Chapter 408: The Dragon's Message — Who Buries the World as a Tomb?

Following her gaze, in an instant her whole body was as if struck by lightning, frozen in place, her crimson heart-shaped eyes staring wide, even her pair of pitch-black bat wings forgetting to beat.

In the boundless starry sky, within this star system that harbored five life-bearing planets, at some unknown moment, the diamond-shaped scales of some kind of creature had faintly appeared!

It was a mysterious body that had forcefully torn open space within a realm saturated with violent energy radiation and extraordinarily stable spatial fabric.

A serpentine body slowly wound its way around the five planets in a meandering cruise, occasionally revealing a stretch of its sleek form gliding past, giving off a sensation both awe-inspiring and mysterious.

It was as if the sole five life-bearing planets of this Xuanbei Xingxi were being eyed like sweets by an incomparably massive serpent-like creature! Or as if the planets were being toyed with like marbles.

This shocking, even terrifying scene inevitably reminded Morgana of a legend she had once excavated from a certain Civilization Ruins — the Dragon Playing with Pearls!

Yes, even from just a scale and a claw revealed beneath the starry sky, one could still discern that it was an Eastern giant dragon winding and cruising above the five planets!

After all, that vast, boundless dragon's aura, the Dragon Qi, spread in all directions throughout all of space the moment it appeared.

If not for the other party's deliberate restraint, that dense Dragon Qi could have instantly forcibly Assimilated every creature on those few planets into dragon-kind beings, turning them into its puppets.

There is a beast, its form like a tiger with eagle claws, a serpent's body and fish scales, cruising through the starry sky; its name is Dragon!

It was this reappearance of a scene from ancient legends that was the true reason for Morgana's freezing in place.

"Upper Mythical Creature, a Dragon!"

Uncontainable words, enunciated syllable by syllable, surged from deep within her throat, which at some unknown moment had gone too dry to speak. Only the most profound terror could make a Banzhu-realm succubus, who had essentially achieved self-sufficiency within her body and only needed to absorb energy to survive, feel her mouth and tongue go dry.

"Holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit...!!"

"Dragon??!!"

A few breaths later, Morgana, who had finally come to her senses, completely lost her composure. A string of curses spewed wildly from her mouth, and she stomped her feet frantically in space, wishing she could go back to half a year ago, to the day she received the message relayed by that distant descendant of hers, then slap that brat across the face over and over, and finally give him a few vicious kicks.

She somewhat regretted that when she finally fled, she had let that brat who dared to cling to her leg die so easily — an Upper Mythical Creature, a Dragon! How could he have treated it as an ordinary Banzhu-realm alien being?!

Tell her, this is called ordinary?

This is a Banzhu?

Among all Mythical Creatures, is there a single one whose strength is below the True Immortal / True God realm?

No!

Even she, who had obtained the bloodline of a succubus among Lower Mythical Creature demons, had reached the pinnacle of the Banzhu realm.

Let alone the True Dragon, which sits at the very top among Mythical Creatures!

This was not, as she had mistakenly assumed, merely a mythical species containing Dragon Blood, nor someone like her who had incorporated a portion of its bloodline power — this was a true, pure-blooded Dragon!

You say you're a pure-blooded True Dragon, so why on earth do you look like a mythical species? Is this screwing your aunt... screwing her over?

At this moment, Morgana wanted nothing more than to curse that dragon out — isn't this playing people for fools?

But in the face of cruel reality, she ultimately chickened out.

Just how strong exactly is a Dragon? Morgana did not know.

But from the Civilization Ruins where she had obtained the succubus bloodline now within her body, she did know the fearsome reputation of another Dragon!

Chenlong! That was the name she had obtained from an ancient scroll inside an old box containing a single drop of succubus blood, found in that Civilization Ruins.

The Dragon of World Destruction, the Star Dragon, the Ouroboros Dragon... the one who seized the Universe Heart in a single stroke among all living things. When the dragon bell tolled, all things in its path bowed in submission — the cosmic Banzhu who governed life and death.

That was a terrifying existence beyond anything she could imagine, an ancient being far surpassing her ultimate goal of the True God realm — and now she had run into a kin of that legendary Chenlong!

Even if this dragon did not possess Chenlong's might, was the True God realm something she could afford to provoke?

She regretted it so. She should never have coveted that dragon's power, leading to her current predicament.

"You carry a familiar aura?"

