When the Dragon looked at the two, they felt as though their blood had stopped flowing. Although the Dragon hadn’t introduced himself, they realized who it was. Although the bulky man only felt the suppression of aura, the young man felt the suppression of his Bloodline. Even the old farts, who had the most exalted statuses in his Clan, hadn’t ever made him feel like this. Only one person possibly could and that was what made his heart go cold.
He cupped his hands as he respectfully asked, “Would the exalted Senior be the Ancient Azure Dragon, the Founder of the Ancient Dragon Clan?” Hearing this, the bulky man’s heart also clenched. If the Dragon truly was him, they would both be in very deep trouble. The Dragon’s eyes flashed as he sized up the young man.
The archaic voice sounded out again, “Yes, I am the Ancestor of your Clan. Now then, what I would like to know is, why is such a rare gem like this in a minor world? Not only that, his Bloodline isn’t fully awakened, the Art he practises is completely incompatible with him and to top it all off, he had ingested the Crystallized Essence of the Black and White Emperor.” The Dragons words were extremely forceful as though he was holding back from slapping the young man to death. The Dragon took a deep breath as he asked, “What has happened to the Clan? I feel that the Clan still exists but I can’t even fathom to think what would need to happen for the Clan to disregard such a gem.” The young man shivered at the words.
The Ancestor hadn’t been back to the Clan for quadrillions of years. He and the Ancestors of the 3 other Ancient Clans had set up a strong protective formation that didn’t allow them to leave the spot. To maintain the Formation, they were chained down at their respective positions. All matters of their respective Clans were handled by their Descendants.
Since most of their focus was on maintaining the Formation, the rest of their focus was on cultivation or on recovering the Qi. They just didn’t have any leeway to deal with Clan matters. However, when the Ancestor felt the Soul Aura of the Black and White Emperor, he immediately let the other three know and they told him to check it out.
When he linked with Zhi through the Soul, he immediately got an overview of the things and he grew a bit of agitated. Zhi had the Primadorial Chaos Dragon body, his talent and comprehension was extremely high but because his Bloodline wasn’t awakened, his progress was quarter of what it could be.
The Bloodline Awakening could be forgiven but that he practised some Art that was completely incompatible with his Dragon Bloodline, this was something that enraged the Ancestor through and through. He had no idea what was happening in the Clan but he already wanted to slap all the people in charge silly. The young man felt his Soul quiver as he quickly told the Ancestor all of the circumstances.
He didn’t dare to withhold any details, so he told everything about Zhi’s mother, the junior generation growing habitat, the reason Zhi had the Crystallized Essence and why he was in such a place in the first place. When the young man finished explaining everything, the Dragon let out a loud enraged roar, “Those unfilial idiots. Do they want to end my Bloodline with their stupidity?!”
The Ancestor started remembering whether he had dropped his sons on the head repeatedly when they were young or not. Even though he couldn’t remember that he had done so, he felt as though he had raised up a trio of idiots. The Ancestor had done everything he could to ensure that his Bloodline survived the Calamitous Rebellion but his three sons had made such a stupid way of discovering the talents. To pit them all against each other and then foster those that survived.
Instead of the Clan prospering, it would decline very hard. Although, their Clan would have strong people, it didn’t have a lot of them. Zhi was the end result of their poor fostering regime. The one person whose talent and Bloodline was on par with the Ancestor had nearly died in a minor world.
The bulky man had been just scared stiff, he didn’t dare to even move a muscle in front of the majestic Aura of the Ancestor of the Ancient Dragon Clan. The Ancestor finally let out a sigh as he said, “You two are guarding him from the shadows right? Then you two should leave now if you don’t want him to discover you.” The two just nodded and left, they did not dare to disobey the Dragons orders.
The Ancestor knew understood from the young man’s explanation that he was currently hiding both his and Zhi’s Bloodline Aura, so all the people from the Clan wouldn’t find them. The Ancestor just sighed to this, to think that the only person who could become on par with him in the future or even possibly exceed him, was reduced into such a miserable situation in which to survive, he would have to hide like this. He couldn’t blame the young man at all for hiding. He didn’t have the strength needed to protect Zhi from the Clan, so the only thing he could do was just hide him.
The Ancestor just murmured to himself, “It will take about a million years to put on the finishing touches on the Formation, so that it can sustain itself. When the Formation is perfected, we can all go back to our Clans and clean up the messes they have created.” The old Dragon just sighed as he turned his gaze towards Zhi.
