Chapter Fifty-Six: Each Goes Their Own Way

Wang Luo’s expression changed, but before he could utter a word, Reggie hurled him off the thunder dragon’s back. As Wang Luo’s body plummeted freely from a height of a thousand meters, Reggie’s coarse, menacing voice echoed in his ears: “Wait for me in Geneva City. If I have to come looking for you myself, you know what the consequences will be!”

At this moment, Wang Luo had no mind to deal with Reggie’s threats; all his thoughts were on how to land safely. From such a height, even if he tried to imitate what Old Lion did back then, he estimated he’d lose half his life.

“Maybe I could use blood energy to form wings…”

With this thought, Wang Luo formed a hand seal, preparing to channel his blood energy. But in the next instant, his face turned grim—a purple lightning shield had appeared over his heart, intercepting all the blood energy flowing with his blood and trapping it within his heart.

Watching the ground draw closer, feeling the stabbing pain from his battered body growing sharper with the rush of air, Wang Luo gritted his teeth and rallied all his blood energy to attack the purple lightning barrier. The spiritual power and metallic battle energy in his dantian also surged against the seal Old Lion had left, while Heartfire tried to burn through the purple lightning shield, hoping to release even a sliver of energy.

As the earth rushed up to meet him, Wang Luo curled into a ball, bracing for impact. He was truly at his wits’ end—his spiritual power, blood energy, and metallic battle energy had all been sealed. In the blast from Black Ru’s self-destruction, he had drained both his magic and blood energy, leaving him now with nothing but a battered body.

“Wait… Could that strange iron have fused into my body?”

His clothes had been obliterated in the explosion, but as he curled up, Wang Luo suddenly noticed a blurry mark on his chest, the same size and shape as the black iron shard. Sensing it with his spiritual perception, he confirmed it was indeed the iron—an odd feeling crept over him.

Suddenly, in mid-fall, Wang Luo’s body jerked violently with a bang as he struck a purple lightning barrier. The barrier fell with him, smashing into the ground first and shattering into nothingness.

Dazed and battered, Wang Luo forced himself upright despite the piercing pain all over his body. Surveying his surroundings, he realized he had landed in a deserted forest. Hearing the sound of running water nearby, he staggered in that direction.

With a splash, he fell straight into a pond. The searing pain made him hiss involuntarily. Soaking in the water, Wang Luo began to wash away the dried blood from his skin before fishing some pills from his spatial ring and tossing them into his mouth.

Feeling a warm current from the medicine begin to repair his body, Wang Luo breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, there were no major injuries—just overwhelming weakness, though once he recovered, he’d likely break through to the sixth level.

After cleaning himself, Wang Luo donned a white martial robe. With Heartfire now sealed in his dantian by Reggie’s hand, he could only eat some fruit. Surrounded by the forest’s silence, he couldn’t help but recall the three boisterous beasts who were always making trouble. Before Reggie took him away, he’d told the three to stay put, knowing full well that even together, they wouldn’t survive one strike from Reggie.

In the Magical Beast Forest, the blood energy Wang Luo had stored for decades was nearly depleted when resisting the aftermath of Black Ru’s explosion. Otherwise, had he unleashed all his blood energy at once, he would have had a powerful strike—how powerful, he wasn’t sure, as it depended on how much blood energy remained.

Meanwhile, at the site of Black Ru’s self-destruction, three dragon knights of the Welsh Empire hovered in the air. Not far away, an old mage stood in midair with a young girl, both watching the vast pit below, though clearly focused on different things.

The little girl, eyes shining, stared at the small white lion cub in the pit, tugging incessantly at the elder’s mage robe and pleading, “Great-grandfather, that little white lion is so cute! Can you catch it for me, please?”

The old man didn’t answer, only smiled at the three dragon knights nearby, making both knights and dragons uncomfortable. After exchanging looks, the fire dragon knight, urged on by his companions, reluctantly spoke up.

“Master Chinid, we truly don’t know why Reggie fought with Black Ru, nor how it came to Black Ru self-destructing!”

Chinid nodded and asked, “Did none of you sense the presence of a third person here?”

At his words, the three dragon knights’ faces changed as they turned to Chinid. The fire dragon knight asked in shock, “There was a third sanctuary-level warrior?”

“Not necessarily sanctuary-level,” Chinid replied, “That person stayed hidden, only intervening to resist the blast when Black Ru exploded. The aura was faint, so it’s normal you didn’t notice. And those three little beasts aren’t ordinary either—a seventh-level black panther, a fifth-level mutant wind wolf, and a little white lion with no discernible energy at all. Whoever owns them is either very powerful themselves or backed by a great force.”

Upon hearing this, the three dragon knights turned to look at the three beasts in the pit. The fire dragon knight waved his hand, sending out two fiery runes that shot toward the blood wolf and the black panther, both now in their true forms. The little white lion was ignored.

“A contract of equality?” he exclaimed, surprised, as green-red and black runes suddenly appeared and blocked the fiery runes before they could reach the beasts’ heads. The other two dragon knights’ eyes also flickered with surprise.

“Great-grandfather!” the girl pouted, tugging at Chinid’s robe again when she saw him ignoring her, busy talking to the knights.

“You can go ask Reggie what happened when you return. As for the little white lion, I’ll take it; the other two magical beasts, since they’ve already signed contracts of equality, can go free,” Chinid said, scooping the white lion into his hand before tossing it with a smile to the delighted girl. The little white lion’s eyes flickered, recalling Wang Luo’s advice for such situations. With a low growl to the blood wolf and black panther, it began to play along with the girl.

“Grandfather, this little white lion is so cute and clever! What’s this contract of equality you mentioned? I want to sign one with it!” The girl, already enamored, beamed at her grandfather.

“The contract of equality is one a magical beast enters of its own free will. If you want the little white lion to sign one, you’ll have to see if it’s willing…” Chinid explained as a boat-like craft appeared beneath their feet. Nodding to the dragon knights, he continued his explanation to the girl as he guided the craft into the sky. The three dragon knights exchanged glances, then mounted their dragons and left the crater behind.

In the pit, the blood wolf and black panther glanced in the direction the little white lion had gone. Exchanging looks, they leapt out of the crater and, remembering Wang Luo’s instructions, ran toward the Magical Beast Forest.

Azure Dragon of the Otherworld, Chapter 56: Each Goes Their Own Way—End of Chapter.