On one of the Mountain Lord's shoulders, a girl watched a massive plaque. As it drifted into the West River, she, having already transformed into a dark-grey Big Bird, then perched on his other shoulder.

An ancient ballad, sung from the beak of the Big Bird, its melody dating back at least a thousand years, slowly spread through the water.

The Mountain Lord returned once more above the King Guilong Temple, quietly floating in the water and gazing down at the temple that had collapsed by half.

He actually quite liked the present era because many of the things he was searching for could be found for free in libraries. In the era in which he had once been active, books were actually quite a luxury. Especially those containing sensitive information, which commoners might never come across in their lifetime, let alone know of. Nowadays, reprinted editions of various ancient texts are available, and different versions are easy to find. For those that were hard to find, he only needed to spend a trifling sum of money to have someone help him locate them. Based on things he had vaguely heard before, and after researching the texts, he easily found a very simple method to achieve his goal.

"King Guilong, if you don't come out, I'll burn the plaque that has been passed down for a thousand years in the Dragon Mother Temple and smash the Stone Archway there," said the Mountain Lord, his voice booming into the King Guilong Temple like the roar of a tiger.

In the dark waters, King Guilong's eyes began to burn with fire.

He knew the Mountain Lord was trying to provoke him, so he blocked out that sound and watched funny videos to cool down. However, watching funny videos was no longer much help. He closed his eyes, but in his mind, he seemed to hear the sound of the plaque cracking, echoed by the rumble of the Stone Archway collapsing. His interest in He Changfeng had arisen precisely because He Changfeng had truly succeeded in resurrecting someone. After his own revival, he had wondered if his mother could also be revived. After all, his mother was special; if He Changfeng could revive people, perhaps he could lend a hand. Even if it just meant accelerating her revival, that would be good. When Wen Yan had last mentioned that his mother's Stone Archway was erected at the very center of Virtue City, towering three feet, seven and seven-tenths inches above the ground, he had been quite happy. His impression of the people of Virtue City had become especially good as a result. And because Wen Yan carried his mother's aura, he was able to restrain his inherent prejudice and malice towards him. The plaque... if it was destroyed, so be it. He could endure that. But if that Stone Archway were destroyed, would there truly be no chance of her revival left?

King Guilong recalled how he had grown from a Little Green Snake under his mother's care. She had fed and protected him, ultimately educating and guiding him to where he stood today. If he couldn't even protect the thousand-year-old plaque from his mother's temple, and instead allowed others to flaunt it before him, what difference was there between him and a failure? If, because of him, his mother could never be revived, he wouldn't be able to rest in peace even in death.

CRACK... The phone was squeezed out of shape, its screen shattering.

Opening his eyes, around those vertical pupils, emerald flames were already burning.

BOOM! Tens of meters underwater, the top of the half-collapsed King Guilong Temple directly exploded.

Accompanied by the howling emerald flames, the surrounding water seemed to become light and lively at that moment.

A force too swift for the naked eye to catch appeared in front of the Mountain Lord.

The Mountain Lord sidestepped, shifting the plaque behind him. He extended one hand, fingers splayed, to shield his front.

A sound like rolling thunder exploded from beneath the water.

Emerald flames, mixed with river water, continuously battered the space before the Mountain Lord.

In the Mountain Lord's eyes flickered a trace of surprise.

"After all these years, you've actually evolved into an Azure Dragon," he said.

His artificial body couldn't withstand an explosion of this magnitude. Ordinary flesh and blood could not possibly stop a furious King Guilong. Even one who was still a long, long way from recovering his full power.

The Mountain Lord used the force of the river current to retreat.

By the time he emerged from the river and stepped onto the bank, he found that the water level had dropped significantly and was still decreasing.

The Mountain Lord glanced upstream, then looked up at the sky. He sensed something watching him, but it was very, very far away. It was so far away that, despite knowing he was likely under surveillance, his current power was insufficient to lock onto the other party.

"Truly terrifying, these ordinary people, terrifying technology," he muttered.

"After this, we'll probably have to lay low for a while. I think I might have underestimated these ordinary people, underestimated this era."

The Mountain Lord looked back at the river; one of his prosthetic hands was now ruined.

He turned and left.

As he strode away, each step like a tiger's pounce, rapidly distancing himself, the river water suddenly erupted.

ROOOAR...

An earth-shattering dragon's roar ripped through the starlit night sky.

After that deep roar, laden with fury and tremors, sounded, steam began to gather over the river's surface, condensing into a rising mist. From all directions, vast amounts of water vapor converged in the sky, forming clouds that obscured the stars and moon.

Within the swirling clouds and mist, an Azure Dragon, horned and at least several hundred meters long, appeared and disappeared from view.

With a sudden snort, flames erupted, dispersing some of the mist. A pair of enormous vertical pupils were revealed, surrounded by burning emerald flames.

"Mountain Lord! You are courting death!"

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