Edward Clark suddenly stood up, spreading her arms to block the front of William Clark's bed. She stared intently at Eric Carter; all her previous panic and fear vanished in this moment, replaced entirely by her overwhelming determination to protect her brother.

She straightened her back, wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes, and fixed her gaze on Eric Carter. "You can't kill my brother!"

"Can't?" Eric Carter laughed. "There's nothing I want to do that I can't! When the Dragon Gate elders discovered I was developing dragon arts using human bodies, I killed them all the same. You? Step aside..."

With a wave of his hand, Eric Carter pushed Edward Clark's frail body aside. But out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed a glimmer of light in Edward Clark's hand as she retreated.

A dagger! A very small dagger! She had always carried it with her— a little knife William Clark had given her for self-defense and play.

Now, this little knife was pressed right against the artery in Edward Clark's throat. With just a bit of force, she could sever the artery. Her eyes, swollen and red from crying, now shone with rare resolve.

"I heard you say that I also have forty percent innate dragon blood in my body. You're killing my brother because you can still reincarnate into me, right?" At this moment of life and death for William Clark, Edward Clark was no longer weak. The sharp look in her eyes was strikingly similar to William Clark's. "If I die, you won't have the most suitable body for reincarnation, will you?"

Eric Carter stopped the fingers that were about to cut William Clark's throat. A look of appreciation appeared on his wicked face. "You're very clever. But threatening me is a very foolish thing to do."

Edward Clark suddenly removed the dagger from her throat, her resolute expression now full of confidence. She was no longer that helpless little girl. She kept telling herself in her heart that to save her brother, she absolutely could not be timid.

"You mean to say, I can't kill myself faster than you can, right?" Edward Clark's swollen eyes were as clear as the finest spring water. "I overheard your conversation. You said that although I have forty percent dragon blood, my body isn't strong enough. Unless I cultivate dragon arts and become a Dragon Xuan, I can't withstand the immense power of reincarnation, is that correct?"

A trace of surprise appeared on Eric Carter's wicked face. This was something he had mentioned in a conversation with Jack Carter yesterday. He hadn't expected that the little girl who had only been crying on the side would remember every word of that conversation.

"You want to take me away, don't you? I can't kill myself, but I can refuse to cultivate dragon arts and become a Dragon Xuan." Edward Clark stiffened her neck and glared back into Eric Carter's wicked eyes. "That way, even if you take me away, you still can't reincarnate! You can stop me from killing myself, but you can't make me cultivate dragon arts!"

Eric Carter gave an evil laugh. Can't force someone to practice Dragon Xuan? People in this world really don't understand what genius is! The wedding garment dragon art he developed was precisely to allow those who had never practiced any dragon arts to possess powerful dragon power.

Of course, this grafted dragon power wasn't the best. Afterwards, the recipient still needed to undergo rigorous training to truly absorb and convert this dragon power into their own. Moreover, this portion of dragon power could only be absorbed up to a certain level; once the recipient's strength surpassed a certain limit, the wedding garment dragon art's power could no longer be grafted.

This limited grafted dragon power was still not enough for Edward Clark! She was female, which was different from being male. Eric Carter wanted to reincarnate into a female body, but there would be many more restrictions. To truly achieve reincarnation, Edward Clark's strength would have to reach at least half of his own.

Half! Even for someone with forty percent innate dragon blood and great potential, it would still take a relatively long time to reach that level! After all, the once-in-a-millennium genius of Dragon Gate, Eric Carter, was no ordinary Dragon Xuan.

"Your conditions..." Eric Carter looked at Edward Clark with great interest. He had originally been worried whether this girl could endure the hardships of Dragon Xuan's special training, but now it seemed he had found leverage to force her into hard cultivation.

"Let my brother go!" Edward Clark's expression was extremely resolute. "And you must heal him, guaranteeing that his life will be in no danger."

Eric Carter raised his right index finger and gently waved it left and right in front of him, a faint mocking smile on his wicked face. "What I can do is, this time I'll spare your brother. If he receives proper treatment within three days, I guarantee he won't die."

"Ten days!"

"Boss, time."

Jack Carter raised his hand and pointed at the dragon watch on his wrist, reminding this eccentric genius who, once he got stubborn, would never compromise, that the law enforcement teams were now searching the entire continent for him and could show up with dragon weapons at any moment.

Eric Carter looked at William Clark on the bed. It seemed that the trace of soul imprint couldn't be retrieved for now, so it would remain in his body for the time being. Once he recovered, he could come back and take it.

"Fine! I guarantee he won't die for a month." Eric Carter quickly formed a new dragon seal and sent a beam of light directly into William Clark's body. "This is a great Dragon Turtle Breath technique. It can keep him in a sleeping state for a month. He won't eat or drink, but he won't starve to death either. On the contrary, his body will automatically recover. If no one finds and saves him within a month, then that's just his own bad luck."