Provocation

Chiyan City was crowded with pedestrians, an endless stream of people and traffic filling its streets. Inns lined both sides, and shops clustered together, making the city look exceptionally prosperous and lively.

Tall buildings stood in close ranks. The squares, inns, high-rises, and markets all gave off an air of age and elegance.

Luo Feng walked straight down a street in the western district. If the eastern district was where the nobles gathered, then the western district was where the merchants gathered. Its streets were the most prosperous and liveliest in the city.

Luo Feng strolled along, listening to the pedestrians around him talk about the remarkable people and interesting things they had encountered recently.

And so he walked and listened to the passersby, when suddenly,

"Roar!"

At that moment, a deafening roar came from the sky.

The Silver Dragon following Luo Feng was hovering in midair, flapping his wings and dozing off from boredom. Hearing the roar, he opened his eyes and looked up. A trace of disdain flashed in the corner of his eye, and he went back to dozing, seemingly too lazy to spare it another glance.

The piercing cry shook the earth, and a dark gray cloud drifted over the western district. After a long while, the magical beast in the sky finally came clearly into view.

It was a huge, ferocious creature, its blackish-brown scales gleaming in the sunlight and giving it a sinister, terrifying appearance. Its head looked somewhat pointed, and a horn half a meter long protruded from the top, shining with a metallic luster.

Fleshy wings five or six meters long spread from either side of its broad body. Its steel talons were thick and powerful, and their sharp, metallic gleam sent a chill down the spine. Its wild eyes shone with bloodlust, and its long dragon tail was like a steel whip.

Luo Feng knew this magical beast. It was a Winged Bird Dragon, a Sixth-Level Magical Beast, though it had advanced into the ranks of Seventh-Level Magical Beasts. It was probably an expert among its kind.

The richly dressed young man standing on the Winged Bird Dragon's head was around twenty-seven or twenty-eight. He was probably a noble student from some academy who had come out to show off. Standing on the Winged Bird Dragon's broad back, he looked down at the pedestrians with a smug expression.

"Wa'ersi, see that? One of your kind. He looks even more arrogant than you, though. You dragons really do love showing off," Luo Feng said, turning toward the Silver Dragon Wa'ersi, who was flapping his wings and dozing in midair.

"Roar! A crossbred dragon with just a little dragon blood dares call himself one of my kind? I, Wa'ersi, am a pure-blooded Silver Dragon. What right does he have to be compared to me? One slap from me, and a crossbred dragon like him would drop dead even if he had ten lives," Wa'ersi said arrogantly.

Luo Feng looked at Wa'ersi impassively. Though he disliked the Silver Dragon's excessive arrogance, what he said was true. Winged Bird Dragons were Sixth-Level Magical Beasts that lived in groups, and although this one had reached the seventh level, that noble youth had probably fed it magical cores to get it there.

Besides, it was only a Seventh-Level Magical Beast, hardly worth Luo Feng's attention. After a few glances, he prepared to leave.

A rough-looking man's voice rang out from the crowd, tinged with jealousy. "Isn't it just a Seventh-Level Magical Beast, a Winged Bird Dragon? What's there to be so proud of? Just you wait, I'll catch a real dragon someday." But Luo Feng saw nothing but envy in his eyes.

Luo Feng shook his head and prepared to leave. The haughty young man overhead seemed to notice that Luo Feng showed no envy, and then actually dared to ignore his presence. Furious, he urged the Winged Bird Dragon into action.

The Winged Bird Dragon was naturally in tune with its master. Hearing his command, it immediately fixed its gaze on Luo Feng.

Wind Blades shot mercilessly toward Luo Feng one after another. He continued walking, seemingly oblivious to the attack.

Just as the Wind Blades were about to strike him, a silver-white curtain of light appeared in front of him and blocked them.

Ninth-level Light Element magic--Light's Protection

The Wind Blades did not tear Luo Feng's body apart as expected. Instead, they were stopped by the curtain of light before him. They left only faint ripples on its surface and did not cause him the slightest actual harm.

Luo Feng glanced up at the young man standing on the Winged Bird Dragon's head, his expression indifferent. Yet that brief glance made the richly dressed youth feel as though he might topple over. He had only ever felt that way in the presence of his elder brother from the War God Sect.

"Wa'ersi, I'll give you one minute to show what you can do. Just don't kill them," Luo Feng said by voice transmission to the Silver Dragon a short distance behind him, paying no attention to the young man atop the Winged Bird Dragon.

"Haha, don't worry, Master. I'll give them a proper welcome, and I definitely won't kill them. After all, this is Chiyan City, the imperial capital," the Silver Dragon said happily upon receiving Luo Feng's instructions.

By now, the richly dressed young man atop the Winged Bird Dragon was burning with even greater anger. He had always thought highly of himself, and today an inconspicuous-looking fellow had made him lose face again and again. It was more than he could bear.

"Roar!" The Winged Bird Dragon, its mind linked to its master's, received his order and raised a hard dragon claw to seize Luo Feng. The furious strike whistled through the air.

Suddenly, a huge dragon tail traced a mysterious arc and lashed toward the Winged Bird Dragon like lightning. The Winged Bird Dragon instinctively tried to block it, but that seemingly light flick struck with immense force, sending it flying straight into a wall, where it became embedded.

Violent strength, tremendous speed, terrifying defense, overwhelming attack power, and absolute Light Element healing magic were enough to place the Silver Dragon among the very best in the world of magical beasts. That was Luo Feng's assessment of him.

The Winged Bird Dragon before him, on the other hand, was merely a crossbred dragon with a trace of dragon blood. Even after the richly dressed youth had fed it magical cores, it was only a Seventh-Level Magical Beast, worlds apart from the Silver Dragon. Trying to block him with a single claw was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

Struggling free of the cracked wall, the Winged Bird Dragon looked at the magical beast before it in terror, a desire to submit rising from the depths of its heart. If the richly dressed youth had not signed a servant contract with it, the Winged Bird Dragon would probably have already fallen prostrate.

Wa'ersi had been about to follow Luo Feng when he saw that the two had actually gotten back up, and that the richly dressed youth was glaring at him in fury. He flew into a rage. Damn it, I'm a pure-blooded dragon! How can trash like you compare to me? You must be fucking blind. One beating wasn't enough for you, was it? I'll oblige you.

Wa'ersi launched into battle at full speed. His dragon claws struck again and again at an astonishing rate, ripping through the air like thunderbolts and raising waves of teeth-grating shrieks as dust filled the area.

The storm of blows finally ended. The once-tidy ground was crisscrossed with cracks spreading across the entire area, and fragments flew, shooting out like arrows.

On the cracked ground in the middle lay two figures, both at death's door. Their faces filled with fear and regret, they murmured, "A Level Nine Magical Beast, a Silver Dragon."