Stranger Danger

There was a moment of silence before Ye Qing prodded, “Well? What are you waiting for? If you’re all out of ideas, then it’s my turn now!”

“He’s just faking it!” Yun Chaoyu declared. Shocked he might be, there was no reason to admit their weakness and inflame the enemy’s spirit. Besides, he really believed that Ye Qing was just putting on a brave front.

No one could doubt Ye Qing’s strength, but he ultimately wasn’t a Grandmaster. The young man had crushed the Dragonscaling Road, crossed the Dragon Nurturing Gorge, withstood the painful punishments of the Dragon Subjugating Platform, and even endured the full might of the Dragonslaying Blade. He had to be exhausted and injured right now.

On top of that, Ye Qing was still bound by the Dragon Binding Chains. Although the Dragon Subjugating Platform was almost out of power, the young man should not be able to break out of his bindings in his current state.

That was why Yun Chaoyu was certain that Ye Qing was faking his strength and confidence. He was just trying to buy time to regain his strength.

“Come at us if you dare then, you toothless dog!”

On the other side of the platform, Yue Hualong also taunted Ye Qing after he snapped back to reality.

The brutish elder had never been humiliated like this until now. The only way he could wash away the shame was to take revenge against Ye Qing as soon as possible. However, it wasn’t going to happen immediately, which was why he decided to get some verbal payback first.

“Okay! If that is your wish.”

Rattle rattle rattle…

The Dragon Binding Chains rattled, and the runes on the Dragon Binding Stakes flickered ominously as Ye Qing pulled. At the same time, an invisible shockwave of energy washed out of him.

The next moment, the entire Dragon Subjugating Platform began shaking slightly, and there were noises coming from the starting points of the vibration.

At first, the noise was so tiny it was barely louder than a mosquito’s flight. Over time, it grew louder and louder until it resembled a reverberating thunder that could be heard throughout a plain.

“To your positions! He must not break free off the Dragon Binding Chains!”

Yu Longzi blanched as he yelled at his elders. Then, he channeled the Dragon Cutting Seal once more.

Yun Chaoyu, Zhao Yurong and Yu Ningxin hurried to their positions and channeled the Dragonsealing Sword, the Dragonbinding Lamp, and the Dragon Suppressing Bottle respectively. Yue Hualong too ignored the blood covering his face and channeled the Dragon Beating Truncheon.

Buzz… buzz… buzz…

The five Strange Artifacts shone brightly, and the drained Dragon Binding Stakes, Dragon Binding Chains, and Dragon Subjugating Platform began regaining some of its former power and presence.

However, Ye Qing sucked in a deep breath until his blood ran like a river, and his bones crackled like a series of thunderclaps. They saw him growing bigger and taller as thick, black hair grew out of his face, and sharp teeth grew out of the corners of his mouth.

In just the blink of an eye, the human had been replaced by a huge demonic ape—malicious, unruly, and terrifying. The blood instantly drained away from everyone’s face, though only they knew if it was due to energy depletion, shock, or both.

The good news was that the Dragon Binding Chains were still wrapped firmly around Ye Qing’s limbs. Not only could true dragons command the weather and navigate the sky like their own backyard, they could also adjust their size as they pleased. Naturally, the Dragon Binding Chains could adjust their size accordingly as well. It would be terribly useless if a captor could break out of it simply by growing larger, no?

Unfortunately, Dragonrider Mountain’s hope and relief were shredded the next moment. The demonic ape that was Ye Qing let out a mighty roar before grabbing the chains bound to his wrists tightly. When his fingers touched each other, his muscles swelled so fast that it let out a loud pop that sounded like thunder.

Then, he smashed his fists together in one swift motion instead of slowly pulling the chains toward his chest like before.

The Dragon Binding Chains grew taut in an instant, the sudden motion causing the metal to rub suddenly against the air and causing an odd shrill. Then, the runes on the four Dragon Binding Stakes crumbled at the same time, and the Dragon Binding Chains broke in the middle as if they had finally exceeded their limits. Countless cracks instantly spread across the five Strange Artifacts empowering the chains and stakes as well.

As Yu Longzi, Yue Hualong, Yun Chaoyu, Zhao Yuanrong and Yu Ningxin were connected to the Dragon Cutting Seal, Dragon Beating Truncheon, Dragonsealing Sword, Dragonbinding Lamp and Dragon Suppressing Bottle by blood, they all threw up blood and staggered on their feet.

Before they could catch their breaths, they heard two rapid thumps and felt a terrible pressure pouring down on them like an avalanche. Their faces were already pale to begin with, but now they looked as white as a sheet.

Ye Qing was charging toward them. The first thump they heard was the sound of him landing on his feet, and the second thump was him pushing off the ground and jumping straight toward them.

