During this entire process, Lionel could hardly control his shaking. However, oddly, this gave him a sense of relief.
Unlike Ri, Madeleine and Dyon’s Demon Generals, all of whom were certain that Dyon was in control of his own body, Lionel did not have that kind of understanding. To him, Chenglei and Evelyn, they all pieced together what they thought was the truth.
The reason Dyon survived. The reason he was such a genius. The reason he thwarted their plans again and again. Was all because he was never truly Dyon to begin with. All of this time he was some ancient entity.
This was why none of them dared to breathe out a single word… Just like the Daiyu Ancestor, they were fooled…
Dyon’s presence and his talent, were simply too overwhelming for them to accept any other explanation.
There was no evidence more conclusive to them than the fact Dyon could withstand this pressure.
What they didn’t know was that Dyon had been dealing with such pressure all his life. From his father, to General Mace, to his Uncle. None of them had martial talent, but they cultivated in other ways. They sharpened their senses, refined their discipline, molded their spirits. No matter how much Dyon hated General Mace to his core, there was no doubting that all three of those men would stand at the top of the martial world had it not been for the entity.
But, now Dyon had surpassed them.
As a child, he was already capable of ignoring their presence. But now? With his Heaven’s Blessing multiplied hundreds of folds? This ten-meter tall man meant nothing to him.
The ancestor seemed to be having trouble holding in his anger. In fact, if Dyon didn’t know he was a dragon, that shade of red would have likely been unhealthy.
“How could the last viable successor of our clan become a slave? That’s no different than our family ending right now.”
Dyon shrugged. “For a prideful dragon, that would indeed be the case. But, you have to earn the right to have pride in this world. Who are the Daiyu in front of me?” Those last words came out in a low growl. It contained such a deep arrogance that the ancestor was stunned.
The tattoos on Dyon’s back glowed, causing a tingling sensation to catch his attention – almost as though wings were threatening to burst from his back.
Although Dyon ignored it for now, he had a faint understanding of why this happened. His humanoid manifestation was arrogant to its core to the point where it disdained the Soul Tome naming it. In this situation, even though Dyon’s soul was sealed, his manifestation had already caused a physical change to him. If that wasn’t the case, these tattoos would never have carved out a place for themselves in his skin.
“It should be your Daiyu clan’s pride to serve me in this life. When this body has run its course, maybe you’ll be lucky enough for me to never bother with you again.”
The ancestor could only bury his feelings. A martial expert on the level of the Dragon King was guaranteed to step into the peak transcendent realm. Even if the “meat sack” he chose was of poor talent, with the Dragon King’s knowledge, how could he not know of hundreds of ways to improve such a thing? Plus, with his faith seed attached, there was an innate advantage. Couple this with the fact he wouldn’t be handicapped by his own faith seed, and as long as he wasn’t killed, it was assured…
Normally, faith seeded geniuses might fall into the habit of relying too much on their faith seed and stall their growth. However, how could the Dragon King have this problem if he was using his own? It was simply not a hurdle he needed to worry about.
This made every time the Dragon King pseudo-reincarnated like this, even easier than the last.
Someone who’s completed the foundation stage can already live hundreds of years. Because of the purification of their organs, it wouldn’t be surprising to live to 500 years old.
Someone who’s stepped into the essence gathering stage can already live to be 2000 years old, without issue. Depending on their progression, should they be stuck at this level, they could even live to be 3000.
A saint could live to be 5000 years old.
A celestial? 10 000 years old.
However, dao formation is where martial experts begin to break into astounding levels. Even a first stage dao formation expert can live to be 100 000 years old. And for each additional stage? Another 100 000 years is added to the total.
This not only showed the sheer difference between the quality of celestial vs enigmatic energy, it also showed just how difficult reaching new levels became as you progressed. Because even with this much time, those who reached transcendence could be considered a drop in a bucket the size of the cosmos. Even worse, those reaching even the peak of dao formation, although not as rare, was an anomaly in its own right.
Unfortunately, there was no known age limit increase for half transcendence. Some said at this point you would already be immortal. While others said there was no benefit at all except for taking a step closer to true transcendence.
All this was to say that it would be more than a million years until the Daiyu might have a chance at freedom. And who knows if Chenglei might piss off the Dragon King one day and die without any descendants at all?
And yet, when those spectating thought the ancestor might finally fold, his large hand reached for the foggy door behind his back. In the next instant, treasures the likes of which Dyon had never seen flooded out with a coffin so large that it covered the sun in the skies.
Many couldn’t believe what they were seeing. In fact, maybe on Dyon continued to maintain a deadpan expression, as though this was how things should be.
Chenglei’s mouth opened and closed. But in the end, he didn’t dare to say a word. Even if he had the thought to, the pressure the ancestor was weighing down on everything right now would have tore his words into nothingness.
Minutes passed by as the flow of treasures just seemed without end.
