From Secret Clan to the Divine Dynasty

The middle-aged drunkard's brow was tightly furrowed. After the mysterious old man in a black robe had detailed the gambling content, he turned around and left, then suddenly disappeared into the crowd.

After he left there, he kept murmuring to himself.

"I fucking didn't agree to it! Hmph, that old man, what on earth was that about? I didn't agree at all!"

"Damn it! Such a bet can't possibly hold up, can it? I didn't agree!"

Despite saying this, deep inside, he was still filled with fear because there were too many strange and mysterious powers in this world, and people generally preferred to believe they could exist rather than not.

Even though he hadn't agreed, the bet might have already been established, possibly involving some mysterious and terrible powers.

At that thought, the middle-aged drunkard shuddered.

He recalled the specific content of the bet.

"Until the new day arrives, do not come into contact with any liquid..."

What on earth is that supposed to mean?

The fear deep inside the middle-aged drunkard was profound. He took a deep breath and then decided to be as cautious as possible, avoiding any form of liquid during the time that followed.

It was the afternoon, with some time left until nightfall. He must hold on.

"Be careful!"

Suddenly, the door of a nearby room opened, and a plump maid threw the slop water from her bucket directly out from inside the house.

He was shocked and quickly dodged, narrowly avoiding being splashed by a single drop of water.

"Watch what you're doing, dammit!"

"Fuck off! You know how to dodge, don't you?"

This street was already a gathering place for outsiders, where the local customs were rough. The plump maid didn't hold back at all and shouted loudly back at him, prompting laughter from the surrounding citizens.

The middle-aged man was now completely sober. He took a deep breath, his brow furrowing deeply as he began to very carefully avoid various kinds of liquids.

"I need to be more careful, just go home. There are too many accidents waiting to happen outside."

He felt his pockets— the money he had stolen today was sufficient. It was time to go home.

However, after passing through the street, he saw several of his drunkard friends coming towards him, faces beaming with smiles, holding small kegs of liquor, swaggering towards him.

His drunk friends, reeking of alcohol, shouted loudly:

"Fancy a drink? Hahaha, let us treat you to a swig!"

"Come on, come on! Drink, drink, drink!"

The middle-aged man turned pale with fright, immediately backed away, and then took off running towards his home, no longer wanting to linger outside for another moment.

"Hey, why's that guy running off?"

The drunkards were utterly confused. They had never encountered such a situation before. Someone was offering him a drink and he refused?

"Huff, huff, huff..."

"Boom!"

As he ran, he kept gasping for air when suddenly he heard a clap of thunder. Looking up, he saw the sky darken, looking like it was about to rain any moment!

Fear instantly gripped his heart.

The sky had been clear just moments ago, so why did it look like it was about to rain all of a sudden? Why is this happening?

"Boom!"

The sound of thunder echoed as the sky filled with dark clouds.

Whether it was an illusion or not, the middle-aged man suddenly stopped, his astonishment peaked as he saw a pair of cold, gold snake eyes in the clouds above, their cool malevolence filling his heart with dread. A chilling terror spread to his fingertips in an instant.

It was staring down at the tiny humans below.

That was...

What is that thing!

"Ah!"

Nearing collapse, he screamed and ran, finally reaching his home in a matter of minutes, frantically pounding on the door.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

"Open up! Hurry up, it's Dad, I'm back! Open the door!"

After a moment, his thirteen-year-old daughter immediately opened the door, her face brimming with joy as she looked at her father.

"Dad, you're back!"

"Boom!" The sound of thunder came again.

The middle-aged man took a deep breath and quickly stepped inside, sweat dripping down as he soon noticed raindrops beginning to mark the ground outside.

"Whoosh."

It was raining.

He was terrified.

It was that thing's doing; it actually, actually managed to make it rain from the sky!

The middle-aged man firmly locked his door, determined not to step outside his home ever again.

"Dad, want some water?" his daughter asked, coming over with a glass of water.

He yelled out in fear:

"No, I don't want to drink anything!"

"Oh."

Time dragged on, and the middle-aged man felt utterly exhausted and weak. His body desperately wanted to sleep.

So tired.

Drunk, beaten, scared, running—he had reached the limits of his strength and couldn't keep himself up any longer, collapsing on the bed with his head spinning.

It must be close to midnight now.

Perhaps in another hour, he would win.

He finally could not resist the constant onslaught of sleepiness and could only turn his head to look at his daughter, saying, "Daddy needs to rest well, and you must not let anyone in before tomorrow, okay? Baby."

