9: Chapter 9 Dragon Forgets the Beginning

In a short while, the Young Clan Leader's figure could already be seen in the distance.

His age was five times that of Long Xi, but the lifespan of dragons is very long; at his age, he was comparable to an infant in the dragon race.

The harsh environment of the Abyss and the withering of the dragon race's bloodline seemed to have no effect on him at all. His current cultivation was already at the eighth level of the Divine Master Realm, which made him a favored son of heaven in the entire Abyss of Nothingness.

However, those in the know were aware that his cultivation was entirely due to Long Xi. It was precisely because he had received regular supplies of Long Xi's Primordial Azure Dragon essence blood over the past ninety years to temper his body that his muscles, bones, meridians, and bloodline had undergone enough changes to overturn heaven and earth.

Only then did he transform from an unremarkable, broken dragon ninety years ago into the so-called favored son of heaven today. It could be said that his entire dragon body, from the inside out, was recreated by Long Xi.

However, he did not feel the need for gratitude or repayment; instead, he felt it was only natural and right. Furthermore, because Long Xi had not given him blood in time last month, he even felt it was necessary to teach her a lesson.

The Young Clan Leader's life had not been easy lately. Last time, he was almost stabbed to death by Long Xi's sword, and later he learned that the Dragon Lord had hidden information about the Eternal Pure Land from him, leaving him feeling quite dejected.

But at the thought that it was time to collect essence blood again, his mood improved considerably, and he thought to himself smugly:

"Long Xi, oh Long Xi, so what if you're powerful? I'll still drink your blood just the same. When the day comes that your essence blood is exhausted and you can no longer resist, I will skin you, pluck your tendons, and use my dragon claws to fiercely trample on your wretched face!"

Watching the Young Clan Leader get closer and closer, Yun Che glanced at Long Xi. Long Xi understood and said:

"Father, I want to deal with him myself!"

"You may!"

Yun Che gave her an approving look. He thought to himself, 'This is my daughter!'

Soon, the Young Clan Leader appeared outside the barrier and shouted in a mocking tone, "Long Xi, hand over the essence blood!"

Broken Moon Flickering Shadow!

Long Xi suddenly vanished from her spot and appeared almost simultaneously in front of the Young Clan Leader. A grayish-white dragon claw clutched his neck, pulling him into the barrier like one would lift an old goose.

Long Xi threw the Young Clan Leader violently to the ground and stomped her left foot onto his chest.

*Crack—*

The Young Clan Leader clearly heard the sound of his own ribs shattering. He could feel his entire chest collapsing and his internal organs being crushed together. Only then did the Young Clan Leader finally react, sensing that the atmosphere inside the barrier was very wrong.

Long Xi's complexion and aura were much better than the last time he came; furthermore, there was a young man inside the barrier who looked like the Yun Che being wanted throughout the city by the Seventh Elder.

Recent news about Yun Che had already spread throughout Dragon City: guzzling Dragon Breath Brew, shooting fire from his fingers, fighting three opponents at once at the Half-step Divine Destruction Realm, heavily injuring the Divine Extinction Realm Wu Chi, and killing Fan Xin.

"Long Xi... you... what do you want to do?"

The Young Clan Leader shouted with a trembling voice:

"Hurry up and give me the essence blood and let me leave, otherwise..."

Long Xi had long since been disgusted to the core by this loathsome dragon. She applied force with her foot, causing the Young Clan Leader to immediately spit out a mouthful of fresh blood.

"Otherwise what? Are you threatening me?" Long Xi did not want to waste time on him and said coldly:

"Speak, how do you want to die?"

"Long Xi, don't you want protection anymore?"

The Young Clan Leader glanced at Yun Che and Long Xi, knowing in his heart that they would not let him off easily. He said fiercely:

"Long Xi, I'm telling you, this is Dragon City. If you kill me, don't even think about leaving; my father will never let you go."

At this moment, Yun Che walked up to him and said coldly, "Oh, it seems you still haven't figured out the situation."

"Whether we can walk out of Dragon City is not something you should worry about. Right now, you should think more about how you're going to die. Perhaps if I'm in a good mood, I can give you a quick death."

