His first plan of acting like a benevolent senior had gone down the drain when the three young masters decided to send one to fight him. He then moved onto plan B where he would try acting offended.

When everything was said and done he wanted to teleport out as it would give him an excuse. Now he was going with plan C as apparently, he was now closely related to the ancestor that created this empire.

He did not think that this ancestor would wield golden flames like the ones that he had created to show off. From how things looked the ancestor should just have a deeper bluish color, how could he know that the ancestors ‘Azure Flames’ had a tint of gold. Soon he would discover how the golden flames played into all of this.

“There were two ancestors?”

“Yes, most of our clan members are unaware of this fact but the first emperor had a brother.”

“A brother?”

“That’s right, both of them were instrumental in establishing this empire, he went by the name of Aurulent Dragon.”

“Aurulent?”

Zhang Dong just kept repeating some of those talking points while he and Long Qing sat around in a new room. After the debacle with his three children, he produced the golden flames. These flames apparently were proof that he possessed some kind of offshoot bloodline that didn’t belong to their prime ancestor but his blood-related brother.

They have shifted into some kind of cript looking place with some murals on the walls. Even though he could tell that these walls were thousands of years old, the rocks were imbued with spiritual energy. The writings could be read and they depicted the last war in which the Azure Dragon empire was created.

Long Qing was more than happy to clue him in after the golden flames were manifested. This area also had some kind of defensive mechanism that would only allow the current Azure Emperor to wander unchecked. The only reason that he was apparently able to come in was because he was of the bloodline of the other ancestor.

Zhang Dong could not believe that such a coincidence could be even possible. Did that Aurulent Dragon person manage to sire some offspring before he died? Did they mix with the other Long Clan members or something? Then he was supposed to be someone with an extremely pure bloodline to manifest these golden flames?

This all sounded like a bad plotline in a novel. He had been turned into a chosen one that had no reason to exist. This was truly something that someone else could have come up with. The scenario was forcing this world to even react to the cultivation method that he chose all those years ago. Perhaps if he went with the purple flame variant the ancestor would have been the Dragon Pimp?

“Wait, so this ancestor sacrificed himself in the battle of the empires?”

“Regretfully so, the great Azure Dragon ancestor created this clan so that we would be prepared for the next war between the empires. The old text states that he was immensely worried that we would not be able to turn the tide without anyone to take his brother's mantle, but now you are here, victory is now assured!”

His new ‘brother’ was very enthusiastic about him being here. It was clear that he wholeheartedly believed in the old prophecies that the ancestors have left behind. Zhang Dong knew that those were probably all something the administrators of this world had put in place.

He wasn’t even sure if something like a great war between the empires even took place. This depended if the people that made these worlds could alter the memories of people living in them.

The only thing he could base a theory on was the Demon Lord from the other world that he faced. That one wanted to eradicate the whole population of the planet to start anew. IF that was the case then they probably couldn’t alter people’s minds that easily.

This was a big relief as he was worried that there could be a time where his own family could turn against him. It seemed that it was better to kill everyone to start anew, these administrators could have a lesser grasp on these worlds than he might have thought.

“Is there more detail on the war? Any battle records of the forces our ancestors faced?”

While walking and looking at the murals Zhang Dong decided to play along. He couldn’t totally trust the Azure Emperor just yet but he needed some help for the coming war.

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“Most of them have been lost, I don’t know what or who will come through those bridges but I don’t think it will be a simple enemy…”

The Azure Emperor moved his head down while talking, it was clear that he had been worried about this coming war. Zhang Dong could relate as he knew how stressful the position of a leader was. So many lives depended on him, one wrong order could cause thousands of people to perish.

It was no wonder that he was so energetic when talking to his newfound brother. He was probably a person that from the Azure Emperor’s perspective could share the load with him. The second dragon had appeared to help him in the coming battle. By the logic of this world, this was a sign that the heavens were on this empire’s side.

Zhang Dong had the urge to give the Azure Emperor a pat on the back but he didn’t really know him that well yet. For the time being, he needed to use this chance to gain more strength, and what better way, than to ask for some treasures?

