An Understated Dominance Novel (Dahlia & Dustin) by Marina Vittori updated 2025-26 - An Understated Dominance Chapter 2701

Chapter 2701

“Pffft—!”

Blood sprayed across the air like a crimson arc.

Logan was struck as if by an ancient mountain. The impact shattered the remnants of his barrier and hurled him across the hall. He slammed into the white jade floor with bone-cracking force, rolling over a dozen times before finally stopping—barely propping himself up on one knee, his sword trembling under his grip.

The blade wailed, its spiritual light flickering weakly, nearly extinguished. The energy he had just regained splintered apart again, his aura unraveling into chaos. His chest burned like molten iron, his abdomen felt frozen in eternal ice, and his very soul screamed—torn apart by invisible blades. The pain was so fierce it nearly drowned his consciousness.

Aukon’s dual-elemental powers—metal and fire—weren’t simply added together. They fused into something far worse: a qualitative transformation that shattered every rule of balance.

“To withstand seventy percent of my Sky-Splitting Slash and God-Burning Fist…” Aukon’s tone was icy, almost bored, as he advanced step by step. “That’s enough for you to brag about in the Yellow Springs.”

Every step he took erased the ground beneath his feet—matter disintegrating into nothingness.

He raised both hands.
In his left palm, countless hair-thin golden needles—Gengjin Poyuan Needles—swirled like a deadly nebula, emitting a shrill hum that made the air itself tremble. They locked onto every vital acupoint in Logan’s battered body.

In his right palm, a dark golden fireball bloomed—its core flickering with countless collapsing black holes. The Great Incineration Technique. It pulsed with a terrible suction force that promised to refine everything it touched into pure void.

Golden needles to shatter the essence.
Divine fire to erase the soul.

A perfect, inescapable death.

Grace’s face went pale. Despair hollowed her chest, and her trembling fingers clawed at the floor as she tried to reach him, helpless against the weight of divine power.

The air itself began to hum—the calm before annihilation.

Then—

A low, ancient voice rippled through the chaos, peaceful yet carrying immeasurable weight. The syllables rolled like thunder and mercy woven together.

“Infinite Heavenly Venerable.”

The sound echoed across the palace like a chant from beyond time, instantly stilling the rampaging energy.

A hazy, luminous light appeared before Logan—soft and gentle, yet radiating infinite power. Within moments, it unfolded into a vast, spinning Tai Chi diagram, glowing with divine clarity. Yin and Yang flowed in endless motion, the pattern breathing the purest law of balance—“Invulnerable to all laws, repelling all evil.”

Buzz—!

The golden needles shot forward like a storm. Yet the moment they struck the Tai Chi diagram, they melted away—each one swallowed, neutralized, and dissolved into the endless rotation of Yin and Yang, vanishing without a trace.

The dark golden fireball, pulsing with the power to unmake reality, collided next.
But it froze mid-air.

The instant it touched the flowing Tai Chi pattern, an invisible force locked it in place—gentle, immovable, absolute. The devouring suction inside the fireball faltered and died. It couldn’t move even an inch closer to Logan.

For the first time, Aukon’s eternally cold face cracked—his eyes widening with shock. His head snapped toward the hall’s entrance, his expression turning murderous.

There, standing calmly under the towering archway, was Cassius.

The old Daoist’s robes fluttered in the faint wind. His face was thin and weary, but his eyes—those deep, weathered eyes—were alive with both sorrow and determination. He held a feathered whisk loosely in one hand, its soft strands swaying with quiet grace.

Beside him stood a small child—hair tied in a topknot, wearing a bright red bib, fists planted on his hips. His eyes blazed like twin stars as he glared at Aukon.

“Aukon!” the boy shouted, his voice shrill but fierce. “You shameless old fossil! You think being ancient gives you the right to bully the weak? Dual cultivator of metal and fire? Ha! You’re just a walking pile of rust and ashes! Beating up a half-dead man—ptooey! You’re a disgrace to every ancestor you’ve got!”

The words struck like a slap.

The atmosphere in the palace—already taut with killing intent—grew even heavier, twisting with tension.

Aukon’s face twitched, his icy composure breaking for a single heartbeat. Then his gaze sharpened, a cold wave of killing intent sweeping across the hall, locking onto Cassius and the child.

“Cassius.” His voice dropped, low and venomous. “And you… little pest. I thought you were rotting away in that broken bamboo forest. Yet here you are, daring to stand in my way.”

Cassius flicked his whisk lightly, the soft movement somehow filled with authority. His tone was calm, but beneath it lay sorrow—and final resolve.

“Aukon,” he said quietly, “stop this. Sacrificing the essence, energy, and souls of your fellow cultivators to feed the Void Dragon is a path of madness. You’ve already forsaken the purpose we swore to uphold—the duty to protect the seal.”

The child stomped forward, waving his tiny fist.
“Yeah! You overgrown mudfish! You wrecked Fairyharbor Island, and now you’re trying to kill people for fun! I’ll pound you flat, you evil old lizard!”

Aukon laughed—a harsh, broken sound that echoed through the palace like cracking ice.

“Original intention?” he mocked, his tone dripping with scorn. “To guard? To wait endlessly for this broken cage to rot away? You call that purpose?”

He stepped forward, divine power radiating like a storm.
“Cassius, you’ve clung to ideals long dead. Power is the only truth that endures! If you want to die clinging to your delusions, fine—”

He raised his arms, the golden and crimson energies swirling violently in his palms.

“—I’ll use your bodies and your souls to perfect my control of the Dragon Essence!”