After Wu Ling passed dragon bones even larger than the ones outside, he finally saw the core of the Dragon Domain. He did not even need to search deliberately. His target was immediately visible.
At the center of the Dragon Domain stood an enormous ancient tree. In shape, it resembled the trees in the black forest outside, but it was far larger. Its color leaned toward brownish yellow, and a strange, unnatural aura wound around it.
Beneath that towering ancient tree, a bone dragon lay quietly on the ground. It was massive and bizarre, and with a single glance, one could tell it was different from every other bone dragon.
On the way here, Wu Ling had seen many bone dragons. The soul flames in those dragons' skulls were usually only one color. Water, fire, earth, and wind dragons had blue, red, yellow, and green flames respectively.
Gold dragons had pale-gold soul flames. Silver dragons had six-colored soul flames. Black dragons had deep-purple soul flames. The enormous bone dragon before him, however, had milky-white soul flames burning in its eyes.
"You are Noxis, right?"
Wu Ling walked up to the enormous bone dragon and examined it. The dragon should have died many years ago, yet it still clung to its last trace of existence. Because it had never fully died, no new sacred giant dragon had appeared on the Longinus Continent all these years.
"Correct. I am Noxis, the sacred giant dragon of the dragon race and the only one still preserving a spiritual mark."
The huge bone dragon slowly rose. Its body was not especially enormous by dragon standards. It was about thirty meters long and roughly ten meters tall.
According to Wu Ling's estimate, even after losing most of his power from life, if Noxis fought desperately with his remaining spiritual power, he still would not be someone an ordinary Titled Sage could withstand.
The bone-dragon form of the Sacred Giant Dragon Noxis was worlds apart from the other bone dragons. His soul flame was different, and even his bones were different.
Every other bone dragon, regardless of its species in life, had bleak-white bones filled with deathly aura. Noxis's bones were also white, but over that white lay a moist luster. They were translucent like milky crystal, with faint silver specks flowing inside.
A sacred giant dragon was a legendary being among the western dragons of the Qin Emperor world. It stood above ninth-rank magical beasts as a tenth-rank divine beast, one of the strongest bloodline-potential species in the Qin Emperor universe.
Noxis said calmly, "Human, since you have come this far, there is no need for me to hide any longer. I am the only sacred giant dragon of the dragon race who still possesses a spiritual mark. After I died in battle, I returned here and welcomed death. Although I preserved all of my memories and my soul imprint, my strength has fallen to only one-fifth of what it was in life. If not for that, how could the Dragon Moon of the Dragon Domain restrain me? And what right would you have to..."
Wu Ling did not argue. An ordinary sacred giant dragon was indeed only at the level of a newly advanced Titled Sage or a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast. But the Noxis before him had fought throughout his life, and his strength had almost reached the strongest level below godhood in the Qin Emperor world. If Noxis were truly alive, Wu Ling estimated that he would at least possess Super Titled Sage combat strength. That was far beyond what Wu Ling could defeat right now.
Wu Ling's gaze moved across Noxis's body. Many of the bones were damaged. The most obvious wound was on the chest, where a huge scar ran between the left and right sides, nearly splitting the sternum in two. That should have been his fatal injury in life.
"Human, do you know what you have done? Are you trying to start a war between humans and dragons?"
At the center of the Dragon Domain, the Sacred Giant Dragon Noxis, now nothing but a skeleton, kept probing Wu Ling while the milky-white flames in his eyes flickered.
Wu Ling ignored his words and walked step by step toward the sacred giant dragon. This colossal being was dead, yet still radiated pressure beyond an ordinary Titled Sage. Wu Ling felt no fear, because the dragon before him no longer had the ability to hurt him.
The bone dragon Noxis lowered his head. The milky-white flames in his eyes suddenly fluctuated violently. Just as he was about to act, he abruptly raised his head and looked behind Wu Ling.
Rose had thrown out several dragon bones wrapped in black patterns.
Those dragon bones traced arcs through the air and formed a circle centered on Noxis. Noxis sensed danger and opened his mouth to attack, but a heartbeat later, a chain from nowhere wrapped around his mouth, preventing him from even roaring. Through the chain, he could even feel the magical flow around his mouth slow down.
Following the chain, Noxis realized that its source was one of the dragon bones Rose had thrown onto the ground. It looked as if roots had grown from the bone into the earth.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
The chain around Noxis's mouth scraped sharply. With an enraged roar, he broke free of that ring of chains. At the same time, that dragon bone shattered.
For the dragon race's god, a sacred giant dragon, to be bound for even one second by a subordinate dragon's bone filled Noxis with rage.
But before he could release that rage, more than a dozen chains shot out from the circle of dragon bones and wrapped around his body. The bone-dragon Noxis immediately felt overwhelming pressure and a deep emptiness from within his body.
Dragons in Type-Moon's Age of Gods were not as numerous as they were in the Qin Emperor world, but they did exist if one searched carefully. Judging from Medea's skill at creating dragon-tooth soldiers, her understanding of dragons was extremely rich.
After Rose's selection, every one of those dragon bones had belonged to an eighth or ninth-rank dragon in life. More importantly, each bone had been stained by a trace of Noxis's scattered soul power.
Rose followed those traces of soul power and made more than a dozen cursed dragon bones specifically against Noxis. Yes, they were not even Magecraft. They were pure curses, weakening the dragon's magical power, weakening the dragon's defense, disturbing the dragon's mind, and more.
There had originally been curses to restrict a dragon's flight as well, but given Noxis's current state, Rose had not made them. If the goal was only to restrain him temporarily, these dozen dragon bones were enough.
Under Noxis, Wu Ling's shadow gradually surged. The sixth clone, Angra Mainyu, whom he had not left behind, appeared beside Wu Ling with empty eyes.