Chapter 47: The Stolen Authority

“No! Impossible! The Divine Race has long ascended and no longer exists in this world. The legend cannot be true!” Luo Ying seemed trapped in a terrible suspicion. Shaking his head, he muttered to himself.

Qiu Ci had originally hoped to extract some information by revealing her identity, but she hadn’t expected such a reaction. Losing interest in questioning further, she strode directly toward the main hall.

“Stop!” Unexpectedly, Luo Ying shouted loudly, his voice filled with agitation. “This is still the main hall of our Immortal Alliance, the resting place of our ancestors. No matter who you are, you must not intrude!”

“Well, I do want to go in.” Qiu Ci glanced at the others on the ground. Each of them was visibly tense, confirming her suspicions. “I don’t know if inside are your ancestors or something else, but I have to see for myself.”

“You…” Their faces changed in unison, clearly unwilling to let her enter. Even Qi Hong and the others sensed something amiss.

Without hesitation, Qiu Ci stepped inside and found the interior empty except for a few chairs, resembling nothing more than an ordinary council hall.

Wasn’t there supposed to be a hidden space here?

Qiu Ci circled around but found nothing unusual. Outside, the members of the Immortal Alliance visibly relaxed, and Luo Ying’s expression shifted as if he had realized something. He glared at Qi Hong and said, “Your Xuanyuan Sect is quite cunning. You all rely on the Divine Race’s relics, so why concoct such an absurd excuse and fabricate a Divine Race? I suppose you’ve also gained many benefits from that forbidden land?”

Qi Hong was baffled. “What is he talking about? I don’t understand.”

“Admit it!” Luo Ying’s eyes revealed he saw through them. “Actually, the Immortal Alliance and Xuanyuan Sect could have a win-win situation without this bitter rivalry. Just tell me what kind of immortal artifact you obtained from the forbidden land, and we are willing to cooperate.”

“What do you mean by that, Alliance Leader Luo?” Qi Hong genuinely didn’t understand.

Luo Ying assumed he had their attention and continued, “Your immortal artifacts are powerful and can even reverse control over our Heavenly Puppets. But in terms of quantity, our Immortal Alliance has accumulated many over thousands of years, and we understand them better. If you agree to end the conflict today, we will teach you how to control these artifacts. How about that?”

“…” Qi Hong was completely lost.

“You mean the method you’re hiding in the concealed space beneath here?” Qiu Ci suddenly interrupted, pointing at the hall’s floor.

“How do you know?!” Luo Ying was shocked, his face turning pale again.

“I want to see how you control these immortal artifacts, and how you steal their authorization.” Qiu Ci commanded mentally. “System, open the hidden space here.”

[Understood, Master! Parsing space… Parsing complete! Master, the system requires assistance from a spiritual energy robotic body to open the space. May I proceed?]

“Proceed!” Qiu Ci nodded.

The next moment, the nearest standby spiritual energy robot instantly transformed into a thick black smoke and flew inside. It then dispersed into multiple spirals within the hall. Suddenly, the entire floor brightened with a dazzling light. Countless magic talisman scripts rose up, and the already dense spiritual energy around them surged, almost becoming tangible.

The spiral spiritual energy robot cluster in the center began to rotate like a key within the magic array, then with a crisp crack…

The space before them distorted violently, tearing open to reveal a doorway-shaped rift.

“This is… Young Master!” The spirit beast Po Xie, who had been following closely, sensed a familiar aura and rushed inside without hesitation.

Qiu Ci was a step behind, preparing to enter.

Suddenly, a piercing roar echoed from within.

“Young Master!”

Qiu Ci’s heart skipped a beat, a dreadful premonition rising. She hurried into the space, only to be stunned by the scene before her. An overwhelming rage surged forth.

Inside the space were countless magic arrays. A mere glance revealed them as seals, suppressions, and binding formations. At the very center was a massive golden egg, radiating dense spiritual energy so solid it seemed tangible. Below it, spirit stones even fell like a spiritual vein.

No—it was a spiritual vein!

The entire eggshell was formed from a shattered spiritual vein, and curled inside was a colossal creature.

A dragon—a Azure Dragon!

Smaller than the one Qiu Ci had seen in the vision by a considerable margin, the dragon was clearly in poor condition. Its scales lacked any luster, tinged with gray as if they might fall off at a touch.

More shockingly, its body was entwined with unclear threads of magic array silk. These threads were embedded deeply into its flesh, tightly wrapping the dragon as if alive, writhing continuously. Bright crimson blood dripped from the threads into the magic arrays below.

“Roar~~~~”

Po Xie unleashed furious roars, wildly biting at the binding threads. But as a mere soul form weakened from the recent battle, it could not sever these magical threads. Yet it did not stop. Seeing it could not break free, it emitted a white light, trying to enlarge its soul form with final strength to rescue the Azure Dragon.

“Po Xie, you’re risking your life!” Qiu Ci was alarmed and immediately ordered, “System, destroy these magic arrays!”

Instantly, the spiritual energy robotic bodies in black mist surged toward the layers of magic arrays. In moments, all the arrays in the space dimmed and the binding threads vanished.

The little Azure Dragon fell.

“Roar~~~”

Po Xie floated over to catch it. Its already unstable soul form, on the verge of dissipating, began to fade erratically as tears streamed down its face. “Young Master… Young Master! Wuwu… How could this happen? People of Blue Star… please save our Young Master.”

“I’ll take a look first. Don’t worry.” Qiu Ci hurried over, then glanced at the others following behind. “Sect Leader, please help stabilize Po Xie’s soul.”

“Oh… yes, yes!” Qi Hong and the others nodded repeatedly, clearly stunned by the scene just witnessed.

So dragons truly exist in this world, and yet… the Immortal Alliance imprisoned one in such a place.

“System, scan the little Azure Dragon’s body.” Qiu Ci examined its aura while mentally instructing.

[Understood, Master!]

A small glowing orb flew to the dragon’s body, transforming into a warm yellow light curtain enveloping the bloodstained creature. The warm light shone on the dragon, and the wounds inflicted by the binding threads began to slowly heal. Yet the little Azure Dragon remained motionless, showing no sign of awakening.

[Beep, scan complete. Target is juvenile, body damage at 71%, currently repairing. Brainwave… huh!] The system hesitated mid-report, then exclaimed in shock, [Master, this Azure Dragon shows no consciousness fluctuations.]

“What?!” Qiu Ci was startled. No consciousness fluctuations meant death. “How could this be? Its vitality is clearly still there. How…”

Suddenly recalling something, she formed a mantra and touched the dragon’s head.

The next moment, she immediately withdrew her hand, eyes wide with shock.

“The little Azure Dragon… has no soul?!”