Yao Ming Bing held her silver sword tightly as she stared at the man in front of her.
Gu Yan Wu seemed distant in his thoughts as he glanced at the map at the center of the room.
On the table, a green point was visible, and two red ones watched from afar.
—You're not going to do anything, are you?—Yao Ming Bing asked while looking at the cups in front of her.
—It's only necessary for the battle to begin, Sister-in-law. Then you will be free to move your assassins—he said, taking a sip of the lunar fruit tea in his hand.
—It tastes better. You know, Huan Ming used to make it differently when I went to visit her—
As if releasing the chain of a rabid dog, Yao Ming Bing was suddenly on top of the table, pointing her sword at Gu Yan Wu's neck.
Without bothering, he moved the sword aside with a finger, holding the blade, and continued speaking.
—Jian Long's mother died early. It truly is a shame he never accepted Huan Ming Zhi in his heart, even though she raised him for quite some time—he sighed as he pushed the sword away from himself.
—Don't justify her murderer—she said, drinking the hot tea like cold water, like a boiling pot.
In a second, they both glanced at the map and noticed it—Jian Long's presence had disappeared.
—Has it already begun?—Gu Yan Wu said, looking into Yao Ming Bing's gray-pupiled eyes.
—Pray that the dragon Hui Cao encountered wins—she glanced aside as she watched the red dots of her assassins disappear from the map.
A few minutes earlier.
Jian Long looked toward the area where reddish sand began to spread. The compass had finally embedded itself into his hand, practically fused with his being.
Looking at the area, he noticed the dome that surrounded a space far too large for his liking.
—Such a weak protective formation—he said to the air before the dragon serving as his mount spoke.
—I don't know if you're an idiot or ignorant. This is made of primordial chaos. It's incredible—stable and unstable at the same time. What kind of demon created this?—it said with doubt in its mind.
—What is that primordial chaos?—Jian Long said, observing the barrier carefully.
—There are barriers that separate dimensions. I had to break through primordial chaos to reach your world, but it wasn't like this barrier—it was disordered. Your world's barrier is like searching for a path through tall grass; this one is like searching for an entrance through the slit of a needle—he explained quickly.
—Let's observe—Jian Long said calmly as they rose into the air, watching everything.
Looking at the tall crops and the sunlight inside and outside creating different shadows, they were astonished.
Finally, after a few seconds, they noticed a girl calmly practicing a martial technique.
A smile of satisfaction formed on Jian Long's face as he descended, positioning himself where the barrier and Hui Cao were closest.
The first thing to fall was Xue Huang's stone tail, barely held up by the superior strength of the extraterrestrial dragon.
Hui Cao noticed it after a few minutes, with a slight tremor in her back, as if her senses enhanced by the fields were exploding.
There, their gazes collided. Though slightly aged, Jian Long raised his hand lightly, greeting Hui Cao with a smile, while the compass—now part of his flesh—was visible.
The cocktail of emotions Hui Cao showed in that instant seemed to make him explode with extreme happiness—until he noticed a figure that appeared out of nowhere.
There, she saw a horse that seemed made of darkness, and a man whose features, though human, felt as foreign as nothingness itself.
The man immediately pulled out a machine he did not understand from a storage ring and whispered something inaudible from his side.
For his part, Xue Huang noticed that this being seemed not to exist—like looking at a painting. A slight fear within him made him alert.
—Who are you?—he asked, confused, at the man whose features seemed strange.
Without a word, the crank on the left side of the machine gun began to turn.
The bullets began to fly instantly. The dragon used all its strength to escape the area as quickly as possible, dodging the torrent coming from inside.
Jian Long barely managed to hold onto one of the beast's horns as he watched trees in the distance shatter into pieces.
Looking at the house, he unleashed a dragon's breath quickly, but the barrier was impenetrable.
Xue Huang, for his part, observed the slow movement of the machine gun. Though its firepower was overwhelming, its rotational speed was slightly slower than his current speed.
Hui Cao took cover behind The Man Without a name as the bullets exploded so close they seemed to burst her ears.
Jian Long felt the blood inside him boil with rage. Looking at the compass in his hand, thinking death would take away his chance to kill the one who ruined his life, he began to think.
—True dragon blood can activate the true function of this artifact—he said, repeating the inscription of his stolen treasure.
In an instant, part of Xue Huang's stone tail was caught in the fire and turned into dust.
