Lu Mingfei, who had read Dragon Clan before slaying the dragon

Herzog's foot was still firmly on Lu Mingfei's head. He could feel the boy's weak condition. Herzog didn't know who was occupying Zero's body at the moment, but he knew Zero's physical condition better than anyone else. This was a body that was almost worn out, and the guy occupying this body had no power to resist him at all.

But Herzog's face became more and more ugly, because although Zero was a waste, Renata was not. It was not a solution to continue wasting time like this. The children did not listen to Zero and do anything to him immediately because of his deterrent effect. But Renata herself already had the strength to deal with Anton and Jourova. Such strength was even greater than Herzog himself. Renata also made it clear that she was on the opposite side of him. If Renata and he started fighting head-on, the situation would be troublesome.

However, Herzog was not pushed to the end of the road. He still had a trump card, and the weapon of victory was always carried with him.

Herzog took out a pair of black clappers from the inside of his coat. He held the pair of black wooden clappers as if holding high the sacred fire symbolizing God. Herzog looked at everyone in the audience with a contemptuous attitude. The children looked at the wooden clappers in Herzog's hands, some with dull eyes, some were silent, just like a group of drug addicts seeing a deadly but extremely tempting poison.

"Go! Stop Renata." Herzog raised the pair of black wooden clappers and ordered the children, "Use your abilities to prevent Renata from getting close to here!"

The children are still trapped in the illusion of "hypnosis", but they cannot resist the authority of the pair of black wooden clappers in Herzog's hands. They form an impenetrable human wall between Herzog and Zero, and a pale golden light shines in the eyes of each child.

As long as Herzog strikes the pair of black wooden clappers in his hands, he can awaken the abilities of these children. The control level of that strange sound on these children who have undergone pontine splitting surgery is definitely far higher than that of "Word Spirit Hypnosis". No matter how excellent their bloodline is, and even if they possess extraordinary Word Spirits like "Mirror Pupils", it is absolutely impossible for them to fight against more than thirty hybrids alone.

Just before the pair of black wooden clappers in Herzog's hands were about to collide, Lu Mingfei under his feet suddenly burst out with the last of his strength. Taking advantage of the moment when Herzog's attention was distracted by Zero, Lu Mingfei used his head to push away the sole of Herzog's shoe.

Herzog never thought that this boy's body actually contained such power. Maybe Zero's body was indeed riddled with holes and extremely weak, but a person's potential is infinite when forced into a desperate situation... What's more, Lu Mingfei had been killed by Herzog once. This was his last game, and he had no way to retreat!

Caught off guard, Herzog was pushed back a few steps by Lu Mingfei. He stumbled and bumped into the fallen window frame of the church, and icy glass shards shattered all over the ground.

Lu Mingfei rushed forward immediately, not caring at all whether the glass fragments would cut his feet and palms. Lu Mingfei reached his hand into the broken glass on the ground, picked up a thin sword-like glass fragment, and slowly walked towards Herzog.

"What do you want to do? What do you want to do?" Herzog looked at Lu Mingfei, who was walking towards him step by step, holding a sharp piece of glass. He raised the black wooden clapper in his hand and shouted a threat to Lu Mingfei with a look of fear on his face, "I don't care who you are. This is Zero's body. Renata didn't have a pontine split surgery, but I have performed one on Zero. Do you know what this thing in my hand means to someone who has had a pontine split surgery?"

"I know this kind of thing very well." Lu Mingfei looked at Herzog coldly. He didn't care about Herzog's threat at all and continued to walk towards him. At the same time, Lu Mingfei raised the sharp fragment in his hand.

"You forced me to do this! You forced me to do this!" Herzog said to Lu Mingfei viciously, and at the same time he slammed the clapper in his hand. "Your fate will be worse than anyone else's! I guarantee that your fate will be worse than anyone else's, worse than anyone else's!"

"This kind of thing... doesn't matter anymore." Lu Mingfei said in a voice that only he could hear.

At the same time that Herzog struck the black wooden clapper, Lu Mingfei also waved the glass fragments in his hand. At this moment, he was still two arms' distance away from Herzog, and even if he stretched out his hand, he could not touch Herzog's body with the tip of the fragments... But the next moment, red blood gushed out, Herzog's eyes widened, and even the frequency of striking the wooden clapper in his hand slowed down by half a beat.

