blogombal Chapter 716: Making a Move
Chapter 716: Making a Move
**Chapter 716: Making a Move**
The iron-gray Dragonman knelt on the ground, his lips trembling slightly, yet he couldn’t utter a single word.
The old Dragonman looked at him, the dim red glow in his vertical pupils flickering gently.
“Have you already mastered the Judgment Art I entrusted to you?”
“Then that’s enough.”
The old Dragonman placed his hands back on his knees, straightened his spine slightly, and adjusted himself into what would be his final posture in life.
“Next, you should go to other cities and live a normal life. With your experiences from these years outside, you should be able to survive in the new world.”
The iron-gray Dragonman jerked his head up. “Elder… you?!”
“Since the others have all been dealt with, I probably won’t last much longer either. However, we old relics still want to struggle one last time.” The old Dragonman’s tone was exceptionally calm. “But there’s no need to drag you down with us. Since you can still live, don’t die alongside us.”
“I’m not leaving!” The iron-gray Dragonman suddenly stood up. His dragon wings snapped open instantly, the wingtips scraping hard against the stone wall behind him and sending large patches of grayish-white debris flying.
“I…”
“This is an order.”
The old Dragonman’s voice suddenly rose by half a tone.
The authority that had sat upon the Elder position for far too long, already carved into his bloodline, instantly enveloped the other.
Even though his scales had withered, even though his voice had grown hoarse, even though he looked like nothing more than a dying old man, the commanding presence of a superior still made the iron-gray Dragonman’s wings involuntarily press back against his spine.
The iron-gray Dragonman tried to argue, but the old Dragonman no longer spoke. He simply watched him quietly.
That silence carried more power than any command.
In the end, the iron-gray Dragonman compromised. “Yes… I understand…”
He turned around and walked up the stairs step by step.
His figure looked lost and dispirited, as if something had been pulled from his bones, leaving him without support.
In the underground cavern, the array’s red light continued to pulse slowly across the stone walls.
The old Dragonman sighed and closed his eyes once more.
Just as the iron-gray Dragonman climbed up the stairs into the basement, Jie Ming suddenly materialized.
The iron-gray Dragonman, who had just climbed up, widened his eyes almost in the same instant.
The moment the ethereal state was lifted, the sudden oppressive presence slammed into his senses, causing his scales to instinctively bristle. His vertical pupils locked onto Jie Ming’s position within half a beat. His dragon wings flared open violently, and a near-roar erupted from his throat. He raised his hand, red array light rapidly condensing at his fingertips, mouth opening to directly chant the Judgment Art.
But Jie Ming simply raised his hand and gently clenched his five fingers in the air.
The condensing red array light was forcibly cut off halfway.
The iron-gray Dragonman’s body was firmly gripped by a vast spiritual force. His dragon wings were rigidly spread wide like a butterfly pinned to a specimen board, his mouth still moving but unable to produce any sound.
Shock, rage, curses, despair…
All emotions exploded within his vertical pupils in an instant.
Jie Ming gave him no chance to resist. His spiritual power poured directly into the depths of the other’s consciousness.
The spiritual protections within the Dragonman bloodline were like a layer of eggshell, easily crushed to powder before his spiritual force.
Information fragments hidden in the deepest parts of the soul were peeled away piece by piece and sent into his spiritual sea for sorting and analysis.
All sound was tightly sealed within this underground chamber.
Jie Ming looked down at the iron-gray Dragonman in his grasp.
The other party was firmly imprisoned in mid-air by the immense spiritual power. His limbs twisted and struggled, dragon wings flapping continuously, yet they couldn’t stir even a trace of airflow. Those golden vertical pupils churned with anger, fear, and the madness of being driven into a desperate corner.
The wingtips scraped against the stone floor, producing a teeth-grinding friction sound.
Jie Ming’s expression remained calm.
He had no interest in even glancing again at such struggles.
His spiritual power continued to pierce downward, tearing open the sea of consciousness layer by layer and extracting even more information.
As expected, it was exactly as he had previously speculated.
Most Dragonmen of low bloodline origin had various contracts, restrictions, and spiritual chains buried deep in their souls.
It could be said that this was the lingering poison left behind by the old-era aristocratic rule.
Once subjected to forced soul searching, the restrictions would automatically shatter the consciousness, destroying all secrets along with the host.
But the iron-gray Dragonman before him was different.
As a former high-ranking noble, the arrogance in his bones would not allow anyone to touch his soul.
Therefore, there were no contracts, restrictions, or shackles within this Dragonman’s soul. His consciousness was as clean as an open book. Yet precisely because of this, the secrets that ordinary Dragonmen would protect with their lives were easily learned by Jie Ming. Pieces of information hidden in the deepest parts of memory were effortlessly peeled away.
A large amount of data transformed into streams of light, rapidly flowing into Jie Ming’s spiritual sea.
Moments later, he slowly exhaled.
The target had been secured.
The so-called Judgment Art of the Dragonmen was actually the technology to open Reflection Dimension channels.
Whether the old Dragonman who taught it knew the true nature of this technique or not was unknown.
Regardless, because Reflection Dimension channels could produce powerful destructive force, this technique had been treated as the Judgment Art and widely disseminated among high-ranking Dragonmen.
And now, Jie Ming had also obtained this technique.
Although it was merely the channel-opening method, it could serve as a foundation to develop other Reflection Dimension-related technologies. This was the true objective he sought in this mission.
“Completing the goal in just a few months—unexpectedly smooth.” Jie Ming was quite satisfied with the result.
As for the Dragonman before him…
Jie Ming glanced at the Dragonman in his hand. The iron-gray Dragonman was still struggling desperately.
Muscles bulged high beneath his scales, bloodline power surging madly as he tried to break free.
But no matter what, he could not escape Jie Ming’s grip, which was as immovable as a hydraulic press. Neither attacks nor changes in body form could break free from his palm.
All the sounds produced were also contracted within the basement by the barrier Jie Ming had set up in advance.
After a moment of thought, Jie Ming casually waved his hand. Streams of sealing runes appeared out of thin air.
Triple seals targeting energy, flesh, and spirit layered down. In an instant, the raging power within the iron-gray Dragonman was completely frozen, even the qualification to commit suicide stripped away.
Then, Jie Ming released his hand and let him fall to the ground.
Thud.
The heavy body slammed onto the stone floor.
Jie Ming’s gaze, however, fell toward the hidden door deep within the basement.
Buzz…
The Alchemy Technique array instantly unfolded.
Solid metal and rock seemed to gain life, automatically parting to the sides. The staircase leading to the underground cavern was exposed once more. Jie Ming grabbed the iron-gray Dragonman by the tail, took one step forward, and his figure leaped directly into the darkness below.