Chapter 1130: I Know Everything, Why Don't You Understand Yet? (6k)

The blood ape hangs inverted; the great dragon lies prone.

One gazes upside-down, the other right-side-up; as they rotate, they meet.

"Gulp!"

His Adam's apple bobs, every hair stands on end, golden pupils tremble, almost unable to focus.

Clinging to the 【Pillar that Props Up the Heavens】.

Ape arms hook and curve, silently exerting force.

Liang Qu's five fingers grip tight, pulling his upper body bit by bit back into the black hole, as if staying in a small space could bring a more ample sense of security.

This cavern that has absorbed massive amounts of Blood River water, from top to bottom, save for light at both ends, is flat and pitch-black in the middle, like a slender water pipe; it happens to be that plumber who jumps into pipes, wears blue overalls, and sports a big mustache.

Liang Qu stares at this pitch-black world for a long time.

His mind thinks of nothing.

The shock received is too great, blank like a sheet of drawing paper, the paper coated with a layer of oil film — paint brushed on turns into little rolling beads that fall away.

Unknown how long.

The blood ape releases its arms again, reaches out anew.

A quick sweep of the eye, then rapidly retracts.

Just like that.

Repeated three times, probing in and out.

The oil film is slowly peeled away, leaving rough white paper; the roughness catches the pigment, beginning to paint on the white paper.

Stagnant thoughts start turning again.

A dragon?

Truly a dragon?

Heart pounding *peng peng*.

Liang Qu doesn't believe anyone would be so bored as to craft a lifelike fake model and place it here for solitary appreciation, nor would they pay a huge price to set up a Dragon King's Lair, making it impossible for everyone, even Martial Saints, to enter by normal means to view their model.

Even the Frog King knows to make the bottle holding the ship a glass bottle, for convenient viewing.

A fierce, deep inhalation.

Liang Qu hangs inverted once more, pokes his head out inverted, carefully observing this world.

Bright, bloody red.

On the ground, a boundless sea of blood; in the sky, limitless clouds of blood.

Alone in the middle, a long dragon lies prone.

The dragon is half bone, half flesh, and the decay is not top-to-bottom, not from the edges gradually rotting inward, but "left-right".

The left half is bleached white bone, the right half flesh intact, the dividing line extremely clear; ignoring the left, the right is almost indistinguishable from a living creature!

The distance between the blood sea and blood clouds is extremely small, at least so under the dragon's foil.

The blood sea merely submerges one-third of the dragon's body; the blood clouds likewise are not much higher, less than half the dragon's thickness in height, causing heaven and earth to appear extremely cramped, making one subconsciously feel discomfort, as if entering a pigeon cage.

Which dragon is this?

A Wu Dragon?

A True Dragon?

The Huaijiang has two dragons.

The Mirage Dragon contended with Great Li, fell over ten thousand years ago; its remnant soul now transformed into the island spirit of Immortal Island.

If this is the final burial ground of the Mirage Dragon's corporeal body, matters would be reasonable; after all, having achieved Demon Emperor, ten thousand years without decay is simplicity itself.

The True Dragon, however, has been a hundred years — no, one hundred and ten years — without a trace, whereabouts unknown.

Combined with what Fei Taiyu and the other said earlier, there was no Position Fruit in the Jianghuai River; most likely it was taken by the Heavenly Fire Sect, not returned to heaven and earth to recycle; even the Position Fruit was lost, the True Dragon probably fared no better; that the Dragon Lord's corpse is here also makes sense.

Either way there is an explanation.

Liang Qu subconsciously looks toward the top of the dragon's head, wanting to discern its identity,

Not looking would be fine; one look and his brain turns even more immobile, thoroughly baffled.

The left white-bone half has no dragon horns, the skull clean and bare — should belong to a Wu Dragon. The right fleshy half also has no dragon horns, but there is a severed flesh stump! Like a tree stump left from felling a tree; judging from this point, it should belong to one that had horns.

The little Wu Dragon yearned for dragon horns, and combined with historical records, sufficient to prove the Wu Dragon clan is hornless.

Are a True Dragon's horns purely a product of flesh and blood? Not a trace of bone? Otherwise why is there not the slightest trace on the left half's bones? The right side conveniently has a stump.

"Unreasonable."

Liang Qu scratches his head.

Could it be the right side's stump-like lump is not a horn remnant, but something else?

