The Victory of the Art of Mental Victory

The true dragon in the sky said nothing, but its draconic might grew ever stronger.

Walker the gnoll pressed his head firmly into the dirt, not daring to move an inch. As time passed, fear grew in his heart, and his limbs trembled without cease.

A long time passed, and still the true dragon said nothing. This was undoubtedly an ominous sign.

Just as Walker thought he was certain to die beneath the gold dragon's claws, the true dragon finally spoke:

"How interesting, gnoll. You're saying?"

"You deliberately chose the break of dawn, deliberately brought so many gnolls, and deliberately chose this place, all just to pledge your allegiance to me?"

There was no trace of emotion in his tone; he was merely stating the facts. But to Walker's ears, this was clearly the prelude to a slaughter.

True dragons were divided between the good and evil factions, but they shared certain fundamental traits.

As true dragons, they had much in common: a love of treasure, boundless ambition, an intense possessiveness, a reverence for absolute violence, arrogance, and a love of fighting.

True dragons also hated being deceived by any creature!

Walker knew that if he didn't say something now, he really would die. He hurriedly pleaded for mercy in an even more humble tone:

"My lord true dragon! Just now... I did indeed..."

Just as Walker was about to explain the reason for his earlier actions, Wentesi interrupted him and said coldly:

"Enough. I don't want to hear your explanation. Since you say you've come to serve me, from this moment on, you're all my subordinates, all my slaves."

"As my slaves, you will obey my... commands! From now on, your lives belong to me."

The moment he finished speaking, several rays of crimson-gold light streamed from the domineering Wentesi and shot toward the gnolls lying on the ground.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Every ray of golden light struck a kneeling gnoll with unerring accuracy, entering their hearts, lungs, and brains without exception.

Walker, whose spirit had already been broken, naturally didn't dare resist the golden light either, letting it enter his brain.

After entering the vital parts of each gnoll's body, the golden light did not dissipate. It flickered faintly from time to time, like a bomb that could detonate at any moment.

Only after breaking through to the first level of Embryonic Breathing did Wentesi come to understand the mysteries of the [Hairy Head Sun] path.

[Hairy Head Sun] cultivators possessed Hairy Head Sun Qi, which had the wondrous effects of warding off evil, suppressing Sha, dispelling filth, eliminating demons, and calming the mind.

Their Law Power was even more overbearing. Against demons and those of the Outer Dao, it grew three parts stronger, and no Dao lineage could restrain it.

Under the sun, they also received the blessings of Hairy Head Sun's mysteries, such as enhanced spells, Law Power recovery, and immunity to fire, poison, cold, lightning, and curses.

There were too many mysteries to list them all.

Every ray of golden light Wentesi had fired came from the Hairy Head Sun Law Power within him. With a single thought, Wentesi could make the Law Power explode instantly, blasting the gnolls to pieces.

Wentesi had long since recognized this group of gnolls as the tribe he had driven out of Emerald Valley.

Dragons had long lives and the ability to remember everything they saw. Walker's lie was all too easy to expose.

How could a clumsy gnoll compare to a clever red dragon?

However, Wentesi had not expected this gnoll leader to have become a level-four gnoll warlord.

Even though his kobold subordinates had been influenced by his red dragon bloodline, not one had broken through to level four. Not even Kru, the strongest of them, had managed it; he was only level three.

This gave Wentesi some ideas.

He had given up on the gnolls before because they were too unruly and the cost of managing them was too high.

But this group of gnolls seemed to know which way the wind was blowing, and their aptitude was good too. He might as well take them under his wing.

He didn't need them to submit to him genuinely and willingly like the kobolds. He only needed them to obey and work.

"I have infused each and every one of you gnolls with..."

"Hmm."

"A great gift!"

"If you devote yourselves to serving your great red dragon, the gift will protect you."

Wentesi's tone rose and fell as he put on an air of mystery, as though he had bestowed an immense gift upon the gnolls.

However, when the Hairy Head Sun Law Power wasn't activated, it did indeed have some effect in dispelling evil and filth, so Wentesi wasn't wrong.

Hearing this, Walker instead breathed a sigh of relief. At least his life was safe, but why had the gold dragon said they were to serve a red dragon?

