Chapter 130: Descending Upon Tiandu

Two days later, another piece of news reached Tian He Gong.

Yet what came was not the good news of the true dragon being captured alive, but the bad news that the commander Zhou Renyi had been killed, the army of one hundred and fifty thousand had collapsed, fewer than eighty thousand remained, and that evil dragon was heading straight for Tiandu.

For a time, the entire court fell silent, filled with an oppressive low pressure, yet no one dared to speak first, fearing they would be taken out on by the man with a face black as coal sitting on the dragon throne.

Everyone knew that the commander of the one hundred and fifty thousand troops, Zhou Renyi, and the current emperor were half-brothers born of the same father, but the ministers in the hall only knew half the story.

In truth, they were full brothers born of the same father and mother; as for the inside story, that was the filth of the imperial household back then, and the only one alive who knew this truth was Zhou Tianzi.

Otherwise, in the eyes of the public, capturing a true dragon alive, commanding an army of one hundred and fifty thousand and countless great sect experts—such a glorious deed worthy of being recorded in the history of Great Zhou—how could it fall to a mere lord of Youzhou like Zhou Renyi?

At this moment, Zhou Tianzi's face was dark, his pupils faintly reddened, but years of imperial cultivation kept him from bursting out on the spot; he, who had held great power and done as he pleased for so many years, felt for the first time such stifling fury.

A mere beast—how, how dare it?!!!

Now his own blood brother was dead—how was he to explain this to his mother consort in the netherworld?

An army of one hundred and fifty thousand martial artists, and even Renqing, whom he had raised since childhood, had died alongside them—none of it could save his brother.

All useless!!!

For a moment, Zhou Tianzi was both furious and enraged.

Furious that the army of one hundred and fifty thousand was like a herd of swine, so many soldiers unable to protect their commander, and furious that the beast dared commit such an atrocity; had he known, he should have sent an entire province's army more back then.

The blood debt of his brother's murder—he would remember it today!

The day that evil dragon comes to Tiandu will be the day it is stripped of its scales and its tendons pulled out!

Thinking this, he stood up directly, ignoring everyone without a word, and left the court to return to his palace.

Along the way, with a dark face, he ignored everything around him and headed straight for his private sleeping quarters.

Upon returning to his sleeping quarters, with only himself remaining, he finally took off his black robe with white-gold embroidery, and twisted an oil lamp beside him.

Immediately, amid a faint sound of mechanisms turning, a hidden secret door opened.

It was hard to imagine that the true ruler of all Great Zhou, an existence who could be called the master of the world, would still set up a hidden secret door and chamber in his own sleeping quarters—such a thing was inconceivable.

But at this moment, Zhou Tianzi paid no heed to what others would consider superfluous; he silently walked into the secret door.

The space within the secret door was very empty, with only a blood pool in the center; near the blood pool sat a brilliant Crystal, about the size of a human head, and near the entrance was a bookshelf, on which sat only a brocade box.

Zhou Tianzi familiarly opened the brocade box on the bookshelf, carefully took out a plain ancient book from within, and then walked into the blood pool.

He simply leaned against the wall of the blood pool, holding the ancient book and quietly studying it; on the cover of the ancient book, a few ancient characters seemed faintly visible: The Autobiography of Zhou Gaozu.

As Time passed, the Crystal grew ever more brilliant; suddenly a faint "plop" sounded in the air, the Crystal disappeared, and in the turbid blood pool, something seemed to be swimming around the man reading.

The blood pool gradually began to clear.

……

Time flew by; in the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.

After receiving the news that the true dragon was about to attack, the entire Tiandu became quite bustling.

Some, afraid of being caught up in it, sold off their property and fled with their families; some, unable to flee, could only endure; and some, not afraid of death and finding things too dull, rushed over to watch the excitement.

A dragon unseen for a thousand years—even a fool like a street beggar knew this would be an earth-shattering event; how could such an event not pique curiosity?

