Chapter 248: Danger! Baichuan's Shura (Dragon) Field?

Ten days later, inside the volcano of Haizhidu.

"Have you arrived? A bit late."

"Gaa~~"

Sensing the familiar aura drawing ever closer from afar, Baichuan, coiled within the lava, slowly raised his dragon head and murmured to himself.

"Alright, alright, I don't mean to blame them."

He then cast a glance at the increasingly active Shoulong, who had already responded to him from yet another angle, and whose every word seemed to be defending his younger brothers and sisters.

Baichuan chuckled lightly and said.

After a few breaths, the massive sound of wingbeats at the horizon also began to grow clearer.

Before long, the mortals of Haizhidu—who had just ten days ago been shocked by the descent of a mysterious, colossal "Ancient Dragon"—lost their composure once again.

Because the mysterious and incomparably powerful Ancient Dragons, who until now had lived only in their oral legends and could be seen by only a handful of the luckiest among them, had at this moment all gathered together above Haizhidu!

And they were slowly descending, just like the colossal "Ancient Dragon" from a few days prior!

This was simply an extraordinary phenomenon.

Those who didn't know better might think this was a city belonging to the Ancient Dragons, not some dwelling-place of the human race.

For a time, countless people began to suspect whether the mysterious City Lord Zhou's proclamation had inadvertently offended the many Ancient Dragons, and that they had now come seeking revenge.

Or perhaps, whether something momentous was about to happen here.

Unfortunately, no one there could answer their doubts.

They could only watch as that group of Ancient Dragons slowly split into two batches—the larger batch with slightly weaker auras descended toward the City Lord Mansion of Haizhidu, while the few with fewer numbers but overwhelming auras followed the path of the earlier colossal "Ancient Dragon" and began to sink beneath the sea.

Boom boom~~ boom~~

Accompanied by a series of dull landing sounds, as many as five colossal creatures appeared on a man-made platform inside the volcano.

And one of them—an Ancient Dragon whose entire body was black and wreathed in Canglan-colored flames—began slowly to give off vast amounts of white mist, and before long a stooped, elderly human figure could be seen tottering out from within the mist.

And this scene naturally caused Baichuan, coiled within the lava, to watch the entire process with curiosity.

Although he had already witnessed this scene countless times in the Shoulong's memories, those images were ultimately not as vivid or profound as observing it firsthand and experiencing it personally.

So the entire body isn't purely flesh? Instead, it's a peculiar substance that, combined with the bloodline factor structures within the body, accelerates the construction of the physical form under the aggregation of the world's energies.

In an instant, having observed the entire process from every microscopic and macroscopic angle, Baichuan, with the aid of vast computational power, immediately understood the general situation.

Of course, the more specific wondrous reactions and changes would require careful study.

"Fath…"

"Father God…"

At once, several voices rang out in quick succession.

"Mm."

Baichuan gave a slight nod, and understood why they had arrived a little later than he had anticipated.

He supposed they must have encountered Zhou Qingqing, who could take on an Ancient Dragon form, along the way.

Although he still didn't know why Zhou Qingqing hadn't been among those who had rushed to the World Passage earlier, the reason could only be one of a few things: staying behind to hold off a large number of divine spirits, or being tied up by some important matter.

Thinking about it now, the reason was most likely the former.

Baichuan reflected silently, sensing the lingering aura of battle still clinging to his several Juanzhu.

Paying it no further mind, he looked toward the two equally ancient-looking stones being carefully held by the Ice Sea Dragon and the Sky Dragon.

In an instant, he sensed from them an aura similar to that of the Shoulong.

"Sigh~~"

With a slow exhale, Baichuan extended a Dragon Claw, carefully drawing these two Juanzhu—whose condition was slightly better than the Shoulong's—toward him.

Yet this action, along with the massive Dragon Claw and a portion of his scaled body inadvertently revealed from within the lava, caused Zhou Qingqing, who stood in the distance in uneasy trepidation, to instantly widen her eyes, her heart filled with shock, horror, and a trace of disbelief.

Although earlier, after being rescued by the Ancient Dragons, she had been told a portion of things on the way back—such as the truly massive amount of information they had once avoided discussing with her: that as innate divine spirits between worlds, they actually possessed an incomparably powerful Father God; that the reason the Ice Sea Dragon had sought her out was precisely this; that the bloodline she had obtained also came from their Father God; and so on.

And that the recent world catastrophe had already been resolved by their returned Father God.

Not only that, but their former great enemy—the nightmare-like existence known as the Lord of Radiance—had fled in disgrace, leaving behind a mere avatar.

In other words, from now on they no longer needed to worry about anything.

And now the journey was to meet their Father God; as for everything she had once done, they would leave it to their Father God to deal with.

Hearing this, Zhou Qingqing harbored not a single grievance; the moment she had stayed behind to hold them off, she had already prepared herself for a fight to the death.

She had never expected that, in the end, she would still hear so many hidden secrets—and the good news that the world was safe.

