Chapter 410: Keeping the Appointment — A Subordinate of the Time Dragon?

Dragon Palace, within the central court.

A towering dragon coiled upon the throne, while below, the many ruling ministers of the Dragon Empire stood in orderly rows. Reverent and daring not the slightest unnecessary movement, yet their eyes betrayed a curiosity they could not conceal,

occasionally stealing careful, curious glances at the being seated upon the throne that had lain empty for a full ten years — the seat representing the highest authority of the entire Empire.

It was a dragon — a dragon who, even without appearing, had left countless legends throughout the Empire. The great beings of the Dragon Empire, the half-step True God realm's magnificent Xiao Hong, the overlord at the pinnacle, the Ice Sea Lord, the Lord of Lava… and other existences who held genuine respect for this ancient, mythical being!

Among them especially stood Rang Ya, the full younger sister of the former Empire's Grand Princess. Standing beside her elder sister the diplomatic minister, she would occasionally turn her bright, dewy great eyes to scan that towering figure symbolizing power — curiosity in her gaze, along with longing, and even more so, worship.

Ten years was not long, especially for an Empire where interstellar voyages had begun and lifespans were long. Though she had still been young ten years ago, she had also been one of the witnesses of that shocking upheaval. At that time she had felt somewhat indignant, resenting this unfamiliar being who, upon appearing, had stolen her sister's care and attention, leaving her with no time to accompany her at all.

Yet as time passed and she gradually grew up and matured, she truly came to understand the information left behind from back then, knowing just how magnificent this being she had once resented truly was — a savior for them who had been about to be humiliated by treacherous ministers!

"When was this invitation sent?"

Upon the throne, ignoring the nearly half of the Empire's ministers who were strangers to him, Baichuan directly addressed Rang Na, the former Empire's Grand Princess who now managed the Empire's diplomacy.

"Two months ago, Your Majesty."

Below, the blue-haired, graceful woman — no longer the youthful girl of yesteryear, now grown increasingly full and mature — lowered her head and replied with gentle respect.

"Is that so~~"

After murmuring softly to himself, Baichuan lowered his eyes to examine the invitation, woven from extraordinary material with threads of gold and silver. After a long while, he suddenly spoke:

"Tell me, what is the Lingneng Clan's purpose this time?"

"?" The sudden question caught Rang Na off guard, leaving her somewhat puzzled. Unaware of Baichuan's past dealings with the Lingneng Clan, she had no idea what those words meant.

Although the Dragon Empire was currently flourishing and growing ever stronger day by day, because its time was short compared to other Empires, and before Baichuan had returned, its highest combat power had been merely Xiao Hong at the half-step True God (True Immortal) realm.

Furthermore, Baichuan's dependents, not wishing to burden him and not wanting to trouble him with every matter — as if they were utterly useless — had never, under normal circumstances, considered employing the ultimate measure Baichuan had left behind — the Ancient Immortal Strike.

Therefore, in the eyes of outsiders, this Dragon Empire, while strong, was merely squeezed into the top fifty among the strongest hundred nations of the Star Sea Federation, still unable to be mentioned in the same breath as the Lingneng Clan — a super civilization possessing an Ancestor.

Thus, in Rang Na's eyes, this invitation was nothing more than that super civilization, seeing them as fellow members of the Star Sea Federation — itself a super civilization — symbolically issuing an invitation to those member nations that qualified, asking them to come over and cheer for the Lingneng Clan.

However, in the eyes of the dependents who knew of Baichuan's past conflict with the Lingneng Clan's Ancestor's child Laoshu, this was nothing less than a probe, a provocation, an open scheme.

Because, if this invitation were avoided, it would mean Baichuan showing weakness before the Lingneng Clan's Ancestor, willingly falling into the inferior position, letting the other side see the truth — fear of Laoshu. Yet if he went, what awaited him might be an ambush fraught with crisis.

This was also why, the moment Baichuan had just returned, a dependent had presented this invitation to him.

Had he not returned at just the right moment, it wouldn't have been long before some dependent planned to board a starship alone and set off to keep the appointment.

As the saying goes, when the lord is humiliated, the ministers die. For those dependents, Baichuan was the father, lord, and deity they revered most in their hearts!

Of course, it was also possible that these dependents had misunderstood — given their previous cautious behavior, the other side truly might not have uncovered their details, and it really was just as Rang Na thought, simply needing people to cheer. But no one dared gamble on that.