The blood did not flow from Herzog's body, but from Lu Mingfei's earlobe. It turned out that from the beginning, Lu Mingfei's purpose in picking up the glass fragments was not to use it to stab Herzog... He wanted to pierce his own eardrum so that he could block out the sound of the clapper and avoid being controlled by Herzog.

Lu Mingfei pulled the sword-like glass out of his ear. Sticky blood dripped from the tip of the glass. Then he stabbed the glass into his other ear without hesitation. The red blood gushed out like a gushing spring.

"Madman! You're a madman!" Looking at Lu Mingfei's crazy behavior and cold eyes, Herzog shouted in horror, "You're even crazier than Zero!"

Lu Mingfei threw away the blood-stained glass fragments. He leaned down and got close to Herzog's face. Lu Mingfei's pale and thin cheeks were stained red by two lines of blood flowing from his earlobes. Combined with his eyes that showed no emotion, Herzog felt like he was haunted by a ghost.

"Yakov! Sebastian! Leave Renata alone!" Herzog shouted, his voice shrill with fear. "Zero! Kill Zero! Don't let this madman get close to me!"

Herzog screamed and banged the clapper in his hand hard. In fact, if he wanted to stand up at this time, he could easily kick Lu Mingfei away or knock him down. Zero's body was almost unable to support it, and no matter how ordinary Herzog's bloodline was, he was still a mixed-blood. If he burst out with all his strength, he could easily knock down an ordinary adult man, let alone the extremely weak Lu Mingfei.

But Herzog was really scared by this boy. It was not because of Lu Mingfei's terrible power, but because of Lu Mingfei's desperate aura. Herzog was right. He was an absolute madman. When all the bets were placed, only a madman would be qualified to overturn this gambling table!

The scorching fireball hit Lu Mingfei's back, and Lu Mingfei collapsed unexpectedly. It felt like a sticky gel was poured into his respiratory tract. This was the power of the Word Spirit. Herzog struck the clapper in his hand to awaken the abilities of these children. The order he gave was to "kill" Zero. Yakov and Sebastian's attacks were aimed at killing Lu Mingfei.

Lu Mingfei fell in front of Herzog in pain. His hands and feet could no longer move. His body was already at the end of its strength. Herzog looked at the fallen boy. He clapped his hands and slowly stood up. The expression of surprise had not yet appeared on his face.

Lu Mingfei bumped his head against Herzog's forehead. Feeling dizzy, Herzog seemed to see the dying boy giving him a relieved smile.

"do not die."

Don’t want to die? Herzog was in a daze for a while and still couldn’t react. Why did the boy say to himself “Don’t die”?

Lu Mingfei's vision was blurred, but in the reflection of Herzog's pupils, he finally saw his original appearance... Lu Mingfei, not Zero.

"Don't die." Lu Mingfei said softly. He gave an order to himself and to the world.

Herzog's horrified eyes froze. Behind Lu Mingfei, children like Yakov, Sebastian, and Khorkina were standing still in a strange posture. Renata was also motionless. Outside the church window, the flying snow froze in mid-air like ice crystals, and the disc-shaped moon was still in mid-air... The time of this world was suspended by a strange force.

There was a soft applause behind Lu Mingfei, the sound of footsteps coming from far away, the sound of broken glass being kicked away, and someone came up behind Lu Mingfei, stepping on the mess on the ground.

"It's incredible. You actually did it, brother, at the last moment." A familiar voice sounded behind Lu Mingfei.

Chapter 698 Lu Mingze’s transaction

Lu Mingfei slowly turned his head and saw a boy in a black suit standing behind him, smiling at him.

There is only one boy in the world who has the ability to influence the entire world, always appears at the last minute, and dresses so coolly... Lu Mingze, Lu Mingfei's dearest brother.

Today, Lu Mingze was dressed in black from head to toe. In addition to his high-end black suit and trousers, he also wore a black top hat with the brim folded into distinct layers with a special tool. Lu Mingze wore a pair of black square-toed leather shoes. The toes of the shoes were polished to a bright shine that could almost be used as a mirror. Even the handkerchief in Lu Mingze's chest pocket was a rare black color.