The little girl nodded and obediently said, "Okay, Daddy, I understand."

Upon waking up, everything would be fine—perhaps he really would get that pound of Gold, the anxious and fearful man longed to sleep, because as long as he fell asleep, he wouldn't have to continue worrying.

As in ordinary days, as long as he was drunk, all the bad things in reality would disperse like smoke and clouds.

As long as...

Eventually, the middle-aged man deeply entered the realm of dreams.

Unconsciously, he felt an icy coldness on his face, a sensation of dampness.

"Ah!"

The middle-aged man suddenly awoke and sat up, only to discover in shock that it was his daughter standing beside him, crying!

"Sob..."

The tearful young girl looked at her father, clutching some coins in her hand, and said in distress:

"Daddy, you've been working so hard outside, earning so much money, and you've even got injured, but I can't help you at all, I feel so useless."

"Can you, can you stop getting hurt, Daddy."

She looked at her father with heartfelt pleading in her eyes.

"I don't want you to get hurt, Daddy, even if we don't have bread to eat it doesn't matter, I can eat beans."

He numbly touched the tears on his face and was silent for a long time without speaking.

I...

All along, the middle-aged man had lied to his daughter, saying the money was earned from hard work, never admitting the fact that he was a thief.

She was proud of her father.

And she felt like a useless burden because of it.

But how could she be a burden?

Initially worthless himself, without a wife, family, or children, it was she who suddenly appeared at his doorstep, the infant in that snowy night, who gave him hope and courage...

It wasn't I who saved her but she who saved me.

Then, he realized something terrifying!

He had lost the bet and was about to lose the most important thing!

The next moment, without warning, the middle-aged man saw the cloaked old man standing behind his daughter.

"You lost."

His voice was extremely cold, devoid of even a trace of human emotion, as he slowly extended his scaled, aged palm and gently laid it on the young girl's head.

In the depths of his heart, a profound fear unlike any before surged, and he suddenly stood up and screamed loudly!

"No, no, no, no, don't! I beg you, give me another chance! No, no, no, no! Don't!"

In the blink of an eye, the daughter's body turned into a lifelike sculpture, still just as beautiful as when she was flesh and blood.

"Ah, no, no!"

The middle-aged man's tears poured out crazily, as he embraced his daughter's statue in agony, constantly pleading and repenting, hoping the cloaked old man would give him another chance.

"Hahaha!"

The cloaked old man laughed mockingly, paying no attention to the man.

The next moment, he pushed open the door and walked out, instantly transforming into a huge and powerful black dragon that took to the sky, leaving the city known as Rus.

——

Half a month later.

Dirty all over and completely insane, the middle-aged man cradled the statue of the young girl, muttering to himself as he sat on the street corner.

"Don't, don't... give me another chance... don't..."

His eyes were vacant and lifeless.

He looked like nothing more than a corpse that yet moved.

Many people cast sympathetic glances, but ordinary people would steer clear upon seeing the sculpture, daring not to provoke the powerful Extraordinary Exponents or the unfathomable supernatural beings.

"This is the place."

Two men emerged from the hustle and bustle of the street crowd, approaching the completely insane middle-aged man; one of the "old men" squatted down.

It was an "old man" with deeply etched wrinkles, a head full of snowy white hair, and eyes profound with wisdom.

And behind him stood a silver-haired, extremely handsome middle-aged man.

They were so distinctive, merely standing among the crowd highlighted their superior demeanor, inadvertently drawing the attention of all onlookers.

"Hello, I am Byrne Fischer."

The "old man" smiled, his deep gaze fixing on the madman's murky, confused eyes, as he continued:

"To get straight to the point, friend, I want to inquire about something... about a black dragon."

"That old lizard did something quite intolerable to my father, too. We've been looking for him for decades... hoping you can help us."

The insane middle-aged man remained unmoved, showing no reaction whatsoever. Byrne narrowed his eyes in thought.

It was only when Byrne whispered in his ear that he began to speak.

"Trust us, say all you know here, please understand one thing, it will be the only chance to bring your daughter 'back to life'."

Finally, a glimmer of lucidity emerged in the madman's eyes.

"What, what did you say?"

"Can she really come back to life?"

Byrne slowly nodded, he who had been squatting down stood up again, standing beside Chris like an inscrutable mountain.

"At least, I can assure you that your daughter is not completely gone."