And under such circumstances, storytellers in various teahouses seized the opportunity to spin all sorts of wild tales, drawing heated discussion from the crowd, making it seem a matter in which the whole populace took part.

For a time, even the news that the lord of Zhangtian Mansion, the current Great Zhou's Guardian Duke, had passed away was overshadowed, with few paying attention.

Until half a month later, after such a long time, the true dragon that had piqued everyone's curiosity still had not appeared, and people began to doubt it.

The matter was probably false; people stopped discussing it, and the few who still brought it up were those who felt deceived, cursing the dragon a few times.

But regarding this matter, the second young master of the Wu Family of Tiandu did not see it that way.

Having grown up in Tiandu, a place that longed most for creatures like dragons, and because he had no talent for martial arts and could only be an ordinary person, influenced by his surroundings, he had come to inexplicably love creatures like dragons.

The dragon—a mysterious creature bearing titles such as "King of Strange Beasts," "standing at the pinnacle of all Strange Beasts," "an eternal and undying deity."

Such a great and beautiful creature seemed, by nature, to have nothing to do with a fool like him who lacked martial talent.

Yet he yearned for it so, as if doing so might grant him strength and confidence.

Now, upon hearing the news that had swept all of Tiandu—"the true dragon is about to descend"—he was the most excited of all.

So excited that he ran outside the mansion every day, specifically frequenting places like teahouses favored by people of all walks of life to listen to storytellers tell tales of the dragon, and when he heard an exciting part, he tipped lavishly.

But as time passed, the dragon did not arrive, and its popularity among the people gradually faded; no one discussed it anymore.

Some even suspected this was yet another fabricated event, made up by certain people with ulterior motives.

The more malicious even cursed, "The dragon is nothing special—at the mere mention of Great Zhou's Tiandu, it was so scared it pissed itself and didn't dare come," and other insults toward the dragon.

This left him both angry and furious, yet unable to find a rebuttal, because he knew the emperor's brother had been killed, and now the emperor hated dragons.

This kind of talk was probably spread by the emperor specifically to slander the dragon, but he didn't dare say so, and could only eat to drown his sorrows.

"Sigh~~" he silently let out a breath; the second young master of the Wu Family, Wu Ming, once again walked out of the teahouse helplessly; too much Time had passed, and no storyteller was telling tales of the dragon anymore.

"Oh, isn't this the second young master of the Wu Family?"

At this moment, a playful voice came from afar; a young master dressed in finery, with two attendants, sauntered over in a cavalier manner.

He crossed his arms, looked at the little fatty before him with a smile, and said, "What, here to look for your dragon again?"

"I told you, it's fake; even if it's real, it's just a gutless fat dragon."

"Just like you, so fat!"

"You!" Suffering this insult—not only an insult to him, but to the dragon he loved most—Wu Ming flushed red with anger and wanted to roll up his sleeves and fight.

But looking at the two burly figures behind the man, he couldn't help but pause, thinking he had been careless; he hadn't brought any attendants out today.

In the end, he could only point at him and stammer, "Wang Gaowen, y-you, don't go too far!"

"Oh, how am I going too far? Isn't what I said the truth?"

Watching the frustrated look on the little fatty before him, Wang Gaowen, his sworn enemy, felt a secret thrill; he loved the feeling of others being angry at him yet unable to do anything about it.

Especially when facing his sworn enemy, the feeling was doubly satisfying!

But at this moment, he suddenly saw the expression on the fatty before him change—first shock, then wild joy, and finally fear.

What's going on?

Driven by curiosity, he slowly followed the gaze of the fellow before him, and in an instant a slender-bodied monster in the distance came into view… no, that wasn't a monster!

It was a dragon!!!

At the same time, from somewhere unknown, a piercing shriek pierced the clouds, echoing throughout all of Tiandu!

"The dragon is here!!!"

(End of chapter)