Chapter 153: Long Time No See

High above in the boundless sky, winds and clouds surged. The night was as dark and still as ink, so thick it seemed impossible for the gloom to disperse.

The Sovereign of Monsters hovered in mid-air, hands clasped behind his back, clad in purple armor with long hair fluttering in the breeze. He looked entirely out of place in the modern metropolis of the capital.

Though it was the deep of night, the Sovereign of Monsters' purple eyes reflected a brilliant, radiant sun, as if the dawn were rising. It was as though a deity was stepping upward into the heavens, pace by pace!

A look of astonishment flickered in the Sovereign's eyes—a mix of appreciation, envy, and a touch of cautious reserve.

"Great Xia, Yezong."

The Sovereign of Monsters slowly uttered the name.

A name that commanded awe across the four seas.

The President of the Great Xia Dreamweaver Association, one of humanity's ceiling-level powerhouses... Yezong.

Yezong was dressed in blood-red robes, ascending into the sky step by step. Strapped to his back was a sword case, a blood-hued case that seemed to ooze blood incessantly.

As he climbed higher into the sky, the air between heaven and earth seemed filled with the surging, boiling stench of blood!

The Sovereign of Monsters, clad in his purple armor, watched Yezong calmly.

Yezong hovered above the capital, facing the Sovereign from afar.

"Heavenly Monster, Sovereign of Monsters..."

Wearing wire-rimmed glasses, his gray hair fluttering in the nocturnal sky, Yezong indifferently called out the Sovereign's name.

"In the dead of night, entering the borders of Great Xia, what is your purpose?" Yezong asked.

The sword case strapped to his back was trembling continuously, as if the roars and growls of a sword's resonance were leaking from within.

It was an eager, restless intent for battle, coupled with a fiercely boiling murderous aura!

Hum...

Their eyes met.

In the next instant, the environment around both figures changed. Time and space seemed to twist, shifting from reality to illusion as the two entered the dreamscape to clash!

Boom!

Clad in his purple armor, the Sovereign of Monsters chuckled softly and took a step forward.

Instantly, the earth shook and mountains quaked.

Within the dream world, the highways below began to disintegrate one after another, the ground splitting and mountains collapsing. A pitch-black fissure, resembling a bottomless abyss, spread rapidly toward the direction of the capital!

Yezong kept his hands hidden inside the wide sleeves of his blood-red robe.

Seeing the Sovereign's probing move, he smiled faintly.

He raised his hand.

It was as though a blood-red sword pierced through heaven and earth. With a single lift of his hand, he grasped the blade and thrust it fiercely down toward the earth.

A gigantic sword projection slashed down from the ten-thousand-foot-high sky, acting like a colossal shield that protected the entire capital city.

The sword light soared into the heavens!

The sky was split open with a massive fissure, as if the entire dream world had been cleaved in two.

The blood-red light and the purple energy orb collided in the night sky, crashing together like mutually incompatible liquids.

Boom!

The dream world shattered.

Everything returned to normal, peaceful and serene.

The two supreme powerhouses, suspended high in the boundless sky and facing each other from afar, had just engaged in a clash that felt no more real than a fleeting dream.

In the real world, nothing had changed at all.

Heaven and earth grew quiet.

The two gazed at each other across the distance.

After a long while, Yezong spoke indifferently, uttering a single word.

"Withdraw!"

The Sovereign of Monsters, enveloped in his purple armor, hovered in the air. His purple eyes were unfathomably deep and filled with immense caution.

Yet, Yezong's double pupils seemed even more bizarre, as if they could see through ten thousand miles of the galaxy.

"Yezong, I need to take them away," the Sovereign said.

Yezong's double pupils were profound, flashing with an eerie blood-red light.

"You know what I'm talking about."

The Sovereign smiled.

With his Eyes of Insight, many things within Great Xia were difficult to hide from Yezong, let alone an incident that occurred right during a mission issued by Yezong himself.

Among the people who had come out of Jiangling City, there were certainly individuals that Yezong had his eyes on.

After all, that young man who had brought the Divine Core Organization to a crushing defeat seemed to be among their ranks.

Therefore, the Sovereign of Monsters was certain Yezong understood what he meant.

"So, what exactly are you trying to say?"

"Stop beating around the bush and dropping hints. Just spell it out, and I might actually agree," Yezong said calmly.

The smile on the Sovereign's face gradually faded.

"A few of the Heavenly Monster Dragon Kings under my command were ignorant and ended up captured and arrested. I wish to take them back so they can reflect on their actions behind closed doors. Lord President, is that acceptable?" the Sovereign asked.

The corners of Yezong's mouth curved slightly upward. Looking at the Sovereign, his double pupils revealed a hint of a smile.

"No."

His refusal was crisp and direct, without the slightest hesitation or拖泥带水 (dragging of feet).

The Sovereign of Monsters: "..."

Then why did you tell him to spell it out in the first place!

He even said he "might agree," yet there wasn't a single shred of hesitation.

They were both top-tier powerhouses, for goodness' sake—couldn't they have a bit more sincerity and a little less trickery?!

The atmosphere suddenly fell silent.

Though a vast distance separated them, the air seemed to grow scorchingly tense.

After a long while, the Sovereign of Monsters closed his eyes.

"So be it."

"Sorry to have disturbed you," the Sovereign said indifferently.

