Yefutidaolu

Chapter 366 Meeting
Dansha held the warm, smooth body of the furnace in his hands, feeling the faint warmth on his fingertips.

Her talent for cultivation was indeed not top-notch among the true dragons. She knew very well that her inclusion among the eight dragon maidens who "offered greetings and offered incense" largely depended on her exceptionally beautiful appearance.

However, when it comes to appearance, five parts are natural and five parts are made up. Even if you are a naturally beautiful woman, if you make yourself look sloppy, you certainly won't look very good.

Therefore, at this moment she had to maintain the gorgeous and elaborate palace dress that accentuated her figure and made her look even more stunning. To be honest, the carefully styled hair and the jeweled ornaments made her feel a kind of indescribable constraint.

It's really uncomfortable.

This outfit is far less comfortable and carefree than when I was in Cangzhou, Baishanjiang, or even the capital city of Yangjing, where I could freely put on any robe I liked.

But there is nothing we can do.

She had no choice here.

Her uncle, Lord Jingjiang, was the only elder who truly cared for her after her parents' early death. He went to great lengths to send her to the East Sea Dragon Palace and the Vast Sea Dragon Court, and she didn't know how many favors he had secretly used...

Cinnabar also has a sense of responsibility.

This is an incredible opportunity, a ladder to heaven that the entire younger generation of the dragon race has been dreaming of. She must be patient and seize it firmly, even if... in a way she doesn't like.

That's the rule in the East China Sea!
The Dragon King is merciful and willing to open the Dragon Court to bestow blessings upon these younger generations, giving them the opportunity to approach the Great Dao. This is already an immense grace!

For a true dragon who believes in the "Way of Evolution" and has competition ingrained in their very bones, such an opportunity is worth fighting for and protecting at all costs.

Thinking about all this, Dansha took light steps and walked to the side.

She knew that guests were coming today, so the audience seemed different from usual, and the atmosphere in the hall was noticeably more solemn and dignified than usual.

Therefore, when she opened her senses, she could clearly perceive that, in addition to the supreme pressure of the East Sea Dragon King, there seemed to be several other equally profound and unfathomable auras.

Because there were guests from outside, the rules were slightly different. These eight dragon maidens who offered incense were not to go forward directly today, but to stand on the side of the hall as a background.

Dansha, holding the incense burner, along with the other seven dragon maidens, quietly walked to the designated spot on one side of the main hall, stood with their heads bowed, like eight exquisite jade carvings inlaid on the wall.

The wisps of smoke rising from the incense burner blurred their figures and their very presence.

This feeling... is quite peculiar.

Once upon a time, when she attended certain grand ceremonies as the beloved niece of the Prince of Jingjiang, she was also the one seated in the main or secondary position. Her gaze occasionally swept over the maids and musicians standing on both sides, but she felt they were just natural background figures, like the pillars in the hall and the floor tiles under her feet, leaving no ripple in her heart.

Now, however, she has become part of the "pillars" and "floor tiles".

Dansha felt no humiliation. Such is the way of the world. Dragons devour whales, whales devour schools of fish, schools of fish devour shrimp… big fish eat small fish, the strong prey on the weak, a progressive order—this is the fundamental principle of "natural evolution." She stood here, part of the rules, an inevitability within the hierarchy of power.

She kept her eyes down, focusing all her attention on maintaining her posture and the incense burner in her hands, completely immersing herself in this magnificent yet cold background.

However, just as her peripheral vision, following the ritual, swept with extreme restraint towards the main seat in the hall—

Boom! ! !

It was as if a silent thunderclap had exploded in her mind!
Dan Sha's eyes, which had remained as calm as ice, suddenly widened! Her pupils contracted sharply! Her fingers, holding the incense burner, tightened abruptly due to the extreme shock and disbelief! If the purple-gold incense burner hadn't been made of extraordinary material, her fingerprints would have been crushed!

"cinnabar!"

A cold, authoritative voice, tinged with obvious displeasure and warning, pierced her eardrums like an ice pick! It was a Dragon Palace attendant standing in the shadow of the pillar above them! He was staring intently at Dansha with a stern gaze, clearly extremely displeased with her momentary lapse in decorum!

Dansha shuddered! It was as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over her head! The instinct for survival instantly overwhelmed all her shock! She lowered her head sharply, using all her strength to compose herself, forcibly suppressing her turbulent thoughts, and stiffly straightened up, resuming her flawless, obedient, and serene jade statue posture.

He held the incense burner steadily in front of his chest, the smoke curling upwards, as if the momentary loss of composure had never happened.