A voice vast as a bell resounded through the starry sky — a mighty force that defied the rule that vacuum cannot transmit sound.

The dragon cruising through the starry sky halted its gliding body. A dragon head as massive as a planet tore through space and emerged, and amidst the fluttering spatial fragments, the dragon head's pair of substantive golden gazes fixed upon that incomparably tiny figure.

In an instant, a gaze tinged with a trace of doubt, a substantive stare capable of imprisoning weaker beings, was cast upon Morgana, causing her face to instantly turn pale, then flush crimson.

The terrifying invisible force instantly stripped her of all resistance. She opened her mouth trying to speak, but after several futile attempts, she slumped her head dejectedly, her gaze dimming.

At this moment, she suddenly realized that even the other party's gaze was more than her formidable power could bear.

What kind of terrifying power was this?

What on earth had clouded her mind, that she dared to scheme against such an existence?

Even an old birthday star eating arsenic wouldn't be enough to describe it.

But — a familiar aura on her?

Morgana's nearly non-functioning mind turned over. She couldn't understand — what virtue or ability did she have to be connected to the other party?

Morgana's sullen silence left the dragon above somewhat puzzled. He simply could not imagine that there were living beings who couldn't even withstand his invisible gaze, when he had clearly already restrained all external influence as much as possible.

But there was an aura on her that had caught his attention; he could not let it go. That was also why he had directly revealed his true form to pin her down.

That familiarity, which concerned him, came from an aura he had only recently come into contact with, and it had hooked his curiosity.

He wanted to know how it was faring now, and where it was.

Why did the other party carry its aura?

A Juanzhu?

No, that wasn't right. Baichuan, in his dragon form, shook his head. If it were a Juanzhu, it shouldn't be this weak.

Thinking of that man from before who couldn't even hide his inner thoughts, and his actions — hunting alien beings, seizing their bloodlines, and using mysterious Alchemy to incorporate them and transform them into his own power.

Then, had it perished?

Pondering this, and given the other's inaction and refusal to answer, and that she was no weakling who couldn't even guard her inner thoughts, Baichuan decided to be a little more forceful with this stubborn, uncooperative creature, and directly obtain the information he wanted.

This act of directly reading the other's Spirit was something he would not normally do — it was too sacrilegious against life.

Life, Spirit — they could die, could perish, could be destroyed, but they must never be treated as objects to be desecrated or toyed with. Once one grew accustomed to it, it would make him belittle the weight of life, lead him astray into the evil path, and cause him to lose his true nature.

If Morgana had known this, she might not have known what to think, and would probably have cursed up a storm.

Was she being stubborn?

Who in the entire Blasphemer Cult didn't know that her spine was the softest of all? How could she be slandered like this!

But unfortunately, at this moment she was so crushed by that unbearable force that even her thoughts could barely function.

The next instant, accompanied by a planet-sized dragon claw reaching over that looked utterly hideous and terrifying in Morgana's eyes, Morgana timely revealed an expression of despair, her red eyes splitting with rage, the emotion of "Don't come any closer!" nearly leaping off the surface.

Half an hour later, after tossing aside a succubus with her eyes rolled back and a black-faced expression, Baichuan, having obtained the information he wanted, revealed a strange look as if suddenly enlightened.

Unexpectedly, the information he wanted to know he didn't get much of; instead, he got another piece of news, about Chenlong…

"The past, the present, the future — is it inevitable? Or is it chance?"

He murmured, thought about the location in his memories, and Baichuan decided to go take a look.

Of course, after resolving the matters here.

His gaze returned to the planet from before, Baichuan slowly opened his dragon maw, and in an instant the entire stretch of Xingkong began to ripple violently, like a basin of water brought to a full boil, madly seething and leaping.

Not long after, a four-clawed creature comparable in size to a planet slowly emerged — a colossal beast covered in fine, dense scales, with a thunder horn piercing the heavens, part dragon, part tiger!

Nine Sons of the Dragon — Bi'an!

The most powerful trump card he had forged back when he was an Earth Immortal Banzhu, using the special Tianyuan Star as a foundation combined with Xiao Hong's power; later, as he broke through and advanced, he entrusted it to Xiao Hong, letting her first adapt to the power close to True Immortal, in preparation for her evolution later.

After all, among his Juanzhu, only Xiao Hong's standing was relatively high, and she was also forged jointly by her and him, the most familiar.

As for the others, because they had not been born long, had experienced too little, and were creations from his weak period born of immaturity, their temperament was innately somewhat frail and unsuitable.

