406: Chapter 406 Azure Dragon's Plea

After drifting for an unknown amount of time, Zhou Yan finally woke up. Looking at the Female Corpse beside him, he couldn't help but let out a subconscious, wry smile.

"I'm so stupid, really. I almost forgot that having more Clones is useless if the person controlling them is still me."

Feeling the splitting headache and looking at the corpse beside him, Zhou Yan laughed out of sheer frustration.

He had already been left somewhat dazed by the previous piece of information, which was why he had released the female body in the first place.

Unexpectedly, his male body was instantly defeated, and his mind took a massive hit. Consequently, when he switched to the female body, it died even faster, serving no purpose at all.

Even in the logs, that segment of damage was calculated as true damage. The Physical Body didn't lose a single drop of health, yet it died on the spot.

Only Room Sun Rabbit was of some use, helping to restore a bit of health, but it only delayed the inevitable by less than a second.

It was only when 'Never Fall into the Yellow Springs' finally triggered that Zhou Yan performed a metaphorical sit-up and came back to life, only to immediately take another wave of damage.

However, he had already passed out by then, so he was just passively losing health.

Fortunately, the remaining damage wasn't enough to kill Zhou Yan. Otherwise, without the Dragon Transformation to bridge the gap, he would have been knocked out of the game right then and there.

This sensation of wrongness was incredibly uncomfortable, far exceeding the time he had come out of the Firmament.

If he didn't know that removing his head would be pointless, Zhou Yan would have been tempted to rip it off and grow a new one just to relieve the pain.

"Why can't I enjoy the benefits of the dao body's Primordial Unity without suffering the downsides? If I could, I'd even accept achieving Immortal Ascension on the spot."

Zhou Yan leaned back in the pool and grumbled.

Ever since he arrived here, he hadn't really left this pool. He felt like if this continued, he'd turn into an amphibian.

"Sigh, I've come all this way, yet I can't move an inch. The final reward better satisfy me, or I'm really going to start cursing."

As the information in his mind began to stabilize, Zhou Yan heard that familiar voice once more.

Compared to before, the voice now carried a hint of earnestness and desolation.

"Successor, your determination has surprised me. The fact that you could achieve this proves your curiosity is vast and your strength is great."

"Even though you have reached this stage, I must still dampen your spirits."

"You have already borne the pain, but I must tell you: if you continue down this path, the subsequent pain will only increase."

"If you can adapt to this intensity, then walk forward. Keep walking forward."

"I will not leave many words, lest they occupy the space for more useful knowledge."

"And next, I shall grant you the key to satisfy your curiosity."

Soon, a vast flood of knowledge rapidly emerged.

The first to appear were those strange symbols, and he quickly understood their meaning.

They weren't simple symbols, but various types of special scripts.

These scripts were specifically labeled. The writing of the Human Race, Dragon Clan, Phoenix Clan, White Tiger Clan, and many others were poured into Zhou Yan's mind.

At that moment, the System sent a notification tone.

[Obtained Language Skill: Language LV1]

[Language LV1 → Language LV2 → Language LV3]

Feeling the sudden influx of characters and his new skill, Zhou Yan instantly recalled the words he had seen on the stone tablet earlier.

The unrecognizable names at the very top suddenly reappeared, and he recognized them in an instant.

Among them, the most familiar were naturally the names of Meng Zhang and Suo Jialuo.

Now, Zhou Yan also knew how he had obtained that Cultivation Technique.

Suo Jialuo had indeed left something through his name, because his name was written in the Dragon Clan's script—the dragon script script—and was categorized at the very end of the Dragon Clan's list.

At the very beginning was Meng Zhang's name.

He had happened to trigger the Cultivation Technique left by the other party just as he reached that last name.

Because he now recognized the script, he could clearly see that the name was different from the others, as if it contained something inside.

In his memory after obtaining the Legacy, that name had returned to normal.

"So that guy really put the stuff in such an obvious place? If I were actually Meng Zhang, I could have taken it directly?"

"I was wondering why Long Tianxing's Luck was being used up so fast; turns out it was spent on this?"

Zhou Yan was certain that if he hadn't obtained that Cultivation Technique, things probably wouldn't be very pleasant the next time he met the other party.

Fortunately, he had made up for it this time and even patched himself up by learning the dragon script script.

As the knowledge settled, Zhou Yan recovered and looked at the small stone tablet again.

He could now understand everything on it from top to bottom.

It read:

"If you can see these words, it proves the knowledge has been absorbed. Now, confirm if there are any missing parts."

Then, from top to bottom:

Dragon Clan language confirmation test, Phoenix Clan language confirmation test, White Tiger Clan language confirmation test... all the way to the bottom.

"When you see this, it proves you have successfully obtained everything."

"If you choose to continue, I express my utmost gratitude to you on behalf of myself."

"Please, you must persevere and keep going."

Zhou Yan fished the corpse out of the water, stuffed it back into his Storage Pouch, and stared silently at that last line of text.

He recalled the earnestness in the voice from earlier.

"What on earth is hidden here? It's like a nesting doll—one layer after another, with non-stop warnings."

"If you keep advising me like this, I really might run away."

Zhou Yan acclimated for a bit longer. Confirming he still couldn't walk well, he released the Tail Fire Tiger to serve as his mount and lead him toward the main road.

