Dyon frowned, immediately placing Ri and Madeleine behind his back. They didn’t want this, but now that Dyon’s body had broken into the saint realms, their bodies were akin to feathers in his hands even when they struggled. Unless they used their wills, something they’d never do against their own husband, they wouldn’t have a chance at resisting.
When the saw Dyon’s large back, tattooed with brilliant white, black and gold wings, they couldn’t help but feel a sense of security even with the impending doom.
Dyon had every reason to be apprehensive even if the Belmont Ancestor was by his side. For one, the legacy of the Belmonts could not compare to the Daiyu even remotely. One was a former Emperor God Clan, the other was a Royal God Clan at its peak. And secondly, even worse, the Belmont Ancestor was already running out of time!
Dyon made a grasping motion at the air, but he immediately wanted to hit himself afterward. He had instinctively wanted to use his weapon’s hell formation to kill Chenglei as quickly as possible to stop the summoning, but how could he without his soul?
However, Dyon didn’t give up.
His skin reddened as his circulated his Demon Emperor’s Will technique, pushing it directly to the peak of the first act.
Reaching back, he lightly touched Ri’s hand, ignoring the comfort to focus on the ring on her finger. In the next instant, a grandmaster spear appeared in his hand, just one among the many in the celestial deer sect inventory.
“Extreme Yang. Darkest Jade. Daiyu of the East. Ruler of the North.” Chenglei continued to focus on his chants. He had to deal this. He was the only one who could do this. Exactly like Lionel Belmont, only a select few of a clan could call upon their ancestors. Although it was unknown to Chenglei how Lionel stopped others from doing so, that was the last thing on his mind right now.
Right now, Chenglei had no idea where his grandfather was. In fact, seeing Dyon now forced a deep sense of dread to settle within him. Although the fate of his grandfather was obvious by now, he didn’t dare to finish the thought.
By this point, Dyon could only desperately hope that his strength was enough. Chenglei was still being surrounded by the few hundred saint Daiyu left, and without his wills, the likelihood that he could make it through was nearly zero. The problem was that he could feel that his Demon Emperor’s Will had significantly weakened. It was originally a technique that relied heavily on his demonic will. Without it, it lost 50% of its effectiveness. This made what should have been a x8 multiplier, a mere x4!
However, it was at this point that his demon generals aimed their long-range attacks as well, being intelligent enough to understand that this was a time sensitive task.
The skies twisted and bent, an enormous amount of energy accumulating. Both sides acted, although with diametrically opposing goals. One for absolute attack, and the other for absolute defense!
Dyon’s arms flexed, the muscles of his torso pulled in tightly as his hazel-green eyes landed on Chenglei. In the next instant, a flurry of attacks were released.
Endless streams of wills raged forward, however, their organization was impeccable. Although Dyon wasn’t able to communicate with his demon generals now, they understood their roles perfectly. They had already shifted into their various corps, organized by will specialty, causing their attacks to blend perfectly without any clashing!
The Daiyu were stunned. There was simply a different level of organization the Demon Generals reached under Dyon’s presence. It was as though his very will permeated through all of them. A feat only possible if each and everyone of these prideful geniuses saw him as their undisputed leader!
“Help me.” Dyon motioned to celestial expert.
Without so much as another word, Dyon’s arm flashed forward with blinding speed, releasing a spear the shattered the air as though even space was a hindrance to it.
The attacks of the Demon generals blasted the Daiyu apart, raining down chaos in their once organized defensive formation.
However, knowing this was their last chance, the Daiyu pulled out everything they had, even shamelessly using the last remaining Niveus Sect members as meat shields to achieve their goals.
A once highly lauded God Clan was reduced to nothing but a sect of women crying for mercy. While a once respected Emperor God Clan was reduced to the lowly state of using their allies in such a way.
Evelyn could only watch with horror setting in her eyes as the women she called sister, the women she herself led here, died one after another, being thrown out by their supposed aliies.
But, none of it mattered. There were simply too few enemies left. The attacks of the demon generals blasted through, leaving an alley from space from Chenglei to Dyon’s quickly approaching spear.
