Qin Qingyue’s voice carried a trace of playful mockery:
“Isn’t it just that ancient formation you’ve patched up and improved through countless generations?”
She sat down unceremoniously onto the Red Rainbow Throne, feeling the lingering warmth beneath her, and crossed one leg over the other in a provocative manner.
“Pooling the strength of the entire clan into a single Dragon, forcibly raising the clan leader’s cultivation to Ascension Extreme for a short time, right?”
The smile remained on Chi Hong’s face, but a cold light flashed in her eyes:
“Qin Qingyue, since you know this, you should also know what it means when something isn’t worth the cost.”
“We’re not without means to deal with you. Jiang Huai isn’t with us.”
Unlike the Grand Elder’s sternness, Chi Hong’s smile was laced with hidden blades, her tone calm.
Qin Qingyue raised her eyebrows slightly, as if she had only just remembered:
“Oh, now I recall. Doesn’t your formation require a few special Flame Crystal Stones as the catalyst to activate?”
“Look, could it be these?”
With a casual wave of her slender finger, two fiery red crystals appeared between her fingertips, blazing with wild fire spiritual energy.
The scorching aura instantly filled the air.
Chi Hong’s forced smile completely froze and shattered.
Her foxlike eyes narrowed dangerously to slits, and her voice suddenly turned icy:
“Qin Qingyue, what did you do to our Supreme Elder?!”
There were four Flame Crystal Stones in total: one each held by Chi Hong, Elder Chi Qin, and the Supreme Elder, and one enshrined deep within the secret land.
This formation was the Red Dragon Clan’s ultimate treasure.
It could be used once easily, but repairing it afterward would take a long time.
So, it was not to be used unless the survival of the Ancestor Land was at stake.
Only when all four stones were gathered could the Grand Array be fully activated.
But now, two were in Qin Qingyue’s hands.
The two searing Flame Crystal Stones spun playfully at her fingertips, their crimson glow reflected in her icy smile.
All this meant she had already infiltrated the Red Dragon Secret Land as if there were no one guarding it, and had even snatched the stone from the reclusive Supreme Elder.
And Chi Hong, as clan leader, had known nothing of it.
“Sigh,” Qin Qingyue sighed lazily, toying with the two deadly stones.
“If you want to blame someone, blame your Red Dragon Clan’s famed Grand Array—its reputation is just too far-reaching, too old.”
“How many years has it been? Who doesn’t know about your hidden treasures by now?”
Her tone turned, laced with open contempt:
“Besides, how could you naively believe that a so-called Ascension Extreme cobbled together by forcibly stacking power with a formation could ever be compared to a true Celestial Immortal Form?”
“I can come and go in your clan as I please, break into your secret land, and rob your Supreme Elder as easily as picking something from a bag.”
“You Red Dragon Clan don’t even have a decent Supreme Sage Great Ascension—what can you use to stop me? Ridiculous.”
That was exactly why she chose to pinch the Red Dragon Clan as her “soft target” first.
The White Dragon Clan of the Northern Plains had a real Supreme Sage sitting in town.
Before coming here, she had thoroughly investigated all the secrets of the Red Dragon Clan.
Chi Hong forced down her shock and replied coldly, not backing down:
“Qin Qingyue, let me tell you, we can still activate the Grand Array even without those stones!”
“I know, I know.”
“How many clan members need to burn their blood essence, or even sacrifice their lives, for that? Hm?”
Qin Qingyue grinned. “Tell me, for every extra moment I spend here with you, how many more of your clansmen will have to fill that array with their lives?”
Chi Hong’s heart sank to the bottom.
Qin Qingyue even knew this, the most secret, most tragic price.
The Red Dragon Clan’s trump cards, over the long river of time, had already been thoroughly exposed.
“So now, who should be teaching whom what it means for something to not be worth the cost?” Qin Qingyue said with a smile.
This was the difference between true strength—a Celestial Immortal Form walking the world—and the pseudo-limit forcibly raised by relying on external formations. It was like the difference between clouds and mud.
Chi Hong sounded a little discouraged, her tone softening just a bit:
“But Jiang Huai truly isn’t with us. Coming here won’t help you.”
