Everyone froze and stared in shock as a small, bloodied hand, held on to it like an iron vice grip on the broken upper jaw of the wyrm.

****

A bellow of pain, anger and frustration erupted as the teeth of the wyrm were blasted out with incredible force!

This came from another source though, that much was evident.

The wreckage of the rock and the wyrm’s large body blocked everyone’s sight save for Long Cang and Long Jin who weighed in with no small scale of astonishment.

“That is…” Long Jin mumbled into silence before his large body settled back into place to observe something.

The wyrm still roared in pain and all else as its body writhed in pain and anger much like the roar of the being that it entrapped earlier.

Long Chen and the others had all but forgotten their drive and anger as they stood there dumbfounded.

Dum!

A powerful pressure descended, one that was far different from any they had felt so far save for the dragons.

“What the-”

Long Chen and the others took a step back under its onslaught. This was too much for a wyrm, wasn’t it!?

Cracks ran along the side of the cavernous walls like an army on the march towards an enervated adversary.

They observed as the large head of the wyrm bucked upwards with a petite figure impaled in its jaws!

“Long Nuhuang!” Long Huangdi was more than ecstatic to see his wife alive! He then looked to the rest of the Long family. “What are you waiting for!? An invitation!? Help her!”

Long Chen and the rest recovered from their torpor and resumed assault.

“Halt! The lot of you!”

Suddenly, another roar of commanding prestige rocked the cave. Long Chen and the others only looked to Long Jin and disregarded him entirely as they continued with their course.

“I said stop!”

Long Nuhuang’s face twisted into one of impotent rage upon seeing them bearing down to help her.

It was then that they realised that it was she who roared before. It was so much like a dragon that they hadn’t even noticed it!

Upon registering who it was, Long Chen struggled to stay himself and the familial army behind him. “But lady Long Nu-”

“Don’t you dare move Long Chen!” Long Nuhuang spat.

Her imperiousness didn’t lessen in weight or volume despite her current predicament of being ensnared in the maws of a literal monster.

The wyrm thrashed wildly to crush her into a bloody pulp as her hands ripped away scales and teeth while two teeth were lodged deeply and squarely in her body.

The others had a hard time digging into her. Her defences were suddenly and curiously inhuman.

Long Chen was beside himself with worry and looked to Long Huangdi to see the man burning with fury and rage at his wife’s request.

“You!”

“Husband of mine, please!” Long Nuhuang was battling, but she forced herself to lock eyes with her husband, with the man who broke his bones in a bid to escape, but failing all the while.

Her eyes softened, just the slightest, despite the pain she endured for him and one other, this he knew.

He saw it and nearly broke down. “But you-”

'Am consumed by the rage of a mother ripped from her son.’ She chose to speak spiritually since her current predicament warranted a speedier form of communication. ‘My soul was in him, my husband, and a chunk was taken when he died. It was torn out like the pages from a heretical book plopped in front of the staunchest believer of faith. My rage destroys and consumes me slowly. If I cannot overcome this, my ambitions are useless and solely verbal. So please, allow me to suffer and grow. Once it is done, once this is all over, I will do whatever you ask of me. I will not argue, I will not talk back, I will not complain. BUT… for the duration of this mission, for this objective, for this obsession…’ the last thing was said in a whisper, though it was in the mind. She continued. ‘Allow me to suffer, so I can make IT suffer more.’

Long Huangdi stared at her, his eyes red and rimmed with weariness, pain and all other dark-hued emotions. He said nothing, his head hung low, as if death had found him as his hair fell in disarray to shield his expression.

Clear crystal tears fell silently, and no other action found life within him but this.

Long Jin and Long Cang sneered at the outward display of affection but held their tongue all the same.

It was a welcome action on their part to Long Nuhuang who now took her husband’s silence as permission and cast away all inhibitions and assistance to go all out against this thing.

The wyrm, on the other hand, never paused in its wild floundering like some possessed contraption of Dr Frankenstein.

It desperately tried to hurl her away from its jaws but the two large teeth seemed as if they found purchase in rock as opposed to flesh.

The tenacity of her skin had increased several-fold, making it hard enough to not only grab hold of the teeth that pierced it, but staunch the normally accompanying blood flow as well.

In response, Long Nuhuang fought fiercely against the thing like a woman haunted by a spirit of vengeance!

B-Bam!

Blow after devastating blow hammered away at the wyrm’s face!

Refined scales were torn from their seats while toughened flesh transformed into bloodied pulp.

Each strike increased in power and destruction despite the bleeding her open wounds caused.

DUM!

The pressure she released eventually overpowered the wyrm’s own as an incredible bestial aura erupted from her like a volcano allowed to exercise its purpose.

Curious ripples ran along Long Nuhuang’s body as veins appeared all along her skin. They were countless in number, and they stretched for sickening lengths on her body.

