Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 432 The Reason for Hidden Appearance
The God-Forsaken Mountains are now completely open to the Golden Empire.

The once majestic mountain range, stretching for thousands of miles and forming a continuous line of peaks, which stood tall on the outskirts of the Divine Forsaken Mountains, has been blasted down by the infrastructure department of the Golden Empire using high-energy explosives.

The Empire enslaves tens of thousands of slaves, the vast majority of whom were obtained from the dimensional expansion wars and from the opposing forces over the years.

Through the tireless efforts of these laborers day and night, twenty-six mountains were hollowed out, creating a massive canyon that ordinary people could not see through at a glance, for people to pass through and for construction.

The stone of those majestic peaks, weathered by the winds and rains of time, is of excellent quality and can be considered a top-notch building material. Therefore, the Golden Empire made the most of it and utilized it perfectly.

They were used either as the base material for paving roads or as building materials for the villages that are now appearing everywhere in the God-Forsaken Mountains.

The Peng bird clan, who once lived on the outskirts of the God-abandoned Mountains, had many conflicts with the Golden Empire as their territory was gradually encroached upon.

But to the Golden Empire today, these ferocious monsters that inherit the bloodline of the ancient Peng bird are nothing more than a large number of wild beasts, and are not even as difficult to deal with as those monsters that are linked together in the form of tribes.

After setting numerous traps and baits to separate the flock of roc birds one by one, the former ruling dragon king of the empire, the golden dragon Obilash, personally descended and struck the king of the roc birds down from the sky. From then on, these roc bird groups were also included in the empire's fold.

Now, that majestic King of the Rocs has become the chariot beast that the Golden Dragon Obirash uses to show off his status, and he and his fifteen female Roc mates pull the chariot for Obirash.

By the time the Golden Empire had cleared most of the passage through the God-Forsaken Mountains to the southern part of the Northern Continent, this still unfinished road had become a 'Road to Wealth' praised by smugglers, adventurers, and various legitimate merchant groups.

While land transport cannot match the volume of goods transported by giant ships at sea, the risks involved are much lower, especially for small merchant groups and individual traders.

Moreover, land transportation is more stable and continuous than sea transportation, and there is a wide variety of means of transport.

The jackal-man Yugu stood on the cliff, looking down at the wide road that was now paved with a layer of pebbles.

Although the road stretched a long way through the God-Forsaken Mountains, in Yugu's eyes the endless caravan seemed to never stop.

Only at the post stations set up along the route of the Golden Empire would all sorts of transport vehicles be parked.

Besides the ox-and-horse carts that are abundant in the northern continent, various huge and ferocious magical beasts can also be seen occasionally rolling over steel vehicles equipped with the magic engines and black oil engines of the Golden Empire.

However, these steel frames were much more expensive to manufacture, and their presence in these merchant groups was not for transporting goods, but rather a display of status.

This not only demonstrates the wealth and power behind the merchant group, but also reflects their good relationship with the Golden Empire.

Many flying dragons that frequently cry out often fly across the sky, but these flying dragons are weaker and clumsier than the dragons in the empire.

The Empire is now selecting the best of the best, choosing the most intelligent and strongest from its vast population of dragons to serve as its war assistants and overseeing envoys, as well as the bloodline seeds for the druids to cultivate an even better generation of dragons.

Those dragons that were born weak and had poor conditions, and whose intelligence could not meet the empire's selection standards, were put up for sale. These dragons with 'surplus value' were sold to merchants and adventurers from all over the world who came to the empire.

These dragons are not as capable of carrying cargo as ordinary oxen and horses on land, but their scouting ability surpasses that of an ordinary mage. After all, mages cannot focus their minds at all times, but dragons have excellent visibility in the sky.

Especially since these dragons have undergone three generations of improvements by the Golden Empire, even though they are just defective products that have been eliminated, they possess a spirituality that ordinary wild beasts cannot match. They can be easily controlled by their masters, making them one of the best companions for many solo adventurers.

