Outside the village, a fierce wind howled, blowing snowflakes all over the sky. Two people wrapped in gray blankets walked through the blizzard. The younger man, who looked only sixteen or seventeen, was quite delicate and handsome, but there was an indescribable wickedness flickering in his eyes. He stared at the village thrown into chaos and said to the other person, “Boss Carter, aren’t we supposed to keep hiding from Longmen’s pursuit? Why did you stop moving forward?”

“Let’s wait a bit before we go.”

The man addressed as Boss Carter looked just about thirty years old. His long black hair streamed behind him like a waterfall in the wild wind, and his handsome face exuded a wickedness a hundred or a thousand times stronger than his young companion’s. Just a simple sentence from his mouth carried a strange, sinister chill that could make one’s soul shiver.

Chapter Four: Dark State

The thirty-year-old Eric Carter had eyes shining with excitement, like a beast spotting delicious prey. His black tongue gently licked his pale lips as he said, “Jack Carter, can’t you smell the scent of dragon blood? Didn’t you see that young man, who has never cultivated dragon power, instinctively entering the dark state of a Dragon Warrior out of anger? Can’t you smell it? He has as much as forty percent innate dragon blood in his body! He’s far stronger than that pathetic waste Matthew Carter, who only has a pitiful nine percent!”

“No cultivation of dragon power at all—how could he possibly have forty percent dragon blood?” Jack Carter’s wicked face showed a look of shock and confusion. He instinctively retorted in surprise, “If a person has five percent innate dragon blood, they qualify to train with Matthew Carter. If they have ten percent before any cultivation, they’re a genius; fifteen percent, a rare genius; and if it’s twenty…”

Jack Carter shook his head repeatedly. With twenty percent innate dragon blood, to remain conscious without being affected by the violent factors in dragon blood and turning into a dragon demon—that would be a super genius! If someone had more than twenty percent innate dragon blood… they would surely be controlled by the violent factors in the dragon blood and become a dragon demon who knows only slaughter!

Forty percent? And still conscious? Jack Carter simply couldn’t believe it, especially as a research-type genius—he found it impossible, as it completely contradicted the data!

“Why not? Isn’t there a real example right in front of us?” Eric Carter’s smile was as sinister as his name, full of treacherous wickedness. “The dean of Snow Dragon City joined forces with the Four Elders and Eight Generals and Sixteen Champions of Longmen to ambush me, trying to force me to give up developing new dragon techniques. But they never expected I’d encounter the best reincarnation vessel here, giving me a chance to pursue immortality! Forty percent innate dragon blood! If I could reincarnate into his body…”

Eric Carter raised a finger at a bandit charging at him with bloodshot eyes, touched the man’s forehead, and the head instantly exploded into fragments. The body staggered forward a couple more steps before finally collapsing to the ground.

“Jack Carter,” Eric Carter looked at the wicked young man beside him with a smile, “tell me, after I rise again, who in the Four Great Dragon Cities or Longmen could possibly stop me?”

“No one!” Jack Carter’s determined expression was tinged with wicked fanaticism. “You will become the eleventh strongest Dragon Duke!”

“Dragon Duke?” Eric Carter laughed, his black hair swirling wildly in the wind. “Those ten so-called strongest Dragon Dukes of this era—I’ve never cared about them. My goal is to pursue immortality! To find the legendary dragon, kill it! Seize all its power! Completely break free from the shackles of this earth, and see what mysteries the heavens truly hold!”

Roar!

A wild, murderous roar echoed above the village, forcibly cutting off Eric Carter’s words. The two bandits pinning William Clark to the ground suddenly realized that this young man had turned into a monster. Like the legendary mammoth dragon beast, he broke free from their restraints with ease, stood up, and with one arm, lifted both of them high into the air.

Crack… crack… splurt!

The necks of the two bandits gripped by William Clark were completely crushed, and the hand covered in strange red veins sprouted razor-sharp claws that easily sliced through their necks. Blood sprayed from the severed stumps, and the two heads rolled away, tumbling across the ground until they bumped into the heel of Ethan Brooks.

Ethan Brooks, who hadn’t even finished unfastening his belt, felt the hair on his back stand on end. It was as if a steel rod had been driven into his neck. He turned his head back with great difficulty, looking at William Clark, his eyes filled with terror, and almost subconsciously muttered, “Matthew Carter’s dark state? How… how could he… he… dragon…”

Roar!

William Clark threw his head back and let out another wild, murderous roar, like an upright dragon beast. His powerful legs bent slightly, and the only sound in the air was the sharp tearing noise.

The shadow of a berserk demon rapidly expanded in Ethan Brooks’s pupils. The dragon patterns of a Dragon Warrior flashed again on his face, his fists covered in black scales. Instinctively, he threw a punch, aiming straight at the open palm of William Clark.