Chapter 651: Cutting Off Evil Thoughts

On Dodo Isle.

The fruits of the Human Skull Tree hung heavily from the branches, untouched by human hands and ignored by most birds. Many of the Human Skull Fruits were left to rot on the branches.

Whenever Liszt visited, he would pick a few to take back, mainly to extract the seeds for planting in the Human Skull Tree plantation. However, he couldn’t be bothered to waste much time harvesting the fruits—his time was precious, and it wasn’t worth the effort for just a handful of seeds.

"Acheronides, stay here. I’m going to feed the Fire Drake Leo."

"Mm-hmm." Acheronides nodded absently, still lost in the extraordinary experience of touching the Magic Web.

Liszt headed straight for the volcano crater. With a single call, the starving Leo burst forth.

Left to starve while Liszt and Acheronides were away excavating ruins, Leo now landed before Liszt in its flesh-and-blood form, letting out a thunderous roar of protest: "Raaagh!" Its eyes gleamed fiercely, as if Liszt were just its glorified feeder.

Unbothered, Liszt just smirked, unwilling to argue with the ungrateful creature. "Want some beef?"

Leo urged impatiently: "Raaagh!"

Liszt slowly pulled out roasted steaks, feeding them to Leo, who devoured them ravenously. Halfway through the meal, Liszt slipped a steak laced with Milon Mind Fruit into Leo’s mouth. Dragons were highly intelligent, and Liszt didn’t want Leo to grow suspicious, so he disguised it carefully.

Too busy wolfing down food, Leo remained oblivious to the human’s scheming, gulping it down after a couple of half-hearted chews.

Once Leo had eaten its fill, it was time to repay Liszt by aiding his cultivation.

But just as it prepared to rise and exhale dragon breath, its head suddenly drooped, and its body swayed unsteadily, nearly toppling over. Liszt’s eyes gleamed with anticipation, though he remained still, observing closely. The staggering was only the beginning—soon, Leo steadied itself, but its eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

Like it was fighting sleep.

At this moment, Liszt finally began to act. He stealthily climbed onto Leo’s back, but Leo showed no reaction, not even lifting an eyelid.

As he gradually crawled toward the Dragon Tooth Platform, Leo seemed to sense something and gave a feeble struggle. However, the struggle was too feeble—it couldn’t even crane its neck to look back. Powerless, it could only let Liszt grip its scales and guide it to the Dragon Tooth Platform.

The platform lay between the shoulder blades of its forelimbs, at the junction of the neck and body.

There was a flat area the size of a large basin, with a protruding bone in front and spiraling grooves on either side. This structure was perfectly designed for comfortable riding.

Gazing at the Dragon Tooth Platform before him, Liszt struggled to contain his excitement. He placed his feet on the spiraling grooves, then—heart pounding—sat down on the platform. In the next second, his mind buzzed with energy, and his mana surged uncontrollably, merging with Leo’s magic power beneath him.

Boom!

In an instant, the world transformed, as if time had frozen, leaving only him astride a dragon. The sensation was indescribably wondrous, ineffably profound. Then, he felt himself floating—or rather, his soul lifting, as if leaving his body.

There was no fear, only curiosity about this extraordinary experience.

As he soared, the scenery before him abruptly shifted into another scene—a volcanic eruption—an apocalyptic vision. He now stood on the edge of a volcanic crater, facing a massive Fire Dragon bound by chains of seven colors. The dragon’s body flickered with flames as it glared at him with ferocity.

"Leo?"

Liszt was puzzled. In form, it resembled the Fire Drake Leo, but its size was over ten times larger, and its ferocity surpassed the aesthetic beauty of draconic power.

The Fire Dragon gave no response, only staring fixedly at Liszt, flames licking from its nostrils.

It tried to move but was restrained by the rainbow chains, unable to budge.

Seizing the moment, Liszt looked down at himself—wearing the same leather armor he had on earlier, without weapons or any other equipment, including the spatial gem on his chest. "Am I in a soul state?"

He looked at the chained Fire Dragon before him, then at the wispy smoke entwined around his own body.

He seemed to grasp his predicament.