Though the dragon felt nothing, he knew that even if he achieved his goal, he would lose part of his cultivation because of that human and the fool he made a contract with.
The Man Without a name made a signal to Hui Cao.
She understood instantly, pulling out the Christmas cupcake from her ring and eating it, wrapper and all.
—I sacrifice a part of my dragon blood essence to activate the effect of the Golden Dragon Compass—he said instantly, watching a drop of blood leave his mouth and disperse into the dust as he touched the compass.
With a slight vibration, it exploded into a chilling brilliance, shattering into thousands of pieces and opening a small hole in the barrier.
One of Xue Huang's arms near the area turned to ashes.
But The Man Without a name's expression changed when Hui Cao began to be sucked into that hole.
Jian Long, who previously looked like a barely aged young man in his twenties, now seemed forty years old. His hands trembled, and his face turned pale.
Pulling out a rope from Blackie's bags, he threw it, grabbing Hui Cao with all his strength.
"Barrier violation, impossibility, impossibility. Initiating urgent communication to a$##@ of $-&#@?s. Who does he think he is? The host must handle the threat. System power outside the barrier reduced to 15% of the host's original power. Inventory is being refilled with myth-grade firearms from the repository. Three packs of Mitchell tonics have been added."
"Subject Blackie is granted exit permission. Main mission: eliminate the system threat, regardless of cost."
The Man Without a name was launched out of the barrier with the loose rope, falling to the ground, looking at the dragon—and worse, at Hui Cao above, unleashing fire as if her life depended on it.
Immediately, a Blackie that looked like the steed of death itself appeared at his side. Without hesitation, he mounted and rode while taking his Winchester rifle in his hands.
In the sky, two misty figures passed swiftly.
—Damn it, move, Leng An!—the mist hunter looked like a wild beast as he flew.
—Damn it, why didn't we kill him when we had the chance?—Leng An let out a broken breath as he ran.
The Man Without a name, for his part, took the rifle and fired, blowing off one of Xue Huang's horns.
Hui Cao was darting back and forth with almost impossible ferocity over the small part of Xue Huang's back that wasn't stone.
The dragon, for his part, looked at the spiritual beast below as the embodiment of his end. Cursing his luck and decisions, he unleashed his fire toward The Man Without a name.
He was engulfed in flames like a pile of burned flesh, barely retaining a human shape.
His eyelids no longer existed, yet as if he were not human, he took out a bottle and drank it.
His entire body regenerated as his anger grew, tying a rope to a harpoon he took from his inventory.
Throwing it instantly, it embedded into the stone, holding firmly. Tying it to the saddle pommel, he began to turn.
Blackie was the embodiment of a locomotive at that moment. Xue Huang's body was yanked backward violently, sending Jian Long—who was focused on Hui Cao and her Guan Dao—flying back.
Hui Cao drove the Guan Dao into Xue Huang's flesh, but he unleashed a roar downward, making the ears of The Man Without a name and the mist hunters bleed.
Leng An, seeing an opening, launched himself at Jian Long, moving through the mist that held her feet.
—Die once and for all, murderer!—his cultivation exploded in a single strike, but it failed due to Xue Huang's slight movement. Her punch hit Jian Long's arm, shattering it into pieces.
Jian Long let out a tearing scream and crushed Leng An's head with his shattered arm. Like a melon, it burst on the ground. Without cultivation to protect him, he was nothing more than a pig in a slaughterhouse.
Furious, feeling his own life slipping away, he kicked Hui Cao in the face, sending her flying back, and pulled the Guan Dao from the flesh.
The Man Without a name, with his ethereal sight, noticed these movements and began to think.
—This lizard is not stupid, but maybe there's a chance if I start fighting for control—
In an instant, he signaled Blackie where to turn, and his spirit rose into the air like a calm, gray aura.
In a moment, The Man Without a name appeared in a mental world alongside Xue Huang's consciousness.
There stood a throne of shining gold, and a man—no, something that should not be called a man—a dragon with seven horns upon his head.
—How the hell are you here? An existence attack?—said the ancient yellow dragon, surprised.
—It's just something simple. I thought you were a strange animal. That's why the Apaches can't do this with people—he said calmly, scratching his head.
—You are not a cultivator. You are something strange… a nonexistent existence—
Xue Huang took a sword from the side of the throne.
—It seems there are no more words, right? But just one question—
The Man Without a name materialized a small cigarette in his hand.
—Will this be enough to finish you?—he said, shaking his hand as he pulled out a machete.