Flower Wife seized Lauren’s hand, eyes alight, ready to rush toward the sunlight crack in the sky.

  But before they could take a step, a thunderous boom split the air.

  Master Light plummeted from above like a falling star, smashing into the ground with a force that shook the valley. Dust and stone flew as a massive crater opened where he landed.

  Everyone crowded around, craning their necks to see if the monk had been killed.

  Viper’s hands trembled with excitement as he muttered under his breath, “Drop him dead, drop him dead…”

  After a long moment, a figure staggered up from the crater. Light’s usually pristine robes were in tatters, his aura dim, his face less divine than usual.

  “No… my cultivation is too strong. I can’t break through.”

  Not dead? Viper let out a long, regretful sigh.

  Flower Wife stepped forward anxiously. “Master, what’s happening?”

  Light’s expression was grim. “Someone has triggered the seal.”

  Before anyone could press him, Jaxon—the formation master—appeared, his voice urgent. “Everyone, come quickly. There’s something you need to see.”

  They followed him back to the home he shared with Cade. From the outside, it was nothing special, but the moment they passed through the doorway, the world shifted—an entirely different space unfolded within.

  Holding a glowing pearl, Jaxon guided them deeper until Cade appeared ahead, waiting.

  “Good. You’re all here. Follow me.”

  They pressed on through the cavern until a massive shape loomed out of the rock.

  It was a head.

  A colossal dragon’s head, larger than a house, jutted from the stone wall.

  Someone whispered, “A dragon? The legendary kind?”

  Light stepped forward, placed his palm against its snout, and said, “It’s petrified.”

  One by one, the others approached, unable to resist touching it themselves. Even Lauren reached out. The bone was stone-hard, smooth as polished jade.

  Suddenly, a stabbing pain shot through her back, so sharp it felt like her bones were splintering.

  “Ah!”

  Flower Wife turned, alarmed. “Lauren! What’s wrong?”

  And just as suddenly, the pain vanished. Lauren forced a smile and shook her head. “It’s nothing. I just pricked my hand on the edge of its fang.”

  “Be careful.”

  “I will.”

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  Light studied the dragon with reverence. “There’s no doubt. This is a dragon of the upper realm. A pity… it’s been dead for countless years.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  All eyes turned to Cade.

  “If I’m right, this entire Sky-Covering Valley is a sealing formation. And the one sealed here is him. If the dragon were dead, the array would have collapsed long ago. But it’s still here. That means he’s alive.”

  Viper rubbed his bald head, eyes wide. “Alive? His bones are already stone—how the hell could he still be alive?”

  Flower Wife shook her head. “That doesn’t prove anything. Dragons don’t exist in our cultivation world. He must have been sealed here by someone from the higher realms. Perhaps he’s transcended life and death itself. Something like that doesn’t die so easily.”

  Butcher let out a low, ugly laugh. “Heheheh… Flower Wife, if what you say is true, then all we need to do is kill him for real. Break his neck, and the seal will vanish on its own.”

  “In theory, yes.”

  “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s kill the bastard.”

  Butcher brandished his cleaver, sharpening it eagerly.

  Everyone else turned and stared at him as if he were an idiot.

  Perhaps realizing he looked like an idiot, Butcher curled his lips and muttered, “Fine. If we can’t kill him, we can at least chop off a bone and make soup out of it, right?”

  With that, he swung his blade down hard.

  The impact sent a jolt through his arm, numbing his palm. His weapon chipped at the edge, but the dragon’s petrified skull remained untouched, smooth as jade.

  “What the fuck…”

  No one bothered to answer him.

  Light turned to Jaxon and Cade instead. “If killing him isn’t an option, is there any other way to break the seal?”

  “Save him,” Cade said flatly. “If the dragon wakes, his power might shatter the seal from within.”

  “Save him?” The idea stunned them all. That sounded even harder than killing him.

  Devourer narrowed his eyes, studying the pair. Jaxon and Cade had been here longer than anyone. For years they’d been searching for a way out. If they’d been probing this dragon the whole time, then their real purpose was more complicated than they let on.

  Light pressed his palms together. “Immeasurable merit.”

  His entire demeanor shifted. Golden radiance blazed from his body, flooding the cavern until it hurt to look at him. A massive Buddha seal formed and slammed against the dragon’s skull, bathing the stone in divine brilliance.

  But against such an ancient behemoth, even that power was like a drop of water falling into a desert dry for centuries.

  The golden light fizzled and vanished.

  Everyone’s mood plummeted.

  Lauren stayed silent, hiding behind Flower Wife. She knew Indiana’s chance to escape hadn’t been here, but she didn’t dare speak. Everyone here was sharp, suspicious, and dangerous. One careless word and she’d end up dead without knowing how.

  Butcher suddenly let out a wail. “So this is it? I’m stuck here forever? Me, Butcher? Ahhh, fuck this!” He stormed off swinging both cleavers like a madman.

  Lauren turned to Jaxon, hope in her voice. “You said the barrier is loosening. Isn’t there really any way out?”

  “This formation suppresses the beast,” Jaxon replied. “The stronger your cultivation, the stronger the suppression. If you want to leave, there is one method.”

  “What method?”

  “Lower your cultivation.”

  The words fell like stones into silence.

  The group exchanged uneasy glances. Lowering their cultivation meant crippling themselves. Even if they escaped, how could they survive in the outside world without strength?

  “How low are we talking?” someone finally asked.

  Jaxon shook his head. “That’s the problem. No one knows.”

  Viper’s eyes gleamed. He turned and fixed his gaze on Lauren. “Let’s test it on the little girl.”

  Lauren’s pulse quickened. This is it. Indiana’s escape route. My chance.

  But the sudden heat of envy, jealousy, and greed radiating from the others was suffocating.

  She quickly clasped Flower Wife’s hand. “I want to stay with my grandma.”

  Flower Wife gave her a reassuring smile and squeezed her hand. “It’s alright. Let’s try. There’s no guarantee it’ll work.”

  Viper’s lips twisted into a cruel grin. “But what if it does?”

  That silenced everyone.

  The tension was heavy enough to choke on.

  Light broke it with a sharp rap to Viper’s bald head. “Enough. Let’s discuss this outside.”

  The group shuffled out, one by one.

  Lauren trailed at the back. Just as she was about to step out of the cave, a shiver prickled down her spine.

  It felt like something was watching her.

  She glanced over her shoulder. Only the dragon’s colossal skull jutted from the stone wall, silent and petrified.

  Nothing else. Maybe I imagined it…