Chapter 639: Schemes of Vincent and Felix

Felix and Vincent adjusted their robes and left the room, entering a long hallway adorned with golden and silver embroidery along the walls.

After walking for a few minutes, they reached a grand hall.

Two rows of intricately designed pillars stood at regular intervals on either side of the carpet leading forward. Chairs were placed between the pillars on both sides, facing each other.

Before these chairs stood several notable figures.

The newly promoted War Marshal, Mo Feng, the Leader of the Demonic Faction, Jae Hyun, and the Leader of the Righteous Faction, Kharos Solaris, were the only humans present.

Kharos was a middle-aged man with short blonde hair and stubble. A few strands of grey were scattered through it, revealing his centuries of experience.

He was the only person in the room dressed differently from the rest. His figure was adorned in formal attire consisting of a shirt, trousers, and a long coat, reflecting the culture of the central regions of the Western Continent.

His auburn eyes lowered as the two dragon lords entered the hall.

The remaining four were Middle-Stage Celestial Realm elders, two from the Neige Clan and two from the Floraisan Clan. They were here merely as the bodyguards of their respective young masters.

As the duo moved forward, all of them lowered their heads in a deep bow. They only raised their heads when Vincent and Felix sat on the head seats placed before the front wall.

Vincent had prepared their thrones on a high platform, but for some reason, Felix had requested that their seats be kept on the same level as these lowly humans.

Must be a part of some kind of his twisted desires.

"Take your seats, everyone," Vincent said in a deep voice.

All except the elders from the Floraisan Clan took their seats.

Only when Felix gestured for them to sit did they finally settle into their seats, their wings contracting against their backs.

Kharos stepped into the centre of the hall and said with a deep bow, "I learned His Lordship is considering a deal to end the war against the beasts."

Vincent regarded him with his white draconic eyes for a few seconds before answering in a calm yet threatening tone, "I have provided resources, methods, and even cultivation techniques to humans to win this war, but I have received nothing but disappointing failures in return."

Kharos tensed at his words, a bead of sweat trickling down his face.

"Please forgive us for coming up short, My Lord," he pleaded with a deep bow.

Even Mo Feng and Jae Hyun rose from their seats and asked for forgiveness with deep bows.

After all, the fate of the entire human civilization on the Western Continent depended on the whim of this dragon lord.

"Just forget it," Vincent said, waving a dismissive hand. "I’m already getting bored of your poor performance. If all goes well today, the humans will no longer need to fight the beasts. I will be getting the value of my investment after all."

For only a moment, smiles of relief appeared on the lips of the three War Marshals.

"Thank you for your benevolence, Your Lordship," they said in unison, bowing deeply.

Vincent merely nodded, ordering them to take their seats.

’Hah! As if he would let these humans go so easily,’ Felix scoffed inwardly while maintaining a soft smile on his striking face. ’He has spent years providing resources to the human army from the shadows so that they could kill and be killed by the beasts. He will never let his free source of yin energy end like this. The moment I am done with Gumiho, he will definitely order the humans to attack the beasts again.’

Being a Snow Dragon, Vincent’s cultivation demanded a staggering amount of Yin Energy, and for a long time, women had been enough. He had drawn from them freely, one after another, but as his realm climbed higher, even the Yin Energy of a thousand women gathered at once failed to advance his cultivation base by so much as a fraction.

There was another path. The Riftlands held Yin Energy richer than anywhere else in the Lower Realm, but it was Yin Energy soaked in death, the most lethal form there was. Cultivating there was beyond even his ability. He could have simply meditated his way forward, slow and steady, but Vincent had never been a patient man, and he had discovered a method far crueler and far more efficient.

The deaths of tens of thousands of cultivators would give him all the Yin Energy he needed, and the death energy bound to it would still be within what he could handle.

So he had pushed the humans against the beasts, again and again. Fight the beasts, or be killed by his own hand. There had never really been a choice.

Vincent was also the only one in his clan who knew of the Lingtian Mountains, a place containing Soulforce purer than anything found even in the Upper Realm. He had buried that discovery, told no one, not even his own clan, content to let the humans bleed out against the beasts while he waited for the day he had gathered enough Yin Energy to claim the mountains for himself alone.

’Who would have thought a backward corner of the Lower Realm could hide so many treasures?’ Vincent mused, stroking the long beard at his chin, a private smile curling beneath it. ’I only chose this place at random years ago to cultivate in peace. And yet, not only did I stumble upon something as priceless as Lingtian Mountain, I found the Gumiho as well. Now I can trade her reincarnation away for fifty percent of the Almighty Sovereign’s blood held by the Floraisan Clan.’

He was not foolish enough to think Gumiho was weak. Every dragon alive had heard some version of the tale of the Almighty Sovereign’s war against her, and though none of them knew the true details of what had happened in that battle, all of them knew this much: Gumiho was strong enough to overpower dragons.

And still, Vincent meant to trade away her reincarnation for that blood, because he had already planned three steps beyond the exchange.

’The moment I have the blood in hand, I’ll let her identity slip to the other clans,’ he thought, his eyes glinting with something close to delight. ’They’ll tear her apart before Felix ever gets the chance to finish absorbing her Yin Essence.’

’He really believes he’s the clever one here.’

Felix watched Vincent’s smug little smile with an equally pleasant one of his own.

’Does he think I don’t know about Lingtian Mountain? The instant Gumiho is mine, I’ll be handing its location to every other clan.’

Neither of them allowed their thoughts to reach their faces. They exchanged a warm, easy smile instead, the kind shared between old friends who trusted each other completely, both of them lying through their teeth.

Then, at the same moment, both their heads snapped toward the entrance.

An overbearing presence rolled into the hall, pressing down like a hand closing around every throat in the room. Kharos and Mo Feng lifted their eyes as well, both men feeling the same suffocating weight settle over their shoulders.

Only the dragon elders remained unmoved, seated in perfect stillness, not even sparing the entrance a glance, as though whatever had just arrived was too far beneath them to be worthy of their attention.

Jae Hyun’s face drained of color. Sweat slid down his temple, and his breathing turned ragged and uneven.

He knew this pressure.

It was the exact same weight he had felt on the battlefield, the presence of the one who had severed his arm.

Gumiho entered the hall.ℴ