Three enormous dragons soared into the sky, nearly obscuring the sun with their massive forms. Their formidable dragon might enveloped the area, but for Yehan, it was insignificant.
Among the three dragons, one was red, likely a fire dragon, and the other two were yellow, presumably earth dragons. The dragons' attributes could be identified by their colors.
Yehan smiled upon seeing the roaring fire dragon, its body bearing three large wounds that seemed to blacken. Ming, too, revealed a slight smile.
"Lowly humans, did you do this?" the fire dragon roared upon encountering the zombie beasts and then seeing Yehan and Ming.
"Heh, lowly," Yehan sneered.
"The proud dragon race is speaking to you," the fire dragon bellowed, releasing a stream of red dragon flame towards Yehan and Ming, who easily dodged it.
The fire dragon, identified as Bess, became even more enraged at their actions, roaring and lunging at them with its twenty-meter-long body.
"Bess, wait," one of the earth dragons interjected.
"Are you stopping me from punishing those who disrespect our noble race?" Bess retorted angrily.
"We must not forget the chief's instructions," the earth dragon said, glaring at Yehan and Ming with a murderous gaze.
"I haven't forgotten, but these two must die," Bess insisted, still furious from the zombie beast attack and Yehan's contemptuous attitude.
"If you kill these lowly humans, how will you fulfill the chief's instructions?" the earth dragon rebuked Bess, who then charged at Yehan and Ming again, ignoring its advice.
With a thunderous roar, the earth dragon, nearly twenty-five meters long and much faster than Bess, rushed in front of Bess and struck it with its massive tail.
"Boom!"
Bess was slammed into the ground, causing a quake-like shock that uprooted trees within a fifty-meter radius.
Bess roared from within the crater, its tail flailing wildly as the ground suffered another blow. Enveloped in a bright red glow, it rose into the air, furiously confronting the earth dragon, Artaasha.
"Don't think I'm afraid of you just because you're a late-stage sacred-tier," Bess challenged, "Our fire dragon clan might have stronger attacks, but don't forget, you are leading this time."
Both dragons, Bess representing fire and Artaasha representing earth, glowed intensely, their red and yellow lights rivaling the sun in the clear sky.
The other earth dragon, although not releasing its aura, watched Bess intently. The dragon race was not united, with significant rifts between different elemental dragons.
"Very well," Bess eventually conceded under the pincer attack. Artaasha also retracted its glow and turned its massive body.
"Lowly humans, why do you bear the scent of our Black Dragon Nilasek?" Artaasha asked haughtily, displaying the dragons' noble demeanor.
"What do you think?" Yehan replied dismissively, not deigning to answer Artaasha's question directly.
"Did you kill Nilasek?" Artaasha, unable to maintain its calm demeanor, blasted Yehan and Ming with intense waves of dignity and authority. Yehan, having awakened his powers through dragon blood, was unaffected by the dragon's might, but Ming visibly paled and retreated.
"Ungrateful creatures deserve to die," Yehan finally understood why the beasts were rioting and why the dragons had appeared. Each dragon leaves a mark in their sacred land upon birth, which vanishes upon their death, alerting the dragon chief. For thousands of years, no dragon had been killed, but a year ago, the chief sensed the disappearance of Black Dragon Nilasek's mark, infuriating the entire dragon race. These three dragons were dispatched to investigate and avenge.
"Then you shall die," Artaasha said upon hearing Yehan's admission and sensing his aura, confirming that Yehan killed Nilasek.
"Deal with your internal matters first if you want to kill me," Yehan retorted with a smile, looking at the fire dragon Bess.
Bess, with red eyes and a body shaking with rage, emitted a foul stench as corpse poison finally destroyed its soul.
"Dragons truly are the strongest race on the continent," Yehan remarked, aware of the potency of corpse poison. Even a sacred-tier human would be controlled by it in a short time, but Bess resisted for nearly half an hour.
Suddenly, Bess's massive tail struck the mid-stage sacred-tier earth dragon behind it, creating a deep crater upon impact.
Meanwhile, the ground zombie beasts started their final slaughter. Having already decimated many beasts, including several sacred-tier ones, they began fighting amongst themselves.
Bess's action and the carnage on the ground shocked even the proud Artaasha, who roared in an attempt to subdue the beasts, but to no avail.
"What have you done?" Artaasha demanded, glowing with yellow light.
"Heh, guess," Yehan replied, swiftly flying upward, followed closely by Ming.
"The show begins," Yehan muttered, watching the chaos below.
The attacked earth dragon roared and rose into the air, clashing with Bess. Artaasha joined the fray, supporting its fellow earth dragon against Bess.
The two earth dragons and Bess, represented by two yellow and one red figures, clashed in the sky, using brute force rather than magic. Bess was soon overwhelmed by the two earth dragons.
On the ground, the zombie beast battle concluded, with all beasts below the sacred-tier torn apart. The Hengduan Mountains, within a fifty-mile radius, were littered with beast carcasses and an overwhelming stench. The corpse poison in the air had become so diluted it was almost non-existent.
The corpse poison carried by the 260 zombies killed hundreds of thousands of humans and nearly eighty thousand beasts, demonstrating its terrifying potency.
The battle in the sky intensified. Bess, riddled with wounds, and the mid-stage sacred-tier earth dragon, bearing deep claw marks, were no longer threatened by the corpse poison.
Bess, now three meters deep in the ground, roared with bloodshot eyes and took to the sky again, followed by several sacred-tier zombie beasts.
The zombie beasts encircled Artaasha and the other sacred-tier dragons, drooling menacingly. Artaasha sensed the impending danger.