Her face became inscrutable as veins pumped through her eyes and everywhere else!

Long Huangdi and the others were horrified at the sight.

“W-What’s happening!?” He couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Long Huangdi just stared slack-jawed at the development.

Long Jin and Long Cang stared at the scene in shock. Long Jin stared even more so as a mysterious glint flashed in his eyes.

The veins wriggled and grew in number before they started turning smaller and smaller until they were so small they were nearly indiscernible.

They then twisted in on themselves and curled into bizarre patterns, resulting in strange markings. At that moment, Long Nuhuang’s aura skyrocketed, shaking the entirety of the caverns!

Boom!

Long Nuhuang grabbed one of the teeth that held her in place and ripped it out, sending a geyser of blood flying!

A bloodcurdling roar rocked the cave once more, but Long Nuhuang didn’t care and simply took the other teeth in hand and yanked it from the seat of the wyrm’s gums, causing another fountain of blood to rocket into the sky!

Long Nuhuang was finally free, and she stood on her two feet now but her gaze was steady and she didn’t even flinch from the two holes in her body.

Her cauldrons rotated behind her, setting her off as some kind of untouchable existence. One of the cauldrons displayed a core that flashed with a spiritual light within.

Right now, Long Nuhuang was a one-core martial adept. She had never taken cultivation seriously before all this, but now she was doing her best to raise her strength, and this was where her strength was at the moment.

A stark contrast was created as the wyrm was writhing in pain whilst Long Nuhuang was quiet. Conversely, however, her expression was one of quiet anger and muted fury.

Shu!

The wyrm eyed her staring it down, and in that moment, its anger overpowered the pain it felt and it whipped its tail around, bringing it down with a crushing force!

“Look out!” A Long family member shouted when he saw that she made no movement to dodge it.

Long Nuhuang’s gaze coldly slid towards the tail careening towards her and simply held a hand out.

“!”

When everyone saw this, a furore erupted in response.

Was she crazy!?

She dared to catch a blow like this bare-handed!?

One must know that this wyrm was one of the weakest among the dragonkin. To use the magical beast’s rankings, it would be at the early grade of the fourth rank.

In human terms, it would be a three-core martial adept cultivation-wise. However, because it was a wyrm and shared a weaker strain bloodline with the dragons, its strength was far, far above normal magical beasts of the same rank.

Considering that magical beasts would naturally be stronger than human cultivators of the same rank, this meant that this wyrm was an existence that would be dangerous to peak medium-stage martial adepts.

Meaning that to someone like Long Nuhuang, she was hopelessly outmatched… or should be.

The air howled as the tail came around, the power and wind it generated even sent some of the weaker Long family members flying!

Long Nuhuang’s eyes narrowed, and the tail crashed into her, resulting in a staggering explosion!

More of the Long family members were sent flying by the explosion, and the stronger ones coughed up a mouthful of blood due to the shockwave. Even those on the level of Long Chen felt their blood flip inside of them.

They were so far away, yet the effects of the explosion were still so potent. Then what if they were closer?

A pillar of dust was kicked up, blocking everyone’s vision. They desperately waited with bated breath to see the result.

It took a while before the dust was finally cleared, and the scene was laid bare. Yet, when it was, a cold breath of air was inhaled by every single person present.

The area behind Long Nuhuang was destroyed due to the tail’s power. The earth was torn asunder and the thrashing waves of thick magma reoiled like a sea upon which the most terrifying of tempests let loose its fury.

Huge boulders were gouged out of the earth and flew into the wall at the far end before crashing into the magma sea below birthing even more waves to add to the chaos within.

However, she herself didn’t take a single step backwards.

The place was quiet, Long Cang couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Never in his wildest dreams did he believe that this human he brought from the bastion over yonder would be capable of doing something like this.

This was the same for everyone else. Long Jin specifically paid keen attention to everything happening.

The wyrm saw that something was wrong and tried to draw its tail back, but it was like it grew roots in Long Nuhuang’s hand and refused to budge.

A feeling of dread emerged in its heart when Long Nuhuang’s eyes narrowed and a murderous aura spread out.

Long Chen and the others, including Long Huangdi, felt their souls tremble in the face of this. It was like they were looking at a killing god.

The wyrm in particular who received the brunt of this felt fear for the first time in a long time.

This was no human it was facing off against, it was a demon from hell!

As a result, it tried to run, and the two dragons sneered in contempt when they saw it.

Unfortunately, the wyrm’s tail was caught by Long Nuhuang, so it couldn’t get far.

As the murderous aura rocketed into the sky, the cauldrons behind Long Nuhuang spun at insane speeds.

Without warning, her grip tightened, and with a roar, she pulled.

A geyser of blood erupted as the tail of the wyrm was torn from its body in an act of savage brutality.