However, the right side's neck has no hair — this too is one of the True Dragon's characteristics.

The Mirage Dragon has no horns, but a male-lion-like mane at the neck.

The True Dragon has horns, but no mane at the neck.

The two are vastly different.

Precisely because of this, Liang Qu once suspected the Mirage Dragon was actually like the Jiao Dragon — a later arrival that occupied the Huaijiang, obtained the Water Lord Position Fruit, metamorphosed into a Wu Dragon; from beginning to end, only the old Dragon Lord was heaven-born and heaven-raised, thus fully conforming to True Dragon form.

"Shrimp-crab electric hair, Qi gathers mirage towers; the mirage originates from pheasant transformation, comes from hills" — in short, the mirage is a giant clam transformed from a pheasant entering the sea.

Of course.

This is a conjecture; Liang Qu cannot directly ask the Mirage Dragon — what if the other party dislikes discussing their origins? Like some big shots who love to boast, adding legendary color to themselves, equally there are big shots who dislike mentioning their past down-and-out days, like tearing off a scab.

Now the left side matches the Mirage Dragon's situation, the right side matches the True Dragon's situation, a living, breathing pieced-together "fabricated thing".

Right.

Is there any Dragon Clan Qi aura here?

Communicate with Ze Ding.

【Consuming six strands of dragon seed breath can produce one Yinglong pattern.】

【Dragon seed breath: five】

?

Really, I've run into something weird.

Dragon people, dragon sturgeons, and dragon turtles all exist.

How come I ran into the main one without any dragon seed breath?

Hanging upside down at the pipe outlet, Liang Qu scratched his ears and cheeks, racking his brains but unable to figure it out.

Empty thoughts are useless.

Zhang Wang stared for a long time.

Between heaven and earth, there was no stirring of wind and clouds, so Liang Qu decided to explore further. He activated the 【Vortex Palace】, turning into a water dragon—one end coiled around his waist, the other wrapped around the 【Heaven-Supporting Pillar】, a long, thick tail-like form, lowering himself from midair.

Arriving above the Silent Blood Sea, he clearly saw his own reflection—a strange fish.

He extended his index finger, touching it carefully.

Whoosh!

The "tail" coiled back, quickly retracting into the "pipe."

Golden eyes fixed intently on the ripples until they calmed, and the world fell silent.

It's fine.

He came out from the "pipe."

After poking it, he touched it again.

Still nothing.

The last monkey fishing for the moon.

He directly used his palm to scoop up bloody water, stirring up ripples much larger than before.

Wind calm, waves still.

As the probing amplitude grew larger, Liang Qu's movements became more obvious. Finally, both feet stepped into the Blood Sea, sinking bit by bit to his waist, discovering that even his neck hadn't touched bottom.

What a huge dragon.

No reference for distance, no objects to gauge by, and in the Blood Sea he couldn't spread his perception to manipulate water flow. Liang Qu had thought the Blood Sea wasn't deep, but who would've thought he couldn't touch bottom at all. In the end, he used 【Vortex Water】, turning himself into a "probe" and probing downward—yet after three zhang, resistance increased, and at five zhang he couldn't move at all.

"Let's go check the dragon corpse—"

After repeatedly confirming his own safety, Liang Qu extended his "tail" all the way toward the great dragon. Who would've thought that as soon as he stretched it out, it extended for dozens of li, far beyond his control range—truly a "gazing at the dragon until the monkey drops dead." He planted a 【Heaven-Supporting Pillar】 in place, stood upon the 【Heaven-Supporting Pillar】,

and switched the "tail" to a new pivot, continuing to extend forward.

The second "tail" finally reached the great dragon.

"Strange."

Liang Qu looked up, feeling that the great dragon's head alone stood tall from heaven to earth, over a thousand zhang high.

A thousand zhang equals three kilometers—enough to look down upon the cloud layers.

Just getting close is enough to inspire fear.

It is three zhang tall.

The dragon's head is a thousand zhang.

This ratio is like a 1.8-meter person encountering five millimeters—like a grain of rice stuck on a fingertip.

If we count the dragon's body, it would have to shrink to the diameter of a hair.

"Can a mirage dragon and a true dragon really differ this much?"

Liang Qu turned around and looked back, deeply expressing his doubt.

If the head alone reaches a thousand zhang in height, what about the body?

