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Translator/Editor: Dionysus

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◈ Xianxia Cultivation with a Dragon Heart ◈

Chapter 49: The Dragon Casarnox

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The breath Casarnox unleashed vanished in midair as though it had been dismantled by the combined efforts of three Archmages.

It did not simply disappear. Its residual force was redirected, strengthening the magic circles they had formed.

Nine layers of light-filled magic circles appeared throughout the battlefield, madly drawing in surrounding mana as they expanded. Once they combined into three-dimensional formations, the three Archmages controlled them to produce an incomprehensible phenomenon.

With spreading ripples, the empty air turned colorless and froze. The violet energy Casarnox released seemed to struggle against it for a moment before being swallowed up.

At last, even Casarnox was caught in that colorless frozen time, held fast like a preserved specimen. The other three Archmages moved to attack through that opening.

“Watch out!”

One of the Archmages preparing an attack cried out in alarm and hastily cast another spell.

A flash erupted from the nine-layered magic circle, which had collapsed before being reconstructed. Everything within the area swept by that flash shattered like a mirror.

Beneath the stripped-away illusion, Casarnox was spreading its wings wide, completely unaffected by the frozen time.

Under the dazzling flash, countless magic sigils appeared and merged on their own, undergoing several transformations. The moment Han Yujin thought he had witnessed it, more than several dozen beams shot toward the six Archmages.

The turbulent aftershock alone made their power clear. Yet the Archmages blocked the attack with almost no damage, aided by the various artifacts they wore.

Brilliant five-colored barriers endlessly shattered and regenerated, scattering clusters of light in every direction. Within them, the Archmages formed more spells with superhuman concentration and counterattacked.

A deep green beam shot from one Archmage's staff. Casarnox gracefully shifted its massive body aside, and the beam barely missed before striking the ground behind it and turning an area with a radius of more than ten meters to dust.

Another Archmage formed an extremely compressed mass of bluish-white flames and pushed it forward. A third interfered with Casarnox's magic, delaying its retaliation.

The Archmage positioned furthest back formed magic sigils from their staff and began chanting, making the surrounding shadows writhe. The other two also fired beams and projectiles, each carrying some dangerous effect.

At that moment, the violet light wrapped around Casarnox's entire body flashed in countless colors, and the surrounding space shook wildly.

The battlefield, a limited space sealed by the Asterion Seal, expanded without end and split apart chaotically like reflections in a mirror.

The incoming magical attacks seemed to lose all speed. Or perhaps they continued forward, but the endlessly stretching space held them in place before they could reach their target.

“Rad, Kratesia! Ssisma Te, Reoria!”

Then the massive chanting voice of the Archmage at the rear overlapped like endless echoes, exploding the writhing shadowy darkness.

The fantastical spaces that had been stretching and overlapping without end were dyed by that darkness, corroded, and collapsed. The attacks held back for a moment rushed in again, forcing Casarnox to hastily concentrate the effects of its magic around itself and evade.

It was not an ordinary evasion. Space and time rippled with it, and it was unclear whether that was a real phenomenon or one created by Casarnox's illusion.

Even as the battle continued, there were no earth-shaking roars or explosions that shook the surrounding land.

Yet the exchange of attacks and defenses, with enough power to create such aftereffects concentrated to the extreme, was impossible for someone of a lower level to properly understand.

Unfortunately, Han Yujin, who was hiding underground and observing through Divine Sense, was no exception.

He could tell that something incredibly powerful and dangerous was happening, but that was all. Before he could even judge its destructive force, the very principles behind those mysteries operated on an entirely different level. No matter how much knowledge he gained, it was only natural that he could not understand it all at his current realm.

When a cultivator reached the Nascent Soul Stage, they gained a new and higher sense of space and time. Trying to perfectly understand this battle without it was like a blind person trying to fully appreciate the artistry of a sculpture.

Without sight, there was an obvious limit to how much one could learn by feeling it.

In any case.

Their battle was so advanced that it actually made surviving easier. Though he doubted it would work, Han Yujin pushed the Concealment Art to its limits and continued watching for an opportunity.

Flashes and spheres of every kind shot toward one another, faded away, then gathered and flashed again. As space and time warped wildly, the battle Han Yujin saw seemed to rewind several times before unfolding once more.

Then, at a certain moment.

One Archmage, protected by endlessly breaking barriers, scattered beams from their staff that seemed to tear through the air and suddenly crossed space.

The intent behind the attack was obvious. Even Han Yujin, who could not understand more than half of the battle, immediately recognized it as a move to restrict Casarnox's movements.

But.

An attack that should have been no more than a restraint severed one of Casarnox's wings and carved a deep wound into its body.

Amid fragments of light scattering like the Milky Way, vivid red dragon blood scattered as well. The dragon's foreclaw lashed out like lightning toward the Archmage, who was stunned despite having landed the attack.

It was not an attack using only physical force.

The violet energy it gave off responded as a whole, blurring the boundary between reality and illusion and throwing even the order of space and time into confusion. Casarnox's foreclaw, now as immense as a mountain, struck the Archmage.

“No...!”

A roar like an unfinished scream shattered along with the Archmage's body. The bursting aftershock of mana was immediately absorbed into Casarnox's body, allowing it to deal with the attacks that followed to some extent.

Only to some extent, however.

Because of that counterattack, reckless enough to seem insane, Casarnox's other wing was reduced to tatters. More than half its tail was severed, and blood poured from its body.

“Khahahak...!”

Though clearly in pain, the dragon's mental waves burst out in every direction as if it found something amusing.

