Daqin Zhentiansi

"Ten, eighteen layers of chaotic fire seeds..."

Zhuque's voice was extremely dry, as if every word was as heavy as a star.

"You...you have actually glimpsed the true meaning of the primordial fire of chaos and the flame of final annihilation...such a realm, Heavenly Venerable, Heavenly Venerable back then..."

It didn't finish its sentence, but the meaning was self-evident.

The eighteen layers of fire veins that Zhang Yuan deduced, with its ultimate realm of "chaotic fire seed," are implicitly on the same level as the supreme method of stealing the origin of the primordial world in terms of their hierarchical conception!

This is the nascent form of a power that could truly threaten the foundation of the Celestial Venerable's rule!
Zhuque's gaze shifted from the runes to Zhang Yuan, filled with unprecedentedly complex emotions.

Shock, awe, disbelief, and a hint of... fear and anticipation in the face of an unknown future.

It finally understood why Lei Yu valued this "human" youth so much.

He brought not only hope for rebellion against the Heavenly Palace, but perhaps more importantly...

A wildfire that will overturn the entire established order and power system of the primordial world!

Zhang Yuan quietly observed the Vermilion Bird's shock and slowly withdrew the manifested runes.

He understood that revealing his insights from the eighteen levels to Zhuque was not only a matter of honesty, but also an invisible form of intimidation and a sincere gesture of alliance.

To form an alliance with a mythical beast, one needs to possess a power level that is equal to or even higher than that of a mythical beast.

In the primordial world, strength is still the only factor that matters.

"The road ahead is long and arduous."

Zhang Yuan's voice rang out in the silent realm of flames, breaking the shocking silence.

"These eighteen levels still require the younger generation to exhaust their efforts to verify and perfect them."

"I hope that you, senior, will obtain these sixteen levels of the method and advance further on the path to Nirvana. When we fight against the Heavenly Palace together in the future, my fire will be the torch that burns away all shackles!"

With the power of the Vermilion Bird divine beast, he controls sixteen layers of fire divine power. Once he fully integrates them, his combat strength will probably be no less than that of Lei Yu, who wields the Heaven-Shaking Drum.

Such a gift is truly invaluable.

The Vermilion Bird gazed intently at Zhang Yuan, its massive phoenix head slowly nodding. Golden-red flames flowed once more, carrying a solemn air: "I, the Vermilion Bird, only today do I understand what 'the Dao has no limits' truly means. I accept your seed of fire. The shackles of the primordial world… will one day be burned away!"

Its words already regarded Zhang Yuan as a true equal, and even a fellow traveler who would guide them on the path ahead.

Zhang Yuan nodded solemnly.

In this fiery realm, a crucial move has been made in a grand game of chess revolving around the fusion of the Great Qin Heavenly Dao and the Primordial Origin, and the overthrow of the Heavenly Palace's rule.

Forming an alliance with divine beasts was a significant step he took in the prehistoric world.

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Vast and boundless wilderness.

A vast territory with ever-changing weather.

Before the storm at Chensha River had subsided, the enormous body of the Vermilion Bird, burning with eternal flames, tore through space, carrying Zhang Yuan, and sped toward the southern part of the primordial wilderness, toward Canglong Mountain, the legendary place where the origin of thunder converges.

Passing through layers of gale-force winds, below lies a surging sea of ​​clouds and a fragmented continent scattered like stars.

The deeper one goes into the south, the more turbulent the spiritual energy between heaven and earth becomes.

Wisps of electric lightning flickered and leaped in the void, emitting a series of crackling sounds.

A heavy, unsettling pressure permeated the air.

That was the ancient majesty of the dragon race and the destructive aura of thunder.

Ahead, the outline of a majestic mountain range shrouded in endless thunderclouds came into view.

The mountain range winds like a dragon's spine, piercing straight into the clouds.

Between the peaks, large bolts of purplish-gold lightning would occasionally explode, illuminating the dark clouds and producing a deafening roar.

This is the ancestral land of the Azure Dragon, the home of the supreme clan among the dragons who wield the power of thunder.