“Is this the crypt where the ancestors are resting?”

“Ah yes.”

Long Qing snapped out of it and pointed to two statues that were standing at the end of this huge area. The two were about ten meters tall and reached all the way up to the ceiling. They depicted two cultivators that had similar facial features and both of them had dragon engravings on their robes.

Below these statues were two large coffins that could probably fit at least three people into them. When he looked at them Zhang Dong noticed that one was a lot dustier. It was clear that the clean one had been used, probably opened up.

“Those are…”

“As you have noticed already, there are no bodies in these coffins, instead the legacies for both the Azure Emperor and his brother were hidden inside.”

“So, that one was the Azure ancestor… so this one it…”

“Yes, that one belongs to the Aurulent Dragon, just like the one I opened it will only react to a person that is a direct descendant.”

The legacy of the Azure Emperor was already pillaged from that coffin. Perhaps it was some kind of secret cultivation manual, or maybe some weapon that was placed there.

“After the current Azure Emperor’s death, the contents of the coffin will return to their resting place and wait for the new Azure Emperor to appear.”

Long Qing continued with a story that made this quite the peculiar treasure. He had never heard of ones that teleported back to the place they were found when their user perished. If he had time he would have liked to take this coffin home to examine its secrets. With his knack for crafting he might be able to create something similar for his own clan members.

“Now brother please, place your hand on the dragon symbol.”

Zhang Dong’s attention was brought over to a handprint. Around this handprint was a coiling dragon eating its own tail. The dragon was made from pure gold while the rest of the coffin consisted of some rare spirit minerals.

“Place my hand there…”

Long Qing nodded, his eyes were glistening with anticipation. It was funny as the Azure Emperor was a lot more interested in this coffin than Zhang Dong was. This probably was just a locking mechanism that would scan him.

“Bob, see if you can open this coffin up if there are some problems…”

He was convinced that this coffin was reserved for him when he was the original system owner. This system had gone through a few changes so it might reject him now. This would probably cause a lot of confusion and more problems if he would not be able to access the last part of the golden dragon legacy. It would also throw a wrench into his future plans.

‘I hope this isn’t some elaborate trap…’

Zhang Dong narrowed his eyes while looking at the coffin. He knew that there were some strange formations on it but they were above his expertise. This was truly something above the nascent soul level.

It was a bit late to run now. If he didn’t get the help of the Long Clan the coming war would be hard on his sect and children. This would have been too much of an elaborate setup to just trap him so he didn’t think the Azure Emperor was trying to pull a fast one on him. Thus he did place his hand on the marking and got ready for it.

“Hm…?”

Nothing happened so he looked back at Long Qing that was standing right next to him with a smile on his face.

“Oh, you need to activate your bloodline technique brother Dong.”

“Ah yes… I knew that, was only testing you, brother Qing...”

He turned towards his palm and slowly produced the golden flames that he created previously. His palm started glowing and soon the whole coffin produced a magnificent light.

“... connected to old system lock... “

“... error … unable to produce key…”

“... please wait, attempting to recreate the key from old code…”

Bob started talking to him while he was trying to act naturally. The glowing symbols on the coffin started shining brightly but the moment he wasn’t able to produce the ‘key’ the glow started to die down.

The moment it did he could hear the Azure Emperor behind him gasping out in shock. This was probably an indication that he had failed in opening the lock. Luckily for him, his Ai program didn’t let him down this time around and the bright glow returned.

“...a copy of the key has been recovered, uploading data…”

The whole room started to shine brightly and the statue that was above the coffin began to move. It started to open up its eyes while its head moved down to look at him. A bright ray of light descended on him soon after as he felt strong spiritual energy seeping into him.

The golden core that he had created while reaching his new realm started reacting. This light was a surge of very pure holy energy which also carried some kind of hidden technique. Through Bob, he was able to receive it while also managing to increase his cultivation by a small step forward.

Soon the radiant glow subsided while he leaned back from the coffin. When he did a few clicking sounds caught his ear, the closed treasure chest was opening up to reveal its contents to him...