Dragons and snakes alike are known for their striking length proportions. If the ratio is one to one hundred, that would be ten thousand zhang, three hundred thousand meters, six hundred li—about the north-south distance of a small province in later times. This ratio, dwelling in the Jianghuai region, is comparable to a goldfish and a fish tank—and not even a large fish tank.

"If it's a mirage dragon, then it makes sense."

Liang Qu recalled the mirage dragon's talent, 【Illusion to Reality】, which can greatly inflate oneself.

The world's silence is somewhat terrifying.

Circling the dragon's body once.

Just like probing the Blood Sea, he first poked to see if there was a reaction. No reaction, so he gradually increased his movements, kicking with both feet.

Finally. —

"A Ming."

Liang Qu pried open his snow-white canine teeth, bit down hard on the exposed red meat where white bone and flesh met—no dragon scale covering—used force to pull and tear, chewing the legendary true dragon's innate nourishment, which is just like the treasure fish—very likely it is the treasure fish! If so, then it is a top-tier treasure of the world,

unmatched, this must contain how much water and marsh essence—meat delivered right before his eyes, with no reason not to try!

Furthermore, something this big can't be taken away—besides eating, there's nothing else to do with it.

"Mmm, this meat is so old!"

Liang Qu muttered while chewing.

Grandma's.

Can't bite through!

So old and tough.

A blood ape sat on the dragon's body, shaking its buttocks. It bit a chunk of meat, used both hands and feet to brace, pulled hard with all strength—the whole chunk deformed like a rubber band, neck sore, teeth nearly pulled out. Besides being able to lick saliva, the dragon meat simply wouldn't come off the dragon's body.

"What are you doing?"

Smack!

Opening his mouth, loosening his fangs, Liang Qu wiped the saliva left on himself clean with the back of his hand: "A bit dirty, spit some saliva to wipe it off.."

Desire!

The blood sea parts, great waves soar!

The "tail" pulled taut, swiftly yanking the blood ape back, wind racing, lightning flashing.

Stepping onto the 【Supporting Heaven Pillar】, Liang Qu grabbed the 【Vortex Water】, repeating the old trick, he retreated backward again, rapidly shrinking back to the pipe mouth, hands alternating, feet pushing off the ground, pushing and grabbing, ape climbing trees, he fled upward desperately.

Going down takes seven days, coming up doesn't take seven quarter-hours.

The blood tide receded, all was calm.

"Hoo, hoo——."

The chest expanded, violently rising and falling.

Executing 【Water Stride for a Thousand Miles】, he fled madly, not knowing how far he'd run, Liang Qu clung tightly to the riverbed reef, drenched in sweat, silently merging into the blood river.

Quietly waited for half an hour.

The blood river flowed, fish schools swam around, clouds rolled and unfolded.

Nothing happened.

Didn't they come after me?

Observing the surroundings, cautiously peeking out, seeing no one around, Liang Qu surfaced, not even knowing where he'd ended up, in the blood river realm there is no sun, light just shines down from the sky, aside from a special compass, there's no way to tell east, south, west, north.

Spent half a day calmly thinking, searching for a village to re-establish bearings.

Liang Qu had just calmed his emotions.

"Who is that?"

Inside the Dragon King's Cave, spirit highly tense, a voice suddenly popped out, scaring him so much his soul nearly fled, panicking without choosing a path, he just kept running outward.

Calmed down.

Six Heyi came without warning, the Eye Recognition Method had no needle prick.

No hostility?

If the True Forge were to make a move, I couldn't escape, at the very least there shouldn't be zero resistance.

As long as there's no hostility, that means communication is possible.

But could it be a trap within a trap? The other side's strength lacking, deliberately scaring me off first, then making other preparations, just waiting for it to be unwilling to abandon its dragon body, to walk into the net—

Thinking back and forth.

Liang Qu clenched his fists.

"Still have to go back!"

The wise decide and cut; the doubtful, matters harm them.

Wu Lingxu and Fei Taiyu said to let it raise the elder rank, this would have to wait until the year of the monkey and month of the horse?

Six-realm powerhouses are immortal, the other realms' lifespans are all extended, causing work and promotion conditions to be similarly greatly extended, in the last fifty years, no one has succeeded in promotion!

That damn thing just gave a Protector of Horses position to waste time dragging on!

As for achieving merit.