This peculiar outfit looked like he was going to a strange costume party, or preparing to attend the funeral of someone he knew.

"Dare you come any later?" Lu Mingfei gave Lu Mingze a smile that was uglier than crying. "Are you dressed like this just to attend my funeral? If you had come any later, you might have been able to make it before my body got completely cold."

"It's not your body, brother. Even if it's completely cold, it's still mine." Lu Mingze shook his head and sighed, "Brother, have you forgotten that you have always been mine? I lent you my body, and you made it look like this. What else do you have to complain about?"

Lu Mingfei stood up slowly and approached Lu Mingze step by step. When he reached in front of Lu Mingze, he staggered and almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, Lu Mingze quickly supported him.

Lu Mingfei put his face close to Lu Mingze, and the distance between them was so close that they could almost kiss each other with just a little bit of lips touching... But Lu Mingfei certainly didn't want to kiss Lu Mingze, nor did he forget what Lu Mingze looked like for too long and wanted to see his face, which was more delicate than a girl's. Lu Mingfei wanted to look into Lu Mingze's eyes.

To be precise, Lu Mingfei was looking at his own reflection in Lu Mingze's dark golden eyes.

"Finally, this is my own look." Lu Mingfei saw his original appearance in Lu Mingze's eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. "My original face is still the best looking."

"Brother, Herzog must have kicked your head, so you're talking nonsense." Lu Mingze laughed at Lu Mingfei's words. He pointed at his own face, which was more delicate than a girl's, and asked, "Are you dissatisfied with my face in some way?"

"Not really. It's just that I've been looking at my own face for over twenty years and I've grown accustomed to it." Lu Mingfei sighed. He had never missed his own appearance so much before. "There's a saying that goes, 'A nest of gold or silver is not as good as your own doghouse.' No matter if it's a golden axe or a silver axe, the one that can chop down trees is always an iron axe."

"Besides, your face doesn't have any flaws, but you're too petite, so everything looks a size bigger to you," Lu Mingfei added.

"If you think I'm too short, just say so." Lu Mingze covered his chest and said with some hurt, "I haven't seen you for a while, brother. Your ability to pierce my heart has increased dramatically."

"Hey, what's wrong with your forehead?" Lu Mingfei came closer and saw that there was a not-so-conspicuous scar on Lu Mingze's forehead.

The scar did not look like it was caused by a sharp cut, but more like a blunt blow. The scar was neither deep nor shallow, and could only be seen clearly when one got close to Lu Mingze's face. The edge of the wound had already grown together with the skin near the forehead, and it looked like an old wound from many years ago.

"It doesn't look like a recent injury." Lu Mingfei carefully examined the scar on Lu Mingze's forehead. "But did you have an injury here before? I don't seem to remember it."

In Lu Mingfei's memory, Lu Mingze has always been as delicate and exquisite as a handicraft-grade porcelain doll. If a family gave birth to such a beautiful boy, he would definitely be pampered like a princess. How could such a perfect boy allow such a scar that looked like a defect to remain on his forehead?

"There wasn't one before, but there is one now." Lu Mingze pointed behind Lu Mingfei and said, "This body was just used by you, brother. Don't you know how this wound came about?"

Lu Mingfei turned his head in the direction of Lu Mingze's finger, and saw Herzog lying in the corner with a terrified expression on his face... Lu Mingfei's eyes moved, and he saw the wound on Herzog's forehead that he had just caused. A bizarre guess emerged in Lu Mingfei's mind.

"Could this wound be the one I hit Herzog's forehead with just now?" Lu Mingfei looked at Lu Mingze for confirmation.

"It seems that Herzog didn't really damage your brain, brother." Lu Mingze gave Lu Mingfei an admiring look.

"You mean, this isn't a dream you created for me? This is reality?" Lu Mingfei was puzzled. "Did what I did here change the real world?"

"This isn't a dream, but it's not reality either. I don't have the incredible ability to tamper with history." Lu Mingze shook his head. "What happens here will only affect the two of us. The others involved may have some fragmented memories, but it won't cause a butterfly effect. So don't worry, brother. The situation in Japan is the same as it was before you left. You've been here for a long time, but in the real world, less than twenty minutes have passed."