What did serving a red dragon mean?

The other ignorant gnolls gave it even less thought.

Submitting to Walker was submission, and submitting to a true dragon was submission too. Perhaps they could live even better under a true dragon's claws.

Wentesi paused, then spoke in the tone peculiar to evil dragons:

"But... if even one of you harbors disloyal thoughts, this blessing will burn your body and soul to ashes! You will never find release, for all eternity!"

These words were highly effective. Every gnoll below was trembling, and they all lowered their tails to show their submission.

That was how it was with the evil faction. If you tried to reason with them, they would think you were easy to bully.

Only if you gave them a beating with your fists would they submit and obediently listen.

Wentesi's inherited draconic knowledge said as much: when dealing with gnolls, all one had to do was beat them into complete submission. There was no need to be polite.

At that moment, the kobold guards finally arrived as well. Including Kru, there were more than fifty kobolds, all of them looking fierce, as though ready to fight at any moment.

But when the kobolds saw the gnolls submitting on the ground with their tails between their legs, and their majestic, imposing red dragon master in the sky, they knew it was all over.

Wentesi put Kru in charge of the gnolls and told him to arrange for them to do hard labor for a while.

They could dig deep pits around the food-growing area to keep out the badger beasts that were always stealing vegetables. Ideally, they could kill one or two of them.

They could also go to the newly established mining area, where plenty of labor was needed to extract the shallow copper deposits.

For eating, drinking, and sleeping, they could be given a place in the outer area. They were not allowed into the inner area, and kobold overseers had to watch them while they worked.

For one thing, Wentesi didn't trust them yet; for another, it saved trouble.

After settling the matter, Wentesi returned to his dragon's lair to catch up on sleep. He was a little tired.

When Walker the gnoll warlord saw that the dragon returning to its lair was not a gold dragon, but the very red dragon he had originally intended to kill, he was deeply shocked.

But cowardice had a way of carrying over. Wentesi had long since shattered Walker's spirit, and now it was broken even further.

Thinking of the terrifying draconic might from earlier and the thing glowing in his head, he couldn't muster the slightest thought of resistance.

And so, the art of mental victory came into play.

Since he had been able to submit to a gold dragon just now, submitting to a red dragon now didn't seem impossible either.

Fighting his way into Emerald Valley or testing his way into Emerald Valley, it was all the same. Perhaps if he worked hard in the future, he could even earn the red dragon's blessing and become a noble dragonblood gnoll.

He could also enter Emerald Valley and have a chance to get his hands on that secret treasure. When the time came, it was still uncertain who would be whose slave...

After comforting himself with the art of mental victory, Walker nodded and accepted his fate for the time being.

"I accept it. This Cultivation Method really can only be cultivated at sunrise."

Wentesi muttered to himself after waking. The crow feather engraved with "Hairy Head Sun Method" floated before him, giving off a faint glow.

Wentesi had slept for a full day and night. After waking, he first listened to Kru's report on the territory and the gnolls' activities. Once he was sure nothing serious had happened, he sent Kru away.

The exhilaration of having just broken through to a new life level had left him wanting more. He flew to a deserted spot in Emerald Valley and began cultivating and contemplating the "Hairy Head Sun Method."

After cultivating for quite a while, however, he found that beneath the sky full of starlight, nothing he tried worked. The spiritual power he absorbed lacked the surging, abundant feeling it had possessed that morning.

After struggling for more than two hours, his cultivation had made no progress at all.

"It looks like I still have to visit that world. I need to see whether there are any taboos or other rules regarding this 'Hairy Head Sun Method.'

"Besides, if that world's Cultivation Methods are this powerful, its treasures, spirit medicines, and spirit herbs probably won't be bad either. I can't miss out on them.

"I'll have to ask that foul-mouthed crow about these things. Since he said he was one of Eight Seals Mountain's feathered folk, he presumably knows quite a bit."

Faint threads of golden light appeared in Wentesi's vertical pupils. After pondering for a while, he made his decision.

Then he thought that he might need spiritual materials and objects to make things easier in that world.

So he rose and flew back to his dragon's lair, dug up ten wild ginseng roots, and took out two jars of three-flower honey. He swallowed them all into his stomach, and his figure vanished.