18: Chapter 18 Longxi Goes to the Sea of ​​Fog Alone

At this time, it was already noon the next day...

In Dragon City, and even the entire Dragon Domain, people were in a state of panic, and rumors were flying everywhere.

"I was fortunate enough to witness the reincarnation of the Ancestral Dragon God with my own eyes. That scene was soul-stirring to the extreme. Even if I were to pass away on the spot at that moment, I would feel that this life has no regrets."

"Last night, an anomaly of the Heavenly Dao Lightning Tribulation suddenly appeared, but it wasn't a sign of an ordinary cultivator crossing a tribulation. It was more like a punishment sent down by the heavens. I couldn't help but have an ominous premonition; I fear some major upheaval has occurred between heaven and earth."

"I was quite close to the Ancestral Dragon Temple and saw a young celestial god. Standing with a sword in hand, he commanded the winds and clouds with soaring heroism. With one strike, he pierced through the heavens, and even the Fifth Elder was killed on the spot!"

"It's said that the Dragon Lord was not at the Ancestral Dragon Temple last night. Perhaps he foresaw something in advance..."

These rumors naturally reached the Ancestral Dragon Temple as well. From last night until now, the dragons had still not dispersed.

The Dragon Lord sat high at the front of the hall, his face aged and his appearance haggard, completely losing his usual poise. The past few hours had been the most difficult time of his life, feeling longer than hundreds or even thousands of years.

Elders, protectors, and Dragon Guards stood on both sides of the hall, with Wu Chi among them. Even the Second and Third Elders, who had been in secluded cultivation, had emerged early. They stood to the side uneasily, fearing the Dragon Lord's condemnation.

The atmosphere in the hall was tense and oppressive to the extreme. The air was filled with various emotions like anger, fanaticism, irritability, and grief. At the same time, a sense of pessimism and despair began to spread among the dragons.

The disappearance of the Grand Elder and the death of the Fifth Elder were still within the range of what could be endured.

But if the resources supporting the entire Dragon Domain barrier were looted, and the Dragon Clan's millions of years of accumulation were wiped out, it would directly sever the foundation of the entire Dragon Clan. This was a major matter that struck at their very core.

It was no exaggeration to say that the entire Dragon Domain had reached a moment of life or death. The more people knew, the more panicked they became.

"Chixin, go and make arrangements first to control the rumors. We cannot let them spread and shake the people's hearts."

While giving orders to Long Chixin, the Dragon Lord turned his face to look at the Fourth Elder, who had just taken over the Fifth Elder's position as the Head Guard of the Ancestral Dragon Temple, and asked with concern:

"Is there any news of the Grand Elder?"

"My Lord, judging from the battle traces at the scene, the Grand Elder had a fierce battle with Yun Che in the underground warehouse. Both sides were heavily injured. Subsequently, the Grand Elder retreated through the passage, but his tracks suddenly vanished at a certain point along the way. There are very faint burn marks on the ground at the scene... I'm afraid the Grand Elder has already..."

The Fourth Elder replied with a heavy face and deep sorrow. The Dragon Lord remained calm, not surprised by this result. He then issued a command:

"Everyone present, you must not leak a single bit of information about what you have seen and heard here. You are all elites of the Dragon Clan lineage and should know what to say and what not to say."

Sensing the pessimism and despair in the hall, he thought for a moment and said slowly:

"Things are not as serious as they appear on the surface; there is still room for maneuver. Although Yun Che has taken most of the resources from the warehouse, they should still be with him. He won't be able to squander them in the short term, nor does he have anywhere to do so. Therefore, as long as we can track him down, everything can still be remedied."

"The priority now is for everyone to discuss how to deal with Yun Che!"

As the new Head Guard of the Ancestral Dragon Temple, the Fourth Elder had thoroughly inspected the entire battle scene from inside out and questioned the sole survivor. He felt responsible for speaking first:

"Without a doubt, Yun Che has obtained the inheritance of the ancient Dragon God, the Primordial Azure Dragon. The Dragon Soul Domain he releases is far higher than all of our Dragon Clan on a planar level. Whether it was the Grand Elder, the Fifth Elder, or the Dragon Guards, their cultivation realms were heavily suppressed during the battle, preventing them from showing their true combat power. To deal with him, the first point is to counter his Dragon Soul Domain, or at least partially weaken its impact on our realms."

Standing quietly to the side, the Seventh Elder couldn't help but feel emotional. He had felt terrified and his heart trembled just seeing that "Dragon Soul" soaring into the sky from a million miles outside Dragon City. One could imagine how disastrous it would be to face it in close combat. He didn't think he would fare much better than the Fifth Elder or survive more than a few seconds under Yun Che's sword.