"Father God, given that stinking rat's habits, I suspect a trap. So why not let us go and probe?"

At one side, a female with dragon horns and a dragon tail, her entire body a translucent ghostly white — clearly not of the human race — stepped forward to suggest. This was the Ice Sea Dragon in half-human, half-dragon form.

"Indeed, Father God, let me and the Ice Sea go!" The Primordial Dragon beside her also nodded in agreement. As the elder brother and sister, facing such a crisis, they naturally would not yield to others.

"No, Father God, let me go instead!"

"No, I'm more clever, let me go."

Yet how could the other dependents let the elder brother and sister take all the glory? Not one was willing to fall behind, and they all put forward their suggestions in turn.

This scene also left the ministers below — selected from the local planets — full of puzzled expressions. Only some of the more attentive ones, from their colleagues' words and demeanor, guessed at something: it seemed their Empire's sovereign had origins far from ordinary.

"Enough said. Rang Na, later bring me all the recent Star Sea Federation news and intelligence. I have use for it."

In the end, it was Baichuan who spoke and cut off the dependents preparing to argue. He slowly rose to his feet, his towering shadow gradually swallowing the people in the hall, like a dragon lying in wait until the moment was ripe, his aura gradually rising.

"The matter of the Lingneng Clan — it is time to bring it to a conclusion."

"As for you all, I still have a mission to give you. I need you to mobilize the Empire's forces to search for…"

……

Half a month later, a Titan-class starship symbolizing the Dragon Empire slowly sailed out of the space city above the planet belonging to the Dragon Empire, heading toward the coordinates on the invitation.

Although Baichuan no longer feared Laoshu now, he had not forgotten what Lingxin had once told him — that behind Laoshu existed a great clan.

And great clans, while perhaps lacking in other things, certainly had no shortage of people.

Therefore, while keeping the appointment was keeping the appointment, he still had to be cautious. First, he would go as a member nation of the Star Sea Federation to see how things stood, then act as circumstances dictated.

After all, two fists were hard put to fight four hands. He no longer feared a single Ancient Immortal realm Laoshu, but he needed to avoid being besieged by two or three of the same realm.

Even for him, encountering several of the same realm in a siege would not end well.

……

Time moved forward again, and in the blink of an eye half a year had passed.

On this day, Baichuan — who had been cultivating his inner world with closed eyes within the starship, extracting the world's surplus Vital Essence to push his power on the verge of breakthrough — was roused by the starship's artificial intelligence. He slowly opened his eyes, and within those dragon pupils, a gilded luster flowed.

As the destination drew ever nearer, a single sweeping glance revealed to Baichuan that the various starships, even cosmic fortresses, appearing around them grew ever more numerous — varied in form, brimming with mechanical, dazzling beauty.

They were all the starships of various races and civilizations that had come together to keep the appointment.

Starships of every description, far surpassing the fleets of the Daxuan Empire he had once seen, lined up in formation across the starry sky — a sight of indescribable grandeur.

According to the starship's探测器, for nearly one light-year ahead, it was all the Lingneng Clan's "Ying Bin Da Dao"!

At this moment, Baichuan truly understood what the Lingneng Clan, a super civilization, truly symbolized.

An unprecedented, never-before-seen sight even stirred a rare flicker of interest in Baichuan, who rose to observe the surroundings within the starship.

"Hummm~~"

"Hummm hummm hummm~~"

Continuous tremors rang out.

That was the sound of his starship, under the other's guidance, entering the docking area within the planet.

Not long after, what appeared before him was a stretch of radiance — brilliant yet not glaring.

It was a tree! A tree of light, growing upon a planet the size of an ordinary star!

With a diameter of 1,392,000 kilometers!

Its mass equaled 130 times that of an ordinary planet!

And such an enormous tree of light, its roots tangled and interwoven, densely spread across the entire outer layer of the planet — from afar it looked as though a great tree formed entirely of light had wrapped its roots around a sphere no smaller than its own canopy.

Baichuan could feel that countless life auras were brewing atop that canopy; the rich and violent energy within Xingkong was endlessly absorbed and transformed by the tree of light, just as an ordinary tree absorbs sunlight.

Only this tree of light did not need, like an ordinary tree, to treat the planet it was rooted in as nourishment to draw from. Instead, most of the violent energy drawn from Xingkong was transported into the planet's interior as gentle energy that could be absorbed, while a small portion transformed into life auras brewing upon the canopy.

