“Wait.” Seraphine’s cold voice cut through the air.

She stepped forward, taking Echo’s hand as she passed her, then looked up at the golden dragons that covered half the sky.

“You are twin dragons, and two of us entered the underground chamber. You can’t expect her to fight two-on-one. I’ll face you together with her. If we lose, we’ll die together.”

Echo looked up at Seraphine at once. The woman standing in front of her presented a proud, defiant silhouette. Echo pressed her lips together and carefully slipped her hand free, putting on the ring Seraphine quietly passed her.

In the sky, the majestic twin dragons rumbled, “Impossible. Since she alone triggered the restriction, she alone must face the challenge.”

Seraphine laughed coldly. “The Twin Dragon Secret Realm has existed for who knows how long. You two seniors are incarnations of the realm itself, while Xi Lingren is only at the middle Nascent Soul stage. How could she possibly contend with you two seniors?”

Echo clutched a medicine bottle, popping Spirit Nourishing Pills into her mouth one by one. “I’m at late stage now, actually.” she said mildly. She had just advanced today.

Seraphine ignored Echo.

The twin dragons spoke in unison: “We shall lower our cultivation to early Soul Transformation stage to battle you.”

Seraphine nodded with satisfaction, then turned to look at Echo. Seeing Echo was still rubbing her chest, she frowned and added, “I have one more request.”

The twin dragons writhed impatiently in the air, letting out roars. Seraphine showed no fear, narrowing her eyes and shouting coldly, “What’s the rush? If you two old worms lose to her, the Twin Dragon Secret Realm will change hands, and she’ll be your master. Let me tell you—she listens to everything I say. I advise you to show me some respect, or I don’t care if you’re golden dragons or silver snakes, I’ll have her hang the Twin Dragon Secret Realm outside the meditation chamber as door guardians. Let’s see how mighty you’ll be then!”

“Absolutely outrageous!” The twin dragons roared, and the entire illusion’s sky suddenly changed color as thick black clouds pressed down.

Currently, the Twin Dragon Secret Realm belonged to Ink-Trace Venerable, and these two golden dragons’ cultivation was countless levels above Water Dragon’s Hymn. Even Echo, at her current level, would have to dodge when Water Dragon’s Hymn used her full power, let alone these two profoundly cultivated golden dragons.

Seraphine frowned and instinctively stepped back. A gentle hand pressed against her back, patting soothingly. Her heart couldn’t help but settle as she looked up defiantly. “What’s the rush? You’ll see if I dare or not!”

The twin dragons coiled together, surrounded by lightning and thunder, but remained hovering in the air without descending. The two massive dragon heads looked at each other, then spoke simultaneously: “State your request.”

Tch.

Seraphine sneered inwardly, knowing when to quit while ahead. She cupped her hands toward the twin dragons respectfully. “Please, seniors, establish a barrier to block outside observers. If ill-intentioned people interfere during our battle, it would cause unnecessary complications.”

The twin dragons roared toward the sky, and the nearby sky was completely covered by a barrier, with faint golden ripples floating in the air.

The golden dragon bellowed angrily: “Come fight!”

Echo walked forward two steps, then looked back at Seraphine. Clear eyes met dark ones for a moment before she turned calmly toward the front, tapped her toes lightly, and flew into the barrier.

The majestic twin dragons and Echo—infinitely small compared to the golden dragons—disappeared from view. Seraphine’s knees went weak, and she slowly sat down.

Error, coiled around her wrist, flew out and transformed into human form, anxiously supporting Seraphine and whispering, “Master, are you alright?”

Seraphine raised her hand, staring at the platform’s intricate and gorgeous patterns, her mind in complete chaos.

Two early Soul Transformation stage opponents, and they were incarnations of the Twin Dragon Secret Realm itself. Ordinary Soul Transformation cultivators couldn’t compare to their strength, and Echo had just forced out her heart’s blood… Seraphine’s eyes went completely dark as her fingers unconsciously tightened on Error’s arm.

