Under the Red Dragon.

The wind howled high in the sky, stirring up layers of clouds that swirled around the summit of the Qunlong Mountains.

For the first time, the gates of the Golden Empire's Dragon Temple, perched atop the Watcher's Peak, opened for Phyllis Tiamat, the royal banners fluttering and the golden bells tolling.

The centaur Kali stood quietly on the bone steps of the Dragon Temple entrance, facing the one-eyed giant Assis, never urging the female dragon, whose face showed a slightly bewildered expression.

As the centaur king who was the first to serve the Gorgorra dragonflight, Kali's soul, along with the souls of many who fanatically worshipped the Dragon Emperor, was retained by the Dragon Emperor's soul and resides permanently in this dragon temple.

Over time, through the worship and offerings of the empire's subjects, they evolved into both prayer and heroic spirits.

Nowadays, the centaur Kali, if not for its unique nature making it difficult for ordinary people to see, is no different from an ordinary person.

Even without consciously trying, Phyllis Tiamat would find it difficult to distinguish whether the centaurs and cyclops appearing in her pupils were real life forms.

Because they all possessed a fleshy, fleshy texture, and Phyllis could even feel the warmth and breath of flesh and blood.

"Is this the most core, secret place within the empire?"

Phyllis Tiamat gazed up at the colossal dragon temple and murmured to herself that even its long fangs could not compare to the splendor of this building.

Even with her enormous size, she could hardly compare to even a fraction of the grandeur of this temple, which had been supported by the people of the empire for nearly a century.

The pillars flanking the temple entrance were even thicker than the female dragon's body, resembling towering mountains supporting the heavens.

Although the dragon temple appears to be made of jade and obsidian, with seamless construction and a strong scent of whale oil applied to the armor, it exudes a sacred and majestic aura.

But Phyllis knew that the building before her was almost entirely constructed from the bones of the enemies the empire had faced along the way. It was the cruelty and bloodshed that created this dragon's sanctuary, the empire's temple.

She had heard from other dragons that the empire would hold sacrifices at this dragon temple before and after every war, regardless of its scale.

Of all the most important matters of state, sacrifice and war are of paramount importance!
It was through these various means that this dragon kingdom was able to establish a prosperous and cohesive civilization in the wilderness.

"How many enemy corpses would it take to build such a spectacle?"

Phyllis Tiamat looked at the centaur and the Cyclops in front of her and couldn't help but ask.

Even the devils of hell and the demons of the abyss often use the bones of their enemies and fallen comrades as materials to build fortresses and tools to forge weapons of war, but those are all dead.

Phyllis Tiamat could sense that the Dragon Temple before her had its own breath, as if it possessed its own spirit.

The Cyclops Assis, standing nineteen meters tall, appeared as a dwarf before the temple's entrance. He calmly replied, "This is a question even the Holy Emperor Gorgorla could not answer, Your Majesty Phyllis."

Assis's smile was utterly ferocious; even when expressing goodwill, an ugly person like him was bound to be misunderstood.

"However, my former body had the honor of becoming the foundation of this temple, and the pirates who roamed and plundered beyond the four seas of the empire also provided this temple with some insignificant nourishment,"

"The remains of many great nobles and warriors from the former Southern Noble Alliance also belong to the Temple's spoils of war."

"The lineage of evil giants who lived in the God-Forsaken Mountains for thousands of years offended the imperial authority and refused to submit to imperial rule, and were all exterminated by the empire. They are nothing more than a few floor tiles in this temple."

"Behind many of the world's glories and triumphs lies an unimaginable sea of ​​blood and bones. Your Majesty Phyllis, please come in. Those two are already waiting for your arrival."

Phyllis nodded slightly, her gaze sweeping over the faint halo behind the one-eyed giant before stepping proudly through the massive portal.

Stepping into this Dragon Temple is like stepping into a completely different spatial realm.

