Mountain Xilang, Mining Office.
Tim carefully read the scout’s report filed by his family’s guard, Bill.
Just a few days ago, a scout reported that he found a large number of aerial demonic beasts flying by. They seemed to be landing somewhere within the Xilang Mountain Range. After he sent several scouts, reports on wyverns came one after another.
Bill asked carefully, “Sir, should we report this to the Dark Moon City?”
Tim recalled that Chen Rui’s mount was a wyvern, and he had several more, so Tim thought, “Not for now. Instruct the scout to keep this a secret and don’t act rashly.”
Bill nodded, left and closed the door.
“Good job, Tim.”
Suddenly, a voice sounded in the room.
Tim didn’t feel anybody coming in just now, so he was taken aback. However, he could tell the voice was Chen Rui’s, so he quickly stood up.
“Master, you’re finally back.” Tim bowed and asked tentatively, “Based on master’s tone, those wyvern…
Chen Rui nodded, “You are very clever. If everything goes well, Dark Moon will soon realize the vision of having a dragon knight legion. Yet, before that, you must not leak a single word!”
Dragon knight legion!
Not a squad but a legion!
Tim was shocked. Wyvern isn’t like the regular aerial griffin, but they are the strongest aerial demonic beasts in war after those exceptional dragons. Even if it is the capital of the Fallen Angel Empire, it has only 1 dragon knight legion, and it’s directly attached to Prince Obsidian himself!
“I understand. Master’s ability… is truly incredible…” Tim heartfeltly said, “By the way, I have another news for master. The patriarch of the Karon Family, Legu, asked for a resignation from Regent Obsidian due to his only son, Alan’s death. However, Obsidian rejected his resignation and personally went to appease him. To quell the anger of the Karon Family, Obsidian revoked Sergey’s position as the deputy general of Red Demon Legion and ordered him to reflect behind the closed door. Also, Obsidian withdrew some of the military power of Sergey’s father, the second general of the empire, Doron, and gave it to Karon Family’s representative in the military, Zoff. In addition, the Dark Moon Estate was also implicated for not being able to find out the trace of Beelzebub Royal Family and allowing a matter like this to happen. As a penalty, starting next month, food aid provided by Red Spirit Estate will be halved.”
Chen Rui frowned: When Isabella arrived, she wanted to punish the Dark Moon by reducing the food aid in the name of tracing the Beelzebub Royal Family. However, it was later messed up by me. Subsequently, Sergey and Alan’s “crime of passion” happened and her attention was once again shifted. As a result, she hurriedly returned to the capital. Unexpectedly, she still ended up using that excuse to impose brutal sanction against the Dark Moon.
If food aid is halved before the establishment of the food base, then Dark Moon will inevitably have a large-scale famine. By then, people will be filled with grievances. Even if Shea has exceptional talents, she can’t hold the situation.
Now that the food base has been successfully established, even without Red Spirit Estate’s food aid, Dark Moon won’t have any trouble facing that sanction. However, the food base might be exposed in this way, which will further attract the capital’s attention.
Chen Rui thought about it and turned his attention to Tim, “Tim, what do you think about this?”
“Master knows that my father has secretly established a ranch and successfully cultivated some high-yield livestocks. As for the crops, master also told me about the food base. Then, it’s not hard for the Dark Moon to survive this crisis with our own strength. The key is that our military and economic strength are only in the initial stage of construction, so we can’t expose our strength or let the capital focus their attention on the Dark Moon. I think we can consider using the west route to strengthen our trade with the Dark Shadow Empire. It is mainly to exchange for food. This can at least serve as a cover up. The Fallen Angel Empire is the weakest among the 3 kingdoms, so Prince Obsidian cannot control the will of the Dark Shadow Empire.”
Chen Rui nodded. Tim and his ideas coincided. Even if there wasn’t a food problem, the west route must be used as soon as possible because it was especially important for the recovery of the Dark Moon’s economy.
“I think so too. In order to prevent possible harassment from the Red Spirit, your garrison training must step up to ensure the safety of the west route.” Chen Rui patted Tim’s shoulder, “If necessary, you can use the strength of medusa and tauren. As for the earth elementals, their king has fallen into a deep slumber; while they are helping to mine the underground mineral now. So, don’t disturb them unless absolutely necessary.”
