CHAPTER 390: CHAPTER 382: INDISCRIMINATE BETWEEN FRIEND AND FOE?

"It’s begun!"

Inside the Imperial Study, the Empress stood up lazily, "Let me see then, without the King of Qin, facing the revival of the ancient, how far can the most outstanding of your human race go?"

Behind her, the Emperor squinted his eyes, his mind incessantly recalling the figure that once commanded his utmost admiration.

I will prove... your path was wrong, and I will also prove, I am better suited... to find a way out for my human race!

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"As expected, these cunning humans have noticed!"

At the location of the North Sea, the two Yakshas waiting outside heard the sound of dragon chants and, overwhelmed with surprise, burst in, only to be stunned by the scene before them!

The altar for Dragon Transformation had been overturned, and on the ground was a massive tunnel. Clearly, the fellow who had succeeded in Dragon Transformation had already fled through the underground passage!

"I told you before not to underestimate them!" one of the Yakshas said with immense annoyance, "You refused to believe, thinking they couldn’t guess our intention. Now look, the Thousand-Legged Dragon is the best at burrowing, and the mixed layers of mud and sand beneath the seabed are a million zhang deep, how will we search?"

The other Yaksha’s face was equally ugly, not because they were out of options—after all, the Human-Head House Centipedes at the entrance of the Dragon Palace were numerous, and any one offered a temptation would likely risk Dragon Transformation. However, the quality of the success, as well as their influence within the human race, paled in comparison to those just now.

It hadn’t actually planned on killing that group of people, including the human who underwent Dragon Transformation. The original intent was only to have the Blood Guards drain his essence and blood, then use the secret technique to preserve the last bit of vitality. In the future, when the higher-ups of the Dragon Clan revived, they would apply their methods to make him fully submit.

To be honest, it wouldn’t have been a deception—they didn’t join by force. If the other party cooperated willingly, the Dragon Palace was quite generous to those who had successfully transformed. The position of general in the Dragon Palace mentioned before was not impossible.

But clearly, the other party had no intention of cooperating!

"Something’s not right..." the subsequent Yaksha frowned, "Just having undergone Dragon Transformation, even if it’s a third-level dragon species like the Thousand-Legged Dragon, which isn’t as weak as the higher-level ones, it wouldn’t have recovered so quickly. The strength to overturn this altar doesn’t seem like it’s just undergone Dragon Transformation."

With that said, the other Yaksha also realized something was amiss and approached the hole to sniff, "There’s a smell of blood, that fellow... killed someone!"

"Killed someone?"

"Not just one person..." Being a transformation of the shark, the Yaksha was very sensitive to blood in the water. After closing its eyes and sniffing a few times, it felt something was wrong, "All of them... That’s strange!" the Yaksha exclaimed, "Did it eat everyone?"

"Hmm?" The other Yaksha, upon hearing this, also closed its eyes and used its innate ability, and detected more than a dozen different blood scents. It quickly deduced that these blood scents were the same as those who had escorted the human for Dragon Transformation earlier!

"Couldn’t it control its demonic nature?" the Yaksha wondered aloud.

After Dragon Transformation, a human becomes a demon, and sure, there would be a desire for the flesh of their former kin—that’s a trait of demons. But... surely not to this extent, right?

After all, they used to be partners, and even with a craving for flesh, it shouldn’t have turned so quickly, right?

Dragon Transformation wouldn’t make them lose their minds to demonic nature.

"Could it be infighting?"

"I don’t know..." the other Yaksha shook its head, "Maybe it’s not that simple. Actually, I had wanted to say earlier, when that group of people came in, I always felt... there was a very faint, but very strange scent."

"A strange scent?"

"Yes... it didn’t seem like the scent of humans."

"Why didn’t you say so earlier?"

"They came from the Celestial Dragon Palace, and along the way, they must have encountered those disgusting House Centipedes and maybe even passed through that even more disgusting laboratory. With mixed scents, I thought it was normal. After all, there are too many things in the laboratory that I’ve never seen before. But now that I think about it, maybe... it’s not that simple!"

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"This is it, human?"

On the other side of the North Sea, the third Yaksha was naturally responsible for monitoring Xiang Tianyu and his group. However, this human was not very cooperative, picking a Dragon Transformation Object with great fussiness, completely contrary to his bold character.

This made the Yaksha start to grow impatient, "This is a Dragon Shark, of the same breed as we Yakshas and carrying an extremely pure Dragon Clan bloodline. Transformed into a fish-dragon, it will be more ferocious than ordinary fish-dragons, with better innate abilities and a higher success rate. How about it?"

"The same breed as you, General?" Xiang Tianyu appeared reluctant, "Does this mean I’ll also be assigned to a guard duty afterward?"

This disdainful look caused a moment of discomfort for the Yaksha.

