Chapter 166 Wait a minute

"Huh?"

Upon hearing this, Dragon Prince Ao Qian's figure, suspended in mid-air, stumbled. The auspicious clouds beneath his feet nearly dissipated, and he swayed twice before steadying himself.

He widened his dragon eyes in disbelief, the vertical slits deep within his pupils contracting, as he stared at the burly man standing at the very front.

He fixed his gaze on the top of the man's forehead, specifically on that single, lush green weed swaying in the wind.

In an instant, the eight hundred Golden-Armored Dragon Guards also froze.

Their bright silver armor gleamed in the setting sun, the runes on the plates shimmering with vibrant light.

Yet, every pair of dragon eyes simultaneously lost focus.

A few dragon guards' fingers, gripping their long halberds, trembled slightly, causing their armor to clatter.

"Is... is this Divine Venerable Lietian?"

Dragon Prince Ao Qian raised his hand, slowly rubbed his eyes, and channeled a sliver of his Truth-Piercing Divine Light into his eyes, looking again.

Nothing changed. It was still that same burly man, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, his arm muscles straining against his sleeves, except... there was an extra green blade of grass fluttering in the wind.

Divine Venerable Lietian stood below, his facial muscles twitching wildly, his mouth jerking, and the veins on his forehead bulging one by one.

He covered his head tightly with his large hand, yet he could not block the greenery sprouting from between his fingers. The blade of grass seemed to have a will of its own; no matter how he pressed down, it always managed to poke its head out from between his fingers.

Humiliation.

Appearing in this state in front of his most loyal subordinate from the past, Divine Venerable Lietian felt the True Immortal blood within him reversing its flow. Blood rushed to his head, and his tiger-like eyes were filled with bloodshot veins.

"Your Highness... this..."

Beside him, Ao Gang was also stunned, his usually composed and stern face filled with bewilderment.

He carefully leaned into Dragon Prince Ao Qian's ear, lowered his voice, and wrapped his words in Divine Thought:

"Is this really that War God Lietian from back then? Why... is there color on his head?"

"Shut up!" Dragon Prince Ao Qian hissed, his Adam's apple bobbing.

The shock on his face was forcibly suppressed in an instant, replaced by a sudden realization.

He raised his hand, deliberately rubbing his nose, averted his gaze, and composed his expression.

"So that's it... How could I have forgotten about this?"

He raised his gaze to the distant horizon, his voice sounding somewhat heavy and slow:

"After Divine Venerable Lietian fell, his Divine Soul was shattered, leaving only a wisp of his true spirit immortal, drifting between heaven and earth. By a twist of fate, this wisp of true spirit fell into the mortal world and reincarnated as a blade of grass. On that desolate plain, enduring wind, rain, frost, snow, thunder, and lightning, having survived countless autumns, he has finally, after overcoming thousands of hardships, recultivated and transformed in the Lower Realm to return to the command of our Dragon Clan."

Dragon Prince Ao Qian clasped his hands behind his back and paced slowly in mid-air, the auspicious clouds beneath his feet condensing into lotus flowers.

He lifted his chin slightly, "For vegetation to transform, it is an act against the heavens. One must absorb the essence of the sun and moon, endure heavenly thunder and earthly fire, and gather spiritual wisdom bit by bit over long, arduous years."

"The reason Divine Venerable Lietian still retains the blade of grass on his head after transforming must be a deliberate choice by him, to constantly remind himself never to forget those difficult years spent struggling in the mud."

The more he spoke, the more excited he became, his voice growing louder.

"This is what it means to never forget one's original intent! It is the Lord's unique realization of the Great Dao of heaven and earth!"

A look of adoration flickered in Dragon Prince Ao Qian's eyes, his dark golden dragon pupils shining brilliantly, "As expected of Divine Venerable Lietian! Such a state of mind, such perseverance—he is truly a role model for our generation!"

"But... why does it have to grow on his head? And why is it so green?" Dragon Prince Ao Qian still muttered inwardly.

That green was simply too vivid, shimmering with a glossy sheen under the setting sun. But these doubts were soon cast to the back of his mind.

That aura of Origin radiating from Divine Venerable Lietian's body could not be fake.

This aura was like a slumbering ancient Vicious Beast; though it had not fully awakened, it already made their Bloodlines feel a faint tremor.

Dragon Prince Ao Qian slowly closed his eyes, his vast Divine Thought spreading downwards like a tide, weaving around Divine Venerable Lietian's body in strands.

In the Dragon Clan, the level of one's Bloodline determines everything. Although Divine Venerable Lietian is currently a transformed plant and possesses not a single drop of dragon blood in his body, and his cultivation has only recovered to the True Immortal Realm...

...that War God Origin branded deep within his Soul, which had survived ten thousand calamities without being extinguished, was something that no means could conceal.

