Where Is My Dragon?

Elsewhere, the Mechanical Dragon Knight stood upon the back of his mechanical dragon, constantly accelerating through the Tree Universe in hot pursuit of the energy formed from Li Zhenlong's corpse. The Tree Universe itself existed in a state of "vacuum." This emptiness was a conceptual void, yet not true nothingness. Strictly speaking, it was an "existent void," as opposed to an "annihilating void." An existent void could accommodate everything while holding nothing of its own. An annihilating void was likewise empty, but it would obliterate everything, equally devoid of substance. Thus, the Tree Universe exhibited a peculiar nature. A space existed that could hold all things, yet it contained nothing at all—a true desolate expanse where even time did not exist. Any matter that fell into the Tree Universe would become frozen, remaining indefinitely in its original state unless imbued with the power of time. Mighty Ones generally traveled through the Tree Universe in one of two ways. The first was to comprehend the rules of time oneself, drawing temporal power from a conceptual level to shroud one's body. The second was to siphon temporal energy from a world and envelop oneself in it. There were other methods as well, such as using specific items or esoteric arts, but they were far too niche to enumerate. Traversing the Tree Universe ultimately consumed "time," which meant speed inside could be increased infinitely—so long as one burned "infinite" time in an instant. Surpassing the speed of light was remarkably simple in the Tree Universe. Provided you were willing to burn enough time, breaking the light barrier was effortless. For instance, if a Mighty One's maximum speed was one light-year per second, burning two seconds of time for every "second" elapsed would allow them to cover two light-years in that single "second." In the eyes of an outside observer, they were moving faster than light. In reality, however, two full seconds had genuinely passed for the Mighty One, meaning they would not perceive themselves as traveling faster than light. This introduced an essential concept: when Mighty Ones clashed within the Tree Universe, a vital detail was constantly adjusting one's own time, ensuring one burned it at the same rate as the opponent—or faster. Theoretically, the faster your time burned, the faster you moved. Striking twice for every single attack the enemy launched granted an undeniable advantage. In practice, gaining such an advantage between Mighty Ones was exceptionally difficult. Both sides usually burned time at similar rates. No one possessed infinite time, and burning it also drained one's energy, given that the burned time was still time one genuinely lived through. If you burned an entire year to attack an adversary, your strikes might appear blindingly fast from the enemy's perspective—landing quintillions of punches in a single second. From your own perspective, however, you had spent a whole year frantically pummeling them in an endless barrage. That toll had to be weighed and borne. Greater expenditure did not guarantee greater returns; if the enemy neutralized every blow, you were left at an enormous loss. Returning to the matter at hand. All that explanation was simply to convey that the Mechanical Dragon Knight was currently burning time to catch up to the energy into which Li Zhenlong had dissolved. Inside the Mechanical Dragon Knight was a time reactor capable of fueling itself with any form of energy, converting it into "temporal energy" that covered his entire body. The more energy he burned, the more temporal energy he wielded. To overtake the energy of Li Zhenlong's remains, he had pushed his time burn to the equivalent of a thousand times the speed of light. Together with the mechanical dragon, he closed in on the energy at staggering speed. When only a kilometer or so remained between them, he thrust his lance toward it. Unsurprisingly, the attack had no effect whatsoever. After several futile attempts to halt the energy, he could only trail closely behind. Elsewhere, Yu Xian held the gourd, waiting to claim Li Zhenlong's legacy. "Master, the Mechanical Dragon Knight is coming!" The Death Emperor's voice echoed in Yu Xian's mind. His eyes brightened, a daring notion taking root. He couldn't beat Li Zhenlong, and he couldn't beat Margot Moxi, but it wasn't guaranteed he couldn't defeat this Mechanical Dragon Knight. The reason was simple: the guy didn't have a single transcendence-grade item on him. Yet caution soon crept back in. What if he did? Just because the Mechanical Dragon Knight hadn't used one didn't mean he lacked one entirely. If Margot Moxi had secretly provided him with a transcendence-grade item, Yu Xian truly wouldn't stand a chance. Safety first. Under any circumstances, without a hundred percent certainty, never take the field yourself if it can be helped. Yu Xian decisively summoned a humanoid beast, passed the gourd into its hands, and returned to the Zhen Realm the next instant. Back in the Zhen Realm, he acted like a chess player, immediately summoning all manner of Mighty-grade beasts and deploying them around the Mechanical Dragon Knight with orders to intercept him. His expectations were modest. He only wanted the summons to bog down the knight long enough for the Legacy Gourd to finish absorbing Li Zhenlong's legacy. Across the void, the Mechanical Dragon Knight remained locked in pursuit of the energy formed from the corpse. Suddenly, a piercing glare flashed across his right eye. By the time his vision cleared, a dense barrage of energy spheres, spears, and bullets was converging on him from all directions. *Can't dodge!* The Mechanical Dragon Knight calculated in a flash. He was already burning his time at several thousand times normal speed, teetering near his absolute limit. For these attacks to close in so swiftly despite his heightened time flow, the attackers had to have synchronized their own temporal rates to match his. This was basic competency for a Mighty One. Any Mighty One could gauge an opponent's time flow through perception and match it accordingly. Because it was so fundamental, it rarely warranted mention; bringing it up now merely explained why the Mechanical Dragon Knight couldn't evade. This was the inherent flaw of burning time too quickly. In typical battles between Mighty Ones, the flow of time fluctuated, burning faster one moment and slower the next to prevent enemies from predicting movement paths and temporal rhythms. Maintaining peak speed indefinitely made one's trajectory easy to anticipate, inviting attacks that were nearly impossible to dodge. Much like the predicament he was in now. *Rumble!* Energy blasts, spears, bullets, beam cannons, and other assaults slammed into the Mechanical Dragon Knight from multiple angles. His body was blasted away, knocked clear off the mechanical dragon. *Now's the chance!* In the pitch-black Tree Universe, Jormunid in its serpent form was practically invisible. Seeing the mechanical dragon left behind on its own, it darted out from behind a massive piece of debris, coiled tightly around the dragon, and was teleported away by Yu Xian along with its prize the very next second. When the Mechanical Dragon Knight finally stabilized himself and looked around, he froze in utter disbelief. Where was his dragon?