Even though his Aura of Life was weak, it was still there. If he was here in person, he would only need to flick a finger to completely heal him but since only a part of his consciousness had come here through the Soul Link, he couldn’t do practically anything. He closed his eyes to wait for Zhi to wake up. He kept dividing his mind in three: His main focus was on the Formation, second was on recovering his Qi and third was here, waiting for Zhi to wake up.
Only after 3 days had passed, did Zhi wake up from his comatose state, even opening his eyes was painful for him. Nearly all of the bones in his body had been fractured and were on the verge of breaking, his muscles were all torn, his skin was riddled with split skin, his meridians had all been torn apart and his cultivation had been thoroughly lost. When he opened his eyes, he just felt a bitter feeling in his heart.
All that hard work he had done, had been thoroughly wiped out by the two contradicting things in his body. He had passed out and entered a comatose state from the pain before the two old men materialized, so all he knew was that the Flames were incompatible with him and damaged him to this degree. When he came back this senses, the Dragon also opened his eyes as an ancient voice sounded out in the hall, “You have awakened.”
The Ancestor knew that it would be painful for Zhi to even talk, not to mention move, so he moved his body so that his face was looking straight at Zhi and when Zhi opened his eyes, he would be watching him. Zhi was startled by the Dragon but he couldn’t move an inch. The moment he tried, immense pain stopped him from trying any further. Seeing Zhi startled, the Dragon said, “You better not move at all, all of your bones are on the borderline of being fractured, your skin is completely split, your muscles are torn to shred, your meridians have been crippled. To even open your mouth to speak would bring immense pain to you.”
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Hearing this, Zhi stopped trying to move. Although, he didn’t know who or what this Dragon was, it seemed as though he didn’t want any harm to him. Hearing what the Dragon said, made Zhi realize that it was already a miracle he was still alive, however, his only path left was that of a weak mortal. When he realized this, he just let out a painful laugh as he said bitterly, “Kill me.” The Dragon’s eyes widened when he heard this. He had not expected for the first words of Zhi to be for him to kill Zhi.
The Dragon was startled but since he knew that Zhi couldn’t speak at the moment, he was put between a choice. As he pondered for a second, he grit his teeth and let the three other Ancestor’s know what he was going to do. During the past three days, he had explained the situation of his Clan to them and they all felt bitter in their hearts. They felt pity towards the Dragon because it was all thanks to him that they were able to escape the collar of the Black and White Emperor but for what, for their Clans to turn into idiots like that.
The three Ancestors just nodded and told him to do what he needs to do and they would keep the Barrier up by themselves. After apologizing to his three brothers, the Ancestor just touched Zhi’s forehead with his claw and a blinding light shone out. Suddenly, Zhi felt all the pain disappear and when he opened his eyes in surprise, he was taken a back by the grandiose sight before him.
He was currently standing in front of a giant azure palace. On top of the Palace was a giant Azure Dragon that was currently sleeping. The whole pace was very big and he just felt his scalp numb from the sight. Suddenly, an old man in blue robes appeared before him.
The man’s eyes were the same as his but with blue irises. The old man’s hair was long and it had turned grey from the passing of time. The old man seemed fickle but the majestic and oppressive aura he excluded told Zhi that his appearance had nothing to do with his strength. The old man sized up Zhi and then just sighed. The familiar voice of the Dragon echoed out as the old man opened his mouth, “Why was your first thought for me to kill you rather than to ask whether there was a way to heal your body?”
Zhi was taken a back for a second but then realized that the old man had been the Dragon. Realizing this, Zhi just relaxed and smiled bitterly as he said, “My path in cultivation is broken now. Even though there is 90% chance of regaining my mobility, my meridians are completely crippled, cutting off my path in cultivation.” He then just lowered hie head as he said with a sigh, “Not even the Heavens would be able to heal all of the damage done to my body. Even though I do not have the knowledge Senior has, even I can tell that my life was hanging by a thread and it still is.” The old man realized that he wasn’t just pessimistic or dejected, he was just being realistic.
His situation was extremely bad and to expect that some miracle to happen to him, was just a fools dream. The Ancestor was little delighted because this showed that Zhi was a practical person. He wouldn’t chase after pipe dreams or go on fools errands. Old monsters, who have lived as long as him, have grown very good at discerning juniors dispositions and their over all mentality. From a few hints, they can understand a juniors true personality, no matter how they try to hide it.
