Ye Yuzhou knew it was time for him to shine. Whether or not the curator would change his impression of him hinged upon his performance at this crucial moment.
“State Preceptor Zero, please calm down.”
Ye Yuzhou stepped forward to block the man’s path.
Among everyone who was present, perhaps only Ye Yuzhou had the authority to stop Ruzero.
Ruzero frowned and cast Ye Yuzhou a glance. An expert of a higher level like him could clearly tell how Ye Yuzhou was no ordinary man either. Not only was Ye Yuzhou’s cultivation level significant, but the man’s blood contract realm level was even higher than his own. Apart from that, it felt like his pet beast who was hiding in the huge cloud of mist might be a Rank 4 creature.
As strong as his thirst for revenge was, he refrained from acting carelessly.
“To whom am I speaking to?” Ruzero asked.
Ye Yuzhou named himself and Ruzero nodded. “So it’s Mr. Ye of the Jade Dragon Kingdom. I’ve heard of your good name. However, I have some personal matters to take care of right now. If you’d like, we can chat after I’m done with my business, Mr. Ye.”
Having said that, he continued marching forward.
Ye Yuzhou could only stop him again. “State Preceptor Zero, I’m sorry to say this, but I’m afraid you’ll have to forget about the plans you have at the moment.”
“What?” Ruzero’s expression immediately darkened. He pointed at the hilltop and said, “The murderer who killed my son is standing there. If you aren’t going to avenge him then so be it. But I don’t see how I’m not entitled do that!”
As Ye Yuzhou had a complete understanding of the current situation, he reiterated it in detail before advising, “State Preceptor Zero, it was your son who started the incident. Heed my advice and let this go.”
Ruzero flared up in anger.
“Who do you think you are to order me around?”
Ruzero immediately turned hostile. Giving his long scepter a rattle, an intimidating aura began to saturate the air around them.
Ye Yuzhou was aware of the impossibility of persuading Ruzero to let go of this grudge mere hours after his son was murdered.
It seems like conflict was inevitable.
If that’s the case then they should just cut straight to the chase.
The Curator wasn’t wrong for wanting to protect his disciple and Ruzero wasn’t wrong for wanting to take revenge for his son. They just had different standpoints. As he was on the Curator’s side, no matter how convincing Ruzero’s argument was, Ye Yuzhou would never let him go up there.
That’s just how the world works.
Having reached Ye Yuzhou’s status and prestige, one would have long seen through the illusion that was ‘justice’. Nothing in this world was inherently right or wrong.
Hence, he felt little to no burden on his conscience.
If Ruzero wanted a fight, he would get it. After all, this wasn’t Snake Country. He was in Maple City of the Jade Dragon Country.
Sensing the hostile aura, Ye Yuzhou simply flung his sleeve and an equally intimidating aura was let loose. As both invisible energies clashed, with a bam, the large rock in between them shattered to pieces.
Ruzero’s expression turned ice-cold. He could tell how adamant Ye Yuzhou was about stopping him from exacting revenge on that murderer. Since that was the case, there was nothing more to be said.
“Very well. Then, let me have a taste of what Mr. Ye can do.” Having said that, a gust of wind began to surge beneath Ruzero’s feet. Then, a sizeable tornado reaching tens of feet tall appeared out of nowhere, picking up the sand grains and stones from the surrounding ground. These makeshift projectiles were then toward Ye Yuzhou at breakneck speed.
The latter extended an arm and clenched his fist. A stream of water flowed out to form a blade. With a flick of Ye Yuzhou’s finger, the water blade immediately turned into water droplets and shot toward the tornado, breaking it apart.
Since they couldn’t reach a compromise, they immediately duked it out with spells.
However, Ye Yuzhou had an obvious advantage owing to his blood contract belonging to a higher realm.
Aware of Ye Yuzhou’s competence, Ruzero smirked before invoking a spell. The sand snake on his scepter slithered to the ground and abruptly grew larger in size. In an instant, it became a large snake of more than a hundred feet long.
A layer of sand floated around the creature’s body. Its fangs were razor-sharp, and when its large tail shook, the rattling sound made everyone uneasy. Many couldn’t resist covering their ears to block out the bizarre sound but it was all an exercise in futility.
Quite a few people wore pained expressions.
Lin Jin noticed the commotion as well. He glanced at the yellow sand snake below with much curiosity and felt an urge rush over to appraise the creature with his coiled wire needle.
It was a pity the coiled wire needle had such a short effective range.
Lin Jin didn’t panic either as he had a feeling that an opportunity like this would arise in the future.
The Grassy Continent was known to have stronger pet beasts, so even though it was also a Rank 4 beast, the yellow sand snake was far superior to Ye Yuzhou’s soaring cloud flood dragon. This was the case even though one was a snake while the other was a flood dragon.
A flood dragon was the reincarnation of a dragon. Though, this was supposedly just a myth and there were many other similar sayings as well. Still, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect a flood dragon to be stronger than a snake.
However, that wasn’t always the case, just like right now.
Ye Yuzhou could see that. If it were a battle between pet beasts, his soaring cloud flood dragon would be fighting a losing battle. For Ruzero to be capable of becoming Snake Country’s state preceptor proved that he must have some skills up his sleeves.
But Ye Yuzhou’s forte was in various enhancement skills.
He invoked a spell at once, making the mist around his flood dragon even denser. The sound of flowing water could be heard. The flood dragon then let out a long whistle that overpowered the snake’s mysterious noise attack.
In an instant, the two Rank 4 pet beasts engaged in a duel.
Both the Grassy Continent natives and Maple City’s authorities moved out of the way. They didn’t dare to stand too close when Rank 4 beasts were fighting in case they got caught in the crossfire and died before knowing what happened.