The ancestor even brought out hundreds of other coffins, opening them up one by one and taking out their valuables. In fact, under Dyon’s gaze, he grit his teeth and left the coffins themselves as well. How could the materials used to bury such experts be mediocre?
However, the ancestor did feel a bit better about this. In his eyes, if he had to sacrifice for the good of the clan, they had to sacrifice too.
Dyon thought he was rich before, but clearly not. He might have been for this pitiful universe, but the Ragnors quite literally used essence gathering stones as their cement. As for the Daiyu? Their wealth wasn’t exaggerated.
Dyon saw endless piles of energy stones, each one transcendent! In fact, there were even a few thousand Enigmatic stones as well!
At the peak of energy stones, all three of dao, transcendent and enigmatic energy stones were filled with enigmatic energy. The difference between them was in quality. And there was no doubt that true enigmatic stones were a cut above the rest.
But, it didn’t end with energy stones. Countless blood red stones began to pile atop the energy stones. Dyon had no idea what they were, but he couldn’t allow confusion to color his features. Not now.
Luckily, the Dragon King sensed his confusion.
“Those are stones capable of holding essence of reverse scales. Normal beasts and humanoid creatures have blood essence to represent your body cultivation. However, Dragons have a secondary ability atop of this. This is where our Dragon Soul ability comes from and why I said I couldn’t teach it to you. The stronger the bloodline of the dragon, the stronger their reverse scale, and the more overbearing their sovereign path and Dragon Soul domain become.”
This left Dyon with more questions, though. Why would something like this be in a tomb?
“It is the tradition of Dragons to fight amongst each other. Whether that be our own clans, or against other clans.
“When a dragon is defeated, the winner is allowed to take the reverse scale of his or her opponent. Being buried with it is a direct representation of the prestige of a Dragon in life.”
‘Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to absorb it to make your own Dragon Soul stronger? With this many, I’d imagine even you might benefit.’
The Dragon King scoffed, the disdain in his voice clear. “Even if my original body absorbed all of those with 100% efficiency, my Dragon Soul would hardly move even a percent of a percent of a percent forward.”
Dyon was stunned, although he didn’t show it outwardly. There were millions of reverse scales here. In fact, considering these were all collected by Daiyu ancestors, how could they be weak?
“You cannot fathom the amount of reverse scales needed to improve your Dragon Soul. You’re essentially trying to defy the heavens by forcing it to give you more talent and more destiny. That’s what a Dragon Soul represents.
“Those crystals are the lowest of the low. They just barely qualify to be called Dragons instead of Lizards. They’re ranked as bronze level Dragon Souls. Even a billion of them might not be worth the next rank: silver.
“This is why they didn’t bother to absorb them. It would do nothing for them. They’d rather display it as a badge for themselves.
“The only reason he’s presenting them to you, or I guess me, is because he knows I wouldn’t have my reverse scale in this form.”
Dyon’s brow furrowed. ‘Then why can you use Dragon Soul?’
“That was hardly my true Dragon Soul. That was only a sliver left behind in my faith seed. Didn’t you notice that that so-called Elder Daiyu formed a bigger and stronger domain? That wasn’t only because of the limitations of your soul. It’s also the limitation of this form of mine.”
‘So all this means that I can absorb these scales?’
“If you don’t mind becoming the enemy of the entire Drago-Qilin quadrant. If even a single dragon senses you, there may be problems.”
‘I’ll just pretend to be you again.’
The Dragon King remained silent. That was indeed a good solution. But, it wasn’t as though the Dragon King was devoid of enemies… And considering his status, those willing to be enemies with him were much stronger than the Daiyu.
Dyon seemed to understand this, but he hardly cared. If no one provoked him, he would leave it be. But, if anyone did, if it meant having to burn an entire quadrant to ashes, he would do it.
Dyon would never forget that his little brother had a name to make for himself in the Drago-Qilin lands. What kind of elder brother would he be if he didn’t help put the Demon Qilins in their place for disrespecting his martial uncle?
Thinking that thought, Dyon realized that although Little Black was half celestial deer, he would likely have a reverse scale given by his qilin lineage. Dyon couldn’t help but wonder what level Dragon Soul his little brother was given.
‘Then Dragon King, what rank is your Dragon Soul?’ Dyon asked curiously, still watching the endless treasures pile up.
A proud harrumph resounded in Dyon’s mind. “King level of course.”
Although Dyon didn’t understand just what that meant now, the truth was that in the history of Dragons, less than a few hundred had reached this level.
In addition, it wasn’t a rank given by luck. Through birth, the highest possible Dragon Soul ranking was Gold. To reach King, the very next level, there was only one way: Kill. Kill. Kill.
However, Dyon couldn’t help but ask. “Is that the highest level?”
Dyon knew that, objectively speaking, the Dragon King was among the top ten talents to ever be born to the Drago-Qilin lands. In all likelihood, King was in fact the highest level. However, the true answer shocked Dyon.
“No. Although I was a sliver away from reaching the next level, I never did. But, even if I had, that wouldn’t be the final one.”
