"Impossible!" As the dragon head shattered in an instant, a shadowy old figure, pitch black from head to toe, was flung out of the sanctum.
"Ancestor! Ancestor!..."
Watching this person get forcibly driven out of the sanctum, everyone in the Shaman Sect screamed in shock.
And it wasn't just them—even Paula Bloom was stunned!
Right now, her mind was full of question marks. She was even more curious about Ryan Ling!
Who in all of China could take on the entire Shaman Sect single-handed—especially one that had refined dragon qi? There were only a handful of people like that!
And judging by his age and aura, there was only one person who could pull this off—Ryan Ling, the legendary king of Jiangnan!
"Could he really be Ryan Ling?" Paula Bloom's eyes practically sparkled with gold. She'd been holding out on Southcape Island with the Bloom Family for ages, dying to meet the legendary Ryan Ling in person. And as a woman, she couldn't help but admire this kind of badass.
Thinking back to that chest-grabbing moment just now, Paula couldn't help but feel a little excited inside!
"Go! Move!" The Shaman Sect Ancestor took a deep breath and frantically retreated!
"Kill him! Kill him!" The Bloom Family fighters behind them couldn't help but shout.
But Ryan Ling didn't move—instead, his brows furrowed slightly.
Guihai One-Blade, standing nearby, was clearly the one who understood Ryan Ling's situation best. Sure, Ryan had won that last fight, but he was almost completely spent. If he still had his original Nascent Soul power, it wouldn't matter if a hundred of these guys showed up—he could wipe them out in minutes!
But right now, his strength was clearly down. And after the battle up north, Ryan hadn't even stopped to catch his breath—he'd come straight to the South Sea. Even if his body was made of iron, he was starting to hit his limits!
At this point, trying to wipe out the entire Shaman Sect was clearly not gonna happen!
Guihai One-Blade didn't hesitate—he immediately jumped in: "Heaven likes to spare lives. Get lost now, or I'll kill every last one of you!"
That did the trick. The Ancestor didn't dare linger—he grabbed the remaining Shaman Sect disciples and bolted. Ryan Ling was clearly at his limit, and the so-called Shaman Sect Ancestor was even worse off, hacking up mouthfuls of yellow bile as he staggered away!
Now, with the Shaman Sect crowd frantically fleeing in all directions, Ryan's face went pale, a trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth. Guihai One-Blade rushed over to steady him—Ryan's condition was even worse than he'd thought!
This Shaman Sect, powered up with dragon qi, was seriously tough—if it were anyone else, they'd be dead by now!
"Forget all that for now—let's get to the sanctum and check on the Divine Dragon!" Ryan gritted his teeth and said.
"Alright!" Guihai One-Blade didn't hesitate and led the charge into the sanctum—only to be stunned by what he saw inside. There was no Divine Dragon, just a massive dragon skin.
"Did the Divine Dragon already escape?" Paula Bloom, who clearly knew the dragon had been captured, trembled as she spoke.
"It's possible. The Divine Dragon isn't just any creature. Even though it failed its Heaven-Tribulation, this Shaman Sect clearly couldn't stand up to it—they'd get crushed a hundred times over in a single breath. That tribulation was like a snake shedding its skin. Judging by this bloody dragon skin, the Divine Dragon must've gone through an agonizing transformation and is definitely badly hurt. And I suspect the reason it failed the tribulation might have something to do with these Shaman Sect people!" Guihai One-Blade gritted his teeth as he spoke.
"If the Divine Dragon's alright, that's a blessing. Even injured, it's still a titan that can shake heaven and earth!" Ryan Ling steadied himself, feeling much relieved.
"Forget all that for now, Ryan—just rest up and recover!" Guihai One-Blade quickly supported Ryan again, as more blood trickled from Ryan's lips.
"Ryan Ling, are you really the King of Jiangnan?" Hearing Guihai One-Blade say that, Paula Bloom couldn't help but get excited. She joined in, helping support Ryan.
