Dragon Monarch System

Suddenly, Harrington twisted his body, which caught him off guard. This entire time, Harrington was fighting with his other hand. He avoided using his injured shoulder, which gave him the perception that this was his weakness.

When Harrington tried to attack his injured shoulder, Harrington revealed his fangs. This was a bait.

Harrington was waiting for this moment.

When he tried to hit Harrington, he countered with lightning speed. A black dagger coated in poison appeared in his palm. With the greatsword, he blocked the attack and then threw the dagger right at his face.

Although he still tilted his face, he wasn’t able to avoid the dagger in such close range. The dagger left a big scar on his right cheek that ran to his ear while also tearing the hood that hid his face.

”Why?” Harrington only had one word in his mind.

With the hood covering his face gone, he stopped trying to hide his face. He took this moment to wipe the blood that rolled down his cheek.

”Harry?” Harrington could not understand why his friend’s son would be a part of the organisation.

His full name was Harry Ashworth. The House of Ashworth was one of the noble houses that belonged to the Ashen Covenant Faction. For generations, the Ashworth family had maintained an extremely close relationship with the Harrington family. Harry’s father, Harvey Ashworth, and Malakor Harrington were not just political allies but also childhood best friends who had grown up together from a very young age.

The bond between the two families went back far beyond Harvey and Harrington’s generation. Even their ancestors shared deep ties with one another. Over the centuries, several members of the Harrington and Ashworth families had married into each other’s bloodlines, further strengthening the closeness between the two houses. Because of this long history, the relationship between them was far deeper than ordinary political alliances. The two families trusted each other almost like true relatives.

”But why are you a part of the Organisation?” Harrington simply could not comprehend why this was the case.

It had been years since Harrington last met Harry. The last time he even heard news about him was around a month ago, when Harvey mentioned that his son was currently travelling around the Main Continent to gain more experience and temper himself through real-world challenges.

Harry had willingly left home because he carried a strong desire deep inside his heart. He wanted to step out of his father’s shadow and prove himself to the world through his own abilities. He did not want people to respect him simply because he was the son of Harvey Ashworth or because he belonged to a powerful noble family. Harry wanted to build his own reputation from the ground up until one day the name ”Harry” alone would be enough for people to recognise him without needing the Ashworth family name attached behind it.

’How did his ambition lead him to join a corrupt organisation?’

”Grandpa, cultivation resources aren’t free.” This was one of the main reasons why Harry did not want Harrington to recognise him. Deep inside, even Harry himself knew that the path he had chosen was shameful. Especially now that his father’s childhood best friend had discovered that he was working for such an organisation, he felt deeply embarrassed. More than that, he did not want to hurt Harrington emotionally or destroy the trust the old man had toward him and the Ashworth family.

”I wandered around the Main Continent for decades and constantly struggled just to gather enough cultivation resources for myself.” Harry lowered his head slightly as he spoke.

During those years, he experienced firsthand how cruel the Main Continent could be. Talent alone was never enough. Without wealth, backing, connections, or resources, even geniuses could slowly become ordinary. It was during one of his lowest periods that he encountered one of the leaders of the organisation.

Unlike others, that person saw potential in him. They offered him everything he had desperately lacked for years: wealth, cultivation resources, rare techniques, influence, and the opportunity to build a name for himself. For the first time in his life, Harry felt like someone truly acknowledged his value. Even though he knew many of the organisation’s actions went against his morals and beliefs, the endless struggles, loneliness, and desperation he experienced over the years slowly pushed him toward accepting their offer.

”Trust me, I don’t like working for the organisation either. But for my ambition, and to prove to my father that I am capable enough, this is a necessary evil.” Harry replied with a helpless look on his face. There was visible frustration and bitterness hidden within his voice.

