[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-dragon-lies-hidden":3,"chapter-the-dragon-lies-hidden-the-dragon-lies-hidden-chapter-937":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Dragon Lies Hidden",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2290235,4477,"Chapter 937: There Is Always Someone Greater","the-dragon-lies-hidden-chapter-937",937,"\u003Cp>Xiang Weiyuan was not one to push things to extremes; having endured hardship himself, he let his brothers share a taste of it, but he would never torment Cui Yu the way Rong Long had tormented him. After explaining the basic principles, he drifted in the void for a couple of days before returning to Qingming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon returning to Qingming, Xiang Weiyuan’s first act was to go to the Merit Hall and store the fragment of the Ancestral Realm Stone there. This place, protected by the array set up centuries ago by Ji Liuli, could only be accessed by calculating the precise trajectories of celestial bodies—it was thus the safest location in Qingming, impervious to brute-force cultivation breakthroughs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiang Weiyuan also brought back dozens of chunks of Wild Iron Essence. Though small in size, together they weighed tens of thousands of jin. If used sparingly, they would suffice to forge two Yu Jing magic treasures. Yu Zhizhuo naturally treated them as a priceless treasure; the moment he took possession, he shoved Xiang Weiyuan out of the Forging Workshop to avoid his incessant nagging.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiang Weiyuan returned to his quarters, changed into his magic robe, and was about to attend to Qingming’s administrative affairs when he sensed a faint disturbance in Qingming’s space. His spiritual sense flickered—and he realized Cui Yu had lagged slightly but had successfully returned to the native realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiang Weiyuan had brought Cui Yu to the edge of the native realm and let him experience the process of entering it on his own, while he returned ahead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was nearly impossible for a Dharma Form to traverse the void. Though Cui Yu had been carried the entire time, he could still boast about the journey for days upon his return.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiang Weiyuan smiled faintly. Cui Yu had enjoyed a string of good fortunes lately—his Dharma Form had advanced, his experiences had become legendary. It was time to let him return to his family clan, to strengthen his Dao heart. As for the painstaking arrangements he had made for Cui Yu, Xiang Weiyuan considered them trivial and unworthy of special thanks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Xiang Weiyuan pondered this, Qingming suddenly trembled, and commotion erupted. He perked his ears and heard several female disciples in the infirmary screaming. A sweep of his spiritual sense revealed what had happened—and he clearly heard their cries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There’s a lecher!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah! The lecher’s in my bathtub!... He’s escaped again!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Catch him! Don’t let him get away!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hmm, this thief has an unusually striking appearance—I wonder if there’s more to this? Everyone, push harder! Once we catch him, we’ll interrogate him thoroughly together!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The infirmary was in chaos. Cui Yu covered his face with one hand and his groin with the other, darting wildly in all directions. His movements were erratic and unpredictable—neither pursuers nor fugitive knew where he would appear next.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiang Weiyuan winced. How had he forgotten this? It wasn’t intentional at all!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Faint sunlight appeared above the infirmary, blinding everyone momentarily. Then Xiang Xiaoyu appeared, using Dao power to restrain Cui Yu, hiding him within the sunlight, and in a few flashes, returned him to his residence in Xiancheng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cui Yu finally exhaled in relief. Deeply grateful, he also wished he could crawl into a crack in the ground. Fortunately, he had reacted quickly enough to cover his face before revealing his identity—small mercy in a great misfortune.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiang Xiaoyu’s expression remained blank. “You twisted your spiritual sense to traverse the void, which caused your disorientation in the native realm. This is easily fixed—just readjust it. Remember the difference between before and after, and this won’t happen again.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cui Yu, humiliated yet deeply astonished, asked: “How do you even know this?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiang Xiaoyu stood with his hands behind his back, still expressionless. “Nothing special—just read a lot.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shaoyang Star Lord: ...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cui Yu actually believed him. After profuse thanks, Xiang Xiaoyu suddenly added softly: “What were you all doing that you didn’t even have time to put on clothes?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cui Yu sighed. “That world is extraordinary—three suns hang in the sky, a holy place for body tempering, though it’s brutal to endure. But despite the suffering, it truly enhances the quality of the Dharma Form—utterly miraculous.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiang Xiaoyu finally showed interest. “Really? Show me. If it works, I’m going too. My Dharma Form needs upgrading.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shaoyang Star Lord: ...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cui Yu released the Twelve Heavenly Soldiers. Seeing the soldiers, dark yet gleaming, Xiang Xiaoyu was stunned—then rubbed his eyes. Cui Yu rubbed his eyes too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had not imagined it. One of the Heavenly Soldiers had grown an extra arm—sprouting from behind the shoulder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first major project Xiang Weiyuan personally oversaw was the construction of grand halls called the Immortal Wisdom Centers in every city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The core function of the Immortal Wisdom Centers was to connect directly with the mortal realm, replacing the current situation where only a handful of main city governor’s offices could link to the mortal realm. Although after Xiang Weiyuan’s return, cultivators could again enter the mortal realm through dreamwalking, having once experienced the ban on Dharma Forms, he had no intention of repeating that mistake. A physical array linking directly to the mortal realm was far more reliable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Another reason was that Qingming’s cultivator population had grown enormously, inevitably attracting a mix of the virtuous and the corrupt. Xiang Weiyuan planned to restructure access permissions: apart from the cultivators of Tai Chu Palace and Qingming’s own core disciples, all others wishing to enter the mortal realm via dreamwalking would be restricted to accepting missions. To handle those missions, they must do so through the Immortal Wisdom Centers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This would effectively prevent malicious individuals from secretly releasing demonic entities into the mortal realm. Though Xiang Weiyuan didn’t believe any demon could survive long in his mortal realm, vigilance against demons was never unnecessary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside each Immortal Wisdom Center, the layout was divided into high and low tiers. The low tier consisted of one vast hall with simple partitions between individual workstations. The high tier comprised fully enclosed private cubicles, neatly arranged like a beehive, with several special rooms available for customized interior design.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was not Xiang Weiyuan’s innovation—he simply copied the office layout of Umbrella Corporation. But each workstation was much larger than those in Umbrella Corporation, since cultivators were generally tall; by the standards of the outside world, those over seven chi tall were commonplace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each Immortal Wisdom Center was equipped with five hundred standard workstations and one hundred high-tier cubicles—a substantial scale. But this was only Xiang Weiyuan’s first step, meant to address transitional needs for mortal realm access.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Next, Xiang Weiyuan planned to build more Immortal Wisdom Branch Halls, each providing around a hundred access points, allowing large-scale deployment across all corners of Qingming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this point, the mortal realm’s efficiency in processing single-priority tasks had already rivaled that of immortals. The moment Xiang Weiyuan input his concept, an exact, detailed, immediately executable plan appeared.\u003C\u002Fp>",1161,"2026-06-20T03:38:38.899Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","c1c50f08a9641a09c5b9cc5976c077cd18dd27dbb27eb691273698503411c679","the-dragon-lies-hidden-chapter-938","the-dragon-lies-hidden-chapter-936",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-dragon-lies-hidden-cover.jpg"]