[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-dragon-lies-hidden":3,"chapter-the-dragon-lies-hidden-the-dragon-lies-hidden-chapter-960":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},2290258,4477,"Chapter 960: The Unconventional","the-dragon-lies-hidden-chapter-960",960,"\u003Cp>The rebel forces were fleeing in all directions, while a hundred young Xu family disciples of Foundation Establishment split into several small squads, advancing steadily as gunshots rang out continuously; each shot brought down a rebel soldier. The flying-sword guns used by Qingming Foundation Establishment cultivators had been refined over generations and now stabilized on a design favoring single-shot rapid fire with high power and long range.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the rebels’ escape skills were nearly as good as those of the old man from Yujing; in the blink of an eye, they vanished into the surrounding wastelands. The former battlefield was left littered with over ten thousand corpses, nearly all of them dead with no wounds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Wei Yuan stood in midair, his mind remained fixed on future choices.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, seeing the rebels routed, a small cavalry unit from the Ji army emerged and rode up beneath Wei Yuan; a captain bowed and said, “What is your origin, honorable sir? Our general wishes to invite you over for a word.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Yuan frowned slightly; the Ji state’s customs were truly strange—its soldiers feared bandits like venomous snakes and scorpions, yet once they realized he held no official title, they immediately put on their general’s airs again. Didn’t this man see that Wei Yuan had obliterated Xu Kuang with three thunderbolts, and that Zhang Sheng had defeated Yujing with a single move?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Yuan’s expression darkened. Suddenly, a Law-Form cultivator appeared on the ground, clad in Da Tang-style armor. This Law-Form cultivator raised his riding whip and lashed it across the captain’s face, knocking him clean off his horse!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Law-Form cultivator kept whipping without pause, delivering over a dozen blows while shouting: “What kind of general? My lord is the Qingyang Military Governor of Da Tang! Before my lord, you’re nothing but common soldiers! How dare you show disrespect to my lord? I’ll beat you half-dead first!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The captain screamed in agony. The other officers, who had been full of bravado moments before, saw how brutally this Law-Form elder struck and immediately scattered like rats, abandoning their own captain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The captain was mid-Foundation Establishment, yet before this Law-Form high cultivator, he was like a child—unable to struggle or resist at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon the general received word and flew over himself, accompanied only by a few personal guards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The general was at the mid-stage of Law-Form cultivation; when he arrived before Wei Yuan, he finally saw Wei Yuan and Zhang Sheng’s faces and faintly sensed their qi, his heart sinking. Then, seeing the Law-Form warrior of equal cultivation bowing deeply in respect to Wei Yuan, he immediately lowered his altitude by half a body’s length and bowed: “Your servant Zhao Zhen pays his respects to the Military Governor!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Yuan smiled without warmth: “Da Tang and Ji are nominally sovereign and vassal, but we each serve our own masters—there is no subordination between us, General Zhao. No need for such formalities. As an official of Da Tang, I must pursue the rebels, so I cannot linger to chat. General Zhao, please be on your way.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Zhen glanced at the sea of rebel corpses, hesitated, then dared not speak the words he wanted to say, and slunk away in shame.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moments later, the main Ji army marched off. Yet many officers kept glancing back toward them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Yuan frowned slightly and said to Zhang Sheng: “Can you bring that general over? I have a few questions for him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Sheng replied coolly: “Easy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Above her head appeared an old Daoist, seated cross-legged, holding swirling black and white qi. Suddenly, the Zhao general materialized in midair, still in the posture of riding and deep in thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Zhen had just been pondering who this so-called Qingyang Military Governor might be, when suddenly the world around him twisted—his army now distant over ten li away, and he himself inexplicably suspended in midair, tumbling headfirst!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before he could summon spiritual power to protect himself, Wei Yuan caught him and steadied him: “General Zhao, don’t panic. I only wish to ask you a few questions. I noticed your troops seem deeply interested in these rebel corpses—why is that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only now did Zhao Zhen regain his wits, trembling with terror—he was a Law-Form cultivator, yet he had been snatched without a sound, unable to resist, even unaware of how he’d been brought here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now his life hung in their hands, he immediately adopted the posture of a subordinate greeting his supreme superior: “Your Excellency, you may not know—the King places great importance on suppressing this rebellion and has offered lavish rewards. Submit one rebel head, and you receive silver; one hundred heads grants promotion by one rank. These ten thousand elite heads alone would be enough for me to earn a noble title.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Heads? Wei Yuan frowned. There were many ways to verify battlefield claims: generals could carry recording orbs, or one could scan officers’ memories, or demand blood oaths—all far simpler than demanding actual heads. For convenience, cutting off thumbs or ears would be better.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was likely only one reason: the King of Ji needed heads—specifically, rebel heads.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Yuan asked a few more questions about nearby supply cities, then released Zhao Zhen. Zhao Zhen glanced at the several Law-Form high cultivators standing around Wei Yuan, shuddered, and hurried off to rejoin his army.\u003C\u002Fp>",891,"2026-06-20T03:38:38.899Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","b660cb4f07838bcb35b7dfca9fe9cca3871fbd5fffd836ac6dca8b02a7ec0813","the-dragon-lies-hidden-chapter-961","the-dragon-lies-hidden-chapter-959",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-dragon-lies-hidden-cover.jpg"]