"Am I... Leo... Is this an illusion after mounting the Dragon Tooth Platform, or a psychic link?" He glanced again at the colorful chains on the Fire Dragon and the mist-like aura around himself. "It shouldn’t be an illusion, but some kind of soul resonance."

He paused.

Raising his head, he met the fierce gaze of the Fire Dragon without fear. "This must be the initial pact challenge of the Dragon Tooth Platform? The power of the Milon Mind Fruit should have transformed into these colorful chains, binding Leo’s mind—this evil Fire Dragon before me."

And he himself was also a mental manifestation.

Only the smoke coiling around him seemed to belong to another force—the power of a divine dragon bloodline, the Smoke Dragon. He waved his hand and casually drew in a wisp of smoke into his palm. "So this is fate's power? If I defeat Leo’s mind today, will I be able to ride a dragon?"

Whoosh!

As if sensing Liszt’s thoughts, the bound Leo before him emitted a guttural growl.

Liszt gave a dark chuckle. "The power of the Milon Mind Fruit is truly formidable. In a battle of wills, I’d probably be no match for this evil dragon. But now, shattering Leo’s psyche seems effortless... Why not wield fate's power while I have the chance?"

His fingers flexed subtly.

The smoke around him instantly gathered in his palm, shifting and solidifying into a cobalt greatsword—his trusted Frostbite Dragon Slayer Sword.

"No, no, I want a flame-enchanted blade!"

As his will commanded, the Frostbite Dragon Slayer Sword instantly turned fiery red, pulsing with waves of fire-attribute magic power.

Satisfied, he gripped the hilt.

Liszt advanced methodically toward the bound evil Fire Dragon. "Leo, I know it’s you. You’re an elemental dragon with wicked thoughts in your heart—that’s bad, very bad! I’m a knight steeped in righteousness, and my mount must uphold righteousness too. Today, I’ll purge the corruption in your heart!"

With that—

Clang!

The red Frostbite Dragon Slayer Sword swung, unleashing a surge of searing arcane energy that slashed across the evil Fire Dragon’s head.

"Roar!"

The Fire Dragon bellowed in agony, a fiery wound splitting open on its head.

It opened its maw to loose its fiery breath, but the colorful chains flared with magic aura, instantly snuffing out the attack before it could form.

Liszt, however, had already launched a relentless onslaught. Waves of searing arcane energy relentlessly struck the evil Fire Dragon’s head and body. Wounds split open one after another, scattering countless sparks into the bottomless volcanic abyss below. Both Liszt and the evil Fire Dragon stood on a precarious cliff, like a diving board.

The cliff trembled beneath them.

One strike.

Another.

And another.

The evil Fire Dragon’s body was reduced to tatters, yet Liszt didn’t relent, continuing his relentless onslaught. Only when the Frostbite Dragon Slayer Sword, formed from the power of fate, dissipated into spectral vapor coiling around him did the evil Fire Dragon finally succumb utterly.

With a final, earth-shaking crash...

Boom!

The volcano rumbled ominously, threatening to erupt at any moment, as cliffs crumbled and flames erupted in all directions. After an indeterminate amount of time, just as the crater hovered on the brink of eruption, a newborn Fire Drake began taking form amidst the shattered remains of the evil Fire Dragon perched precariously on the crumbling cliff.

The Fire Drake spotted Liszt and scrambled excitedly over to him, stopping at his feet with joyful cries: "Rawr! Rawr! Rawr!"

It butted Liszt affectionately with its head, urging him to mount.

Taking the hint, Liszt climbed onto the Fire Drake, which flapped its wings and soared out of the crater. At that very moment, the crater fully collapsed, followed by a massive eruption—a searing geyser of molten rock accompanied by billowing black smoke pierced the sky.

"Rawr!"

The Fire Drake bellowed triumphantly.

Liszt turned his head to gaze at the cataclysmic devastation behind him and burst into laughter: "Hahahaha!"

The next instant, the scenery before him twisted like water, and he suddenly realized he had returned from the illusory realm of the mind to the real world. He was still seated atop Leo’s Dragon Tooth Platform, while Leo lay sprawled unconscious on the ground, fast asleep.

Sitting atop Leo’s body, Liszt felt a profound sense of intertwined fate—as though Leo now shared his blood and thoughts at the same frequency.

"Is this what it means to be a Dragon Knight?"

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