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Chapter 109 Encouraging the Second Generation to Strive

Yuan Shoucheng, leading the magnificent, snow-white horse, kept praising it, "What a fine horse! Look at its teeth, its legs..."

He stroked his greasy beard, his face showing pain, but more than that, it was the helplessness and complaint of someone who had been there. "I, an old Taoist priest, really used every trick in the book to lure out that great god from the bottom of the pool."

“You have no idea,” he slapped his thigh, “I’ve offered all sorts of sacrifices, even water-repelling beads and other aquatic treasures, and what was the result? They barely made a ripple, and they all ended up as food for the turtles!”

He pointed to the deep, dark green waters of Eagle's Sorrow Stream, "It turns out that this Third Prince is even more arrogant than the Jade Emperor's mother. He treats everyone like this, completely unresponsive and ignoring everyone. Now I, this old Taoist priest, finally understand. It's not that I, Yuan Shoucheng, am incompetent; it's that he simply doesn't care about anyone. I feel a little better now."

He patted the horse's neck, looking at Chen Guangrui with an expression of anticipation.
"So, Scholar Chen, I'm not trying to discourage you, but even if you manage to get this prized horse, trying to lure this gentleman out? Difficult! Harder than climbing to heaven. Let's save our energy and think of another way, okay?"

Chen Guangrui couldn't be bothered to listen to his nagging. He nimbly mounted his horse, flicked the reins, and...
"Giddy up!" The white horse neighed softly, took off, and carried him straight to the bottomless Eagle's Sorrow Ravine.

"Hey, don't be so skeptical!" Yuan Shoucheng shouted anxiously, stamping his foot behind him. "That's the third prince of the West Sea Dragon King, and this is just an ordinary horse... Oh dear!"

His nagging stopped abruptly.

The white horse had just stepped onto the edge of the pool.
boom!
The calm, mirror-like center of the deep pool suddenly exploded! A blinding white light burst forth from the water, accompanied by towering waves!

Water splashed skyward, as if the Milky Way had been reversed. In the white light, scales and claws flew, displaying astonishing power. It was none other than Ao Lie, the third prince of the West Sea Dragon King, who had been punished and imprisoned at the bottom of the pool.

Yuan Shoucheng was so frightened that his legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud, his eyes wide open and his mouth agape.
"A dragon, a real dragon, a white dragon! He actually came out?"

His composure, that of a "living god," shattered instantly, leaving only the lingering fear of surviving a catastrophe and an unbelievable ecstasy.

Where the white light receded, a slender jade dragon with gleaming silver scales appeared. Its eyes, like two enormous lamps, radiated cold arrogance and instantly locked onto the magnificent white horse on the shore.

Ao Lie seemed to have been waiting for this moment. He opened his huge dragon mouth, and a terrifying suction force that was impossible to resist suddenly erupted.

"Heave-ho!" The white horse let out a terrified and desperate neigh, its four hooves kicking wildly. The force that pulled the horse and rider off the ground forced them towards the abyss-like dragon's mouth.

"It's all over! It's all over!" Yuan Shoucheng's scream caught in his throat.

Chen Guangrui reacted with lightning speed. Since escaping from the Black Bear Demon's clutches last time, he had become more familiar with controlling his magic. In the blink of an eye, just as the white horse was about to enter the dragon's mouth, he kicked hard on the horse's back with both feet, using the force to retreat rapidly.

The valuable white horse, without any suspense, was bitten and swallowed whole by the white dragon with a miserable cry. The whole process was clean and efficient, with a sense of justified cruelty and domineering.

After swallowing the white horse, Ao Lie smacked his lips with lingering satisfaction, his cold and arrogant gaze sweeping over Chen Guangrui, who stood calmly to the side.

Chen Guangrui's calm gaze offended him.

"Hmph!" Ao Lie exhaled two puffs of white breath from his nostrils, his dragon eyes blazing with fury; his arrogant nature was instantly ignited.

"You fool! A mere common horse isn't even enough for me to have a meal with. You might as well leave your life behind!"

The enormous dragon claw, accompanied by a piercing shriek that tore through the air, whipped up a gale and, filled with intense killing intent, mercilessly slashed down at Chen Guangrui, who had just landed.

"Well done!" Chen Guangrui's eyes narrowed, and instead of retreating, he advanced. The dragon pearl in his arms instantly shone brightly, and the deep pool water, under his will, seemed to come alive, condensing into a thick, resilient, rapidly spinning vortex water shield before him. He used water control techniques against water control techniques!