"Thank you for the reminder, sir." Dansha responded in a barely audible voice, with just the right amount of fear.

The attendant gave a cold snort and looked away.

The crisis appears to have temporarily subsided.

But Dansha's heart was like a deep pool where a boulder had been thrown in, and it could no longer find peace!

Her fingertips were icy cold, and her back was instantly soaked in cold sweat!
It wasn't because of the attendant's reprimand, but because... what had she just seen?!

Beneath the Dragon King's throne, which symbolizes the supreme authority of the East Sea, in that dark yet dignified area, two guest seats were set up!

On one of the guest seats sat a figure dressed in a wide black robe, with a profound and unfathomable aura, whose face was shrouded in shadow; he must be some important person.

And the other person sitting right next to the man in black robes...

It was—a brilliant insight?!

The human cultivator who traveled with her in Liangzhou, Shendu, and Cangzhou, rescued her from the seal, and whose style of doing things both confused and made her feel vaguely different!
That insightful person who once walked alongside her, discussed how "the world is wrong," and made her feel out of place in this world...
Why is he here? !
What gives him the right to sit there?! To drink with His Majesty the Dragon King?! To sit at the same table as that mysterious man in black robes?!
And... he looked so... composed! Even with an unbelievable calmness?!

Dansha lowered her head, trying her best to control her breathing and heartbeat, not letting any abnormality show.

But in her mind, a raging storm had already begun!

The figure that had once made her feel a little different has now entered her oppressive and dangerous life in the Dragon Palace in such an abrupt and shocking way.

Out of the corner of her eye, she locked onto that direction with a piercing yet subtly focused gaze. There she saw Gao Jian, composed and unperturbed, raising his cup in a distant salute to His Majesty the Dragon King, who sat high on his throne, his figure blurred yet radiating an aura of power that commanded the submission of all things.

The jade cup in his hand was crystal clear, reflecting the dim light of the hall. He seemed completely oblivious, or rather, utterly indifferent, to the dragon maiden holding an incense burner, standing like a backdrop in the shadows beside the hall.

Dansha felt a surge of complex emotions welling up inside her, a mixture of shock, doubt, a strange flutter of excitement, and... a deeper sense of bewilderment.

She could only stand in the shadows, holding a cold incense burner, in the dim corner of the hall, watching helplessly as that familiar yet unfamiliar person raised his cup with ease in the East Sea Dragon Palace and the Vast Ocean Dragon Court, as if he was meant to be there.

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And the other side.

Gao Jian raised his cup and sang with great enthusiasm: "Let us join hands and drink to the last drop. Let us play the jade flute and keep drinking. We find joy in wine. Three cups lead to the Great Way, and a jug unites us with Nature!"

"Why are you all so reserved? Now that we're at the table, such formality would be a disservice to the wine we're drinking."

After speaking, Gao Jian drank it all in one gulp and then showed the bottom of the cup to the surroundings.

When it comes to manipulating things at the dinner table, Gao Jian is truly adept at it. He is known for his skillful social maneuvering in various situations, and he often uses this tactic to attract everyone's attention, thus becoming the center of attention and accomplishing his unspeakable secrets.

Although in most cases Takami actually hates these things, and he is always very quiet when he is alone, he is not at a loss when he needs to do them.

However, in response to Gao Jian's behavior, the Dragon King on the stage merely raised his eyelids.

At this moment, the Dragon King is in human form and looks extremely majestic.

He appeared to be middle-aged, with an ancient and simple face. He wore a black robe with no elaborate embroidery, only simple dark patterns. But just by sitting there, his very existence seemed to make him the center of this world. The invisible pressure made every breath of air in the hall solidify like lead.

Almost all the dragons present were in human form.

Many years ago, true dragons did indeed often act in their original forms. They were more accustomed to roaming the world in their enormous and majestic forms, displaying their supreme dragon might.

However, times have changed. The world is desolate, all laws have withered, and the energy required to maintain one's original form is too great. Even a powerful dragon feels the pressure.

Transforming into an ordinary aquatic form to save energy would be too humiliating for the dragon race. Therefore, the human form, being a naturally superior being with an exquisite structure and containing the mysteries of the Great Dao, became the best choice. It would maintain their majesty while conserving energy. In the desolate world with severely scarce resources, even the true dragons had to be careful with their resources.

The Dragon King's gaze, heavy as a thousand pounds, lingered for a moment on Gao Jian's face, which was filled with a carefree smile, before turning to Yuan Lu: "So, Yuan Lu, what is your purpose in bringing such a... insect here?"