Although the road through the God-Abandoned Mountains has been cleared by the Empire, the God-Abandoned Mountains cover such a vast area that even if the Empire had several more decades, it would be difficult to develop them all. Therefore, they still have many powerful beasts and exotic species, including savage beasts and extraordinary species that inherit ancient bloodlines.

Therefore, as a necessity, the Golden Empire has earned profits that many nobles envy by selling dragons alone over the past twenty years.

As a highly cohesive organization, the Golden Empire can achieve incredible success even in an ordinary industry.

"The Forsaken Mountains are truly a wonderful place. Just opening up the road to the south has been enough to generate such profits for the empire. Not to mention, the resources and land inherent in the Forsaken Mountains themselves are its most valuable assets."

The jackal-man Yugu gazed at the mountains that had been cleared of resources by development and construction, where the rich mineral deposits were clearly visible to the naked eye.

The growth and development of the empire required massive amounts of resources. The consumption of armor, swords and weapons for the imperial army alone was enormous, not to mention the daily and nightly infrastructure construction projects of the vast Golden Empire.

Just to lay out the iron ore reserves of a noble nation for the circulation of the Iron Python—the World Serpent train—within the current administrative region of the empire is enough to deplete them all, and it will still be far from enough to fill the gap.

"This place should belong to the Empire,"

The gnoll's blood-red eyes gazed into the distance. A faint fragrance wafted through the air, reminding him of the aroma of rose gardens in the Empire's homeland in spring. The sounds of bards playing their harps and the melodious, bold, and unrestrained songs of beautiful young women from various races seemed to rise up as well.

Yugu sighed softly. As a short-lived jackal, even though he had grown into a powerful warrior at the high level of the Saint Realm within the past twenty years, his lifespan should have already reached the end of his old age.

Without transcending the legendary level of life transformation, even among the few at the Saint level, the life of Yugu cannot compare to one of the age groups of a dragon excluding its infancy.

However, this gnoll is still at its peak. The empire's development of dragon blood potions is now very advanced. Although it cannot make people return to their youth as if time were reversed, it can maintain peak vitality at the peak of their life.

Most importantly, this is a medicine without any side effects.

Even nobles from other regions, no matter how much money they spend, find it difficult to purchase the Dragon Blood Potion of the Golden Empire. However, the Gnoll Yugu has been able to maintain his peak condition for a long time and has already consumed nearly five Dragon Blood Potions.

This has also made the bloodline of this gnoll deeply affected by the blood of the dragon. Even after removing the violence and poison of the dragon blood, Yugu is still gradually turning into a red dragon.

His fur now clung to his strong body like flames, and his skin was similar to that under the scales of a dragon. His claws and fangs were almost indistinguishable from those of a dragonman.

In the Golden Empire, the concept of nobility no longer exists, but Yugu and many warrior commanders are still referred to as 'Dragonblood Nobles' by the empire's people. This not only represents the power and rarity of these Dragonblood Nobles, but also the responsibilities they bear.

The reason why there are so few dragon-blooded nobles remaining in the empire is not only because of the empire's current population of hundreds of millions, but also because dragon-blooded nobles are often away from the empire and cannot stay in the empire's headquarters frequently.

As an early follower of Charon, Yugu commanded an elite legion and possessed both great strength and considerable wisdom. Naturally, he also successfully captured a small material plane in the wave of conquering planes.

However, it was during this expedition that the gnoll-man Yugu discovered something.

Although Yog the Gnoll was dispatched back to the Empire by order of the Imperial Central Military Council to fulfill his duty as a legion commander to rotate garrisons every five years, he had long harbored thoughts of returning to the Empire's homeland.

As a loyal follower of Charon, Yugu knew that a person's abilities could sometimes be brought into play, depending not only on themselves but also on the platform and opportunities they had.

Yugu's platform and opportunity lay with the Golden Empire and his master, Caron Gogmora.

Moreover, the allure of the Golden Empire as the center of civilization far surpasses the allure of controlling a small material plane world outside.

Just like the rulers of colonies, they always wanted to return to the highest center of power and gain recognition.

