"I'll be the judge."
Angers stared at Lu Mingfei's resolute, confident face, then suddenly smiled without a sound. "Just what I'd expect from our S-Rank."
He gazed into the distance and pondered for a long time, until the wind consumed the rest of his cigar and the stub burned his fingers.
"I've lived for more than a hundred years. Thanks to the gift of dragon blood, I'm still alive. Over that century, all my friends have died. The time I have left may not be enough to see the day the dragons' history ends. You're the leader of the next generation I've always hoped for. When that day comes, everything I have will be yours to inherit." He patted Lu Mingfei's shoulder. "Now, let's go inside. There's still time to sample the local food before the meeting."
Only then did Lu Mingfei realize that the four-story building beside them was the inn Angers had mentioned. It stood halfway up the mountainside, its walls painted a warm orange, with a window in every room facing the sea.
Every house here had at least one window overlooking the bay below.
The room had a minimalist interior: pure white walls hung with a few abstract paintings and a wall-mounted television, furnishings limited to chairs, a table, and a closet, and a potted green plant in the corner. Lu Mingfei walked over to the bed and drew back the curtains. From this spot halfway up the mountainside, the entire bay lay before him.
He hadn't gone to the seaside bars with Angers. Built into the hillside facing the sea, those bars served Italian cuisine as well as drinks.
The room had a double bed covered with a black-and-white patterned quilt and sheets. He sat cross-legged on it and checked his messages on the phone Su Enxi had left him. This device was beyond Norma's surveillance.
Every day, Su Enxi sent him compiled reports of dragon-related information and incidents from around the world.
The mysterious Dragon King who had appeared once on the Panhandle Plateau had served as a warning: hybrids had a narrow understanding of Dragon Kings. They believed all the Dragon Kings were asleep, and so the world was peaceful.
Yet a Dragon King wouldn't necessarily try to destroy the human world immediately after awakening. They were intelligent beings at the pinnacle of evolution. After witnessing the rapid development of modern human civilization, they might choose to build up their strength in secret, just as the hybrid elite had always done.
Over a few months, more than a hundred dragon-related incidents, large and small, had occurred around the globe. Most, however, had been caused by unaffiliated hybrids or alchemical items circulating outside official control. The rest were fake news meant to draw clicks.
Lu Mingfei had encountered two Dragon Kings in less than a year purely by chance. He understood that, yet sometimes he couldn't help thinking, If only the remaining Dragon Kings would all come out together with the Black King.
He happened to glance out the window and suddenly realized that the light had dimmed considerably.
Though the weather hadn't been clear when they arrived, the daylight had still been bright.
He rose and walked to the window. At some point, dark gray rain clouds had drifted across the sky outside.
Only summer brought such sudden rain. Sometimes it took barely ten or twenty minutes for clouds to appear on the horizon and cover the entire sky.
With his eyesight, Lu Mingfei could clearly see the mountain roads and the harbor. Perhaps because the sky had darkened, lights shone in every window, illuminating the brightly colored walls in a dazzling, beautiful display.
But not a single person was in sight.
There were few people here in winter, but surely not so few that no one remained.
Lu Mingfei opened the suitcase in the corner and took out the Bloodhound's Fang.
By then, rain had begun falling outside. In weather like this, it should have been snow or hail, yet the pattering outside was unmistakably rain, growing heavier by the moment. Soon moisture seeped into the room through the window gaps. The incandescent light on the ceiling flickered twice and switched itself on, just like the lights in every empty room outside.
Holding the Bloodhound's Fang, Lu Mingfei pushed open the door.
Every spherical lamp hanging from the ceiling in the inn's corridor was lit, making it brilliantly bright, yet a cold, sinister presence surged toward him from the far end.
Chapter 91: New God
In Lu Mingfei's eyes, the elemental composition of the entire world had changed, as though opening the door had carried him into another world.
A Nibelungen.
Norton's Nibelungen had been attached to the underwater Bronze City. This one had actually appeared in a human tourist town.
The rain outside had turned into a downpour, its overwhelming roar drowning out everything. Through the corridor windows, thick mist spread through the curtain of rain. The distant lights looked utterly unreal, like phantoms.
This meant the Nibelungen was nearly fully formed.
