Chapter 1491

"The chief of scaled creatures, able to be hidden or manifest, ascending to heaven at the spring equinox, diving into the abyss at the autumn equinox, the Great River surging, the celestial dragon soaring — this Partial Seal is a Long Dragon traversing the river!" "A Long Dragon traversing the river?"

"Correct. This Partial Seal has two interpretations. One: the dragon here refers to your junior brother; he will surely cross the river and transform into a dragon in the future!"

"Two: the dragon is not your junior brother, but something even more sinister — it is someone else transforming into a dragon, clashing with your junior brother! Only this fits the interpretation of the Partial Seal!" "Hiss..."

"That little Night Rakshasa, his life chart before the martial examination was the Wrathful Night Rakshasa, chasing servants around since childhood... After the martial examination, his life chart changed, yet no improvement was seen. Some days ago, he teamed up with a 'Wei Huo Hu' to stay at the Xu residence for two days, then took a boat south to tour Mount Lu..."

"Hey, Senior Brother, from Old Cui's meaning, passing the martial examination can alter one's life chart?"

"Correct. The matter of life charts is not absolute; you ought to be clear on that, right?"

"I know."

"The imperial court decrees the Ministry of Rites to hold a tribute examination every three years; the martial examination is the same. Divided by age and realm, what draws the world's gaze most are the Twenty-Eight Mansions of Wolf Smoke for those thirty and under — greatest potential; once ranked, one's life changes utterly, naturally affecting one's personal life chart."

"Merely that — not everyone should change, right? Some say it's simply in their fate? Such people are the majority, no?"

"The court deliberately ranks by the Twenty-Eight Mansions, so naturally many methods are employed; heavenly timing and earthly advantage, all have their principles. 'Wrathful Night Rakshasa' turning into 'Patrolling Sea Night Rakshasa' — less wrath, more ferocity, vast abilities, only good, not bad. The court assigned him Ji Shui Bao; there should be some reasoning — he was probably a water-walking night...' 'My life chart is Partial Seal, Owl God Snatching Food; every bloody battle, I can devour three parts blood and qi, strengthen bones three parts...'"

Between heaven and earth, a golden river invisible and intangible to ordinary people surges, roars, backflows and bursts; at the river's end, a magnificent Dragon Gate shines brilliantly. Liang Qu closes his eyes tight, strides into it, his whole body submerged, enduring the scouring of spiritual opportunity; immense pressure makes his bones crackle, muscles tense. In outsiders' eyes, it only looks like Liang Qu walking in the void for no discernible reason.

The vault of heaven is vast and boundless.

A dozen-odd Great Shun and Northern Court Martial Saints surround and watch. This scene is simply like a classroom lesson, the instructor teaching writing above, when suddenly a classmate stands up and improvises a dance, making one involuntarily curl one's toes.

Yet not a single person finds it laughable or awkward.

They cannot see or sense the heaven-earth spiritual opportunity, yet they can clearly, distinctly see that beautiful white dragon winding in the sunlight!

Under heaven, true dragons number three: one Sovereign, two Kings.

Leaving aside the Huaijiang, the Yellow Shahe and Ehe Dragon Kings both exist — where did this Dragon King come from?

If the southern frontier succeeded, how could it be in the Northern Court's Ehe?

Just now I heard Liang Qu call for Eying — could she be Lady Liang? A dragon maiden of the dragon race? But only last year she just pierced heaven and severed earth; this year she knocks open the Heavenly Pass again? Doesn't the dragon species have its own ceiling?

Doubt.

Incomprehension.

Bewilderment!

A single one is already incomprehensible enough; now there is not just one — all manner of strangeness piles up into a massive, unfathomable cognitive gap.

No matter how ridiculous or outrageous Liang Qu's performance, that is their problem, not Liang Qu's.

There must be something they cannot figure out, cannot see clearly — something terrifying — happening!

The White Dragon King stares unblinkingly.

It has no leisure to mind these Martial Saints ignoring rules and rashly coming forward; its entire heart and spirit are on the new white dragon and Liang Qu.

Within the Yellow Shahe, the Old Dragon Sovereign is startled and uncertain.

It cannot quite figure out who the third River Stone is; how come the moment Liang Qu and the White Dragon King meet, a third young dragon appears? Heaven-Man Unity, intuition keen — it faintly feels the third young dragon also has some connection to itself.

Scene after scene of life-chart memories flash back, interweaving into the driving force of Liang Qu's steps forward; he can feel himself advancing, drawing near the direction he yearns for.