Its silver light glistened in the sun, but its beauty was lost on Chenglei. Fear grew in his eyes as death seemed to be awaiting him. However, he resolutely channeled his bloodline, furiously chanting the final words.
Yet, no matter how much he wished it, he could tell that he wouldn’t have the time to finish. Handicapped or not, Dyon had still multiplied his saint body’s strength by 4. The spear was simply moving too fast.
Chenglei closed his eyes, futilely chanting even with the knowledge he wouldn’t make it.
And just as expected, in a mere instant, Dyon’s spear was before him.
The glistening spear was a meagre 3 feet away from Chenglei’s forehead, prepared to pierce forward in the next instant. However… Dyon had underestimated the willingness of the Daiyu to die for their prince.
Centuries had passed since the Daiyu were at their peak, but many here had been fed stories since their birth. Although their bloodline was no longer among the purest, they still had the arrogance of Dragons seeded deep within their bones.
They had been disrespected, and effectively castrated by the celestial deer sect, even to their point where their very beast forms were locked away. And now, their bloodlines were so diluted that their young had lost all ability to manifest their most prized form, settling instead for pitiful soul manifestations from techniques stolen from the Elves.
How could they continue to live like this? No matter how far removed from the supreme dragon race they were now, they were still a beast clan! A clan meant to represent the sovereign path! Even if it meant death, they would fight for the right of their clan to once again prosper!
The man who moved was none other than Chenglei’s father. Standing in front of his son, he burned his soul without hesitation. Due to his lack of talent, diluted bloodline, and the overall inadequate resources, he was still a mere high level essence gatherer. He was nothing like his father, Elder Daiyu, nor did he have the potential his son had. But, he had an unyielding will to see the Daiyu once again prosper.
Elder Daiyu had once had many sons. But, due to the war with the celestial deer sect, many were directly killed, while the remaining few committed suicide after having their beast forms sealed. With the deep seeded pride of the Dragon race running through their veins, how could they withstand such humiliation?
However, Elder Daiyu didn’t have such a ‘luxury’. The remaining hope of their clan rested with him and him alone. So he hid, slowly fostering allies and building up the Daiyu with their limited remaining resources.
He hadn’t married again, but understanding his bloodline needed to continue, he took a random woman with decent constitution and birthed Chenglei’s father. Although he wasn’t proud of this son’s talent, he loved him nonetheless. And when Chenglei was born, it all became worth it.
Chenglei’s father remembered the first day he heard of Dyon. His son had come to him, explaining that the celestial deer sect had found themselves a successor. Chenglei had told him that Dyon killed an essence gathering expert like it was nothing and directly suggested awakening the ancestors to deal with him and the possible life saving treasures he may have.
However, much like the prideful man that he was, he shut down the idea immediately. He even remembered his exact words as his life flashed before his eyes.
‘What kind of laughing stock would we be using those experts against a child.’
Those were his very words… And now that child would be the death of him.
There was no medicine for regret, so he could only bitterly laugh as the spear tore through his chest, shredding his heart to pieces in an instant.
But, he stood tall, using the strength he gained burning his soul to grasp the shaft, stopping it from continuing forward.
Blood split from his mouth. But the smile on his face never faded. In his life, he had never made any large contributions. But this moment, it would be his legacy.
“Ancestor, we humbly plead for your mighty presence.”
Dyon watched this scene with a deep frown on his expression. However, unfortunately for Chenglei’s father, Dyon had already calculated for such a variable and Ancestor Belmont had long since acted.
Just as the Daiyu were about to sigh in relief, another spear appeared, breaking out of its spatial concealment.
Almost as though it was perfectly choreographed, Chengeli’s father’s body fell, perfectly concealing the spear from Chenglei’s view until the final moment.
In that instant, Dyon almost relaxed. He almost let his guard down… He almost felt like after days of fighting, he wouldn’t have anything to worry about anymore…
But he was wrong…
Just when the spear was inches from Chenglei’s forehead, a formless energy erupted as a door opened from the skies. Everything seemed to freeze in space, unwilling to move and agitate this figure.
