496: Seeking the Dragon

In the eyes of many Veteran Players, the Kongming Dao Lineage held extraordinary significance.

Its core, the Kongming Grotto-Heaven, had finally fallen after much difficulty, and it seemed the mysterious veil of the Kongming Dao Lineage was about to be lifted.

Then, with a rumble of thunder, everything vanished.

Countless Veteran Players gathered in the area ravaged by the Lightning Tribulation, searching stubbornly, but in the end, they found nothing.

The Lightning Tribulation had destroyed everything; truly, not even a speck of dust remained.

Many players lamented over this:

"No wonder so many Cultivators turn pale at the mention of Lightning Tribulation; it turns out the Lightning Tribulation is actually this terrifying."

"The entire Grotto-Heaven hung high in the Great Void, remaining perfectly intact for countless years. Yet, as soon as this Lightning Tribulation roared through, it was instantly reduced to complete ash—no, there isn't even any ash left."

"Fortunately, in this era, one does not need to undergo a Tribulation to achieve a Breakthrough. Otherwise, how could people like us possibly survive it?"

"I think I understand now why some say the ancient powerhouses far surpassed those of today. Powerhouses filtered through a Lightning Tribulation must indeed be extraordinary."

The players were filled with emotion, all shaken by the Lightning Tribulation.

In the current era, there are no Lightning Tribulations; everything concerning them remains only in written records.

And because those records are from ancient times, they inevitably suffered from distortion. Many players thus believed they were merely exaggerations.

Some players even felt it was a pity that the current era lacked Lightning Tribulations; otherwise, players like them could easily undergo the Tribulation and thoroughly awe the natives.

But after witnessing the devastation of the Lightning Tribulation, everyone fell silent, collectively feeling that the absence of Lightning Tribulations was actually a great thing.

If they truly had to undergo a Tribulation, the first to be filtered out would be the player Cultivators who were forcibly raised through abundant resources.

Even some Golden Core Players did not believe they had the ability to survive a Tribulation; they were somewhat self-aware about how they had actually achieved Core Formation.

After all, Core Formation requires passing through Infinite Illusions, which is itself a form of filtering, but this filter is still too weak; one can pass safely with a few tricks.

But if it were replaced by a Lightning Tribulation, making it necessary for Core Formation, then the number of Golden Core Players would likely be cut in half, or even become scarce.

Some players even looked toward the heavens, expressing their gratitude to the current 'Heavenly Dao'.

However, some players pointed out that there is likely no Heavenly Dao today, and all things are in disorder.

Besides the players shocked by the Lightning Tribulation and those searching fruitlessly for the Kongming Dao Lineage, there was another group of players also constantly searching the ruins.

Those were the 'Dragon-Seeking Players'.

This group of players mainly came from Dragon Seeking City.

They were already highly adventurous, and the reason they united was for East Sea Exploration, having long fantasized about finding a True Dragon.

Now, hearing that the Lightning Tribulation might be related to Dragons, the Dragon-Seeking Players couldn't sit still. Those who should go to the East Sea to find Dragon Descendants went, and those who wanted to come to the Lightning Tribulation ruins to find dragon traces also came.

"Look! Look from high up!"

One of the Dragon-Seeking Players suddenly shouted, calling for the other players to take to the sky.

The players were puzzled but followed suit, flying higher and higher.

"Don't look up, look down! Look at the center of the Lightning Tribulation, pull back the distance, and look outward along the mountain range!"

The players observed carefully, and finally, someone saw the clue.

"The direction of that mountain range... is it a Dragon?"

"Didn't we know this before?"

"No, no, it's different from what we saw before!"

When the Lightning Tribulation erupted, some players noticed that the mountain range's path seemed to have turned into a Dragon. The mountain ridge was the dragon's spine, looking majestic and sparking the imagination.

But the Lightning Tribulation quickly smashed that Dragon Spine to pieces, leaving not a single scrap behind.

But now, everyone noticed something was wrong.

"The Lightning Tribulation triggered before did indeed smash a 'Mountain Range Dragon', but that was only a small dragon."

"What we are seeing now is a Great Dragon, much longer. The previous small dragon was merely being held in its mouth."

"The Lightning Tribulation didn't smash it, possibly because it wasn't the target."

The Dragon-Seeking Players were very excited.

Players had traveled through this area before, but they had never discovered such an anomaly in the mountain range.

On one hand, it might be because players only fly to travel and never look at the scenery. If the teleportation arrays hadn't been fully deployed, they would even teleport directly to key areas, not bothering to fly.

On the other hand, it might be that the mountain range in this area wasn't like this before, but the fall of the Kongming Grotto-Heaven triggered a series of complex reactions, eventually causing the Mountain Range Dragon to emerge.

Regardless, everyone had discovered the mountain range's unusual nature.

Soon, the Dragon-Seeking Players split into several factions, each with different interpretations of the mountain range's wonder:

"I believe there really was a Dragon here in the past, or at least a Great Flood Dragon. It probably died here or used some method to seal itself, subsequently merging with the mountains, which eventually gave the mountains the appearance of a Dragon."

This faction was determined to dig up the mountain range to find the Dragon Bone or Flood Dragon Bone inside.

"I disagree. If there really were a Dragon or Great Flood Dragon, the Spiritual Vein in this area would definitely have undergone a massive change. How could there be no change? So I suspect that some faction that revered Dragons simply crafted the mountains into a dragon shape. What's truly important isn't what's inside the mountain range, but researching which faction created this mountain range and tracking them down."

This faction believed the mountain range must be preserved, at least until the creators of this 'artificial mountain range' were found, to avoid losing clues.

In the ongoing discussion, both factions gained many new supporting arguments.

The 'Digging Faction' argued that even if there were no Dragon Bone or Flood Dragon Bone, there must be a Treasure related to Dragons, and it must be this Treasure that altered the mountain range's shape.

This would be impossible in reality, but it is plausible in a Xuanhuan World.

A Treasure related to Dragons falling into a mountain range would not only have the power to turn valleys into Dragon Bones and ridges into Dragon Spines but might even directly bless nearby races, creating new Dragon Descendants.

In short, the mountain range had to be dug up.

The 'Preservation Faction' proposed another hypothesis.

Perhaps the 'craftsmen' of the past didn't create the Dragon Mountain Range out of religious piety, but for some cultivation Dao Lineage.

Perhaps it had to be crafted into a dragon shape, with certain measures added within the mountain range, in order to change the spiritual atmosphere here and create conditions for the cultivation of a certain Cultivation Technique.

Therefore, no matter what, the mountain range could not be destroyed before it was thoroughly researched; otherwise, a single move could affect everything and destroy this precious land left by predecessors.

The two factions argued incessantly, making no progress, and even escalated into mutual conflict and even killing.

Some slower players only realized days later that this wasn't really a dispute over ideology, but a fight for ownership of this area.

Regardless of the actual situation in this area, one must first possess it before they can explore further and seize the benefits.

As more and more players woke up to this, the fighting grew more intense, gradually evolving into a new war.