Chương 70: Chapter 29 Part 4

Xuan Ji gripped the iron wheel of the vault door and turned. The heavy metal ground open with a deep, echoing groan, immediately unleashing a heavy, suffocating, bone-dry wave of thermal energy that radiated straight through the corridor. It was a blistering, apocalyptic wave of heat that would have caused an Imperial Knight in full heavy armor to collapse from heatstroke within seconds. Xuan Ji stepped through the doorway and began the long, winding descent down the rough-hewn stone tunnel.

As she walked deeper into the bedrock, the ambient temperature skyrocketed. The air grew impossibly thin and heavy, smelling strongly of sulfur, ancient earth, and burning minerals. She didn't cast a magical thermal ward, nor did she deploy a barrier to shield her lungs. Instead, her Rainment passively synchronized with the environment.

The supreme, unadulterated Yang Qi resting in her Dantian harmonized with the geothermal heat, rendering the flesh-melting temperature as harmless and comforting as a warm summer breeze against her pristine silk hanfu. The narrow tunnel eventually opened up into a colossal, cavernous subterranean caldera. The sheer scale of the cavern was breathtaking. It was a vast, naturally formed dome of blackened obsidian and igneous rock.

The entire lower basin of the cavern was a deep, churning lake of localized, molten magma that bubbled and popped with a thick, viscous rhythm. The molten rock cast a vibrant, shifting orange and crimson glow across the vaulted stone ceiling, illuminating the jagged stalactites hanging high above. Resting comfortably on a massive, flat plateau of solid obsidian that jutted out directly into the center of the magma lake was Lithia. The Ancient Gold Dragon was in her true, majestic, primordial shape.

She was completely breathtaking, a terrifying monument to the sheer, unbridled power of the world's ancient ecology. Her massive, serpentine body took up the vast majority of the obsidian plateau. Her magnificent, overlapping scales were the size of heavy kite shields, gleaming like polished bullion in the volcanic light. The ambient heat radiating from her massive, spiked dorsal ridges distorted the air around her into a constant, shimmering haze. She was not a pet. She was not a domesticated beast.

She was an apex predator capable of leveling entire capital cities and shattering magical barriers with a single, super-heated breath. Curled intimately within the protective, overlapping circle of the dragon's massive tail, resting near the edge of the plateau to absorb the radiant heat of the magma, was her egg.

It was nearly three feet tall, a beautiful, iridescent sphere of gold and crimson, glowing with a soft, rhythmic internal light that pulsed in perfect time with the mother dragon's slow, thundering heartbeat. As Xuan Ji gracefully glided across the narrow stone bridge connecting the tunnel to the central plateau, Lithia's massive, golden reptilian head slowly rose. The dragon did not bow, nor did she nuzzle the Heavenly Demon's hand seeking affection.

Lithia possessed an intellect that rivaled the greatest scholars of the Ivory Tower and a pride forged over centuries of undisputed dominance. She merely lowered her massive, heavily armored snout until she was eye-level with the human woman, acknowledging her presence with a slow, deliberate blink of her vertically slitted pupils.

"The geothermal vent seems to suit your needs, Lithia," Xuan Ji noted smoothly, coming to a stop a few feet away from the massive dragon. She looked out over the bubbling magma lake, the crimson light reflecting in her dark, obsidian eyes.

"It is certainly more secluded than the Silverleaf Plains."

"It is adequate," Lithia's ancient, telepathic voice echoed seamlessly in Xuan Ji's mind. The dragon's mental voice was not just words; it carried a deep, resonant weight, a tectonic vibration of authority and ancient wisdom.

"The ambient heat is natural, uncorrupted by mortal magics. It reminds me of the deep hearths of the First Age, before your kind began to build your fragile stone towers upon the surface."

"Fragile is a subjective term," Xuan Ji smirked faintly, clasping her hands behind her back.

"But I suppose from the perspective of an entity that breathes plasma, most human architecture leaves much to be desired." Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Lithia let out a low, rumbling exhalation from her nostrils, sending a plume of white-hot steam curling into the cavern air. It was the draconic equivalent of an amused scoff.

"Heavenly Demon," Lithia observed, her massive golden eyes studying Xuan Ji with intense, calculating intelligence.

"Since you brought me to this hidden hollow, I have watched through the earth. I feel the vibrations of your Vanguard marching above. I sense the chaotic, dual-natured Qi of the young red-haired child you claim as a disciple. You are gathering fragments of power, but you claim no territory. You sit in the center of a kingdom you do not rule."

