Beneath the Red Dragon

To put it bluntly, during the initial development of the territory, even if the beloved’s necessities were gone, they would look for him to solve it. Of course, this is just an exaggerated way of saying it, but there is no doubt that if the territory wants to develop, the pressure and responsibility he bears as the highest decision-maker are immense.

Fortunately, he has now shared most of the tasks with other Giant Dragons and more capable beloveds, and the worries are now others’, allowing Karon to enjoy a rare moment of relaxation.

However, the habits formed were still retained.

Karon enjoyed the sense of satisfaction after eating, as faint white light emerged between his large claws, resembling a closed cage, trapping a shadowy figure of a python struggling and bumping around within.

This was the soul of the Titan Demon Python he had killed. Ordinary people find it difficult to touch the souls of dead creatures, and even mages with strong spiritual power can hardly detect traces of souls.

This requires a special ability to perceive and touch the domain of souls, and Karon possesses this special ability.

The faint white light emanating from his stout Dragon Claw is the key to touching souls, belonging to the power of Heart Energy, but it is not the Power of Heart Energy provided to Karon by other creatures.

It is a power uniquely Karon’s, born from the combining of his body, blood, spirit, will, and heart under the prolonged infiltration of the Heart Energy provided by those creatures, with a strong personal imprint and will, even more pronounced than the dragon’s own field radiation effect.

Although the self-born Heart Energy is still weak, it is miraculous. This power, born from the combination of flesh, mind, and spirit, seems to be nourished by their common elements. The stronger the body, the stronger the Heart Energy; the more steadfast the mind and spirit, the more solid and sharp the Heart Energy.

However, Karon has not yet explored more ways to use this power, but the ability to touch souls came naturally to him.

The Red Dragon looked at the soul trapped in his claws. Although he wanted to explore the mysteries of the soul, which is said to be an area only divine spirits can touch, containing many wonderful knowledge and rules concerning the true essence of the world.

But he knew it was not the time yet, as his ability is not enough to bear the risks of venturing into the domain of souls.

Even the souls of these dead magical beasts have their respective affiliations in the world, possibly belonging to some natural spirits governing souls, magical creations born from biological souls, with powers so strong they are equivalent to avatars of divine spirits on the Main Plane, which the current Red Dragon cannot provoke.

Or the legendary Ten Thousand Beast Garden existing beyond the plane, in the Endless Star Realm, which is also an enormous entity the Red Dragon cannot contend with at present.

”Alas, still not powerful enough,” Karon sighed, releasing the constraint of Heart Energy on the soul, watching the soul of the Titan Demon Python disappear from the real world, its destination unknown. Even when Karon fully dispersed his senses, he could not detect the soul’s traces.

Karon shook his head, no longer concerned with this matter, and began cleaning the traces of his meal from himself, then prepared to take the remaining body of the Titan Demon Python, but at this moment, two faint life signals appeared in Karon’s naturally emitted senses.

He walked towards the source of the life signals, finding a half-revealed, pitch-black cave entrance hidden among the crushed rocks and broken stone tablets in the center of the stone tablet forest.

Karon cleared the rocks and stone tablets blocking the cave entrance, revealing a deep, stinking cave from which the weak life signals relative to the Red Dragon were transmitted.

”It seems this Titan Demon Python isn’t just foolishly headstrong but has something it needed to protect with its life,” Karon thought with a sense of admiration.

However, he felt not the slightest bit of guilt. The law of the jungle prevails; even dragons are prey in the face of certain powerful legendary creatures.

Though the cave entrance appears enormous to ordinary creatures, the Red Dragon’s current size is too great, and forcing his way in could collapse the entire cave, which would be a pity if it crushed the snake eggs.

Thus, Karon had to act like a youngster again, sticking up his rear and carefully expanding the cave while using magic to reinforce the cave’s ceiling to prevent collapse.

After widening the passage, Karon folded his wings tightly against his back, then proceeded stealthily, digging as he crawled through.

After about several dozen meters, he reached the depth of the nest.

This distance is roughly the length of a single lunge of the Titan Demon Python, indicating it was the most powerful creature here, not needing to dig its nest too deep to conceal itself, merely constructing it to shelter from the elements.

Two huge black snake eggs stood upright on a thick layer of Beast Hide. Although not as large as dragon eggs, they’re similarly sized, only slightly slender.

Karon’s eyes brightened, carefully ingesting the two snake eggs into his stomach storage. He planned to take these back, find a way to hatch them, and then use them to guard his treasure vault or the Dragon Group’s treasure vault.

This Demon Python is extremely loyal, recognizing only the master’s commands once tamed, and nobody but Karon and those he permits could step beyond the vault’s gate.

Moreover, a grown Titan Demon Python is not weak, and typical figures are just appetizers in front of it.

Besides the two snake eggs, Karon also discovered several crude artifacts in the cave, including stone-carved snake statues, some polished, naturally made gemstone jewelry, and some gold ornaments engraved with snake patterns.

”The Titan Demon Python I killed might have been a guardian magical beast worshipped as a demon god by some race or tribe in this region,” Karon speculated, the gold ornaments and statues serving as clear evidence, along with the ground covered in Beast Hide.

Of course, the term ”demon god” is merely an alias for some powerful creatures. In the Wilderness, many weak tribes seek protection from nearby powerful creatures and worship them as demon gods.

Even if the Titan Demon Python possesses some wisdom, it lacks the dexterity to handle intricate tasks without hands.

Yet Karon was now too lazy to investigate. This place was outside the Dragon Group Territory, and his hunting range had long exceeded his territory; he had no interest in conquering these tribes to expand his territory now.

He still hadn’t assimilated and consolidated his existing territory, and even with the Red Dragon’s greed and desire for conquest, he knew that blind expansion would only hold back his pace.

He no longer needed to shrink within his territory as before; the Red Dragon’s range of activity was now virtually unlimited.

At his speed, few creatures could catch up with him unless he encountered a Legendary Mage; otherwise, even a Legendary Warrior would be left eating dust behind him.

Karon swallowed the gold ornaments in one gulp, disregarding the stone statues, then crawled out of the cave, grasped the bulky body of the Titan Demon Python, spread his wings, and soared away.