The Elven Cultivator

Bishui Port, the Misty Tavern.

In an unremarkable room on the second floor.

Scott sat by the window, a murky ale in his hand. He took small sips, observing the street scene outside through a crack in the window.

At the wooden table, the Beastman Bazzer was hunched over, devouring a whole roasted lamb that was golden and dripping with grease.

Beside him, Hydra Vorn’s three heads were also busy with their own tasks.

The left head was focused on gnawing a roasted lamb leg, the middle head was tackling a plate of fried fish, and the right head would occasionally lean over to Bazzer’s plate to steal a piece of meat. Its movements were so practiced, it was clearly not the first time it had done this.

The three heads had a clear division of labor and cooperated seamlessly, their eating efficiency a cut above even Bazzer’s.

After their hearty meal, Bazzer and Vorn wiped their mouths in satisfaction, then slumped back in their chairs, rubbing their stomachs.

“So, Scott, when can we finally go out?” Vorn’s left head asked lazily.

“Yeah, we’ve been cooped up in this room for almost a month without taking a single step outside. I’m about to die of boredom,” the right head chimed in.

“I want to sunbathe,” the middle head said, tilting back to stare at the ceiling as if it could see the sky through the wooden planks.

Scott put down his cup and shot Vorn a glare. “Just bear with it,” he said irritably. “The heat is on out there right now. If you run out, you’ll just be asking to get caught by those Dragon Race.”

Ever since that Dragon Race officer named Marcus arrived in Bishui Port, the winds in the city had shifted overnight.

The Dragon Race took over the city’s defenses. The Dragon Race garrison and the city guard came out in full force, hunting for members of the Fallen Dragon Association like mad dogs.

The search was far more intense than before.

Even though they had been extremely careful, several of their comrades had already been captured.

In light of this, the higher-ups had given an order for everyone to lie low and wait for the storm to pass before showing their faces again.

That was why they had been hiding in the Misty Tavern all this time, rarely venturing out.

Vorn, though not the sharpest tool in the shed, understood the gravity of the situation and sheepishly shut up.

Just then, an uproar suddenly erupted from downstairs, as if a large crowd was shouting and clamoring.

Scott frowned, his gaze directed at the floor.

A place like the Misty Tavern was certainly never quiet, but it was usually only this noisy at night. It was still broad daylight, and few drunks would come to drink and cause a ruckus at this hour.

’What’s going on?’

“Sounds like there are a lot of people downstairs,” Vorn’s left head was the first to speak, its tone full of curiosity.

“It sounds lively,” the right head said, perking up its ears, trying to catch the commotion from below.

“I’ll go see!” The middle head was the most direct, about to jump off its chair as it spoke.

“Sit down.”

With quick reflexes, Scott grabbed Vorn’s shoulder and pushed him back into the chair.

“What’s wrong?” all three heads asked, their expressions showing displeasure. “I’m just going to take a look, not cause any trouble.”

Scott pointed at Vorn’s body with a deadpan expression. “With you looking like this, what’s the difference between going out there and walking right into a trap?”

“I only have three Illusion Technique Scrolls left. I don’t have any extras for you to waste. You just stay put right here. I’ll go down and check it out.”

The three heads simultaneously looked down at their own bodies, covered in dark green Scale Armor, then at the thick, serpentine tail, and reluctantly agreed.

Because of his extremely unusual appearance, he was rather ’famous’ in Bishui Port.

If he appeared openly outside, it wouldn’t be long before he attracted the city guard or the Dragon Race army.

He had only managed to successfully lie low in the tavern by using an Illusion Technique Scroll to alter his appearance.

“Alright,” Vorn’s middle head said sullenly. “Then you go take a look and tell us what you find when you get back.”

Scott ignored him, stood up, straightened his coarse cloth coat, and pulled open the door to leave.

His own appearance was relatively inconspicuous. With a simple disguise, he could become completely unnoticeable, making him the best person on the team to go out and gather information.

These past few days, they had relied on him to scout for news outside.

Pushing open the door and stepping out, the din from downstairs instantly became clearer.

Scott walked down the narrow staircase, his eyes discreetly scanning the main hall. Not seeing any Dragon Race or city guard soldiers, he breathed a small sigh of relief.

As a Golden Tier expert, he was naturally not afraid of mere low-blooded Dragon Race and city guards. However, if a fight were to break out, it would inevitably attract the attention of Marcus and that Guardian from the Bishui Council.

He wasn’t confident he could win against either of them.

If such a terrible situation were to occur, he might not even be able to escape Bishui Port.

Composing himself, Scott went to the bar, sat down, and ordered an ale. Then, while drinking, he surreptitiously listened to the conversations around him.

The tavern’s main hall was much livelier than usual.

All dozen or so rough wooden tables and chairs were occupied.

Adventurers, sailors, and merchants of all kinds were gathered in small groups, their faces showing clear shock and excitement as they animatedly discussed something.

As he listened, Scott’s expression gradually became incredibly strange.

