The pitch-black carriage had just rolled across the boundary of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, its wheels kicking up a cloud of cold dust.
A cold, majestic mechanical voice suddenly boomed inside Liu Erlong's mind.
[God-Level More Children More Blessings System, officially bound and activated!]
Liu Erlong's pupils contracted sharply. Her hands instinctively yanked hard on the reins.
The horses let out a long whinny, their front hooves rearing high as the carriage ground to a sudden halt.
Crimson Fire Dragon Soul Power erupted from her body. The violent pressure of a Seven-Ring Soul Sage swept outward from the carriage, scouring the surrounding area.
The trees by the roadside swayed violently beneath the scorching gusts, and their dry leaves spontaneously burst into flames.
Liu Erlong looked around, her gaze sharp as a blade. She was extremely wary, wondering whether some Spirit-type Titled Douluo was secretly playing tricks on her.
Aside from the howl of the night wind, there was no one around.
The holographic Light Screen gave her no time for further testing. It forcibly unfurled layer upon layer across Liu Erlong's retinas.
The Light Screen flickered. It did not show Liu Erlong some miserable, despairing future; instead, it cut straight to a scene of breathtaking visual impact.
In the scene, an immense and utterly pure source of life descended from the heavens and poured forcefully into her body.
Under the cleansing of this power, every impurity was stripped from her Crimson Fire Dragon Martial Soul. Its deep-red scales transformed, inch by inch, into dazzling gold.
Her bloodline fully returned to its ancestral roots, transforming into the purest true dragon.
Next, her Soul Power in the scene surged forward like a collapsing wall, easily breaking through the shackles of a Titled Douluo.
Nine red hundred-thousand-year Soul Rings exploded into being one after another. In the end, a brilliant halo symbolizing a divine position condensed behind her.
The dazzling divine light stung Liu Erlong's eyes.
[Ding!]
The system's cold prompt sounded again: [Complete the bond mission with Su Chen, "Lord of Creation," and you can obtain the supreme power shown in the scene. If you refuse to bind, your cultivation will remain locked at its current level for the rest of your life, with no further progress.]
The system had assumed that this somewhat coercive demand would provoke fierce resistance and curses from this hot-tempered mother dragon.
But Liu Erlong didn't move.
She stared fixedly at the power in the scene, capable of destroying heaven and earth with the lift of a hand. Not only did she feel no fear or aversion whatsoever, but unprecedented fervor blazed in her eyes.
For the first half of her life, a coward with a mouth full of benevolence and morality had wasted a full sixteen years of hers.
She had compromised and suppressed her true nature, only to be told that she was "suffocating."
Now, a highway straight to the divine realm had been slammed down right in front of her.
She no longer had to watch anyone's expression or care about those damnable worldly ethics. As long as she gained power, she could trample everything in her past beneath her feet.
The system took the opportunity to flash several lines of scarlet text across the Light Screen.
[Newbie mission issued.]
[Mission requirements: Reach the Spirit Hall Library Pavilion within three days and find the target, Su Chen. Release your full-power Martial Soul in front of him and let him feel your strength and wildness.]
[Mission reward: Fire Dragon Martial Soul Origin purity +5%]
The lines radiated an unmistakably coercive force.
Liu Erlong's gaze moved downward, locking onto the two characters in "Su Chen."
Without hesitation, she swiftly reached into her clothes with her left hand and pulled out the <Ceremony Invitation to Witness the Holy Son's Establishment and Selection> she had taken from Yu Xiaogang's desk. She tore off the wax seal with one hand and unfurled the scroll.
Her gaze skipped straight past the grandiloquent nonsense at the beginning and landed on the very end of the scroll.
The name of Spirit Hall's newly appointed Holy Son was printed there in plain sight: Su Chen.
The name matched perfectly.
The mysterious Holy Son of Spirit Hall, whose name was on everyone's lips and whom both the Pope and the Young Master had sworn to protect, was the "Lord of Creation" identified by the system.
Show her strength and wildness to a strange man she had never met?
Faced with a mission that any normal woman would consider utterly bizarre and embarrassing, Liu Erlong didn't feel even half a second of psychological burden.
She didn't bite her lip or blush, and she didn't waste time mentally tying herself in knots.
Clutching the gold-stamped invitation, she threw her head back and burst into a laugh that split the clouds and cracked stone.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Her laughter shook the night sky, making the horses pulling the carriage nervously paw the ground.
After love had thoroughly wounded her, Liu Erlong's thoughts had become exceptionally clear and simple.
This was nothing more than a transaction: trade something of equal value to become stronger.
The system gave her a mission; she carried it out, then collected her reward.
No moral blackmail. No emotional entanglements.
"It's just showing off my muscles, isn't it?" Liu Erlong casually shoved the invitation back into her clothes, the corners of her mouth curling into a wild grin. "In this life, I'm best at fighting and showing off my muscles!"
She snatched up the whip and raised her arm.
"Crack!"
The whip's sharp report exploded through the night. Violent fire-attribute Soul Power coursed along its length and straight into the horses.
The horses' eyes glowed red, and they let out a frenzied whinny.
Dragging a crimson tail of flame, the carriage charged madly toward Spirit City with an unstoppable, god-slaying momentum.
Several hundred meters behind them, in the woods, two Blue Lightning Clan disciples who had been secretly ordered to follow and keep watch were scared witless by the sudden laughter and the carriage's reckless speed.
Their legs gave way, and they slumped to the ground. Watching the crimson blaze rapidly disappear into the distance, they couldn't bring themselves to even think of stepping forward to stop it.
Day and night, without stopping.
After three whole days of frantic travel, the travel-worn Liu Erlong finally drove her carriage to the enormous city gates on the outskirts of Spirit City.
