28: Da Xia made a late move, and the entire squadron was wiped out.

The stone statue had come to life, now indistinguishable from a living person.

Xiao Sheng's strands of hair swayed gently in the breeze, and every scale of the Biyun Flood Dragon shimmered with dazzling luster.

The Biyun Flood Dragon swam around, shrinking its body, and coiled around Xiao Sheng, resting its majestic dragon head on his shoulder as if in a display of affection.

"Is this Lord Xiao Sheng manifesting?"

"Manifesting what? Lord Xiao Sheng isn't dead yet. This must be an avatar he left behind!"

This was the trump card of the Beast Tamer Association, given by Yu Shenghuo to the most trusted Zhao Jin before he left.

As the saying goes, the older, the wiser; he wouldn't truly leave without any defensive power.

With Xiao Sheng's avatar guarding it, the Beast Tamer Association would be the safest place.

After scanning the entire scene, Xiao Sheng, who had come to life from the statue state, instantly understood why he had been awakened.

He even spoke, "No wonder I sensed the power of a divine artifact... so it's a replica kusanagi-no-tsurugi. But even the genuine article almost broke in my hands."

That was a very dark day for Fusang.

Xiao Sheng, with his Biyun Flood Dragon, had not yet become a Level 100 War God, but he was already Great Xia's brightest new star and a grave concern for Fusang.

So they meticulously planned an assassination targeting Xiao Sheng!

That time, Fusang's only Level 100 War God, wearing the true divine artifact kusanagi-no-tsurugi, intercepted Xiao Sheng, who had not yet reached Level 100, believing it would be a guaranteed kill.

However, Xiao Sheng broke through to Level 100 during the battle, killing the Fusang War God, who was hailed as the reincarnation of Susanoo, above Fusang Island, turning his and his bonded beast's blood into a blood rain that covered the entire island.

He even nearly broke Fusang's divine artifact kusanagi-no-tsurugi, which had been passed down for thousands of years.

Fortunately, at the critical moment, the three divine artifacts of Fusang resonated, allowing it to be preserved.

The heavily injured Xiao Sheng did not choose to take further risks.

Since then, Fusang's global standing plummeted, completely becoming a vassal of America, the powerful nation on the other side of the world.

And Xiao Sheng became the deepest shadow in the hearts of all Fusang people who had been baptized by the blood rain.

Including the Fusang Dark Guard holding the replica kusanagi-no-tsurugi, whose hands trembled uncontrollably.

Clearly, facing the shadow in his heart, Xiao Sheng, one of Great Xia's War Gods, was extremely nervous, but he still pretended to be calm and said, "Indeed, what I hold is a replica divine sword, but aren't you just an avatar yourself?"

Xiao Sheng's face twitched slightly into a smile, looking as vivid and lifelike as a living person: "You have a point. It seems this will be a fair fight. Do you... want to draw your sword first?"

"Hmph... just a mere stone statue, why so arrogant!"

Despite his words, the Fusang Dark Guard launched his attack first, unleashing the full power of the replica kusanagi-no-tsurugi in his hand with all his might.

"Go to hell!"

In that instant, a bloodthirsty and cruel smile appeared on his face.

The reason was simple: this sword light did not fly towards Xiao Sheng's avatar, nor did it fly towards other beasts.

Instead, it shot straight towards the ordinary civilians hiding within the Beast Tamer Association's formation.

"Haha, let's see if you save these people or pursue us!"

He had no courage to fight and only wanted to escape quickly while Xiao Sheng was busy saving the civilians.

But Xiao Sheng's expression didn't change at all, as if he had long anticipated this: "Fusang people... you are indeed as despicable as ever..."

Then, the Biyun Flood Dragon coiled on his shoulder instantly transformed into a shimmering azure dragon halberd, which he casually raised and swung, cutting through the sword light with a later but faster strike.

The azure dragon halberd, carrying the shattered sword light, maintained its momentum, sweeping all the desperately fleeing Fusang Dark Guards into it like a sharp tornado.

In an instant, they were reduced to countless fragments.

However, Xiao Sheng did not, as before, let the Fusang Dark Guards' filthy blood rain down. Instead, he gathered it into a ball and tossed it into a nearby non-recyclable trash can like garbage.

After completing all this, he looked up in the direction of Azure Dragon Beast Taming University and muttered to himself, "It seems they don't need my help there. Perfect, it can also save some energy for this avatar of mine."

Then he returned to his original spot, and seemed to ponder what pose he was in when he first awakened.

But he couldn't recall it, and finally struck what he considered a handsome pose, riding the soaring flood dragon, and transformed back into a stone statue.

Everything happened too quickly; it wasn't until this moment that the crowd present reacted.

Then they bowed down to Xiao Sheng's stone statue as if worshiping a deity... Meanwhile, Shizuko, alone, also arrived at Azure Dragon Beast Taming University.

After repeatedly confirming with the map in her hand, she entered a dilapidated courtyard.

Next to the courtyard was a large shed, where the smell was incredibly foul, reeking of demonic beast excrement.

This was where Azure Dragon Beast Taming University kept low-level demonic beasts.

Although only Beast Tamers could enter here, some school experiments and student combat training required live demonic beasts.

So, they would raise some low-level demonic beasts, and those that died in dissection experiments and battles would also be sent to the cafeteria for an extra meal.