"We've arrived at Azure Dragon Mountain." The clear voice of the Vermilion Bird rang in Zhang Yuan's soul, carrying a hint of solemnity.

"Dragons are known for their arrogance, especially the Azure Dragon."

"The drying up of Leichi is a painful and shameful experience for them. This trip will likely not go smoothly."

Zhang Yuan stood atop the Vermilion Bird's Divine Feathers, his black Daoist robe remaining perfectly still amidst the raging air currents.

His gaze swept calmly over the Thunder Mountain Range.

The Chaos God-Demon Body keenly sensed the subtle fluctuations of the laws between heaven and earth.

Upon hearing this, he simply nodded slightly: "It's alright. Since we've come to help you out of your predicament, a little cold treatment is nothing to worry about."

Only by forming an alliance with the primordial mythical beasts can we resist the celestial beings.

If the Great Qin Heavenly Dao is to be integrated into the Primordial World, the help of the divine beast races is indispensable.

Zhang Yuan knew what he needed to do.

As they spoke, the Vermilion Bird had already flown to the outer perimeter of Azure Dragon Mountain.

Three enormous light curtains, composed of pure lightning essence, resembled three gates spanning heaven and earth, exuding a destructive aura and firmly protecting the entire ancestral land within.

"Wow—!"

The Vermilion Bird let out a long cry that pierced through the thunderclouds, revealing its identity.

The first lightning barrier slowly cracked open, revealing a gap.

The Vermilion Bird gracefully passed by.

The second light curtain had an even smaller crack, with blazing white lightning leaping at the edge of the gap, carrying a sense of scrutiny and rejection.

Vermilion Bird was enveloped in golden-red divine flames, forcefully repelling the lightning several feet away, and passed through calmly.

The third light barrier had a gap that barely allowed the Vermilion Bird's true form to squeeze through.

This time, countless lightning runes lit up on the light screen, and the violent lightning power shot out like billions of steel needles, carrying a bone-chilling cold and a threat that could tear apart the soul, fiercely stabbing towards Zhuque and Zhang Yuan on his back!

This is the dragon clan's most direct test of the visitor's true nature!
The Vermilion Bird snorted coldly and suddenly flapped its wings!
The eternal flame transformed into a halo of light, refined to its utmost, and spread outwards.

“Sizzle—boom!”

The lightning bolts that struck the halo melted and vanished instantly, like ice and snow meeting the blazing sun. Even the third lightning barrier trembled violently, and the lightning at the edge of the crack dimmed slightly.

The Vermilion Bird, carrying Zhang Yuan, passed through the final barrier with an undeniable aura.

Passing through the light curtain, the scene before my eyes suddenly opened up.

The continuous, verdant mountain ranges are covered with ancient vegetation.

The air was filled with dense lightning-attribute spiritual energy that was almost condensed into liquid, and each breath carried a slight tingling sensation.

However, beneath this vibrant life, Zhang Yuan keenly sensed an undeniable weakness and depletion.

The abundant lightning spiritual energy seemed to have lost some core vitality, appearing somewhat mixed and scattered.

The thunder power here, while not inferior to that of Thunderfall Abyss, is not as pure as the thunder power controlled by Thunder Prison.

In particular, Lei Yu possesses the Heaven-Shaking Drum, which gathers the power of thunder, allowing the thunder essence to be tempered to its extreme.

The Vermilion Bird hovered before the entrance to a massive, sheer mountain gorge called "Lilong Gorge".

The canyon was deep, the gale was sharp as a knife, and it carried fine blue arcs of electricity, emitting a shrill whistling sound.

At the entrance to the canyon, two squads of Azure Dragon Guards stood solemnly, clad in heavy armor with blue scales and wielding long halberds emblazoned with thunder patterns. With dragon heads and human bodies, their eyes were cold as ice, filled with undisguised scrutiny and contempt, as they locked their gaze firmly on the figure on the Vermilion Bird's back—Zhang Yuan.

"We have failed to properly welcome Venerable Zhuque."

