Chapter 481 – The Fearsome Reputation of General Dolai

Within the Shattered Isle Region’s Wilderness, in a pitch-black withered forest where no sunlight could penetrate.

The six members of the Cloud Dragon Recon Team hid atop a massive dead tree. Gray mist coiled around them as they held their breath, their bodies becoming as still as deadwood, not daring to make the slightest movement.

All because high in the sky above them hovered a golden-red Dragon with vertical pupils sharp as sabers.

The Dragon was not large in size—far from comparable to the super blood-red Dragons measuring one to two hundred meters long, and even smaller than ordinary blood-red Dragons.

It was “petite.”

Yet, this was precisely the characteristic of a certain fearsome powerhouse from Dragon’s Slumber Valley.

Zhou Ran’s heart trembled. “Hunting Grand Duke Eye Blade… I’m certain, we’ve actually encountered such a terrifying monster!”

Zhou Ran patted his chest, feeling the Mind Seed hidden there—devoid of any radiant glow, as if lifeless—and felt slightly reassured.

He had already sent a message to headquarters through the Mind Seed.

“Fortunately, the transmission of the Mind Seed is extremely covert, with no external fluctuations. Otherwise, even if I could send a message, I wouldn’t dare to use it… No, I wouldn’t even have the chance to use it.”

“And now…”

Zhou Ran glanced at the sky from the corner of his eye.

The golden-red figure high above was still patrolling.

The surrounding world gradually grew bizarre and surreal, a sign of the boiling elemental energies.

“Come out. I see you.”

“Oh? You’re being quite disobedient. It seems I’ll have to personally invite you out.”

Before the word “out” was fully uttered, a blinding golden blade aura swept across the sky.

A deafening roar echoed.

The earth shook, and withered branches and debris rained down from the dead trees.

In the distance, dust billowed, and a sinister, narrow fissure stretched for thousands of meters.

“I… we…”

The youngest and least experienced cover specialist in the team had turned pale, his clothes drenched in sweat. He struggled to maintain the concealing gray mist, but his teeth chattered uncontrollably.

This stemmed from the fear in his heart.

And from the terrifying Dragon’s might.

They felt like prey under the Dragon’s claws, ready to be devoured at any moment.

Zhou Ran patted the young man’s shoulder once more but said nothing this time.

He could tell that although the Dragon in the sky couldn’t pinpoint their exact hiding spot, it was certain they were in this area.

They were an experienced pioneering team.

Their reconnaissance unit was equipped with top-tier concealment Treasures, capable of evading even the coverage and sweep of a Domain.

But now, with the enemy resorting to large-scale destructive Moves, where could they possibly hide?

“Whoosh—”

A brilliant golden blade aura tore through space, descending from the sky.

The earth shook again and again, crisscrossed with narrow fissures like grotesque wounds.

The closest of these fissures was merely a hundred meters away from them. A gust of wind carrying rubble and broken branches swept past their faces. Any closer, and their concealment methods would be compromised.

Zhou Ran gripped the hilt of his saber at his waist, ready to draw it at any moment.

Just then,

A glint of golden light flashed in the Hunting Grand Duke’s eyes.

The light wasn’t dazzling, but Zhou Ran felt an overwhelming sense of terror and crisis descending upon them.

A golden thread flashed past, not far from his side.There was no deafening roar, no tremors, no billowing dust—only a golden line that seemed to pierce through the entire heavens and earth, splitting the world into two starkly distinct regions.

Between these two regions stood a young warrior, his face pale and pupils constricted.

His bloodless lips parted slightly, as if he wanted to say something.

A crimson line descended naturally, tracing from his forehead, down the bridge of his nose, and across his lips, cleaving the young covering soldier’s entire body in two.

Like a hot knife slicing through butter, blood sizzled and splattered, spraying onto Zhou Ran and the others, who were still frozen in shock.

Clang—

The gray treasure orb, clutched tightly in the young warrior’s hands, shattered with a crash, falling alongside the splattering blood into the bottomless abyss.

