As the Dragon looked at Zhi and the people working on him, all he could was sigh. He had been in the middle of nowhere, completely cut off from the rest of population for the past few quadrillion years, a lot of things can happen in that time period but to see so many people specializing in Healing Arts, who also have such a high cultivation, was something that baffled him. Usually, only Clans that specialized in Healing Arts had so many Sovereign and Paragon level people who specialized in Healing Arts.

For normal Clans and Sects, it was already good fortune to have one. Only a few hours passed and Zhi was already in a state in which he could move around. Although there were still around 10 people always there, the Dragon said, “Now I truly feel like an old relic.” Everyone froze and turned towards the Dragon. They had all thought that he was part of Zhi and didn’t have a consciousness of his own. However, hearing him talk suddenly like that, made everyone go on alert as they pointed their weapons towards the Dragon. Zhi immediately said, “Stand down, he is not an enemy.”

After Zhi said so, everyone looked at the Dragon with suspicion but still decided to follow the order. Even though Zhi hadn’t interacted with the people from Dragon Cross a lot, the seniors had all submitted. Zhi’s rules were lax enough not to demand much but they at the same time dealt with most of the loopholes.

Usually, Clans focused on fostering on the juniors that showed talent but here everyone was equal. How much was invested in you was equal to how much you yourself contributed. Dragon Cross had stabilized from the influx of people and now there were several different Halls.

For example, Pill Hall, Artefact Hall, Array Hall and so on. Each Hall specialized on one thing and they didn’t have any leeway to discriminate others. Zhi had accumulated a lot of different Forging methods, Pill concoction formulas and so on, to get access to them, they needed to use contribution points. To get more contribution points, you need to finish tasks for Dragon Cross.

These tasks varied from escort missions to practically babysitting missions. The currency amongst Dragon Cross members was contribution points and with them you could buy anything you needed. Since everything was proportionate to the effort put in, they had no time to throw their weight around as they always had something they had their eye on and needed to get enough contribution points to get it.

You had to give the 4 Island Lords credit for establishing an effective system so quickly and they constantly worked on it to eliminate loopholes that could be used or such. All of the seniors knew that all of the things that they work for came from Zhi. If Zhi had decided to go reclusive and pick certain individuals to be disciples and develop like that, they would not even had any chances to even hear of the wondrous methods Zhi had put out.

From the different Arts and other formulas, their own insights skyrocketed. This allowed many of them to make a breakthrough in their cultivation base or deepen their proficiency in Artefact Forging or Pill Concocting. Although all the Arts and things were still divided so that juniors won’t try to over reach, they were divided by the Tribulations.

Since under the First Tribulation you can’t cultivate the Soul, there was no need to put the Soul Arts in front of the Juniors. Even though the old man was borrowing Zhi’s Dragon Soul to be here, he could still use his Soul Sense to inspect the Island. The deeper he inspected it, the more astonished he was. There were still some things he couldn’t inspect like the Storage or special Concocting rooms or Forging rooms.

Usually Alchemists and Artificers needed to fully focus on their tasks, if someone started spying on them, they would lose their focus and the Concocting or Forging process may fail because of that. The old Dragon just sighed as he said to Zhi, “I would have never thought that you would obtain the Lost Capital of the Black and White Emperor. Also, you seem to have accumulated a lot of the Arts that were lost in the Calamitous Rebellion.”

All of the Seniors present just tilted their heads in confusion but Zhi asked, “All of these things were found in the Ancient Battlefield. Did a lot of Arts get lost in the Rebellion?” The Dragon looked at him and said, “The war encompassed over a hundred different Powers on each side. Most Sects and Clans that took part in the war were destroyed or had their base destroyed and they scattered. Their Legacies and Core Arts were lost or became fragmented.”

The Dragon just shook his head but Zhi nodded with enlightenment, the more the old man talked, the more he learned about the history. After he compared his accumulated Arts to the ones that his subordinates used to use, he couldn’t help but feel that they were very lacking. Even if he had accumulated only the Core Arts and such, the general level of cultivation should be higher. After the Seniors had finished with patching up Zhi, they left.

But all of them kept their Soul Senses to keep an eye on the situation. Since Zhi had lost all of his cultivation, he couldn’t feel it but the old man could. He just smiled and said, “Well, seems like you have fine subordinates that are ready to intervene even if they know they are going to die.” Zhi understood the meaning behind the old man’s words and just let out a hollow laugh, “Well, to them I am practically a Saviour. 90% of the people on the Island are from this World and before I came here, their only option left was to run and hide or they would be enslaved.” Hearing this, the old man nodded thoughtfully.