"Back then, I thought he was heaven-defying enough for being able to guzzle Dragon Breath Brew, control fire-elemental energy, fight three opponents at once, heavily injure Wu Chi in the Divine Extinction Realm, and kill Fan Xin at the Half-step Divine Destruction Realm. Now it seems I still far underestimated Yun Che's strength."

"Even if their strength was greatly reduced by the Dragon Soul Domain's suppression, the Grand Elder and Fifth Elder should have been more than enough to kill Yun Che at the Half-step Divine Destruction Realm. However, Yun Che also mastered an extremely special Forbidden Memory Method that can instantly increase his strength by dozens or even hundreds of times, reaching a level comparable to the early stage of the Divine Extreme Realm."

As the Fourth Elder spoke, he secretly felt lucky that he hadn't encountered Yun Che.

"That's not all. Yun Che also has a recovery speed far exceeding ordinary people. After every injury, he can heal himself very quickly. It can be said for certain that he practices an inconceivable healing profound art. Furthermore, his profound energy is extremely abundant, almost never-ending. It's very likely he also masters a secret method for recovering profound energy. Whether it was the Fifth Elder or the Grand Elder, they both temporarily held the upper hand when fighting him, but in the end, they were defeated and died because they couldn't outlast him in consumption."

As the Fourth Elder spoke, cold sweat began to break out on his palms. If this was the case, he would have no chance of defeating Yun Che at all. Whether he could last three breaths was a question. He sighed secretly and was unwilling to speak further.

A protector followed up on the Fourth Elder's words:

"As far as I know, in ancient times, there was a Desolate God whose famous profound technique was the 'Great Dao Pagoda Art,' which has twelve levels. The higher the level, the faster the body recovers and the stronger the physical strength. However, the Great Dao Pagoda Art can only be practiced by those with a divine body. Could it be that Yun Che has also awakened some kind of divinity?"

"Moreover, the Great Dao Pagoda Art cannot recover profound energy. Yun Che's terrifying ability to recover profound energy is truly inexplicable."

Another protector added: "Yun Che also masters a certain type of lightning tribulation power. During the battle last night, he invoked the Heavenly Dao Lightning Tribulation..."

...

The more they discussed, the more they felt Yun Che was unfathomable. If even the Grand Elder was no match for him, who else in the Dragon Clan could stand against Yun Che? Thus, instead of discussing a way to deal with Yun Che, they only added to their fear of him. The atmosphere of pessimism and despair in the Ancestral Dragon Temple grew thicker, like a giant shadow looming over the hearts of the dragons.

A Dragon Guard suddenly said:

"The dragon soul aura released by Yun Che is extremely similar to Long Xi's aura. There is every reason to believe that he must have a very close blood relationship with Long Xi. Furthermore, Long Xi has been traveling with Yun Che all along. In my opinion..."

Long Chixin immediately interrupted him:

"Absolutely not. This incident is very likely Yun Che's act of revenge. Given our usual attitude toward Long Xi, we have already brought such a disaster upon ourselves. One can imagine that if we truly do anything to harm Long Xi, it will likely bring about a total catastrophe. Before we are certain we can completely eradicate Yun Che, we must not target Long Xi."

"Must we just swallow this insult?"

"The Dragon Clan was born between heaven and earth; how proud we are! I would rather die in battle than live on ignobly!"

...

"Perhaps there is a way that could work." Finally, the Second Elder stepped forward and said slowly:

"Yun Che's strength after using the forbidden technique is at most at the third level of the Divine Extreme Realm. We only need to invite a few non-dragon helpers in the middle stage of the Divine Extreme Realm to deal with him. This old man feels we can ask Emperor Yuan to send a few top-tier Abyssal Knights. With our relationship with Emperor Yuan, this shouldn't be difficult!"

"No matter how powerful his recovery ability is or how fast his profound energy recovers, he cannot deal with several opponents in the middle stage of the Divine Extreme Realm at the same time."

Once the line of thought was opened, solutions naturally followed. Since they could ask Emperor Yuan for help, they could also seek help from the Six Great Divine Kingdoms or even smaller nations. As long as they could afford the price, there were quite a few people with middle-stage Divine Extreme Realm strength in the abyss.

Thus, the atmosphere in the hall became lively again, and the dark clouds of pessimism and despair that had just loomed over everyone's heads dissipated quite a bit.

The Seventh Elder did not continue to participate in the discussion. In the current Ancestral Dragon Temple, besides the heavily injured and dying survivor, he was the only one who had seen Yun Che in person. He had seen as many people as the stars in his life, and even as he tried his best to recall, he did not think the young man he saw at "Longyin Pavilion" was a person of extreme evil or wickedness.

He always felt there was something fishy about the matter.