"I hope that during my time stationed in the Forsaken Mountains, things will proceed smoothly as planned by the Empire. I long to return to the Empire as soon as possible; life there is a peaceful garden that soothes all troubles."

Yugu sighed softly, then turned to look at the jackal overseer who was approaching.

Although the Golden Empire has now dispersed many of the original races' living areas due to the coexistence of various races, the Gnoll chieftain Yugu has never been stripped of his status and power as the Gnoll chieftain by the Empire, even though the Gnolls have now become one of the mainstream races in the Golden Empire.

Therefore, the new generation around Yugu are also gnolls who have evolved and been selected due to their environment.

"Chief, the sacrificial ceremony is over,"

The young gnoll overseer was very tall, nearly three and a half meters, but he was still a head shorter than Jugu, who was not wearing armor.

Thanks to the nurturing and environment of the Golden Empire, the new generation of gnolls are not only physically strong, but also generally well-educated, because gnolls are not a stupid race.

Yugu turned to look at the altar hidden among the cliffs. The blazing campfire had been extinguished, and only a few gnolls wearing dark brown robes mixed with yellow, filthy animal fur were gathered around the altar, finishing up their work.

The gnoll priests deliberately left congealed blood scabs and a foul stench on their dark brown robes, which was not a gnoll fetish.

Although the gnoll tribes in the Empire still retain their ferocity, they are increasingly moving towards becoming a civilized race and have abandoned such crude tastes.

All of this was merely the hobby of Yenogu, the lord of the gnolls and king of the gnolls.

Yugu looked at the monster's corpse on the altar, which was being sacrificed. It was pale and bloodless, and its death was extremely gruesome, with its flesh torn off and its chest and abdomen completely hollowed out.

The congealed bloodstains on the sacrificial body solidified into a symbol with mysterious and evil power—a three-headed flail.

That is the emblem of Yenogu, the king of the gnolls. By performing a mysterious magical ritual through the emblem, one can access the realms of chaos, demons, evil, and rage, and even attract Yenogu's attention and communicate with him.

"What did it say?" Yugu looked at his overseer, but his tone showed no respect for the gnoll lord, addressing him entirely like a wild beast.

“He said your perfunctory attitude angered him, and you must offer double the sacrifices and sincerity at the next ceremony,”

The gnoll warlord carefully chose his words as he replied, "He said he had expended much effort to circumvent certain possible spying, and that's the respect he earned!"

Yugu bared its fangs slightly and sneered, "Next time? There won't be a next time. I'm sure its not-so-stupid brain can figure out why I only contacted it after returning to the Empire's homeland."

"What's so praiseworthy about its mind other than unrealistic ambitions?"

Yugu gazed into the depths of the Forsaken Mountains, then said softly, "Now all I can do is await King Mogyes' reply before I can return to the Empire, meet my lord, and explain everything to him."

"However, the gods were not visible in the world of Aikania before. But whether it was because of Aikania's special nature or because the gods' figures have started to become active in the world again, it is a sign in any case."

"Should we just refuse him? After all, he is the god of all gnolls, the lord of endless gnoll blood. We can appease him, but a direct refusal might bring many unnecessary disasters,"

The gnoll warlord carefully observed Yugu's expression and tentatively spoke.

"It can only imagine a prime material plane controlled by gnolls, where all intelligent races—elves, humans, dwarves, halflings, and so on—are food and slaves of the gnolls,"

Yugu sneered, "But he lacked the ability to put it into practice, and he failed to recognize the direction of the times; he was merely an ambitious daydreamer."

"Getting entangled with such guys will only bring us a lot of unnecessary disasters, because foolish allies often cause far more damage than clever enemies!"

"Let's wait until it has the guts to descend its divine avatar into the world of Ekania,"

With his claws clasped behind his back, Yugu slowly spoke, "Besides, what belongs to the gods belongs to the gods, and what belongs to the mortals belongs to the mortals. This is what my lord Gogmora said."

Yugu concluded calmly, "In the mortal realm of Ekania, there are no gods, only the Emperor of Gogmora!"

(End of this chapter)