"What about your ears?" Lu Mingfei looked at the broken glass on the ground. Sticky red blood could be seen on the tip of the fragments. Lu Mingfei suddenly remembered that when he borrowed Lu Mingze's body, he pierced his eardrum with glass in order to avoid being disturbed by the sound of Herzog's clappers.

If the wound on his forehead hadn't fully healed, wouldn't Lu Mingze's ears...

"You're overthinking it, brother. How could I make myself disabled?" Lu Mingze rolled his eyes. "I left these scars on purpose. After all, you and Mai and the others always teased me about how delicate I look compared to the girls. I left some scars to make myself look more manly."

"The scars on Senior Brother and Fen Gou's faces can make them look more manly, but with the scar on your face, I just feel like a porcelain doll's face has been broken." Lu Mingfei said frankly.

Lu Mingze smiled noncommittally. He touched the scar on his forehead, as if he was recalling something, or as if he was covering up something.

"So before the full moon night, if I don't look into Herzog's eyes and say to myself 'Don't die', I will really die in the real world, right?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"Yes, you're already dead in the real world. I can't save you in this state. When your vitality is exhausted, my abilities will also decline." Lu Mingze said softly, "And it's not just a matter of time. The full moon night is just the deadline for your death in the real world. If you accidentally die in this world, we brothers will die together."

"It sounds like there are many dangers. If we are not careful, we will die." Lu Mingfei sighed.

"Of course, brother. You said you wanted to gamble your life, so of course I have to put my life on the line to gamble with you." Lu Mingze smiled. "How can you change your fate without doing something crazy? Even for a monster, it's not easy to resurrect."

"Is this the real Black Swan Harbor?" Lu Mingfei looked at the dilapidated church.

"It's absolutely authentic," Lu Mingze said with a nostalgic tone. "It's exactly how I remember it, but I haven't been back for so many years that this port has become a blur in my memory."

Lu Mingze turned his head and looked at the familiar girl in his memory. Lu Mingze took a step and slowly walked to the girl's side.

"Long time no see, little Renata." Lu Mingze pinched the girl's flawless white face. According to the original timeline, the girl's name at this time should still be Renata.

"Her personality is so different now than when she was little. You must have led her astray, right?" Lu Mingfei looked at the young Ling and said to Lu Mingze, "She was such a lively and lovely girl when she was little, but you managed to turn her into an icy queen."

"I swear to God, brother, I only told her to be useful to me. I won't interfere with my subordinates' personalities." Lu Mingze kneaded Ling's face into a dough pancake, as if he found it very interesting. "Besides, we were separated for a while after escaping from Black Swan Harbor, and she was so cold when we met again. It seems that she thinks emotions are useless. If you have too much of them, you will become useless. I don't know how she understands it. Maybe it has something to do with her parents who don't want to recognize her as their own child. Extra emotions are a burden to her."

Lu Mingfei was unusually silent. Everyone has his or her own way of survival. Some people feel that unnecessary emotions can be discarded, otherwise they will not be able to become strong. Some people feel that emotions are the reason and source of their strength. He cannot comment on whether such things are right or wrong.

Lu Mingze placed Ling on the most beautiful chair in the church, then he walked around Lu Mingfei and slowly came to Herzog.

"Doctor, it's been a long time since I last saw you." Lu Mingze smiled at Herzog.

Herzog still maintained that terrified expression, his pupils widened, and at first glance it looked as if he was frightened by the sight of Lu Mingze.

"Unfortunately, brother won and you failed to kill him, so I can only attend your funeral." Lu Mingze took off his black top hat and bent down to put it in front of Herzog.

Lu Mingfei quietly watched everything Lu Mingze did. What Lu Mingze said was right, because Herzog didn't kill him, then he would kill Herzog, and only one of them could survive. Lu Mingze was indeed wearing this outfit today to attend the funeral, but not necessarily Herzog's. Maybe he was commemorating the Black Swan Port that disappeared from the world and his past, maybe he was commemorating Yakov, Sebastian and Khorkina, the children who were burned to death in the fire, or maybe he was recalling the black snake that visited the Black Swan Port every full moon night.

