He Yuzhu returns in Siheyuan

"Lord Xuan Chen." Wang Ran bowed respectfully, fine beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

"Do you know your crime?" Elder Xuan Chen's voice was not loud, but it struck Wang Ran's heart like a heavy hammer. "Half an hour! You wasted a whole half an hour! If it weren't for the hunter's timely report, we probably wouldn't have even seen the dragon's shadow!"

Wang Ran's lips moved, but he couldn't utter a single word of explanation. He was indeed wrong—when he received the news, he thought the hunter was seeing things, believing it was just a large python, until he heard the dragon's roar and panicked, but by then it was too late.

"Please calm down, sir." The head of Baicaotang quickly tried to smooth things over. "Inspector Wang is just being cautious. After all... dragons haven't appeared in the human world for a thousand years."

"Caution?" Elder Xuan Chen sneered, slamming his cane on the ground, causing the bluestone slab to crack instantly with spiderweb-like patterns. "According to the earliest hunters, there were originally three dragons! One crimson one has long since disappeared, and the remaining two, the golden and blue ones, have also hidden in the mist! If Wang Ran had sealed off the forest immediately, all three dragons might have been able to survive!"

These words were like a bucket of cold water poured over everyone's heads. Three dragons! If they could capture even one, skin it, and refine it into a magic weapon or elixir, it would be enough to make a sect prosper for a thousand years! A collective gasp of regret rose from the crowd, and many people looked at Wang Ran with resentment.

Wang Ran's face flushed red and then paled, his nails digging deeply into his palms. How could he not know what he had missed? Dragon blood could cleanse the marrow and strengthen the meridians, dragon scales could be used to refine defensive treasures, even a single dragon scale could have advanced his cultivation further... But now it was too late to say anything.

"Enough." Elder Xuan Chen softened his tone upon seeing his dejected appearance. "Now is not the time to assign blame. Issue the order to seal off the area within a hundred miles of the forest. No one is allowed to enter without authorization." He looked up at the rolling white mist, a glint of fervor in his eyes. "Dragons are the most proud creatures. They may not leave if disturbed. We'll stay here and guard it. I refuse to believe they can stay in the mist forever."

The sunlight, like gold foil shattered by a tremendous force, struggled to penetrate the thick, cotton-like clouds, casting dappled patterns of light on the damp ground, barely illuminating the tense faces of the cultivators. Each person's expression was as if tempered by ice, their brows furrowed with an unyielding solemnity, their knuckles white as they gripped their magical artifacts, even their breathing carried a cautious, suppressed intensity—the misty forest ahead remained like a silent, lurking beast, the billowing white mist thicker than before, wisps clinging to the dark tree trunks, like the beast's breath, silently mocking the intruders' greed-driven delusions.

Wang Ran stood at the head of the group, his grip on the sword at his waist so tight it was burning hot, the tassel twisted into a knot in his palm, causing a sharp pain. Only one thought pounded in his mind—no matter what, he couldn't afford another mistake this time. If he hadn't naively believed the words spoken in the tavern that morning and recklessly led the group deep into this forbidden area, he wouldn't have lost three junior brothers, their bodies not even brought back intact. Now he had to salvage something tangible from this fog, even if it was just a piece of dragon-infused scale or a drop of congealed dragon blood, to atone for today's mistake. Otherwise, back at the sect, the salt-soaked rattan cane discipline would not spare him, the leader of the group.

He kept his head down, his bangs obscuring his eyes, barely daring to breathe. The old man in the gray robe's angry shout had still made his eardrums buzz, as if countless bees were swarming inside. He was afraid that uttering even a single word now would invite an even harsher rebuke, and that gaze was like a knife, sending chills down his spine.

The gray-robed elder leaned on his carved cane, the tip of which pricked small dents in the muddy ground, each strike feeling like a blow to everyone's heart. He knew this wasn't the time to lose his temper; the Misty Forest was treacherous, and the human cultivators were already at a disadvantage. Internal strife would only worsen the situation. He took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and softened his tone as he looked at Wang Ran: "Tell me, what's the situation now? Where did you first discover traces of the dragons? What's unusual about the dragon energy in that area? Are they young dragons or adult dragons?"

Only then did Wang Ran dare to raise his head, his face full of embarrassment—he himself was completely bewildered and had no idea how to explain it. He abruptly turned to look at the lean cultivator behind him, the team's most skilled tracker, and couldn't help but shout sternly, "What exactly happened? Tell me everything you saw and heard, without missing a single word! If you hide anything, you'll regret it!"

The scout trembled at his shout, quickly stepping forward, bowing deeply, his voice trembling uncontrollably: "Sir, we...we also heard from some traveling merchants at a tavern in a neighboring town three days ago that there were dragon roars and golden light shooting into the sky deep in the Misty Forest at night, which they guessed meant that dragons had appeared. We thought that dragons were a treasure trove; their scales could be used to forge magical artifacts, their tendons could be used to make bowstrings, and even their blood could help cultivators break through bottlenecks, so...so we brought our brothers here overnight. But when we got here, we found that the golden light had long since dissipated, and we only managed to feel some residual dragon energy at the edge of the forest. We followed the trail for a long time before we were sure that they had run into this thick fog."

He paused, swallowed hard, the sound of his Adam's apple bobbing clearly in the silence, and continued, "The brothers figured that since we'd come all this way, we couldn't leave empty-handed. Later, we found bloodstains by the stream, dark red, mixed with dragon energy in the water. Judging from the amount of blood and the concentration of dragon energy, we estimated that they were two wounded dragons, and their injuries were quite severe. Everyone felt that this was a godsend, and wounded dragons were easier to capture than nothing, so... so we sent a team in to investigate, thinking that we could keep them occupied for now, and then we could join forces to take them down when you arrived with the main force, sir."

At this point, the scout's voice began to tremble, as if he had recalled some horrific scene, and his face turned ashen: "But...but no one expected that the brothers who went in would only be...but only their corpses were thrown out within half an hour. They were all torn apart by sharp claws, and the edges of their wounds still bore the scorch marks of dragon energy. Their deaths were...their deaths were extremely gruesome."

Wang Ran's face instantly turned deathly pale, even more so than the scout's. He knew that there were two experts in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage among that group; ordinary demonic beasts couldn't even get close to them, yet they didn't even have the power to fight back? He couldn't help but take two steps forward, staring at the churning white mist, his palms sweating—the situation was far more troublesome than he had expected. This wasn't an injured dragon at all; it was clearly a lurking ferocious beast.