An Understated Dominance

 “ Dustin! ” Margaret’s heart twisted like a knife. She could clearly feel the terrifying gulf separating Aokun from the three who came before — an abyss between them. Without a moment’s hesitation, she pulled out a small jade vial she had kept close to her person. It was given to her when she left the palace by that unfathomable old attendant beside her royal father — with solemnity beyond measure, he had said it was the royal family’s most precious treasure, a divine lifesaving pill that even the power of an entire nation could not reproduce — the  Ninefold Rebirth Pill . She rushed to Dustin’s side, ignoring the suffocating pressure that weighed on her chest, and pressed the smooth vial into his cold hand. Her voice was unwavering: “Take it! This is your only chance!” Dustin felt the boundless vitality within the pill — like a vast ocean of stars — and knew at once that its value was beyond imagination. He looked at Margaret. In her eyes, he saw desperate resolve and deep, ...

 Houtu lay limp on the ground, wrapped tightly in the pale-golden cocoon of light like a moth frozen in amber. On her world-toppling face, shock, anger, and disbelief were already set in stone; only those once-vibrant eyes, now losing their light, retained a last scrap of awareness — fixed intently on the white-clad figure leaning on his sword, swaying on the verge of collapse. Impossible… I command the power of the earth — within this palace I am invincible. He’s clearly spent his last breath — how could he still defeat me? Endless regret and venom gnawed at the remnants of her consciousness, but the seal acted like an invisible shackle, pressing her power and unwillingness down into that beautiful body; not even a sliver of spirit could escape. Not far away, Qingmu lay pierced at the shoulder in a pool of blood. In the haze of fading consciousness, he vaguely perceived Houtu’s vast, heavy aura abruptly extinguished. A bone-deep cold, mixed with searing pain, nearly made him black...