That was the Dragon Clan's Origin Soul mark, forged only after experiencing countless life-and-death battles and wading through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

"That's right... This violent, wild, and domineering aura of Origin that brooks no interference from any living being—who else could it be but Divine Venerable Lietian?"

Dragon Prince Ao Qian opened his eyes abruptly, the doubts in them completely dissipated, replaced by extreme fanaticism and awe.

He wanted to slap himself. As for the Bloodline issue, that was nothing at all.

Once he returned to the God Domain, with the Dragon God Domain's Dragon Transformation Pool and the Ancestor's Heaven-Defying means, he could naturally reshape the Ancestral Dragon blood for the Lord.

Dragon Prince Ao Qian put away all his arrogance, his expression becoming incomparably respectful. He descended from mid-air, his dragon boots landing on the ground without making a sound.

The eight hundred Golden-Armored Dragon Guards behind him also descended, their armor clattering in unison, their movements perfectly synchronized, sealing off a radius of a hundred zhang without a single gap.

"Dragon Prince Ao Qian, leading eight hundred Golden-Armored Dragon Guards—welcomes Divine Venerable Lietian back to the clan!"

"Welcome Divine Venerable Lietian back to the clan!" The eight hundred Golden-Armored Dragon Guards roared in unison, their voices converging into a torrent of iron-blooded energy that shot straight into the clouds, shaking the mountains until they trembled and rocks tumbled down.

Divine Venerable Lietian looked expressionlessly at the kneeling Dragon Prince Ao Qian. Although the humiliation from the green grass on his head was still churning in his heart, the dignity of a superior being habitually radiated from him.

He raised his hand slightly, his movements slow and steady, his voice low and hoarse: "Rise."

"Thank you, My Lord." Dragon Prince Ao Qian rose respectfully, turned to the side, and made a gesture of invitation.

Below the low Peak, Black Dragon Immortal Emperor, Green Dragon Immortal Emperor, and the others, who had been on tenterhooks, finally let out a long sigh of relief upon seeing this scene.

They exchanged glances, seeing the wild joy in each other's eyes. With this big shot sent away, the Dragon Domain was finally saved.

"Safe travels, Divine Venerable Lietian!" "We respectfully send off Divine Venerable Lietian back to the clan!" The Dragon Emperors bid farewell excitedly, their voices full of urgency.

Dragon Prince Ao Qian looked at this group of fearful, Lower Realm Immortal Emperors, his lips curling upward involuntarily. "You lot are sensible enough."

He smiled, turned around, and prepared to step into the void passage. However, at the very moment one of his feet had stepped into the golden crack, he stopped abruptly, pulling his foot, which was suspended in mid-air, back.

"Wait a moment." Dragon Prince Ao Qian turned his head, his gaze falling upon Black Dragon Immortal Emperor and the others.

The hearts of the Dragon Emperors skipped a beat, and their hearts instantly jumped back into their throats.

"...What is it?" Black Dragon Immortal Emperor's face turned pale, his lips trembling as he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He turned around stiffly, the smile on his face looking worse than crying.

Dragon Prince Ao Qian crossed his arms over his chest, eyeing them askance with a playful smile on his lips.

"I am in a good mood today." He spoke indifferently, his voice carrying a sense of condescension: "In consideration of your service earlier, which was decent enough, I shall bestow some items upon you."

Having said that, he waved his sleeve. Several rays of light flew out, transforming into a few white jade boxes that landed in front of Black Dragon Immortal Emperor.

The jade boxes were warm to the touch and glowed with a soft luster in the setting sun. They were engraved with layers upon layers of sealing runes. Just the spiritual aura fluctuations emitted by those runes made the breathing of the Immortal Emperors present quicken.

"This is the 'Nine-Yang Dragon Transformation Pill' unique to the Dragon God Domain, refined from nine kinds of pure-yang divine herbs, which has the effect of tempering Bloodlines. Along with these ancient herbs over ten thousand years old. For you lot who have been stuck in the Immortal Emperor Realm for many years, they should be of some use." Dragon Prince Ao Qian lifted his chin proudly.

However, the plaza was deathly silent. Black Dragon Immortal Emperor was stunned. Subconsciously, he reached out and held the white jade boxes, his mouth slightly open, looking at Dragon Prince Ao Qian in a daze. His expression was as blank as someone walking down the street who suddenly had a gold ingot shoved into their hands.

Green Dragon Immortal Emperor blinked, his mind full of question marks, frantically recalling what they had actually done. What service earlier? What did they do earlier? Could it be that what they shouted was heard?

But that shout of "Awesome, Senior!" was clearly meant for that Senior in white. Did it have anything to do with this Dragon Prince?

Looking at the stunned expressions of the Dragon Emperors, Dragon Prince Ao Qian felt even more smug. "Heh, these ignorant fellows must be so stunned by my generosity that they can't speak."