Lu Mingfei didn't know whether the dragon responsible had drawn the town's humans or hybrids into the Nibelungen. If so, he would inevitably have to hold back in battle.
He moved down the corridor as moisture continued to seep inside. The carpet was already soaked, squelching under his feet.
With so much effort put into this elaborate display, Lu Mingfei guessed that whoever was behind it had come for him.
Sure enough, the instant the wind and rain burst through the corridor windows, the surrounding water elements began to fluctuate. Water on the floor defied gravity and gradually gathered into masses.
A swarm of dark figures slowly rose from the pooled water. Every one wore a pitch-black cloak and carried a rust-covered weapon. They looked like Ringwraiths straight out of The Lord of the Rings, their weapon-bearing hands withered and pale, tipped with sharp claws.
Golden eyes lit up one after another beneath their hoods, their glow like flickering flames.
They were physical bodies formed from water. Lu Mingfei didn't attack immediately; he was trying to sense how the process worked.
It seemed to be a form of alchemy.
The dark figures weren't in a hurry to attack either. They merely blocked both ends of the corridor.
Night, a storm, a speeding luxury car, ghostly pursuers, a father and son, a man on horseback...
Half the elements from the story Chu Zihang had told him had already appeared.
But Lu Mingfei hadn't heard the dark figures speak. Chu Zihang had said they expressed a craving for flesh and blood when they saw living people. These figures were silent, unlike living creatures.
In a temporary dormitory at Cassell College, all was quiet, and clear moonlight spilled across the floor. A girl walked barefoot to the window and raised a square, blue-black mirror in the moonlight.
Its smooth surface reflected not the dorm room, but a corridor where countless Heroic Spirits crowded together, too terrified to move.
"So impatient. Are you really that eager to test him?" Her gaze was indifferent. "Brother."
"Aren't you the same?" A muffled voice passed through the mirror, accompanied by the roar of violent wind and rain. "Sister."
Xia Mi's pupils contracted sharply. Her grip tightened around the mirror, grotesque knuckles bulging in an instant. Yet she quickly restrained her strength, her face becoming expressionless.
"Did you deliberately let me get this mirror?"
"It was only meant as a test at first. The same goes for those documents. I took that commission too."
Xia Mi could even imagine the speaker smiling. He had hidden in the shadows, manipulating everything. She had thought she was the onlooker poised to reap the rewards, never realizing that she, too, was a pawn.
"Why tell me now?" Xia Mi asked. "I can crush this mirror whenever I want. Then whatever you're planning will come to nothing."
"You have no idea how much effort I poured into that mirror. It wasn't made for you," the voice in the mirror said leisurely. "It was created to deal with this New God."
Xia Mi's heart jolted.
He had revealed a closely guarded secret. A New God!
"I'm sure you've noticed too," the voice in the mirror said softly. "At some point, our authorities began to change. For a while, I even thought Father had awakened. But I waited a long time, and instead of his return, this strange fellow appeared."
"He's the source of the upheaval?" Xia Mi frowned.
"I don't know." The answer from the mirror was decisive. "But he's already obtained the Complete Throne of fire. He must understand this change better than either of us."
"Are you planning to ask him face-to-face?" Mockery flickered in Xia Mi's eyes.
"No... I intend to study him." The mirror trembled with those words. "I know why you're getting close to him. My purpose is the same. Since we're taking the same path, why can't we be companions? You're my clever, ambitious sister, one of Father's most perfect creations."
"Can I really trust you?" Xia Mi's hand underwent another terrifying, grotesque transformation. Her sharp fingertips touched the mirror, scoring a shallow scratch across its surface. "Does someone as great as you truly need anyone else's help?"
"Your egg is with that Mr. Chu. I also know your brother is..." In a mild voice, he disclosed information chilling enough to strike fear into Xia Mi's heart.
"You're not a Transcendent Evolutionary Form yet." Xia Mi narrowed her eyes. "Otherwise, you could simply kill him."
"I'm not threatening you." The voice in the mirror regained its leisurely tone. "You don't need to fight me. Our enemy is fate itself! Your power will help me survive the Twilight of the Gods. In return, I'll share this world with you."
"What do I do?" After a moment's silence, Xia Mi spoke slowly.