He chose not to use brute force to rescue the Gold Dragon King, Red Dragon King, and Black Dragon King.

He shook his head. "It was the recklessness of those fools. Since they have been captured and imprisoned in the Nightmare Prison, let it be their punishment."

"I've troubled Lord President," the Sovereign added.

Yezong raised an eyebrow.

Then, he watched as the Sovereign of Monsters stood with his hands behind his back. His purple armor seemed to shiver slightly as he stretched out a foot and tapped lightly against the empty air.

The air trembled abruptly, sending out ripples like a pebble dropped into a calm lake.

The dark night seemed to turn purple for a fraction of a second.

In the blink of an eye, the Sovereign's figure darted far away into the night sky.

Like a teleportation, flashing a few times across the void, he vanished completely from Yezong's field of vision.

The Sovereign of Monsters of the Heavenly Monster Organization... had retreated.

He left as quietly as he had come, without taking away even a single cloud.

Yezong stood in a daze for a moment. "He's really gone?"

He had assumed they were going to fight; he had even got his emotions all prepared...

And yet, the Sovereign of Monsters had simply run away.

One of the top-tier powerhouses in the entire world had entered Great Xia just to exchange these few rambling sentences?

He wanted to reclaim his people, but when Yezong said no, he just slipped away...

Was he really that easy to talk to?

Frowning slightly in the ten-thousand-foot-deep sky, Yezong's double pupils remained as deep as the galaxy.

"An enemy who is this calm and cautious truly makes one unable to sleep or eat in peace."

"I would almost rather that Sovereign had been a bit more impulsive..."

Yezong exhaled a breath.

Then, shifting his gaze, he looked down at the convoy speeding along the midnight highway.

"Three Heavenly Monster Dragon Kings, two at the Fallen Nation tier, and one... at the half-step Fallen Nation tier. Is a lineup like this really worth the Sovereign stooping to plead for them and wanting to spring them? There's something fishy going on here..."

"Among these three Heavenly Monster Dragon Kings, there must be one whom the Sovereign values greatly, or at least... someone carrying immense value!"

Yezong murmured softly.

After that, he paid no more attention to the vanished Sovereign.

A smile bloomed on his face.

With a single step, the space around him shattered slightly in an instant.

When he reappeared, he was already standing on the roof of a military truck.

Yezong's blood-red robe fluttered violently in the gale created by the speeding vehicle.

Yet, none of the people inside the vehicles below seemed to sense his presence at all.

Even Cang远 (Cang Yuan), a National-tier Dreamweaver, remained completely oblivious.

...

No, not everyone was entirely unaware.

Inside the cabin.

Du Fang, who had closed his eyes to rest, opened them once more and frowned slightly.

He raised his head, staring upward at the roof.

"There's someone on the roof," Du Fang said softly, his voice echoing inside the cabin.

Zhao Liyin, who had been expanding her domain only to tilt her head halfway through and fall half-asleep with drool at the corner of her mouth, snapped awake with a start and violently lifted her head.

"Brother Du, what did you say?" Zhao Liyin asked.

"Someone is up on the roof, acting cool," Du Fang replied.

Zhao Liyin: "!!!"

"There's someone on the roof?"

"Impossible, how come I didn't sense anything?"

Zhao Liyin's dream-spirit perception expanded outward, surging toward the roof of the truck. However, the very next moment, a terrifying and oppressive weight forced her perception straight back down into the cabin.

"Oh ho! How arrogant!"

Flames surged into Zhao Liyin's eyes!

The Fire God's Spear resting against her long legs instantly spat tongues of fire as she grabbed it.

She kicked the truck door open; the door blasted off its hinges, went hurtling across the ground, and scraped against the pavement, sending a shower of sparks flying!

Hooking the doorframe with her long legs, Zhao Liyin flipped over in an arc and landed on the roof.

However, the moment she reached the roof and saw the blood-red figure sitting cross-legged there, all her fighting spirit seemed to instantly freeze over.

"Ol'... Teacher..."

"Are you peeping on us again?"

"Have you unlocked some new peeping techniques?"

Zhao Liyin was dumbfounded.

She knew her teacher liked to spy on people, but she never expected him to be so brazen about it—sitting right on top of the truck to eavesdrop!

Yezong's eyebrows twitched uncontrollably. Veins seemed to bulge on his forehead like throbbing temples.

What a rebellious disciple!

Yezong flicked a finger, snapping it sharply against the space between Zhao Liyin's eyebrows.

Zhao Liyin was instantly launched into the air, crashing down onto the highway where she tumbled and rolled like a rubber ball, thoroughly battered and bruised.

Inside the cabin, listening to Zhao Liyin's shrill screams like a dog whose tail had been stepped on...

Du Fang couldn't help feeling speechless.

Hearing the screams, coupled with the convoy coming to a sudden, screeching halt, the little assistant Su Xiaoyu woke up with a start.

"Brother Du, what's wrong? What's wrong? Did you beat up Liyin again?"

The little assistant chattered away anxiously.

However, a figure suddenly vaulted into the cabin.

The little assistant instantly froze, as if someone had grabbed her by the throat, unable to squeeze out another sound.

Du Fang looked at this figure, and the figure looked back at Du Fang.

After a long while, Yezong smiled and spoke.

"Long time no see."

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