Chapter 11: Sword Aurora

Desolate Beast Domain lay along the border between the Crayan Kingdom and the southern Flare Kingdom. Neither nation bothered to station troops on this line. This place was a paradise for Demon Beasts. At the same time, rare treasures and Spiritual Herbs could be found everywhere if you were lucky enough to live long. Legend claimed the Desolate Beast Domain had become so barren, so nearly lifeless, because the spiritual things within had drained the land's heaven-and-earth energy dry. "Ah… thank heavens we didn't fly in too deep," Aurora chirped, practically bouncing with relief on Lucian Lawes's back. "Give it a few more days and we'll be out of this dump!" A full day had passed since the two ended up together. The girl who had once acted like touching a man was a mortal sin lay comfortably against his back, savoring the bliss of having a "mount" do all the work. "Little Sis, shut your filthy mouth," Lucian snapped through clenched teeth. He crawled forward with painstaking care, trying to slip out of the Desolate Beast Domain alive, yet the thing on his back kept speaking out of nowhere and startling cold sweat out of him. "This whole day, if you hadn't been yapping nonstop, would we have run into that much trouble? Listen up. If I die here, I'll make sure I-" He cut himself off, voice turning vicious as he tried to scare her into silence. "I'll make you pay first." He had just barely survived the lethal threat of the Moon-Eating Demon Wolf and other Demon Beasts. The fear still clung to his bones. "Hmph. Stinky brat," Aurora shot back, utterly unbothered. "Do you think I'm stupid? I figured it out. I'm a sword. Sword Aurora. What can you do to me?" Ahead, gray mountains fused into a gray sky, stretching on as if the world had no edge. The air reeked of bones and rotting flesh. Lucian frowned and kept moving. "Half a month isn't much time," he thought, jaw tight. "I have to get out of here, and I have to reach the Fifth Level Dragon Pulse Realm. The family assembly is right around the corner. If I can't get the Dragon Seal… then that damn wedding after it, I won't have the strength to prove I even matter." Aurora spoke casually, as if discussing the weather. "You're only at the Third Level Dragon Pulse Realm. Reaching the Fifth Level Dragon Pulse Realm in half a month, with the resources in your little backwater? That's going to be very hard." Hearing it said so plainly made Lucian's heart sink. He stared at the mountains ahead, and for a moment they felt like walls stacked across his entire life, blocking every road he could take. "No…" Something in him loosened, and his thoughts turned clear. "Mountains exist to be crossed," he told himself. "Half a month isn't even up yet. What right do I have to be discouraged? Dad never gave me permission to quit!" A fierce surge of resolve flooded his chest. Sensing the sudden heat in his eyes, Aurora muttered, annoyed, "What a strange guy…" "Wait," Lucian said, seizing on something else. "Little Sis, you called this place a 'little backwater'? Our Crayan Kingdom has seventeen prefectures. Each one's huge. Take Primordial Spirit Prefecture, where Palepop Town is. There are over a hundred towns like Palepop Town in it." Aurora rolled her eyes. "You're a toad at the bottom of a well. The region you're in is called the Myriad Nations Domain. There are nearly ten thousand small countries like the Crayan Kingdom inside it. And the Myriad Nations Domain is only a tiny slice of the Dragon Sacrifice Continent." Lucian froze, stunned. He shook his head hard. "Little Sis, don't try to scam me. There's no way the world's that big. I've only ever heard of a few neighboring countries around the Crayan Kingdom." "Believe it or don't. Hmph!" His foot stepped on dead wood, producing a faint crack. Lucian ignored her after that. He gathered all his focus and pressed on carefully. Jagged rocks littered the Desolate Beast Domain, and those rocks were the only reason he could keep his body hidden as he moved. From somewhere ahead came waves of desolate beast howls. "Little Sis," Lucian said in a low voice, "there's probably danger up front. If you don't have to talk, don't." Aurora clearly felt it too. She gave a small, obedient "Mm." They climbed ridge after ridge. Half a day passed. When Lucian lifted his head, he saw the distant sky had lightened, no longer weighed down by that suffocating gray. Thin strands of daylight slipped through, and relief flared in him. "Good. That scatterbrained girl didn't fly too far in," he thought. "At my pace, if nothing goes wrong, I can get out in two or three days. But I wasted almost five days already. With only ten days left, how am I supposed to beat Luna Yare?" They continued on. When there was no danger, they bickered and traded insults like it was a game. When danger loomed, both of them fell silent as stone. Aurora's senses were unusually sharp, so whenever they encountered Demon Beasts, they could usually detour long before being noticed. Days passed one after another. Aurora could feel the urgency tightening in Lucian's chest. On this day, she suddenly leaned close and whispered like a thief with a secret. "Hey… I, I smell Mountain Demon Ginseng. Heehee." Lucian blinked, then answered offhandedly, "Smell it? What are you, a puppy? That nose is way too good." Aurora instantly bristled. "Bastard! I'm trying to help you and you call me a puppy? Fine! I'm not helping anymore. Go embarrass yourself at your family assembly. Hmph!" Lucian hurried to placate her. He coaxed and begged for a long while, even calling her "great-auntie," until she finally cracked into a smug little smile. "That's more like it," she said. "Mountain Demon Ginseng is a pretty decent Yellow Tier Intermediate Spiritual Herb. It's not that useful, but it can still help you a bit." Lucian laughed to himself. "This girl's nose is absurd. I have to keep her close." The thought of gathering piles of spiritual treasures made his blood warm. He made a quiet decision then and there. Aurora, excitedly leading him to the Mountain Demon Ginseng, never imagined that one impulsive moment would end with Lucian claiming her for himself. "Mountain Demon Ginseng is a weird spiritual thing," Aurora explained as she guided him. "It's a kind of Spiritual Herb, but once it's aged over a hundred years, it gains intelligence and can move around. It's very hard to find. But it won't escape my grasp!" "This way, this way! We're almost there. Hey, hurry! It's trying to slip away. Over here…" Under Aurora's directions, Lucian chased at full speed. When he surged past a massive boulder, he finally saw it. The so-called Mountain Demon Ginseng looked like a tiny person about a foot tall, its whole body glowing with a hazy yellow light. A thick medicinal fragrance poured off it, stirring Lucian's instincts until his fingers twitched. "This is my key to shining at the family assembly," he thought, eyes narrowing. "No matter what, I'm getting it." With the Stellar Battle Body supporting him, Lucian burst into terrifying speed, shooting toward the Mountain Demon Ginseng like an arrow. He charged into a valley. The Mountain Demon Ginseng was right there- Then Aurora hissed, sharp and urgent, "Hey! Stop! Hide!" After three days together, they had already formed a wordless rhythm. Even with the Mountain Demon Ginseng within reach, Lucian understood that staying alive came first. This was the Desolate Beast Domain, not a place where he could run wild. The moment Aurora said "hide," he rolled on the spot and slammed into a narrow crack between rocks. The instant he slipped into the crevice, the Mountain Demon Ginseng, which had been fleeing with its head down, skidded to a stop. From the darkness of the valley came several beast roars. In the next heartbeat, black shadows burst out, fast as lightning, surrounding the Mountain Demon Ginseng. Heavy breathing spilled from their jaws. There were five Demon Beasts in total. Their bodies were pitch-black, lean and powerful like panthers, but their snouts were long and sharp. Their claws looked like blades. As they moved, dark red patterns surfaced across their hides, and a bloody stench spread through the valley as if summoned from thin air. Lucian's pupils tightened. "Earth Demon Hound…"