"I'll open a 'Gate' for you. All you need to do is enter."
"As expected of my brother. You're the strongest alchemist among us," Xia Mi said softly. She had already sensed an unfamiliar Alchemical Domain awakening within the mirror.
"I'll create a window of opportunity for you." The voice in the mirror suddenly grew distant and ethereal. "The age of the old gods is destined to end. Together, we can become the gods of a new era."
The mastermind still hadn't shown himself. Whenever Lu Mingfei advanced, the dark figures before him retreated, always keeping their distance.
During this time, however, he discovered that there were no living people in the Nibelungen.
So he decided to act.
Without a swing of his blade, the King's Domain spread silently. Wherever it passed, surging moisture plunged straight to the ground, and the violent winds were smoothed away by an invisible force. A silent dead sea appeared in the elemental world. The dark figures trembled, holding out for less than two seconds before dropping to their knees. Their sharp thigh bones pierced through their knees and embedded themselves in the floor.
The instant he acted, the mastermind could no longer sit still.
Strange hoofbeats sounded downstairs, as though a herd of horses were trotting around the inn. Their riders dragged some kind of sharp weapons behind them, scraping the ground with a piercing noise.
Lu Mingfei gently drove the tip of his sword into the wall. Fine cracks radiated from the point of entry, rapidly widening into black, web-like fissures.
The shattered masonry fell away, exposing a passage straight toward the newcomer below!
Chapter 92: Battle
Raindrops across the sky hung motionless. Lu Mingfei passed through the curtain of rain, leaving a clear passage behind him. Only after he was gone did ripples in the wind slowly emerge, sending the raindrops shooting upward against gravity.
His speed had already surpassed Angers with Time Zero activated.
Not far away, a horse as massive as a mountain stood amid white light. It wore heavy armor inlaid with intricate metal patterns, and a crystalline glow flowed across its white coat. Its eight powerful legs resembled the stabilizing outriggers of a wheeled crane.
Its dark-gold horseshoes clawed at the ground, tearing wound after wound into the hard road.
A mask covered its face. After every thunderous neigh, fine sparks of lightning sprayed from the mask's metal nostrils.
An enormous black figure sat on its back, clad entirely in heavy, dark-gold armor. Rain fell over it, making the armor seem veiled in a faint glow. He held a curved spear, its arc like the path of a meteor across the sky. On his iron-masked face, a single golden eye illuminated the surroundings like an immense lamp.
Everything was almost exactly as Chu Zihang had described.
Lu Mingfei flicked the blade lightly. Flames flowed along it and enveloped its edge. He slashed upward, tracing a bright arc through the air like a full moon.
The fire illuminated the mask on Odin's face. The golden eye beneath it remained utterly unperturbed.
Odin calmly raised his spear to block. The two weapons collided, and a silent domain spread outward. Wherever the shock wave passed, enormous fissures opened in the ground and rubble flew. Trees and houses dissolved in the gale like burned-out ashes.
Odin counterattacked. Gungnir's thrusts streaked like meteors, shrouding Lu Mingfei in dark-gold light.
But Lu Mingfei vanished for an instant, evading the dense barrage of thrusts. It was part of his bloodhound sword technique, signaling that a second attack was already poised to strike. Trailing fire from its high-speed swing, the Bloodhound's Fang traced another arc. This time, every one of Sleipnir's legs was severed.
The eight-legged horse famed throughout mythology crashed heavily to the ground. Before the steed could cry out, countless high-speed jets of flame erupted from the ground toward the sky and engulfed the fallen body.
O flame, devour everything!
A moment later, a thin golden line cleaved the flames in two, revealing Odin surrounded by fire. He had swept his weapon horizontally, compressing the slash into a single line. The high-pressure airflow cut off the flames' path.
Standing on the ground, Odin had lost some of his majesty. Only then did Lu Mingfei realize that he was less a warrior than a god of death, steeped in the stench of decay. The bandages spilling from beneath his armor looked like torn burial shrouds.
Behind Odin, half of the eight-legged horse's body had already been shredded by the high-speed torrents of flame. Flesh and bone were first torn apart, then reduced to ash in the intense heat and scattered high into the air.
Even so, no clear flicker of emotion appeared in Odin's eye.