Chapter 4 A Kind of Torture
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The bucktoothed soldier on the main street, shocked and frightened, followed the crowd out of the city. Beyond the city gate lay open countryside, where countless shadows could be seen taking shelter in the woods. However, not everyone was as fortunate as this group of people.
Just as they had escaped, a loud bang echoed from behind.
The city gate had collapsed!
Flames devoured the city gate wall, and the dense crowd inside the glowing red walls let out pitiful wails—the scene was like purgatory!
Dragon!
Was this a dragon?
Merely one fire dragon had brought such annihilation to a bustling city!
The strength of humanity, the wisdom of humanity, seemed utterly meaningless before such a divine beast!
...
Eternal City Lord Mansion.
Outside the wide-open gates was a scene of disaster, with the red glow of fire reflecting on the face of the new City Lord, whose rule over the city had turned to this in mere moments of disagreeable conversation.
"Are you satisfied with this spectacle?" asked a pale-faced man inside, laughing. His smile was devoid of warmth, instead conveying a chilling feeling.
"Honorable Dragon Herding Sanctifier, I bear you no deep hatred. Why would you..." stammered the new City Lord with a trembling voice.
"Of course, you don't. I simply want you to understand that you need to listen carefully to every word I say. I don't like to repeat myself, as it makes me feel like you're dismissing my presence. I dislike hesitant answers even more because you have no right to bargain with me!" the pallid Dragon Shepherd said.
"Mr. Luo Xiao, you see, my daughter is in the prime of her youth, is exceptionally beautiful, and unparalleled in wisdom and valor. If the Sanctifier is pleased..." the City Lord said.
The pale-faced Dragon Shepherd Luo Xiao glanced at the somewhat attractive woman beside him and snorted in contempt.
He unfolded the scroll in his hand once more, pointed at the woman depicted within, and said with a fierce expression, "I want her. I told you that's who I wanted. It seems I've been too merciful. This city truly does not deserve to exist."
"Sanctifier!! Sanctifier!!"
"The woman you're asking for was overthrown by my daughter not long ago, reduced to a common criminal, and then thrown into a dungeon to spend several nights with a little beggar. Indeed, she may be a beauty rarely seen in this world, but she has also become the lowest and most filthy of women. As it turns out, aside from a somewhat desirable appearance, she has nothing else to offer," the white-haired City Lord explained.
Upon hearing this, the Dragon Shepherd's facial muscles twitched, and his eyes blazed with immense rage, fueling the flames on the gold-plated fire dragon outside the hall!
"What did you say?" Luo Xiao's tone had changed completely. It was disdain and arrogance before, but now it was palpably icy.
He, Luo Xiao, had endured a thousand hardships and countless humiliations; he had crossed the threshold of despair at Dragon Gate and achieved his current status as a Dragon Master.
After his transformation, the first thing he wanted was to prove himself to her, wishing for her favor, but he could never have imagined that the woman of his dreams would be sullied in the land of Eternal City by a wretched beggar!
"Honoured Dragon Herding Sanctifier, you are the sun in the firmament, and all of Wutu gaze upon your splendor. Why fixate on a woman of ill repute, dirty and unworthy? My daughter is still pure and gentle, with some strategic insights on military and city management. If you do not disdain it, she can marry you today as a gesture to celebrate your ascendance through the Dragon Gate," the woman said in a shrill voice, the last sentence laced with a hint of allurement, like that of a docile and clever fox woman.
Luo Xiao glanced at the City Lord's daughter once more.
The new City Lord had graying temples and looked as weak as a puppet eunuch, nearly wetting himself with fear at Luo Xiao's presence. In contrast, the woman was quite composed in her speech and actions.
With every word the Eternal City Lord uttered, he looked to the woman for approval. It was evident that the new City Lord was but a vassal, and this foxy, alluring woman was the real power holder.
Noticing Luo Xiao evaluating her, the little fox woman slowly lifted her head, allowing the Dragon Master to see her face clearly.
"Heh." Suddenly, Luo Xiao reached out, grabbed the City Lord's daughter by the throat, "If she is a pearl, you are no different from stinking mud. You lowlifes growing in rotten soil have no right to live in this world!"
As his voice fell, the sky outside the open hall gates revealed a dragon ablaze with flames all over, taking a slow but ferocious gulp, its throat as fiery as a blacksmith's furnace…
"Boom~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"
Dragon flames poured forth like a red river, melting the entire City Lord Mansion and with it, the blood of those who once strutted in power, as well as the guards, maids, and slaves – none were spared.
Luo Xiao stood amid the flames, his hand still gripping the City Lord's daughter's neck; not even his hair was harmed by the dragon's fire. On the contrary, the fox woman in his grasp…
First, her clothes turned to ash. Then, her skin blistered until even her bones were exposed, transforming a once beautiful woman into a hideous ghoul.
The stench of char was thick, with the mansion's eaves collapsing, its painted pillars scattered in disarray.
