''Murong Tian was really unlucky this time.'' Shun Long said in a calm tone as he stared at the pitch-black spatial ring in his hands, while Little Black nodded his head in agreement.

Indeed, under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible for anyone to kill Murong Tian while he was still inside Murong city.

After all, Murong Tian would always stay within the Murong estate that was protected by the 2 Sovereign realm experts of the Murong family. Even if he left the estate, Murong Tian was also a peak rank 9 Dao Emperor who could easily protect himself under practically every situation.

Even if he met an early-stage Sovereign, Murong Tian could either retreat to the Murong estate the moment he sensed any hostility, or the aura of that Sovereign realm expert would end up alerting the old ancestor of the Murong family who would come to save him.

As for other peak rank 9 Dao Emperors, there were very few who could truly kill Murong Tian, and most of them would be unable to kill him before he could return back to the Murong estate unless they possessed a treasure similar to the 'Soul-locking talisman'.

Within Murong city, it could be said that Murong Tian was virtually invincible.

And yet, a series of events had ended up getting him killed.

The first thing that led to his death was Huo Wuyi's legacy.

Since Shun Long had obtained Huo Wuyi's treasures and already knew of the story between Huo Wuyi and Murong Tian, he had already accepted to help with Huo Wuyi's revenge if it wasn't too dangerous.

However, putting aside the fact that Murong Tian was the patriarch of the Murong family, simply the fact that he was a peak rank 9 Dao Emperor made it impossible for others to kill him.

Even most peak rank 9 Dao Emperors wouldn't be willing to offend an expert at his level for no reason.

Naturally, Shun Long wouldn't risk his own life or Little Black's, simply to fulfill Huo Wuyi's revenge.

However, the second thing that ended up leading to Murong Tian's death was the auction of the 'White tiger chamber of commerce'.

Since he wanted to obtain the earth flame, Murong Tian was naturally going to participate in the auction himself.

How could he have known that after winning the bid for the earth flame, a person whose cultivation even he couldn't sense would suddenly approach him and ask him to talk in private?

Of course, even if Shun Long was a middle stage Sovereign realm expert, as long as he wasn't at the same level as the old ancestor, Murong Tian was still confident in his ability to escape, the moment he sensed any hostility.

And yet, once Shun Long revealed his cultivation at the early stages of the Dao King realm, everything changed.

After all, Murong Tian wouldn't believe for a moment that an early stage Dao King could pose any threat to a peak stage Dao Emperor like him.

This wasn't arrogance but simply his belief in his own strength.

This was also why Shun Long had decided to reveal his cultivation to Murong Tian, since he intended to make him lower his guard.

After Murong Tian realized that the person he was dealing with was only an early rank 2 Dao King, the pressure he was feeling from the thought that Shun Long was a Sovereign realm expert, immediately disappeared.

The third thing that led to his death was Shun Long revealing to him that he had obtained Huo Wuyi's legacy, and that he was willing to trade an immortal-grade cultivation technique in exchange for Yi Qianyu's life.

Of course, Shun Long knew that Murong Tian wasn't going to agree to this offer of his in the first place.

No matter what, Murong Tian was still the patriarch of the Murong family.

If word got out that he sold his own woman for an immortal-grade cultivation technique, the entire Murong family wouldn't have the face to step foot outside of Murong city.

The reason why Shun Long offered the immortal-grade cultivation technique was simply to incite Murong Tian's greed.

Indeed, why would Murong Tian agree to the terms of an early-stage Dao King when he could take everything by force?

At the same time, when dealing with an early stage Dao King, there was no way that Murong Tian would use his full strength.

What Murong Tian didn't know was that Shun Long was already prepared for his attack.

Up to this point, everything had gone exactly as Shun Long had planned.

What Shun Long hadn't expected was for Murong Tian to be a middle seventh stage body refiner on top of being a peak rank 9 Dao Emperor.

Originally, Shun Long had expected that Little Black's attack would seriously injure Murong Tian, and that he would barely manage to stay alive thanks to the help of his peak 2-star armor.

By then, even a casual attack would be enough to finish him off.

However, the fact that he was a body refiner allowed Murong Tian to survive with just a few light injuries instead, even after taking Little Black's massive black claw head-on.

At that moment, Murong Tian was certain to have guessed that he was being set up by Shun Long, and that as long as he willed it, he could simply turn around and escape back to the Murong estate.

However, seeing a living dragon in front of his eyes and especially a dragon who was even 'weaker' than him, made Murong Tian unwilling to give up.

After all, he was still within the premises of Murong city and Little Black's 'sneak attack' had already failed to even injure him seriously, let alone kill him.

As long as he managed to tame the legendary magic beast in front of him, Murong Tian would then become one of the top experts in the entire central region.

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Author's note: 1 more chapter should be ready in the next 6 hours.. Additionally, there is a mass release of 10 chapters coming for Christmas.