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"Your Highness, should we wait any longer?"

Amidst the impenetrable fog where the outside world was entirely obscured, the towering Yaksha felt exceedingly restless. Not being able to grasp the situation was truly dreadful. If the Crown Prince misjudged even slightly, a major disaster could befall the West Sea Dragon Palace.

Whether it was that despicable worm or those even more contemptible hybrid humans, the thought of them daring to taint the noble Dragon Clan filled the Yaksha with a destructive fury.

"Don’t be anxious..."

From within the layers of ice, Prince Ao Xin spoke calmly, "There will be no mistakes. We have tested the Dragon Transformation process countless times in our Dragon Palace. The timing of the devices won’t differ much.

Neither those wretched creatures nor that fellow named Chen Qing can alter the precision of our instruments quickly.

As long as that remains unchanged, the timing of the Dragon Transformation won’t vary much. "

"And all we need to do is time the breaking of the formation precisely.

Those who have just undergone Dragon Transformation will certainly force the Ancient Worm to exert all its power in a killing spree, and those wretched beings will desperately resist at that moment.

That is our chance to activate some mechanisms and secretly capture one or two of the Dragon Breed, refine their essence blood, and that will suffice for my temporary use. "

Upon hearing this, the Yaksha felt slightly reassured.

Although Prince Ao Xin was the youngest and weakest member of the West Sea Dragon Palace royalty, the power of a True Dragon was far beyond that of ordinary dragons.

As long as he could temporarily recover, all external issues could be readily addressed.

Even if those wretched beings transformed into numerous low-level dragons, they would stand no chance against His Highness!

Feeling at ease, the Yaksha simply sat down with crossed legs, trying to calm his agitated heart.

This mode of meditative sitting came from the once Buddha Kingdom.

In the primordial era, the West Sea Dragon Clan was under the command of the Buddha Kingdom.

After the powers of old were buried, the four seas united and established the Dragon Palace, dominating the era.

But within the inheritance of the four seas, there were various elements that differed.

Seeing the habits of the Yaksha, Ao Xin frowned slightly.

This was the very issue that worried the Dragon Palace.

Once upon a time, the Dragon Palace could summon all aquatic creatures, even controlling these Yaksha guardians of the former Buddha Kingdom, because the original powers had been sealed.

Now that the Earth Spirit is awakening, nobody knows to what extent it might revive.

If it returns to that former epoch, would these forces that relied on the Dragon Palace remain as loyal?

After all... within the subconscious habits, these Yaksha had gone through many generations, and some indelible marks within their bones might still not change...

It seemed the Dragon Palace’s Biological Weapon program needed to be accelerated.

As time ticked away second by second, Prince Ao Xin remained silent. However, the Yaksha, in his meditative state, kept track of the critical time. A quarter of an hour before the predicted Dragon Transformation, the Yaksha opened his eyes and looked towards Ao Xin, "Your Highness..."

"Yes, go ahead!"

Boom!

Without any hesitation, the Yaksha transformed into a black shadow and vanished from the spot, moving at an unbelievable speed, so fast that not even a trace of water was stirred—a testament to the Yaksha’s formidable control in water.

Ao Xin watched quietly. The Yaksha had actually been genetically weakened and manipulated by the Dragon Clan for numerous generations. Had they been Yaksha of ancient times, their strength wouldn’t have been much less than that of a True Dragon.

But no one dared to gamble on the connection between the Yaksha and the former Buddha Kingdom, nor did anyone dare try lifting the seals of this loyally guarding group: "What a pity..."

"What’s a pity?"

A familiar voice brought an unprecedented chill to the ice-bound Ao Xin.

He turned sharply toward the newcomer, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"You..."

"Is Your Highness perhaps regretting that such fine qualities of the Yaksha can only be suppressed and used? Even to the point of considering using their genes for other Demons?"

"How did you get in here?" Ao Xin asked, trying to keep his voice steady, but an unprecedented chill lingered in his heart.

It was the sensation of having one’s secrets laid bare.

"I walked in," Chen Qing looked at him: "How could Your Highness ask such a strange question?"

"This place... how do you know about it?"

Ao Xin had personally designed this hidden chamber. From the design plans to the execution of the project, it had all been under his sole supervision. No survivor remained from the craftsmen involved in this project.

This location had the most clever spatial design, hidden in the least conspicuous spot. Even his meticulous elder sister hadn’t been able to detect it.

Because of that, he had always been confident. He knew that both Chen Qing and the worm had predicted he would come, but what of it?

This place, no matter how much they suspected, they wouldn’t be able to find it. This was Ao Xin’s greatest assurance!