The Heaven Fire Sect occupies the blood river realm, fundamentally no external enemies, let alone competitors, how to achieve merit, help fight the mortal world? Wait until some top-tier sect causes rebellion, then go suppress it? Such good things are reserved for the old-timers, a complete dead cycle.

From second-rank elder to first-rank elder, then to grand elder, and finally to core elder, a full three promotions, ghost knows which level qualifies to know the "truth", really giving the Heaven Fire Sect several hundred years of labor!

"Anyone there? Beep beep!"

The next day, confirming no one around, Liang Qu lay at the Dragon King's Cave mouth, shouting into the cave, throwing two stones.

No response.

"Can't you hear?"

The "water pipe" is 108,000 miles, it also has a devouring attribute, not hearing is actually normal.

After thinking it over, Liang Qu still mustered his courage, stepping on the 【Supporting Heaven Pillar】, slowly descending.

This time no need to alternate hands and feet, speed much faster, just half a day, Liang Qu successfully descended to the pipe mouth, hanging upside down, probing out half his body.

"Senior! Beep beep! Senior there!? Last time unprepared, this time I brought you a towel and clean water!"

"I thought it was the pot base and dipping sauce."

The voice sounded again.

"How could it be, senior is humorous." Liang Qu raised the towel in his hand, gave a dry laugh twice, quickly realized something was wrong.

Pot base, dipping sauce?

Although I invented hot pot before, the mortal world similarly had hot pot, called "ancient broth", named for the "gurgle" sound when food hits boiling water, even mandarin duck pots have it, the "five-cooked cauldron", a copper pot divided into five compartments, boiling different foods to prevent flavor mixing.

But now not saying anything else, this clearly points to it, he absolutely does not believe it's a coincidence!

The blood river realm has no hot pot, the other side Liang Qu broke into sweat, scanning around, found no trace of the other party, the voice seemed to come from empty space.

"Senior, do you know about the mortal world?"

"I know everything, you turned from human to white ape, breaking norms, deceiving the flood dragon, eating well from both ends. Then turned from human to neither fish nor snake, shuttling between yin and yang realms, whoever deceives the Heaven Fire Sect, same, eating well from both ends, truly one move fresh eating all under heaven, yet the mortal world cannot let humans become demons, the yin realm cannot return to the mortal world, fooling everyone in the world."

This Liang Qu sweat poured madly, red fur stuck to his body, he opened his mouth, completely not knowing what to say.

Before coming, all his prepared words were blocked at his throat.

Damn it.

What's the situation?

It had a mind to escape, but now the leverage is all in human hands.

"Wanting to run again."

"Don't dare."

"Yesterday you ran so fast, like a sky-leaping monkey, that thing is called that, right?"

"Senior likes it, I'll bring you some fireworks another day."

Ah—··

A long sigh.

The sea of blood surged with waves.

In the water, ripples flashed and scattered into countless streams of light, which clung to the surface and gathered from all directions, forming a dragon-shaped shadow,

appearing directly beneath Liang Qu.

"How do you think you got in here?"

Liang Qu thought for a moment, then shook his head.

The dragon shadow flickered.

"If you know, just say it."

Liang Qu scratched his head: "I heard my wife say that back then, on the vast marshes of Huaijiang, the Old Dragon Lord built a super-large island of over a million mu,

to house semi-aquatic beasts, with no support underneath, yet the island floated on the water without sinking, and even the Dragon King's lair was inaccessible to birds—was this your deliberate setup? So only this method could get one in."

"You're indeed clever. Without this divine ability, entering the Dragon King's Lair would exile you to the void, where you couldn't see me, and this ability is possessed solely by the Water Lord."

"You want to see me?"

"Originally, I wanted to see not you, but my successor, but the Great Li sealed the position of Huaijiang in this realm, preventing return to heaven and earth, leaving no hope—yet who would have thought an 'outsider' like you would appear, and by such a strange coincidence, having died once."

Outsider?

???

Liang Qu's pores tightened all over, and a nameless fear surged in his heart.

No, just how much do you know, you old hag?

"You still don't understand?"

What should I understand?

Liang Qu fell silent.

He dared not speak or act now, as if he were completely naked, standing bare before you.

"Hahaha, Monkey Head, put your wildly jumping heart into your belly! Besides me, no one in the current world will know—not even the Martial Immortal or the Demon Emperor? —and as for what you should understand, you'll naturally know in time."