"Are you Yun Che?" The Young Clan Leader looked at the young man before him, a great sense of fear rising in his heart.

"Correct. Since you know who I am, you'd better behave."

Yun Che raised his right hand, and a crimson fire bead ignited in his palm. The fire bead was only the size of a thumb, but it emitted a blazing, dazzling light that surpassed any fire the Young Clan Leader had ever seen.

Yun Che gently pushed his palm, and the fire bead landed on the Young Clan Leader's right leg. Upon contact, it immediately began to burn, making a "sizzle, sizzle" sound as the dragon fat crackled. The fire spread bit by bit, and everywhere it reached, everything was turned to ash.

"Before you are burned away, we can have a good talk," Yun Che's voice was ice-cold.

"Yun Che... no... no... Yun Zun... Master Yun, don't kill me."

The Young Clan Leader finally realized that the situation might be more severe than his most pessimistic estimates. He hurriedly knelt on the ground, wagging his tail and begging for mercy.

Yun Che directed a sharp gaze at him. The Young Clan Leader saw that Yun Che's eyes were unfathomable, like an endless abyss, with black vortices and torrents flowing within them, accompanied by a chilly and terrifying wind. Instantly, his entire soul sea became a mess of chaos, and his soul trembled in fear. However, in the deepest part of his soul sea, a golden wall rose up spontaneously, surrounding it tightly.

After all, as the Young Clan Leader and a core figure of the Ancestral Dragon Clan, there was powerful restrictive power protecting his deep memories; it was impossible to forcibly break through with soul searching. Yun Che sighed and said:

"Then I will give you a chance to prove that you are more valuable than a dead dragon."

"I have an eighth-level Divine Extreme Realm Dragon Core, three mid-stage Divine Extinction Realm Dragon Cores, several thousand catties of abyss crystals, and dozens of drops of Dragon Saliva Essence. I've collected them all myself; consider them a tribute to Lord Yun Zun."

The Young Clan Leader knelt on the ground and held up a spatial ring to hand to Yun Che.

"Xi'er, you take it!" Yun Che took the ring and threw it to Long Xi, then continued:

"Young Clan Leader, haven't you made a mistake? You are currently in my hands; your ring and your life are both mine. You want to dismiss me with things that already belong to me? How can there be such a good deal in the world!"

Hearing Yun Che call her "Xi'er," the Young Clan Leader knew their relationship was extraordinary. Thinking of the hundreds or even thousands of drops of Long Xi's essence blood he had refined over the years, he knew it wouldn't be easy to escape today without paying a price.

By now, the fire on his right leg had already spread to his thigh, and his manhood was about to be lost. Without time to think, the Young Clan Leader said urgently:

"I know a secret of Emperor Yuan... he won't take everyone back to the Eternal Pure Land; he can't do it. When the passage to the Eternal Pure Land opens next time, he will only take a very few people away. After he leaves, the entire Abyss of Nothingness will vanish and be destroyed."

"Then do you know why he won't take everyone?"

"Because opening that passage requires a great price; it can only be done by gathering the full power of the Pure Land, the Six Great Divine Kingdoms, and our dragon race. Moreover, it only lasts for a very short time, so only a tiny minority can be sent away at once."

"Then why will the entire Abyss of Nothingness be destroyed after he leaves?"

"I don't know, I really don't know."

"Last question, how did you find out?"

"Last year, Emperor Yuan sent a Divine Official to discuss things with my father. I happened to be nearby, so I overheard some of it."

Yun Che carefully analyzed the Young Clan Leader's words, which seemed to verify some of his own guesses. If the passage to the Eternal Pure Land opened again in fifty years, it would likely be a horrific disaster.

"That is indeed a piece of valuable information, but for someone with such a noble status as the Young Clan Leader, do you think it's only worth this much?"

Yun Che said contemptuously:

"How about I give you some hints, like the route map to your dragon race's treasure warehouse?"

