11: Chapter 11 The Ancestral Dragon Clan, Bear My Wrath!

The next day, with a little over an hour left, the meeting time Yun Che had set was approaching.

This place was already only a million miles away from the meeting location Yun Che had specified. The Dragon Lord stood where he was, gazing as far as he could toward the distant west. That unseen distance was Red Dragon Slope, a long-forgotten and unfamiliar place name.

Legend has it that millions of years ago, in an era when the Dragon Race was still strong, with many clans and thriving descendants, Red Dragon Slope was once the settlement of a certain dragon tribe. Because their bodies were a dark crimson color, the place earned its name.

However, due to the increasing density of the abyssal dust and its distance from the center of the Dragon Domain's barrier, the living environment had severely deteriorated. It was no longer suitable for habitation, and as early as a million years ago, the dragons had left, leaving the mountains empty.

At this moment, the Dragon Lord naturally carried the "elemental dragon armor" that Yun Che had demanded.

He had dreamed countless times of the scene where he wore the elemental dragon armor. Sometimes it was on an ancient battlefield, where he wore the elemental dragon armor with five-colored light radiating from his body, surrounded by fallen enemies and members of the Devil Race;

Sometimes it was at a grand ceremony, where he wore the elemental dragon armor, surrounded by purple qi, standing high in the sky, looking down on all living beings and receiving the worship of all spirits...

But he never imagined that one day he would carry the elemental dragon armor to rescue an unworthy descendant who had been kidnapped.

More than a day had passed since he received Yun Che's ultimatum. The Dragon Lord had gone from his initial anger and irritability to becoming increasingly calm and quiet.

Who told him to be so incapable? He had lived for millions of years and had thousands of wives and concubines, yet his only son was Young Clan Leader, who had become his most disappointing weakness.

Meng Kongchan, who was much younger than him, could father three, and all three sons—aside from Meng Jianzhou, the missing Meng Jianyuan, and the current Divine Son Meng Jianxi—were exceptionally outstanding, truly dragons and phoenixes among men.

That damned curse. Heaven had given the Dragon Race a lifespan far exceeding other races, yet it had also given them a reproductive capacity that bordered on infertility. If it were possible, he would rather live hundreds of thousands of years less just to have a few more sons and grandsons.

At the thought of this, his heart was filled with resentment. It wasn't that he didn't try; it was simply that fate was unfair.

He had already made up his mind that this time, in rescuing the Young Clan Leader, everything had to be foolproof.

If he couldn't quickly and safely subdue Yun Che, he would choose to compromise, even if it meant losing all face and abandoning his dignity.

He was absolutely unwilling to take excessive risks; he could not let the Ancestral Dragon lineage end with his generation.

However, he had a faint feeling of unease in his heart, a sensation that had rarely occurred in his long dragon life.

Behind the Dragon Lord stood Long Chixin, four elders, eight protectors, and dozens of Dragon Guards.

Of the seven great elders, all had come except for the Second Elder and Third Elder, who were in closed-door cultivation, and the Fifth Elder, who was responsible for guarding the Ancestral Dragon Temple.

Wu Chi was also among them.

So many dragons gathering together was not to deal with Yun Che.

With the Dragon Lord's strength at the peak of the Divine Extreme Realm, he could easily crush the Half-step Divine Destruction Realm Yun Che with a flick of his wrist.

They gathered here for only one reason: for themselves. This was the philosophy of survival, the art of being a subordinate.

What the superior likes, the subordinates will like even more; what the superior dislikes, the subordinates will also follow suit.

The Dragon Lord enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded by a large entourage and appearing majestic in front of others; this was his sense of achievement and honor. These subordinates, all of whom were dragon spirits who had lived for tens of thousands of years, how could they not know this?

However, the Dragon Lord now stopped. He turned around and said to his followers:

"You don't need to go any further. All of you wait here!"

Because he had already planned for the worst-case scenario: if he couldn't use force, he was prepared to set aside his dignity and compromise. He certainly wouldn't bring any other dragon to see Yun Che; he absolutely could not let them see his weak side.

Then, he set off, carrying the ancestral "elemental dragon armor" with him.

The Dragon Lord soared all the way, giant towering peaks constantly passing him by. The abyssal dust in the air became more and more concentrated, but it could not yet affect him.

Finally, he was almost there. Within his divine sense, a trace of the Young Clan Leader's aura appeared.

However, there was no aura of any other living being.

Where was Yun Che? Could it be that Yun Che hadn't come?

Furthermore, why was the Young Clan Leader's aura so weak?

He quickly accelerated and flew toward the aura, finally landing on a small patch of flat ground on Red Dragon Slope.

What met his eyes was a small piece of the Young Clan Leader's sleeve, and next to it stood an unremarkable wooden plaque with the inscription:

"The Dragon Lord was here!"

The six large characters were like six eyes, revealing a mocking expression.

He cried out inwardly, realizing he had fallen for Yun Che's "luring the tiger away from the mountain" ruse, and Long Chixin's unfortunate prediction had come true.

Yun Che's scheme wasn't particularly clever, yet he had easily fallen for it, just as he himself had treated Long Xi.