The so-called Leaping the Dragon Gate uses the Heavenly Pass Earth Axis method to gather heaven-earth spiritual opportunity, open the Dragon Gate, leap and transform here — from snake to flood dragon, from flood dragon to true dragon! Distinct from Ju Mang's Ascension advancement and condensation.

Ju Mang Ascension of a flood dragon merely makes the flood dragon stronger, realm higher — it can never make a flood dragon shed its form and become a true dragon, its essence turning into another kind of existence. Despite the extreme difficulty, compared to knocking open the Heavenly Pass...

Heaven above, earth below!

Steps firm, breath restrained.

Liang Qu goes against the current, like the golden-red giant carp in the Yellow Shahe, tail thrashing desperately, swiftly closing on the Dragon Gate; the cross-shaped silver War God patterns on his body blaze alight, qi clusters encircling, faintly taking shape, nearly turning him into a winged celestial dragon.

Ehe's cold waters flow, scouring; frost grass snaps, floating on the surface.

The air ripples once, a gentle breeze spreads.

Another figure manifests in the void, joining the onlookers.

"New Wu Sheng — is it a Dragon King?"

Zhang Longxiang feels deeply astonished.

He scans the surroundings — not to mention the whole world, at least the dozen-odd true dragons of Great Shun and Northern Court within tens of thousands of li along the Ehe, all have gathered here, not a single exception.

All are old acquaintances.

A normal true dragon's birth is nothing strange; Martial Saints under heaven number over a hundred — on average, several every few years; add the demon clan, and one or two a year isn't odd. The key is Liang Qu is here.

Liang Qu is at the Ehe, presenting his visiting card, meeting the White Dragon King — and simultaneously a third 'River Stone' appears. What a coincidence, enough to make one want to investigate. Even due to alliance reasons, defenses dropped, and people kept arriving in a steady stream.

"How could it become a true dragon so fast..."

Zhang Longxiang is puzzled. He himself achieved it at forty; Long Eying is merely forty-eight or forty-nine, not yet fifty — a mere ten-year gap, that's all. It inevitably has something to do with Liang Qu. Gazing anew at Liang Qu walking in the high sky, Zhang Longxiang suddenly senses a familiar qi mechanism. "Life chart!?"

Zhang Longxiang trembles, eyes locked dead on Liang Qu whose qi mechanism keeps shifting.

A moment.

Zhang Longxiang gains sudden clarity.

"He's imitating me!"

Zhang Longxiang can be one hundred percent certain. Liang Qu used some method to wildly transform his own life chart while continuously accumulating power onto it — the entire process is exactly the same as the netherworld changes Zhang Longxiang once experienced!

Me doing this was by relying on Owl God Snatching Food, self-cultivating a Position Fruit.

Why Liang Qu? He clearly already...

Wait!

Zhang Longxiang holds his breath, temples throbbing, heart pounding uncontrollably; he realizes a fact, a terrifying fact. Who said a Position Fruit can only be self-cultivated once?

Never before!

From ancient times to now, not a single classic text, not a single master has ever said so.

Third month, spring chill; cold wind blows past — Zhang Longxiang breaks out in goosebumps all over. He looks around at the Martial Saints who don't understand, faces full of bewilderment, feeling an indescribable shock.

"I could self-cultivate because life chart turned into divine ability, divine ability turned into creation; and in a short time I slew nineteen true dragons and one Half-Immortal — such an extreme trait, how could it be achieved merely by life chart transformation? Could it be..."

Zhang Longxiang turns his gaze toward the white dragon digesting true dragon power while simultaneously protecting Liang Qu.

Liang Qu had reasons and a purpose for letting Long Eying advance first!

This is a reserve.

No one else understood at all; Zhang Longxiang saw the first layer, yet still could not see the third layer. He felt that relying solely on a newly advanced Dragon King as a foundation was still not enough.

Frog Duke? Anything else?

Thoughts collided at flying speed.

Zhang Longxiang could not figure it out.

He recalled Liang Qu's fate pattern. Although Liang Qu was a latecomer, and he did not know much about his fate pattern, people often mentioned them in the same breath, so he had heard of it. A long flood dragon walks the river — it should be…

A flying dragon in the heavens!

"Roar!"

A dragon's chant seemed to reverberate in everyone's ears, buzzing and resounding.

They looked at the White Dragon King — it was not the White Dragon King calling. They looked at the new Dragon King — it was not the new Dragon King shouting either. The fifty-two dragon-species great demons on the plaza were even more impossible. They looked up.