"Ruling a kingdom is tedious administrative work," Xuan Ji replied casually, taking a few steps closer to the glowing egg resting within the curve of the dragon's tail.

"I have no desire to sit on a throne, balance trade tariffs, or listen to the petty grievances of minor lords. I am not building a kingdom, Lithia. I am building absolute raw power." Xuan Ji stopped at a respectful distance from the egg, offering the mother the space her primal instincts demanded, and observed the soft, rhythmic glow of the shell.

"How is the incubation progressing?" Xuan Ji asked, shifting the topic away from human geopolitics.

"Has the necrotic taint been fully purged?" Lithia's massive head shifted, her gaze following Xuan Ji's to rest upon the egg. The sheer, overwhelming aura of predatory dominance surrounding the dragon softened slightly, replaced by a profound, unyielding maternal gravity.

"The rot of the Blood Cult is entirely eradicated," Lithia confirmed, the telepathic resonance carrying a deep, satisfying finality.

"When the treacherous Duke held him in the docks, the miasma had begun to seep through the shell, attempting to corrupt the yolk. But the ambient Yang mana you provided when we formed our pact, combined with the pure, deep-earth heat of this caldera, has burned the lingering shadows away."

"He will be born healthy, then," Xuan Ji nodded in satisfaction.

"He will be born strong," Lithia corrected, a fierce, undeniable pride bleeding into her thoughts.

"The mana tides are rising. I feel the shift in the leylines. He will break his shell within the next two moons. And when he does, he will imprint upon this hearth, and upon the auras of those who share this territory." The dragon's massive, slitted pupil rotated slightly, locking back onto Xuan Ji.

"He will know you as an ally, Heavenly Demon," Lithia stated, the words a solemn, binding acknowledgment between two apex forces.

"We are bound by the preservation of this life. When the time comes, the skies of this continent will recognize our pact."

"An alliance I deeply value," Xuan Ji replied, her voice carrying a rare, genuine note of respect. She did not view Lithia as a mount, a weapon, or a subjugated beast. She viewed the Ancient Gold Dragon as a peer, a sovereign entity of the skies, just as Xuan Ji was a sovereign of the martial path. They were two anomalies occupying the same board, united by a mutual understanding that the established rules of the world did not apply to them.

Xuan Ji took a step back, taking in the full, breathtaking scope of the subterranean caldera. The sheer, overwhelming scale of her power base was finally beginning to fully materialize in the mortal realm. She wasn't just a lone, overpowered player wandering a new, unfamiliar map, reacting to the random encounters the world threw at her. She had Evanthe, a Crimson Disciple possessing a dual-element, apocalyptic constitution who was rapidly mastering the art of elemental friction in the dark.

She had an unbreakable Vanguard of elite, limit-broken veterans completely devoted to her cause. She had a master alchemist mapping the biological anomalies of a reality-warping megadungeon just a few floors above. And she shared a stronghold with a dragon whose offspring would soon take to the skies. Somewhere far away in the Nakterngard Empire, a Regressor was likely terrifying himself with geopolitical paranoia, desperately trying to map out a completely broken timeline.

The squabbling nobles of the surrounding nations were undoubtedly plotting their petty border wars, entirely unaware that the Zareth Kingdom was no longer the weak, bleeding buffer state it had been a month ago. And beneath their very feet, the Grand Abyss was quietly, continuously bleeding its biological horrors into reality, testing the boundaries of its dimensional prison.

But as Ming Xuan Ji stood on the obsidian plateau, bathed in the blistering, comforting heat of the magma lake, she felt no anxiety for the encroaching future. She felt the heavy, quiet certainty of absolute control. Let the Blood God Cult reorganize in their shadows. Let the Empires march their armies. Let the Abyss breed its monsters.

"The world above grows restless," Lithia murmured into her mind, sensing the quiet, calculating shift in Xuan Ji's aura.

"The blood in the earth smells of coming war."

"Let them war," Xuan Ji smiled, her dark obsidian eyes flashing with a predatory, thrilling light that promised destruction to anything that dared cross her path.

"When the board is finally set, Lithia, we will not merely play their game. We will shatter the table entirely." Xuan Ji offered the Ancient Gold Dragon a slow, respectful nod, a silent vow between equals, before turning her back on the magma lake, her dark silk hanfu catching the volcanic updraft as she began the long walk back up to the surface.