The dome of the Dragon Temple was filled with a rich power of faith, like the starlight that had flowed through the sky for billions of years. It was like a galaxy passing through every space of the Dragon Temple, connecting the numerous portals located on both sides of the huge plaza passage.

Every inch of the smooth, obsidian-like floor was engraved with magical runes and dragon-script prayer incantations that even Phyllis had never seen before.

Ancient dragon runes and intricate, profound magical runes flowed and thrived in the shadows of every pillar, while the power of the mind and the power of faith intertwined in every part of this space, forming an unbreakable sacred barrier that utterly repelled any foreign forces.

Even Phyllis, a demigod dragon and a being born of divine blood from the immortal dragon god, felt the omnipresent pressure and the air of strict order.

This flavor, mingled with the aromas of whale oil and spices, is omnipresent, permeating both the physical body and the intangible mind.

Within the territory of the Golden Empire, any outsider with ulterior motives is easily subject to instinctive interference and suppression from the empire's overall spiritual field.

But when power is divided, it dissipates, and many powerful beings are not afraid of this suppressive force.

In this field of origin, even the demigods recognized within the empire are as if their bodies are bound by omnipresent chains.

Phyllis felt that the surrounding spatial pressure had compressed the dragon magic within her body to its limit, and the flow of elements had almost stopped.

The female dragon reacted instinctively, trying to use magic to isolate this terrifying suppressive force from her body.

But this instinctive reaction seemed to trigger a spontaneous response from the dragon temple, causing the ancient dragon runes and profound magical incantations engraved on the ground to suddenly become dazzling.

A five-clawed mud monster, formed from gel and soft mud, suddenly leaped up from the ground and wrapped around the female dragon's body from head to tail with a thud.

This five-clawed mud monster was incredibly strange. Even Phyllis, a demigod dragon with unimaginable strength, was unable to break free from its grasp for a time.

Phyllis's instinctive swing of her giant claws had no effect on the mud monster; the force, enough to shatter a small mountain, was like hitting cotton, soft and yielding to no force.

This sudden change startled the female dragon, but fortunately she knew that the phenomenon was not aimed at her, so she did not resist and allowed the five-clawed mud monster to bind her body.

"How is this going?"

Phyllis Tiamat asked in a deep voice. Although her body was bound by the five-clawed mud monster, it did not make this demigod dragon feel any strain. It was just that the power within her body gradually subsided.

To Phyllis's surprise, as a blood descendant of the immortal dragon god Tiamat, her own magical resistance, while not surpassing that of any other mortal being, was nearly equal.

Ordinary high-level magic had no effect on her body, especially some of the negative spells inherited from the Five-Colored Dragon, which were like a joke to her.

This is no longer considered high-level magic resistance, but rather close to immunity to similar magic, essentially interrupting the occurrence of magical effects.

To harm or suppress someone like Phyllis, the magical effect would have to be exceptionally powerful and targeted. However, Phyllis didn't sense any such characteristic in this five-clawed mud monster.

The appearance of the five-clawed mud monster originated from the generation of magical efficacy, and its source did not possess the characteristic of being able to suppress Phyllis, so how could this female dragon not be surprised?

Logically speaking, this magic shouldn't be able to work on his body at all.

"It is magic, but it is not magic, Your Majesty Phyllis,"

Kali stopped, chanting a spell to release the five-clawed mud monster from its restraints. She looked at the dragon whose eyes were being released by the mud monster with amusement and said softly, "It is a product of magic, but it possesses the characteristics of life."

"Magic that possesses life and consciousness, magic that can activate magic?"

Phyllis Tiamat shook her head in surprise, still feeling the lingering slimy illusion of the five-clawed mud monster on her body.

“Yes, Your Majesty Phyllis,”

Kali led the demigod dragon forward again, explaining, "While activating spells and activating object spells are extremely similar, there are fundamental differences between them,"

"Although both types of magic grant the creator the power and brief consciousness of the objects they create, allowing them to act independently like living things, understand and execute the tasks assigned by their creators, and complete them more easily."

