[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-dragon-lies-hidden":3,"chapter-the-dragon-lies-hidden-the-dragon-lies-hidden-chapter-995":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},2290293,4477,"Chapter 995: Wanwu Sheng","the-dragon-lies-hidden-chapter-995",995,"\u003Cp>Above the azure sky, a flying vessel belching thick smoke hurtled down and slammed into the ground like a free-falling object, instantly shattering into pieces, spilling out hundreds of young Bao family disciples and dozens of elderly ones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, each person was protected by a divine light, suffering only minor flesh wounds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After rushing nonstop, the farthest Bao family finally arrived at the last possible moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Night was deep, yet the square blazed with lantern light; Xiaoyu sat atop the high platform, expounding the profound truth of Shaoyang’s first stirrings and ceaseless life. Below, thirty thousand Zhuanti cultivators listened, entranced—but almost none understood a word.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiaoyu did not lose heart and immediately demonstrated the true intent of Shaoyang. Of the thirty thousand Zhuanti cultivators below, nearly ten thousand were from major clans who had paid for advanced training; among them, Ji, Zhao, and Cui families, along with Zhao Li, sent the most, thanks to their proximity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Li, ruling Zhao Guo, had a vast clan and had barely participated in previous Daoji Ceremonies, so this time they sent five thousand disciples all at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among the Zhuanti cultivators, Zhao Li’s disciples occupied their own corner—men handsome, women elegant, all tall and slender, cold and haughty, standing out sharply. They naturally looked down on the odd-looking Zhuanti cultivators around them, their disdain plainly etched on their faces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many cultivators wished to befriend Zhao Li’s disciples, but seeing their icy aloofness, most dared not approach. Those bold enough—or confident in their wealth—who tried to speak were met with ruthless rebukes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several unremarkable miscellaneous cultivators, unable to bear it, snorted and shouted loudly: “What’s so great? Aren’t you just Zhuanti like us? You’d think each of you was a Daoji Ancestor!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Zhao Li disciples flew into a rage, ready to attack—but at that moment, a Daoji spiritual sense descended from above, pinning both sides motionless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing the Qingming Daoji cultivators maintaining order, the Zhao Li disciples remembered they were still merely Zhuanti, with vanishingly slim hope of advancing to Daoji—otherwise they wouldn’t have abandoned their ancestral Daoji manifestations and come to Qingming seeking opportunity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Li had sent several Fuxiang cultivators and one Yujing Duke to guard the event. At first, these high cultivators dismissed Xiaoyu’s lecture, but as they listened, their expressions gradually changed; unconsciously, they moved forward to the front rows, listening more and more intently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiaoyu’s exposition of the Shaoyang Dao was profoundly deep; even Yujing was deeply inspired, not daring to miss a single word. Unconsciously, he offered qi fortune to Xiaoyu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing their own renowned ancestral elders taking this so seriously, the Zhao Li disciples realized the lecture was no ordinary affair. They quickly focused, but within moments realized that whether they tried or not, they still couldn’t understand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An hour later, nearing midnight, Xiaoyu finished his lecture and demonstrated the Shaoyang manifestation “Wanwu Sheng” and its prerequisite Daoji, “Chenxi Weiming.” Then Weiyuan activated Shacha Zhongsheng, guiding the cultivators to comprehend the true intent of the Daoji.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the stroke of midnight, the Daoji Ceremony officially began. Within one ke, Weiyuan activated Shacha Zhongsheng three times; faint glimmers of light flickered across the square, like the first dawn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This Daoji was easiest to attain only within this one ke at midnight; beyond that, the difficulty multiplied, and even Weiyuan could not help.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of the thirty-one thousand cultivators, three thousand three hundred attained “Chenxi Weiming”—a remarkably low success rate. Yet once achieved, the chance of advancing to a Fuxiang surpassed that of a Wanhua Golden Core, with a sixty percent probability of forming a Fuxiang at the Earth Grade. Yet among all who formed the Daoji, only a hundred or so managed to reach Earth Grade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those who succeeded wept with joy; those who failed clenched their teeth, vowing to return next year and fight again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Daoji Ceremony ended smoothly, and Weiyuan suddenly sensed an extremely subtle shift in the Heavenly Dao, though he could not say what it was. At that moment, Qingming faintly resonated with the eight southern commanderies, prompting the expansion of human smoke once more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Weiyuan had stopped struggling—human smoke expansion meant slower transformation progress, pushing back Yujing’s timeline further. But human smoke was simply too vast; even Baihe True Person’s heart realm was smaller than the central city of human smoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the ceremony, most cultivators left dejected; those who succeeded were ecstatic—if not for the need to immediately stabilize their Daoji, they would have rushed straight to local taverns for all-night revelry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qingming had just launched a specialized service to stabilize Daoji for template cultivators, available only to template Daoji. The newly successful cultivators entered individual chambers and channeled spiritual power into the arrays within. The requirement was stable, uninterrupted output; the array had built-in monitoring and would alarm if the flow halted or fluctuated too wildly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All the newly initiated template cultivators were deeply curious, and the vast majority accepted the one-month Daoji stabilization training course. The fee was extremely low, and all cultivators felt Qingming was being generous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Weiyuan left the ceremony grounds first, then entered human smoke to review the follow-up reports from the eight commanderies of Jinnan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As expected, after Weiyuan’s purge of the literary circles, not only did scholars from Western Jin join the furious denunciations of Weiyuan, but those from Eastern Jin did too—and the trend was growing ever larger.\u003C\u002Fp>",895,"2026-06-20T03:38:38.899Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","977d37ab6fc01d78e4cdb150d4ca9fcce2b8e0e92a2e1db88b7942f6faea1592","the-dragon-lies-hidden-chapter-996","the-dragon-lies-hidden-chapter-994",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-dragon-lies-hidden-cover.jpg"]