Now that he had reached Ancient Immortal, he could already do what he once did with Zishu — with a single decree, send down his avatar to slay all enemies.

What's more, the Juanzhu who shared a close connection with him could channel his power even more strongly.

Therefore, there was no need to be as cautious as before, for fear of provoking powerful enemies; he could let them loose to fight freely.

While pondering, Baichuan also handed over all the matters of the Daxuan Empire here to his Juanzhu one by one, then departed toward the depths of Xingkong.

Unfortunately, ever since he broke through to Ancient Immortal, Baichuan had never again seen Zishu come chasing after him like before; otherwise, he would certainly have had a fight to eliminate the future trouble.

On the other side, after a series of upheavals, the five life-bearing planets of the entire Daxuan Empire were also in a state of unrest.

And rightly so — anyone living a perfectly good life, suddenly looking up to see a section of a creature's body pressing across the entire sky, moreover a serpentine body covered in fine diamond-shaped scales writhing about, would likely be scared half to death.

A body of smooth scales resembling a serpent was already the fear engraved deep in the genes of ordinary humans; coupled with the innate fear of giant objects — a body comparable in size to a planet — and the resounding voice from beyond the heavens.

With all these combined, it would absolutely scare everyone silly; it was a scene where every movement held one's soul in thrall. If that terrifying being was the slightest bit careless, the planets would shatter like eggs smashed, and everyone in the entire world would perish along with them.

This was the most shocking experience every citizen of the Daxuan Empire had encountered since birth — something they could never forget even if they wanted to.

If the Empire's eldest princess had not promptly launched synchronized broadcasts across several planets to soothe the populace, the planets would probably be in utter chaos by now.

Now that the populace had finally been calmed, Rang Na had no time to catch her breath before she had to entertain the Juanzhu of that lord from beyond the heavens.

Watching the Eastern dragon flying over from beyond the heavens, shaped like Lord Bai but seemingly carved from ice and snow, Rang Na also showed a slight smile and went forward to greet it.

Lord Bai had already given her a heads-up about this earlier.

……

On another front, after leaving the Xuanbei Xingxi where the Daxuan Empire was located, Baichuan traveled along the spatial coordinates recorded in the information, continuously shuttling between space and space.

This was a faster method than physical movement beneath Xingkong; the star sea was boundless — if all beings moved through the universe by physical means, they might not traverse a single river system in an entire lifetime.

Only by entering the layered dimensional spaces invisible to ordinary beings could one achieve fast and efficient long-distance travel; this was also why Zishu's pursuit back then had been so swift.

Time passed — unknown how long. In Xingkong, unlike within a life-bearing planet of a stellar system, Time held no meaning.

On this day, Baichuan finally halted his dragon body roaming the void, raised his dragon head, and gazed at the spatial barrier before him.

This was the location he had obtained from the succubus Morgana's memories — a place called Civilization Ruins by the civilizations of the universe.

The next instant, having reverted to his dragon-human form, he broke through the murky haze of space and stepped into this place called 【Civilization Ruins】.

What met his eyes was a dead world, hidden within the gap between one layer of space and another. Baichuan guessed that this had once been an inner world left behind after the death of a True Immortal or even higher existence.

This place was one ordinary beings could not approach; had it not been for Morgana's incredible luck during an escape, when the Demon Queen starship accidentally stumbled in here, this World Graveyard hidden within the gaps of the universe's spaces would never have been discovered.

Recalling the information from Morgana's memories, Baichuan raised his head and surveyed his surroundings.

At a glance, the sky was a dull yellow — no wind, no clouds, no air, no… nearly nothing at all; only a stretch of land remained. Yet even the land emanated a thick aura of death, giving anyone who saw it the immediate sense that this was a world that had lost its vitality.

At the end of the horizon stood a colossal tombstone piercing through the heavens — this was a world's graveyard, a burial ground.

A world used as a graveyard, to bury but a single being — what kind of being could warrant such a lofty burial?

For no apparent reason, such a thought flashed through Baichuan's mind.

He set his fierce, sharp dragon-like feet in motion, walking across this land of death.

The world was vast, yet also small — especially for him.

In this empty, nearly barren, clean world, Baichuan soon finished his tour. As he drew closer and closer to the giant tombstone at the edge of the sky, that familiar aura grew thicker and thicker.

At the same time, an ominous premonition rose in his heart…

(End of this chapter)