The only person remaining who could seemingly move freely was Dyon. But, even he could do nothing as a man standing ten meters tall stepped out of the foggy door…
Despite his height, his long jet-black hair reached down his back, only ending at his ankles. He wore a tight fitting Changpao with silver embroidery, nearly bursting at its seams with the robustness of his solid build. His eyes were cold and yellow slits, flickering like a wild animal despite the contradictory calm nature of his chiselled features. This was without a doubt, the Daiyu Ancestor.
Lionel was able to summon his ancestor directly from their tombs. However, Chenglei hadn’t had this luxury. Unless the Daiyu Ancestor was willing to use his own power to connect to this space through Chenglei’s bloodline, all of Chenglei’s chanting would have been for naught…
But not only did this ancestor come… He didn’t wait for Chenglei to finish praising him… Something that had never happened in the history of the Daiyu.
The truth was that Chenglei had long since finished the writs to the universe. The only remaining part of the ceremony was praise for the ancestor he wanted to call, a tradition added by none other than the arrogant Dragons themselves. After all, if normal dragons were already sovereigns, how could those powerful enough to be ancestors not be even more so?
And yet, this ancestor had ignored all of that and if who his gaze landed on was any indication… The was seemingly related to Dyon…
The Belmont Ancestor moved to step forward, but Dyon blocked him.
To the Belmont Ancestor, a suicide attack was just fine by him. In fact, it might garner him more good karma. But, such a thing was useless to Dyon. If he lost his most valuable piece in such a useless move, he might as well be cosigning them all to death. In the coming decades, with his strength so severely handicapped, he had to use his intelligence to his advantage. And letting the Belmont Ancestor fight, wasn’t intelligent. Anyone could tell that this Daiyu ancestor was more powerful.
The Daiyu suddenly simultaneously kneeled, ignoring even the most glaring of injuries to pay respects. Arrogant sovereigns or not, every clan had protocols and etiquette to follow.
Dyon could tell that this ancestor was a dao formation expert, maybe even beyond, at his peak. However, his strength had been eroded by two things.
For one, it seemed like Chenglei was reluctant to use him because this was his very last summoning. And two, the ancestor diverted much of his remaining strength to connecting to Chenglei’s location from the Daiyu tombs.
This observation didn’t seem to mean much, though. He was still much more powerful than the Belmont Ancestor, even in this state.
There was no surprise in the Daiyu Ancestor’s gaze when he noticed a mere 16 year old not cowering under his oppressive might. In fact, he almost seemed as though he expected it… Inwardly this confused Dyon, until the ancestor spoke, that is.
“Dragon King. Are you really unwilling to let my Daiyu family go?” Despite the words said, there was no hint of pleading in the ancestor’s voice. In fact, he held an unyielding momentum in his tone.
As soon as these words were spoken, Dyon understood immediately.
The Daiyu ancestor came out like this because he had sensed the end of the Daiyu was near. With his senses, how could he not understand that only Chenglei had a bloodline powerful enough to call upon him? That only meant one thing. If Chenglei died, the Daiyu were all but extinguished.
But that was only part of the reason. The second reason was because of the Dragon King. Dyon didn’t have access to his soul, so although he now knew the sensitivity of Dragon King related matters, there was nothing he could do to conceal it unless he wanted to forever keep it within his spatial ring. However, he didn’t feel safe doing so.
Although there was confusion deep within the hearts of Dyon’s allies, they didn’t dare to say a word. They awaited to see if their leader could give them yet another miracle.
“And why should I do such a thing?” Dyon responded calmly. All he could do now was act as the Dragon King would.
The Dragon King wouldn’t fear death, nor would he put the Daiyu bloodline in his eyes. However, doing such a thing wasn’t too difficult for Dyon, he already had arrogance seeped deep within his bones.
“You fight for humans while eradicating your own kind?” The ancestor retorted.
“I fight for myself, and your family has happened to annoy me one too many times.”
“I can smell the blood of one of our best on you. Is that not enough?” The ancestor seemed to be taking a step back.
The kneeling Daiyu couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Especially Chenglei who had just lost his father and had now been confirmed to lose his grandfather. A deeply sour feeling spread through his heart, but he still didn’t dare to look up.
However, while these words were deeply painful to the Daiyu, it was yet another piece of the puzzle to Dyon.
