After the echoes of the purple thunder that had torn the sky like fragile cloth faded, a heavy silence settled over the ruins of the city. The air was charged with a strange energy, breathing like a living creature, as if time itself had frozen in this cursed place. Amid the charred debris, particles of dust glimmered under the pale moonlight, like stars that had fallen from the sky and shattered upon the earth.
"It seems we have unexpected guests," Yu Tian said in his calm voice, laced with cold mockery—like ice hiding sharp blades beneath. His golden eyes, reminiscent of a slumbering dragon's, tracked the movement of shadows among the rubble.
Five figures emerged abruptly from the wreckage, as if woven from the fabric of reality itself. They wore pristine robes that shimmered unnaturally in the muddied surroundings, like white flowers blooming in a graveyard. Their leader—a tall, muscular man carved like a divine statue—took a step forward. His piercing eyes, twin unsheathed swords, locked onto Yu Tian with open defiance.
"You... who are you?" he demanded, his voice deep as the earth's growl before an earthquake, laced with a hidden threat like honey-coated venom. "How dare you wield that forbidden power here?"
The man's name was Mo Xi, a hunter from the Celestial Clan, tasked with slaying the Evil Dragon and reclaiming the Ancestral Dragon's Core.
Yu Tian stood motionless as a statue, staring at the group with indifference, as if they were mere ants blocking an elephant's path. "An interesting question," he replied, his tone nerve-meltingly quiet. "But far more intriguing is this: Who are you to ask it?"
The silver-haired woman among them shouted, her hair flaring like a mercury waterfall under the energy radiating from her: "We are Hunters of the Celestial Clan! Here on a mission to eradicate the Evil Dragon!" Her voice trembled between pride and fury, clearly offended by Yu Tian's dismissal of the Celestial Clan's authority.
Yu Tian slowly turned his head to gaze at her, like a cat deciding whether to eat a mouse or toy with it first. "Hunters of the Celestial Clan?" he mused, his eyes alight with unconcealed curiosity and amusement. "Do you truly believe that name would frighten me?"
"Enough!" roared Mo Xi, his eyes burning with both rage and fear—"No one mocks the Celestial Clan!" His hands shook, not from terror, but from the pent-up energy he struggled to contain.
At that moment, an invisible electric tension surged between the two groups. Yudie stepped forward behind Yu Tian, her long auburn hair fluttering gracefully.
"What's happening?" she whispered to Zhuqing, her voice soft as autumn leaves rustling.
"I don't know," Zhuqing replied, her hands flexing as her nails elongated into glossy black claws—volcanic glass sharpened to a lethal edge. "But they're not here for pleasantries." Her slitted eyes observed every move of the strangers, like a cat calculating its prey's steps.
The Xingye War Emperor studied the group warily, his military-trained eyes capturing every detail. "They're clearly not ordinary inhabitants of this world," he declared in his commanding battlefield voice.
"Astute observation," Yu Tian said without glancing at him, as if speaking to the air. "But wisdom isn't always a virtue... Some things are better left unknown." A dangerous glint flickered in his eyes, like a library of deadly secrets.
"What? You want to fight us?" Yu Tian raised his right brow slowly, like a black cloud creeping to blot out the sun. "How delightful... I've questions about you all. Taking you for... experiments would be enlightening." His final words fell like lead, crushing the group under their weight.
A silence stretched, thick as the calm before a storm. The wind howled, carrying dust from collapsed buildings and the wails of ancient ghosts. The sky darkened into a bloody crimson, as if the city itself bled from old wounds.
"I assume your target is also the Evil Dragon?" Mo Xi finally said, trying to break the ice. His voice held a veiled threat, a silk-wrapped dagger. "Why not cooperate? With our combined strength, it won't escape."
Yu Tian smiled faintly, like a wolf humoring a child's negotiation. "Cooperation? How quaint." He turned his back on them slowly, as if they'd ceased to merit his attention. "But... I'll agree—on one condition. You'll answer my... questions later."
"Can we truly trust them?"Gu Pei'er asked cautiously, her usual playfulness replaced by wariness. Her wide eyes fixed on Yu Tian as if he were a ticking bomb. "They seem deadlier than the Evil Dragon!"
Mo Xi hesitated, his gaze lifting to the red sky as if seeking ancestral guidance. "I know," he whispered. "But we've no choice." His eyes carried the weight of an old sacrifice—honor heavier than mountains.
Hearing their leader's resolve, the others dared not object.
"Shall we proceed?" Yu Tian began walking toward the source of the eerie energy, his footsteps silent as a specter's.
"Fine. But if we fail to kill the Evil Dragon, our deal is void!" Mo Xi's tone was iron-clad, his dissatisfaction clear.
A distant collapse echoed—like a mountain shifting beneath the city. Zhuqing spun, her obsidian claws gleaming. "Was that—?"
"Indeed. I've no intention of letting that abomination live long," Yu Tian said coldly, as if discussing dust on his sleeve. He walked on, his elongated shadow slithering like a beast toward its prey.
The two groups exchanged final glances, each loaded with unspoken warnings, before following Yu Tian. The ruined city grew stranger, its shattered walls whispering forgotten secrets, its dead trees stretching like spectral hands.
"Let's go..." Mo Xi muttered to his clan, his eyes never leaving Yu Tian's shadow. Deep down, he knew this alliance might be the beginning of an unplanned end—but an inner voice whispered: "The Evil Dragon isn't the true danger here..."
And somewhere beneath the rubble, something ancient and malevolent stirred... and smiled.
...
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