Saint Domain Expert Scared Silly?!

Jade Orchid City.

Black Stone City.

Luo Ye was an important border town of Jade Orchid City.

Dark black rocks gleamed with a cold metallic sheen beneath the sunlight.

Within the city.

In a secluded manor.

An elderly man in a gray robe sat quietly in the garden, a black staff resting across his knees.

His eyes were tightly shut.

The old man's breathing seemed to blend with the air, faint and intermittent.

Suddenly.

The old man's eyes snapped open.

Two rays of light shot out like lightning, and his previously cloudy eyes instantly became razor-sharp.

"What a terrifying aura!"

The old man abruptly rose to his feet, staring fixedly at the northwestern sky.

There.

An overwhelming dragon's might swept over from afar, pressing down until even the air seemed to grow thick and viscous.

"A Saint Domain magical beast?!"

The old man's expression changed drastically.

Such pure pressure was undoubtedly the presence of a Saint Domain creature.

"Could it be that some monster from Demon Flag Mountain has escaped?"

The old man did not dare to hesitate.

Black Stone City was a major city with a population of over a million.

If a Saint Domain Flagrant Beast charged into the city, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"Transform!"

With a low shout, a clear cry rang through the manor.

The old man tapped the ground with his toe, transforming into a gray streak that shot thousands of meters into the sky in an instant.

He was the guardian of Black Stone City, a Saint Domain Expert—Saint Magus Karp.

Karp hovered in midair, his powerful Spirit Qi surging around him as he watched in alarm at the purple streak rapidly approaching.

Closer.

Even closer.

It was an enormous beast over a hundred meters long!

"Icefrost Giant Dragon?!"

Very quickly.

Karp's pupils shrank sharply, and even his withered hands trembled uncontrollably.

Dragons!

The overlords among magical beasts!

Within the same rank, dragons often possessed combat power that could crush human experts.

And judging by the dense aura of the Icefrost Giant Dragon, it clearly did not come with good intentions.

"Wait..."

Just as Karp was preparing to fight to the death, he suddenly froze.

On the giant dragon's broad back, there seemed to be... someone sitting there?

Karp rubbed his eyes, wondering whether he was seeing things.

But he was a Saint Domain Expert, and his vision was extraordinary.

That black figure sitting on the dragon's back was undeniably a human!

Moreover, he sat there calmly and leisurely, completely unlike a captive.

He looked more like... a dragon rider.

That thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

Karp's mind instantly began racing.

Just who was this Saint Domain Expert who had subdued a Saint Domain Icefrost Giant Dragon?

Elsewhere.

Xiao Bai had already flown close.

"Boss."

"There's an old man blocking the way ahead. Want me to ram into him?"

Xiao Bai's voice rang in Lei Wen's mind.

He had noticed the tiny pest blocking their path long ago.

Seeing the other party dare obstruct him naturally made him somewhat unhappy.

"Just in time."

Lei Wen narrowed his eyes slightly.

He patted Xiao Bai's neck, signaling him to stop.

The massive dragon wings ceased flapping, and Xiao Bai hovered steadily about a hundred meters from Karp.

The violent wind gradually subsided.

One man and one dragon faced Karp across the sky.

Karp swallowed hard.

As they drew closer, the suffocating pressure multiplied.

"Ahem..."

"I am Karp, guardian of Black Stone City. May I ask your esteemed name, sir?"

Karp steadied himself, clasped his hands, and spoke with a trace of caution and respect in his tone.

He kept his posture very low.

There was no helping it.

The stronger fist was reason itself.

For someone who could use a Saint Domain dragon as a mount, Karp did not dare treat him as an ordinary old man.

"You're a Saint Domain Magus?"

Lei Wen saw through the other party's cultivation at a glance.

He did not know whether Karp had grasped the profound mysteries of the laws.

But he could tell that Karp's Spirit Qi level was only at the early Saint Domain stage.

"Passing through."

"Going home."

Lei Wen's voice was calm, carrying a cold aloofness that kept people at a distance.

