Black Dragon Devours the Sun

No matter what the others were doing, what Huo Hai considered now was how to get as many point cards as possible without exposing himself. Under normal circumstances, Huo Hai would not have been so troubled.

His experience in handling matters was still lacking. Otherwise, he would not have ended up like this. Looking at Ji Mu beside him, smiling as she followed him, Huo Hai felt wave after wave of headache. If Yun'er were by his side, it would not have mattered much. She was his little sister; she would not run around talking, and besides, family knowing a little was nothing. This person was different.

No matter how pure or innocent Ji Mu appeared, Huo Hai would not easily trust her. He had seen too much of such things on Earth, and the complicated human nature in novels was countless as well. How could he casually trust someone?

Besides, was he not a bad person? How could a bad person casually let others know about his circumstances? Huo Hai said nothing along the way, merely controlling the Star Gu from afar to find some cards for himself.

Thus, Huo Hai became even more mysterious in Ji Mu's eyes. He did not walk in a straight line at all, as if he knew where the cards were. He would stroll about casually, then find one or two cards in some corners. Sometimes, he could even find large piles of cards in little caves or other nest-like places.

Just now, Huo Hai had dug up more than fifty point cards from a cave. No matter how innocent Ji Mu was, she could tell something was wrong by then. This guy definitely has a secret—and a very big one.

Ji Mu grew increasingly interested in Huo Hai. These caves were all places where Spirit Beasts lived. They were so hidden—how had he found them? It was as if he had known from the start. And how did he know that the Spirit Beasts inside were not home?

One or two might not be home, but so many of them made it a serious problem. Just now, Ji Mu had even discovered what looked like traces of battle beside one cave. Those had definitely been left by the Spirit Beasts that originally lived there. But where had the Spirit Beast corpses gone? How exactly had the battle been fought? Why had she not heard the slightest movement after arriving?

Could it be that Huo Hai also had a powerful team at his side? But how did they communicate with one another? Ji Mu even began to suspect that Huo Hai had raised some powerful pet and sent it out to fight.

The ability to know every situation without making a sound was far too much like a pet bound by a Spirit Contract. Before reaching the Spirit Practitioner Realm, one could not choose the path of a Beast Spirit Master. If one was not a Beast Spirit Master, controlling a Spirit Beast required a Spirit Contract—and one could only have one.

"Hmph, I'd like to see just how many secrets you still have." Ji Mu continued following Huo Hai without speaking to him, simply watching his every move. Even with a Spirit Contract, one could only bind a single beast. Huo Hai's performance truly did not seem as simple as having only one Spirit Beast. As for what was really going on, how could Ji Mu know that there was a method like a Blood Contract in this world?

Huo Hai, meanwhile, remained cautious the entire time, afraid that Ji Mu would notice something. He could only helplessly give up even some of the cards. After more than half a day, the cards in Huo Hai's hands still totaled fewer than five hundred.

As time passed, collecting cards became increasingly troublesome. He did not know whether he could gather more than two thousand points by then. Without realizing it, two thousand points had become both a goal and an obsession.

"Say, Miss Ji, how long are you planning to keep following me? You won't earn many point cards like this. I heard that once we reach Imperial City Academy, these points become the Academy's internal currency. Without points, you won't be able to take a single step in the future."

Ji Mu smiled. "Hehe, I already told you, call me by my name, or call me Sister. Don't call me Miss Ji. As for cards, it's fine. Not everyone in the Academy is rich. Quite a few people have no money but do have points. They sell their points in exchange for Spirit Stones. Our Lineage has people who specialize in this business, so I don't lack points."

So that was how it was. Father probably would not want him doing such a thing, which was why he had not told him. Forget it—he could think of a way later. After all, something like a Bone Tempering Pill also required a huge amount of points to obtain.

Huo Hai was truly helpless when it came to Ji Mu. Just as he was about to say something, the sky suddenly darkened. "What's going on? Why has it gotten dark? No, what is that?" Huo Hai raised his head, his face full of shock.

Ji Mu looked at Huo Hai with amusement. "Little brother, don't try to distract me with such a clumsy trick. When your sister here was using tricks like that, you didn't even know where you were... Good heavens, how could this happen?" Ji Mu slowly raised her head and finally realized that something was wrong. Far away to the north, from some unknown place, a dense plume of black smoke rose from the ground.

Even amid the forested mountains, it could not be concealed. The black smoke rose into the heavens, almost covering half the sky. Though it was so far away, the thick black smoke was still impossible to ignore. It churned without end, as though it had come alive.

From afar, it looked like a black dragon. No—not merely like one. It had truly formed into a black dragon. Its illusory dragon body seemed to have four claws around it, the strange shape formed by the black smoke hazy and indistinct.