Deep inside, he knew very well that many of the organisation’s actions crossed the line of morality. But after spending decades struggling alone in the Main Continent, constantly lacking resources, influence, and opportunities, he slowly convinced himself that compromising a few morals was necessary if he wanted to achieve greatness. In his mind, this was the only path left for him to rise high enough to finally prove his worth to the world and, more importantly, to his father.

However, Harrington saw right through him almost instantly.

”If you are bending your morals for something, then you never really had strong morals in the first place.” Harrington’s voice was calm, but every single word struck Harry harder than a slap across the face.

The old man’s sharp eyes looked directly into him, as if seeing through every excuse he was trying to make for himself. Harrington had lived for far too long and seen far too many people fall into darkness while trying to justify their actions with ambition, desperation, or necessity. In his eyes, once someone started calling evil a ”necessary evil,” they had already begun walking down the wrong path without even realising it.

”Grandpa, you don’t know the things that I have been through. You have no right to talk about my morals or judge my actions.” Harry replied in an angry tone. His emotions, which he had been trying to suppress until now, finally burst out.

Years of frustration, loneliness, humiliation, and inner conflict were all hidden behind those words. To Harry, it felt unfair for Harrington to criticise him without understanding the struggles he had faced while wandering alone through the cruel world of the Main Continent.

But what Harry himself failed to realise was that his reaction had already exposed the truth buried deep inside his heart. Somewhere within him, even he knew that Harrington’s words were correct. He knew that he had slowly compromised his own morals step by step. Yet instead of accepting that painful truth, he instinctively chose anger. Getting angry at Harrington was easier than admitting that he himself had changed.

Seeing this reaction, Harrington silently understood something important. The innocent little Harry he once knew was already gone. The boy who used to follow behind Harvey and smile brightly without carrying the weight of ambition and resentment no longer existed.

Malakor genuinely wanted to offer him a chance at redemption because, despite everything, he still viewed Harry as family. But instead of reflecting on his actions, Harry became furious the moment his beliefs and choices were questioned.

At that moment, both of them understood something without needing to say it aloud. Neither side was willing to back down anymore. And when two stubborn people carrying completely different beliefs stand against each other, there is usually only one possible ending left.

”If you two are done with family reunion, can we get back to business?” Renji replied while panting. For some reason, he was sweating a lot. His heart was beating faster and faster.

He would be a fool not to notice something was wrong with his body.

”What did you do to me?” Renji asked Harrington.

Harrington coldly looked at Renji before looking at Harry.

”My weapons are coated with deadly poison. The amount my weapons managed to cut through your skin and make you bleed, the poison had already entered both of your bodies.” Hearing this, Harry and Renji both exchanged a look of shock and disbelief.

”That’s not possible.” The Malakor that Harry knew refused to use poison as it went against his way of fighting.

”Why is it not possible?” Malakor asked Harry in a cold tone.

”Times have changed everything.” Harrington was no longer as rigid as before.

”Besides, I have to go back and see everything with my own eyes.” He briefly looked at the centre of the city, where the Mansion had been blown up.

Normally, he wouldn’t have used poison. But this was a situation where he needed to end the battle as early as possible and get back to his family.

”There is no cure for this poison as a before few knows about it. Most that are affected by the poison end up dying.” Hearing this, Renji’s expression turned ugly.

”The poison affects the motor nerves. Which means, within a few minutes, both of you will become paralysed and won’t be able to do anything.” His tone remained calm as if he were merely stating a simple fact rather than announcing someone’s defeat.

There was not even the slightest trace of panic or excitement in his voice. In his eyes, the battle had already ended the moment the poison successfully entered their bodies.

As those words sank in, both of their expressions darkened. They immediately realised how dangerous the situation truly was. For cultivators at their level, becoming unable to move in the middle of battle was practically the same as receiving a death sentence. No matter how powerful a cultivator was, once their body stopped responding properly, they became nothing more than easy targets standing helplessly before their enemy.

”You said there are still a few minutes left. Then we will kill you before we are paralysed.” Renji and Harry charged at Harrington from two sides.

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