The aura of the Dragon King wasn’t enough to make this ancestor take this approach. No. He also sensed the death of Elder Daiyu was related to Dyon.
Elder Daiyu was no regular character. Even in the Daiyu’s prime, he was their Patriarch, or rather, their Emperor as his formal title dictated. He was in line to become an ancestor after his death as well, it was just unfortunate that there would have been no one capable of presiding over the necessary ceremonies.
The fact that his death was related to Dyon, and the fact Dyon had the Dragon King’s aura on him, told the ancestor all he needed to know.
As such, despite his arrogance, his first move was to negotiate.
But, this wasn’t so simple. To become a dao formation expert as he had in his life time, he would have had to be exceedingly intelligent.
He understood that even if the Dragon King took over a person’s body, he should still be limited by that body despite his knowledge. So, the real question was, what price did the Dragon King pay to kill Elder Daiyu then? And more importantly, could he do it again?
The answer was, of course, no. But, Dyon just had to make it seem like the answer was yes.
“He offended me, he died. His grandson offended me, he should die too.” Dyon answer offhandedly.
“Don’t push this too far!” The ancestor roared in agitation.
Dyon’s eyes narrowed. “Or what? You’ll destroy this meat sack of mine? Do you have the power to do so? And even if you did, so what? I’ve lived millions of years, and I’ll continue to live millions more. I’ll make it my second life’s mission to wipe the Daiyu from existence if that’s what you truly want.”
The ancestor clenched his teeth trying to calm his anger. Even if he used everything he had, it would be impossible to destroy the Dragon King’s weapon. Added to the fact that he had limited time left as an ancestor, even if he wanted to hide it away, he wouldn’t be able to protect it forever.
If that was the case, as soon as the Dragon King found another poor soul to devour, the Daiyu he saved now would be finished and all of this would have meant nothing.
The ancestor was suddenly at a loss of what to do. The Dragon King was truly too overbearing!
“I’m willing,” The ancestor breathed heavily, trying to calm himself, “I’m willing to do you any favor as long as it spares this boy and is within my power.”
Dyon calmly looked at the ancestor, taking his time. Minutes went by without anyone saying a word.
Just when the ancestor was beginning to think that maybe he was wrong and this ‘Dragon King’ was just stalling for time, Dyon spoke.
“I want your corpse, it will greatly help me improve this meat puppet of mine. I want whatever treasures are holed up in your Daiyu tombs, I know that even you lesser bloodlines have the same habits as true dragons. And, he becomes my slave.” Dyon finished, pointing to Chenglei.
With every passing word Dyon spoke, the face of the ancestor became redder and redder.
Just the first request was more than overstepping a boundary of decency. He was essentially asking this ancestor to never allow his own body to rest in peace.
The second was even more glaringly disgusting. It disrespected not just him, but also every Daiyu to ever earn a place in their tombs. What kind of tomb didn’t have treasures? Kings, Pharaohs, Emperors, even their esteemed servants were all buried with ridiculous amounts of wealth.
Even when the Daiyu were lacking resources, never did they dare to take them from their own tombs. And yet the ‘Dragon King’ wanted them now?
And lastly, making Chenglei a slave? Making the last viable Daiyu a slave? This was no less than slapping the face of the entire Daiyu lineage.
“Is there a problem?” Dyon continued as though there was no issue with what he said.
The ancestor grit his teeth, no longer suspecting Dyon in the least. No one else could be so arrogant. Never would he think that there was someone else so bold in this world. Even the Dragon King was sounding out in a deep and shaking laughter in Dyon’s mind right now. Dyon could tell he approved.
The truth was, if even one of those request was missing, the ancestor would have chosen to attack. In his mind, the Dragon King would be disrespectful, true, but he also had to be greedy. And, most importantly, the real Dragon King would never let Chenglei off in the face of benefits. No matter what he received, Chenglei would have to suffer for his annoying him.
As for how Dyon’s subordinates and wives felt? They still didn’t dare to speak, but the admiration in their eyes only grew fiercer with each passing moment.
This was their husband.
This was their leader.
His place in their hearts was unshakeable.