Chapter 82: The Serpent-Dragon Emerges Again

Boom!
Under the seal of the five-colored divine chains, the skies of the Nine Void Realm began to melt as the five-colored divine flames erupted.
Within the confines of the divine chains, the flames burned the heavens; the blood-red shadow was incinerated entirely, leaving only a desperate, unwilling scream: "I refuse! In a thousandfold unity, I refuse! I, Blood Ancestor, curse this continent to never know peace. Slaughter and death shall destroy all."
The voice, like that of a demon from hell, echoed through the Nine Void Realm. Then, accompanied by a roar of unimaginable terror, Blood Ancestor’s body was utterly consumed by the divine flames and vanished into nothingness.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of shattering continued; the flickering five-colored chains broke apart, and the Mountain and River King Cauldron exploded, unleashing a terrifying flood that swept through heaven and earth. Storms raged, wind dragons roared, and the space inside the chains collapsed.
On the boundless earth, Luo Hao’s body lay numb and lifeless. Only the dazzling five-colored radiance filled his vision: "Am I truly going to die? What a pity—I still haven’t found Meng Li."
Amidst this terrifying spiritual tempest and the collapse of space, Luo Hao knew his chances of survival were nearly nonexistent. Yet his heart remained fixated on that girl. Perhaps she had only called him brother to save herself, perhaps she had already forgotten him, but that delicate, gentle face still appeared before his eyes.
Whoosh!
"What is that?"
A gusting sound came from the heart of the five-colored flames above, and a streak of yellow light rapidly expanded in Luo Hao’s pupils.
"The Mountain and River King Cauldron!"
Luo Hao exclaimed in his heart; he clearly saw the cauldron had already exploded. In a flash, the yellow light shot directly into his brow.
Buzz! Buzz!
His mind buzzed, and a layer of ethereal yellow light quickly enveloped his body, forming a great yellow cocoon. Inside, Luo Hao could see the tumultuous changes outside—the world seeming to shatter and collapse—but he felt not a trace of spiritual energy from the outside.
Splash!
The yellow cocoon trembled, and a rift tore through the Nine Void Realm. The cocoon, without pause, transformed into a yellow flash and plunged into the void fissure.
In an ancient, eternal forest, the canopy shrouded everything in perpetual gloom, and the soul-shaking roars of beasts echoed as the main melody of the wilderness.
Shhh!
Suddenly, a void fissure appeared in the woods, and a streak of yellow light burst forth. Through the fissure, one could see the other side collapsing, the laws of the void disintegrating, everything returning to nothingness.

