"Was it over?"
Watching from afar as Fang Qianyuan's werewolf Dharma Aspect returned to its original form and vanished from view, Zuoqiutang and the others emerged from their various hiding places, still doubtful and shaken, their expressions somewhat dazed.
They hurried forward. Withered trunks and branches littered the way, and roots torn up through the ground had ravaged the soil, leaving devastation everywhere.
By then, Fang Qianyuan had also descended before Qunyao and was examining him.
Qunyao lay faceup in a pit about a zhang across, with the withered remnants of tree roots beneath him.
Fang Qianyuan's expression was complicated. "I meant to take you alive. Now it seems that won't be possible."
Qunyao coughed several times. A pool of emerald-green blood spilled from his mouth, and the cracks across his face seemed to widen further.
"I... I hid it in the secret chamber..."
"Hmph!" Fang Qianyuan gave a heavy snort, suddenly stepped forward, and planted a foot on his chest, cutting him off. "What exactly are you after?"
He had never expected this defeated enemy's first words to reveal the whereabouts of that thing.
Although Qunyao had not said what it was, a flash of intuition let Fang Qianyuan grasp his meaning at once.
"Heh... hehehehe..." Qunyao laughed smugly, looking as though he were the victor of this battle.
"Young... Young Master Fang... your heart is in turmoil!"
"No, I merely think you're doing something foolish!" A sharp gleam flashed through Fang Qianyuan's eyes. "Whether grand or arrogant, only an ideal that can be realized deserves to be called an ideal."
"Everyone like dragons... is impossible to achieve!"
"You're merely throwing the world into chaos, setting the flames of war ablaze everywhere and plunging all living beings into misery!"
"An ideal?" Something seemed to come back to Qunyao. A