Dragon's Origin

The moment these words were spoken, both the Third Elder and the young man were shocked. The young man, in particular, couldn't believe such words came from the Old Ancestor's mouth.

Who was Old Li? He was a renowned assassin in Divine Might Prison, having killed countless experts in his lifetime. Yet, he was now giving such an evaluation of that barbarian; how could it be possible?

"You don't believe me?" Old Li chuckled, explaining, "Look at his methods. Aside from the last one, hanging that person at close range, which one of the others did he put much effort into? He might have just casually bent a tree branch on the road, but for those who followed, it became a deadly trap. Don't be unconvinced. In Divine Might Prison, every single one of you, even if you combined your skills, wouldn't match his exquisite techniques. If this person were from Divine Might Prison, he would definitely be a master worthy of worship."

"If it were a face-to-face fight, I'm not bragging, but ten of him wouldn't be a match for me." The Third Elder's expression was the most exaggerated. Old Li was currently facing him. "To put it bluntly, I wouldn't even need to lift a finger; Little Liu could take his life with just one arm."

Little Liu was the young man from earlier. Hearing Old Li's evaluation, a simple and honest smile appeared on Little Liu's face, clearly very pleased.

"But he won't give you a face-to-face opportunity," Old Li continued, turning to Little Liu. "Even if you're ten or a hundred times stronger than him, if you can't catch up to him, can't see him, who are you going to kill? Do you think you can take someone's head from miles away?"

Old Li's words made Little Liu lose face a little, but he didn't dare to refute him, only humming softly to express his dissatisfaction.

"Don't be unconvinced," Old Li seemed to think highly of Little Liu, taking the opportunity to instruct him. "Your analysis just now had some merit, but you didn't grasp the key point."

"Did I overlook something?" Little Liu was a smart person, immediately realizing an opportunity had come, and humbly asked for guidance.

The Third Elder also had many questions and remained silent, waiting for Old Li to explain.

"Everyone here has cultivated, so we won't mince words." Old Li put on an air of instructing a junior, and Little Liu listened attentively. "With spiritual energy protecting the body, who could be killed by a tree branch? But why did they die under those ordinary tree branches?"

Several corpses had died from Wang Sheng's simple traps. Not counting those killed by demonic beasts or Wang Sheng himself, just those killed by small mechanisms were very unusual.

The Third Elder and Little Liu both realized something was wrong, but they couldn't quite put their finger on it, and could only wait for Old Li to explain.

"Each trap is not a single entity, but a series of interconnected traps that trigger one after another," Old Li explained without reservation. Firstly, it was to guide a junior; secondly, he had been hired by the Song family with money, so he naturally wanted to make the employer feel that the money was well spent.

"The initial trigger might just be to make you lose your balance, stumble, or fall, but with spiritual energy protecting you, you wouldn't suffer any injuries."

"But this stumble will disrupt the rhythm of your spiritual energy circulation. When the second trap is triggered, it will be at the critical point when your spiritual energy is exhausted or when the old force has dissipated and the new force has not yet been generated. At this time, the killing move that is set up will render your spiritual energy protection useless, making you no different from an ordinary person. That's why the killing move can be effective."

"You just saw this one who was tripped and died from a tree branch piercing his abdomen, but you didn't look closely at the faint whip mark below his neck. This was a horizontal strike from another tree branch at the moment of being tripped. He clearly sensed it, so his spiritual energy protected his neck, neglecting his abdomen, which is why he was killed by an ordinary sharpened tree branch."

"Looking at this one, it seems he was struck in the lower body and jumped into a snake pit in pain. But you didn't see his eyes; there's a layer of dust under his eyelids. This is because he was first blinded, and the severe pain in his eyes caused his spiritual energy to disperse, which is why he stepped on the wooden stick below."

"The one who fell into the water was simply pushed in. Lacking proficiency in swimming, he didn't hold his breath when he entered the water and was suddenly attacked and had his ankle grabbed, causing him to choke on water. At this point, even if he had great abilities, it would be useless. His attack power in the water wouldn't be enough to break free, and he could only drown alive."

"These few clearly grasped people's instinctive habits, disrupting the rhythm of their spiritual energy circulation, which is how they killed them. It's not as simple as you said."

"Of course, these little guys didn't die unjustly. Daring to venture into this kind of killing array with such low cultivation levels, their deaths are in vain. At the very least, they need to be around the fifth level, able to completely resist external influences, to have a chance of successfully pursuing this person."

"But this doesn't even account for his powerful hidden weapons that can take someone's head from miles away. A surprise attack could be fatal even for someone at the fifth level."

"Even if I, Old Man, chased after him, if he didn't confront me directly and just set up a bunch of traps, I, Old Man, would be exhausted. Fortunately, over the years, I, Old Man, have some hidden skills that allow me to barely escape unscathed! As for killing him, forget about it."