The yellow light landed on the ground, revealing a young man whose body was cracked and near death. His form looked like a porcelain doll about to shatter, covered in horrifying fissures. This was Luo Hao, who had escaped from the Nine Void Realm.
He struggled to open his eyes. "The power of the void is truly terrifying."
Feeling the pain inside, like blades tearing at his flesh, Luo Hao instinctively spoke. Though protected by the yellow cocoon, the void’s power was simply overwhelming.
From ancient times, the forces of time and space have been the most powerful, mysterious, and unpredictable.
"I should have left the Nine Void Realm." Surveying his surroundings with difficulty, Luo Hao frowned. Not far away was a pond, and around him stretched a primeval wilderness.
The entire wild forest was steeped in ancient desolation, a place deadly for someone as gravely wounded as he. As for the Nine Void Realm, Luo Hao knew little; he had only learned of it from the words of Thousandfold Unity.
"Roar! Roar!"
A chilling beast’s cry echoed from the wild woods nearby, and Luo Hao’s heart tensed. "Not good, the scent of blood has attracted a monster."
His cracked body continued to bleed, the strong smell impossible not to lure wild beasts. Luo Hao tried to channel his dragon power, but a moment later, a tearing pain ripped through his meridians and dantian.
Splurt!
A mouthful of blood sprayed out, his face blanched. Wiping the blood from his mouth with difficulty, he suddenly shuddered, his gaze snapping forward, pupils shrinking.
Roar!
Between the ancient trees ahead, a massive black tiger stared at him with cruel eyes. Its pitch-black body looked like iron, emanating a terrifying, overwhelming ferocity—not the aura of a mere monster.
Luo Hao’s breath caught. "A third-tier monster, Black Jade Hell Tiger." He was truly unlucky—escaping death only to fall into a tiger’s jaws. Was fate playing tricks on him?
A third-tier monster was equivalent to a human martial artist of the Heavenly Firmament Realm, possessing considerable intelligence. Sensing Luo Hao’s severe injuries and inability to move, the Black Jade Hell Tiger padded toward him.
"Not good, what should I do?"
Watching the tiger approach step by step, Luo Hao panicked. Having faced death once, he had no desire to face it again. In that instant, his mind raced at ten thousand times the speed of light.
"Wait, there’s a way!"
A flash of inspiration, as if grabbing a lifeline—an object the size of his palm, gleaming with a cold light, floated up in his hand.
Looking closely, it was a blue-black scale. Yes, this was the scale gifted to Luo Hao by the serpent-dragon after he had rescued its egg, before returning to the Heavenly Sea Sect.
Shhh!
As the Black Jade Hell Tiger drew closer, Luo Hao desperately flung the scale into the pond behind him. The scale landed, causing a ripple, then all was still.
"Damn it, serpent-dragon auntie, don’t tell me you’re tricking me!"
Before Luo Hao could finish complaining, the tiger lunged, its gaping maw enveloping him, the stench inside nearly causing him to faint.

At that critical moment, ripples appeared in the tranquil pond. A massive water tornado shot skyward, within which a giant, pitch-black form, hundreds of feet long, loomed.
Roar! Roar!
A roar imbued with a trace of draconic power resounded. Relief washed over Luo Hao—it had finally arrived. The huge black shadow lashed out, its tail like a steel whip, sweeping from within the water tornado.
Boom!
A sharp crack of bone. The steel-like tail struck the Black Jade Hell Tiger squarely in the face, shattering its skull and splattering its brains. The huge beast was flung hundreds of meters, dead beyond all doubt.
"Serpent-dragon auntie, thank goodness you arrived in time—otherwise, I’d be finished."
The water tornado faded, calm returned to the forest, and the serpent-dragon’s immense form appeared before Luo Hao.
He sensed that the serpent-dragon had grown even stronger. Though they were both third-tier monsters, the Black Jade Hell Tiger hadn’t survived even one blow—a surprise attack, to be sure, but it seemed the serpent-dragon was close to breaking through to an even greater realm.
Two basin-sized eyes regarded the tiny Luo Hao, but in the serpent-dragon’s cold, reptilian gaze, a gentle warmth flickered. Suddenly, a small creature poked its head out atop the serpent-dragon, and, spotting Luo Hao, its eyes sparkled as it rushed toward him.
Whimper, whimper!
The little creature was just over a meter long, its body gleaming with black-gold, four-legged, with two fleshy lumps on its head. Its small face rubbed joyfully against Luo Hao.
"Hey, Little Black, your big brother’s all battered—wait till I’m recovered, then we can play."
Little Black was the name Luo Hao gave the creature. It stared at him with big, innocent eyes, not quite understanding.
Yes, this was the little being hatched from the serpent-dragon’s egg. Its birth had shocked Luo Hao; generally, the stronger a monster, the longer its offspring gestate in the egg.
But Little Black had only stayed in the egg for half a month or so, and was quite different from its mother.
Roar! Roar! Roar!
The serpent-dragon gently called to Little Black, who promptly scrambled atop its mother’s head. The serpent-dragon glanced at Luo Hao, who forced a nervous smile: "Serpent-dragon auntie, give me a moment to prepare, I..."
Before Luo Hao could finish, the serpent-dragon opened its blood-red jaws and swallowed him whole, then swiftly slipped beneath the pond, vanishing without a trace.