"A drowning person, even with ninety percent suspicion, has no choice but to grasp that single straw." That was exactly what he had said about Long Xi back then!

And now, in his desperate desire to ransom the Young Clan Leader, was he not that very drowning person?

He was a dragon who had lived for millions of years and seen it all, yet today he had been toyed with by a mere youngster like Yun Che. Overcome with shame and rage, the Dragon Lord struck out with a bang, turning the wooden plaque into powder and smashing a crater hundreds of feet deep into the surrounding ground.

Without time for further thought, he flew off at high speed. Simultaneously, he sent a sound transmission to the Seventh Elder, ordering him to strengthen the city's defenses, especially the Ancestral Dragon Temple, which must not suffer any mishaps. On the other hand, he messaged Long Chixin and the others, telling them to return to the city immediately.

————

The pitch-black night was like a heavy ink-colored curtain, weightily enveloping the entire world. Only scattered, pale starlight was sparsely embedded in the high and vast firmament.

At the foot of Ancestral Dragon Mountain, in front of the Ancestral Dragon Temple, two figures appeared at the end of the long Divine Path: Yun Che and Long Xi.

The Divine Path was like a giant dragon winding across the earth, broad and straight, extending all the way to the main gate of the Ancestral Dragon Temple. On both sides of the Divine Path stood giant statues over a hundred meters tall, arranged in neat rows.

Yun Che and Long Xi walked forward with resolute steps, one pace at a time.

Yun Che thought to himself, "Ancestral Dragon Clan, I have arrived!"

"It is time to settle the debt for bullying Xi'er. You have touched my reverse scale, so now, suffer my wrath!"

Once, in the Blue Wind Kingdom, when Yun Che met with an accident at Heavenly Sword Villa's Sword Management Terrace and his fate was unknown, Fen Juecheng of the Fen Tian Sect came to force a marriage upon Princess Cang Yue. He was slaughtered by Yun Che, who returned just in time. Consequently, Yun Che was hunted by the eight elders of the Fen Tian Sect, but he turned misfortune into a blessing, obtaining the Dragon God Marrow and the Dragon God Soul, and killed seven of their elders in return. The Fen Tian Sect did not repent but instead intensified their actions, kidnapping Xiao Lingxi and Xiao Lie. In the end, Yun Che wiped them out completely, leaving only Fen Juechen alive.

Later, in the God Realm, Star God Emperor Xing Shenkong, in order to enter the divine path, unleashed the forbidden technique of the Star God Realm and sacrificed Jasmine. Yun Che broke in alone, forcibly activating the Acheron Shura skill to seek mutual destruction. He broke through to the Divine Sovereign Realm, slaughtering fifteen hundred Divine Sovereign Star Guards and one Divine Master Elder before finally collapsing from exhaustion and being burned to ashes by the crowd. Jasmine, driven to madness by Yun Che's death, broke through the forbidden array with the Evil Infant's Wheel of Myriad Tribulations. The four god emperors—Star God Emperor, Moon God Emperor, Eternal Heaven God Emperor, and Brahma Heaven God Emperor—joined forces but were instead heavily wounded by Jasmine. The Moon God fell shortly after, and the Star God Realm lost most of its elite.

Later, also in the God Realm, the obsessed Long Bai trampled the Samsara Forbidden Land and struck Shen Xi and her daughter. In a fit of rage, Yun Che killed Long Bai in the Canglan God Nation, decimated the Dragon God Realm, and slaughtered all of his descendants.

Yun Che roared inwardly, "This time, I will once again prove to the world that anyone who touches my reverse scale, even if I am ground to dust, I will surely destroy them!"

Yun Che and Long Xi soon arrived at the gate of the Ancestral Dragon Temple. A squad of over a dozen guards blocked their path, led by two robust Dragon Guards in black profound armor, one at the second level of the Divine Extinction Realm and the other at the third stage of the Divine Extinction Realm.

"Who are you? What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" one Dragon Guard shouted.

"Long Xi, why have you come here?" the other Dragon Guard yelled.

"Bang..."

The massive, crimson jie tian sword stood before Yun Che, slamming heavily onto the ground.

God Ash!!

The sixth realm of the Evil God Art!

Now that Yun Che was at the Half-step Divine Destruction Realm and had reached the seventh stage of the Great Dao Pagoda Art, he could essentially keep the God Ash gate open as a norm without worrying about backlash from his profound energy or blood.

With the God Ash gate open, Yun Che's aura instantly surged, emitting a presence no weaker than the early stages of the Divine Extreme Realm.

The two Dragon Guards' expressions changed drastically. They exchanged a look and leaped up together, one wielding a saber and the other a sword, as two cold flashes of light slashed toward Yun Che.

Yun Che raised his right hand and pushed forward.

"Woom—"

A dull, heavy sword chime rang out as the jie tian sword flew into the air. After his cultivation rose to the Half-step Divine Destruction Realm and the seventh stage of the Great Dao Pagoda Art, Yun Che was already able to control his sword through the air.