Their world was not without guardians of great power akin to that otherworldly Lord of Radiance!

It could be said that the instant she learned of this news, Zhou Qingqing felt she could die without regret.

Rather, if she could simply die like this, so much the better.

Because deep within, she was also afraid of meeting the Father God of the Ancient Dragon ancestors.

Because it was precisely their ignorance that had led to the Shoulong's grievous injuries and caused the entire world's situation to fall into utter ruin.

Unfortunately, her bloodline was simply too powerful within this world; even with grave wounds and her spirit completely unguarded, she had been unable to die.

And now, on the journey back, the energies of the world had restored most of her injuries.

So no matter how uneasy she felt, Zhou Qingqing still, amid her trepidation, came before the Father God of all the Ancient Dragons.

But Zhou Qingqing had imagined every possibility—for instance, being struck dead the moment she met the Ancient Dragons' Father God, or being imprisoned to atone for her sins, or being driven out and exiled, or, the least likely outcome, "being let off."

It could be said she had envisioned every possible scenario.

But she had never, ever expected that her actual situation would be to be completely ignored—and that this Father God of all the Ancient Dragons was someone she herself knew intimately well!

That Father God of all the Ancient Dragon ancestors was none other than the "True Dragon" that their former Great Qin had enshrined as the dynasty's totem of faith!!!

There was no mistaking it!

Even though this lord had grown far more powerful—not only vastly larger in size but also having lost his Dragon Wing—she could still directly recognize this lord's exact appearance.

Because this true dragon's body, resembling a serpent, was simply too obvious!

Not to mention those indifferent eyes that seemed to see through everything — that temperament alone could not be imitated by any other living creature!

In an instant, she, already incomparably clever, combined with the guilt she had carried for so many years over what had happened back then — constantly replaying that incident in her mind, imagining how wonderful things would have been had they not committed those mistakes — finally pieced it all together.

Thus, in that brief instant, she completely connected all the various clues she had so often replayed in her mind.

So… so they had picked the wrong target from the very beginning…

The true dragon they had once worshipped as their faith, and later grown rebellious against, was never, from start to finish, the Progenitor Dragon now soaking in the lava!

That lord had simply suffered an undeserved catastrophe, and in their muddle-headed blunder, had been attacked outright by them who had brewed up this mistake…

After her enlightenment, the first thing that rose in Zhou Qingqing's heart was a deep, profound relief.

Fortunately, the one they had attacked back then was not this father-god of all the ancient dragons; otherwise…

Of course, what she felt relief about here was not that, had they attacked this father-god of the ancient dragons, she and the others would have been scattered into a handful of yellow earth on the spot.

Rather, she felt relief that they had not disrupted this lord's mysterious grand plan back then; otherwise, this world truly would have been beyond saving.

After the relief, what rose next in her heart was a guilt and remorse far thicker and more profound than ever before.

This guilt and remorse were directed toward that innocent Progenitor Dragon lord.

Driven by that profound guilt, and with not the slightest will to live remaining in her heart.

The old-woman-form Zhou Qingqing, having understood the full truth, tearfully and unsteadily walked before the massive flood dragon and the Progenitor Dragon (Ancient Stone) soaking in the lava, and confessed: "The sinner, Zhou Qingqing, Empress of the Da Qin Dynasty, pays audience to the great True Dragon lord and Progenitor Dragon lord, and earnestly requests punishment."

Saying so, she dropped straight to her knees and kowtowed heavily.

At this, Baichuan, who had been carefully examining the other two Juanzhu, was slightly startled; then he shook his head and said: "As for your matter, I was not a party to it. Wait until the Progenitor Dragon awakens, and let it decide everything."

After saying this, he paid no further attention to anything else, and devoted himself to restoring his three Juanzhu.

And this, too, caused the few ancient dragons nearby who had not seen their father-god for a long time to suppress their excited feelings and slowly wait.

……

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye another seven days had passed.

Although this timeframe differed somewhat from the period Baichuan had previously calculated for the Progenitor Dragon's awakening.

But there was no helping it — there were now two additional Juanzhu in equally poor condition.

Healing the ancient dragons' Core, even for him as he was now, was no easy task.

Because this was not a problem that could be solved merely by having enough power — it required an extremely high degree of precision.

Otherwise, the Progenitor Dragon would not have remained unconscious for over two hundred years.

At his current speed, it could almost be called astonishingly swift.

On this day, accompanied by a series of cracking sounds.

"Roar—!"

"Ao—"

"Ying—"

Three small ancient dragons, each of a different form yet each equally beautiful in its own way, leapt forth, letting out joyful roars in the air above the volcano before pouncing toward the flood dragon whose face showed gratification.

Among them, especially the Progenitor Dragon, whose entire body carried faint sparks of fire as it appeared in the form of a young dragon, did not pause for even a moment during its leap, and was the first to pounce to the flood dragon's side.

