Snow and wind churned silently between her and the dark-gold dragon, like an invisible barrier, only to be slowly crushed beneath the spreading aftermath of the dragon's breath.
Gu Linyuan considered it, then smiled.
"Since you want to know, I'll let you see clearly."
He closed his eyes.
In that instant, it seemed as though the surrounding air had been sucked away for half a breath before rushing back in.
Then, the aura around him began undergoing a fundamental change. Something seemed to be slowly awakening from deep within his body, seeping outward inch by inch through his bones, meridians, and skin.
"What... is this?"
Ice Empress's compound eyes narrowed slightly.
She extended her senses to their utmost limit, yet she still could not fully capture the trajectory of that change.
That aura did not erupt violently. Instead, it expanded outward in an extraordinarily restrained manner, as though covering something—or awakening something.
His outline blurred for an instant amid the snowstorm.
Then, that flowing layer of light suddenly burst apart.
A deep, drawn-out dragon's roar spread from above the snowfield, its heavy resonance pressing down upon the entire ice plain.
The sound was not piercing, yet it seemed to strike directly at the depths of the soul, making even the ice beneath them emit a faint hum.
Ice Empress's compound eyes abruptly constricted.
She saw it.
A dragon entirely covered in dark-gold scales was coiled before her.
Its body was sleek and elongated, the line of its spine taut as a fully drawn bow. Every scale gleamed with a cold, shadowy luster, while faint golden patterns flowed along their edges.
The dragon's head dipped slightly, its dark-gold vertical pupils resting upon her with a faintly appraising look. It was as though it were examining an object whose ownership had yet