Chapter 121: The Prince Who Challenged the Dragon
The Prince Who Challenged the Dragon
A faint smile rested upon his impossibly handsome face.
Any woman who looked upon him would find her heart racing uncontrollably.
Yet Adrian wasn’t paying attention to any of that.
His Eyes of Heavenly Geomancy...
Were still active.
The instant his gaze landed on Victor—
His vision changed.
Behind Victor stood an incomparably colossal phantom.
It towered above the Nine Heavens and overlooked the Ten Earths.
The Three Thousand Great Domains revolved around its feet like tiny specks of dust.
Countless Great Laws of World descended from the heavens, circling around Victor’s figure as though they had willingly submitted to their sovereign.
Above him...
Magnificent divine phoenixes spread wings vast enough to eclipse entire worlds.
Their sacred cries echoed through the endless void, causing stars to tremble wherever they passed.
Golden dragons, ancient divine beasts, and countless legendary creatures quietly lowered their heads in reverence.
It was not the vision of a cultivator.
It was the vision of someone destined to stand at the absolute peak of existence.
Adrian’s breathing became uneven.
His legs immediately lost their strength.
"Pat—"
He caught himself just in time.
"Patriarch Victor..."
"L-long time no see..."
He forced an awkward smile.
To keep himself from collapsing, he discreetly leaned against the nearby stone wall.
Not because he was tired.
But because he was genuinely afraid his legs would give out beneath him.
Or worse...
That he would kneel again.
Within Sovereign Blessed Land...
Nothing escaped Victor’s perception.
From the moment Adrian stepped across the boundary of the territory, Victor had already sensed his arrival through the Eternal Guardian Array.
Adrian had always been surprisingly cooperative.
He had never shown hostility toward the Salvatore Family.
Naturally...
Victor was curious about what had brought him here so early in the morning.
He looked at Adrian with a calm smile.
"One doesn’t visit a place without a reason."
"What brings you to the Salvatore Family today, City Lord Adrian?"
Adrian took a deep breath, trying to steady his racing heart.
He looked at Victor once more.
His cultivation...
Had become even more unfathomable than before.
No matter how hard Adrian tried to observe him...
All he could see was endless primordial chaos.
His Eyes of Heavenly Geomancy couldn’t perceive even the slightest trace of Victor’s true realm.
It was as though he were standing before the origin of creation itself.
Adrian swallowed nervously.
He slowly opened his mouth.
"I came here because the Empire wishes to—"
Before he could finish...
An arrogant, overbearing laugh suddenly thundered through the sky.
"HAHAHAHA!!"
"So you’re Adrian Valerius?"
"This is the Celestial Dawn Empire’s hidden trump card?"
"What a joke!"
The mocking laughter echoed throughout the mountains.
A richly dressed young man descended from the sky with several guards behind him.
His face was filled with contempt as he glanced toward Sovereign Blessed Land.
"The Salvatore Family, is it?"
"If you dare help them, I—"
Victor didn’t even allow him to finish speaking.
He wasn’t interested in meaningless threats.
Nor did he have the patience to listen to someone barking at his doorstep.
His expression remained completely indifferent.
He slowly raised one hand.
The surrounding space instantly rippled.
A single word left his lips.
"Annoying."
Then his calm voice spoke once more.
"Absolute Destruction Art."
Crack...
Crack...
Crack...
The space surrounding the arrogant young man shattered like fragile glass.
Countless pitch-black spatial rifts burst into existence around him.
His arrogant expression instantly transformed into terror.
"N-No—!"
BOOM!!
Before he could react...
His body exploded apart.
Not from brute force.
Not from spiritual power.
But from absolute annihilation.
Every inch of his flesh disintegrated into countless fragments before dissolving into fine dust.
Even his soul failed to escape.
Within moments...
Nothing remained except a crimson rain drifting quietly from the sky.
Silence descended over the mountains.
Victor lowered his hand as though he had merely brushed away an annoying insect.
He turned back toward Adrian.
The faint smile on his face never changed.
"City Lord Adrian..."
"What you were saying?"
But before he gets answer unfamiliar voice come...
"What a fine Salvatore Family..."
The young man in luxurious purple robes stepped forward slowly, his face so dark it looked as though a violent storm was gathering within it.
"Is this how overbearing your family has become?"
His eyes swept over the bloody remains that still stained the ground.
The young cultivator Victor had erased moments ago...
Had been his junior.
He had personally brought the talented youth to the Dawn Empire so the young man could broaden his horizons and gain experience before returning to the Azure Sovereign Empire.
Never...
Not even in his darkest imagination...
Had he expected that the trip would end without even leaving behind a body to bury.
His fists clenched until his knuckles turned white.
"You..."
"You actually killed him."
"You dared kill a member of my Azure Sovereign Empire in broad daylight."
His voice became colder with every word.
Adrian Valerius’ expression changed immediately.
His heartbeat skipped.
He hurried beside Victor and lowered his voice.
"Patriarch Victor..."
"This man is the Fifth Prince of the Azure Sovereign Empire."
"He is a Stellar Sovereign Realm expert."
"His combat strength is terrifying."
"I’ve heard he has mastered three Earth-rank battle arts."
"Within his cultivation realm, he is regarded as nearly invincible."
Victor listened quietly.
His expression remained completely unchanged.
Invincible?
The corner of his lips lifted slightly.
Before him...
The word itself sounded almost laughable.
Claiming invincibility before someone who possessed the Emperor’s Bloodline, the Primordial Infinity Physique, and the Eternal Legacy System...
That was simply ignorance.
Still...
The prince’s identity interested him.
The Azure Sovereign Empire was the neighboring empire of the Dawn Empire.
The two empires had fought one another for years.
Although open warfare had recently subsided...
Their relationship remained as fragile as thin ice.
For the Fifth Prince himself to appear within Dawn Empire territory...
This was no ordinary visit to him.
Victor calmly looked toward Adrian instead.
"So..."