Time seemed to freeze.

The scene before Zhou Ran’s eyes turned gray, with only the blood remaining a glaring, vivid red.

He suddenly snapped back to reality and roared, “Run! Scatter and run!”

“Boss…”

“Staying here is useless—go!”

The remaining four members of the reconnaissance team hesitated no longer, scattering into the ravaged earth and fleeing in all directions.

Hunting Grand Duke Eye Blade paid them no mind.

Perhaps in their eyes, those below the Legendary Realm were nothing but ants—even if they fled, they could not escape their sight.

Zhou Ran drew his combat saber.

His eyes were fixed solely on the terrifying figure in the sky.

“I’ll be joining you soon.”

“But before that, I’ll leave a mark on the enemy, even if it’s a Hunting Grand Duke.”

Zhou Ran murmured.

He, too, was a Legendary Realm expert! Having entered the Legendary Realm six or seven years ago, he had honed his skills and Domain to their absolute limits.

He was not much weaker than Hunting Grand Duke Eye Blade.

“Aaaaaaah—!”

A Domain spanning three thousand three hundred meters in radius abruptly expanded.

Under immense pressure and the life-or-death crisis, the long-stagnant limits of his Domain showed faint signs of a breakthrough.

Zhou Ran swung his saber.

Thwack—

Before the saber could complete its arc, his right arm—the one gripping the weapon—was severed and sent flying.

His vision followed the saber and arm as they soared.

His thoughts came to a halt.

His Domain seemed nonexistent, utterly oblivious to the golden blade’s gleam.

“I thought the combat power increase from the Soul Realm to the Heaven-Earth Realm wasn’t that significant… I believed I could at least…”

“So this is what a Hunting Grand Duke is like?”

Zhou Ran’s thoughts drifted.

He recalled: Indeed, the combat power increase from the Peak Heaven-Earth Realm to the Soul Realm was not dramatic, yet every Soul Realm expert was a top-tier powerhouse among Heaven-Earth Realm cultivators.

How could one underestimate a powerhouse who had grown even stronger?

Moreover, in Dragon’s Slumber Valley, only a handful of Soul Realm Dragons were worthy of the title Hunting Grand Duke.

This world was vast.

“Hold on!”

Suddenly, a strand of information transmitted through his Mind Seed.

It was Rain Dust Lord!

Zhou Ran’s spirit surged, and his instinct for survival reignited.

He continued to struggle with all his might.

Perhaps this Hunting Grand Duke was savoring the thrill of the hunt, for Zhou Ran managed to evade fatal blow after fatal blow, though his body was left riddled with wounds—deep enough to reveal bone—and one of his calves was cleanly severed.

Then, from the edge of the sky, clouds and mist surged forth.

A vast fog enveloped the entire area in an instant, obscuring Zhou Ran’s form.

Soul Realm expert · Water Sky Envoy · Yala had arrived on the battlefield.Simultaneously arriving were Rain Dust Lord and several of her direct subordinates. They had been in a location not far from here and thus rushed over at the first opportunity.

Rain Dust Lord declared, “Since arriving in the warzone, we haven’t fought many impressive battles. This time, it’s our Rain Dust territory’s turn to make a name for itself!”

During the previous Heaven-Earth Sealing battle, she and Yara had suffered the most significant impact. Yara, a dignified Soul Realm expert, had been chased by an ordinary crimson dragon.

This was an utter humiliation.

They needed to reclaim their honor!

Yara: “…”

I understand the reasoning, but… I’m supposed to fight Hunting Grand Duke Eye Blade?

Rain Dust Lord stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her. “Don’t panic, we have numbers on our side.”

“They’re here!”

Golden blade rays materialized from nowhere, arriving in an instant.

But unlike Zhou Ran who had been struck without any awareness, Rain Dust Lord and Yara detected them.

The mist and clouds were their eyes.

Hunting Grand Duke Eye Blade—they could fight this!