The leader of the guards, a man with a burly air, spoke in a loud but cold voice. He bowed slightly to Zhuque, showing proper manners, but when his gaze swept over Zhang Yuan, the coldness was almost tangible.

"By order of Elder Huchi, humans entering the ancestral land must walk through the 'Lianlong Gorge' to show their sincerity and respect for the ancestral land."

"Lianlong Gorge?" Zhuque's flames flickered slightly, his tone tinged with displeasure. "This is a place to test the physique of young dragons. What is the reason for making my guest traverse it on foot?"

In the canyon, the overflowing gale and thunder, though like a gentle breeze to Vermilion Bird or Venerable-level beings, are enough to cause a great burden, and even pose a life-threatening danger, to ordinary Saint Realm beings, especially those who are not dragons.

This is a blatant show of force.

"This is the rule of our ancestral land. All those who are not of dragon blood must follow this rule. We hope Your Excellency will understand." The guard commander's tone was harsh, and he refused to budge an inch.

Flames surged from Suzaku's body, and space seemed to distort slightly, clearly indicating that he was truly enraged.

How dare these mere gatekeepers make things so difficult for the guests she brought?
Just then, Zhang Yuan's calm voice rang out: "Senior Zhuque, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Since this is the rule of the Azure Dragon Clan, I will abide by it."

With a swift movement, he gracefully landed on the back of the Vermilion Bird, standing steadily amidst the raging gale at the entrance to the Dragon Strike Gorge.

His black Daoist robe fluttered in the wind, but his expression remained unchanged, as if the fierce winds that could tear apart refined gold and the soul-devouring lightning arcs were merely a spring drizzle.

The Vermilion Bird gave Zhang Yuan a deep look, its flames subsided, and it let out a clear, enigmatic cry. Its massive form transformed into a streak of light, flying directly across the Dragon Sharpening Gorge towards the core of the ancestral land.

Zhang Yuan's "sensible" behavior did not earn him the guards' goodwill.

Their eyes remained cold, even carrying a hint of mockery, as if they were watching a good show.

"Human, look carefully." A haughty voice came from above the canyon.

A green shadow descended from the sky and landed not far in front of Zhang Yuan.

He was a young man in human form, tall and handsome, with the arrogance unique to the dragon race between his brows.

He wore a suit of blue scale armor with flowing cloud patterns, and on either side of his forehead grew a pair of crystal-clear dragon horns, which were as smooth as jade but had a few fine cracks.

It was the supervisor who had come on orders, the young Canglong, Ao Qing.

Ao Qing looked down at Zhang Yuan, a mocking smile playing on his lips: "This place is a thousand miles in circumference, and the gravity here is ten times that of the outside world!"

"The 'Soul-Shattering Gale' and 'Bone-Corroding Thunder Arc' in this Dragon-Sharpening Gorge are the places where our clan tempers the bones and muscles of young dragons and hones their will."

"If you can't hold on, turn back as soon as possible. Don't force yourself to keep going and tarnish my Dragon Clan's sacred land."

The disdain and rejection in their words were made without any attempt to conceal them.

Zhang Yuan calmly met Ao Qing's gaze.

He was not angered by the other party's arrogance.

Instead, he keenly detected a faint, barely perceptible fluctuation emanating from the subtle cracks on the dragon's horns.

He nodded slightly: "Thank you for showing me the way."

Having said that, he said no more and stepped into the Lilong Gorge, where the wind howled and lightning arced wildly.

"Hmph." Ao Qing snorted coldly, his figure flickered, and he transformed into a streak of azure light, leading the way at a leisurely pace.

Clearly, he wanted to see how long this human could hold out.

With ten times the force of gravity pressing down, the air seemed to freeze.

The Soul-Shattering Gale was like a million invisible blades cutting towards us, while the Bone-Corroding Lightning Arc was all-pervasive, attempting to penetrate our very bones and paralyze our souls.

Even ordinary human cultivators at the peak of the Saint Realm would find it difficult to move forward in such an environment and would need to exert all their true essence to resist.