Coupled with the things he heard form the young man, he had a good grasp on Zhi’s personality and he was honestly very happy that he was someone, who didn’t have the disposition of relying on everything else to advance. Although, his environment where he grew up in, was what it was, he did not give up and surrendered himself to his fate but rather fought until the bitter end. Finally, the light shone on his life and he got out.
The old man, just lightly smiled and waved his sleeve. An invisible hand picked up Zhi and carried him to the Palace alongside the old man. When the two of them had reached their destination, Zhi was surprised to see a serene little garden. What was most interesting was that the giant Dragon that was sleeping, his head had entered the garden as well. Zhi didn’t even dare to move here but the old man walked up to the Dragon and patted it’s sleeping head. Zhi was stupefied but the old man smiled towards Zhi and said, “This is my True Form. Since I am currently in my Human Form, the True Form is sleeping.” The Old man then gestured for Zhi to sit down and when Zhi did, he sat down cross legged opposite of him.
He looked at Zhi and asked, “Even if you could not cultivate any more, why do you want me to kill you? You could just live your life out as a happy little mortal.” As the old man said so, Zhi just smiled bitterly and asked, “Why does Senior cultivate?”
This question caught the old man off guard. He couldn’t immediately answer because his reason for cultivating had changed multiple times during his long lifetime. At first, he cultivated to be able to roam around, then to escape the Black and White Emperors control. After that, his reason changed to protecting his Clan and protecting their little territory. After the Formation is set up, it is going to change again.
He pondered on this question for a while before he answered uncertainly, “I guess my reason for cultivating is to protect my family.” Zhi just smiled to that and looked up. From his sorrowful gaze, the Ancestor knew that the reason he cultivates is why he asked him to kill him. Zhi just let out a hollow laugh as he said, “My reason to cultivate was to be unfettered. I wanted to be strong enough to do what I wanted without having someone else dictate me on what to do. Since I was weak, I was thrown to a certain death place for me. I wasn’t able to protect my family.”
He just looked down and said with a cast down head, “Revenge can always be taken but it has never been my main reason to cultivate. I wanted to be free of the control of others and grasp my own fate with my own hands.” The old man was taken a back, even though he had prepared for the answer. For a junior so young to have a clear sight in front of him, this was very rare.
Zhi didn’t cultivate for revenge or for the sake of power but because he wanted to be the smith of his own fate. Zhi looked at the old man in the eye and said with resolution, “I want to live my life as I want and when I finally die, I can be happy that I lived my life like I wanted and would have no regrets with dying. So please, even though I hadn’t been able to live my life without regrets, allow me to die like I want.” The old man was now truly dumbstruck when he saw Zhi bow his head.
Zhi’s resolution made him truly feel inferior, even he wouldn’t be able to ask someone to kill him when he was crippled. He would still cling to life with a scarce hope of recovering but Zhi didn’t even think about that. He realized that the chances of him being able to recover are close to zero. So, he wouldn’t keep his hopes up with a useless pipe dram but would rather die like he wanted. The old man currently torn between two heavy choices, he knew very well, that Zhi was dead serious about this.
Although, he had a method to actually recover his body to its previous state, the price to do so was extremely high and since he couldn’t physically leave the Formation base, he couldn’t carry it out. However, Zhi was the brightest gem amongst all of his Descendants, to let him die just like this was something that he would not want to happen at all. The more he was torn between the choices, the more he cursed his three sons who he left in charge of the Clan. If they hadn’t used such an idiotic method, Zhi wouldn’t have met with such a state.
Finally, the old man just sighed and asked, “If I said that I have a method to allow you to cultivate again, would you be interested?” Hearing this, Zhi’s eyes went wide as he asked suspiciously, “What method?” Zhi knew that there methods to reform the body and raise a person’s cultivation talent.
The Nirvana Rebirth was one such method but to use it, one had to fill very strict requirements and had to be at least at the Primadorial God Realm. Even though Zhi had a method to reform the body, he couldn’t just use it.
The old man grit his teeth and said, “Until now, you have tempered the body of you Human Form. This has caused your True Form to slumber more heavily as the Human Form suppresses it.” He took a breath before he said with resolution, “Your Dragon Bloodline is in deep sleep and although it would take a huge price to awaken it, when it successfully awakens, it will reform your body. If we couple it with the right cultivation Art’s, your progress would be ten if not twenty times faster.”
Hearing this Zhi’s eyes opened as wide as carriage wheels.