Chapter 60: The Blood of All Kings

Chen Lai transformed into a comet, dragging a long tail behind him as he charged straight into Manstein's temporary command post.

Far away in the East, within the *Biographies of Assassins*, there is a story that goes like this:

"Prince Guang of Wu, in order to seize the throne, sent Zhuan Zhu to assassinate King Liao of Wu. It was like a comet striking the moon."

Ordinary people assume this is an exaggeration, but half-breeds know it is a realistic description.

Zhuan Zhu was a user of the Spirit *Flash*. Prince Guang enlisted his help to assassinate King Liao of Wu. At a banquet, Zhuan Zhu used his Spirit to assassinate Liao with a dagger.

The dignitaries at the banquet were all eyewitnesses. According to their descriptions, it looked like a comet crashing into the moon, and no one could even see how Liao died.

When *Flash* is pushed to sixty-four times divine speed, the human eye can barely capture it anymore. Right now, Pskov was pushing *Flash* to one hundred and twenty-eight times speed. Even while carrying Chen Lai along, he was still moving too fast for the naked eye to discern.

The instant he burst into the command post, Chen Lai saw no fewer than twenty pairs of brilliant golden eyes looking at him in astonishment, their hands gripping daggers or sabers.

Among so many pairs of golden eyes, only Manstein's were the brightest. There was no confusion, hesitation, or similar emotion in his gaze; it was as if he had known all along that Chen Lai would come.

Pskov uttered not a word. The moment he delivered Chen Lai into the command post, he whipped around and left. They had already agreed beforehand—now it was time for Chen Lai to shine!

Spirit: *Monarch's Flame*!

Ancient and solemn dragon language spilled from Chen Lai's lips. The surrounding air was instantly heated to an indescribable, terrifying temperature. Reflected within the golden eyes of the Prosen half-breeds, the extreme heat even caused the air to warp and distort.

Chen Lai bared his sharp teeth, forced a grimace, and the dragon language came to an abrupt halt.

The next second, the superheated air rapidly expanded before violently collapsing inward. A cataclysmic explosion that seemed to split the heavens and earth swept clean everything inside the command post!

The shockwave brushed against golden eyes, and the scorching heat seared the Prosen!

"It's all over," Chen Lai panted slightly. Before his eyes, black dragons with wings draped in white bones began to appear—the precursors to his consciousness being assimilated by a Ghoul.

"I truly never imagined that you would actually embark on the Path to Godhood, and walk this far."

Amidst the flames, a tail entered Chen Lai's field of vision. It possessed reptilian characteristics, its fine scales chillingly cold, and the wind stirred by its sweep was enough to extinguish the fire.

Chen Lai stared in shock as that tail swept away the *Monarch's Flame*, and a ferocious dragon head emerged from the billowing black smoke left in the wake of the extinguished fire.

Chen Lai could understand the words Manstein spoke. He was speaking in the language of dragons!

Dragon speech *is* Spirit. Their power resides within their words, akin to sages whose spoken decrees become reality.

Or perhaps, the ancient prophets, sages, soothsayers, and alchemists were merely archaeologists of the dragons' system of knowledge.

The language of dragons flows within blood and genes, shared by pure-blood dragons and half-breeds alike. Because of this, communication between them was entirely without barrier.

"You are a second-generation dragon?"

Chen Lai found it somewhat hard to believe. He had originally thought that Manstein being an S-grade half-breed would be the absolute limit, but he never expected a true dragon!

"A second-generation dragon? A very apt description."

Manstein crawled slowly out of the black smoke. His marshal's uniform had been shredded into ribbons, trampled beneath his claws. A dragon's body is so majestic and graceful, brimming with the aesthetic of violence.

[...]

Chen Lai looked at Manstein, momentarily at a loss for words, his mind in complete chaos.

Second-generation dragons were pure-blood dragons inferior only to the Dragon Kings. The Dragon Kings were first-generation dragons, and their attendants were the second generation.