“Yes, master.” Tim thought of one thing and asked, “Didn’t master mention that the tauren tribe was cursed and can’t leave the underground world?”
Chen Rui smiled confidently, “After I return to the Dark Moon City and come here again, I should be able to resolve tauren’s matter…”
Paglio said that he needed to rely on the Eye of Sauron’s spirit power to dispel the . After using it, the Eye of Sauron won’t be damaged. However, the Chief Tauren didn’t say whether the function of the Eye of Sauron would be affected after using the Eye of Sauron to lift the curse. If can’t be lifted by then, it would be a loss.
Chen Rui was no saint so obviously, he had some selfishness. He was more inclined to the poison dragon who had a symbiotic contract with him. Besides, after dispelling Paglio’s , he could still help the taurens. However, it just took a few more days. It wouldn’t make a huge difference.
Chen Rui had successfully reunited with the Wyvern King and made temporary resettlement for the wyverns. Mountain Xilang had a relatively cold climate, and it wasn’t very suitable for the survival of wyvern. In contrast, the climate of black rainforest and Silent Night Wetlands were more similar. Yet, for now, he had to inform Shea first.
Chen Rui asked Tim to recall the scouts and strictly keep the wyvern’s secret. Then, he took Delia and Roman along to mount the wyverns and flew toward the Dark Moon City.
About 2 days later, the trio arrived at Blue Lake. Chen Rui jumped off the wyvern excitedly and shouted, “Bored man, show yourself quickly!”
In the blink of an eye, the poison dragon’s figure appeared in front of Chen Rui’s eyes. Instead of asking about Delia and Roman, he asked with a look of anticipation, “Did you get it?!”
“Why don’t you guess?” Chen Rui took out the Eye of Sauron with a smug face and showed it in front of the poison dragon. Suddenly, his hands felt light as it had been snatched by Paglio.
When Paglio looked at the Eye of Sauron in his hands, his body trembled slightly. He left after saying, “Wait for me here!”
After that, the figure flickered a few times, and he had already appeared at the side of Blue Lake. Then, he jumped into the lake head-in.
Before coming to the Blue Lake, Chen Rui only said he was going to meet an important friend, but he didn’t state Paglio’s identity. Roman, who had always been conceited with his speed, was surprised after witnessing Paglio’s speed. This person is far better than me in terms of speed and strength. Even the Great Demon King-level Casillas or Akui that I’ve fought with can’t rival him. Chen Rui actually has such a powerful friend, and they seem to be very close.
After a while, the initially calm Blue Lake started to rage. There was a faint glow. Soon, the dark blue lake water was completely dyed golden yellow, then it turned into black and white, constantly changing. A powerful wave repelled toward opposite sides of the shore, and the surrounding ground was trembling. The 3 Demon King-level wyverns behind Chen Rui seemed nervous and anxious. If Chen Rui didn’t use to comfort them, they would have flown away in shock.
Time passed slowly, then the trembling and fluctuations finally ended. The lake returned to its usual calmness. Just when Chen Rui was a little worried, a huge vortex appeared in the lake. “Whoosh!“, a huge body rose from the water into the sky. It was a dragon with a length of tens of meters. There were a pair of huge wings behind it; its entire body was tawny; its scales faintly emitted a metallic luster; its appearance looked ferocious; there was a single horn on his head; there were fin-like structure on both cheeks; his dark gold eyes were flashing intimidating, cold light.
The flying dragon made an excited hiss and exuded an indescribable demeanor. The three wyverns looked fearful and laid close to the ground. They dared not to move. Dodo curled up in his backpack. Thinking of his bad deed for swallowing a dragon, he was afraid of this dragon’s revenge. He covered his eyes and shuddered with horror.
Delia and Roman also looked strenuous. They were both using their strength to resist. Only Chen Rui wasn’t affected by the Dragon’s Demeanor due to the effect of the symbiotic contract.
The Dragon’s Demeanor gradually disappeared and the huge body quickly shrank and changed in the sky. When he landed, Paglio had returned to his human form.
“Haha!” Paglio’s giggle echoed across Blue Lake, “Damn ! Damn Midnight Sun! Now, I, Master Paglio can finally leave this damn ghastly place!”
Upon hearing that name, Roman and Delia finally realized who’s the “man” that was regarded as an “old friend” from Chen Rui. This dragon should be the actual owner of the Silent Night Wetland’s treasures. He was also the super narcissist who claimed to be “the most handsome, smartest and most admired by female dragons”.