Yue Hualong’s response toward the demonic ape’s charge was to cover himself in golden dragon scales. A golden dragon circled his body as he threw out a powerful punch.

Yun Chaoyu pointed his palms upward and caused a blue dragon to rise to soar to the sky. A moment later, winds and clouds gathered into a rumbling thunderstorm.

Zhao Yuanrong slowly retreated into a wall of black fog that had suddenly appeared behind his back. When the fog dissipated, the old man was nowhere to be found

Yu Ningxin pressed her index and middle fingers together and thrust them toward Ye Qing. It was soundless, breathless, and powerless. However, both heaven and earth had suddenly become as frigid as the coldest winter.

While Yue Hualong was throwing a straight punch at Ye Qing, the thundercloud in the sky abruptly unleashed a flood of lightning so massive it looked like someone had tipped a lightning pool over Ye Qing’s head.

However, Ye Qing almost looked bored as he extended his right hand and caught Yue Hualong’s fist firmly. A flood of fist force poured into his body, but it failed to elicit any response whatsoever. Not only that, Yue Hualong felt an irresistible force pushing back against his own strength, and suddenly, he found himself flying through the air.

It wasn’t voluntary, of course. Ye Qing had tossed him upward.

The next moment, Yue Hualong’s eyes widened in terror. It was because he had struck the lightning flood Yun Chaoyu had meant to hit Ye Qing with.

Boom!

The lightning fried his body until he looked as black as charcoal, but the tremendous force affecting his body actually pushed him through the flood of lightning until he scattered the thundercloud in the sky.

As soon as the cloud was gone, the lightning flood disappeared, and the world fell silent.

There was ice growing in the midst of the silence, however. They were spreading on the ground and growing upward until a pure, hornless chi dragon abruptly leaped into the air.

The emergence of the chi dragon was such that it felt like the world was about to turn upside down. Icy energy washed out and froze everything in sight, and not even Ye Qing was able to avoid turning into an ice sculpture.

“Dragonslaying Art: Chi Dragon Sutra”

The chi dragon pounced toward Ye Qing, and for a moment, it looked like it would crush Ye Qing into a million icy pieces. Unfortunately, when it was about two inches away from the demonic ape, the ice suddenly shattered, and Ye Qing grabbed its head with a gigantic hand.

Bang!

Bits of ice flew everywhere as a deafening impact struck everyone’s ears. The charge failed to budge Ye Qing even an inch, but to the chi dragon credit, it hadn’t shattered into pieces despite the numerous cracks spreading across its body either.

While Ye Qing and the chi dragon were wrestling each other, a black fog appeared behind Ye Qing out of seemingly nowhere. Then, a pair of pitch black daggers emerged from the fog and slashed toward his throat.

The dagger wielder was, of course, Zhao Yuanrong.

The four halls of Dragonrider Mountain—Dragonmorph, Flying Dragon, Hidden Dragon and Crouching Dragon—inherited an ultimate art recorded in the “Dragonslaying Art” each.

The Dragonmorph Hall cultivated the “Dragonmorph Sutra” and focused on honing their strength and bloodline. They walked the path of evolving their physical body and giving it draconic characteristics.

The Flying Dragon Hall cultivated the “Thunder Dragon Sutra” and focused on their mastery over lightning and thunder. They commanded lightning with qi and thunder with the mind.

The Crouching Dragon Hall cultivated the “Chi Dragon Sutra” and focused on their mastery over ice and frost. They commanded ice with qi and frost with the mind.

And finally, the Hidden Dragon Hall cultivated the “Hidden Dragon Sutra” and focused on honing the stealthiness of a dragon. They could conceal themselves like a dragon and move about without a trace.

Out of the four, Yue Hualong was the strongest combatant in a direct fight, Yun Chaoyu and Yu Ningxin were masters of lightning and frost, and Zhao Yuanrong was the best at stealth and assassination.

The four elders knew exactly what their peers were capable of and cooperated wonderfully with each other. Not only that, they had gone after Ye Qing with a clear strategy in mind. Yue Hualong kept Ye Qing busy, Yun Chaoyu and Yu Ningxin provided support from the rear, and Zhao Yuanrong lurked in the shadows until an opportunity to assassinate Ye Qing presented itself.

However, Ye Qing was even scarier than they imagined. Not only had he dealt with Yue Hualong on the first exchange, he had dismantled Yun Chaoyu’s meticulously prepared lightning flood with ease and blocked Yu Ningxin’s ice chi dragon with one hand.

It wasn’t over though. Their teamwork had created the exact opportunity for Zhao Yuanrong needed to kill Ye Qing in one strike.