Liang Qu was nearly driven mad.

None of them can.

How did you know?

Are you a dragon or not? Tell me, are you a dragon or not!

"Are you asking me how I know?"

I'm not, I don't have it, stop talking nonsense.

"Because I am half-dead, half-alive, and in this world, no one else like me can simultaneously observe the existence of both the yang and yin realms, nor would anyone else like me master the Water Lord's position and sense that you are favored by Huaijiang, transformed from human to ape, as I have observed you with my gaze for years, only now understanding what is truly happening."

Liang Qu gradually calmed down.

Half-dead, half-alive?

Observed all along?

Because I am favored?

And since the other party is the Dragon Lord, with authority, so they could sense my transformation into a Bai Yuan?

Also, due to some unknown reason, I ended up in this Dragon King's Lair, so I could cast my gaze?

Listening to this, it seems, perhaps indeed the only one in the current world?

He silently recalled his first reception of favor—it was the first river god festival in winter, when the Frog King pounced on the great demon Red Fire Bird, causing panic among the people of Yixing City at the time; that river god festival was also Liang Qu's first confrontation with mountain ghosts, facing the Guimu Sect head-on.

So early—

So, basically, the Old Dragon Lord knows everything?

Liang Qu felt a bit like giving up, yet his courage grew somewhat, and he gradually understood the current situation.

The other party should need him.

"Senior, are you the Old Dragon Lord?"

"It's me, your beautiful, big-breasted, long-legged, small-footed, round-butted perfect wife is my creation."

Was this also observed?

Wait.

Everything can be observed, he and Eying during their bridal chamber—

"I am a dragon; human women, no matter how beautiful, will not stir my heart—I see them only as boring. Would you deliberately follow your household's green dragon to sniff a bitch's rear?"

That's not necessarily true; it's actually quite interesting.

Wait.

Do you have heart-reading ability!

"I don't have heart-reading ability."

"Hmph, you damned monkey should thank me—without my blood, there would be no woman in the current world who is five feet seven inches tall, with small feet and a graceful figure? Only the Huaijiang Dragon Maiden, even counting masters, cannot be found a second in the world under heaven. Oh, right—if not for the Dragon Maiden, if there were a bloodline defect, you wouldn't have any connection with me."

".. —" Liang Qu's expression twisted for a moment, "Thank you, Senior!"

"Hmm, you do understand etiquette."

You're old, you give me my wife, you have a point.

Liang Qu took a deep breath: "Senior, since you are the Old Dragon Lord, why is this dragon body half-hornless?"

"Don't you feel this dragon body looks pieced together?"

Liang Qu frowned, then turned back to look: "It does have a few parts."

"Half of the white bones on the left are from the Mirage Dragon, and half on the right are mine."

Damn!

No wonder they don't match—one half has horns, the other doesn't.

Really pieced together a dragon.

Damn it!

The founding emperor of Great Liang is even more terrifying—alive, he fought the Mirage Dragon; dead, he fights the true dragon?

During the Great Liang dynasty, humanity as a whole was inferior to the demon race; being able to oppose the Mirage Dragon was already extraordinary.

Liang Qu rapidly brainstormed, trying to gather more information.

"Senior, why do you say you're half-alive, half-dead? Why are you in that state?"

"I broke through the netherworld but didn't return to the mortal realm, exhausted all my strength, and naturally became half-alive, half-dead."

Liang Qu froze: "Is the Dragon King's Lair truly a rift in the world?"

"A hemorrhoid on the world."

"......"

Liang Qu struggled to recall.

At that time, when I thought that, did I mutter it aloud?

This isn't just walls having ears—it's dimensions having ears!

"Indeed, it is a rift in the world, a rift that bestowed the strange sight of birds unable to fly, fish unable to swim, feathers unable to float. I went along with the situation, shaping it into its current form. Great Liang likewise went along with it, trapping my exhausted self in this layer to refine and nourish, to mend heaven and earth, to support heaven and earth, just like the Mirage Dragon."

Liang Qu was greatly shaken, but he still had one crucial point.

"You said only you can observe the mortal realm, so the founding emperor of Great Liang couldn't even observe it—he should have been unable to act upon things in the mortal realm, right? You're perfectly fine, so why—" Liang Qu's mind scrambled for words, "why have you fallen to this state?"

"I was deceived."

"Who?"

Silence.

A moment later.

"The Whale King."