Yuan Lu's face, shrouded in the shadow of his black robe, remained calm and composed, but the deep, abyss-like aura around him rippled almost imperceptibly, clearly indicating his displeasure at the Dragon King's blatant contempt and insult.

However, faced with a genuine thirteenth-realm Earth Immortal, the supreme ruler of the East Sea, and one of the strongest beings in the world, he could only suppress his displeasure. A deep and steady voice came from beneath the black robe:

"Your Majesty, please allow me to report. Gao Jian is a distinguished student of the Imperial Academy of the Divine Dynasty, with exceptional talent and often possessing astonishing insights into the principles of the Great Dao. I brought him here this time in the hope that his discerning eye will help me to decipher the profound mysteries of the incomplete chapter of 'The True Explanation of Transformation and Return to Origin'."

"Oh?" The Dragon King let out a short, cold sneer. "Just a mere sixth-realm human?" His gaze swept over Gao Jian again, as if he were looking at an ant trying to shake a tree. "Yuan Lu, you've been stuck at the twelfth realm for too long. It seems you're... grasping at straws in desperation?"

As soon as the Dragon King finished speaking, the group of close ministers, dragon princes and princesses standing in the hall couldn't help but let out low, suppressed sneers, which sounded particularly jarring in the silent hall.

A mere sixth realm cultivator dares to attempt to comprehend the supreme secrets of the True Dragon? That's utterly laughable.

Moreover, it was a huge joke that Yuan Lu, a dignified twelfth realm cultivator, would invite a mere sixth realm cultivator to help him. It was truly hilarious!

Yuan Lu's breath hitched again beneath his black robes, his brows furrowing. But knowing the Dragon King's temperament, he suppressed his anger, his voice remaining steady, yet carrying an undeniable air of insistence:

"Your Majesty, I have my own considerations. This trip is only to fulfill our previous agreement, using the agreed-upon provisions to exchange for the opportunity to view the incomplete chapter of 'The True Explanation of Transformation and Return to Origin.' As for whether my insights can be of any help, that is my business, and there is no need to argue about right or wrong."

"Oh? Fulfill the previous agreement?" The Dragon King's ancient face revealed neither joy nor anger. His fingers tapped lightly on the armrest of his throne, producing a deep, thunderous "tap-tap" sound. "Then, let him go in and 'advise' you?"

"Yes." Yuan Lu readily admitted, no longer avoiding the question. Since Gao Jian wanted to enter the place of enlightenment, he would inevitably be caught by the Dragon Clan's eyes and ears; it was better to be open about it.

However, he deliberately emphasized the word "advisor," without mentioning the potential real value of his insightful opinions, and even subtly hoped that the Dragon King would continue to disregard them. Disregard, sometimes, is the best cover.

A suppressed wave of laughter rose again from inside the hall.

The Dragon King, however, did not sneer as he had before.

After a moment of silence, the Dragon King's deep, authoritative voice rang out like a final judgment:

"Very well. Since you insist, then I... will give you this opportunity."

He changed the subject, his gaze fixed firmly on Gao Jian:

"However, the 'True Explanation of Transformation and Return to Origin' is a secret treasure of my dragon clan. How can it be seen by ordinary cats and dogs? Yuan Lu is qualified to see it because he can afford the price."

"As for you..." The Dragon King's voice suddenly turned cold, like a chilling tide sweeping across the land, "I want to test your mettle. I want to see just how much this 'insect' that Yuan Lu has placed so high hopes on really is, and whether you are qualified to... view the Dragon Clan's secret treasures."

As soon as those words were spoken, the air in the hall seemed to freeze completely!
All the snickers stopped abruptly! Everyone held their breath, their eyes fixed on the human youth who was still holding an empty wine glass, a smile still lingering on his face.

The Dragon King, the supreme ruler of the East Sea, was clearly not as dismissive of others as he appeared on the surface!
Gao Jian put down his wine cup, stood up, and said, “The Dragon King values ​​heroes, and I should strive to be like him. I will not talk about anything else, but I have always had high aspirations and I consider learning to be my treasure. I am afraid that you will laugh at my cultivation level, and I have no illustrious family background. I only have my own literary and martial arts skills. I dare to ask the Dragon King to test me.”

The Dragon King said, “There is a single word in the world that can be as new as the past and as clear as the meaning of a single character. Thus, wind, thunder, rain and dew are the spirit of heaven, mountains and rivers are the spirit of earth, and talent, learning and writing are the spirit of man. All three powers are used in the same way, and all are contained within one spirit. This is the essence of man’s spirit.”

"I will test your primate status."

(End of this chapter)