"My lord, in my current state, how could I possibly dare?"
Blinking its eyes, the Purple-scaled Red-horned Flood Dragon, now resembling a small, crimson snake, took the initiative. It extracted a sliver of its Soul Origin, formed it into a Slave-Binding Seal, and sent it flying out.
Yang Xiao glanced at it.
With a thought, he refined it. Immediately, the Slave-Binding Seal split in two—one large, one small. The large one landed in Yang Xiao's Sea of Consciousness, while the small one fell into the Purple-scaled Red-horned Flood Dragon's Sea of Consciousness.
Symbolizing one master and one servant.
This was somewhat different from the Ancient Slave Seal that Yang Xiao had used before. The Ancient Slave Seal was a powerful technique used to place a control mechanism in the opponent's most vulnerable Sea of Consciousness. If the target showed the slightest disobedience, they could be easily obliterated.
It was generally used by the strong against the weak.
And with Yang Xiao's methods, as long as the opponent's strength wasn't too much greater than his own, he could use this technique to control them.
At most, it would only require using a Sub-Flame of his Heaven and Earth Origin Flame.
But the Purple-scaled Red-horned Flood Dragon was different; it was far stronger than Yang Xiao.
If he had used the Ancient Slave Seal or a similar technique, he obviously wouldn't have been able to control it, because he wouldn't be able to obliterate it. It would be an empty threat.
But a master-servant contract was different.
Once the master-servant bond was established, it was bound by the Power of the Heaven and Earth Great Dao.
It was especially suitable for situations where the master was weak and the servant was strong.
So, Yang Xiao was genuinely surprised and pleased to see this creature being so well-behaved and submissive.
Especially when he discovered that his current Spiritual Power was completely sufficient to control this creature, Yang Xiao was ecstatic. This was a henchman approaching the Great Divine Power Realm.
With it by his side, he would have a certain degree of security even if he left the Celestial Cloud Region.
"My lord—no, Master, can you let this humble one go now?"
However, seeing this creature so utterly shameless, Yang Xiao was speechless.
But then he recalled the creature's previous arrogance.
His face instantly turned cold as he said, "Seeing as you know what's good for you, I'll spare you this time. If there is a next time... Hmph, hmph!"
Yang Xiao snorted coldly.
His eyes were full of menace.
The Purple-scaled Blood Horned Flood Dragon, however, just shook its small head obsequiously.
It put on a docile appearance.
Only then did Yang Xiao raise his hand.
The golden palace before them, which had already shrunk to about a meter in height, shot up into the air with a WHOOSH and continued to shrink.
It returned to the space between Yang Xiao's eyebrows, taking its place to preside over his Sea of Consciousness.
"Haha, this dragon is finally alive again!"
Once the suppression was lifted,
the Purple-scaled Blood Horned Flood Dragon immediately became arrogant again.
Its body suddenly swelled,
returning to its original, terrifying size.
However, when its large, excited eyes saw the displeasure on Yang Xiao's face, its heart tightened. It shrank again, returning to the size of a small snake.
It had to be said, the creature actually looked a little cute and silly like this.
It showed none of the ferocious, domineering aura of its true form.
"Um, Master, this humble one just got carried away for a moment. Please don't be offended. By the way, did Master come to this 2nd Layer to hunt for treasure or to obtain an inheritance? If you're looking for treasure, this humble one knows all the Treasure Lands in the vicinity..."
The Purple-scaled Blood Horned Flood Dragon began to speak smugly.
"I'm looking for the Inheritance Tower. The tallest one."
Yang Xiao interrupted it without ceremony.
With this creature,
he already understood,
one absolutely couldn't be polite.
Otherwise,
it would get completely out of hand.
"The tallest Inheritance Tower? It seems Master is quite ambitious."
The Purple-scaled Blood Horned Flood Dragon glanced at Yang Xiao.
"Do you know where it is?"
"Of course I know! That Golden-winged Hairy Roc is guarding it. I've been wanting to teach it a lesson for ages! Now that Master is taking action, won't it just have to kneel and lick your boots?"