However, Zhang Yuan walked with a steady gait, as if strolling leisurely in a garden.

The body of the Chaos God and Demon faintly glowed with a dark golden light. The gale-force winds that were strong enough to tear through fine gold swept across his skin, leaving only faint white marks that disappeared in an instant.

The leaping blue lightning arcs touched his body, but they vanished without a trace, quietly dissolved and absorbed by an invisible force, transforming into a gentle warm current that nourished his meridians.

The Great Qin Origin Dao Scripture quietly began to operate, and this treacherous environment became a place for his chaotic divine and demonic body to be tempered and replenished with energy.

Ao Qing flew ahead, but his divine sense remained locked on Zhang Yuan.

He had expected to see the other person struggling miserably, even in great pain, but the result was quite unexpected.

The human not only walked with ease, but his aura was also long and steady, as if the Dragon Sharpening Gorge, which even the young dragon had to grit its teeth to endure, was just an ordinary mountain path to him!
"interesting……"

A hint of surprise flashed in Ao Qing's eyes.

But his proud nature led him to attribute this to some kind of secret treasure protecting him from the human race.

His contempt lessened slightly, but curiosity quietly began to grow.

As he traveled, Zhang Yuan's divine sense, like invisible tentacles, cautiously swept over the scenery along the way.

On the ancient stone walls on both sides of the canyon, one can occasionally see huge dragon claw marks and charred lightning strike marks, telling the story of the vicissitudes of time.

However, what caught his attention even more were the figures of young dragons in the lush forests outside the canyon.

Some of the young dragons, whose scales should have shone with a lapis lazuli luster, now had dull and lifeless scales, like dusty gems, and some scales even had slight curling at the edges.

They ran and frolicked in the forest, but their movements lacked the agility and power that dragons should have, appearing somewhat...weak.

Further away, on a wide open stone platform, several young dragons were cultivating the power of thunder, and their situation was even more dire.

They lingered within the lightning array, diligently absorbing the spiritual energy of thunder from heaven and earth, attempting to condense lightning.

However, the lightning they spewed from their mouths was extremely weak, like a flickering candle in the wind.

One of the smaller dragons, after forcefully spitting out a slightly stronger bolt of lightning, suddenly coughed violently, and a trickle of blood with pale golden specks spilled from the corner of its mouth, staining the rocks beneath it red.

It curled up in pain, its eyes filled with resentment and confusion.

This scene made Zhang Yuan understand.

The depletion of the Thunder Pool and the loss of its source have severely impacted the new generation of the Azure Dragon clan.

Without the nourishment and tempering of pure chaotic lightning source, the power of bloodline is inevitably heading towards degeneration and decay.

If the young dragon forcibly cultivates the inherited technique, it will backfire on him due to the impurity and insufficiency of the lightning power, damaging his very essence.

Ao Qing had obviously also seen the young dragon coughing up blood. His pace slowed slightly as he led the way, and a hint of pain and anxiety flashed across his handsome face. He subconsciously raised his hand to touch the tiny crack on his dragon horn.

This subtle movement did not escape Zhang Yuan's keen observation.

After traversing the long and treacherous Lilong Gorge, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

A huge circular altar made of a single piece of purplish-black lepidium appeared before them.

The altar is ancient and weathered, inscribed with countless complex and mysterious thunder runes, exuding an ancient and majestic aura.

This is the entrance to the Nine Heavens Thunder Pool, the sacred land of the Azure Dragon Clan.

At the center of the altar, a massive throne carved from purple lightning crystals stood majestically.

On the throne sat an old man with white hair and beard and an ancient face.

He was tall and wore a black robe embroidered with nine thunder dragons.

Between the opening and closing of his eyes, tiny purple lightning flashed, as if containing the terrifying power of thunder's birth and death.

A Venerable Realm expert, and also possessing the bloodline of a divine beast.

It was none other than the Guardian Elder of the Azure Dragon Clan, the younger brother of the current Azure Dragon Lord, Cangming, and the Azure Sky Venerable. (End of Chapter)