At this moment, looking at his Juanzhu reunited, Baichuan also smiled gratifiedly and nodded his dragon-head, occasionally stroking the other Juanzhu that drew near in comfort.

He couldn't help but feel as though he had raised a pile of pets.

For a moment, Baichuan, watching the Juanzhu beside him each showing their joy, could not help but think.

But he kept feeling that this grand reunion seemed to be missing something.

Hmm, what exactly was it?

Baichuan, stroking his chin, narrowed his eyes and fell to pondering.

Right! I remember now — it's missing ————

"Wooo—"

In an instant, just as Baichuan recalled it.

From the side of the volcano's mouth near the sea, there suddenly came a distant, ethereal, ancient long cry.

This ethereal, ancient long cry pierced straight through layer upon layer of seawater and reached the volcano's mouth.

"This… is—?! Is it?!"

Faster to react than Baichuan was the Ice Sea Dragon beside him.

For the instant it heard the long cry, its face changed drastically.

Because over so many years, it had dealt with the owner of this voice not once or twice, and had long been utterly familiar with it.

Even during the period of blocking the otherworldly deities, there had been certain days when the Ice Sea Dragon, at its wits' end, had considered requesting the owner of this voice to join their ranks and help them block these invading deities from another world.

Unfortunately, the owner of this voice was like a block of wood that nothing could penetrate — to all its requests it uniformly responded as though it could not understand and ignored them; year after year it repeatedly drove large numbers of sea beasts out toward the sea floor near its lair, and no one knew what it was after.

And during this process, it attacked any creature that dared to invade its lair without its permission.

Fortunately, it, the Ice Sea Dragon, was truly the most cunning of all father-god's Juanzhu!

Even though this block of wood refused its requests, once it had grown familiar with this block of wood's temperament, it had on several occasions exploited this very point to lure deities into this block of wood's territory, thereby borrowing its power in another way.

But now, why had this block of wood actually left its old lair and come here?

Wasn't it afraid its lair would be invaded?

Or had it come for revenge?

That couldn't be, right? This block of wood shouldn't be that petty, should it?

For a moment, the puzzled Ice Sea Dragon was the first to leave the volcano, swimming toward the owner of this voice, trying to intercept its advance.

Because today was the day of the grand reunion between all of father-god's Juanzhu and father-god himself — it could not be disrupted by some "outsider dragon."

Moreover, although this block of wood was dull, it also did not wish to be misunderstood by its siblings and father-god.

Although the merciful Father God would not lightly commit slaughter, any creature in this world that earned the Father God's displeasure would be in very grave trouble indeed.

It represented the source of power in this world, and had unconsciously come to reject him.

Yet unexpectedly, the wooden creature that in the past had only ever faced it when invading its lair without its permission had, in the process of her trying to block it, for the first time unleashed a powerful force that directly broke past her obstruction.

For a moment, the Ice Sea Dragon was caught completely off guard and let it slip right past, able only to stare blankly at the wooden creature approaching the Father God in the distance.

At this moment, on the other side.

Watching the unfamiliar ancient dragon draw ever closer, even the Primordial Dragon, who had already returned to a weakened state, frowned. It leapt straight up from its Father God's claws, flapped its small Dragon Wing, and planted itself in front of the unfamiliar ancient dragon. Then, in a somewhat milky, childish voice, it rebuked: "Halt, you evil dragon! What business do you have coming here? Stop right now before my Father God!"

"Wuu— (Father God? Other half?)"

Upon hearing this, the unfamiliar giant dragon, whose mane was composed of tentacles, also stopped for the first time.

It fixed a bewildered gaze upon the massive flood dragon standing behind the small Primordial Dragon, and let out a long, questioning cry.

The moment this long cry rang out.

All the ancient dragons exploded into an uproar.

"Other half? Father God?!!"

"Wh-what's going on?!!"

"Where did this unfamiliar ancient dragon come from? Why does it call our Father God its other half?"

"Could it be that we… we still have another one…?"

Clearly, the meaning within this unfamiliar ancient dragon's words, as well as the affection, attachment, and other emotions contained within them.

To be honest, even they, the Juanzhu closest to the Father God, had to admit that the attachment contained within those words was in no way less than their own — if anything, it faintly exceeded it!

In an instant, the ancient dragons who had suddenly realized something all whipped their heads around and stared wide-eyed at Baichuan. Even Zhou Qingqing, who had been kneeling on the ground all this while, couldn't help but quietly raise her head and prick up her gossip-hungry ears.

Gossip about the True Dragon Lord — to hear such a secret before dying!

At this moment, a single ominous thought slowly drifted through the minds of all the ancient dragons—

Could it be that the Father God has other dragons outside as well?!!!

Danger!

Great danger!!!

Ugh…

Looking at the scene that had instantly fallen silent, at the Juanzhu whose eyes were faintly welling with tears, and at the young beast that didn't understand what it had set off and was looking at him expectantly.

Baichuan's heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

Could this scene before his eyes be his very own Shura (dragon) field?

……

(End of this chapter)