Among the authorities, one of the confused men asked, “Why is Mr. Ye fighting with that Grassy Continent official?”
“I don’t know. It would have made sense if he just allowed the official to get his revenge and be done with it. I wonder why he stopped the guy.”
“Shut up!” Zuo Wentang barked angrily when he overheard his subordinates’ discussion.
“Mr. Ye is no ordinary man. He must have his reasons for doing so. You can’t just come up with baseless speculations on your own without knowing the truth.”
Though that was what he said, Zuo Wentang was equally puzzled and curious, unable to figure out what prompted Ye Yuzhou to go into battle.
For now, they could only watch from the sidelines.
Both Ye Yuzhou and Ruzero were standing on large boulders as they continued invoking spells.
Ruzero was mumbling an incantation as he invoked his spell.
It was a magic spell from the Grassy Continent.
A ray of light shone down from the skies, illuminating the yellow sand snake. The snake immediately grew even larger.
Moments ago, it was a hundred feet long. Now it was twice that size.
Ye Yuzhou’s soaring cloud flood dragon was significantly outsized by its opponent.
Collateral damage was inevitable in a battle between massive monsters. Rocks shattered into tiny chunks while the dense forest was flattened. The sheer amount of destruction caused was accompanied by deafening noises.
Realizing that things were going South, Ye Yuzhou immediately invoked a spell in response.
“Dragon Illusion!”
Clapping his hands together, Ye Yuzhou’s robes fluttered as the mist around his flood dragon gathered closer toward the creature. Simultaneously, water from streams and rivers in the surrounding vicinity was drawn over and consolidated around the flood dragon’s body, creating the silhouette of a dragon.
The spell seemed to have used water to create a set of dragon armor on the flood dragon.
From whiskers, horns, to scales and claws, everything looked so real.
The soaring cloud flood dragon’s strength was greatly boosted. Although its size remained the same, it was now at least on par with the yellow sand snake.
The noise caused by the fierce battle between monstrous beasts could be heard miles away. The remaining vegetation was all uprooted and the ground split due to the sheer level of violence involved in the fight.
The flood dragon spat out a jet of water which morphed into a water pole that was supposed to pierce its enemy’s body.
The yellow sand snake didn’t evade the attack but instead, it relied on the sand armor on its body to block the incoming pole.
Explosive sounds from the collisions could be heard one after another and water splashed everywhere as if this place was just hit by a sandy rain.
Alas, while the sand armor was broken, the snake remains unharmed. Instead, the yellow sand snake abruptly swung its tail at the flood dragon, dealing an unexpected blow. Not only did the outer water dragon shell shatter, but the flood dragon was sent flying back thousands of feet away, leaving a deep ditch on the ground as rock and dust were sent into the air.
Even as a man who had seen combat, Zuo Wentang couldn’t help but pale at the sight of these Rank 4 beasts battling. He was too much in shock to even speak.
As Rank 4 beasts set the standard for an intermediate country, to see them battling was like watching two countries being at war. It was both fascinating and frightening.
Even Lin Jin who had been watching from the hilltop was awed.
Rank 4 beasts could grow significantly larger than their original size. When humans stood before these great beings, they would all appear tiny and powerless against the beasts.
No matter how high a person’s level of cultivation was, on his own, he couldn’t possibly fight a Rank 4 beast.
Be that as it may, humans remain an indispensable component of the fighting force.
A part of a beast’s strength was innate while the other half relied on enhancements bestowed upon them by their human companions.
Without enhancement spells, these creatures would never possess enough strength to flatten mountains.
Lin Jin shook his head. He could tell that Ye Yuzhou’s flood dragon was no match for the yellow sand snake. If the fight were to go on, the flood dragon might suffer a devastating defeat.
‘If it’s just a Rank 4 beast, I should be able to subdue it with the deterrence ability. I may not be able to use the ability for too long, but I’ll at least have a chance to use the coiled wire needle to attack it,’ Lin Jin thought as he planned his next course of action.
It would be best if Ye Yuzhou could help him, but if he couldn’t, Lin Jin would still have to take on this opponent on his own.
Of course, he acknowledged Old Ye’s grace as well.
The clash of auras during the Rank 4 beasts’ intense battle had already scared off all the creatures within the forest. Those who couldn’t escape in time were all shivering in their holes.
Even Goldy looked fairly intimidated so it was clear that the aura worked well against other beasts too.
A sudden thought came to Lin Jin’s mind.
‘Wait, if the Rank 4 beast attacked outside the deterrence ability’s influence area, I’d probably be pummeled to death before I can subdue it.’
Upon having this realization, Lin Jin was dispirited.
Although the coiled wire needle was powerful, it wasn’t invincible.
It was simple really. If the opponent threw a huge rock over, the needle couldn’t possibly pierce through the rock.
This immediately flustered Lin Jin.
‘Old Ye, stay strong,’ Lin Jin cheered for Ye Yuzhou silently.
But it was a pity how the heavens never grant wishes.
After the yellow sand snake sent the flood dragon flying, Ruzero immediately redirected his pet beast to charge up the hill.
They actually shifted their target halfway through the battle.
Lin Jin took a deep breath as he figured out a countermeasure. His only option was to let Goldy face this opponent while he looked for a chance to attack. Whether or not it would succeed was remains a big question.
Even Lin Jin couldn’t be sure if the coiled wire needle could pierce through the snake’s sand armor.
Goldy put on a daring stance. With a flap of his wings, he charged straight ahead without an ounce of fear.
Setting aside the fact that it remains unclear whether the bird could fend off the opponent or not, it’s obvious that Goldy triumphed in terms of grandiosity.