"According to that guy, he's familiar with everything in the school except this place... the secret we need to find must be here!"

She searched carefully in the courtyard, exploring every nook and cranny, but found nothing.

Time was running out. She didn't know why the volcano hadn't erupted yet, but she figured it must be soon.

Just as Shizuko was growing anxious, her peripheral vision caught sight of a feeding trough in the adjacent breeding shed.

Feeding troughs that are constantly in use usually accumulate a lot of grime underneath, and troughs for feeding demonic beasts are no exception.

However, the trough she was looking at, while having a ring of solidified grime around its exterior, also had a circle of fine cracks on these deposits.

It was as if... this feeding trough was frequently lifted up and down!

Shizuko's eyes immediately lit up, and she moved to investigate. She wasn't afraid of getting dirty as she carefully felt around the feeding trough. Any demonic beasts that tried to come up to guard their food were directly swatted away by her beast, a black snake coiled around her arm.

A moment later, she actually found a depression on the feeding trough.

Pressing down firmly, one end of the feeding trough slowly lifted, revealing a passage beneath.

Shizuko immediately smiled involuntarily, then quickly composed herself and hurried inside.

After descending dozens of steps, she found herself in a deep corridor. A rustling sound came from the other end of the corridor.

She immediately became vigilant.

After stealthily approaching the source of the sound from the shadows, she finally let out a sigh of relief.

It turned out to be a disheveled old man with messy white hair and a bald spot, and a dirty, tangled beard, sweeping with a broom. The rustling sound was the broom rubbing against the ground.

She didn't want to cause trouble and waste time, so she remained hidden in the shadows and bypassed him without alarming him.

Shizuko continued running down the corridor, and soon she reached its end.

A circular platform abruptly appeared before her, but Shizuko didn't find it strange in the slightest.

A golden, wine-glass-like object rested on the circular platform. Looking closer, one would find it filled with a cup of crimson liquid, like fresh blood.

"I succeeded! This is the secret to Xiao Sheng's Azure Scale Snake evolving into a Biyun Flood Dragon!"

"What bloodline awakening? That's complete nonsense! The Azure Scale Snake has no dragon bloodline at all. It obtained dragon blood through experiments at Azure Dragon Beast Taming University, and this... this is dragon blood, true divine beast essence blood!"

She excitedly carefully picked up the golden cup along with the dragon blood, and the moment the golden cup left the circular platform.

The circular platform immediately sank heavily, and at the same time, the entire corridor began to shake violently and collapse.

Seeing this, Shizuko immediately began to flee back at top speed. As for the old man who was sweeping, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Perhaps he escaped at the first sign of trouble," Shizuko thought.

Fortunately, her greatest pride was her speed; the collapsing underground passage couldn't catch up to her. She ran all the way to the surface in one breath, and only then did the passage below collapse with a roar, causing the entire breeding shed to tremble violently, but it could no longer threaten Shizuko's life.

Directly running to the surface in one breath, the passage below then collapsed with a roar, causing the entire breeding shed to shake violently, but it could no longer threaten Shizuko's life.

Even now, she couldn't believe she had actually succeeded.

"Could it... be this simple?" She felt the process was too smooth, almost dreamlike.

"Dream?" Thinking of this, Shizuko suddenly froze.

She looked around; she hadn't heard the rumbling of the volcano for a long time.

She had caused such a commotion at Azure Dragon Beast Taming University, yet no one came.

Even the noisy demonic beasts were now silent, and the unpleasant smell was gone.

The entire world had become silent, windless and waveless, a world seemingly absolutely still, except for her.

At this moment, Shizuko, her face ashen, suddenly released the golden wine cup she had been gripping tightly.

The wine cup fell to the ground and bounced, and the crimson liquid instantly spilled out, eerily staining the entire world red.

"That's right... in such a confidential place, why would they arrange an ordinary, sloppy old man to clean..."

"So, I've been in a dream since then?"

In the still, crimson world, no one answered her.

Meanwhile, a sloppy old man with white, balding hair, holding a hip flask in one hand and a broom in the other, looked at the sleeping woman on the ground and revealed a chilling, rather lewd smile.

He reached out towards the woman's upper body, then picked up the black snake also sleeping on her shoulder.

He forcefully squeezed out its gallbladder, swallowed it, then immediately took a gulp of wine, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed.

The demonic beast black snake, its gallbladder taken to accompany the wine, was casually tossed aside.

The old man let out a satisfied burp and said, "Such a pretty little girl, what a pity... Nightmare, no need to torment her anymore, end her dream completely!"

As soon as his voice fell, the old man's shadow suddenly moved.

It detached from the ground, came before the woman, facing her, then one arm transformed into a sharp, long spike and plunged violently into the woman's glabella.

At the same time, the red world within the dream began to shatter and collapse into pieces.

Shizuko was now slumped on the ground, her face ashen, yet she showed a hint of relief as she watched the collapsing world.

Accompanied by Shizuko's violent twitching in the real world, a moment later, she permanently lost her breath.

The Fifth Squad of the Fusang Dark Guards was originally formed to infiltrate Great Xia and carry out terrorist attacks.

If there were too many people, it would be inconvenient to hide their tracks, so although they were a squad, their numbers were small, and each member was an elite.

But at this point, the Fifth Squad of the Fusang Dark Guards was completely annihilated!