Hum—

Water vapor converged, transforming into wall after wall of water mirrors arrayed along the golden blade rays’ trajectory.

The next moment, these water mirror walls shattered one after another.

From the first to the ninth.

The final wall—the last remaining barrier before Rain Dust Lord—also bore a deep slash mark.

Her expression shifted slightly.

Yara warned, “More incoming! Three this time!”

The Lord’s Mark on Yuchen’s hand glowed brightly, channeling amplified power into Yara’s body.

Simultaneously, her three other subordinates formed a battle formation with unique positioning.

Triangular water pillars shot skyward as winds and clouds stirred in all directions.

Gather! Gather! Gather! Gather! Gather!

Water mirror walls condensed one after another, only to shatter the next moment.

Golden light shadows flickered continuously within the mist.

Pressure cascaded like mountain collapses and tidal waves.

Those pair of crimson-gold dragon pupils shone like twin Great Suns, clearly visible through the fog, seeking to scorch and incinerate the blanket of mist.

At the mist’s epicenter.

Rain Dust Lord thrust her staff forward, robes flapping violently in the wind to reveal slender legs clad in black stockings beneath.

“Continuing like this will definitely exhaust us first.”

“And the slightest misstep could—”

Crack—

A corner of a water mirror shattered.

Remnant blade energy passed by like a beam of light, grazing her body.

She felt a sharp pain in her calf.

Her robe had been torn unnoticed, and the highly protective Blackmoon Stockings were sliced apart like tissue paper. A chunk of flesh had been cleanly carved from her calf.

“We seem to have underestimated them.”

“Damn it, when will reinforcements arrive?”

She had no time to ponder.

She could only conjure water mirrors at maximum speed to precisely ‘intercept’ the enemy’s blade rays.

Then, a piercing cry cut through the clouds.

Reinforcements had arrived.

Good news: it was a Tianyuan General, a powerful fighter.

Bad news: it was a bird, and only one bird.

Tianyuan Asun.

“Be careful! Hunting Grand Duke Eye Blade’s blade rays are extremely fast and nearly undetectable!”

Rain Dust Lord’s warning barely left her lips when golden blade rays tore through the sky.

Tearing through the sky alongside them was Tianyuan Asun’s shrill cry.

The cry carried panic and terror.

The blade rays were too dangerous—even grazing meant injury, direct contact meant death.

Tianyuan Asun was merely a Heaven-Earth Realm legend after all, it…

Eh? It didn’t seem injured?

It dodged?

…

After several seconds of miserable screeching, Asun finally realized it appeared unharmed.Just as the blade’s edge was about to strike, with the crisis of death looming, it instinctively used ‘Soaring Nine Heavens’ to escape to the high heavens.

It dodged this certain-kill strike.

As Asun thought this, suddenly another death crisis descended. The feathers on its body, hard as steel, bristled one by one. It hadn’t even noticed where the golden blade edge came from.

It let out another panicked screech, flapping its wings to fly, instantly crossing tens of thousands of meters.

“Scared, scared your Falcon Lord to death.”

The golden blade edge continued its pursuit.

Asun still couldn’t see it clearly, only relying on instinctive warnings before riding the wind at extreme speed.

Finally, there was a moment when Asun clearly saw the blade edge.

It had already soared to the nine heavens, but its flight path happened to align perfectly with the direction of the incoming blade slash.

The golden blade edge, swift as light across the sky, followed closely behind yet could never catch up to it soaring through the nine heavens.

Its Falcon Lord was faster after all.

Suddenly, Asun felt no more fear.

“Hey, your Falcon Lord dodged it.”

“Hey, your Falcon Lord dodged it again.”

“Hey, how laughable this little dragon is, your Falcon Lord will always be your lord.”

The azure Wind King’s Wings swept across the high sky, often appearing tens of thousands of meters away with a single flap, coming and going like the wind, leaving no trace.

