The Shackled Evil Dragon

It was 11 PM on January 4th, Year 75 of the North American Standard Time, on Manhattan Island, the largest financial district in the Northern Hemisphere.

Pitch-black storm clouds seemed to press down on the rooftops of the skyscrapers. A chilling wind howled through the gaps in the clouds, sweeping towards the ground. Snowflakes the size of a child's palm fell heavily against the curtain walls of the buildings, making crisp pattering sounds.

On Christmas Eve, almost half of New York City had gathered in the Nine-Three Plaza in the city center to celebrate the arrival of the New Year. Not a soul could be seen on Manhattan Island. All the buildings were shrouded in a viscous darkness, and the piercing cold wind weaved through the buildings as the black clouds seemed to press lower and lower.

Gu Tower was the tallest building in Manhattan, and indeed in all of North America. Standing at nine hundred and ninety-nine meters, it resembled a sharp military saber erected on the coast of Manhattan Island. Occasionally, the spotlights of ships on the distant sea swept across Gu Tower, faintly revealing a massive ink dragon treading on clouds, a hundred meters tall, on its curtain wall. The ferocious dragon's front claws held a blood-red dragon pearl and a sharp sword. Light shone on the demonic dragon's head, its two eyes, inlaid with tiny sapphires, sparkling. A palpable evil aura seemed to subtly coil around the colossal dragon's body.

Gu Tower was the headquarters of the Gu Group.

The Gu Group was a behemoth that controlled the largest share of the Earth Federation's arms market.

Suddenly, the storm clouds swirling madly with the gale seemed to pause. A massive bolt of purple lightning, accompanied by a deafening "Kachakachakacha," tore through the pitch-black sky. The lightning bolt, like an enraged dragon, ripped through the clouds and struck the ground, narrowly grazing the rooftop of Gu Tower before crashing onto the dark sea.

Amidst the thunder, a ball of fire exploded from Gu Tower at an altitude of over four hundred meters. A gaping hole, over thirty meters in diameter, was blasted through the building. A dark figure leaped out amidst the fiery blast. Dozens of dark figures, shouting something, stood at the edge of the breached hole, unleashing a barrage of gunfire from various light and heavy weapons at the figure that had jumped out.

The cold wind and snowflakes obscured the figure that flew out of the building, and the gunmen on the upper floors quickly lost their target.

Gu Xiechen spread his arms and glided through the night sky. He turned his head to look at the gunmen firing at him, a faint, wicked smile appearing on his handsome face.

The altitude of over four hundred meters was covered in an instant, and Gu Xiechen landed heavily on the ground with both feet. The concrete-paved ground cracked like a spiderweb. Gu Xiechen lightly rolled forward, dissipating the force of his descent. "Swish, swish, swish!" Over a dozen heavy two-handed swords, sticking close to Gu Xiechen's body as he rolled, sliced into the ground. Streams of sword energy whistled, tearing through the concrete ground. More than a dozen parked cars were sliced in half by the sharp sword energy, exploding and sending metal fragments flying everywhere, plunging the area into chaos.

His internal true qi erupted like a bomb. Gu Xiechen's long hair fluttered behind his head as he fiercely swung his claws forward, his ten fingers enveloped in a faint white protective aura. Two burly men clad in medieval heavy knight armor, wielding three-meter-long flails, charged out of the darkness. They panted heavily as they lunged at Gu Xiechen. The steel balls on the flails spun rapidly, their piercing whistling sounds enough to drive one mad.

Gu Xiechen's claws slammed fiercely onto the descending steel balls. His seemingly delicate and fair claws forcefully plunged into the heavy steel balls. Gu Xiechen took a deep breath, a blue light flashing in his eyes. A torrent of violent qi erupted from his claws. The flails, made of special alloy steel, shattered inch by inch. Gu Xiechen, chuckling sinisterly, swept past the two giants. His claws, which had just shattered two flails, savagely swept across the giants' lower abdomens.