In the vast night, a crimson sword light flashed. The two Dragon Guards continued to charge forward for a few steps before slowly collapsing, their bodies having been sliced in two.

The remaining guards were terrified and scrambled to flee in all directions.

However, the jie tian sword continued to dance and roam through the air, one earth-shattering sword light after another piercing the sky. In a matter of moments, by the time the jie tian sword flew back into Yun Che's hand, a series of dragon heads flew up in the distance, and all the guards had been decapitated.

Yun Che did not stop; with a leap, he stood before the gate of the Ancestral Dragon Temple.

"Bang—"

He threw a sudden punch, and a weight of billions of catties smashed down. The gate of the Ancestral Dragon Temple was instantly pulverized, with powder flying everywhere like gusts of sand.

The Ancestral Dragon Temple, the center of power for the Dragon Race, was empty at this moment, with not a soul in sight. The temple's master, the Dragon Lord, was still in the wilderness millions of miles outside the city.

Yun Che continued forward, quickly passing through the front hall of the Ancestral Dragon Temple and heading straight for the backyard.

The backyard of the Ancestral Dragon Temple was a large rectangular courtyard, about three li long and two li wide, with a large open space in the center.

As soon as Yun Che flashed into the courtyard, he felt an intense killing intent as a sharp palm wind rushed toward his face.

The Fifth Elder of the Dragon Race, a Chilong at the sixth level of the Divine Extreme Realm, having witnessed Yun Che's strength in killing the front gate guards, chose not to intercept him in the main hall of the Ancestral Dragon Temple. Instead, he cautiously lay in ambush at the entrance to the backyard, waiting for an opportunity to deal Yun Che a fatal blow.

This was a full-strength palm strike from the Fifth Elder. Yun Che had never encountered such a powerful opponent before; the strongest opponent he had fought previously was Wu Chi, who was only at the third stage of the Divine Extinction Realm, whereas the Fifth Elder was more than a full major realm higher than Wu Chi.

With no time to dodge, Yun Che reflexively raised the jie tian sword and swung it horizontally against the incoming palm wind.

Among all spirits, the Dragon Race possessed the strongest bodies and the most overbearing strength. At the same realm, almost no other living being's power could compare to that of a dragon.

Moreover, from the Half-step Divine Destruction Realm to the sixth level of the Divine Extreme Realm, there was a gap of nearly two full major realms. With the opponent striking at full power, how could Yun Che possibly withstand it?

"Boom—" A giant dragon claw slammed down, its weight of billions of catties falling upon the jie tian sword. The entire blade instantly sank, crashing heavily into Yun Che's chest. Yun Che's chest rapidly contracted and deformed, caving in to dissipate most of the force, yet his chest still suffered a violent shock, and he sprayed out a mouthful of fresh blood. [Effect of the seventh level of the Great Dao Pagoda Art]

Having landed a hit but seeing that Yun Che was only wounded, the Fifth Elder was secretly startled. He swiftly swung another dragon claw, which came crashing down like a mountain, blotting out the sky.

"So you are Yun Che. You truly are a small surprise. To think a mere Half-step Divine Destruction Realm could withstand a strike of thirty percent of my power; I'm almost reluctant to kill you."

"You'd better hurry up and use your full strength, or you might not get the chance later," Yun Che said with disdain.

From the direct collision just now, Yun Che knew the opponent's strength was extremely formidable. Now that he had a clear look at his adversary, he decided to use his strongest defensive measure.

"Boom—"

A sky-filling golden light flashed, and a massive, golden Qilin Sacred Temple appeared before Yun Che's chest. Legend has it that in the Era of Gods, the strongest defenses were Xuanwu's Xuanji Tower and the Qilin God's Qilin Sacred Temple. Back in the Ancient Qilin Realm, Yun Che had not only obtained the Evil God's last earth-attribute profound power seed but also received its legacy.

"Bang—"

The Fifth Elder's dragon claw slammed heavily into the golden Qilin Sacred Temple. Yun Che retreated dozens of steps before coming to a halt, but this time he was not injured, while the Fifth Elder only retreated a single step. Filled with both envy and hatred, the Fifth Elder said coldly:

"To think you know the Qilin God's techniques. It seems you obtained a great fortuitous encounter in the Qilin God Realm."

By now, Yun Che could clearly see the situation in the courtyard. Besides the Fifth Elder, there were three protectors in the early stages of the Divine Extreme Realm and over twenty Dragon Guards in the Divine Extinction Realm. His side had only two people, and since Long Xi was also at the Half-step Divine Destruction Realm, she not only couldn't help but might even be a burden.

At this moment, Long Xi had also flashed into the courtyard and stood quietly to the side. Seeing the opponents before her, who were far superior in both numbers and cultivation realm, she couldn't help but feel worried. However, when she looked at Yun Che, she saw that his face was completely devoid of fear and he appeared perfectly composed. She couldn't help but wonder:

"Is Father always this confident? Could it be that he has some trump card he hasn't revealed? The opponents are the Dragon Race's elders and protectors, all with early and mid-stage Divine Extreme Realm strength, plus so many Dragon Guards..."