"However, the magical efficacy of an object's activation can be neutralized by some powerful mages using secret techniques of magical interruption and magical contact, thus restoring the activated object to its original form and causing it to lose the brief senses bestowed upon it by its owner."

"But this activated magical effect is no longer just magic; it is a magical being with the essence of magic."

"These creatures with magical nature can instinctively release innate magic, and the magic they release can be dispelled or interrupted by other magicians, but their existence itself will not be affected."

"Because dispelling magic targets the magical effect that occurs on the spot, it cannot kill the magical essence within it."

"They possess their own consciousness. This is a magical efficacy activation technique created by the Dragon Kings of the Empire, combining the power of the Holy Emperor Gogmora with the magic of object activation!"

"Within this Dragon Temple, all magic is essentially derived from this strange creature, so even demigod mages cannot erase its influence and suppression with magic."

"Because they are acting with their own inherent efficacy, not with magic."

Phyllis listened quietly to the centaur Kali's introduction, while the Cyclops Assis would occasionally chime in with a few words.

The female dragon is only now realizing that she knows very little about the secrets of the core members of the Gogmora dragon herd.

Although the empire's greatest asset is the emperor who sits high on the throne, every dragon king possesses immense potential and wisdom.

Most importantly, the wisdom of the dragons in the Gorgmora is cohesive, not independent and scattered.

Phyllis also saw this kind of magic with activating power as a powerful secret technique that could overcome the strong with the weak.

"Power originates from wisdom, just as I thought. They will use their wisdom to create a path to pursue whatever power they desire, and that is what makes them so terrifying."

Phyllis's mind raced as she observed the interior of the Dragon Temple.

The deep passage was flanked by numerous massive portals, some of which led to transparent arenas where many heroic warriors fought and shouted in battle.

But most of the spaces are completely enclosed, with an identical sign next to each door that reads: "Ayuda and dogs not allowed!"
"Who is Ayuda? What mistake did he make that made everyone here turn against him?"

Phyllis's curiosity was piqued, and she asked the centaur.

The Cyclops Assis chuckled: "That was just a detestable fool, Your Majesty Phyllis. We have arrived. Now only you may step inside."

The portal deep within the temple was slowly pushed open by the centaur and the Cyclops, and then the two heroic spirits disappeared on their own, leaving Phyllis alone in the same spot.

Phyllis peered out and saw an ocean, a vast ocean formed by the power of faith.

The power of faith, like a galaxy flowing through every space of the temple, surges down from the dome, rushing into the ocean along the pillar that supports the sky, like a celestial waterfall cascading down from the heavens.

The waterfall was enormous, yet it was not as large as the trunk of the World Tree that had sprouted anew from the dead.

Before the towering World Tree trunk, ancient roots intertwined and formed a small piece of land.

On the land, there is an enormous head, thousands of meters high and hundreds of meters wide, made entirely of cast steel, emitting a cold glow.

Around this enormous steel skull, in an ocean of faith, floated one giant egg after another.

These eggs floated and sank in the ocean of faith, entwined by the roots of the World Tree, infused with boundless vitality, nurturing the budding life within.

In some of the enormous eggs, Phyllis Tiamat was even able to see the face of the life growing inside through the almost transparent shell.

Those were the faces of dragons—white dragons, blue dragons, green dragons, black dragons, red dragons, metal dragons, and gem dragons.

“Amethyst Dragon Loya,”

"White Dragon Ronnie,"

"Green Dragon Ellie,"

“Black Dragon Cecilia,”

"Red Dragon Delos"

Phyllis uttered familiar dragon language from between her fangs, but felt a bone-chilling cold sweep from the tip of her tail to the back of her skull, making even this demigod dragon feel a chill run down its spine.

She slowly raised her head and looked at Gabriel, the Dragonblood Angel, who was smiling slightly as he descended from the top of the World Tree.

"What...are these?" Phyllis asked, her voice pausing slightly as she enunciated each word carefully. (End of Chapter)