After pointing out several errors in Little Liu's analysis, Old Li stopped, sat back in his original seat, and slowly sipped his tea, waiting for Little Liu and the Third Elder to digest and understand.

"How did you provoke someone like this?" After the two men's gazes left the corpses and returned to Old Li, Old Li turned to face the Third Elder earnestly. "Listen to an old man's advice, unless there's a blood feud or a wife-stealing hatred, let it go if you can!"

"Old Li, you are a second-grade assassin from Divine Might Prison!" The Third Elder gave a wry smile, looking at Old Li, unsure of what to say.

"Assassins are also human! Isn't everyone's life precious? We're just exchanging our lives for other people's lives," Old Li sighed. "If we can avoid killing, it's best to avoid it. Don't worry, since Divine Might Prison has accepted this job, I, Old Man, won't give up."

Hearing Old Li's words, the Third Elder finally breathed a slight sigh of relief. If even a second-grade assassin from Divine Might Prison didn't dare to take action, wouldn't that be a laughingstock?

"However, killing this little guy needs to be reconsidered," Old Li said slowly. "This time, we came in a hurry, and we didn't have enough information. You didn't describe the target in enough detail either. If I had known he was so difficult to deal with, the price would have to be increased several times over. Alas! What a loss!"

"Old Li, don't worry, the price is negotiable." At this point, how could the Third Elder not know what to do? He immediately stated without hesitation, "I'll order the steward to send ten times the gold coins to Divine Might Prison later. Old Li, please handle the matter with confidence!"

"Alas!" Old Li neither affirmed nor denied this, only letting out a long sigh, as if he had many emotions. "Such good treasures! I really want to know where this young man came from. A single young man, all alone, can possess such divine weapons? Can possess such killing skills? I wonder which big shot or powerful family he has offended. Alas!"

It seemed like he was sighing, but the following words made the Third Elder stunned. Many things that he hadn't thought about before suddenly became clear.

The abnormality should have been discovered during the Song family's trial. The artifact that pierced through the Thousand Illusion Poisonous Serpent's head should be the same one that took Fourth Master Dai's head from miles away. In addition, there should be a smaller hidden weapon that killed Dai Huan. The one that blew up the male snake's head should be another unknown weapon with even greater power.

Song Xiu and the others who were sent out never returned. Now, it could be confirmed that they would definitely not be coming back. No sight of them alive, no sight of their corpses, what skillful methods.

A body full of good treasures, coupled with such elusive methods, just as Old Li said, this could never be achieved by a lone barbarian. If a person could do all of this, just taking out any item from his body would immediately elevate him to at least the position of a master craftsman in the Glazed Treasure Pavilion. There's no need for him to be a barbarian being hunted down.

Apart from some reclusive families, the Third Elder couldn't think of any force that could cultivate such a monstrous disciple. The few major families that were on par with the Song family could never have such methods.

Song Yan should have discovered this the earliest, so she spared no effort to win him over, even going so far as to let Wang Sheng, this barbarian, become her fiancé. It's just that everyone was blinded by Wang Sheng's surface appearance of a non-first-rate original soul and didn't see this point at all.

The Third Elder couldn't help but laugh. They, the old guys who were at least three times Song Yan's age, were not as insightful as an eighteen-year-old girl. Song Yan would rather die than marry Dai Huan to realize the marriage alliance between the Dai family and the Song family, but she was willing to condescend to a non-first-rate barbarian. They should have reacted at that time.

If they had tried to win him over at that time, perhaps Wang Sheng would already be a member of the Song family. If they had known he had such a great background, what harm would there be in marrying Song Yan to him? Unfortunately, the Third Elder didn't understand this until Old Li from Divine Might Prison pointed it out. Assassins had already been hired and several had died, and it was too late to turn back.

An indescribable sense of regret filled the Third Elder's heart. Was the Song family in trouble this time? Even if they succeeded in relentlessly pursuing and killing Wang Sheng, would the force behind Wang Sheng be happy? If they sent a few more people with those divine weapons that could kill people from miles away, who could withstand it?

"Old Li's heartfelt words are deeply appreciated by Song!" After the Third Elder understood these things, he immediately made a decision. "Old Li and his group should rest first, and allow us to discuss it. It's better for Old Li to be compassionate and not kill if possible! Those money-grubbing guys in Worry-Free City aren't even worthy of carrying Old Li's shoes!"

He praised Old Li in a way that was neither too heavy nor too light. After settling Old Li and Little Liu, the Third Elder hastily took his leave to discuss with the other elders.

"Little Liu, remember this." A smile finally appeared on Old Li's face as he looked at Little Liu and reminded him, "Why is our Divine Might Prison more famous than Worry-Free City? Because we know who can be killed and who cannot be killed. Who can kill and who cannot kill. We only kill those who can be killed and who can be killed. Naturally, we never miss."