"Oh?"

Cassius showed no panic. He just kept his head up and looked at Beatrice without dodging. His strong claws were raised and his smooth, shiny wings spread out.

"Is this how you treat guests in the Eternal Order Realm? My strange fellow race, did you invite me here just to make an enemy of me?"

Beatrice flapped her wings, stirring up hurricanes, and her voice was exceptionally cold: "In front of His Majesty Landis's holy relics, there is only justice and order. Anyone who deceives and conceals will become our enemy!"

The two pairs of pupils, like molten gold pools, reflected each other's similar majestic faces. Two powerful dragon powers instantly overflowed, they confronted and squeezed each other, and the air seemed to be about to solidify into ice.

Under the influence of this collision, the golden dragons in the hall opened their eyes one after another, awakened from their respective meditations, and flew behind their familiar teacher, Beatrice, looking solemnly at the strange ancient golden dragon.

Aurora flapped her wings and flew unsteadily between the two ancient dragons. She first raised her head and looked at Beatrice with pleading eyes.

"Teacher, you must have some misunderstanding! Senior Titus is the benefactor who saved the Mountain Kingdom and is revered by mortals as the 'Dawn Dragon'. How could he be an enemy?"

Beatrice did not listen to her excuses, but ordered mercilessly: "Back off, Aurora! This has nothing to do with you.

"Teacher, it's definitely not what you think"

"Enough! This is too dangerous. You have learned the secret history of our tribe. Those evil dragons often covet our power. Who can guarantee that the guy behind you is not a blue dragon or a green dragon that is good at deception and disguise?"

"But."

"There's no buts. Stop fooling around, Aurora. You're still too young and don't have the ability to distinguish between good and evil." Beatrice's cold gaze passed over Aurora and projected onto "Titus".

“But I already have.”

Seeing that he could not refute his teacher, the young golden dragon turned around and looked at the Dawn Dragon who was invited by him with guilt.

"Senior Titus, I'm sorry. I don't want to see this happen. The teacher just has some misunderstandings. She doesn't really regard you as an enemy."

Aurora turned her head back and forth, looking up and down, her voice was extremely anxious, as if she had swallowed a mouthful of magma into her throat.

But neither side was affected by her. In this ancient dragon-level contest, Aurora even felt dizzy and was about to fall.

"Is that so? You are worthy of being the granter of the Eternal Order Realm. Nothing can be hidden from your eyes."

Cassius lowered his head and spoke in a low voice. His face, which had been quite angry just now, gradually became calm and relaxed, and even showed a helpless expression.

Finally, he slowly folded his wings and closed them on his back like a giant golden moth, and the powerful dragon power also dissipated.

Feeling the resistance in the air disappear, Aurora finally breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn't help but wipe the sweat from her forehead with her claws and landed on the ground obediently.

But Beatrice still hovered in the air. She looked at the strange ancient golden dragon with a scrutinizing eye, slowly opened her mouth, and a dozen long whiskers fluttered around her mouth.

"Titus, what are you hiding? In any case, it is my duty as the Guardian of the Scales of Randys to prevent any suspicious persons from approaching." Her voice was as stern as that of a judge in a tribunal, echoing in the hall of the monastery.

Cassius smiled bitterly, hesitated for a moment, and then lowered his voice and said, "Covering up and deceiving are sometimes not out of malice, but just habitual self-defense and protection of the people around you."

He raised his head again and looked at the majestic female ancient golden dragon in the air, with exquisite runes engraved all over its body. "Sir Beatrice, I have no intention of making an enemy of you, but... we may need to go to a more secret place and talk slowly."

"Okay, follow me." Beatrice's response was crisp and brief.

Seeing this, the other golden dragons retreated and returned to their respective positions to continue their practice. Aurora looked at them worriedly and had to leave in disappointment.

However, she firmly believed in her heart that the "Senior Titus" she invited would never be a bad person. Perhaps it was intuition, Aurora always felt that this mysterious senior was particularly reliable and gave her an inexplicable sense of security.

Beatrice flapped her wings and flew out of the monastery lightly and gracefully, heading towards the valley deep in the mountains, while Cassius, transformed into an ancient golden dragon, followed closely behind her without saying a word.