Since Yun Che had obtained the inheritance of the Primordial Azure Dragon, he was naturally considered a successor of the Dragon Clan. Why would he strike the Dragon Clan so ruthlessly?

What was Yun Che's purpose, and why did he do this?

From all the information, his relationship with Long Xi should be extraordinary. Logically speaking, the Dragon Clan had the merit of taking in and raising Long Xi, so Yun Che should be grateful instead?!

He was suddenly startled. Could it be because of that "fair trade"?!

——————

At this time, Yun Che and Long Xi quietly appeared on an unnamed hill tens of millions of miles away from the Dragon Domain. The surroundings were extremely empty, with not a single trace of life. The earth presented a desolate gray-brown color, and the parched land looked like wrinkles carved by time. Wisps of abyssal dust drifted in the air, and as far as the eye could see, there was only endless desolation.

Through Wu Chi's vision, Yun Che could see every move inside the Ancestral Dragon Temple, and he snorted coldly in his heart. This bunch from the Dragon Clan was actually willing to put aside their arrogance and dignity to ask outsiders for help just to deal with him.

Long Xi seemed lost in thought and suddenly said to Yun Che:

"Father, I want to go to the Mist Sea alone to test myself!"

"Are you going to look for the 'cold pool immortal grass'?"

Yun Che guessed her purpose for this trip. Besides tempering herself, the main goal was likely one of the five spirit treasures, the cold pool immortal grass. The Dragon Lord had always told her that with the five spirit treasures, Shen Xi could be awakened.

During this day, Yun Che had almost finished browsing the "Dragon God Records." He found no records regarding the five spirit treasures, basically confirming that this was a lie from the Dragon Lord.

He originally wanted to tell Long Xi the truth, but recalling the issues he had discussed with Creator God Li Suo, he felt it might be worth a try.

With the Divine Source and abyss crystal resources he had just obtained from the Dragon Clan's treasury, he estimated that Long Xi would soon break through to the Divine Extinction Realm, which would be enough for her to thrive in the Mist Sea. Even if she occasionally encountered an Abyssal Beast in the Divine Extreme Realm, with her "Broken Moon Flickering Shadow" and "Star God Shattering Shadow" techniques, escaping would not be difficult.

"Yes, I feel that I have never been this close to the goal of awakening Mother."

During these twenty or so days with Yun Che, Long Xi had become more confident and optimistic than ever before. Seeing her current state, Yun Che's mood improved a lot, and he suddenly said:

"Xi'er, you don't have to make your face look so ugly anymore, do you?"

Long Xi glanced at him, a blush appearing on her face. Before, she had never cared about her appearance, but now she felt it mattered, even feeling a bit self-conscious. She replied shyly:

"I will restore my original appearance after I awaken Mother!"

Relatively speaking, Long Xi's living environment was much harsher than Yun Wuxin's. Although Yun Wuxin had also not seen him for many years, she always had a mother who loved her by her side, and her living environment was relatively comfortable, protected by the Phoenix remnant soul.

But Long Xi was different. Not only did she lack fatherly love from a young age, she was even nearly killed in the womb by Long Bai's palm strike. After coming to the abyss, she lost her mother and was exploited by the Ancestral Dragon Clan. Since learning about this daughter, Yun Che had been worried she would become withdrawn and introverted. He hoped she could step out of the shadows and become a positive, optimistic girl.

Furthermore, and more importantly, Long Xi inherited the bloodlines of both him and Shen Xi, so her talent and aptitude were far higher than Yun Wuxin's. Naturally, Yun Che had higher expectations for Long Xi.

He looked at Long Xi with concern and said softly: "Xi'er, you are the first beam of light and the first trace of warmth I felt after coming to the Abyssal World. No matter what you have experienced, or how many dark clouds and gloom have drifted through your world, I, your father, hope you will always face the light, be optimistic and cheerful, and be a happy girl."

Yun Che entered the world of the sky poison pearl and requested Creator God Li Suo: "Can you do me a favor?"

Creator God Li Suo understood his intent and appeared before Long Xi, looking at her with a gentle gaze and a smile:

"I will now pass the [Miracle of Life] to you. This profound technique has extremely high requirements for one's soul, belief, character, and aptitude. In this world, only your mother and father have successfully practiced it. I hope you can become the third. What I hope to see from you is the power of light, the power of creation, and the power of life."

After speaking, Creator God Li Suo lightly raised her right hand, and a ball of soft white light slowly drifted from her fingertip, merging into the center of Long Xi's forehead.

Long Xi hurriedly kowtowed in thanks, then bid farewell to Yun Che, took to the air, and soon disappeared into the distant abyssal dust.

[The Dragon Clan arc is coming to a temporary close. The next scene will shift to the Zhimeng Divine Kingdom. I hope I haven't misread Mars' intentions.]