A look of despair appeared on the Young Clan Leader's face. He naturally knew the consequences; if the resources and treasures accumulated by the Ancestral Dragon Clan over millions of years were plundered by these two because of him, his father would never forgive him even if he escaped today.

Seeing his hesitant and indecisive manner, Yun Che raised his left hand, revealing a mass of green substance. He held it before the Young Clan Leader and said slowly:

"True dragons do not fear fire; it seems you really are a tough guy. Why not try this Qilong's Breath? I imagine that as the Young Clan Leader of the Ancestral Dragon Clan, you must know a thing or two about this."

With a wave of Yun Che's left hand, the green mass flew into the Young Clan Leader's open mouth.

Soon, the Young Clan Leader felt a strange itching all over his body, as if countless tiny insects were slowly crawling under his skin. As time passed, the itching gradually turned into a stinging pain, as if every cell was being constantly pricked by needles.

Then, he felt countless sharp little knives scraping wantonly within his bone marrow, and every single bone was wailing. He felt as if his body were being placed into a giant grinder, his bones being ruthlessly squeezed and crushed.

A violent stench filled the air; it was the smell of the Young Clan Leader's rotting flesh.

At the same time, there was a thick smell of burning in the air. His remaining sliver of consciousness told him that that important organ was turning into cooked meat, then charcoal, then ash.

The Young Clan Leader finally broke down. Using the last of his strength, he released a white memory fragment from his soul sea, which flew into Yun Che's soul sea with a "whoosh."

Then, as if a weight had been lifted, he looked at Yun Che with a pleading gaze. All he wanted now was a quick end; he no longer dared to hope for his life.

Yun Che reached out his right hand and made a grasping motion in the air. The flames still spreading and burning on the Young Clan Leader's body instantly vanished as if they had never existed. Then, Yun Che placed his right hand on the Young Clan Leader's forehead and, with a pull, the mass of Qilong's Breath poison was sucked out and returned to his hand.

At this point, the Young Clan Leader lay on the ground like a broken mess. His entire right leg was burned away, his chest had completely collapsed until it was as thin as paper, and after being tortured by the Qilong's Breath poison, he was completely exhausted, his breath as thin as a thread.

Yun Che gave Long Xi a look and said, "I'll leave him to you."

Long Xi, who had been watching from the side, could no longer contain herself. she wanted to personally deal with this insatiable dragon dreg who had brought her countless nightmares.

Long Xi looked at the Young Clan Leader on the ground, her eyes devoid of any pity. She pointed her right index finger, and a cold, piercing streak of light entered the Young Clan Leader's chest. The Young Clan Leader felt an extremely cold current begin to flow along his profound veins.

Slowly, his hideous and terrifying expression began to freeze, his limbs grew stiff, and his profound veins, dragon blood, skin, hair, dragon bones, and dragon flesh were all cooling, turning to ice... his entire being became an ice sculpture.

*Bang...*

The ice sculpture shattered, and the air was instantly filled with ice shards that dissolved and vanished...

The arrogant and extravagant Young Clan Leader of the Ancestral Dragon Clan no longer existed in this world.

At this moment, Long Xi's heart was filled with peace. Before Yun Che appeared, she had never imagined that one day she would personally end the Young Clan Leader's life.

She looked indifferently at the small puddle of ice water on the ground; it was the only memento the Young Clan Leader had left in this world.

At that moment, Yun Che walked over, held her delicate body, and said softly:

"It's time for us to collect our debts!"

"What the dragon race owes you, we will make them repay many times over."

...

After speaking, Yun Che took the Ni Yuan Stone out of the sky poison pearl, hung it around his neck, and with a sway of his body, transformed into the appearance of the Young Clan Leader. He smiled at the stunned Long Xi and said, "I'm going out for a bit." He then turned and leapt toward the west gate of Dragon City.

Inside the sky poison pearl, Creator God Li Suo's mind stirred, and she asked:

"Yun Che, are you addicted to role-playing? First it was Meng Jianyuan, then Bai Tong a few days ago, and now the Young Clan Leader?"

Yun Che smiled eerily and replied, "I am merely walking out of the city in the Young Clan Leader's place."