He was thinking of countermeasures.

In the Yongxu Realm, a demiplane specially created for the carved-skin golden dragon, the power of Cassius's incarnation alone is probably no match for Beatrice, the ancient guardian.

However, when dealing with an ancient dragon of such high intelligence, vague riddles alone would probably not be enough to fool it.

Half-truths and half-false lies are more deadly than pure deception. Perhaps we can make some moves in this regard, Cassius thought to himself.

But he was not worried. Even if he died here, he would only lose an incarnation. At most, he would give up this power, the connections in the Mountain Kingdom, and the reputation he had earned.

"Ow—"

The moment he entered the canyon, Cassius heard a series of sharp wails and roars. The sounds were noisy and chaotic, but were blocked by an invisible barrier and could not be heard outside the valley.

Cassius looked into the depths of the valley and saw scratches and cracks everywhere, as well as bloodstains. It looked like a dilapidated prison. From time to time, a cold wind blew, which was out of tune with the peaceful and orderly environment of Yongxu Realm.

On the rock walls on both sides, there are still densely packed runes engraved, but these symbols give people a strong sense of oppression, like a cage.

At the same time, a strong pressure descended, causing Cassius to feel his shoulders sink. Even flapping his wings and maintaining flight became a bit difficult, not to mention casting spells. However, Beatrice was not affected at all and continued to fly briskly in front.

Looking around, Cassius couldn't help but sigh, "Oh, I didn't expect that in this seemingly peaceful and beautiful Yongxu territory, there is such a place. It's like a shrieking tunnel. Is this your prison?"

"This is the Unforgiveness Valley, the only place in Yongxu that cannot be illuminated by the sunlight." Beatrice's voice was still cold, and every word was clear even against the backdrop of the whistling wind and wailing.

"In a sense, you are right. This is the place where my father, Ferdinand, imprisoned those who committed heinous crimes, or criminals." She flapped her wings slowly and landed lightly on the protruding cliff, then folded her wings behind her back.

"sinner?"

Cassius subconsciously lowered his head, a helpless smile appeared on his face, and even the whiskers at the corners of his mouth trembled slightly. "Sinner, I haven't heard this familiar name for a long time. Maybe you are right."

Beatrice glanced at him meaningfully, and without saying anything more, she just walked along the cliff into a cave. In the deep cave, pieces of night-shining stones illuminated the road ahead, and the rock walls on both sides were still covered with complex runes, emitting a certain oppressive power.

Cassius looked at the extremely depressing lines that looked like iron fences and asked softly, "Is this the Death Magic Domain?"

Beatrice folded her wings behind her and strode forward without even turning her head. “Yes, my father used exquisite rune carvings to create a large area of ​​dead magic and a boundary between good and evil. This is the confinement house he carefully built, which is used to imprison those self-righteous wizards.”

Cassius felt the power coming from all directions to suppress the original magic in his body, and chuckled, "You actually used such a luxurious thing. You really think highly of me."

"Suspicious outsider, this is just a necessary precaution. The power of runes allows me to see through the essence of everything. Although you are shrouded in fog, I can feel that you are much more powerful than you appear."

"Thanks for the compliment, although I don't want to accept it in your prison."

Beatrice said seriously, "This is not a compliment, Titus. Before I figure out your purpose and position, the stronger you are, the greater the threat you pose to the Eternal Order Realm."

Cassius shook his paws to relieve the pain under the heavy pressure and took the opportunity to raise questions.

"This doesn't make sense. If I really had the power to break through the Eternal Order Realm, I would have turned against you long ago. Why would I follow you here? Lady Beatrice, you are a little too nervous."

"This is just a necessary precaution." Beatrice did not comment, just shook her head and continued to walk deeper into the cave.

"This is it, follow me."

"boom--"

With a loud bang, the heavy stone door in front slowly opened, and the patterns on its surface flashed with light, obviously filled with many supernatural effects.

Finally, they entered the cave one after another, and what came into view was a spherical secret room, complex runes covering the surrounding walls almost without any blind spots, and - a black gem suspended in the center.

