The woman pondered for a moment and replied, “I haven’t seen him, so I can’t jump to conclusions. However, I believe there must be a martial sect behind him. An ordinary person can’t suddenly become a martial practitioner.”
Jason nodded in agreement. If Leo indeed had a powerful martial sect backing him, killing him would mean offending a formidable force behind him. That wouldn’t be favorable for Fiery Blaze Sect.
Seeing the expressions on Jason and the woman’s faces, Eden Dunbar grew anxious. “Jason, Isabel, are you really going to let Leo Bloomer go?”
“Of course not!” Jason scoffed. “We’ve already sent people to investigate his background thoroughly. Until we understand him better, we can’t act recklessly. That’s what the boss wants.”
“Jason, I want to participate in the investigation too,” the woman suddenly spoke up, curiosity in her expression.
Jason gave her a deep look. “Are you sure?”
She nodded.
As the time was approaching the midnight, Leo slowly opened his eyes. It felt as though he had just woken up after an extremely exhausting day, his depleted spiritual power not only fully restored but even more abundant.
If he continued practicing here for another week, Leo estimated he could break through to the next realm of spiritual adept.
This place was truly a haven for cultivation. It seemed he could come here regularly in the future.
Standing up from the Heaven’s Extreme Stone, Leo stretched lazily and took in a few deep breaths of the night air. He felt a surge of power coursing through his entire body, making him want to shout in exhilaration.
Glancing at his phone, he noted it was almost midnight. He had half an hour before he needed to return to tend to August Browne.
Leo walked to the edge of the Heaven’s Extreme Stone and leaped down from the five- to six-meter-high rock.
Just as he was about to leave, a sudden feeling jolted his heart, and his gaze slowly turned towards the left. Not far in the distance to his left, a white creature appeared in the moonlight.
This creature had the head of a snake, four legs, and a long tail. At first glance, it looked like an oversized white quadrupedal snake.
“This is… an Arctic Snow Dragon!” Leo’s mind suddenly conjured up this name.
He recalled from ancient texts that the Arctic Snow Dragon was a type of low-level spirit beast. He had thought these creatures existed only in ancient times, but here one was right before him.
The Arctic Snow Dragon, tail included, was easily over three meters long-a full-grown one.
The reason for the appearance of an Arctic Snow Dragon here was probably due to the abundant spiritual energy in this place.
It occasionally flicked out its tongue and glared at Leo, slowly edging closer.
Did this creature want to eat him?
No wonder, in the eyes of the Arctic Snow Dragon, Leo was like mobile spiritual energy-too good to pass up.
The Arctic Snow Dragon wanted to eat Leo, and Leo wanted to eat it!
Both shared the same thought; now it was a matter of who could devour whom.
The Arctic Snow Dragon opened its mouth and emitted eerie sounds from its throat, then suddenly lunged towards Leo.
Leo rolled aside, narrowly evading its attack. He then gripped Purple Radiance, which materialized in his right hand.
Seeing Purple Radiance, the Arctic Snow Dragon seemed to hesitate momentarily. However, it had gone without food for days, and a human with spiritual power like Leo was a rare find.
In the end, hunger overcame fear. The Arctic Snow Dragon lunged at Leo again.
With a flick of his left hand, Leo unleashed a blade of spiritual energy, but the sharp blade failed to pierce the dragon’s scales.
As the Arctic Snow Dragon’s gaping jaws closed in on him, Leo charged forward, delivering a stab to the dragon’s lower jaw with Purple Radiance.
The dagger slid into the Arctic Snow Dragon’s lower jaw. Leo withdrew the dagger and followed up with a sideward roll.
The colossal creature collapsed onto the ground, emitting a horrified and resentful howl before it ceased to move.
Leo approached it and murmured, “This is the law of jungle. If you didn’t want to eat me, you wouldn’t have met your end here.”
Retracting Purple Radiance, Leo crouched down and hoisted the Arctic Snow Dragon onto his shoulder, then began walking toward the Browne Mansion.
With his body brimming with spiritual power, Leo hardly felt the weight of the creature. After about ten minutes, he entered the courtyard.
As Leo was contemplating how to get the dragon into the kitchen, Ella dashed toward him, a look of anxiety on her face.
“Doctor Bloomer, you’re finally back… Ah!” Ella screamed upon catching sight of the massive snake head on Leo’s shoulder.
Women had a natural aversion to snakes and rodents.
“What’s wrong?” Leo asked.
Instinctively, Ella distanced herself from Leo and pointed at what he was carrying, stuttering, “You, you’re carrying this…”
“Oh, this thing is called an Arctic Snow Dragon. You can think of it as a four-legged snake. It tried to eat me on the mountain, but I killed it,” Leo explained.
“Why did you bring it back?” Ella was utterly puzzled.
“Of course, to eat it. This thing is a premium ingredient-very hard to come by,” Leo said, playfully licking his lips.
Ella was now thoroughly frightened. Her gaze at Leo turned fearful, too.
Leo chuckled teasingly. “Would you like to have some later?”
“N-No, no, no,” Ella’s head shook frenziedly.
“Mr. Browne is ill, and the two of you have the leisure to chat here? Leo, as a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, where’s your professional ethics?” Kenneth Joshua’s voice suddenly sounded as he emerged from the mansion. Though he saw Leo carrying something, he couldn’t quite make out what it was.
Leo approached him and then flung the creature he was carrying toward Kenneth.
“I’m going to treat Mr. Browne. Could you look after this for me? I’ll need it later,” Leo said.
Kenneth was also a martial practitioner, so he naturally didn’t reach out to catch the incoming behemoth. He took several steps back.
“Thud!”
The Arctic Snow Dragon crashed onto the ground, emitting a muffled sound.
“What hell is this?”
Kenneth bent down to look, revealing a massive snake head with forked tongue and eerie snake eyes staring back at him.
“Ah!!!”
Kenneth let out a scream reminiscent of a woman’s shriek before turning and fleeing.
He had been traumatized by a snake during his childhood, which left a psychological scar. As a result, he had an irrational fear of snakes.
“Leo, you bastard, I’m going to kill you!”
In the darkness, Kenneth’s furious roar echoed.
Guided by Ella, Leo entered a bedroom on the second floor.
August Browne lay on a large bed crafted from precious wood, dark patches appearing on his forehead. His eye bags were large and black, and veins were visible on his arms, protruding from beneath the skin.