Having dispatched the creature Hao Xuan wiped his shoes on a nearby tree and wandered along the path while waiting for Princess Ceni to catch up.

Haeti came running in first, landing soundlessly on a tree branch right above him.

Hao Xuan raised his head and saw the little scrunched-up face baring its teeth at him. "What?"

"Hmph! Impudent creature. Doesn't know what's good for it," Haeti grumbled loudly before looking away angrily.

Princess Ceni walked in at that point and moved past Hao Xuan without even throwing him so much as a glance. Hao Xuan's brow furrowed even more upon noticing her cold behavior. He did not know what had brought on this change but it was weird nonetheless, and he couldn't help but wonder why.

Unbeknownst to him, Princess Ceni had taken the advice of her much more experienced senior sister and implemented one of the many tried and tested strategies to woo inexperienced men like Hao Xuan.

In her words:

"Men always want what they cannot have. Make them believe something is out of their reach and they will work that much harder to get it even if it is not worth the trouble. They are entirely simple-minded beings so knowing how they think will make it easier for you to deal with them however you wish."

As advised, Princess Ceni stopped showing interest in Hao Xuan to his face and treated him like any other man if not even worse, which greatly confused him.

In their last meeting, they both fought together against the mermen and Hao Xuan barely came out of it in one piece. And although he wasn't particularly close to her after that, at least he considered or an acquaintance.

But being completely ignored like this made him think he did something wrong which warranted such behavior. He thought about what it could have been as they moved through the forest.

Approximately 30 minutes passed like this before Haeti suddenly came running back. His expression was one of pure shock as if he had seen something utterly unexpected.

"My lady....there is a....dragon in front of us!" he said through heavy breaths.

"A dragon?" Princess Ceni repeated calmly. He and Hao Xuan both knew that wasn't possible. How could there be a dragon in the middle of nowhere?

"Show me," she ordered and followed after Haeti who started speeding away instantly. Too curious to stay behind Hao Xuan went after them as well after a brief moment of hesitation.

They sprinted for almost 200 meters before an opening in the woods presented itself. Haeti stopped a few meters away and pointed towards it. Princess Ceni and Hao Xuan both approached it silently while trying their best to hide their presence.

Although if it really was a dragon here then all that would be useless since they could recognize all beings living or dead for miles.

Hao Xuan made his way up a tree towards a clear vantage point and finally saw the 'dragon'.

A pair of long feathered wings were attached to a cylindrical body that almost resembled a fish. There were three claws under its belly and an oval mouth that continuously opened and closed as if it was gasping for air.

It flapped left and right, leaking blood all over the muddy pit it was traped in.

"Pfft-"

Hao Xuan almost laughed out loud when he saw its true appearance. It looked like an especially ugly mutated fish. If a unicorn and a codfish had intercourse, this deformed thing would be the misshapen result.

It reminded him of the old Chinese proverb about the carp that leaped over the dragon's gate. Only this one looked like it missed the gate entirely and face planted into the dragon's gateway instead before falling back down.

Ceni's cheeks flushed red in an instant when she heard Hao Xuan trying to stifle a laugh. She threw a deathly glare towards Haeti who was still shivering behind a tree some 5 meters behind them.

"That is NOT a dragon, you idiot!" she cursed loudly but Haeti shook his head vigorously, pointing at the ground.

"N-No my lady, not the marine deformation, the thing below it!"

*Splash*

The sound of water splashing came from the front just as he stopped talking. The ground trembled slightly as the 4-meter wide muddy pit the deformed creature was trapped in started bubbling and two giant claws suddenly reached out from the sides.

The entire pit expanded to almost 6 meters in diameter before two serrated walls erupted from the left and right sides before closing up, swallowing the deformed creature whole.

A heavy pressure fell on their shoulders as a spiritual sense tried to invade Hao Xuan's mind.

His eyes widened from the shock. He quickly stood up and was about to leap back to safety but saw Princess Ceni still sitting in the same spot frozen stiff.

He jumped towards her and grabbed her hand, "Don't just sit there!" but she still didn't move so he hugged her and started running back as the trees they were sitting on started getting swallowed into the ground.

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