But now...

"You shouldn’t know about this; it’s impossible for you to know about this!" For the first time, Ao Xin’s voice carried an edge of anger!

"Is there a possibility..." Chen Qing smiled, "that I was the one who asked you to design this palace?"

"What... what did you say?" Ao Xin was stunned, a sense of unprecedented terror rising in his heart!

Why had he designed such a hidden compartment in the first place?

Actually...he had realized long ago...that this construction project was meaningless...

Yet, for the sake of this project, he had killed many useful craftsmen and risked the possibility of concealing it from his father and Sister Wang.

Previously, he couldn’t have predicted that one day, such a situation would arise where this hidden compartment would come into play.

Chen Qing sighed inwardly at the other’s perplexity.

In designing games, some logical bugs would always crop up due to the difficulty level of the stages.

The initial design here aimed at creating a hidden level, offering players a challenge and a surprise, but Chen Qing hadn’t bothered explaining its existence.

After all, if every hidden level needed an explanation, the game company would have to recruit twice the number of story editors. In the era of big games, editors who could write compelling backstory were highly sought after.

Hiring one story editor was expensive, hiring double? The boss would jump off a building...

So, facing the other’s confusion, Chen Qing understood it was because of a bug in their brain!

It was at this time that Chen Qing suddenly attacked, a spear transformed from lightning appearing in his hand, thrusting straight at Ao Xin’s throat.

"Stop!"

From a distance, the Yaksha’s voice roared, the killing intent suddenly engulfing the area. Chen Qing was well aware that he was no faster than the Yaksha but he also knew that the Yaksha had actually been waiting at a distance.

"Didn’t you hear just now?" Chen Qing certainly wouldn’t bet on outspeeding a Yaksha.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t, for with the power of the Thunder Department combined with the Wind Sorcerer, he could maintain greater speed for a short time compared to the Yaksha, which he had already tested while being chased by Elder Shen.

But the Western Sea Crown Prince had the protection of mysterious ice. Once activated, it could trap him for a few seconds—enough time for him to die hundreds of times over in the current circumstances!

Therefore, from the start, Chen Qing had not planned to force his way out.

Without turning back, he said, "Back then, the Yaksha King led the entire clan to pledge allegiance to the Dragon Palace of the Four Seas. With the Yakshas’ capabilities, they could have established their own domain, but your ancestors chose the most disastrous path for their descendants, serving the Dragon Clan, experts in biological techniques. "

"For tens of thousands of years, the Dragon Palace has been weakening your bloodline in secret, generation after generation, making it easier to control, yet not wanting to give up your fighting prowess, and researching your gene transformation in the dark. Now that you’ve heard what is happening, have you considered what future lies ahead if you continue to serve these masters? "

"Human, how do you come to know of these things?"

"It doesn’t matter how I know," Chen Qing said earnestly. "All you need to know is that I can unlock the chains on your Yaksha clan if you are willing to help me now."

The Yaksha looked towards Ao Xin.

Ao Xin exhaled deeply, closing his eyes, "I grant you three keys."

As he spoke, a faint dragon chant rose in the air, and the surrounding light grew more vibrant.

Chen Qing’s brow furrowed at this sign of the Dragon Clan’s spirit words, similar to a magical contract of the Dragon Palace.

Once spoken, the law followed, and the purer the bloodline, the less one dared to break the spirit words!

The Yaksha’s eyes flashed red, and this time, without any hesitation, launched an attack on Chen Qing!

A flash of lightning gleamed in Chen Qing’s eyes as he immediately activated the Wind Technique to flee the scene. His astonishing speed surprised the Yaksha, who, nevertheless, unhesitatingly continued the pursuit.

Observing the Yaksha’s resolute killing intent without any hesitation, Chen Qing knew that his persuasive words were ultimately fruitless.

The Yaksha, from the start, had intended to use him to bargain for more chips with their own masters. How could they rebel just on his say-so, after years of slavery by the Dragon Clan?

Indeed, this easy road was untraversable...

He could only hope that the woman... would prove reliable this time!

At the moment Chen Qing and the Yaksha rapidly departed, a rainbow-like cyan light streaked towards Ao Xin. However, Ao Xin had anticipated this and scoffed. Preemptively using the power of the mysterious ice, he froze the incoming cyan light instantly.

"I knew that guy had another trick up his sleeve."

Within the cyan light, murder flickered in Murong Yunji’s eyes as Chen Qing’s words echoed in her mind.

"Remember... you only get one chance, and you cannot afford to make the slightest mistake!"