Chapter 184: Ao Guang: I Cast One Vote for the Dragon-Transforming Method!

This intra‑clan trial is your last chance; hand over the Dragon-Transforming Method now, and the Dragon Masters can still help you keep the secret hidden.

"Dragon-Transforming Method?" Xing looked at Dan Heng with puzzlement.

"Isn't the Nefarious Dragon you created the proof that the Dragon-Transforming Method succeeded?"

"Hmm, it's said that Dan Feng was greedily obsessed with the Dragon Ancestor's immortal power and created a dragon‑shaped behemoth. That must be what he's referring to," Dan Heng shook his head and sighed, "The heroes of the Celestial Vessel have thus fallen into great sinners."

Bai Lu despised the lofty tone and attitude of the mirage, and gave a light snort: "He thinks the Chi Ming Clan is superior, and that he himself is even more superior within the Chi Ming Clan—as if without his scheming the Chi Ming Clan could not develop at all."

She looked up at Dan Heng: "I suppose Dan Feng didn't tell them the secret of the Dragon-Transforming Method…"

——

Sea‑Bottom Inferno.

"If the Dan Feng of old truly handed the Dragon-Transforming Method to the Dragon Masters, then perhaps the Scale Abyss Realm would now be filled with Nefarious Dragon silhouettes."

Ao Run gave a faint smile; although she didn't know much about the Chi Ming Dragon Masters, just from this one mirage she could vaguely glimpse the Chi Ming Clan elders' attitude toward the Dragon-Transforming Method.

What they reject is Dan Feng, not the Dragon-Transforming Method itself.

"Ha, a Nefarious Dragon is just a Nefarious Dragon. Compared with the Chi Ming Clan's very survival, what's the difference whether it's one… even if several appear, what does it matter?" Ao Shun gave a cold smile, looked up at Ao Guang perched on the towering stone pillar, "Big brother, don't you agree?"

"..."

Ao Guang remained silent for a long while, then slowly spoke: "…Indeed, nothing is more important than the continuation of our clan. If I were that Dragon Sovereign, I would choose the same course."

His status in his own people was comparable to that of the former Dragon Sovereign, and Ao Guang deeply understood the heavy weight on his shoulders…

What they bear is not merely a personal future, but the future of an entire race. Compared with a single failed attempt, a distant, destined bleak future is what he finds hardest to accept.

"But I recall that on the Celestial Vessel there was an order forbidding such research, right?" Ao Qin stuck his head out and asked, "Since the matter is serious, shouldn't we report it to the General before proceeding?"

"…Heh, report?" Ao Shun glanced coldly at his younger brother, "If you're going to do it, why bother reporting? If the General forbids it, will you just stop?"

"This…" Ao Qin was momentarily at a loss, his head sinking back in embarrassment.

——

Along the way the group eliminated a few more assassins, and soon encountered a female‑voiced mirage.

The mirage was the former Dan Master of the Celestial Vessel, quite familiar with Bai Lu; its vivid tone and demeanor made Bai Lu think several times that she was coming to seize her and take her back.

However, after sensing the Dragon Sovereign aura within Dan Heng, he, like the previous mirage, mistakenly identified him as Dan Feng.

Facing "Dan Feng," the mirage exclaimed excitedly: "Lord Dan Feng, I finally understand your well‑intended purpose; that little girl is the key to the Dragon-Transforming Method! My research has made significant progress!"

"Lord Dan Feng, your alteration of the Dragon-Transforming Method certainly created the rampaging Nefarious Dragons, but it also birthed an entirely new life! This is the hope for the Chi Ming Clan's renewed propagation!"

"Allow the Chi Ming Clan to propagate again?" Xing frowned slightly, realizing the matter was far from simple.

"In the past my notion of 'propagation' was limited by mortal imagination—how narrow! The Chi Ming Clan's propagation need not rely solely on the clan's own bloodline…"

"Extracting the potential of dragon blood and incorporating other races into the dragon‑blood lineage—that is precisely the purpose of the Dragon-Transforming Method, isn't it?" the mirage's voice rose a few notes, "The Dragon Masters are short‑sighted, unable to see your innate talent, yet they still wish to appoint another Dragon Sovereign—how utterly foolish."

——

New Aili City, Sky Sixth Division.

"Incorporating other races into the Chi Ming as well?" Qian Yu Youzhen widened his eyes in surprise, "That Dragon Sovereign really is… uh, how to put it? forging a new path?"

"…It should be said he's audacious to the extreme, right?" Yue Cheng Liu's eyes dimmed, "The emergence of the Nefarious Dragon must have completely exceeded Dan Feng's expectations… In his plan, the Dragon-Transforming Method should have produced an ordinary dragon, not a wildly destructive Nefarious Dragon. Some link must have gone wrong, giving rise to the 'Moon‑Drinking Chaos.'"

"Even he himself cannot pinpoint where the altered Dragon-Transforming Method went wrong… hence his reluctance to hand it to the Dragon Masters, right?"

"Sister Liu, Dan Feng has already caused the 'Moon‑Drinking Chaos', do you still consider him a qualified Dragon Sovereign?" Qian Yu Youzhen asked.

"Heh, Youzhen… I'm merely a regular clerk of the Sky Department; you ask me to judge a Dragon Sovereign of the universe?" Yue Cheng Liu gave a faint smile, adjusted the bridge of his glasses, "I have no such authority… but if you insist on knowing, my answer is unequivocally yes."

"…Even if he ultimately brings about a catastrophe, it does not diminish his greatness at all."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"…He is not only a Dragon Sovereign, but also one of the Five Cloud Heroes. To be on par with General Jing Yuan… I suppose those five originally achieved remarkable feats to become legends of the past, right?"

"Only now I am still not entirely sure… namely, who Dan Feng actually used the Dragon-Transforming Method on back then," Yue Cheng Liu mused, "The only person I can think of is that fox‑person aviator who appears in General Jing Yuan's memory, mentioned once, and is also one of the Five Cloud Heroes."

"Earlier I wasn't certain, but seeing the extremely high mortality among the Sky‑riding aviators, I think… the target of the Dragon-Transforming Method was most likely that individual."

——

The few continued onward and, around a corner, encountered a young female‑voiced mirage.

Sensing Bai Lu's aura, she appeared very flustered: "Miss Bai Lu, why are you in my prescription? Have you already learned of the Medicine King's affairs… come to charge me with a crime?"

The mirage, as if severely provoked, shouted hysterically: "I never believed in any Dragon Sovereign from the start! You have no right to question my crimes!"

"Especially you, Miss Bai Lu, you lack the Dragon Sovereign's power to command wind and rain; on what basis do I trust you can do better than Lord Dan Feng?"

"Whether Dragon Masters or clan members, they all think the Dragon Sovereign is the Chi Ming Clan's sole salvation, but that's just lofty talk, utterly impractical! Have you ever seen what the Cihui Medicine King can achieve?"

"Restoring the ability to propagate," Xing interjected suddenly.

"Exactly!" the mirage said devoutly, "The Cihui Medicine King will surely help us spread our branches; what the Dragon Sovereign cannot do, the Medicine King can!"

"One day you will realize that I am the right one!"