But still, with patience, he said, "It is true that my Yaksha clan mainly serves as guards primarily because we possess an excellent sense of smell, which can identify all things and prevent the noble Dragon Clan from being ambushed. However, in the entire Dragon Palace, our individual capabilities are among the elite. A Yaksha who has mixed blood with the Dragon Clan and successfully undergoes Dragon Transformation often becomes a Yaksha General, commanding the Imperial Army of the Dragon Palace, with a status that is superior."

"Oh....." Xiang Tianyu suddenly understood. The other’s words were probably akin to the head of the Imperial Guards of the Capital City, a position indeed considered quite prestigious, as whoever could assume this role would undoubtedly be a close associate of a king in any power.

"Human, what exactly are you hesitating about?" the Yaksha frowned and said, his tone gradually growing impatient. The resurrected Mystical Tortoise has calculated that there is a great crisis befalling the Celestial Dragon, and if the Dragon Palace isn’t activated soon, a catastrophic disaster might occur!

"I..." Xiang Tianyu thought for a moment before replying, "Just now you said your clan has an exceptionally keen sense of smell, capable of discerning everything in the world?"

"You don’t believe it?" the Yaksha narrowed his eyes.

"It’s not that I don’t believe it, it’s just that I’ve never seen such abilities, and it seems too incredible," Xiang Tianyu said with a smile, "General, with your abilities, can you tell us if the scent of anyone among our group just now was off?"

"Scent off?" The Yaksha was taken aback, "What do you mean by that?"

"It’s precisely what it sounds like, that is, is there any one of us whose scent is a bit different from the others?"

"Oh? You’re testing me?" The Yaksha chuckled, "Aren’t all of you humans fragrant and sweet smelling? But if I must say, that youngest fellow from earlier, he indeed had a strange scent— it seemed like.... there’s something mixed inside his body."

"Is that so?" Xiang Tianyu’s face darkened; he was in fact not too concerned about the young son of the Duke of Wei being brainwashed and secretly pledging loyalty to the Emperor, as with his limited power, the potential for mischief was also limited. But what concerned him the most was if that youngster had something else inside him...

While he was pondering this, the Yaksha’s face suddenly changed dramatically, and he stared fixedly at the ground on the other side, "How is that possible?"

"What happened, General?" Xiang Tianyu’s heart skipped a beat as his sense of foreboding intensified.

"Retreat!" Suddenly, the Yaksha grabbed Xiang Tianyu with great force, and like a streak of black lightning, pulled Xiang Tianyu away from the spot. His speed was so fast that Xiang Tianyu couldn’t keep up with his eyes, and he felt a chill in his heart!

This monster...

It was fortunate that they needed them, otherwise... with such terrifying agility, he probably would have been killed on the spot.

But what concerned him even more was, what kind of thing... could make its face look so ugly?

The next moment, a dragon’s chant rose from beneath the ground, and faster than the sound was a dark shadow that burst forth from below, quickly dragging the Dragon Shark the Yaksha had introduced into the underground!

Along with the enormous figure that was pulled down was also his own subordinate!

Xiang Tianyu’s face turned savage, but he didn’t even have time to warn his men to evacuate. The shadow arrived too quickly, so much so that not only his subordinates and the Magicians, even he standing there just a moment ago, would have had no chance of escape!

As expected, without exception, all his men and the Magicians were devoured by that shadow in one gulp!

The only two who were left were his guard Ah Nian, who the Yaksha had also managed to rescue in passing.

"Master..." the guard named Ah Nian had turned so pale he seemed utterly bloodless. The thing that had emerged from the pit was terrifyingly horrifying; he couldn’t even get a clear look at it in just a glance and couldn’t stop trembling all over, drained of strength.

"A Thousand-Legged Dragon?" the Yaksha exclaimed as he stepped back, "How could a Thousand-Legged Dragon appear so soon? Could it be those House Centipedes? It shouldn’t be, without our specially transmitted Dragon Transformation Secret Art, their efficiency in undergoing Dragon Transformation cannot be this fast... No, that’s not right!"

The Yaksha suddenly turned to Xiang Tianyu, "That thing is... one of your people!"

Xiang Tianyu’s pupils shrank; at that moment the massive shadow had already retreated back into the sand hole, and he hadn’t even been able to get a clear look at the creature. Could that be Bai Sang?

Although he hadn’t seen it clearly, just now... he distinctly felt that the creature’s killing intent was directed at everyone, including himself!

"Master?" The guard named Ah Nian quickly made a gesture with his eyes.

Xiang Tianyu immediately understood; the other’s intention was for him to look for an opportunity to escape with Bai Sang.

In his eyes, probably all his companions had already been rescued by Bai Sang, right?

But Xiang Tianyu didn’t see it that way...

"Human, stay close to me," the Yaksha whispered, "Don’t think about meeting up with that thing. You might not have seen clearly just now, but I’ll tell you directly—your subordinates and the Magicians, they are all dead!"