He flicked his fingers against his lapel, his movements reserved and self-satisfied. Meanwhile, the Domain Lord, Black Dragon Immortal Emperor, and the others were indeed shocked to the extreme, but the direction of their shock was completely different.

In their eyes, this Lord who came down from the Dragon God Domain clearly had somewhat abnormal thought processes. They had only performed the proper etiquette, and might have even flattered the wrong person, yet not only did this Lord not punish them, he casually bestowed treasures that would make even Immortal Emperors green with envy.

"Black Dragon... should we accept these things or not?" Green Dragon Immortal Emperor asked via Divine Thought transmission, feeling guilty like a thief.

"Accept them! Why wouldn't we?" Black Dragon Immortal Emperor gritted his teeth, "Only a fool wouldn't take advantage of a freebie delivered to his door. Since this Lord mistook the target of the flattery, we might as well go along with it."

The two dragons exchanged glances and bowed in unison, "Many thanks for the reward, Your Highness!"

"Haha, no worries, it's a trivial matter." Dragon Prince Ao Qian waved his hand, turned around, and prepared to step into the golden crack once again.

The Dragon Emperors were overjoyed and hurriedly shouted, "Respectfully send off Your Highness! Respectfully send off Divine Venerable Lietian!"

However, the golden crack had just fluctuated when Dragon Prince Ao Qian stopped again. His brows furrowed slightly.

The Dragon Emperors: "..." Are you leaving or not?

Beside him, Ao Gang seemed to have noticed something wrong and, with a grave expression, transmitted a few words into Dragon Prince Ao Qian's ear.

After hearing this, Dragon Prince Ao Qian's expression gradually darkened. He turned his head, his gaze falling upon Divine Venerable Lietian, his tone becoming serious: "Divine Venerable Lietian, when we were in the Dragon God Domain, we heard that you were secretly poisoned by the Human Race's 'Divine Marshal Pojun,' which led to your fall."

"But according to our secret investigations over these past few days, that Divine Marshal Pojun is in the same realm as you. Logically speaking, with your combat strength, even if you couldn't defeat him, you would have had more than enough power to protect yourself; you certainly wouldn't have ended up completely destroyed, body and Soul."

Dragon Prince Ao Qian's eyes glinted with cold light: "This matter... I fear it wasn't just Divine Marshal Pojun acting alone."

"Since this place is where you fell all those years ago, why don't... we start by investigating it?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the surrounding air instantly turned cold.

Several Dragon Emperors looked at each other.

"Investigate? How are we supposed to investigate?"

Green Dragon Immortal Emperor couldn't help but ask in a low voice:

"That battle happened countless days ago. Even this Void Realm has been restructured countless times. Wouldn't all traces and auras of the battle have long since been washed away by the river of time?"

"Ignorant." Dragon Prince Ao Qian snorted coldly:

"This place is the source of Divine Venerable Lietian's fall and is directly linked to his threads of fate and Karma. As cultivators in the God Lord Realm, while we cannot reverse time and space, if we only investigate the fringes of this place of his fall, we can leverage these connections of Karma to glimpse the phantom tributaries of the river of time."

"As long as we find the temporal imprint left behind by that battle, even if it's just a mere scrap of a phantom image, the truth will naturally come to light."

The blade of grass atop Divine Venerable Lietian's head twitched slightly.

A complex light flashed in his tiger-like eyes—a mix of anger, humiliation, and a trace of fear.

"Investigating the river of time..."

Divine Venerable Lietian spoke in a deep, hoarse voice:

"I, too, wish to know what exactly happened back then."

In his memory, that battle was lost inexplicably, a defeat that made him feel stifled to this day. The feeling of being unable to use his strength and being completely overwhelmed by a great terror at the moment of life and death—every time he recalled it, it made him gnash his teeth in hatred.

"Since you also wish to investigate, then it will be easy."

As Dragon Prince Ao Qian flipped his palm, a dark golden Formation Plate appeared. The material of the Formation Plate was neither gold nor jade; it felt warm to the touch, yet it radiated a terrifying pressure that made one's heart palpitate.

The moment the Formation Plate appeared, the surrounding space began to distort slightly. Light refracted eerily as it passed near it, and faint, flowing light and shadows, like running water, shimmered within it.

"This is the 'Origin-Tracing Formation Plate' bestowed upon us by our ancestor, specifically used to capture vanished temporal nodes."

Dragon Prince Ao Qian injected his Divine Power into the Formation Plate.

"Hum—"

All the runes on the Formation Plate lit up, and a dark golden beam shot out from the center, pointing straight toward the sky above Longyuan Hall.

Dragon Prince Ao Qian followed the beam, but the next moment, he stood frozen in place.

His confident dragon face gradually filled with disbelief.

