qing rode upon a whirlwind created by Hai Jiu and swiftly snatched Mengmeng from Wu Yao’s grasp, throwing it downwards.
Aunt Hua caught Mengmeng and landed beside Mu Wanwan.
“Cough…”
Although the ball of fluff had grown much larger, it remained fragile.
Its limbs were powerless as it collapsed against the stone wall.
Its small, pale-yellow beak opened slightly, coughing out specks of blood.
A ring of bright-red blood surrounded its neck, resembling the little black scarf it had once worn.
Rain soaked its feathers, turning the previously majestic fluffy bird into a drenched, miserable creature.
However, its round black eyes remained fixed upon Mu Wanwan, whose body had finally become slightly less transparent.
It released a tiny chirp.
Chirp wanted to protect Wanwan.
“Quickly, Wanwan! While we still have the chance!”
As Aunt Hua spoke, she reached out to pull Mu Wanwan away.
Mu Wanwan gritted her teeth tightly.
Her spiritual consciousness swept across Jiu Qing, who was coughing blood as she struggled against Wu Yao.
She saw a sharp blade piercing Feng’s chest.
She saw the fighters who had risked their lives because of her promise collapsing one after another—
She saw a demonic creature whose body was completely covered in curse marks.
He broke off his own horn and used it to pierce a witch’s body.
Then, with his enormous eyes still open, he stared in her direction.
Even though the demonic creature was no longer breathing.
He was dead.
“Wanwan, hurry!”
Aunt Hua urged her.
However, she saw the young woman straighten her back and reveal a smile—
Her eyes curved, and her lips formed a beautiful arc.
A terrible feeling rose within Aunt Hua’s heart.
Before she could react, a small gust of wind began blowing around them.
The spiritual plants and seeds scattered across the ground floated into the air around Mu Wanwan.
In less than half a minute, a light even more dazzling than the previous one erupted from her hands.
Like a divine blessing, it poured across the battlefield.
Mu Wanwan thought she must look terrible at that moment.
She knelt on the ground, her entire body convulsing.
It truly hurt.
It hurt so much.
Mr. Dragon…
It hurts…
When he failed and his soul dispersed, had he felt this same pain?
Mu Wanwan’s lips trembled as she held the cluster of luminous liquid.
A field of white light was reflected within her eyes.
She seemed unable to see anything else.
“Chirp…”
Mengmeng struggled to move its body.
It desperately crawled towards Mu Wanwan, its eyes filled with unease.
In truth, Chirp was not completely ignorant.
When it saw the small dragon horn disappear, it had felt deeply saddened.
It understood that the bad dragon it had privately regarded as its father would most likely never return.
It was afraid.
It was terrified that Wanwan would disappear as well.
Those frightening clusters of luminous liquid had already made Wanwan’s hands transparent.
It had promised that bad dragon it would protect her.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Chirp could eat all those clusters of light?
Mengmeng thought hazily.
It did not understand the benefits the luminous liquid brought to everyone else, nor did it understand that this was Mu Wanwan’s choice.
It only knew that if this continued, she would disappear.
And Mengmeng did not want her to disappear.
It simply did not want her to disappear.
Mengmeng somehow found the strength to stumble to its feet.
Although it was not particularly large, the little bird walked towards Mu Wanwan beneath Aunt Hua’s shocked gaze.
Small streams of blood wound through its feathers.
“Chirp~”
Mengmeng cried softly.
It opened its beak and began devouring the luminous liquid.
It ate extremely quickly, and its body rapidly expanded.
As the pain lessened, Mu Wanwan gradually regained some awareness.
When she saw Mengmeng magnified several times before her, she did not even have the strength to laugh helplessly.
She also assumed it was simply hungry.
Very soon, however, Mu Wanwan noticed that her knees felt wet.
Mengmeng’s once pure-white feathers had all turned dark red.
Even more crimson liquid continuously spilled from its beak as it lowered its head and devoured the luminous liquid.
Its body could no longer withstand it.
“Mengmeng, quickly…”
Mu Wanwan struggled to speak.
“You can’t… You can’t eat any more.”
It was still so young.
It was only a fledgling.
Even as a White Phoenix, it could not withstand such an enormous amount of energy.
Hearing her voice, the barely conscious bird, whose meridians were on the verge of shattering, became happy again.
Its bright black eyes looked gently at Mu Wanwan.
It struggled to swallow another mouthful of luminous liquid.
Faint cracking sounds began emerging from within its enlarged body.
It felt as though the luminous liquid it had worked so hard to swallow was about to come back out.
Mengmeng could no longer support Mu Wanwan.
Its enormous wings tightly covered its pale-yellow beak, which had merely grown many times larger.
Although its wide eyes were already overflowing with tears, it still tried to pretend it was not in pain.
Mu Wanwan’s heart ached unbearably.
Mengmeng had almost become a bird entirely covered in blood.
Mengmeng wanted to release a quiet chirp and tell her not to worry.
However, if it moved its wings away, the luminous liquid would spill out.
It had worked so hard to swallow so much.
It would be bad if it vomited everything back out.
But its body hurt more and more.
It felt as though it was about to die.
Before it died, however, it still wanted to rub against Mu Wanwan one last time.
Mengmeng struggled for a long time before finally swallowing the luminous liquid.
It did not know how miserable it looked.
It simply wanted to nuzzle her once more before it left.
“Mengmeng…”
Mu Wanwan did not mind that the fluffy bird was filthy and covered in blood.
She watched as it moved weakly within her arms, its enormous eyes staring at her as though it were releasing the final sound of its life.
This time, the way it addressed her was different from every previous occasion.
Its quiet chirp contained a tiny, wilful and perhaps forbidden selfish desire—
“Chirp…”
Mu Wanwan’s tears immediately began to fall.
Mengmeng—
No, he was calling her—
“Mother…”
The voice was still immature, yet overflowing with attachment.
As though greedily calling her that just once would be enough.
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