At the same time, he raised his left hand, and a blazing, condensed flame whip appeared in his hand, like a serpent emerging from its hole, fiercely lashing at Ao Lie's huge dragon body!
"Control the water? Control the fire!"

Ao Lie was startled. His massive body twisted nimbly in the air, dodging the scorching whip. Flames grazed a few dragon scales on his tail, hissing and sending a burning sensation through him. He circled above the pool, his rage now tinged with surprise and fury.
"You dare to show off with such trivial skills!"

A man and a dragon clashed fiercely on the banks of Eagle's Sorrow Gorge. Chen Guangrui's movements were elusive, combining offense and defense. Ao Lie, though massive, was extremely agile; his dragon claws tore through the wind and clouds, his dragon tail swept across the battlefield, and his water control talent was equally astonishing.

However, as the fight progressed, Ao Lie felt a surge of frustration. His opponent's water control techniques were exceptionally sophisticated, negating much of his power, while the strange and domineering flames specifically targeted his water elemental defenses, subtly suppressing him, the dignified Crown Prince of the Dragon Palace.

How could the proud and arrogant Ao Lie bear such humiliation?

His anger nearly overwhelmed him, and his attacks grew increasingly fierce, yet also revealed a hint of impatience.

In the heat of battle, Chen Guangrui suddenly stepped back, stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze sharp as he stared directly at Ao Lie, who was still glaring angrily in the air. His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly pierced through the sounds of water and wind.
"Boy, your True Dragon Divine Power is unparalleled in its might, and few among the younger generation of the Heavenly Court can rival you! Are you really content to be trapped in this small Eagle's Sorrow Gorge for the rest of your life, just a gatekeeper? Or, if you're lucky enough to succeed in 'that matter,' you'll just be someone's ox or horse, a pack animal to carry things?"

"You...you're talking nonsense!" Ao Lie roared, his dragon whiskers trembling with rage! Chen Guangrui's words were like knives, piercing precisely at his most sensitive pride and arrogance. "What do you know?"

"Don't understand? Do you think I don't know how much effort your family put in to make you work like a mule for others?"

Chen Guangrui's voice suddenly rose, carrying an incomparably sharp, penetrating, and seductive power.

"Your bloodline is noble, and your potential is boundless, yet you're willing to do this lowly work? Look at Nezha, the Third Prince, son of Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King. At such a young age, he has already shaken the Three Realms and is incredibly powerful. His father, Li Jing, is still in Heaven awaiting orders, but Nezha's status has already surpassed his father's! And look at Yang Jian, the Erlang Shen, who split Mount Peach to save his mother, became a saint in his physical body, obeys orders but not summons, wields a three-pointed double-edged sword, and commands the Meishan brothers and 1,200 grass-root gods, forming his own power."

Chen Guangrui stepped forward, his gaze intense. "Your father went to great lengths to arrange for you to stay here, to secure a stable future for you. He was afraid that your personality would lead you into trouble and lose your life. Yes, this is a stable and comfortable situation, but is this the limit for someone with your talent, Ao Lie, to be someone's slave?"

"Your father can only shield you from some storms. Are you content to live under his roof for the rest of your life? If you have real skills, why don't you explore the infinite possibilities for yourself? Do you think you, the Third Prince of the West Sea Dragon Palace, are still breastfeeding and will always rely on your father for protection?"

"You're talking nonsense! My father, that was..."

Ao Lie's massive dragon body undulated violently, his dragon eyes filled with rage and a surge of complex emotions.

I am the third prince of the West Sea Dragon King, invincible in the West Sea. None of those shrimp soldiers and crab generals are my match. I have cultivated such powerful supernatural powers, but am I really going to embark on a path that I can see the end from the beginning?

At this moment, the "ambition" and "resentment" ignited by Chen Guangrui's highly inflammatory words were growing wildly.

Erlang Shen? Nezha? Those are the real power! No one dares to underestimate them! But Father…

After struggling for a moment, his enormous dragon eyes fixed on Chen Guangrui on the shore, his voice for the first time carrying a hint of hoarseness that wasn't anger, but a deep probing:

"How do you know that my presence here was arranged by my father? Do you... do you also know that Guanyin Bodhisattva will come here to find me in a few days?"

(End of this chapter)