It wasn’t frightening to run into a tyrant, but what was terrifying was meeting one like Qin Qingyue—who had crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, who understood schemes thoroughly, and whose every strike hit right at the heart.
“Hmph! Then how are you going to make up for making me lose Jiang Huai?” Qin Qingyue slammed the armrest, speaking furiously.
If it weren’t for Chi Hong deducing her location, how could Wu Zhaohua have found her so quickly?
“I suppose you didn’t come here just to settle accounts with us, did you?”
“Qin Qingyue, let me tell you, as the clan leader I would never run away like Qin Qinghong did with her clansmen.”
“I will fight to the last moment. The Red Dragon Grand Formation was created to protect the survival of our Ancestor Land!” Chi Hong pressed her jade hand heavily onto the Red Dragon Sword at her waist, her voice resolute.
She would never let the South Sea Dragon Palace follow in the footsteps of the Eastern Wilderness Dragon Clan and fall into Qin Qingyue’s grasp.
Qin Qingyue fell silent for a moment. She never intended to start a war; she was only here to retrieve her husband.
“I’m only here to discuss a collaboration. We can talk slowly.” She signaled with her eyes.
Chi Hong caught her meaning and commanded the few Dragon Ladies in the hall: “Today’s events must not be mentioned by anyone. Leave.”
“Chi Qin, stay.”
All those present were her trusted aides and naturally wouldn’t leak anything.
The Grand Elder was her right hand, of vital importance to the clan—she couldn’t be left out.
After the elegant Dragon Ladies filed out and the doors shut tight, Qin Qingyue spoke coldly:
“I’m guessing that good-for-nothing Qin Qinghong must be at Wenxuan Sect?”
“She failed to assassinate me last time, so she’s sure to fear my retaliation and must be hiding there with some of her clan.”
Chi Hong tacitly acknowledged it—Qin Qinghong really did seem to be hiding in Wenxuan Sect as some kind of Guest Elder.
“I want you to make a show of it. Announce that you’ve made an enemy of me, and that you’re joining forces with the Northern Plains Dragon Clan to deal with me. Draw in the Central Continent Dragon Clan as well.”
“And, restore the Eastern Wilderness Dragon Clan’s name—draw that good-for-nothing Qin Qinghong out.” Qin Qingyue’s voice was cold.
“And finally, prepare a few Dragon Ladies for me. I’m taking them with me.”
Morning. A sword soared to the heavens.
In the little courtyard, Jiang Huai woke up groggily, discovering Wu Zhaohua still sleeping peacefully beside him.
Her stunningly beautiful profile looked especially serene in the morning light.
Aside from that overly lovely face, it seemed no different from countless other mornings.
He quietly turned onto his side, his gaze involuntarily drifting downward to the mark of the spirit sword Wu Zhaohua had “carved” on him.
How odd, did it get bigger? It looked even more imposing now.
His thin frame made the mark appear all the more bold—almost like a little colt…
At this moment, in the early dawn, the unique pattern truly seemed to come alive, turning into a sharp longsword, pointing straight toward the sky.
“This is weird… I feel like I got tricked.” Jiang Huai rubbed his eyes, muttering softly.
That night had been so late—no wonder he’d been muddled.
He habitually got up quietly and went to the kitchen.
Opening the door, he was surprised to find the ingredients inside were just as they’d been before he left.
Jiang Huai thought for a moment, then decided to start a fire and cook. No sense in wasting good food.
Even if Wu Zhaohua didn’t need to eat, he was still hungry.
After breakfast, he would practice his sword, working toward breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage as soon as possible.
Thinking this, he busied himself as usual.
For some reason, Qin Qingyue’s figure kept popping up in his mind.
That lively dragon tail always coiled around his waist with a hint of playful mood.
That supple and tender figure, covered in a few mysterious black scales, slender and upright.
Those long, rounded legs, full of strength.
And those warm, enveloping peaks—her domineering, possessive embrace, her delicate but irresistible hands, and the faint blush…
Suddenly, the spot on his lower abdomen marked by the black dragon pattern started to heat up faintly.
Jiang Huai realized he was actually starting to miss that domineering and awkward Black Dragon a little.
At almost the same moment, the newly-engraved “spirit sword” mark at the base of his thigh suddenly burned, as if silently launching a fierce protest.