Liang Qu!

It was Liang Qu. The dragon chant came from Liang Qu's body!

Sunlight was brilliant, golden light ten thousand zhang high, gilding the human figure with a layer of gorgeous golden radiance.

A clear day, a great clear day.

In the boundless azure, everyone saw in a trance — saw a heavenly dragon with double wings on its back, beating its wings and soaring, standing tall between heaven and earth! "Huai Wang... what is he cultivating? What has he obtained?"

The Martial Saints in the field stared dumbfounded.

Inside the double-winged heavenly dragon's shell, Liang Qu resided at the center.

The White Dragon King's dragon eyes trembled.

Liang Qu tightly closed his eyes. Weight, mass, existence — constantly blurring, constantly vanishing.

In a place invisible to all beings, he stood inside the Dragon Gate, stood inside the spiritual mechanism, stood inside the Dragon Transformation Pool. His whole person rapidly shed and transformed, breaking through spiritual shackles. Qi flowed into dragon form, lifting him up!!

He was indeed imitating Zhang Longxiang.

Observe the methods of predecessors and make them one's own; and establish one's own method.

From his own experience, combined with surrounding cases, Liang Qu understood clearly: so-called self-cultivated position fruits are nothing more than having sufficiently deep foundations — like a thousandfold root sea — combined with extreme traits that constantly transform. Completing this before the third stage gives a chance at tenth-stage transformation.

A long flood dragon walking the river is not like the Owl God seizing food — it cannot achieve qualitative change through quantity of devouring.

But,

Thirteen layers of Yinglong's favor provided this extreme trait of sufficient mass.

The Twenty-Eight Mansions told him fate patterns can be altered.

Two thousand seven hundred times root sea, fifty-two dragon-species, two Dragon Kings' Long Qi, heaven and earth's pure yin spiritual mechanism, heaven's mystery and earth's yellow and human harmony, Frog Duke's blessing... these are all accumulations, until leaping the Dragon Gate, gaining favor, altering fate pattern, borrowing Zhang Longxiang's method, transforming in one morning.

Flowers in brocade clusters, fierce fire cooking oil!

Before coming to the Dragon King Palace to see the White Dragon, it was only to gather dragon-species breath and raise Yinglong's favor. But when the favor reached thirteen layers, the Dragon Gate opened and appeared, combined with Long Eying's final push, he realized — this was an opportunity, a once-in-a-thousand-years, superb opportunity!

Heaven and earth's spiritual mechanism manifested the Dragon Gate; he took it all into his body.

Two thousand seven hundred times root sea as foundation, enough to contain a second self-cultivated position fruit.

He crossed the heaven-and-earth Dragon Gate, walked to the end of the golden river. Spiritually he seemed to grow wings; a shake left and right, and he shook off all shackles. Light.

Like a wisp of clear qi, a wisp of drifting turbid flow.

Goumang to the side — a small cluster of clear wind, suddenly appeared!

It spiraled, circled, expanded. The two thousand seven hundred times root sea dried up in an instant; the vast earth turned sallow. Afterward blue light rippled, welling up from the depths, moistening anew.

The Ze Ding trembled.

【Fei Lian】

【Authority: None】

【Category: Governance】

【Gestating...】

Invisible pressure vanished completely, dispersing into the spring breeze. The Ehe River gradually slowed; drifting ice fragments pressed against each other, gradually refreezing, sealing the water surface once more.

Under the blue sky, the brilliant winged heavenly dragon vanished at some unknown time, leaving no trace — as if sunlight and air had intertwined, briefly creating a rainbow illusion. "Crack."

The ice layer shattered, the sound faint; besides that...

Quiet, quiet to the point of dead silence.

Liang Qu coiled in the high sky, eyes closed digesting — seeming to be there, yet seeming not to be, suspended between existence and non-existence, leaving only a mass of air.

The new Dragon King lay down in the cold ice, turning into an ice egg, likewise cultivating in seclusion.

"Huu..."

"Su Hebalu" stood in the high sky, letting out a long breath. From the moment Liang Qu confessed about the Blood River Realm, he knew Liang Qu was formidable. Arriving at the Northern Court, constantly gathering information, his admiration grew deeper. But none of that compared to the shock of witnessing it in person once!

"Is it over?" Iron Spine King relaxed his breath, scanning the surroundings. "What did Huai Wang do?"

Wolf Lord shook his head.

Darhan King, Eagle-Eye Chuan Zha Na Yan — all were equally baffled.

