Chapter 787 - 717: Black Flood Dragon

Chapter 787: Chapter 717: Black Flood Dragon

Tu Xiao’an was a force to be reckoned with. No matter how the Black Swamp churned, his movements didn’t slow in the slightest.

The white pavilion lay ahead. Using Shift Form and Position, Tu Xiao’an leaped inside.

The swamp, however, immediately grew still.

Inside the pavilion, the stunningly beautiful figure still had her back to Tu Xiao’an. She hadn’t moved an inch from the start.

"Who are you? Turn around."

Tu Xiao’an spoke calmly. From the back, she truly did bear a striking resemblance to Luo Ziyun. Dressed in white, her silhouette alone was enough to make one’s heart skip a beat.

At Tu Xiao’an’s words, the woman’s delicate frame trembled slightly as she slowly began to turn.

As she turned, she revealed a face of breathtaking beauty. Her eyes twinkled like distant stars, tinged with a certain iciness. Her entire being radiated a cold indifference that kept the world at arm’s length.

"Ziyan, it really is you!"

Upon seeing her face, Tu Xiao’an was overjoyed, finding it almost too good to be true.

"What are you doing here? I told you we were never to meet again."

Luo Ziyun’s tone was exceedingly cold, as if she were addressing a stranger.

’She won’t see me?’

This actually made Tu Xiao’an happy, as it proved this was the real Luo Ziyun.

"You said you wouldn’t see me, but I never agreed to that."

Luo Ziyun shook her head, her expression growing solemn. "You should leave. It’s too dangerous here."

"I’ll take you with me. We’ll leave together."

"No, my mission is to seal these War Relics. I can’t leave yet," she said.

Tu Xiao’an wasn’t surprised. He replied without a second thought, "You leave first. I’ll take care of sealing the relics. I will fulfill your wish."

He had come for the relics in the first place, but these War Relics were simply too bizarre. The hidden monster had yet to reveal itself, and several High Rank War Gods had already perished.

Luo Ziyun couldn’t be allowed to stay here.

Only when she was gone could Tu Xiao’an act without any reservations.

In the past, she had been strong while he was weak. But now, Tu Xiao’an’s power was far beyond anything Luo Ziyun could match.

Luo Ziyun turned her face away again and said coldly, "I don’t need your help. There is nothing between us anymore."

"Come with me."

Tu Xiao’an took a step forward, giving her no room to protest. He grasped her delicate wrist, pulled her gently, and embraced her tightly. "You can’t let anything happen to you. I still owe you, and I intend to pay you back."

Whether it was how she had protected him in the early days, or how, by a twist of fate, she had saved his mother and sister when Fierce Beasts attacked Bai Town—Tu Xiao’an felt he owed her a great deal.

The debt was too great.

’After thinking it over and over,’ he mused, ’it seems the only way to repay her is to give myself to her.’

Luo Ziyun, limp in his arms, didn’t struggle. "Do you really want me to go with you?" she asked suddenly, her voice as delicate as a willow in the wind, her expression as sorrowful as a spring mountain veiled in rain.

Tu Xiao’an smiled. "You used to protect me. Now, it’s my turn to protect you. It’s just..."

"Just what?" she asked, puzzled.

"...it’s just that you aren’t her. So not only can I not protect you, I’m going to have to kill you." A sharp glint flashed in Tu Xiao’an’s dangerously handsome eyes. One pale hand shot out and clamped around her neck, lifting her into the air in an instant. He let out a laugh. "Vile creature! Still trying to fool me? Caught you!"

Tu Xiao’an’s grip was incredibly strong; he could snap her neck in an instant if he so chose.

"Xiao’an, what are you doing? It’s me, Ziyan!"

She struggled desperately, her beautiful face instantly turning pale.

"Still playing games? If you don’t reveal your true form, I’ll strangle you right now." Tu Xiao’an was no longer the naive rookie he once was, so easily fooled.

’She has Luo Ziyun’s beauty and her figure,’ he thought, ’but she lacks Luo Ziyun’s unique, natural scent.’

’Of course, this imposter’s scent is also very alluring.’

’But the recipe’s all wrong.’

’Besides, given Luo Ziyun’s current state of mind, how could she possibly let me hold her without even a hint of a struggle? So compliant?’

"Xiao’an, I really am your Ziyan."

"I really will strangle you."

Hmm? She froze, her expression shifting in an instant as a terrifying aura began to emanate from her. "You’re smarter than you look. I even made a bet with my master that I could fool you."

As she spoke, the swamp outside the white pavilion began to churn violently, like a stormy sea.

Centered on the white pavilion, the surrounding mud began to roil. The turbulence spread, and the waves of sludge surged higher and higher, a truly terrifying spectacle.

It looked as if it would swallow the white pavilion whole.

Tu Xiao’an ignored the commotion outside, his voice cold and flat. "Are you still not going to reveal your true form? Do you really think I won’t dare to strangle you?"

"Strangle me? Go on, then," she sneered, completely unafraid.

Killing intent flared in Tu Xiao’an’s eyes. He squeezed his hand shut—but as he did, her body deflated like a popped balloon, collapsing into what looked like a mask of human skin.

Hmm?

Slightly startled, Tu Xiao’an immediately spun around to look outside the pavilion. In the Black Swamp, the churning mud was gathering, forming the shape of an enormous, pitch-black monster.

It was impossible to discern its true form; its entire body was cloaked in sludge, revealing only a pair of terrifying eyes.

"My master said either I’d play you to death or you’d kill me. I choose the former," the colossal, pitch-black monster boomed, its voice deafening.

The entire Black Swamp was its territory; every flow of mud was under its command.

The sludge was its cloak.

"Still not going to let me see what kind of monster you really are?" Tu Xiao’an remained composed. With a mere tremor of his body, the white pavilion dissolved into nothing.

The behemoth retorted, "Want to see me? Then show me what you’re made of."

"Dumbass." Tu Xiao’an snorted. With a single thought, a pillar of water erupted around him as his Water Element Ability flared to life.

The pillar of water instantly transformed into a churning Water Dragon that surged toward the monster-shaped behemoth in the Black Swamp.

As the Water Dragon hit, steam billowed everywhere. With a great SIZZLE, the muddy cloak around the monster was washed away, its shape becoming indistinct.

Then, from within the white, misty steam, a sharp SCREECH rang out.

A piercingly strange shriek tore through the air. From within the swamp, the giant monster finally revealed its true form.

It was pitch-black from head to tail—a serpentine monster covered in massive Scale Armor appeared before Tu Xiao’an.

It was snake-like, yet not quite a snake. It wasn’t enormous—only about fifty to sixty feet long—but its body was shrouded in a faint black mist, giving it an exceptionally sinister appearance.

A closer look revealed that the mist was actually a faint glow emanating from its massive, glistening black Scale Armor.

It held its head high, staring coldly at Tu Xiao’an, looking somewhat surprised and ill-at-ease.

It was as if its clothes had been forcibly stripped away, leaving it utterly bare and exposed.

’A Snake?’ Tu Xiao’an was rather surprised. ’The creature that impersonated Luo Ziyun to trick me was actually a Snake.’

’Doesn’t this thing have a death wish?’

’Wait, no.’

Tu Xiao’an noticed that atop the monster’s head, there was also a single horn.

’Holy shit, this is a Flood Dragon! A Black Flood Dragon from the War Relics.’