The enormous black dragon soared into the air and roamed the nine heavens, while its tail remained beneath the ground, its location impossible to see. Truly, the divine dragon showed its head but not its tail. As the black dragon rose, it blotted out the sky and covered the sun. The clouds overhead gradually turned black. Heaven and earth became a stretch of darkness, with dense fog rolling in billows. At that moment, it was not only them—everyone in Southern Cloud Kingdom could see it.

No, not only Southern Cloud Kingdom. Even the Southern Nations clearly saw this strange spectacle. In the pitch-black sky, the black dragon, darker still than black itself, bared its fangs and brandished its claws, its head facing directly toward the sun.

Its open mouth looked as if it wanted to swallow the sun whole. The sun's light grew dimmer and dimmer, and the sky darker and darker. It was as though night had arrived ahead of time; even faint stars could be seen.

Unfortunately, the clouds blocked most of them, leaving only very few stars visible. Huo Hai clearly knew that the sun could not possibly be swallowed by black smoke, but seeing such a lifelike sight, he could not help worrying. What if the sun really were eaten? What would happen without the sun? The end of the world? Huo Hai recalled novels from his previous life on Earth that had no sun, and a chill ran through his heart.

In the Imperial Capital of Southern Cloud Kingdom, an old man walked out of a great hall. Looking at the scene in the sky, his expression was incomparably grave.

"National Preceptor, what is happening? Why has such a phenomenon appeared? Black Dragon Devours the Sun—could it really swallow the sun?" At some unknown moment, a dignified middle-aged man appeared beside the old man.

If anyone else had been there, they would have been astonished to discover that this man was the current ruler of Southern Cloud Kingdom. Yet before this old man, the ruler was exceptionally respectful. National Preceptor—what sort of person was he? Perhaps many people in Southern Cloud Kingdom did not even know that he existed.

The old man shook his head and spoke as if talking to himself. "Black Dragon Devours the Sun. I never imagined it, never imagined that I would encounter it while still alive. Is the Demon Burial Mound finally about to emerge? Living beings will be plunged into misery and suffering." The old man sighed, his expression growing increasingly solemn, as though there were something he did not wish to mention. What exactly was happening? Even he, the ruler, was not allowed to know?

After a long while, the old man turned around. "Your Majesty, have the entire nation begin preparing for war. Our Southern Nations are about to descend into great chaos, and we may even face a calamity of destruction. This is not something we can handle."

"A destructive calamity? National Preceptor, isn't that making a mountain out of a molehill? Must we truly place the entire nation on the highest alert because of a single phenomenon?" A nationwide alert was no small expense, let alone the highest alert. Though the National Preceptor had not said much, that was clearly what he meant. In all their years together, this was the first time he had seen such an expression on the National Preceptor's face.

But he did not dare slight the National Preceptor. The National Preceptor was at least a Spirit Marshal-level supreme expert. According to Southern Cloud Kingdom's records, he was already more than five hundred years old and had made immense contributions to the kingdom. His prestige was even greater than that of the ruler himself.

"Hmph, making a mountain out of a molehill? What do you think this is? Black Dragon Devours the Sun. Forget a tiny Southern Cloud Kingdom—even if all our Southern Nations were added together, we might not escape this calamity. Let us hope that those above discover the changes here soon."

The Heavenly Spirit Continent was boundless, and the Southern Nations occupied only a tiny portion of it. The phenomenon caused by this black smoke could not be seen at all from farther places. Hopefully, before they discovered the changes here, the Southern Cloud Nations would still exist. Now, other than making proper preparations to meet the coming calamity, what else could they do?

Watching the black dragon that was about to swallow even the sun, the National Preceptor's face turned somewhat bitter. This Demon Calamity would likely not be so easy to survive. What the black dragon was swallowing was not the sun—it was simply his very heart.

"Very well, I'll go make preparations immediately. By the way, what should we do about Imperial City Academy's admissions this year? Should we have them stop?"

Imperial City Academy admitted students every year, though the location varied. On average, each place would only host admissions once every ten years or so. If they stopped, it would be a tremendous loss to the entire nation.

The old man shook his head. "No need. The Demon Calamity will not arrive so quickly. Besides, low-level Spirit Masters may be of little use, but they can still help resist the Demon Calamity's erosion. From now on, get rid of every bastard fighting for power and profit. If you cannot do it, let me do it. Devote all our strength to dealing with the Demon Calamity. Whether we can continue to exist will depend on how well we prepare."

The old man shook his head as he walked into the distance. His back was indescribably bleak and lonely.

"Five hundred years... I never thought that in my lifetime, I would actually see Black Dragon Devours the Sun. I wonder how good those old fellows look now. Black Dragon Devours the Sun—I had thought I would never see it in this life..."