"Paula, get the Bloom Family to guard every entrance. I need to stay here and help Ryan recover. Please!" Guihai One-Blade didn't hide anything and spoke urgently.
"Got it, no problem!" Paula Bloom nodded fiercely and rushed outside, quickly surrounding the entire Shaman Sect.
Inside the sanctum, Guihai One-Blade swallowed hard and said, "Since someone sabotaged the Divine Dragon's Heaven-Tribulation, their methods must be terrifying—way beyond what these Shaman Sect people on Southcape Island could pull off. There must be even more powerful forces behind the scenes. Southeast Asia has some top shamans, and some are linked to the Kunlun League. It won't be long before they know you're here on Southcape Island, and even worse, they'll hear about your fight with the Shaman Sect Ancestor and your injuries. So we have to use this dragon skin to heal, and hope we recover before they get here!"
Ryan nodded. His current physical state was definitely a weakness, but at least the Shaman Sect had retreated quickly, leaving behind the dragon skin.
Even though they’d ripped off those dragon scales, and that Shaman Sect Ancestor had sucked up dragon qi, none of it was the real essence of the Divine Dragon’s power.
Ryan Ling understood the Divine Dragon’s power inside-out. Right now, he could actually use this dragon skin he’d scored by accident to power himself up!
Without hesitation, Ryan and Guihai One-Blade sat down together, slowly absorbing the essence of that dragon skin.
Time ticked by, and the whole Shaman Sect compound was dead quiet. It felt like all of Southcape Island was holding its breath.
That eerie silence—it was like the calm before a storm.
...
“You idiots! A whole damn Shaman Sect, and you still couldn’t handle one cheap woman like Paula Bloom? What good are you? We black wizards from Niyama spent half a year plotting against China’s Divine Dragon, finally managed to get that precious dragon skin, and you morons lost it! Can’t even deliver a package right—what use are you?” Far away in the mountains a thousand li from Southcape Island, a black wizard covered in skulls was cursing them out. The whole area was littered with skulls—a straight-up nightmare graveyard.
“Master Azan, you don’t get it—if it was just Paula Bloom, we’d never have lost. But then this other guy showed up. He’s way too strong. Even after I burned up all the dragon qi, I couldn’t beat him. The guy’s basically a god!” the Shaman Sect Ancestor stammered.
“There’s really someone that badass?” Master Azan grit his teeth, clearly shocked.
“No joke. If he hadn’t shown up out of nowhere, we’d already own all of Southcape. We even tracked the Divine Dragon down using the dragon skin’s info. Now, thanks to him, everything’s blown up!” The Ancestor rolled his eyes, obviously dumping the blame squarely on Ryan Ling.
Hearing that, Master Azan gritted his teeth and whipped out a black pearl from his robe, muttering, “Black Pearl, show me—who the hell is this guy?”
The moment he spoke, the black pearl spun fast, and a crisp image appeared—Ryan Ling, healing up inside the sanctum.
“That guy looks familiar!” Master Azan’s eyes lit up, and he slapped his forehead. “He’s Ryan Ling—the one KL Society’s been hunting! He actually showed up on Southcape Island, and he’s wounded too. Man, this is fate! Ryan’s worth way more than that dragon skin now. If we catch him, all of Jiangnan will be ours!”
Seeing Ryan Ling on the screen, Master Azan cheered like he’d hit the jackpot.
“Ryan Ling? The King of Jiangnan himself—no wonder he’s that tough!” The Shaman Sect Ancestor wiped cold sweat from his forehead, clearly counting his lucky stars to have survived a run-in with Ryan.
“Enough talk. Keep him under surveillance—don’t let him leave Southcape Island. He’s wounded, so this is our best shot to take him out! If we kill him, we’ll be heroes to the KL Society!” Master Azan was hyped out of his mind. He started chanting black magic and yelling, “Calling all Niyama black wizards! Calling all black wizards! Get to Five Venoms Island, ASAP—this is a ten-alarm emergency!”