Lingneng Clan, Lingneng…

Feeling the abundant energy in the air, Baichuan seemed to understand why they had taken that name. In such an environment, once a cultivation-oriented civilization arose, it would inevitably possess a high-energy, complete environment that ordinary beings lacked, allowing them to grow stronger with effortless ease.

In terms he was familiar with, the Lingneng Clan's home star before him was a powerful world of the high-magic, high-martial sort, whereas the Tianyuan Star he had once encountered — setting aside other factors — could barely be considered a world of the mid-magic, mid-martial sort.

"Hey, young man, dazzled, are you?"

Suddenly, a familiar, friendly laugh came from beside him.

Apparently seeing Baichuan standing there motionless for a long while, a man beside him — whose single eye, considerably larger than that of ordinary beings, was set in the center of his face — familiarly drew close and laughed.

"Let's get acquainted," he extended his hand, not minding Baichuan's ferocious and terrifying appearance to others, and said openly, "I'm Dangya Heyan, a one-eyed star person from Ban Xuan Ma Zuo."

Baichuan glanced at him and paid no heed to this overly familiar fellow.

"Well," Dangya Heyan didn't mind much either — beings of all manner of temperaments filled the universe. He scratched his head and, as if talking to himself, pointed at the distant tree of light: "It's normal for any being visiting here for the first time to marvel at the Lingneng Clan's Tongguang Tree. After all, such a powerful, enviable planet and divine tree aren't often seen."

"But few people know that this Tongguang Tree didn't originally belong to the Lingneng Clan…"

"Oh~?"

Hearing this, Baichuan's gaze shifted; he paused, then turned his head to look deeply at this man.

The man didn't notice. Seeing that he had caught the other's attention, he leaned in even closer, carefully glanced at passersby nearby, then said in a low voice, "Once upon a time, this Tongguang Tree belonged to the high elves as their divine tree. Think about it — how could such a beautiful great tree give birth to the Lingneng Clan's ug… appearance? The true elves born of the Tongguang Tree — they had fair, tender skin, exquisite, resplendent wings of light, and were as beautiful as goddesses."

"What a pity~"

"With the arrival of a certain ancient being, everything changed. The high elves' deity fell at the hands of that ancient being, and afterward the entire Tongguang Tree was twisted by its mighty power into its present form."

"Why tell me this? Slandering the Lingneng Clan like that — aren't you afraid I'll leak it?"

Baichuan stopped his wandering steps and looked at this one-eyed star person before him. Though the man had hidden his aura deeply, his energy fluctuations nearly nonexistent,

to Baichuan he could still detect a thing or two from the man's flesh, which was stronger than that of ordinary beings — the destructive power the man could unleash was at least no weaker than a Banzhu's.

That level of strength was indeed very weak to him, but among the many beings visible at a glance, it was by no means weak — at the very least, enough to claim a planet of his own and reign as king.

Much like the old ruler of the former Daxuan Empire.

"Well, I trust you won't." Dangya Heyan smiled and shook his head, a mysterious trace curving his lips as he gazed meaningfully at the mythological species being before him whose interest he had piqued. "Because the high elves' goddess back then was a subordinate and friend of the Dragon, you see~"

"And that dragon's name is 【Chenlong】!"

Having said that, Dangya Heyan spoke no more. Watching the previously indifferent dragon-kind mythological species finally show a flicker of change and fall into thought, he turned to leave with a natural and unrestrained air.

"Well then, farewell, mythological species with Dragon Blood~~"

One step… two steps…

As he walked, his figure began to ripple faintly, as if at any moment he might step into another layer of space and vanish.

"Wait!"

A voice to hold him back came from behind, yet Dangya Heyan's rate of disappearance only quickened.

Damn right — he'd already finished showing off, so why stick around?!

But just as his figure flickered to the extreme, half his body already sinking into the mysterious space and vanishing — a large, scale-covered hand from behind abruptly ignored all space, then seized his collar. With a crisp sound like glass shattering, it yanked his neck out of the space like lifting a chick.

In an instant, the scene before his eyes changed again and again. The collar tight around his neck made breathing difficult; the pale spatial crevice he had become once more turned into the familiar planetary scenery, and before him stood the very target of his earlier posturing — the dragon-shaped mythological species.

In that moment, Dangya Heyan was utterly dumbfounded.

What was happening?

Hadn't he already begun spatial teleportation?

What was going on — had spatial teleportation failed?

And why did he feel like he couldn't quite catch his breath?

……

(End of chapter)