Eternal Temptation: Awakening Sinful Desires

Wuuuushhh...

The sound of leaves rustling and branches creaking echoed throughout the dense foliage of the forest as a figure stared at something hidden from view. His eyes, like golden suns, had a fierce gaze directed towards a tree a few meters away. A strong gust of wind blew past the area, causing the figure's blonde hair to flutter and sway, matching the movements of the leaves around him.

The figure's muscular frame was clad in a silver robe with a gray dragon symbol emblazoned on his chest, which sparkled in the light. His expression was serious, showing signs of vigilance towards whatever was ahead. Then, without warning, he leapt into the air, his movements graceful and agile like a bird flying through the sky.

In an instant, he reached above the treetops and saw a large creature below him, basking in the sunlight that shone through the canopy. The monster was covered in yellow scales with two short horns protruding from its forehead; its body was bulky; and its tail was long and thick. A pair of sharp fangs were visible in its mouth, and it had small black eyes that stared straight up towards the figure.

"A High-Stage Rank-3 Gold-Scaled Horned Drake... Perfect!" The figure muttered under his breath as he narrowed his eyes and prepared to attack. He raised his right arm, holding what appeared to be a trident made of polished white metal. As he brought down his weapon upon the unsuspecting drake, the air around them rippled like a pool of water.

With a powerful thrust, a ray of golden light shot forth from his trident, creating a whistling sound as it traveled toward the horned drake.

However, before his attack could reach its target, the monster sensed its danger and jerked its body to the side to avoid being struck. As a result, his beam of light grazed its right shoulder instead of hitting its mark. Although the injury was minor, it still managed to draw a small amount of blood from the monster.

But even then, that was enough to cause an explosion as his attack hit the ground, destroying a huge chunk of earth.

Upon seeing this, the figure furrowed his eyebrows in dissatisfaction. "Such an annoying monster!"

Still, this didn't stop him from unleashing another assault upon the monster, aiming to finish it off with a single strike.

On the other hand, as scales around its injured area fell to the ground, the horned drake turned its head up and roared in defiance. It glared at the figure floating in mid-air and released a burst of flames from its mouth. However, instead of a regular flame, a wave of searing hot fire erupted outwards in a circular arc, covering a large area around it.

The figure frowned as he saw this, realizing that the monster planned to engulf him in flames to prevent him from launching another attack upon it. Thus, he changed direction and landed on the ground several meters away from the monster, avoiding the fiery blast that scorched everything around it. The monster's attack lasted only a brief period before ending.

As the figure looked around at the blackened earth and burning trees, he shook his head in disappointment, muttering under his breath, "If Lingyu saw this, she would have told me to burn in that fire for failing to land my attack and allowing this damn drake to survive. Good thing she's not here, huh?"

He paused for a moment and sighed to himself, "I need to calm myself down and focus on the task at hand. Just one mistake, and I might fail to complete the trial and disappoint Lingyu. I can't afford for that to happen. Otherwise, who knows what punishment she'll impose on me?"

As soon as he finished saying those words, he concentrated all his energy into his trident, causing it to glow brighter with each passing second like a shining gemstone. Soon enough, his trident radiated with a dazzling golden light, causing the entire forest to become illuminated by its brilliance.

Meanwhile, the horned drake noticed that its opponent had stopped attacking and turned its gaze toward him, growling in annoyance. The monster did not like how this human disturbed its peaceful afternoon nap with his attacks.

Therefore, it was quite upset with him, so it decided to retaliate in kind as its two horns's tips glowed with a bright yellow light and shot a fiery attack like a spear piercing through the darkness.

As it attacked him, the figure thrust his trident forward, and another powerful ray of golden light was launched from it. The stream of golden light flew straight toward the attack as it neared closer. This time, however, the figure's aim was perfect, and the ray of light struck true as it collided with the monster's attack.

An enormous explosion occurred the moment the two projectiles came into contact with each other, sending out a giant wave of destruction that engulfed everything within its range.

Booooom!

Everything was engulfed in a sea of flames and blinding golden light for a brief second before it receded into nothingness. As the dust settled and visibility returned, the figure was still standing firm upon the ground unscathed as he witnessed the aftermath of his attack.

The horned drake was also unharmed and untouched by his golden light, though it had been blown back quite far away due to the intensity of the collision.

Seeing this, a frown appeared on the figure's face. He was none other than Yuan Long. "Seriously? Did I really fail to kill it? Such a pain! Well, no point dwelling on that now, though.

Let's finish this."

He dashed towards the monster with incredible speed and closed the gap between them in an instant, leaving behind afterimages as he moved. Before he could reach his target, the monster reacted to his rapid approach by extending its tail toward him and striking at him with it, intending to impale him.

The tail tip gleamed with a dangerous light as it made contact with Yuan Long's trident, which he had raised to defend himself. The resulting clash created sparks that flew into the air before dying out.

Although he managed to block the attack, Yuan Long found himself being pushed back from the sheer force of the blow as he slid across the dirt.

"ARRRGH!" He cried out in frustration as he dug his trident's prongs deep into the ground to stop himself from being forced further away from the monster. Once he managed to stop his retreat, he gripped his weapon tight, gritting his teeth as he stood his ground, staring into the eyes of the gold-scaled horned drake.

"It seems like there is no choice but to use my Spirit," Yuan Long murmured to himself while he considered his options. "Well, it can't be helped, I guess. Better do it before it hurts me."

The next instant, a faint golden outline of a bird appeared high in the sky. With wings of radiant white and golden feathers that gleam with celestial brilliance, it looked like a light falcon, which was soon replaced by a real one covered in the same radiance as before. Its eyes shone like twin stars, radiating light and heat as if they contained the very essence of the sun itself.

A majestic crest adorned its head, resembling the sun's corona, and its talons glowed with a metallic glimmer.

"Solara, do what you do best," Yuan Long said to the Light Falcon, which screeched in reply before diving down from the sky and onto the horned drake. As it descended upon the beast, the Solara's eyes glowed even brighter than before, and rays of pure radiance were expelled from its orbs like laser beams.

The beast was unprepared for this sudden barrage of attacks coming from an unexpected direction, so it wasn't able to react in time, which resulted in many hits landing on its body. It roared in agony as its flesh sizzled under the heat and was burned by the light of Solara.

However, before it could do anything, a ray of golden light came from its side, enveloping its whole body in its radiance, causing a great explosion to occur right on its body.

An ear-piercing cry was heard as a cloud of smoke rose from where the monster stood, concealing its form for a brief period of time. When the dust cleared, what greeted Yuan Long was an image of a wounded horned drake struggling to remain on its feet while trying to hold itself together.

Its skin was charred and blistered from the intense heat; some of its scales had been melted away, exposing bare flesh underneath. Blood leaked through the holes created on its body by his trident's rays, staining the ground red.

Yuan Long smiled as he looked at the injured monster and commanded his light falcon, "Finish it, Solara."

As soon as he gave the order, Solara, without hesitating, swooped down upon the beast once more, and with its talons outstretched, it latched onto the monster's neck, digging its claws deep into the flesh beneath it. The beast howled in agony and tried to shake the falcon off, but the Spirit held on tight, refusing to release its grip.

Taking advantage of its distraction, Yuan Long rushed forward and pierced his trident right through its chest, stabbing into its heart and killing it once and for all.

Blood poured out of the wound, dyeing the ground red. The smell of fresh blood lingered in the air as the light falcon let out a victorious cry. Yuan Long withdrew his weapon before turning toward Solara and smiling. "Good work, my friend."

"SKREEEEEE!" The light falcon responded, soaring in the air while leaving behind trails of golden light before disappearing.