Stronger pressure came down, and the moment he saw the black gem, Cassius even had the urge to pour out everything and tell it all.

Advanced Mantra Orb.

In this environment, even a powerful being like the Ancient Red Dragon could not exert half of its strength, but Beatrice was not affected at all.

Beatrice turned around, looked at the ancient golden dragon transformed by Cassius with a scrutinizing gaze, and spoke again.

"This is my father's interrogation room. Even the ancient blue dragon finds it difficult to escape from it. This secret room can block all sounds, prying eyes, and even prophecies. It should fit the description of a 'secret place' you mentioned."

"of course."

Gu Jinlong walked forward aggressively with a scorching gaze. "So - please tell me, what are you hiding? What is your purpose?"

"Please give me some time. At least I am still your guest, not your enemy." Cassius was prepared for this. He closed his eyes, as if he was recalling the past, or hesitating.

Suddenly, a gloomy and lost temperament appeared on him, the air gradually solidified, and even the golden scales on his body became much dimmer.

After a long silence, he opened his eyes and slowly stretched out his left front paw.

"laugh"

The sound of burning flames was heard, and mottled black and red flames suddenly appeared in his palms.

"Chaos Fire? How dare you seek such power? It will drag you into the bottomless abyss!" Beatrice's voice trembled and her expression changed suddenly. She stared at the seemingly insignificant flame in Titus' hand.

There was a barely perceptible smile in Cassius' eyes. As expected, as long as a shocking enough fact was thrown out - such as the abyss, the other party would ignore other disguises.

"boom!"

In an instant, the runes on the wall flashed rapidly, releasing various powers of order. Hundreds of silver-white chains surged from everywhere, as if to imprison this evil, chaotic force.

But the crazy, chaotic tongues of fire danced in the air like tentacles reaching out from the abyss, stubbornly resisting the power of the runes. Rolling black fog filled the secret room, and the smell of blood poured out.

Cassius closed his claws and tried to control the flames, but some flames still leaked out and even burned his own scales.

"I am not seeking the power of the abyss, but I have no choice." Cassius' body trembled and a look of pain appeared on his face.

He suppressed his violent anger, raised his head, and smiled weakly: "Beatrice, would you like to hear the story of a long-forgotten sinner?"

Beatrice's eyes were solemn, but she still nodded hesitantly.

She felt that the golden dragon in front of her was not one of those who colluded with the abyss, but was forcibly suppressing the chaotic power that she hated. It should be that he had some unspeakable secret, and even she could feel the sadness.

Such an ancient golden dragon must have a painful past.

Just like that, Cassius lay down in the secret room tiredly, his voice hoarse and low. "I don't know how long ago. Maybe three thousand years? Or maybe four thousand years?
Anyway, at that time, I was still a mature dragon, and I wanted to use my own strength to maintain justice and order in the world, so I gathered many of my kind and established a close alliance.
For some reason, before Titus had said much, many emotions such as pity, regret, and sadness surged in her heart and lingered for a long time.

Following Cassius' words, she seemed to see an ambitious golden dragon who wanted to change the world, just like her father, Ferdinand. She seemed to see hundreds of golden dragons flying in the sky, patrolling everywhere and eradicating evil everywhere.

Beatrice didn't know that this was because Cassius's [Trickster] characteristic was fully activated and his charisma was as high as 36 points.

If he passes the [Deception] and [Persuasion] checks in the game, Cassius's charm and skill added value can reach at least +20. Even the ancient golden dragon leathercarver with a will as strong as steel will be affected unknowingly.

"My companions are running on the land and flying in the sky. No matter the evil red dragons that slaughter villages, the giants that plunder cities, the devils that cheat mortals of their souls, or the liches that harvest souls, none of them can escape our punishment."

Cassius continued to speak, and he gradually painted a magnificent story for Beatrice that was particularly in line with the values ​​of the Golden Dragon.

Under the influence of the [Speaker], this female ancient golden dragon, who had lived in Yongxu Realm for many years and did not care about worldly affairs, was immersed in it and believed his words without a doubt. (End of this chapter)