After Paglio laughed for 10 minutes continuously, Chen Rui felt that his ears were buzzing. Finally, he complained as he couldn’t bear it anymore, “Enough, Paglio. Stop laughing!”
“Hehe…” Paglio gradually eased from his extreme excitement. He took a deep breath and looked inebriety, “This air of freedom is really wonderful. It seems that signing the contract with you that year was the best decision! By the way, did you get all my treasures too?”
“It’s my treasure!” Chen Rui emphasised indignantly, “There’s actually a Demon Emperor-level corpse necromancer within that treasure place, and he almost killed me!”
“Impossible! I remember that I seemed to have killed a guy in the fountain of vitality, then I sealed the place. That guy was dead. It was impossible to become a corpse necromancer right!”
“He used a secret method to fake his death! Fancy that you were a Demon Overlord at that time, I’m afraid your training damaged your brain! You didn’t even notice that!” Chen Rui mocked without restraint. Suddenly, he realized, “Paglio, why do you remember so clearly. Did your memory get better?”
Paglio came to his senses and patted his head, “, it must be the effect of the !”
For Paglio, the past 2000 years was just a sleep, so there was no reason to greatly degrade his memory. After thinking about it now, this was the reason.
“No!” Chen Rui was happy for the poison dragon in his heart, but he said, “The risk was far more than expected this time. I need to readjust the distribution of treasure! You’ll take 20%; I’ll take 80%!”
“What?! 2:8?! You are even greedier than 10 dragons combined! You might as well slaughter the dragon!”
Delia and Roman watched with their eyes and mouth wide-opened as their leader had a war of words with a powerful dragon. The bargaining skill was so superb that even Delia, as a woman, couldn’t help but feel ashamed.
In the end, the division was fixed at 5.1:4.9. Although it only increased by 0.1%, it was already a very good result facing an avaricious, stingy dragon.
Chen Rui introduced Roman and Delia to Paglio. Paglio didn’t greet but nodded. The duo wasn’t bothered as the arrogance of dragons were well known. Moreover, the difference in strength between them was too huge. That was polite enough as not everyone could be as abnormal as Chen Rui.
“Paglio, now that the has been removed, how is your strength recovering?”
“I’m just at the early stage of Demon Emperor now.” Paglio frowned, “With the effect of the potions that you gave me previously, I might recover to the middle stage of Demon Emperor after a while. However, if the ancient runes aren’t removed, I can only stay within the Demon Emperor realm. By the way, did you find the second thing?”
Chen Rui nodded, took the silver box from the backpack on his back and handed it to Paglio.
Paglio’s eyes lit up. He took the box carefully and stroked it for a while, but he didn’t open it.
“It should be this box. After opening it, there’s a strange breath that can quickly swallow one’s life force. Besides, it can also greatly suppress the strength of royal families. As long as we have this, we don’t have to be afraid even if we encounter the powerful royal families.”
“What?! You opened it?!” Paglio was startled.
After listening to Chen Rui’s story, the poison dragon looked serious, “The content in this box isn’t trivial. I didn’t even dare to touch it recklessly back then. If you don’t want to attract any disasters, never open it again!”
It was Chen Rui’s first time seeing Paglio so serious. Recalling the discomfort when he opened it for the second time and the fact that the poison dragon was sealed by a mysterious powerhouse back then, he stopped joking and nodded.
“The mystery of the box, you might be eligible to know a little when your strength reaches Demon Overlord in the future.” Paglio said with a solemn face, “I know you can control the fountain of life, and you must have retrieved the fountain of vitality with a secret method. You need to find a place to soak the box in the fountain of vitality or fountain of life. Promise me, don’t touch the box until you find Zola!”
I can only know the secret of the box until the Demon Overlord level? Initially, Chen Rui wanted to test the silver box with . After hearing those words, he was secretly startled and dispelled that thought.
As for the place to hide the silver box, he could choose between the tauren or earth elemental’s fountain of life at Mountain Xilang’s underground world. He could also entrust them to guard.
“Got it.”
“As long as you understand, then it’s fine. Let’s not talk about this.” The poison dragon stretched his arms, “Let’s go. I don’t want to stay in this ghastly place that gave me calluses on my ass anymore.”
Find Zola again? Wouldn’t Paglio be murdered by her?