Two streams of blood spurted out over ten meters. Gu Xiechen's claws tore through the armor of the two giants, and their internal organs were ripped out and mangled by the violent claw force. Large chunks of flesh and blood flew and cooled in the pitch-black night wind.

"It's here! Kill him!"

Piercing screams came from all directions. Over twenty men clad in knightly armor, wielding two-handed greatswords, emerged from all sides, their breath misting in the air. The heavy whistling sounds tore through the night wind, and their longswords shattered everything in front of them. Streetlights, tree trunks, park benches for visitors – the sword energy raged, sending countless fragments flying into the sky amidst the violent, thunderous qi.

"Come on!"

With a scream, Gu Xiechen straightened his body abruptly. He raised his hands high, his fair claws faintly glowing white in the night. A trickle of blood slowly slid down his fingertips, and a chilling evil aura surged towards the sky. Over twenty greatswords, each weighing two hundred kilograms, formed an impenetrable net of blades that descended upon him. Gu Xiechen spun rapidly. Streaks of fair claw marks, carrying a chilling aura, ferociously met the heavy greatswords. He fearlessly slammed his claws into these heavy greatswords.

The longswords shattered, the armor shattered, the bodies of the twenty-odd men shattered. Streams of claw energy shot out several yards, their sharp force shredding everything around them into pieces.

Blood splattered onto Gu Xiechen's handsome face. He was drenched in hot blood. Gu Xiechen let out a few cackles and suddenly screamed at the sky, "Gu Juechen! You want me dead? It won't be that easy! I, Gu Xiechen, will return! You wait for me! You just wait for me!"

Hundreds of people, armed with various firearms, swarmed out of Gu Tower. The dull roar of gunfire shattered the pitch-black night wind, and the heat from the spray of bullets melted countless snowflakes into warm meltwater.

Gu Xiechen drew an arc in the air with his hands, shaped like a Tai Chi symbol, finally cupping his palms in front of his lower abdomen.

Nearly ten thousand bullets fired at him froze three feet in front of Gu Xiechen. Gu Xiechen smiled at the terrified gunmen, then pushed forward with both hands.

Nearly ten thousand bullets shot back at more than three times the speed they had come. Hundreds of gunmen scrambled frantically in the hail of bullets. Their bodies were pierced, and blood stained the plaza in front of Gu Tower.

Gu Xiechen looked up, as if seeing certain individuals standing on the highest floor of Gu Tower.

Another bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, and a terrifying force pressed down from high above.

Gu Xiechen turned and left without a word. Dozens of fireballs, each about a meter in diameter, roared down from high above. The fiery red fireballs exploded with a bang, engulfing everything within several hundred meters in raging flames. Gu Xiechen's slender body was swallowed by the firelight, but he broke through the flames in an instant, disappearing into the darkness with a trail of smoke and fire.

The mercury-like true qi within him flowed freely through his meridians. Gu Xiechen exerted all his strength to flee. The sea was a hundred meters ahead, his only hope of escape.

The fireballs earlier had severely wounded Gu Xiechen. Three fireballs had exploded less than three meters from him, each with the power of a heavy aerial bomb. If Gu Xiechen's cultivation hadn't been so profound and his protective aura hadn't been constantly circulating, he would have been reduced to dust in the explosions. Even though he had sensed danger and fled in time, his skin was still burned, and several of his meridians were broken. As his true qi circulated, his body convulsed with pain, as if a dozen small knives were hacking and slashing inside him.

The lights inside Gu Tower suddenly turned on simultaneously, and dozens of high-powered searchlights shone down from the rooftop.

Over a dozen figures leaped from the highest floor of Gu Tower. A handsome young man holding a blood-red wooden staff, still in mid-air, aimed his right palm at the fleeing Gu Xiechen. A fiery red ring appeared in the man's palm, and a cluster of red light flickered within the ring. Nearly a hundred fiery red fireballs, each about a meter in diameter, materialized around the man. With a gentle wave of his wooden staff, these fireballs immediately shot towards Gu Xiechen with a dull whistling sound.