There was a reason the Dragon King named himself as such. If it was truly just about arrogance, why wouldn’t he call himself Dragon Emperor, or Dragon Sovereign, or Dragon God?
The truth of the matter was that there were already Dragons by those titles. Dragons with stronger reverse scales than the Dragon King.
It wasn’t the Dragon King’s fault, though. To reach the next level of Dragon Soul, one could only devour King level reverse scales. By the time it was the Dragon King’s era, there were simply too few and even Gold reverse scales did nothing for him.
The only option would be to enter the tombs of those three entities who had long since transcended, but whereas acquiring the Dragon King’s weapon was made easy on purpose. Entering those tombs was nothing short of suicide. Even for the Dragon King.
For a tomb in the mortal plane to make a half transcendent fear death… One could only imagine the sheer scale.
The next things to fly out of the tombs were weapons. Although Dragons often fought in their beast forms, that didn’t mean they weren’t adept with weapons. Or else why would the Dragon King make himself one to lure them?
Dyon was once again shocked, there were thousands of transcendent level weapons. Although the celestial deer sect had left hundreds for Dyon, that was only the few that survived being in the hidden room. They were the best the celestial deer sect had to offer, so there was no surprise that many of them were moon level.
Much of these Daiyu weapons were only comet level, but there were tens of thousands of them! Dyon could give each of his demon generals a weapon of that level and raise their strength by another level.
In addition, just what would happen if Dyon distributed the reverse scales instead of using them for himself? What would it be like if an entire army unleashed a collective Dragon Soul domain? That was something he’d love to see.
Dyon’s keen eyesight caught on to a few dozen moon level weapons. But, in the entire pile, there was not a single supreme level weapon. It could be understood by this point the leap that single barrier in level needed.
However, the Daiyu didn’t disappoint Dyon too much, because in the next instant, three resplendent treasures flew out of the tombs, but there was one in particular that took Dyon’s attention. Even the real Dragon King awoke from his brooding to look at it.
Although Dyon didn’t know what it did, it gave off a very familiar aura… An aura of a weapon of the 33 heavens. What he didn’t know was that it wasn’t of the soul kind. No. It was among the 11 of the body cultivation category.
Dyon could see the pained expression of the ancestor, but, he said nothing. He knew that the ancestor didn’t dare to leave anything behind. Even if he did, what would be the point? Dyon would just torture Chenglei until he told him where the tombs were located, then he could just take anything hidden. In addition, because the ancestor broke his word then, why would the Dragon King keep his? He couldn’t afford to take the risk.
In the end, the Daiyu Holy Land became a barren place where starch white skeletons lay side by side. Once might warriors… now even the clothes on their backs gone in death…
Just as the ancestor was about to fuse with his body for the final time and leave these affairs, Dyon spoke out again.
“Burn your soul and convert it to bodily strength, if you would. Would be a waste for your soul to simply dissipate.”
This was a large part of the reason why Dyon was only interested in this ancestor’s corpse. He was the last the Daiyu had, which mean the others had long since decomposed and no longer had the energy Dyon needed. So, why take them? Although Dragon bones were good and useful too, Dyon had no need for the marrow they provided. The Daiyu bloodline wasn’t good enough for his veins.
Surprisingly, the ancestor agreed without so much as a word. It was as though he had resigned to his fate. Whether he died sooner, or later, what did it matter?
The ancestor became illusory before slowly fusing into his coffin. There was nothing for a moment, but then a blazing white flame could be seen from its edges. Minutes passed in silence as Dyon leisurely took up everything into his spatial ring, leaving behind only the coffin as ancestor fulfilled his final task for the Daiyu. In truth, his sacrifice would bring him much good karma. But, that didn’t make his pride feel any better.
Dyon had a mind to take the coffin into his ring too, just to prevent problems. But, spatial rings didn’t accept living things, and the one ring of his that did, had too many people he cared about within. He couldn’t allow even the slightest chance of the Daiyu ancestor’s presence hurting them. Plus, he needed the Daiyu elder’s consent to send him into the ring, and it would seem like an oddly panicky move. Doing too much at these final stages would only be a detriment.
As long as everything could stay quiet and the ancestor could silently commit suicide, they would finally be safe for the first time in forever.
And yet, it was at this moment, that the worst possible thing that could happen, did. In any other context, Dyon would have been elated. But now?… His facial features could only darken…
Massive booms rang out from the formation that covered the Belmont Holy Land. Dyon didn’t know who it was, but someone was breaking down the formation, and they were mere moments from succeeding.
Was this good?… Dyon didn’t know… How would the ancestor react? With how powerful his soul was in life, he still had a minute of life left. That was enough to wipe them all out – he was a dao formation expert who burned his soul for more power! It would be as easy as breathing for him to do so!
If anyone who entered made the wrong move while misunderstanding the situation, they could reveal Dyon’s identity. And that was true for whether these were friends, or foes…
In a case like that… They were all doomed…