55: Chapter 55 The Saint King?

The Golden Dragon roared as its massive body took flight. Its dragon claws tore through the air, leaving five black spatial rifts in their wake as they lunged straight for Ye Yuan. The pressure of the Mahayana Stage poured down like a collapsing mountain, causing the surrounding red earth to crumble inch by inch.

Ye Yuan did not move. With his Physical Body at the Nascent Soul Great Perfection, he could withstand a blow from the Soul Transformation Stage, but facing the Mahayana Stage was pure suicide.

Ye Ku moved.

The old man did not even draw his sword. He raised his withered right hand, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and slashed through the air toward the dragon claw that was over a hundred times larger than his entire body.

A gray-white Sword Qi soared into the sky.

There was no earth-shattering sound. The Sword Qi silently sliced through space and the dragon claw, continuing upward to sever one of the Golden Dragon's forelimbs clean off at the root.

Golden dragon blood poured down like a waterfall, splashing onto the red earth and corroding deep pits into the ground.

The Golden Dragon let out a shrill scream as its massive body lost balance and crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.

"A Half-Saint?" On the left, a Golden Dragon coiled around a stone pillar, its vertical pupils shrinking into thin lines. Between the Mahayana Stage and a Half-Saint lay three major Realms: Undergoing Tribulation, Nirvana, and Creation. This was a gap that could not be bridged by sheer numbers.

"Enemy attack—" The Golden Dragon on the left let out a long, high-pitched roar that pierced the clouds and echoed throughout the entire Guixu space.

Deep within the space, powerful Auras began to awaken one after another.

Creation Realm.

Half-Saint.

There was even an extremely obscure and hidden fluctuation that surpassed the scope of a Half-Saint, but it quickly went dormant again upon touching the Law chains at the top of Guixu.

[Warning. A Saint King level energy source has been detected. It is suppressed by the fragmented Heavenly Dao and cannot fully recover.] The System's notification sounded in Gu Sheng's mind.

Gu Sheng set down his teacup. "This Dragon Clan really does have some tricks up its sleeve. They actually managed to have a Saint King survive."

The red earth trembled. Nine even more massive dragons arrived from the horizon, riding on clouds and mist. Each one radiated fluctuations of the Creation Realm Late Stage. Leading them was an old man with purple-gold horns, dressed in magnificent dragon robes. He walked through the air, shrinking the earth to an inch, crossing a hundred miles in the blink of an eye.

A Half-Saint.

The Dragon Clan Grand Elder, Ao Gu.

"A Human Race Half-Saint." Ao Gu stopped in mid-air, looking down at Ye Ku and Ye Yuan. "For hundreds of thousands of years, the Human Race and my Dragon Clan have minded our own business. Why has Your Excellency trespassed into Guixu and harmed my clansmen? What is your intent?"

Ye Yuan looked up, staring directly into Ao Gu's eyes. "I said it before. The Ye Family is short a few mounts to pull our carriages. I think you old dragons are just barely adequate for the job."

"Presumptuous!" The nine Creation Realm dragons roared in unison, their dragon pressure intertwining into a net that pressed down overwhelmingly upon Ye Yuan.

Ye Ku took a step forward, shielding Ye Yuan. His gray hemp clothes fluttered without any wind. The mountain-toppling dragon pressure vanished without a trace the moment it hit Ye Ku, like a clay ox entering the sea.

Ao Gu raised his hand to stop the agitation of the dragons behind him. He stared at the rusty iron sword on Ye Ku's back, a deep sense of wariness flashing in his eyes.

"Your Excellency's Sword Intent is restrained and you are surrounded by Death Qi; you walk the Path of Slaughter," Ao Gu spoke. "But the Heavenly Dao of the Eastern Region is fragmented. How much of your Half-Saint cultivation can you actually exert? The Dragon Clan's foundation is not something you can shake alone."

"You can try."

Ye Ku gripped his sword hilt, and the iron sword left its scabbard by a single inch.

The surrounding space could not withstand this sharp Aura and shattered piece by piece. A visible Void Realm rift spread across the red earth, extending in a straight line to Ao Gu's feet.

Ao Gu's face twitched. This old man was a lunatic. Before the sword was even fully drawn, that suicidal, frenzied killing intent had already locked onto his Primordial Spirit.

[Host, Ye Ku's trait is being extremely powerful in same-rank combat. If a fight truly breaks out, he can drag this old dragon down to death with him. However, your Nascent Soul Stage Clone will be crushed to dust by the aftershocks of the battle.]

Gu Sheng tapped his finger on the edge of the table. "The Dragon Clan has been hiding for so many years; what they fear most is death. They won't dare to gamble."

Inside Guixu.

Ao Gu remained silent for a long time. The Dragon Clan had withdrawn from the world after the ancient catastrophe to preserve their Bloodline and wait for the Golden Great Era to descend. Trading a Half-Saint for an outsider was extremely not worth it. Moreover, the young man calling himself Ye Yuan showed no fear in the face of Half-Saint pressure, meaning there was surely an even more terrifying existence standing behind him.

"Hidden Ye Family," Ao Gu chewed over the name. "Never heard of them in the Central Continent. It's even more impossible for the Eastern Region to nurture a powerhouse like you. Just where do you come from?"