Fire Rock Dragon skin is tough, so Error felt no pain from the grip. Seeing Seraphine’s pale face, Error tried patting her back like Echo would and said, “Don’t worry, Master. The Orb is very powerful. Didn’t you see the sword technique she used today? Very impressive—she directly broke through the barrier trapping you!”

But hearing this didn’t reassure Seraphine; it made her feel more guilty. “I regret this…” she said quietly.

It was true that she couldn’t protect Qiu Shuangshuang and had her leave with Water Dragon’s Hymn, but it was also true that she just wanted to be alone with Echo. That was her selfish desire, and if her selfishness ended up harming Echo—

Her eyes reddened as she stared fixedly at the ground. Sensing Seraphine’s emotional distress, Error quickly called out, “Master, don’t worry! The Orb will definitely be fine!”

Seraphine remained silent, leaning against Error and stubbornly staring ahead. Error scratched her face and transformed back into her true form, coiling around Seraphine.

⁂

Inside the barrier, wind and clouds trembled.

Ice and snow danced wildly, ice crystals and hail flew about recklessly—a scene of apocalyptic devastation.

But in such a harsh environment, two even more terrifying giant dragons roared through the dense snowstorm that made it impossible to keep one’s eyes open.

Their massive bodies were like bronze walls and iron barriers, like inescapable prisons, stirring up wind and snow with every movement.

Amid the dragon roars, tens of thousands of golden lightning bolts howled through the air, charging straight at the woman wrapped in ice and snow.

Her skin was like ice and snow, her eyes like stars, her eyebrows like swords. Silver hair fluttered in the fierce wind—she was so beautiful she didn’t seem real.

The glowing Nine Heavens was gripped in her palm. Echo looked up and launched her sword technique.

Suddenly great snow arose, blocking out sun and moon.

Ice and snow collided with lightning. The spiritual energy shockwave swept away everything like a tornado, and for an instant the world became clear.

The woman and the twin dragons gazed at each other across the distance. In the suffocating silence, more snow surged forward again. Echo flew away instantly—a dragon tail containing tremendous force lashed where she had been standing.

Echo raised her sword. The ring with the red ruby on her middle finger refracted a beam of sword light, and a red maple leaf drifted out from her storage ring.

Suddenly, countless water arrows appeared in mid-air like an overwhelming tide, stabbing toward the golden dragons’ massive forms.

“ROAR!”

The twin dragons bellowed, their bodies blazing with golden light as they used their physical forms to block this terrifying technique.

“We are incarnations of the secret realm! How could we fear such methods!” The twin dragons’ voices seemed to come from all directions, making the falling snow shudder.

The world seemed to hold only the sound of wind and snow. One golden dragon narrowed its eyes, apparently searching for traces of that human.

As the dragon said, they were incarnations of the secret realm—the entire realm was under their control. One small person hiding in the snow—

“Tap.”

A foot in green boots landed on the golden dragon’s head. Echo gripped her sword with both hands, Nine Heavens’s point aimed at the dragon’s heart, and said calmly, “Hello.”

If possible, please give back my heart’s blood. It still hurts.

The twin dragons were shocked: They couldn’t detect her aura at all!

“CLANG!”

Nine Heavens hummed, seemingly containing fury as it thrust downward. The giant dragon suddenly spun in mid-air, flinging away this human who wasn’t even as large as a dragon claw.

Echo’s figure disappeared into the ice and snow again, but the twin dragons seemed unwilling to continue this game of hide-and-seek. They watched her, and whenever she changed position, whistling dragon tails and deadly lightning immediately arrived.

Echo moved rapidly with an unchanged expression until the twin dragons’ offensive weakened. They said, “You are strong. That you’ve lasted this long fighting us shows your talent, but we will never acknowledge you as master. That was merely warm-up—now we’ll use our full power!”

