The pitch-black dragon shadow tore through the clouds and streaked across the sky like a meteor. Below, mountain ranges rose and fell like sleeping dragons, their winding forms steeped in an ancient, majestic aura.
They had reached Yan Country.
Qin Chuan sat on Scripps's back, unmoved by the howling Gale Wind that whipped his clothes.
His gaze was calm and deep as the boundless night sky, reflecting the mountains and rivers taking shape below.
Unlike the wild chaos of India, Yan Country's mountains and rivers seemed to hold a restrained, enduring strength.
The air carried the richness of an ancient civilization, like fine wine aged for a thousand years.
Even ten thousand meters up, he could clearly sense the immense energy sleeping beneath this land.
It was entirely different from the power of the Shiva Divinity Fragment—gentler, yet far vaster, like an endless river flowing without cease.
It might have been the power of Yan Country's native gods, or some mysterious energy born of the land itself.
At a thought from Qin Chuan, his Shadow Domain spread silently outward. Like invisible tendrils, it probed cautiously into the earth below.
Unlike in India, the Shadow Domain's expansion met a clear obstacle this time.
It was not fierce rejection or resistance, but a gentle, unyielding force of... assimilation.
It was as though the land itself possessed a special law that could subtly influence, even absorb, foreign energy.
The Shadow Domain spread like ink dropped into a lake, only to be diluted by the water until it became indistinguishable from it.
"Interesting."
Qin Chuan's lips curved slightly, amusement flickering in his eyes.
Though this assimilating force could not stop the Shadow Domain from expanding, it slowed its spread considerably.
Covering the entire region with his Shadow Domain as easily as he had in