The Purple-scaled Blood Horned Flood Dragon's small, pale golden eyes were filled with excitement.
It had clearly suffered at the hands of the Beast King that guarded the 2nd Layer's Inheritance Tower before.
But this was good too.
This way, it would put in more effort.
Besides,
'I have the Heaven-Fighting Divine Palace.'
'As long as Hanx Ziye helps me,'
'any Beast King will have to kneel.'
Wasn't this Purple-scaled Blood Horned Flood Dragon right in front of him a perfect example?
"Alright then. Let's go to the nest of that Golden-winged Hairy Roc you mentioned."
Yang Xiao was also in high spirits.
He waved his hand grandly.
And gave the order.
"You got it!"
The Purple-scaled Blood Horned Flood Dragon's body instantly grew much larger.
It glanced cautiously at Yang Xiao, then shrank a little.
Finally, it settled at a length of about ten meters. Yang Xiao didn't stand on ceremony and sat directly on its back. Then, with a WHOOSH, the creature shot off into the sky.
That speed...
...was simply incredible.
It was countless times faster than Yang Xiao's own Void Shifting.
And it saved time and effort.
Furthermore, the Purple-scaled Blood Horned Flood Dragon was innately protected by a Void Secret Pattern, so when Yang Xiao sat on it, he was also enveloped by the protection.
He didn't feel the slightest bit of wind.
Instantly, Yang Xiao
became even more satisfied with this creature.
'Thinking about it, this creature is actually quite tragic. It could have swatted me into a pulp with its tail, but instead it had to give me a fortuitous encounter.'
'And now, I'm the one who benefited from the encounter. If it had just spoken respectfully, I would have naturally agreed to take it out of here, just like with Hanx Ziye. I would have even repaid the favor in the future.'
'But this thing just had to be provocative.'
Thinking about the fate of the Flood Dragon beneath him, Yang Xiao had a sudden realization.
And that was this:
Never underestimate any existence weaker than yourself.
And never give them a chance to turn the tables.
If you don't want to kill them,
don't provoke them.
If you want to kill them,
don't give them any chance to recover.
Now,
it seemed Xuan Tianzhan had a chance to recover.
'I won't make the same mistake as this stupid Flood Dragon. Xuan Tianzhan, you just wait. I'll be coming for you on the third layer soon enough.'
Yang Xiao's expression turned cold.
And at that very moment,
the Purple-scaled Blood Horned Flood Dragon came to a halt.
It was looking ahead.
Directly ahead,
on a towering mountain peak, there was an enormous golden bird.
It had apparently been lying down.
But as soon as the Purple-scaled Blood Horned Flood Dragon's aura appeared,
the golden bird stood up.
Its pair of brilliant golden eyes, like two sharp swords, gazed towards Yang Xiao and the Purple-scaled Blood Horned Flood Dragon.
Finally, it ignored Yang Xiao.
Its gaze landed on the Purple-scaled Blood Horned Flood Dragon.
"Old Hairy! Your Grandpa Long is here to see you! Haha, hurry up and get down here to greet me!"
The Purple-scaled Blood Horned Flood Dragon's eyes were filled with excitement.
Its words were coarse and provocative.
Instantly,
the golden bird was enraged.
It flapped its wings
and dove towards them.
At that moment,
Yang Xiao finally saw that this golden bird wasn't pure gold.
Only its two pairs of wings were brilliant gold; its body and head were covered in grayish-white feathers, which looked very incongruous.
'No wonder Little Purple called it a Golden-winged Hairy Roc. It really is a "hairy" mix! But those wings... they seem to carry the pure bloodline of that old coot, the Golden-winged Roc. If I could obtain them and study them carefully, my Profound Feather Divine Technique might just advance into a Great Divine Technique.'
As this thought crossed Yang Xiao's mind,
the Golden-winged Hairy Roc's sharp talons were already swiping down.
With a faint smile, his figure flashed as he retreated from the battle zone.
As for the Purple-scaled Blood Horned Flood Dragon,
it reverted to its true form in an instant.
ROAR!
It clashed with the Golden-winged Hairy Roc,
and their battle began.