“If I were defeated helplessly like this, wouldn't it be four against one?”

It continued with a baffling remark.

Immediately afterward.

The Archmage at the rear, who had controlled the shadows, pointed their staff at another Archmage nearby and unleashed magic.

Darkness split open like the maw of a hideous beast and silently swallowed its target. Brilliant light burst from the ambushed Archmage's robe, necklace, and other artifacts, forming barriers that were almost immediately torn apart.

“Yankoti, have you gone mad?!”

The Archmage barely tore through space and escaped, shouting in fury.

They had barely survived, but more than half the artifacts they wore had broken apart. Their face was also extremely pale, suggesting that their losses were not limited to equipment.

“Do you have time to be angry with me?”

The elderly Archmage with a sinister complexion, the traitorous Archmage called Yankoti, replied in an unhurried tone.

Casarnox did not miss that brief opportunity. Gathering terrifying mana, it began pouring out every kind of spell.

The Asterion Seal still confined space and suppressed its target's power, but the dragon that six Archmages had faced together now had only four enemies.

Since the battle had never been easy to begin with, its danger more than doubled.

“So my instincts were right, hahahaha...!”

Despite its injuries, the dragon Casarnox mocked its opponents as though it now had the advantage.

“You humans are always like this. You are insects who casually sell out your own kind when there is something to gain!”

“Shut up! You were born from the souls and bodies of the humans you look down on as insects!”

“Even if your mouth is crooked, speak straight. Your souls and bodies do nothing more than increase the survival rate of our eggs.”

From the words exchanged amid the frenzy of magical attacks and defenses, Han Yujin, who had not known the full circumstances, could infer much.

“We will no longer be raised like livestock!”

“And yet you joined hands with Asterion? You cannot be unaware that only the method of raising you will change.”

Violet light surged around Casarnox's body like a storm. The incoming magic was caught in that storm, melted and distorted, then fired back.

“Do not pretend to be righteous before me, you ungrateful insects. You merely want to rise to become managers of the livestock-rearing facility, do you not? That is Asterion's way!”

Only two had been removed from their side, but their absence seemed greater than expected.

As the Archmages gradually began to lose ground, the traitor Yankoti, who had been standing back, chanted a spell and exploded darkness toward the dragon. It was clearly meant as a restraint.

With the balance restored, Casarnox looked at Yankoti and sneered.

“And you, the foulest and filthiest devil worshipper here. You should be more careful when weighing your options. Wouldn't it be a serious problem if I happened to die because of your tricks?”

“I will be careful.”

Yankoti answered flatly, as though devoid of emotion. Then their gaze swept over the “minor fry” who had somehow survived nearby.

“On that note, I should reduce the variables.”

After interfering with the battle once more to restore its balance, Yankoti raised their staff high.

The crystal orb atop the staff, originally transparent, filled with an evil blood-red darkness, and the surrounding shadows began to writhe.

Screams immediately erupted from all around. Those who had been hiding were crushed as though sucked into the shadows, without even a chance to resist.

Then the traitorous Archmage's gaze turned toward the ground.

Han Yujin pushed the Earth Escape Art to its limit and headed deeper underground. But once he reached a certain depth, he realized the Asterion Seal was blocking him and immediately changed direction.

Darkness writhed through the place Han Yujin had just passed, narrowly snapping at him.

It had only been a short evasion of about one second, but Yankoti's brow creased slightly when their attack failed.

Desperately trying to find a way to survive, Han Yujin shouted.

“Ikapa Pangaea! I'm a visitor there!”

Just in case, he stated only the truth.

The darkness that had already reached right in front of him hesitated.

'Did I survive...? Yankoti knows Ikapa Pangaea?'

He had said it because the mention of a devil worshipper gave him an idea, but he had not expected it to actually work.

However, his cry did not draw only Yankoti's interest.

The other Archmages, who had completely ignored Han Yujin's presence until now, turned a small amount of attention toward him. The dragon, which had been engaged in a deadly battle with them, reacted similarly.

Casarnox's interest in particular seemed greatly stirred. It was likely desperate for a variable.

The violet energy flickering around the dragon's body burrowed underground despite the slight cost. Before Han Yujin could escape, it wrapped around him and playfully dragged him into the center of the battlefield.

'I'm screwed!'

It looked like he would die without even seeing the result. Now that he had been caught, simply being tossed outside would reduce him to dust in the aftermath of colliding magic.

“What is this insignificant insect...?”

Casarnox trailed off as its gaze quickly swept across Han Yujin's body.

“...A cultivator?”

Right after that puzzled murmur, Han Yujin felt the entire world turn violet and every sight before him blur like a dream.

He lost his sense of direction and could no longer even feel his own body. He could not tell whether a few seconds had passed or several hours or more.

Then, at some point.

“...”

He realized he was standing in a splendid, beautiful garden. Before him stood a structure that served the purpose of a pavilion, though its design was unmistakably fantastical. Someone stood within it, looking down at him.

Their eyes met before he could even properly examine their appearance.

After that, he could not focus on anything else.

A pair of eyes shedding light like cosmic galactic nebulae stared at him as if they could see through everything he was. He had to devote his entire mind simply to enduring the crushing pressure.

“Hahahaha...!”

At some point, a pleasant laugh filled with emptiness and disbelief rang out.

“This is all a false illusion...! How can this be...? Hahahahahaha...!”

The Void Refinement Stage-level dragon, that great being, slapped the pillar beside it with its palm as it burst into loud laughter.

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