I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

With this slight stumble, reason regained control of Lilith's mind, and she decided to remain still for the time being, waiting for the inevitable to unfold.

Ji Tian's gaze passed over Alex and landed on the red-haired woman behind him who was carrying several small boxes.

Mason was swept over by that calm gaze. Although he recognized that it was the F-rank adventurer who called himself "Li Feiyu", he still subconsciously straightened his back.

She had met many important figures, from nobles of the capital to archbishops of dioceses to deans of magic academies, but none of them had a gaze like hers—neither imposing nor dignified, yet it instinctively made people dare not act presumptuously.

"Senior," Mason tried to make his voice sound calm, but still unconsciously used honorifics, "this is a small gift we prepared to greet you, nothing more."

As she spoke, she piled all the small boxes she was holding at her feet. Ji Tian glanced down at the pile of boxes, raised an eyebrow, and asked:

"A storage ring?"

"Yes," Mason quickly explained, "This contains gifts for our seniors and fellow disciples, and the ring itself is part of the gift. The Royal Capital Magic Academy only produces a limited number each year, and each one has a registration number and cannot be stored in another ring, so this is the only way to bring it here."

Ji Tian nodded. He already knew the rules of storage items in this world: you can't nest dolls, which made perfect sense.

He casually picked up a ring and probed it with his divine sense.

The space inside was not large, about ten zhang square, and its structure was somewhat peculiar. He couldn't tell its composition at a glance. The only thing he was sure of was that the space inside this ring was far less stable than his Purple Mansion storage.

"Made by the Royal Capital Magic Academy?" he asked.

"Yes, all the rings on the market are made by the academy, and each one has a magical imprint that makes them impossible to counterfeit." Mason paused, "If you feel that's not enough, senior, I can also—"

"That's enough." Ji Tian put the ring back, his gaze falling on Mason's face. "You've put your heart into it."

Mason quickly waved his hand, saying, "No, no, no, it's my pleasure, it's my pleasure..."

Lilith peeked out from behind Ji Tian, ​​her purple eyes darting around.

She stared at the rings, then at Mason, and whispered, "So many rings, they're not really trying to trick Master out of his money, are they...?"

Ji Tian glanced at her, and she immediately shut up and shrank back.

"Are you ready?"

Alex stepped forward, the reforged sword hanging at his waist, with no baggage on his back; all his belongings were stored in his storage ring.

He glanced at Mason beside him, and seeing that she had no objections, he nodded: "We're ready."

"Then let's go together." Under Mason's shocked gaze, Ji Tian tore through the void with a finger, preparing to go to the Western Mountains first and take the dragon that had been acting strangely recently with him.

Ever since it was frightened away by the forbidden spell that day, it has been wandering around the nearby hills, presumably waiting for Ji Tian to come and pick it up.

…………

The red dragon lay in the cave, preparing to pack its things and move.

In the past few days, its mood can only be described in five words—extremely unlucky.

The story begins with a group of reckless demons.

That day, several demons ran to its territory, holding a black scale in their hands, saying it was the "reverse scale of the holy dragon" and asking it to come out of the mountains to help in the battle.

It was in a good mood at the time, so it just swatted them away instead of burning them to ashes on the spot.

This was the decision it regretted most in its life.

Not long after it swatted the demon away, a human dressed in white appeared in front of it.

The look in that person's eyes still makes its scales tighten when it thinks about it. It's like picking a watermelon at the market, knocking on it for ages, only to hear a sound, and then being asked, "Is this watermelon guaranteed to be ripe?"

It was furious!

Then it got hit.

Its proud dragon scales were like paper in front of that person's fist, and the stars it summoned with dragon language magic were crushed by his bare hands, like crushing an egg.

Having lived for two thousand years, this was the first time it knew what "despair" meant.

What's even more devastating is that after defeating it, the person calmly invited it to join his so-called sect.

It responded, "Dragons will never be slaves," and the man immediately changed his mind, "Then I'll be your guest minister."

It actually thought this human was quite reasonable.

This was the second most regrettable decision it ever made.

The matter of the guest advisor had only been settled for two days when the mountain erupted in chaos.

A lightning bolt of forbidden power descended from the sky, flattening a mountain dozens of miles away.

That force could make its scales stand up even from that distance. Without saying a word, it grabbed a handful of treasure and ran away.

After flying dozens of miles away, looking back, the lightning was still striking.

It shrank its neck and continued flying.

This was the best decision it ever made, but it would never admit it.

and then?

Not long after it ran a short distance away, it sensed a power even more terrifying than the forbidden spell: the Holy Sword [Liberation]. After all, Holy Swords are common, but warlike demon kings are rare. During the reigns of demon kings who were unwilling to fight against other races, Holy Swords were often used to slay evil dragons.

The light exploded from the direction of the human fortress, and even this ancient dragon, which had lived for two thousand years, felt its heart tremble.

It lay in the makeshift cave it had found, pulling even tighter at the treasure under its paws, thinking: What's wrong with this world lately? Can't it just have a few days of peace and quiet?

No, I have to move.

It has decided that it can no longer stay in the Western Mountains; it's too dangerous.

The demons wielding the Dark Holy Dragon scales knew its location, as did the human in white. Now even the hero had arrived, and the light of the holy sword stung its eyes.

It wants to move, to a place where nobody knows it.

As for the agreement with that human?

joke!

The dragon race only recognizes contracts engraved on their scales, not verbal agreements.

That human didn't even let it put its paw print on a piece of parchment, what kind of contract is that?

Having lived for so many years, what kind of scene hasn't it seen? It's about to leave, and the other party isn't going to specifically look for it.

Hmph! Young man, you're still too young.

While mentally listing all of Ji Tian's faults, the red dragon used its claws to rummage through the cave for treasures and pull them into its bosom.

Golden cups, jewels, magic scrolls, and a few pieces of silk smuggled from human caravans. It didn't know why it stole the silk; it had no use for it, but it just thought it looked nice.

"We need to bring this, and we need to bring this too... This one's torn, but we can still use it after some repairs..."

As he was muttering to himself, a subtle ripple suddenly came from the void above his head.

The red dragon's vertical pupils suddenly contracted, and it thought to itself, "Oh no."

It was all too familiar with this fluctuation; it was the white-clad human's "space jump"—no incantation, no magic circle, no warning whatsoever. He came and went as he pleased, as casually as strolling through his own backyard.

It raised its head.

A crack appeared in the void, and a figure in white robes emerged from it, his robes fluttering in the wind, his face serene.

Three people followed behind him: a blond youth with an antique-style longsword hanging at his waist, which instilled a strange fear in him; a red-haired woman holding several small boxes in her arms, looking around; and a silver-haired girl wrapped in a gray cloak, holding a small cake and standing on tiptoe to greet him.

The red dragon's mouth opened and closed, closed and opened again.

It glanced down at the treasures in its arms: a gold cup, gems, silk, and a few ancient silver coins dug out of the ground, scattered all over the ground, not yet stored in the dragon's special storage item.

It looked up at Ji Tian again.

Ji Tian was also looking at it.

The evil human's gaze swept over the pile of treasure, then over its frozen expression, and a lewd smile, which the human found utterly disgusting, appeared on its lips. "Oh, packing up? Planning to bring your investment into my sect, huh?"