156: Another backstabbing

After receiving the order, Feng Qingyi immediately spread her wings and flew toward the bright pearl above that illuminated the entire cave.

As a Divine Beast, she was not rejected by the rules of the Monster Beast World and could safely leave the shadow.

As Feng Qingyi drew closer to her target, the black dragon became flustered just as Su Ze had expected.

It gave up on attacking the others and turned to intercept Feng Qingyi in the air with all its might.

"You little bird, get down here!"

It looked extremely anxious, completely ignoring the others and thinking only of stopping Feng Qingyi.

No matter how much it struggled, causing the thick iron chains to creak as if they might snap at any moment.

But it was always just a hair's breadth away; unable to break free from its restraints, it could only spit Dragon Flame, trying to burn Feng Qingyi down.

After breaking through to a Divine Beast, Feng Qingyi's size had not increased further but had instead shrunk significantly, allowing her to nimbly dodge the Dragon Flame in the air.

Even when she encountered situations she truly couldn't avoid, the golden-red Phoenix Fire would appear on her body, helping to offset the Dragon Flame for a moment before she pulled away.

Her first Nirvana had been achieved with the help of Dragon Flame. Although it was only a faint Dragon Flame on the verge of extinguishing, it gave her a certain level of resistance, so she wouldn't be turned to ashes by a mere touch like the others.

Standing on the ground, Su Ze watched this scene and couldn't help but sigh in relief: "I guessed right. The effect of that pearl isn't just to provide light and create shadows; that's its Dragon Pearl!"

"To prevent this black dragon from breaking free, the person who imprisoned it took away the Dragon Pearl, the source of a dragon's power. Because of this, the black dragon became extremely weak."

"Then, they fixed the Dragon Pearl above to create shadows while also emitting a small amount of faint power to help keep the black dragon alive."

"Using its own Dragon Pearl for the seal... I don't know whether to call it ingenious or terrifying..."

The black dragon was currently relying on the light shed by its own Dragon Pearl to maintain its weakened state, so it would never allow anyone to destroy it.

Seeing that the Little Phoenix had already flown out of its attack range and was about to touch its Dragon Pearl, the black dragon grew desperate.

Amidst its panic, it also realized it had been foolish. Although it had no way to deal with the flying bird, it could strike at her master!

Although the black dragon didn't know what a Beast Tamer was, it could tell at a glance that the array that tiny human used to summon the Golden Feather Phoenix was an unequal array with strong binding power.

With this contract array, if the party in the dominant position died, the other party would suffer extremely serious injuries even if they didn't die.

"Little bird, I don't know why you'd discard the dignity of a Divine Beast to sign such an unequal contract with a puny human, but this is your greatest weakness!"

The black dragon gave up on attacking the Golden Feather Phoenix and chose to focus its fire on Su Ze instead.

It wanted to take out her master before the phoenix could attack its Dragon Pearl.

When Su Ze saw the black dragon lower its massive head and turn toward him, he immediately felt that something was very wrong.

"Is it switching tactics to a base race? Let's see who gets there first!"

Almost at the same time, black Dragon Flame and golden-red Phoenix Fire erupted from the mouths of the black dragon and Feng Qingyi, respectively.

"This is really the end!"

Su Ze wanted to turn and run, but since his strongest beast wasn't by his side, he couldn't break free from the shadows extending from the darkness.

"I haven't gotten my revenge yet; I can't die here!" Su Ze struggled to pull a leg out of the black, sludge-like shadow, but by then, the Dragon Flame was already in front of him.

"It's over..."

Just then, a figure appeared, grabbed Su Ze, and quickly dodged, saying, "What are you dazing off for? Hurry up and move!"

At that moment, Su Ze thought he heard Lin Xi's voice. He looked at the figure with anticipation, but the smile on his face froze instantly.

Because the one who saved him was none other than the traitor he longed to kill, Xiao Xu.

"How could I have mistaken this guy for Teacher Lin Xi!" Su Ze gritted his teeth, completely failing to notice the shadow quickly leaving Xiao Xu's body.

Just as Su Ze dodged the attack, Feng Qingyi's flames also landed on the black dragon's Dragon Pearl.

Although it didn't cause any substantial damage, it caused the light it shed to dim significantly, down to about half its original brightness.

Deprived of half the light, the black dragon instantly became much weaker, its head drooping listlessly.

Not far away, Tanaka Mori's joyful voice rang out: "Lord Xiao, come here quickly! The power blocking the Shadow Realm has vanished; we can leave!"

Xiao Xu threw the struggling Su Ze aside and rushed toward Tanaka Mori. Their figures quickly sank away.

Su Ze also shouted to Feng Qingyi, who was still trying to burn the Dragon Pearl above: "Qing Yi, that's enough! Let's get out of here!"

Feng Qingyi gave it an unwilling look and tried a few more times with her claws, but finding that she really couldn't pry the shiny pearl loose, she flew back to Su Ze's side.

Without Feng Qingyi's attack, the Dragon Pearl gradually began to recover its brightness.

Su Ze hurriedly followed the traces left by Tanaka Mori and the other man, using the power of the Shadow Moon Wolf King to open the Shadow Realm and chase after them.

The moment Su Ze's figure vanished, the Dragon Pearl slowly began to recover its light, and the black dragon's aura gradually stabilized.

A thousand years of imprisonment had made it extremely neurotic, which was why it had lost its composure so badly when Feng Qingyi attacked its Dragon Pearl.

It had completely forgotten that its Dragon Pearl was not something a mere juvenile Divine Beast could destroy.

But this was still a disgrace. As one of the rulers of the Shadow Realm, the Shadow Dragon King had been toyed with by ant-like humans.

It let out a furious dragon roar, its brilliant golden eyes seemingly piercing through the entire Shadow Realm.

Not hesitating to consume its precious power, it used an anchor point to leave a mark on the other side of its own shadow.

"Humans, just you wait. The two worlds will collide sooner or later, and I will eventually gain my freedom!"

"When that time comes, I will step onto your land and reclaim all the humiliation I suffered today, a thousandfold, ten thousandfold!"

The roar of the dragon seemed to faintly reach Su Ze's ears in the Shadow Realm, but he didn't care.

Instead, he looked ahead in surprise, for he saw Xiao Xu once again performing his signature move—stabbing Tanaka Mori through the back!