Evolving by devouring from a young dragon

The wolf king's imposing aura was like mountains and seas collapsing, pressing Alduin's dragon wings tightly against his back, and fine beads of blood seeped from beneath his dark golden scales.

He clenched his teeth, struggling to keep himself from falling from mid-air, but his limbs were already trembling uncontrollably.

The full-fledged legendary figure completely crushed the seventh-tier epic. The Wolf King only needed to exert a little more force, and his bones would shatter inch by inch.

Auduin frowned, but did not beg for mercy. He simply slowly raised the stone emblem he held in his right paw.

Black lines spread upwards from the emblem's surface, wrapping around his right claw. The power of slumber erupted from his center, raising clouds of gray-white dust beneath his feet and causing the surrounding air temperature to plummet.

"You know the power of the Barren Ridge Emblem." Alduin's voice was cold and piercing. "I went deep into the Mausoleum Mountains and retrieved this stone emblem. It is now bound to me. If you kill me, it will sink into the rift with me, and I can detonate it before I lose consciousness."

The wolf king's pupils suddenly contracted.

"Within a hundred miles, all living things will slumber forever." Alduin stared directly at the wolf king with his dark golden vertical pupils, his eyes filled with madness, and said, word by word.

"You, and your pack of wolves, will all perish with you."

The wolf king's imposing presence remained, though it had diminished considerably.

He stared at Alduin, his icy blue eyes blazing with anger, but beneath that anger lay a faint trace of apprehension.

He dared not gamble.

A three-hundred-year-old foundation, dozens of elite Ice Marrow Wolves, and himself standing at the pinnacle of legend...

He can't afford to gamble.

Seeing this, Alduin sneered and said, "Wolf King, don't you believe in equivalent exchange? If you want the Barren Mound Emblem, then trade it for the Rock Emblem."

The wolf king stared at him with his icy blue eyes, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

Alduin's heart skipped a beat. Could his previous guess be true? The Rock Emblem hadn't fallen into the Wolf King's hands?

Or was the wolf king bluffing him?

A moment later, the wolf king snorted coldly, withdrew its oppressive aura, and turned to fly towards the ice plains. Seeing this, the Ice Marrow Wolf pack also retreated like a tide, their silvery-white figures gradually disappearing into the wind and snow.

Auduin hovered in mid-air, his hand holding the Wilderness Emblem motionless.

He watched the wolf king's figure disappear into the gray sky until the aura that had bound him completely dissipated before he withdrew his gaze and breathed a sigh of relief.

The power of Huanglonghui was completely withdrawn the moment he pulled it out. He had forced it out just now, and although he only released a portion of it, he was still severely affected by the backlash.

The black lines retreated from the arm back to the surface of the emblem, but several fine cracks remained on the scales of the right claw, from which dark golden blood seeped and dripped into the grayish-white powder below.

He glanced down at his right claw, then expressionlessly stored the Wilderness Emblem into the spatial rift.

This injury is nothing.

Immediately, the wounds on his claws healed rapidly, and the scales returned to normal.

The dragon's self-healing ability, combined with its powerful physique, allowed it to smooth out the wound in just a few breaths, leaving no trace.

Auduin moved his right paw to make sure it was alright before he was truly relieved.

He hovered in mid-air, looking back in the direction where the wolf king had disappeared.

The wind and snow had completely swallowed up the group of silver-white figures, and he could no longer sense their presence. Only then did he regain his composure.

Auduin withdrew his gaze and turned south, towards the ancient rock altar.

With a flap of his dragon wings, he once again soared into the wind and snow.

As he flew, he organized the clues in his mind.

The Lion King sent a message to the Wolf King, saying that he carried the two emblems of the Wild Ridge and the Cracked Rock. This was clearly a deliberate ploy to lure the Wolf King into ambush.

In the end, no matter the outcome, the Lion King won't lose out; that old lion had been scheming against him from beginning to end.

But now that the Wolf King has left, the Wild Ridge Emblem is still in his hands, and the Lion King's plan has fallen by half.

As for the other half...

Judging from the wolf king's expression just now, he didn't seem to be lying to him, which means that the Rock Emblem is indeed not in his possession.

So, there are two possibilities.

First, Leon was not dead; the Rock Emblem was still on him, and he escaped with it. Second, as he guessed, Leon hid the Rock Emblem, and he used its power to save his life and successfully obtain the Crystal Emblem.

Either way, he must find the Rock Emblem.

That was his property, the core of the territory's seal. Without the Rock Emblem, the seal couldn't hold, and once the aura of the Ancient Dragon of the Void leaked out, his territory would truly be finished.

Auduin sped through the wind and snow, the outline of the ancient rock altar appearing and disappearing against the gray-white sky.

He folded his dragon wings and landed towards the entrance of the altar.

That old Lion King must know the key to this.

……

The outline of the ancient rock altar was faintly visible under the gray-white sky. Alduin folded his dragon wings and landed towards the altar entrance.

The entrance was eerily quiet; not even the guards were in sight.

Alduin crouched at the entrance, his vertical pupils scanning the passage before he released a sonic wave that probed into the interior of the altar.

But all that could be seen was tranquility, and nothing was discovered.

The altar's unique structure limited his sound wave perception, preventing him from penetrating deeper.

Auduin narrowed his eyes, stood up, and stepped into the passageway.

The lion totems on both sides of the rock face appear and disappear in the shadows, their weathered and peeling lines resembling gaping mouths, eerie and sinister.

He knew it was a trap.

The Lion King's scheme, Leon's plot, had been laid out from the day he stepped into the North.

If the Rock Emblem is not retrieved, the territory seal will shatter.

The aura of the Ancient Dragon of Ruins surged from the rift, and his mines, workshops, and the goblins, orcs, and stone giants in his territory would all turn to ashes.

The Lion King wanted to scheme and use him, but wasn't he doing the same thing?

Alduin snorted and continued walking forward.

The center of the altar is a circular plaza.

The cracks in the dome remained open, and wind and snow poured in from above, forming a layer of frost on the ground.

But at this moment, Auduin had no time to pay attention to any of that; his gaze was fixed on the central stone seat, his brows furrowed.

The stone seat was empty; the half-petrified body had vanished at some point, leaving only a few claw marks and a layer of grayish-white powder on the stone seat.

The Lion King has vanished.

Auduin stopped at the edge of the square, his vertical pupils fixed on the empty stone seat.

Isn't the Lion King unable to leave this altar?

Now he has vanished without a trace. Is he dead, or...?

But at that moment, his thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"You arrived later than I expected."

The sound came from the shadows behind the stone seat.

Alduin spread his dragon wings, retreated dozens of meters, and locked his vertical pupils in the direction of the sound.

A figure emerged from the shadows.

His scars were still there, and the wound on his throat, torn open by the wolf king, was only half healed, with dark red flesh exposed, a horrifying sight.

But he was no longer the dying man he had been on the icy plains.

He was enveloped in two layers of magic: one earthy yellow, as heavy as a mountain; the other ice blue, as cold as a blade.

The two forces intertwined and condensed into a barrier on his body.

Leon.