The fireballs came extremely fast. Gu Xiechen didn't even have time to dodge. A series of explosions engulfed the ground within several hundred meters around him.

Everything nearby was shattered, and cone-shaped craters, three meters deep, appeared on the flat ground.

Gu Xiechen felt an intense heat envelop his body. He let out a wild roar to the sky. The beating of his heart accelerated from its normal rate to over two hundred beats per minute. A shockingly powerful energy erupted from his heart. White qi spewed from every pore of his body. The shockwaves from the explosions were shattered by the white qi before they could even reach him. Gu Xiechen's long hair stood on end, and streams of blood shot out from his pores. With a series of sharp cracking sounds, his slick, oily hair exploded outwards. His body, now a bit thicker, Gu Xiechen swung his palm backward at his own hair.

His claws were like a taut bow, his hair like a powerful arrow.

Each slender black hair emitted a muffled "bang" as it tore through the air. Each strand, infused with violent energy, seemed ten times thicker than usual. Over a hundred thousand strands of black hair covered an area of a hundred meters, carrying a soul-chasing, life-snatching sharp whistle. In an instant, the hundred thousand hairs reached the young man holding the wooden staff.

Several thousand extremely fine black hairs pierced the young man's body. With a muffled thud, the handsome young man exploded into a mist of blood in mid-air.

The dozen figures chasing behind him cried out in unison. Forgetting to pursue Gu Xiechen, they all instinctively scattered and fled.

The black hair shot out for hundreds of meters, shredding all the surrounding plants, trees, streetlights, and benches along the way.

A series of over a dozen purple lightning bolts struck the pitch-black sea. Gu Xiechen had already leaped high and was lunging towards the sea ahead. At this moment, Gu Xiechen's appearance was extremely ferocious. His entire body was covered in a web of cracked lines. Blood spurted from his seven orifices in streams. His palms, capable of breaking metal and stone, were scorched black, clearly indicating that he had not escaped the explosions unscathed.

On the rooftop of Gu Tower, a gaunt figure standing in the shadows watched Gu Xiechen's body lunging towards the sea from afar.

He reached out and cupped his hand towards Gu Xiechen. Accompanied by a muffled incantation, a very thin green lightning bolt shot down from the storm clouds, hitting Gu Xiechen precisely. A ball of dark green fire wrapped around Gu Xiechen, and his previously soaring figure suddenly plummeted like a shot bird.

"Gu Juechen... No, Patriarch Gu, Gu Xiechen is definitely dead. No one else will be qualified to compete for power within the Gu family with you."

The gaunt figure chuckled, his laughter as unpleasant as an owl's hoot.

A tall, shadowy figure nodded slowly. The rooftop beneath his feet rippled like flowing water, and he silently merged into the ripples.

"Farewell, my brother! To die under the Soul Punishing Yin Lightning of an elder from the Three Witch Sect, you can die without regret!"

Heaven seemed to have gone mad, with bolts of lightning continuously striking the sea.

Fifty kilometers off the coast of Manhattan Island, a scorched black arm suddenly pierced the surface of the sea.

Gu Xiechen, completely black, slowly surfaced. Wisps of black smoke slowly rose from his body, and a foul smell of roasted meat slowly wafted outwards.

Gu Xiechen's stopped heartbeat slowly resumed, and gradually, his heart rate increased, faster and faster.

His heartbeat surged to three hundred beats per minute. Streams of pure, immense energy continuously poured out from Gu Xiechen's heart. Gu Xiechen's life force had been extinguished by that green Yin Lightning, but under the nourishment of this energy, Gu Xiechen's extinguished flame of life roared back to life.

His tightly shut eyes slowly opened, and two streams of dark blue, malevolent light shot out nearly a foot.

Gu Xiechen let out a sinister chuckle.

"Gu Juechen, we'll see about this!"

The charred black skin on his body suddenly exploded outwards, revealing a layer of newly formed, fair skin. Gu Xiechen soared into the sky like a monstrous demon. (To be continued)