A moment later, he downed the rest of his ale in one gulp and turned to head back to the second floor.

The moment he pushed open the door, Vorn’s three heads swiveled around in unison, six eyes staring intently at him.

“Well? What happened downstairs?” the middle head asked impatiently.

Scott closed the door, walked to the table, and sat down, a complex expression on his face.

“Someone attacked Anvil Keep,” Scott said with a grave look. “The entire military outpost, from the commanding officer to the ordinary Dragon Race soldiers, along with the Vassal Races’ soldiers—not a single one survived.”

The room fell into a brief, dead silence.

Bazzer’s eyes widened in utter shock.

Vorn’s three heads immediately started shouting.

“Attacked a military outpost? Who would be that brazen?”

“Exactly, even we’ve never done something like that.”

“Damn it, someone beat us to it.”

Bazzer quickly came to his senses and asked in a low voice, “Could it be someone else from the organization?”

Scott pondered for a moment before shaking his head. “I doubt it. The higher-ups don’t have any similar plans recently. If they did, there’s no way they wouldn’t have informed me beforehand.”

“Then who could it be?” Bazzer asked, scratching his head in confusion.

“I don’t know.” Scott shook his head, but an image of a person couldn’t help but appear in his mind.

Vorn was on the same page. “You guys think… could it have been Canglan?”

Bazzer paused for a second, then slowly nodded.

If it was Canglan, it was entirely possible he’d do something like that.

That night, Canglan had left an extremely deep impression on them.

It wasn’t just because of his immense strength and bizarre, never-before-seen combat methods, but also because of the casual disregard for the Dragon Race that he revealed in his words and actions.

In this era where the Dragon Race ruled the continent, the Dragon Cities scattered everywhere were like great mountains weighing down on all intelligent races.

And the Dragon Race, backed by the Dragon Race and responsible for managing the Dragon Cities, were objects of fear and dread for all intelligent races.

Even for the Fallen Dragon Association, which aimed to hunt the Dragon Race, there was more profound apprehension than hatred and disgust when facing them.

People like Canglan, who could treat the Dragon Race with such a “normal mindset,” were as rare as a phoenix feather.

Scott considered himself a good judge of character.

Deep down, Canglan clearly didn’t give a damn about the Dragon Race. In fact, he probably didn’t even fear the Dragon Race much at all.

’I wonder what his origins are, to look down on the Dragon Race with such an attitude?’

“If it really was Canglan,” Scott said, rubbing his chin, “then this is likely just the beginning. He’ll probably strike again.”

Neither Bazzer nor Vorn refuted this.

With the power Canglan had displayed that night, almost no military outpost along the Dragon’s Tooth Line could withstand him.

If he was indeed the one who attacked the military outpost, then it was highly unlikely he would stop after destroying just one.

In any case, they would know just by watching how things unfolded.

Scott stood up and walked over to the window again, looking out at the somewhat hazy sky.

After that night, he had reported his intelligence on Canglan to his superiors, along with a recommendation to invite Canglan to join the organization.

But to this day, he had not received a reply.

’Are they investigating Canglan’s background, or is it for some other reason?’

…

News of the attack on Anvil Keep soon swept across the entire Eldron Plain like a hurricane, causing a massive uproar.

The Fallen Dragon Association’s previous attack on the Dragon Race garrison in Bishui Port had attracted a lot of attention, but it was nowhere near as shocking as this.

After all, Bishui Port wasn’t Dragon Race territory; it was just a “self-governing” port.

The Dragon Race garrison was essentially a dispatched security force, not directly related to the Dragon City’s core defense system.

But the military outposts on the Dragon’s Tooth Line were different.

The Dragon’s Tooth Line was the military barrier through which Kresol Dragon City controlled all access to and from the Eldron Plain. It was one of the lifelines of the Dragon City’s system of rule.

Attacking a military outpost was equivalent to directly challenging the Dragon City’s blockade and control over the plain.

The outpost itself represented the Dragon City’s deterrent power. Once that deterrence was broken, other oppressed races might see a glimmer of hope for resistance.

This was something that could shake the very foundations of their rule.

Since the Fallen Dragon Association had a prior record, most people subconsciously assumed they were also behind the destruction of Anvil Keep.

Kresol Dragon City was utterly enraged by this. While ordering Marcus to deal with the Fallen Dragon Association members in Bishui Port as quickly as possible, they also began to pressure all Vassal Races, demanding their assistance in capturing the association’s members.

The hunt for the Fallen Dragon Association gradually spread across the entire Eldron Plain.

However, a few days later, another piece of shocking news arrived.

Following Anvil Keep, Eagle’s Nest Outpost in the southern part of the plain was also completely destroyed.

The state of the dead Dragon Race and Vassal Races soldiers at the scene was identical to that at Anvil Keep.

Before people could recover from the shock of this news, a third, a fourth, a fifth… one military outpost after another was attacked, their garrisons completely wiped out.

For a time, everyone could feel that a storm was brewing.