“Alright.” Echo said, throwing out a box of spirit pearls. The pearls erupted with tremendous spiritual energy, but Echo suddenly vanished from that spot. She fled under the twin dragons’ attacks, her bloodied lips clamping down on a medicine bottle as she pulled out the cork.

“Pop.”

A golden dragon tail swept over. Echo tilted her head back—the tail scraped past her skull while several Spirit Recovery Pills from the bottle in her mouth fell into her mouth, quickly dissolving and rushing into her spiritual veins to replenish the energy in her consciousness sea.

The golden dragon looked massive but wasn’t clumsy at all. When its tail missed Echo, it immediately struck straight down at her face.

Echo fell directly.

“ROAR!”

The twin dragons pursued, eyes filled with cruel intent to swallow Echo whole. Echo suddenly threw out Nine Heavens, formed hand seals with both hands, and shouted, “Ten Thousand Swords Emerge!”

Nine Heavens transformed into ten thousand swords stabbing toward the twin dragons. The twin dragons fought back fiercely, opening their maws wide and spitting out lightning. Wherever it passed, the Nine Heavens sword shadows dissolved in the lightning.

One golden dragon alone was at early Soul Transformation stage. Two Soul Transformation dragons chased Echo until she had nowhere to hide, nowhere to flee. Even though her consciousness sea was vaster than cultivators of the same level, compared to the twin dragons, Echo was still at an overwhelming disadvantage.

“Surrender!” The thunder-like dragon roar fell on Echo’s ears. She calmly turned, dodged the falling lightning, and threw out another box of spirit pearls.

The exploding spiritual energy drifted through the barrier and surged toward Echo. She looked like she was trailing a silver-white tail as the twin dragons directly chased the spiritual energy to attack her.

As Echo flew, four words popped out of her mouth: “Two dragons play ball!”

But the ball didn’t want to be played with. Echo suddenly turned around, gathered all her spiritual energy in her fist, and punched the dragon that had already charged up to her.

“ROAR!”

Inside the barrier, golden light and silver radiance blazed brilliantly. The other golden dragon roared furiously as it charged toward Echo, opening its massive mouth as if to swallow her whole.

But at that moment, Sanskrit chanting echoed between heaven and earth. The sound of “dong dong” bells rang out, and the golden dragon crashed into a golden bell, roaring in pain.

Echo was now enclosed within a bell formed from countless scriptures, calmly meeting their gaze.

“Cultivator, how long can you hide in there!” The twin dragons charged forward, their tails striking the golden bell. The bell vibrated, sending their attacks right back at them.

Outside the barrier, Seraphine looked up, staring intently at the sky that appeared to show nothing.

Inside the barrier, the twin dragons warily coiled around the golden bell, rumbling, “Do you want to hide in there forever, wearing us down?”

Echo didn’t speak. She opened Seraphine’s storage ring and picked through it, taking out a flying artifact to sit on. She crossed her legs and closed her eyes.

The twin dragons coiled together, looking very confused by Echo’s behavior, but they didn’t dare move rashly and discussed quietly: “Is she recovering spiritual energy?”

“But I saw her eat many pills.”

“Maybe she’s run out of pills.”

The twin dragons demanded Echo come out and continue fighting. One dragon said, “We acknowledge your strength, but our current master has profound cultivation and will soon ascend. When that happens, the Twin Dragon Secret Realm will become an immortal mansion, and we’ll advance together.”

“We’re unwilling to give up such an opportunity. If you cannot win, you must die.”

Echo said, “But I think I’ll ascend before your master. Let me give you a number—within a hundred years.”

“Ha! Ridiculous!” The twin dragons stared at Echo in the bell. “You have such a big mouth, yet you still hide in the bell. Come out and die!”

Echo said, “I’m here.”

The golden dragon whirled around suddenly. A silver streak of light pierced through, stabbing through one dragon’s eye.

As the golden dragon wailed, a silver orb no bigger than a palm stood in the wind and snow, holding a tiny sword.

The little orb-system said, “I’ve found a way to kill you. I invite you to try it. Golden dragons, please continue.”