He understood well that this kind of strong power was not something that could be built up on just wanting. The Founder needed to have sufficient resources, like Zhi did, and the subordinates needed to wholeheartedly want to be here to make it work. Otherwise there would be a lot of problems with different factions fighting over benefits. When all of the Healers had left, only Zhi, the old man, Fanghong and Long Clan Ancestor were left there.

These two eyed the Dragon intently, Fanghongs hand was on his sword to draw it on a moments notice. Long Clan’s Ancestor was gripping his azure spear. Seeing the two act like the Dragon was their life long nemesis, Zhi just laughed bitterly as he said, “Whatever you two do, don’t attack it. It is still my Soul that the Senior is borrowing. If you attack it, you would be attacking me.” Hearing this, the two didn’t know what to do.

If the Dragon decided to attack Zhi, they would have no way to protect him. The Dragon just let out a merry laugh as he adjusted his position, “You truly are blessed my little friend. To have so many people to lay down their lives for you is very rare. I guess it is true what they say.” As the Dragon said that, he turned a bit thoughtful. Zhi tilted his head and asked, “What is true?” The old man just let out a bitter laugh as he said, “There is no love in the Royal Family.”

Although, this sentence superficially was aimed at the Royal Families, it’s deeper meaning was something that applied to every Power. The more Prestigious a Sect or Clan was, the more they would have infighting for power. A situation in which there would be a lot of people still unified under the ruler and still be loyal like Zhi’s, was hard.

Zhi’s own cultivation had been a lot lower than all of those people previously. Now, he was completely crippled and had no cultivation whatsoever but people still didn’t try to kill him but tried to do their best to heal him. Had Zhi been the Founder of an Ancient Clan or Sect, the moment he became crippled, all of the Elder’s would have been fighting over his position. Loyalty was a thing easily given but rarely held.

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After Zhi thought about the old man’s words for a bit, he tried to stand to. Even though his body had been tempered to the maximum, he felt incredibly weak right now. As he swayed after standing up, he suddenly lost his balance and fell forward. Since Fanghong and the Long Ancestor had been vigilant towards the Dragon, they were a second too slow to react. The Dragon however, had been focused on Zhi this whole time, so the moment he started falling, he immediately propped the Dragon Soul in front of him to keep him from falling over.

The old man just said, “Take it easy. You had nearly died before, you are currently too weak. You should recover a bit before we start doing anything.” As Zhi leaned on the Dragon Soul, Zhi smiled as he said, “Let’s go take a look of the Storage. In the time I recover, I can start formulating a plan to search for the things I am missing. The Dragon thought for a second and then nodded his head.

Just as Zhi was about to push himself up from leaning on the Dragon, the Dragon just picked him up and put him on his back. This baffled all three of them present and the Dragon said, “I advise you not to move at all. I will move you around, you just give me the directions.” Zhi just chuckled as he said, “Is this allowed, for a crippled junior to sit on the back of an Exalted Azure Dragon and treat it like mount? If a word of this got out, you would lose quite a lot of face.”

The Dragon just snorted, “Face can go fuck itself. This is your Dragon Soul to begin with, I am just borrowing it. As for this getting out, let it. I couldn’t hold my head up high if I made a junior who was thoroughly crippled a few hours ago walk on his own.” Hearing this, Zhi just smiled.

He had taken quite a liking to this old man. He was someone that didn’t put on airs even though Zhi was a junior. All that mattered to the old man was that he was his descendant, it didn’t matter that he was a very, very distant one.

Zhi just smiled as he asked, “Hey old timer, what is the real reason behind you helping me? Although, I don’t doubt you helping me because of your principles, I feel as though that is not all there is to it.” The Dragon just sighed as he followed Zhi’s directions towards the Storage. He just said to Zhi, “Your Bloodline is something on par with me. Your Talent and comprehension is also something that far outstrips any so called “Genius”. To top it all off, you have a firm heart and incredible will. I know that you wouldn’t come back to the Clan with me, when I get out but I don’t want us to be enemies.”

Zhi understood the meaning. It seemed as though the old man saw him as a gem that could one day become someone very strong. Even though he was his Clansmen by Blood, he knew that Zhi didn’t have a good opinion on the Clan. So, the best thing to do was at least make friends with him so that they wouldn’t end up as enemies.

Zhi just smiled, “Are you afraid that when I get strong enough I would fight against your Clan?” The Dragon was silent for a while but then just sighed, “Yes, I am. Even though I can’t lead the Clan myself at the moment, the people left in charge were still chosen by me. For the Clan to decline to this state can be blamed on my poor judgement.”

Zhi just smiled as he said, “Don’t worry if you can help me cultivate again, it is the same as saving my life. I am not the type of a person that repays kindness with enmity.” The old man heard those words and was actually quite relieved. He didn’t let it show and didn’t say anything else because they had reached a giant black door. Zhi turned to Fanghong and said, “Dad, inside my Spacial Ring is the Command Medallion that will open the path. It is the black one.”