Lei Wen did not care about Karp's Saint Domain status.

They were not enemies.

Karp had not offended Lei Wen.

There was no need for Lei Wen to embarrass him.

"Going home?"

Karp was stunned.

This expert who had subdued an Icefrost Giant Dragon was actually from Jade Orchid City?

"May I ask, where is your family located?"

"So I may pay you a visit and avoid any misunderstandings."

Karp asked cautiously.

His mind was working quickly as he tried to guess the other party's identity.

But after thinking.

The man before him looked far too young.

Saint Domain Experts could retain their youth, but their aura...

No matter how he looked at it, this did not seem like one of those ancient monsters who had lived for centuries or millennia.

"Willow City, the Barte Lei family."

Lei Wen did not intend to hide it and casually gave a few words.

As soon as his words fell.

The air suddenly went silent.

Only the howling wind high in the sky remained.

The expression on Karp's face froze.

He rubbed his ears, wondering whether he had misheard.

"Which family?"

"The Barte Lei family."

Lei Wen frowned slightly. Was this old man hard of hearing?

Karp's mouth fell open, and his jaw nearly hit the ground.

The Bart family?

Of course he knew it!

The Bart family was an old noble family of Jade Orchid City.

Though it had once fallen into decline.

More than ten years ago.

Doge Bart had relied on his military achievements to lead the family back into the ranks of the nobility.

But the question was...

Wasn't Doge Bart, the current head of the family, only a ninth-rank warrior?

How could such an ordinary family have a Saint Domain Expert?

Could it be that some ancient ancestor of the Bart family had emerged after centuries of seclusion?

"Forgive my presumptuousness..."

"Could Doge Bart be..."

After a moment.

Karp swallowed, staring fixedly at Lei Wen's young face.

"He is my father."

Lei Wen answered calmly.

Boom!

It was as though a thunderbolt had struck Karp directly on the head.

He was completely dumbfounded.

Father?

Doge was your father?

What kind of joke was this?

How old was Doge this year?

At most, not even sixty!

How old could his son be?

At most thirty.

A Saint Domain Expert in his twenties or thirties?

And one with a Saint Domain Flagrant Beast as a mount?

Karp felt as if his worldview had collapsed in that instant, shattered into pieces too small to put back together.

He had cultivated for more than three hundred years, his hair had gone completely white, and he had only barely stepped into the Saint Domain.

Yet now.

A little brat in his twenties or thirties was stronger than him, and even his magical beast was fiercer than him.

Had he spent the last few centuries cultivating himself into a dog?

"You... may I ask how old you are this year?"

Karp's voice trembled, and he even used the respectful form of address.

"Twenty-one."

"Are you done asking?"

"I need to get going!"

Lei Wen was getting a little impatient.

Because the water- and fire-element magical beasts of Demon Flag Mountain had fled.

Lei Wen had continued searching in Demon Flag Mountain, but naturally found nothing.

Thus.

Lei Wen planned to return home and take a look.

But he had not expected...

The road home had turned out to be unexpectedly arduous.

Including the earlier encounter with Hag.

This was already the second time Lei Wen had been stopped.

It was only because Lei Wen did not want to stir up trouble.

Otherwise, he would have sent the other party flying with a single slap long ago.

"Twenty-one..."

"An Eleven Steps Saint Domain Expert?"

Upon hearing Lei Wen's answer,

Hag felt a tightness in his chest, nearly coughing up a mouthful of blood.

What kind of monster was this?

Even if he had begun cultivating in the womb, he should not have been this fast!

If someone else had said that,

Hag would have slapped them and taught them a harsh lesson about how to behave.

But the person before him...

That Frost Dragon baring its fangs at him,

And the faintly oppressive aura around Lei Wen...

Hag understood very clearly.

They were not lying.

Nor did they need to lie to him.

"Y-you're... done asking...?"

Hag turned aside in a daze and made way.

His straight back seemed to slump in that instant, making him look ten years older.

That was too crushing.

It was truly too crushing.

How could this world be so insane?

"Let's go."