He pondered, inadvertently glancing in the direction where the Sword Saint had fled, and was suddenly startled.
Why was there someone lying on the grass ahead?
Dinksway walked over to take a look and found that this person was none other than the Sword Saint’s father, Sodlan.
‘How about that? In the rush to escape, the Sword Saint actually left his father behind. Truly, one can search far and wide only to find what they seek by sheer luck.’
He only needed to keep Sodlan under control. As long as the Sword Saint possessed a shred of conscience, no matter how far he ran, he would eventually have to return to save his father.
‘Sword Saint, you will have to come looking for me after all.’
He stepped forward. At that moment, Sodlan had hit his head on a stone during his sudden fall.
With a *crack*, he had lost consciousness.
“Heaven is truly on my side. I don’t believe for a second that you won’t come to rescue your old father.”
Before long, the people from earlier caught up and saw Dinksway standing still.
The King asked, “Dinksway, the Sword Saint has escaped. What do you plan to do next?”
Previously, the King and Dinksway had established a cooperative relationship.
Dinksway was responsible for cultivating a powerful team of Magicians within the Human Race to help the King expand his territory and conquer the world.
In exchange, the King would use his status to help him smoothly complete his plans and clear all obstacles.
And the existence of the Sword Saint was the greatest obstacle of all.
At that time, this fellow was the most admired and respected person among the Human Race, and his strength was extraordinary.
Dinksway had originally intended to breed Magic Creatures to provide training for his students, but the Sword Saint would always wipe out all the Magic Creatures around the Human Race, which gave him a massive headache.
To deal with this, he devised a plan to have the King revoke the Sword Saint’s mission to clear Magic Creatures and let him take over instead.
The matter should have ended there, but who would have thought that the Sword Saint would repeatedly show up at his door to kill the Magic Creatures he had cultivated?
Dinksway couldn’t stand it any longer, so he added a requirement for the King: strip the Sword Saint of his Human Status, drive him away, and refuse him entry into the borders.
This was the most foolproof strategy.
With the Sword Saint gone, he was the only powerful person left among the Human Race.
However, things had taken a turn.
During the last few times he met the Sword Saint, Dinksway had sensed the aura of the Dragon Race emanating from him.
It was very strange for a member of the Human Race to possess the aura of the Dragon Race, wasn’t it?
Because the Sword Saint had a successful experience as a Dragon Slayer in the past but then disappeared without a word—neglecting even the Human City he cared about most—it was hard not to be suspicious.
First, he had not brought back any trophies related to the Dragon Race.
Second, he had never described what a dragon looked like or how it felt to see a member of the Dragon Race for the first time.
Third, he hadn’t revealed any details or the psychological journey of his battle with the dragon.
No matter how one looked at it, he didn’t seem like a Dragon Slayer.
Therefore, Dinksway had reason to be suspicious.
The way he disappeared for so long without warning, the Dragon Race aura on his body, the terrifying vertical pupils seen by chance, and the way he jumped into the air and suddenly vanished after being cornered by the humans…
Putting all these pieces of evidence together, a bold guess formed in his mind.
The real Sword Saint was actually dead, having died on the day of the dragon hunt. The Sword Saint they were seeing now was merely a member of the Dragon Race in disguise.
To think a member of the Dragon Race dared to run onto the territory of the Human Race.
As the lead Magician of the Human Race, Dinksway had no reason not to kill him.
But wasn’t that strange? Why would the Dragon Race send a dragon to disguise itself as the Sword Saint?
Dinksway also felt confused.
The theory about the Dragon Race disguising themselves as humans made sense in some parts but not in others.
It wasn’t until later that one of the King’s subordinates suddenly brought news, saying he had seen a member of the Dragon Race at Soderland’s House with the Sword Saint and provided a detailed description of that dragon.
Everyone knew that it was difficult to imagine a creature one had never seen out of thin air, let alone describe it.
But this person was able to speak clearly about it, and with the King present at the time, no one dared to lie. This news was highly likely to be true.
Dinksway thought about it for one night and couldn’t figure it out, so he could only overturn his original conclusion.
He attributed the Sword Saint’s strange circumstances to an aura he had been tainted with after contact with the Dragon Race.
This seemed to explain things as well.
Since the Dragon Race had appeared, Dinksway had another idea — catch the Dragon Race and use them for himself.
This was a massive opportunity for improvement right in front of him; how could he not be tempted?
Seeing that Dinksway didn’t answer, the King asked again, “What do you plan to do now? Go back directly, or continue the pursuit? I feel like there’s no need to chase. I’ve already stripped the Sword Saint of his Human Status; it’s impossible for him to return. The path ahead of you will be bright.”
“No,” Dinksway replied with only one word.
“No? What do you mean? The Sword Saint is gone; isn’t the path bright?”
Dinksway paused before answering, “I mean, the obstacles have been cleared, but there is still one key thing I haven’t obtained.”
“What thing? You didn’t say anything about another thing before.”
“The Dragon Race.”
Hearing this word, the King looked incredulous.
“Where is the Dragon Race? Aren’t you talking nonsense?”
“It’s normal for you not to believe it — your consciousness is shallow and simplistic; you are nothing but a lump of flesh that happened to grow eyes and a mouth.”
“You!”
Hearing Dinksway mock him so blatantly, the King wished he could skin him alive.
“Don’t worry, just do as I say. Tie him up, and I will personally stand guard.”
“Him? Who?”
The King’s face was filled with confusion.
“Sodlan, the Sword Saint’s father, is right at my feet! Now it seems you don’t even have eyes; you’re just a lump of flesh that grew a mouth.”
The King was speechless, but for the sake of the upcoming plan, he could only swallow his anger and tie Sodlan up.
***
On the other side, the distant Zhu Qiu was still excited about being able to freely use Wind Element Magic like Flight.
She glanced behind her; Dinksway was not pursuing.
“Those guys are too much. If they want to revoke my Human Status, then fine. I won’t serve them anymore. Anyway, my father has a place where he can live in peace now, so there’s no need to stay among the Human Race.”
Zhu Qiu had originally been quite sad, but once it actually happened, she suddenly felt much better about it.
It didn’t matter.
“Don’t you agree, Father?” she asked subconsciously toward her back, but she received no response.
“Hmm?”
Why did her back suddenly feel so light?
Zhu Qiu stopped in a panic, only to find that her father was gone.
“Father!” she shouted toward the direction she had come from, but there was still no response.
“Oh no.”
Could it be that she had accelerated so suddenly to lose Dinksway that he hadn’t been able to hold on and fell off?