After doing all this, Lu Mingze slowly came to the window of the church. The white and desolate glow from the full moon in the sky sprinkled on the ice field and snow-capped mountains. The ice field was devastated and blood flowed like a river. The bodies of the soldiers were blown to pieces like rags, and in the middle of them lay a hundred-meter-long dragon skeleton.

It was a black skeleton, the front half of the skeleton was covered with iron-black scales, and the back half was just dry bones riddled with holes. The huge bony wings drooped weakly. This was not a snake, but a real dragon, a former king. However, the gold in its pupils was dim to the extreme at this moment, and most of the life had already flowed away from its weak body.

Lu Mingze looked at the scene in his memory, everything was familiar, but there was no excessive emotion in his eyes, just like a king who had experienced thousands of years of wind and frost. In his eyes, the changes in things and people over the past few decades were not worth mentioning, because his life was too long, he couldn't count how many decades there were, and he didn't know how many people he had met. The long river of time had long washed his heart as hard as iron.

"So why Black Swan Harbor?" Lu Mingfei was standing behind Lu Mingze. He looked at the same scenery as Lu Mingze and asked softly, "Did you send me here so that you could see the scene in your memory again?"

"I didn't send you here, brother. You came here on your own." Lu Mingze shook his head and said to Lu Mingfei, "Herzog has drained all the blood from your body. I am powerless to save you. Only you can save you... As for why it is Black Swan Port."

"Brother, have you heard of the Buddhist concept of cause and effect?" Lu Mingze asked softly. "Actually, the Bible also mentions that the beginning and end of a thing are inevitable. If the current situation in Japan is the 'effect,' then the 'cause' was sown by Herzog, you, and me, and Black Swan Harbor is where it all started."

"Or to put it more simply, brother, you can think of this world as a dungeon game. You're already dead in the main world, so you have to rely on this world to earn resurrection coins." Lu Mingze gave an analogy, "But this dungeon has a time limit. The night of the full moon is the end. If you miss this time, you're dead in the main world. And this dungeon has no save files, no progress bar, and no loading screen. If you die, you're gone."

"That sounds like hellish difficulty," Lu Mingfei said. "Have I cleared this dungeon?"

"Of course, haven't you already told yourself 'don't die'? Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to see me," Lu Mingze said. "But now you've only earned resurrection coins. The boss in the main world has already grown to god-level, and it's still feeding on your experience. Even if you're resurrected, it'll barely be epic-level. Between epic-level and god-level, there are still two levels between heroic and legendary. Even if you have full buff stacks, you won't have a chance to get past them, and you won't get a second chance at resurrection coins."

"Then according to your role in the game, you should be a system assistant or a black market merchant, right?" Lu Mingfei asked tentatively, "I can trade with you, right? Haven't you always wanted to trade with me?"

"Of course we can trade. A quarter of my life in exchange for your advancement to Legendary." Lu Mingze snapped his fingers. "Climbing two major levels in one go, that's a fantastic deal."

Chapter 699 Resurrection at Hongjing

"Your descriptions are too abstract. What are epic, heroic, legendary, and god-level?" Lu Mingfei complained to Lu Mingze, "There has to be a standard for these levels, right?"

"Okay, okay, that's my question, brother. Let me give you an example." Lu Mingze explained to Lu Mingfei, "The representative figure of the epic level is probably your principal, Hilbert Jean Ange. Of course, I'm talking about Ange in his normal state. Chu Zihang after his 'Blood Rage' is probably also able to reach the epic level. As for the Genji brothers, they are probably the upper limit of this level."

"Where is the boss?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"Caesar is far from it. Even if he's 'Blood Rage', he's still a ways off from this level. He's at best the ceiling of the Elite level." Lu Mingze shook his head and said to Lu Mingfei, "You can think of it this way: 'S' level is the lowest threshold for the Epic level. If your bloodline rating doesn't reach 'S' level, you can't even compare to a third-generation dragon. How can you be called Epic?"

"You have quite strict requirements." Lu Mingfei looked at Lu Mingze sideways.

"I'm just giving an example. Thousands of years ago, the class divisions among dragons would have been even stricter than this," said Lu Mingze.