The only ones capable of commanding the service of second-generation dragons were the Dragon Kings; only Dragon Kings possessed the qualifications to order them.

In the original work, hidden beneath the Three Gorges was a bronze palace housing the dragon attendant, Samson—a second-generation dragon who served the King of Bronze and Fire.

Since Manstein was a second-generation dragon, Ximos must undoubtedly be a Dragon King—an emperor!

"Is Ximos the King of Sky and Wind? Is he Li Wuyue?"

Chen Lai sorted through his thoughts and questioned Manstein.

On Manstein's ferocious, massive dragon head, a remarkably human expression of surprise appeared: "It seems you know much more than I anticipated."

"However, my king's name—how could you vile, mongrel creatures ever be worthy of uttering it?"

At the conclusion of his words, a pale-cyan dragon tail whipped out like a steel whip. The whistling sound of wind tore past his ears, stinging the skin of Chen Lai's face.

He tried his best to block it with his hands, but his hands, already mutated into sharp claws, were severed by the dragon tail in a mere second. Manstein's tail was as sharp as a steel blade, and a half-breed like Chen Lai was simply not equipped to stop it.

"If that's the case, I finally understand why Manstein was the [Mobile Evacuation Point]... A second-generation dragon's heart has got to count as a major prize!"

Chen Lai was sent flying by another tail strike, crashing heavily into the ruins. Fighting spirit ignited within his chest, and once again, he called upon Fushiguro Toji.

"Fushiguro."

"What do you want?"

"Can you make the dragon blood devour my spirit faster?"

"Are you out of your fucking mind?"

"I'm not! We can walk the entire Path to Godhood to its end. The Dragon Kings are all twins; we are one body with two souls!"

Chen Lai struggled to explain. Every little detail in the original story seemed to reveal why the Path to Godhood was so difficult to traverse.

There are six Dragon Kings in total: the Black and White Kings, Earth and Mountain, Sky and Wind, Ocean and Water, Bronze and Fire... Every single one of them is a pair of twins, one wielding dominion, the other wielding might!

And the Path to Godhood is the thorny path for a half-breed to become a king. Since he is to be king, he must possess all the traits belonging to a king!

The dominion and power of a Dragon King must be separated. Upon completing the Path to Godhood, at the very moment bloodline purity reaches 99.9%, one must use a method of division to hand over that final shred of humanity to the king who wields dominion.

"Accelerate! Make the dragon blood boil!"

Chen Lai did not hesitate. Having reached this point, he had no way back!

Manstein crawled out from the rubble. Terrified Prosen soldiers caught in the chaotic battle fired upon him in panic, only to be crushed into paste by a sweep of his tail.

Were it not for the king's command, who would willingly lead these "mongrels" in such a tedious war?

All of this was merely part of Ximos's plan. After regaining the memories of a Dragon King, he discovered the technological potential of humanity. Thus, he transformed into a human, infiltrated human society, participated in elections and speeches, and ultimately became the emperor.

This Dragon King possessed brains; consequently, the half-breed society was turned upside down, and the entire world was pushed completely down a path never before imagined.

On the central battlefield, a man and a dragon stood as though the surrounding clamor and smoke of battle had nothing to do with them. The soldiers dared not launch an attack against them; the mere coercion of their golden eyes was enough to force them to prostrate themselves completely on the ground.

In the distance, the villagers of Kashi Village cut diagonally across from the east side of the bridge, attempting to sneak across. Cossacks who had completely degenerated into Ghouls were slaughtering wildly, tearing apart tanks with their claws and kicking over artillery pieces with their hind legs. The blood of the Prosens was scattered all over the sky.

Pskov panted softly. Activating his Spirit for the third time, he rushed to the eastern side of the battlefield to escort the villagers. On the opposite bank of the bridge, the Rusa army's night raid arrived on schedule.

Artillery fire roared. A dragon and a youth—all the clamor drifted far away. Two pairs of golden eyes locked gazes, and snowflakes tumbled from the sky, reflecting a world of vibrant colors.