Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In the Black Dragon City, first lady Su Quan was having a very expensive tea in her yard. Maids and servants in bright-colored clothes were standing by her.
The yard was spacious. The tea table was made of redwood and looked very luxurious, big enough for ten people to sit around it.
But such occasions were scarce. The other ladies in the Black Dragon City knew her too well to disturb her.
She was from a big family of the Dragon Field, so she felt disdain deep in her heart for the local people. Although she covered it well, anyone could feel her arrogance and disdain when dealing with her.
Su Quan enjoyed the quiet a lot. These days, she was always beaming.
News had come from the Natural Law School saying that her son would complete his ordered seclusion soon. A successful son made his mother more respected. Soon enough, it wouldn’t be just a dream for her to return to the Dragon Field.
It will be Third Grandpa’s birthday soon. If I visit him with Haotian on his birthday… Hehe, I’m so curious to see the faces of those who looked down on me.
Su Quan put the tea cup down and walked out of the yard.
Her servants followed her, forming two lines behind her, with women in one line and men in the other. It was an impressive scene.
Su Quan came to a tall building where she could overlook the whole city.
In terms of the height of the city walls or the newness of the buildings in the city, the Black Dragon City was the most prosperous city in Xia Dynasty.
It was dusk. There were still many pedestrians on the streets.
Suddenly, Su Quan looked towards the square in the city center, where the landmark of the Black Dragon City was located.
It was a 100-yard-long black dragon made of black darksteel. It had taken more than ten famous sculptors a whole year to work on it.
Darksteel was known for its hardness, so obviously, it wasn’t an easy thing to carve on, especially for a 100-yard-long dragon, but under the great investment of the Black Dragon City, the black dragon was made lifelike. Its scales were vivid, but the black dragon wasn’t the key point. A giant man was raising one of his arms high. One of his feet was stepping on the back of the black dragon, his other hand grasping one of the dragon’s claws. He was roaring.
The black dragon was whirling around him, roaring back at him.
A fight between a human and a dragon formed the complete sculpture.
The man was an ancestor of the Black Dragon City. The city wouldn’t exist without him. Hundreds of years ago, he had subdued a black dragon and established the city.
Although after that there hadn’t been a second man like him, and the city had become weaker each generation, the Black Dragon City was still a dominating force.
Looking at the man’s statue, Su Quan thought to herself, My son will surpass him.
“Another stupid man trying to touch the statue,” a maid suddenly said.
No man was allowed to approach the sculpture closer than 100 yards. Soldiers guarded it at the edge of the square.
A guy was running towards the sculpture like a crazy person, but the soldiers caught him soon.
“It’s just a touch. What could go wrong?!”
He was another tourist who wanted to observe the sculpture closely.
Such incidents happened almost every day.
“Get away!” a soldier said impatiently.
“What are you proud of? It’s just steel. Believe it or not, I’ll destroy it,” the man shouted again.
Su Quan saw the soldiers laughing, not taking him seriously. There were too many clowns like this.
Suddenly, a brilliant blue light overshadowed the evening glow and whooshed across the sky leaving a long trail.
Many people in the city saw it. They thought it was a shooting star.
“It’s coming this way!” someone shouted in fear.
No matter what it was, judging from its speed, the Black Dragon City would suffer great damage if it fell on the city.
Some were calm, since the city was protected by a grand tactical formation.
However, as soon as the idea occurred to them, they heard a puff and the grand tactical formation of the Black Dragon City was cracked.
Under numerous fearful and shocked gazes, the blue energy ball flew towards the sculpture.
The whole process only lasted two or three seconds. No one in the Black Dragon City could do anything in such a short time.
They saw the blue cannon hitting the sculpture, and then the symbol of the city that had been standing there for hundreds of years exploded and disappeared. Its ruins spread everywhere. The darksteel tumbled onto the ground like stones, but only a small area was affected. The soldiers at the edge of the square kept stepping back, afraid.
Startled by the soldiers’ irritated looks, the rogue who had been shouting felt sick. He said with a sour face, “I… I was joking.”
When the soldiers were about to take him down, unexpected drum beats came from the sky.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The beats came one after one, giving everyone a headache and an ominous feeling.
“Gosh, what’s that?!”
An abnormal scene was occurring in the empty sky, where flames coming out of nowhere were burning.
Then a fully-armored warship appeared with the flames.
That was where the drum beats were coming from.
All alarms in the Black Dragon City had stopped functioning. They hadn’t warned people of anything.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The muffling sound of the shooting of catapults came from towers all over the city.
Spear-like sharp bolts flew over, creating a tapered wind pressure.
“It’s the Black Dragon City’s Five Kilometer Bolts!”
Lots of non-natives recognized the bolts. They were all shocked and scared. Not until then did they realize how severe the situation was.
Pah!
When the Three Mile Bolts were 150 feet away from the warship, as if warded off by an invisible wall, they all fell.
“Impossible!” Su Quan exclaimed. She had always looked down on the Black Dragon City, but the towers in the city and the Three Mile Bolts were hers, built by her clansmen. They were called the Black Dragon City’s most powerful defense.
Numerous arrow-like lights were aimed in all directions and shot towards every corner of the city.
Every hit of a target was followed by a thundering boom.
Soldiers turned pale. Energy storages all over the city were destroyed. This meant no tactical formations would work normally, and their defense had been broken down.
The Black Dragon City, thought to be the safest city in the Fire Field, had become a defenseless city which anyone could intrude in and attack.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
Annoying sounds came from the warship. Although no one knew what they were, the blue lights that had destroyed the sculpture were gathering again, and they were even brighter than they had been before.
Some people standing in high places far enough away noticed the blue lights came from a cannon on deck.
At that moment, the cannon was aimed at the Ning Mansion, the home of the lord of the Black Dragon City and the heart of the city.
The cannon boomed. The blue lights were shot at the Ning Mansion. However, the cannon seemed like it had been aimed too high. The cannonball flew across the sky over the Ning Mansion and hit a small mountain only accessible to the Nings.
Like the sculpture, the mountain collapsed. Rocks were tumbling everywhere.
It seemed like the end of the Black Dragon City had arrived.