"What about the heroic level?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"The second generation of dragons has the lowest threshold. At least those kings who have held titles or posthumous titles in dragon history are the best at this level." Lu Mingze added, "Oh, and by the way, there are also hybrids who can reach this level. The ones you are most familiar with are Uesugi Eri and Uesugi Yue."

Lu Mingfei nodded. Lu Mingze's statement was very pertinent. Eiry and Uesugi Yue were indeed worthy of such an evaluation. In the nearly 100 years of recorded history of mixed-bloods, Eiry and Uesugi Yue's strength were undoubtedly at the peak of their powers. Of course, the premise was that we had to put aside the case of Menech Cassel who possessed a world-destroying level word spirit.

"The four legendary kings are the kings of bronze and fire, earth and mountains, sky and wind, ocean and water. Their very existence is legendary. The power of each of the four kings when fully awakened can easily overthrow any mixed-blood organization in the world." Lu Mingze glanced at Lu Mingfei. "If you trade a quarter of your life, I can give you this level of power. At that time, you will have the power to rival any king."

"Can you defeat Herzog?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"Of course... no!" Lu Mingze shook his head. "What are you thinking? I've already told you that Herzog is now god-level."

"Can those three heroes kill a god-level?" Lu Mingfei pressed. "I mean, if I, Old Tang, and Xia Mi are included, are we enough to take down Herzog?"

"The probability is very small." Lu Mingze shook his head. "The gap between any two of the levels I mentioned is huge, let alone the god level. Although Herzog has only just touched the threshold of the god level, he and the Dragon King are already two different levels of creatures. The dragon king cannot kill a 'god'. The only one who can kill a 'god' is another 'god'... or a demon."

"Do you mean that Herzog has surpassed ordinary Dragon Kings?" Lu Mingfei frowned slightly.

Lu Mingfei remembered that in the dream story, the power he gained by exchanging a quarter of his life with Lu Mingze was already comparable to Herzog. Although he finally killed Herzog with the help of space-based kinetic weapons, the gap was by no means as big as the legendary and god-level that Lu Mingze said now. It was not so big that the combat power of three Dragon Kings could not pull it down from the altar.

"Need I say more? Isn't this all your fault, brother?" Lu Mingze's face was filled with a hint of resentment. "You had Old Tang and Xia Mi use their blood to awaken the Yamata-no-Orochi early. That's the blood of two Dragon Kings. And if that wasn't enough, you even used yourself as a vessel, using Uesugi Yue's purest 'Royal Blood' as nutrients for the 'Sacred Remains'. You've practically maxed out all the buffs for Herzog, and fed him unlimited experience. I can only say, brother, you're truly way ahead on the road to self-destruction."

Lu Mingfei opened his mouth but couldn't utter a word because he couldn't refute Lu Mingze's words. He didn't expect that all these factors would make Herzog a god-level enemy, but since he was the one who created the mess, it should be his responsibility to clean it up anyway.

"But Herzog isn't completely unkillable. I told you, even if he becomes a 'god,' as long as you reach the same level as him, you'll have a chance to kill him... Besides, Herzog is nowhere near the real White King. At best, he's just a pseudo-'god' with a half-assed glimpse of the throne." Lu Mingze reminded Lu Mingfei, "Brother, do you remember when I told you that this world is like a dungeon? Why do you go through dungeons when you play games?"

"Get achievement points? Get additional rewards?" Lu Mingfei asked tentatively.

"Yes, no one would spend time, energy, or even spend money to go to a dungeon just to play one more level and kill time. The purpose of playing a dungeon is definitely to get rewards." Lu Mingze nodded.

"Isn't the reward resurrection coins?" Lu Mingfei asked. "I'm already dead in the main storyline world, and this dungeon is for my resurrection. Isn't that what you just said?"

"Yes and no." Lu Mingze shook his head slowly. "It's not just about reviving you. That's just the basic reward for the dungeon, but dungeons usually have hidden quests. Completing these quests can give you unexpected hidden rewards."

"Hidden mission? Hidden reward?" Lu Mingfei was stunned.

"Do you remember what I told you?" Lu Mingze said.

"You mean... the two things I lost?" Lu Mingfei reacted immediately.

"So you found it, brother?" Lu Mingze asked softly.