Zhang Longxiang knew a bit of Northern Court language. Hearing the conversation, he felt an almost pitying sorrow. These people... can't even understand the situation enough to feel despair? Self-cultivated position fruit — a second self-cultivated position fruit!

With a person like this, saying he isn't a furnace — no one would believe it, right?

Wolf Lord took a deep breath: "Regardless, a new Dragon King appearing in heaven and earth is fact. The other party just advanced and needs to seclude to digest. No need to go forward and disturb. Return and inform the Khan King. The Northern Court will naturally prepare gifts. We'll go apologize to the White Dragon King."

Everyone understood.

Entering the Dragon King Palace's range without permission was indeed a breach of etiquette. One by one they landed to apologize.

Afterward the group searched for a while, finally finding Su Guishan standing in a pea thicket in a corner of the Dragon Palace, and had him convey greetings on their behalf.

"Supervisor Su, that new Dragon King... could it be the Huai Wang's consort?" Wolf Lord probed inquiringly.

"This..." Su Guishan thought for a moment. Back then, so many great yaos were present, under the watchful eyes of all, and Liang Qu had even called out at the time; it would have been impossible to conceal. Moreover, given the current situation... there was little necessity to hide it, so he told the truth. "The Wolf Lord's guess is correct; the new Dragon King is precisely the Huai King's Consort." The air fell silent once more.

They looked at each other in dismay.

The Wolf Lord curled the corners of his mouth: "Then... I must trouble Supervisor Su. Besides congratulating the Huai King on his cultivation advancement, please also convey my congratulations to the Huai King on my behalf — the number one yao-dragon couple under heaven, the envy of all. May they share a thousand years of harmony. Afterwards, I will prepare a gift and send it to..."

"Sending it to Pingyang will do. The Huai King has come to Ehe temporarily; most of his time is still spent in Pingyang." Su Guishan immediately added.

"Good, much obliged."

"It is my duty, my duty."

Meteors converged and then burst forth.

The Wolf Lord left. He walked on the void, racing across the vault of heaven. Deep inside, a faint, vague strangeness lingered; he carefully recalled.

The Imperial Capital, the Dragon King Palace...

Why was it that recently, he had watched every single one of Liang Qu's breakthroughs without missing a single session?

Su Guishan was trembling with fear and trepidation, guaranteeing the matter one by one together with the Martial Saints present. After seeing off the group of Heavenly Dragon Empresses, his back was soaked in cold sweat. He immediately turned his thoughts around, musing that Liang Qu had also caught a good time — even the Northern Court Martial Saints had come to deliver gifts.

Two years ago, where would such conditions exist? Upon becoming a Wu Sheng, at most one could collect this share of gift money from Great Shun colleagues. Now it was good — Northern Court and Southern Frontier ones could be collected too. The White Dragon King watched everyone depart, did not make things difficult, and had no mind to make things difficult. It stared dead at the new Dragon King inside the ice.

"Actually managed to do it..."

For the first time, the rivers of the world had a true dragon of the same sex as it!!

March 4th.

In a single day's time, the yao-dragon couple's prestige, accompanied by the Martial Saints who had witnessed it that day, spread outward, stirring ripples.

March 5th.

After Great Shun officials sought out Su Guishan to confirm, they immediately prepared the proclamation matters. Though not yet officially appointed, since she was the Huai King's Consort, she was naturally a legitimate court Wu Sheng.

March 6th.

"Drip."

Fresh blood fell into the bowl, ripples undulating.

Liang Qu slit his palm, releasing fresh blood, letting it sit still in the rooster bowl. Using his former master Yang Dongxiong's method, his finger joints continuously knocked against the black ash on the table. Incense ash enshrined for a thousand years, a series of numerological ritual implements.

These things, because they had existed for too many years and were themselves consumables, even a Zhen Xiang Grandmaster would have to expend some effort to obtain them. But relying on his status, with an order sent down, they could be gathered in a mere hour and delivered before him.

Finger joints knocking at a specific frequency, the black ash continuously trembled. A strange thing happened.

The thinly spread black ash no longer clung to the tabletop, but bit by bit flew up and danced, as if there were wind. Yet the room was clearly sealed shut.

Finally, unlike the former slender planar curve diagrams, the dancing black ash, in dynamic combination, constructed a celestial dragon — a winged celestial dragon. Gazing at the flying dragon, Liang Qu confirmed there was no mistake.

The long jiao having departed, a single leap over the Dragon Gate — the flying dragon is in the heavens!