Though the golden blade edge was sharp, swift, and silent, it remarkably never hit once.

The large azure bird even wagged its tail in the sky, smugly… continuously provoking the enemy.

Yuchen was stunned.

Was there something wrong with this fighting style?

But the appearance of Tianyuan Asun did greatly reduce their pressure. Or rather, Tianyuan Asun’s taunting ability was so strong that it directly drew all the enemy’s fire.

Despite this, the danger hadn’t faded.

This Wind King’s Wings from Tianyuan Territory was quite evasive, but it still had little room for error. It couldn’t afford mistakes – a single misstep could easily lead to severe injury or death.

Moreover…

There were more blade edges.

One after another, they swept across the sky.

One-third of them shattered the spells launched by Yuchen and the Water Cardinal, destroying them completely.

The remaining two-thirds chased after that azure figure, continuously slashing down.

Gradually, these numerous blade edges formed a net.

The constantly fleeing green wind finally collided with the threads of the net.

Asun let out a mournful cry.

A small portion of its wing was severed, steel-like feathers shattered, crimson blood continuously gushing out.

“This is bad, this is bad, this is bad!”

“Is your Falcon Lord doomed to die here today?”

Escaping would be simple for it.

It flew fast enough that even Soul Realm practitioners absolutely couldn’t catch it.

But, its allies were still here.

Your Falcon Lord was no coward afraid of death.

“Hisss—it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!”

“Your Falcon Lord today… hisss… is destined to be heroic… hisss ha~!”

Round two begins!

The injured Asun showed some openings.

These openings were subtle, but in Hunting Grand Duke Eye Blade’s eyes, they were infinitely large.

Several more wounds appeared on Asun’s body.

It stopped wailing, its voice turning fierce and furious as it glared, “Even facing the Hunting Grand Duke, your Falcon Lord fears nothing in this world!”

Suddenly, a sensation transmitted.

Asun’s eyes lit up: “General Dolai, save me!”

Howling winds swept in from the distance.

A winged girl arrived riding the wind.

Blue hair, round face, appearing harmless but actually one of Tianyuan City’s top powerhouses.

Tianyuan Six-Star General, Sky-Burning Godmage Dolai!In the current Shattered Isle Warzone, General Dolai is also one of the top-tier powerhouses.

If she arrives, this battle can still be fought!

They can confront Hunting Grand Duke Eye Blade head-on!

Rain Dust Lord seized the opportunity to stir up clouds and mist.

…

Dolai hadn’t heard of the name Hunting Grand Duke Eye Blade. After all, it was a newcomer in the Pioneer Group and had limited experience. It just felt that the crimson-gold Dragon before it, whose eyes flashed like lightbulbs, looked somewhat familiar.

Its appearance was different from the last time they met.

But its abilities were very similar.

Could it be that certain someone? Dolai put a little effort into thinking.

Hunting Grand Duke Eye Blade also noticed the human powerhouse riding the wind.

At first glance, the Blue-haired Girl seemed unfamiliar to them.

At second glance, however, they found her slightly familiar.

When they stared for the third and fourth time, their Divine Soul began to tremble, and fragmented memories surged forth like waves crashing.

A black serpent danced in the high sky, tearing through golden light;

The Blue-haired Girl stood firm in the heavens, a black Great Sun manifesting behind her, its edges a world continuously collapsing and being devoured.

Along with their consciousness.

The memories were hazy.

Yet, Pupil Blade felt an inexplicable dread rising from the depths of their Divine Soul, as if they were facing a great terror, a higher life form far surpassing them.

Hesitating for half a second, after unleashing several blade rays, the entire Dragon turned and fled into the distance without looking back.

Leaving Rain Dust Lord, who had been cast aside, utterly bewildered.

And Asun, who was shouting and jeering, still unable to shake Hunting Grand Duke Eye Blade in the slightest.

Dolai was also a bit stunned. It pinched its own round little face as if questioning its existence, “Am I really that intimidating?”

(End of Chapter)