"The world is vast. What would a loach in this tiny corner like you understand?" Ye Yuan stood with his hands behind his back, the blood of his Ancient Desolate Magic Body surging within him, his Aura not losing out in the slightest. "The Ye Family acts only for results. Hand over nine Creation Realm pure-blood true dragons, and I will leave immediately. Otherwise, today, Guixu will run red with blood."

"Arrogant brat!" A hot-tempered red dragon couldn't hold back and opened its mouth to spit out a blast of Nanming Li Fire.

The flames appeared an eerie purple-red, capable of burning even space itself, completely enveloping the spot where Ye Yuan stood.

Ye Ku did not draw his sword; he simply pulled out the scabbard of the rusty iron sword and swung it forward.

The scabbard brought with it a gust of astral wind that split the Nanming Li Fire right down the middle. The red dragon screamed as the scales on half its body were blown away by the wind, leaving it bloodied and exposing white bone.

Ao Gu's face turned grim.

"Grand Elder, fight him! When has our Dragon Clan ever suffered such humiliation!" the red dragon roared as it rolled on the ground.

Ao Gu ignored the red dragon, his gaze fixed on Ye Ku. He could feel that the sleeping Old Ancestor in the deepest part of Guixu had just sent out a ripple of Divine Thought.

"Let them go."

An ancient, weathered voice echoed in Ao Gu's Sea of Consciousness.

Ao Gu's body jolted, and he lowered his head in obedience.

"Nine Creation Realm true dragons is impossible." Ao Gu looked at Ye Yuan, his tone softening. "Among our younger generation, there are three Soul Transformation Great Perfection flood dragons whose true dragon Bloodlines have achieved seventy percent atavism. We can gift them to the Ye Family to consider us friends."

In the Central Continent, Gu Sheng smiled.

"The Dragon Clan is testing us. If we truly push them too far, that Saint King old monster will act even at the cost of being backlashed by the Heavenly Dao. Three atavistic flood dragons will do for now."

Ye Yuan put on a reluctant expression. "Three Soul Transformation Stage? Fine, the Ye Family has just arrived in the Eastern Region and does not wish to cause unnecessary slaughter. Bring those three loaches out."

Ao Gu waved his hand. Before long, three silver-white flood dragons, each a hundred zhang long, were escorted over. The horns on their heads had already fully branched, and a fifth claw was faintly breaking through the skin on their bellies. They were only one step away from becoming true Five-Clawed Golden Dragons.

These three flood dragons had their cultivations suppressed by Dragon Clan secret techniques. At this moment, they were like lambs to the slaughter, crouching on the ground and trembling.

Ye Yuan stepped forward, forced out three drops of essence blood from his Ancient Desolate Magic Body, and flicked them into the foreheads of the three flood dragons.

"The master-servant contracts are complete." Ye Yuan clapped his hands. "Ye Ku, take them. Let's go."

Ye Ku put away his scabbard, grabbed the tails of the three flood dragons with one hand, and turned to walk toward the exit of Guixu. He dragged the three hundred-zhang-long behemoths behind him like dead dogs.

Ao Gu watched their departing figures, his expression so dark it looked like it could drip water.

"Grand Elder, we're just letting them leave like that?" the injured red dragon asked through gritted teeth.

"The Old Ancestor has ordered that before the Great Era arrives, we should not create unnecessary trouble." Ao Gu looked up at the dense Law chains at the top of Guixu. "Hidden Ye Family... Investigate! Send people to the outside world; even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, you must uncover the background of this power."

[Ding. You have altered the hidden trajectory of the Eastern Region's Dragon Clan and plundered the Dragon Clan's Luck. Gained 50,000 destiny points.]

Gu Sheng watched his account balance jump, and his mood improved greatly.

"50,000 points, this trip wasn't a loss."

[Host, you have offended the Dragon Clan to the death. When the Golden Great Era descends and the Heavenly Dao is repaired, the Saint King level old dragon will come out, and the first person he will settle scores with is you.]

"There is still some time before the Great Era descends." Gu Sheng stood up and walked to the window of the Star-Plucking Tower, looking down at the bustling streets of Heavenly Saint City. "By the time he can come out, the Everlasting Gu Family and the Hidden Ye Family will have already trampled this world under their feet."

A knock came from the door.

"Enter."

Su Jiuer pushed the door open and walked in, her figure swaying as she moved behind Gu Sheng. "Pavilion Master, news has come back from the Great Xia Dynasty. For the imperial Secret Realm trial in half a month, the Human Emperor of Great Xia, Xia Ruotian, plans to personally enter the fray."

Gu Sheng turned around.

Xia Ruotian. The strongest Human Emperor in Great Xia's history. Rumored to have already entered the Saint Realm.

"He can't sit still anymore." Gu Sheng picked up his cold tea and drank it in one gulp. "Notify Ji Ruxue that the plan is being moved up. I want to prepare a grand gift for this Human Emperor within the Great Xia Secret Realm."

The winds in the Central Continent were blowing harder and harder. The dragons of the Eastern Region had also entered the game.

This chess game was becoming more and more interesting. The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's intelligence network had already spread out, just waiting for those old fellows who considered themselves chess players to jump into the pits he had dug, one by one. Gu Sheng called up the System panel and locked his gaze on a top-tier Formation Plate in the mall worth 50 million destiny points.

"Xia Ruotian wants to test the Gu Family's foundation. Then let him see what a true dimensional strike looks like." Gu Sheng tapped his finger lightly and completed the exchange.

A streak of light vanished into the Void Realm, heading straight for the Great Xia Imperial City.