At the gates, more than a hundred fully armed city-defense knights had set up three checkpoints, subjecting everyone entering the city to extremely thorough questioning and searches.
Ever since the Sacrificial Ceremony, the security alert across the city had been raised another level.
Liu Erlong didn't even get down from the carriage.
Holding the reins in one hand, she ignored the guards who raised their spears to stop her. With her right hand, she abruptly flung out the Ceremony Invitation bearing the Pope's highest seal.
The scroll struck the lead knight squarely in the breastplate.
The lead knight flew into a rage and was about to draw his sword, but the moment he saw the gold-stamped seal on the scroll, his hand froze.
The fiery Soul Power that had not subsided from Liu Erlong in three days erupted with a roar.
The terrifying pressure of a Seven-Ring Soul Sage bore down without restraint on the city guards.
"The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan is here at the invitation," Liu Erlong said from the carriage's front rail, looking down at them. Her voice was icy. "Get out of the way."
Cold sweat poured down the lead knight's forehead. They couldn't afford to provoke someone carrying the highest-grade invitation, especially a violently powerful Seven-Ring Soul Sage.
"L-let them through!" the knight captain stammered, waving his hand as he shouted the order.
The line of spears instantly parted, opening a wide passage.
The carriage drove straight in.
After entering the inner city, Liu Erlong casually abandoned the carriage by the roadside.
She keenly sensed the murderous atmosphere in the air. After making a few inquiries, she learned that the Library Pavilion had been designated a top-level forbidden zone, one that even the Worship Hall was not allowed to approach.
If Qian Renxue were facing this situation, she would probably find a set of night clothes, calculate the patrols' blind spots, and sneak in cautiously.
But Liu Erlong didn't.
She didn't care whether it was a forbidden zone or not. Following the precise directions the system had given her, she strode forward.
She didn't even bother to conceal a trace of her aura. She swaggered straight toward the heavily guarded Library Pavilion.
At the edge of the three-hundred-step cordon.
A line of fully armed Judgment Knights stood at the ready. Seeing the woman in red charging straight at them, making no effort to hide her presence and radiating fiery aggression, the knights instantly went on alert.
"Stop!"
A squad leader stepped forward and drew his longsword with a metallic ring.
"Swish, swish, swish!"
More than a dozen sharp Judgment halberds crossed in unison, sealing off the path ahead.
"The area ahead is a top-level forbidden zone! Take one more step and you'll be killed without mercy!" the squad leader shouted.
Liu Erlong stopped just half a step outside the cordon.
She looked at the gleaming halberd blades before her, then raised her eyes toward the dilapidated Library Pavilion in the distance.
The system's mission requirements were extremely clear: find the target, release her full-power Martial Soul, and let him feel her strength and wildness.
Explanations? Sneaking in? Announcing herself?
None of that was necessary.
Liu Erlong's gaze suddenly turned ferocious. She couldn't be bothered to waste a single word.
"Boom!"
Without the slightest warning, two yellow, two purple, and three black.
Seven Soul Rings, symbolizing the optimal combination, rose from beneath her feet in an explosive burst.
Violent, unmatched Crimson Fire Dragon Soul Power shot into the sky.
A gigantic, savage phantom of a Crimson Fire Dragon rose straight from the ground, turning the night sky above blood-red.
The wildly ferocious pressure of a Soul Sage transformed into tangible waves of heat, carrying temperatures hot enough to melt steel. It smashed straight through the Judgment Knights' formation and surged toward the distant Library Pavilion.
"Enemy attack!"
The more than a dozen Judgment Knights hit first by the blast were forced backward by its reckless, violent pressure. Their chests tightened, and they nearly spat blood.
Their eyes widened in shock as they frantically blew the urgent whistles around their necks.
The piercing whistle instantly split the night sky over Spirit City.
Inside the Library Pavilion.
Su Chen was lounging comfortably in a bamboo chair.
He had just opened the Eye of Omniscience Light Screen and was getting ready to enjoy Qian Renxue's advanced mission scene, whose coordinates were set to "outside the back window of the Pope's Bedchamber."
Suddenly, inside the Sea of Divine Consciousness.
[Bee—bee—bee—]
The Eye of Omniscience's warning radar erupted in an extremely shrill, high-frequency alarm. Its alert level was more intense than any he had encountered before.
Right after that, the exclusive panel for Subject 003 burst open, taking up the Light Screen's absolute center.
Su Chen looked closely, his gaze sweeping over the rows of information.
[Target: Subject 003 · Liu Erlong]
[Current emotional state monitoring...]
[Hesitation/overthinking value: 0%]
[Shame/resistance value: 0%]
[Get-things-done/just-do-it value: 100%]
[Current behavior: Forcefully displaying Martial Soul through violence!]
At the same time, a scorching gale forced open the Library Pavilion's already dilapidated wooden window.
Even the bricks beneath his feet trembled faintly as a savage, brutal, wholly unreasonable Fire Dragon aura bore down on him, blotting out the sky and covering the earth.
Outside, the overlapping warning whistles and the Judgment Knights' roars descended into utter chaos.
Su Chen sat in the bamboo chair, his fingers still suspended in midair.
His face, usually so calculating and so adept at feigning timidity no matter what happened, genuinely stiffened at that moment.
He looked at the Light Screen's utterly bizarre "0% resistance" data and felt the fiery aura outside, as if it were about to tear the roof off.
The corners of Su Chen's mouth twitched uncontrollably.
He had faced Bibi Dong's killing intent and frenzied overthinking, and he had dealt with Qian Renxue's arrogance and warped desire to win.
But this was the first time he had encountered a "Straight-Ball Tyrant Dragon" who played by no rules at all and refused to engage in any emotional tug-of-war.
He was utterly dumbfounded.
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