Dragons begin with courage

The scream had barely escaped his throat when Chu Zihang's right foot, like a battering ram, lashed upwards, striking the man's unsuspecting, soft abdomen with tremendous force. The man's eyes bulged out, and he was sent flying backwards in an arc before crashing heavily into the rock wall several meters away, where he lay motionless.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. From the three men's sudden attack to one losing an arm and falling unconscious, another fracturing a bone and flying backward, and another being hindered by his companion, it all took only two or three breaths. Chu Zihang stood with his knife, the tip of the blade as still as a mountain. A few drops of viscous, dark blood slowly rolled down the dark blade and fell into the sand.

Chu Zihang swept his gaze across the battlefield indifferently, as if he had not just experienced a life-or-death battle, but merely brushed away the dust that had inadvertently settled on his shoulder.

"...So strong." Lu Mingfei subconsciously held his breath, his heart trembling.

He knew his senior brother was strong, but witnessing this almost artistic, precise, and violent suppression was far more impactful than he had imagined. It wasn't just a difference in strength and speed, but a perfect combination of honed fighting instincts and absolute composure.

"Bastard! I'll kill you!!" The man who had been knocked back by Os finally regained his footing. Witnessing his companion's horrific state of being either dead or maimed in the blink of an eye, the last thread of his reason snapped. He roared, no longer following any rules, like a crazed beast, charging forward again with his head down.

Chu Zihang's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. He clearly "smelled" the stench of accelerated decay. These people's time was perhaps shorter than Norma had estimated.

"Stubborn and obstinate."

He uttered four words in a low voice, his wrist flicking slightly.

Murasame traced a beautiful, simple, and near-perfect arc in his hand. It was as pure and condensed as a ray of cold moonlight falling from the heavens, as if to slice through the chaos.

It had already passed over his body before he could react.

His charge came to an abrupt halt. He looked down blankly, only to see a thin, red line, barely the size of a hair, silently appear on his chest. There was no excruciating pain, only a profound emptiness, as if his life and strength had been instantly drained. He opened his mouth, trying to utter a sound, but only a mouthful of foul-smelling blood escaped his lips before he collapsed forward, his life force rapidly fading away.

The desert along the US-Mexico border returned to silence, save for the mournful sound of the wind. Chu Zihang sheathed his sword with fluid, natural movements. His golden eyes swept over the wreckage before settling on the last remaining leader of the illegal immigrants. The battle seemed to be over.

"No...no! My warriors! My brothers!" The leader's eyes were bloodshot as he watched his men crumble and die in an instant; the piety on his face was completely replaced by savagery. He violently ripped open his tattered outer garment, revealing his muscular upper body. There, embedded beneath his skin near his chest, was a dark red, pigeon-egg-sized, writhing tumor, its surface covered in bulging blood vessels, emitting a sweet, putrid stench similar to that of the pit they had initially discovered!

"You forced me to do this! Blasphemers, all of you must die!" A twisted expression of fanaticism and pain appeared on the leader's face. He pressed his hands hard against the tumor on his chest and chanted difficult and strange syllables, which sounded a bit like Guderian's shout and Lu Mingfei's chant of "Word of Power" before 3E began.

"He's shouting," Susie said.

"roar--!!!!!!"

A roar far more violent and ancient than before, as if it came from the deepest lava of the earth, exploded from the mine! The entire desert trembled!

Rumble, rumble—!

A huge, ferocious figure burst from the ground. From a distance, you could make out the outline of a Gila monster, but it was more than ten times larger! It was about the size of a bus.

It's quite obvious that these people are related to the third generation of the species involved in this mission.

Its entire body was not covered by simple bone plates, but by thick, heavy bone armor-like spikes, black and red, each spike tip gleaming with a dark metallic luster. Its head was even larger, its snout split open to reveal crisscrossing, dagger-like, pale teeth, saliva dripping down, instantly corroding deep pits into the ground.

Most terrifying of all were its eyes—two clusters of intensely burning, dark golden lava, brimming with endless hunger and primal savagery! The dragon's might emanating from its body exerted a tangible pressure, causing even the viper's bald leader to feel a sudden urge to breathe.

"A monster...a monster!!!" The bald viper leader was so scared that his teeth were chattering. He tried to escape, but he was handcuffed to the pickup truck.

The sky has fallen! My worldview has been shattered!

"A third-generation species, the Hira Venomous Lizard sub-dragon. That's it." Susie looked at the sub-dragon in front of her, which was as big as a bus, and her eyes became serious for the first time. Her hand had already silently gripped the hilt of her sword.

The third-generation race doesn't need to work with these half-dead servants. Rather, the dead servants actually serve this third-generation race, who is their god and the king of the dead servants!

The Hira Venomous Lizard sub-dragon's dark golden lava pupils instantly locked onto the "little insects" below, which exuded an enticing scent of blood and flesh. Instead of attacking immediately, it let out a long, terrifying roar that visibly spread, causing rubble to fall from the sky!

Immediately afterwards, it lowered its huge head, its gaze sweeping over the corpses on the ground and the leader of the illegal immigrants, and finally its eyes locked onto Chu Zihang in front of it. A flash of rage appeared in its dark golden pupils, and then it opened its huge mouth!

Without warning, a dark red, almost black, viscous, petroleum-like venomous breath, exuding a pungent, sweet, and despairing aura, erupted towards Chu Zihang like the floodwaters of the Styx bursting its banks! Wherever the breath passed, the air emitted a corrosive hissing sound, the sand instantly scorched and turned black, emitting blue smoke, and several scattered rocks were mostly dissolved upon contact!

The toxic tide surged like the Yellow River, instantly engulfing Chu Zihang, who was at the forefront!

"President!" Leo couldn't help but growl. Juliet's sniper scope's crosshairs rapidly searched for any potentially uncovered weak points.

however--

Right at the center of that devastating venomous breath, a point of intense white light, like a star piercing through thick dark clouds, suddenly shone brightly!

Immediately afterwards, an unimaginable heat erupted! The air twisted and expanded violently to a visible degree! The sand beneath our feet didn't melt, but instead vitrified, forming a glassy ground that shimmered with an eerie luster!

Word of Power: Lord's Flame!

The high-risk incantation number 89 did not transform into an explosive flame that incinerated everything. Instead, its master used his strong willpower and precise control to compress and condense it to the extreme, forming an invisible force field of absolute high temperature surrounding him!

The torrent of dark red venom rushed into the force field, like cold water poured onto a scalding hot iron plate. It instantly boiled and vaporized violently, making a hissing sound, and turned into large clumps of foul-smelling grayish-white mist, which could not touch Chu Zihang at all!

Amidst the billowing poisonous fog, Chu Zihang's figure slowly came into focus. Bathed in light and shadow distorted by the intense heat, he resembled a god emerging from a fiery hell. Murasame had already been drawn once more.

Seeing this, even the ferocious third-generation creature seemed to pause for a moment, a clear look of surprise and disbelief, characteristic of dragons, flashing in its dark gold lava pupils. A human had not only blocked its poisonous breath but also displayed such pure and powerful fire energy?

"That saves trouble."