The Tail Fire Tiger was fast, but as a mount, its performance was poor.

Additionally, because it was already a summoned creature, it couldn't be categorized as a proper mount.

Zhou Yan had to steer it manually, and the riding experience was terrible.

If he hadn't been truly unable to walk forward, he really wouldn't have wanted to ride it.

After crossing a few small slopes, Zhou Yan soon saw another small stone tablet ahead on the main road. It was placed right in the middle of the path, and behind it was a massive ginkgo forest; it was clear there was no more road.

Approaching this time, Zhou Yan could clearly see the words written on it from a distance.

"If you can understand the words above, please take a detour. Entering the range of the stone tablet will cause you to leave this place."

"Please proceed into the forest on the left. Keep going left, and you will see the prompts."

Zhou Yan slammed on the brakes, controlling the Tail Fire Tiger to turn left, nearly failing to stop in time.

"Wait, you're a tiger! Can't you just run normally? Why do you jump every now and then? Are you Tigger?"

The bumpy ride and the near-miss with the stone tablet caused the still-uncomfortable Zhou Yan to vent his stress on the summon.

Then, turning around and veering off, Zhou Yan and the Tail Fire Tiger began weaving through the forest.

Although the riding comfort was poor, in a trackless forest like this, it was actually quite convenient—much smoother than being on the main road.

Because of this, Zhou Yan's anger dissipated quite a bit.

If riding it had been a pure negative, the Tail Fire Tiger would have truly been relegated to the 'cold palace'.

"Wait, shouldn't my legitimate mount be Yuan Chenling?"

"No, no, I really need to put some pressure on him when I get back."

"It's fine if I don't need to ride him normally, but when I do, his cultivation isn't high enough. How can that be acceptable?"

Meanwhile, in Taiyi City, Yuan Chenling—who was currently curing the 2,345th believer of their ailments—suddenly sneezed.

"For real? Am I not at the Core Formation stage? My divine office is even for healing; how could I catch a cold?"

"Could it be that I've worked too much overtime lately and caught some sickly Qi?"

Yuan Chenling scratched his head, somewhat puzzled. At this moment, he had no idea what he was about to experience.

Soon, Zhou Yan followed the markings made in various scripts in hidden spots, moving quickly through the forest on the left.

It had to be said that these scripts were very clever, even blending into the terrain in many places. If one didn't recognize them, they might fall into a trap or be teleported away directly.

Aside from Long Tianxing, who might have relied on Luck to get here with his full Luck intact, anyone else would have had zero margin for error.

Given the Demon Sovereign's death-fearing nature, even if he had reached this place, he probably would have stopped at that first stone tablet and fled.

As he was thinking, Zhou Yan suddenly noticed that the ginkgo trees ahead were different.

The scenery here was more like spring, so the ginkgo trees were all green. However, the patch of yellow ahead was exceptionally conspicuous, a color that only belonged in autumn.

Realizing his destination might be close, Zhou Yan gripped the Tail Fire Tiger tightly and made it accelerate again.

Sure enough, another stone tablet appeared on a small hill ahead.

"Meng Zhang really loves stone tablets, doesn't he? Or did they just rely on these things to record text in the past?"

"Regardless, a stone tablet proves I'm in the right place."

Zhou Yan had mostly recovered, so he dismounted and walked to the front of the stone tablet.

Every character on that stone tablet was composed of different scripts, and it also bore a line of instruction.

"Please read aloud."

Looking at the sentence, Zhou Yan first examined the tablet, translated the text, and then read it out.

"The form perishes in the azure void, leaving the true law; the Great Luo ascends directly to knock upon the heavenly bounds."

"Prudently inherit this Dao, as I deeply hope; fear not the karmic body within the mortal realm."

Just as the last word was spoken, the ground suddenly shook violently. Zhou Yan, who had been standing steadily, began to teeter again.

Sensing something, Zhou Yan quickly scrambled up the hill and stood shakily at the top, looking into the distance.

Looking down from the hill, he saw a golden ginkgo forest. Under the blowing wind, it looked like a golden ocean.

But even more astonishingly, that golden ocean was gradually parting to form a grand road.

Directly ahead of that road, a magnificent palace was rising from the ground. Behind the palace coiled a golden dragon shimmering with brilliant golden light.

Only when the hall had fully risen did Zhou Yan snap out of his shock, uttering a sentence in utter bewilderment.

"Why is the Azure Dragon yellow?"

Ding! Obtained Fortuitous Encounter Quest: 'Daluo Dharma (Part 1)'.

Upon hearing that 'ding', Zhou Yan became even more shocked. He hurriedly opened the quest panel to check the description.

Quest Description: You have stepped into an unknown land and found an unimaginable path. Now, let go and do what must be done.

Seeing the extremely short but clearly purposeful description, Zhou Yan's breathing became shallow.

His mental state, which had stabilized, felt dizzy again. He didn't know if it was the lingering effects from before or if he was just lightheaded from this stroke of Luck.

"Holy crap! The Daluo Dharma?"

"Holy crap! Is it really the Daluo Dharma I'm thinking of?"

"Holy crap!"

His vocabulary and composure completely failed him. Zhou Yan could only stare at the towering palace in the distance, repeatedly exclaiming in disbelief.