Fanghong and Long Ancestor had been trailing behind the two all this time and hearing what Zhi said, Fanghong just nodded as he took his Spacial Ring and bound it. He took out the black medallion Zhi spoke of and then unbound the Ring. Just as he was about to put the ring back on Zhi’s finger, Zhi said, “Keep it for now. There are a lot of precious things there and I currently don’t have any strength to protect it.” Hearing this, everyone were surprised but Fanghong soon just nodded his head as he put the Unbound Spacial Ring in his own. He made no plans to take away Zhis’s hard earned resources.

Such deep trust in one another made the Dragon even more baffled. As they entered the Storage, everyone’s mouths were agape. Not even the old man was an exception. He looked towards Zhi with a stupefied eyes as he asked, “Exactly how long did you spend inside that place?” Zhi just smiled and said, “As I am told, about ten years.” The Dragon just looked at the vast collection of resources that were stored there and asked again, “Are you sure it wasn’t ten thousand years? Because there is no way in Seven Hells, you can accumulate this kind of a Foundation with just ten years.”

The Dragon just shook his head as he refused to believe what Zhi had told him. The Storage Zhi had here was something that rivalled his before he left the Clan. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it even exceeded his. For someone to tell him that he collected all of these resources with only 10 measly years, it was a slap in any Ancient Clans face who boasted about their deep foundation and rich resources. Zhi’s resources were on par with any Ancient Clan or Ancient Sect. Hearing the old man say so, Zhi could only let out a hollow laugh.

He diverted the subject by asking, “Can you see around if any of the things needed are here?” The old man also came out of his trance as he spread out his Soul Sense. The more he looked through the accumulated resources, the more helpless he felt.

Zhi had everything from Top Grade Artefacts to Top Grade Pills and Arts. To try and give him benefits was like a beggar flaunting before a rich man with a gold coin. Soon his face was painted with astonishment as he said to Zhi, “You have all the things needed. What is even better is that they are all Top Quality and if you used the best ones available, you can even boost your Bloodline.”

The old man just sighed as he said, “Forget about using my blood to awaken the Bloodline, even if you used my Essence Blood, the effect would be inferior.” This was something that made the old man truly feel miserable. Zhi was someone with unlimited future and to have friendly relations with him, he wanted to help him out as best as he could. He wasn’t lowering the value of his Essence Blood by saying so but the Herbs and Pills Zhi had were just too good.

If they had been of High Quality, he could have still accepted it but every single thing needed was of Top Quality and it was the best of the best. He just couldn’t compete with that.

The Dragon stretched out his hand and the things needed flew to his hand. He looked at Zhi and said, “If we tried to awaken your Bloodline right now, it would be fatal to you. How about we awaken it in a month, when you are completely healed?” Zhi nodded to this, he wasn’t completely suicidal so he decided to follow the old man’s advice

. The old man brought the things in front of Fanghong and said, “These are the things needed for the Awakening. You can store them so we don’t have to come looking for them again.” Fanghong looked at Zhi and only when he saw him nod did he collect the things into his Spacial Ring. The Dragon just looked at Fanghong and Long Ancestor and said, “Your talent and Bloodline thickness isn’t bad. You could easily reach the Origin realm and beyond.” With that he closed his eyes and two globes of light manifested in his Dragon Claw.

He opened his eyes and said, “These two Arts are the Arts completely compatible with your Dragon Bloodline. If you train in them, you will be stronger.” The two looked at the Globes in suspicion and then looked at Zhi. Zhi was the only one who knew something of the Dragon, the other didn’t know anything.

Zhi tilted his head as he asked, “Isn’t this a bit too precious?” The old Dragon just sighed, “I can feel that they are of my Bloodline. In the Clan, these Arts are the Core, they must be practised. When I inspected the Island before I discovered a whole Clan full of people with the Dragon Bloodline but didn’t practise the Dragon Arts.”

The old man just sighed even deeper as he said, “Before I left, I made it mandatory for everyone in the Clan to practise in these Arts. Now I discovered that these Arts have become somewhat of a prize for the most Talented. Completely the opposite of what I had intended, so I will pass the Arts to you so you can distribute them and also upgrade your Combat Strength.” Zhi didn’t know whether to be happy or not.

Finally, he accepted only because the old man had said that Dragon Arts would make those of the Dragon Bloodline more powerful and at the same time, it would help them cultivate faster. When all of this was done, it was time for the Dragon to head back to his own body and continue to perfect the Formation.

After they said their goodbyes, the Dragon Soul that was no longer maintained by the old man, went back to Zhi’s body.