In the corner, the new City Lord's armor had melted into his skin, and he would have cried out in agony, save for the hope of narrowly avoiding death by hiding under the rubble and the charred bodies of others.
On the battlefield, he was a valiant warrior who could face a hundred foes alone. Yet, against the extraordinary flames of the Dragon Clan, his lifelong resilience was no match and could only end up so undignified, hidden under debris and scorched corpses.
"Heh, heh…" suddenly, a laugh broke out.
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The laughter came from the alluring fox woman in front of Dragon Shepherd Luo Xiao.
At the moment, her face was so burned that it was falling apart, and her entire body was even more hideously disfigured by the flames.
She was on her last breath, but she was laughing, a low laugh filled with pain yet tinged with a trace of madness.
"What are you laughing at!" Dragon Shepherd Luo Xiao stared at the fox woman on the ground, writhing in agony.
"I understand now, cough cough... I understand. Before you became a Dragon Shepherd, you were just the muck in that woman's eyes. She wouldn't even let her gaze linger on you for a moment. You... you tried everything to gain her favor, but she treated you coldly, as if you were a servant or a follower."
"Finally, you became a Dragon Shepherd... cough cough, cough cough, you came riding on a dragon, a changed man, full of hope that she would look at you differently... hahaha, but she was ruined by me. The woman you adored day and night, I threw her into the dungeon, and for an entire night, she was with a filthy beggar picked from the streets!"
"The eyes you can't forget, the lips you're infatuated with, the body you crave to the brink of madness, hahaha, in the end, they were all defiled by that lowly beggar. When they both woke up in the dungeon, I was the first to visit. Oh, the sight was too good for you to miss!"
"What a pity... cough cough, what a pity. I had prepared over a dozen sturdy beggars for him, planning to send one to her every night so she could fully savor the joys of this world, but alas, she escaped the next day..."
The fox woman articulated this reality amidst her pain.
She alternated between low chuckles and shrill screams, as crazed as a real ghost.
The fox woman knew she was not going to survive, but she didn't consider her defeat complete.
At least she had trampled the Valkyrie's dignity and reputation to the utmost. No matter how noble she tried to appear, she was tainted; no matter how pure she seemed, she was filthy. Whoever became her man in the future would be haunted by this event, despising her, feeling revulsion toward her!
Luo Xiao was the first to endure this torment, whether he was a Dragon Shepherd or an even greater, immortal Dragon Herding Sanctifier in the future. As long as he remained unable to let go of the Valkyrie, this thorn in his heart would spread like wildfire over time, driving him insane with fury, venting his rage on her, on everything!
"Hehehehe..." The fox woman's laugh grew shriller and more deranged.
The muscles on Dragon Shepherd Luo Xiao's face trembled, slowly beginning to contort, the veins on his face extending down his neck!
"Die!!" bellowed Dragon Shepherd Luo Xiao in a furious roar.
He stomped heavily on the woman's decaying face, and the fox woman's sinister laughter ended as her face was crushed to a pulp.
Seemingly satisfied at seeing Luo Xiao in such a state of disarray before death, the fox woman seemed content.
"Die, die, die!!!!"
Luo Xiao could not quell the fury in his chest as he stomped on the fox woman time and again, even though she was already beyond recognition, dead beyond death.
He didn't want to hear another word from this madwoman, nor see her malicious, twisted face again!
Time passed, and the fox woman had been stomped into a mush of flesh and blood, yet Luo Xiao seemed far from having calmed his agitation.
His chest heaved.
He glanced at the statue still standing in the center of the city that had not yet been destroyed...
Amidst the flames, the streets had turned into a chaotic scorched earth, but that pure white sculpture of the woman remained, blooming with an intoxicating, unmatched beauty.
"Even so, she is mine, Luo Xiao's!"
He would take her as his first personal plaything after his leap through the Dragon Gate!
Luo Xiao jumped into the air, landing between the wide wings of the gold-plated fire dragon.
The fire dragon flapped its wings and soared into the clouds, while the Eternal City beneath Luo Xiao turned into nothing but a small dot against the ruins...
Suddenly, the gold-plated fire dragon took a deep breath in the high skies, and the surrounding air turned into a massive red vortex.
"Roar~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!!!!"
A blast of dragon flame erupted from the throat of the gold-plated fire dragon, like a volcano inverting to pour down molten lava onto the Eternal City below. The lava fell around the statue's location and quickly spread throughout the city...
Inside the city, everything turned a flowing crimson. Whether they were soldiers, commoners, or nobles, they all vanished in the outpouring dragon flames!!
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(Thanks to the Silver Alliance patron "Red Snow Fragment," and to the patrons "Candid Conversation," "Witch Horse Travel," "Clear Spring Flowing," "Code Writer and Wandering Guest," "Furnace Fire Cooking," "Last Light," "Witch Nine," "The Cutest Cat," "Under the Moon Tofu," and all other Hall Masters, Sect Leaders, Deacons, Disciples, Apprentices, and Novices for your generous rewards.)
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