"Your Highness, what is it?"

Ao Gang stepped forward and looked in the direction of Dragon Prince Ao Qian's gaze, but he didn't notice anything unusual.

"This... why is the location of the fall so strange?"

Dragon Prince Ao Qian rubbed his eyes, his voice filled with absurdity.

"Strange?"

"According to the threads of Karma fed back by the Formation Plate, the actual intersection point where Divine Venerable Lietian fell was at the boundary of the Laws of this Small World's celestial dome... at the intersection with the core Laws of the external 'Ancestral Dragon Great World'."

"What's strange about that?" Green Dragon Immortal Emperor interjected.

"Idiot!"

Dragon Prince Ao Qian turned his head and glared at him:

"That intersection of Laws is only a mere few tens of millions of miles away from the core ancestral land of the Dragon Domain. For a powerhouse in the God Realm, a few tens of millions of miles is nothing more than a step away."

"In other words, Divine Venerable Lietian was about to fall into the Dragon Domain back then. And the person who attacked actually struck so close to the Dragon Domain's base camp, committing murder right under the noses of the Dragon Clan!"

Dragon Prince Ao Qian's expression turned completely grim:

"Let's go! Follow me, Your Highnesses, let's go and see. I want to see exactly who has the audacity to do such a thing!"

As soon as he finished speaking,

Dragon Prince Ao Qian's figure turned into a stream of dark golden light and shot into the sky. Eight hundred Golden-Armored Dragon Guards followed closely behind.

Divine Venerable Lietian and the several Dragon Emperors exchanged glances and also followed.

A moment later.

At the boundary of the sky,

fierce winds howled.

This was the edge of the world barrier, where space was extremely unstable, and countless tiny cracks wandered around like a spiderweb.

Dragon Prince Ao Qian stood in the center of the storm, his robes flapping loudly.

He slowly raised his hands, dark golden light shimmering at his fingertips as he formed a complex Dharma Seal and reached out toward the void in front of him.

"Open!"

The void seemed to be slowly pulled apart by a pair of invisible hands.

A phantom of a river emitting a faint white light was pulled out from the nothingness.

Within the river, countless light and shadows flashed by rapidly; every splash of the waves represented a scene from the past.

"Found it... it's right here."

A trace of joy flashed in Dragon Prince Ao Qian's eyes as he injected Divine Power into the Formation Plate to stabilize the phantom of the river of time, which was on the verge of collapsing. Beads of sweat seeped from his forehead.

Under everyone's gaze, the images within the phantom river gradually froze.

It was a pitch-black starry sky.

Divine Venerable Lietian, sensing something wrong, was descending from outside the Dragon Domain.

Behind him, a figure radiating scorching Divine Might was in hot pursuit, holding a great blade that shone with boundless Divine Light.

"It really is that bastard Pojun!"

Dragon Prince Ao Qian gritted his teeth.

In the scene,

the moment Divine Marshal Pojun saw Divine Venerable Lietian descending, a flash of ruthlessness crossed his face. He suddenly raised his hand and struck down with a palm.

And then.

There was no "then."

In the image, the once overbearing and arrogant Divine Venerable Lietian, the moment Divine Marshal Pojun's palm landed, exploded instantly like a bubble, turning into a sky full of bloody rain.

The bloody rain splattered across the starry sky, only to be swallowed by the void, leaving not a single trace behind.

The phantom image stopped abruptly here, and the phantom of the river of time shook violently before dissipating into specks of white light.

The sky fell into a deathly silence.

Dragon Prince Ao Qian's hands remained frozen in mid-air, his fingertips still trembling slightly, his expression completely solidified.

The eight hundred Golden-Armored Dragon Guards looked at each other.

"???"

Divine Venerable Lietian, just like that, was slapped to death with one palm?

"This... how is this possible?"

Ao Gang rubbed his eyes, his voice trembling:

"Divine Venerable Lietian's strength back then, even if it wasn't equal to Pojun's, certainly shouldn't have been this fragile. This was practically no different from swatting a mosquito."

"Could there be something else later that we can't see?"

Dragon Prince Ao Qian, refusing to believe it, tried to activate the Formation Plate again, only to find that the threads of Karma ahead had completely broken. The runes on the Formation Plate dimmed, and it could no longer capture any information.

"Right, the subsequent Karma is broken. It must be because you subsequently reincarnated and cultivated again, and the heavenly secrets of Karma were obscured by some great power."

But even so, the shock that the scene just now brought to everyone had not yet dissipated.

"Divine Marshal Pojun... has actually become this strong?"

Green Dragon Immortal Emperor swallowed nervously:

"To shatter the Physical Body and Divine Soul of a Peak-stage Divine Venerable with a single palm—this strength must have already reached the threshold of the God Emperor Realm."

Divine Venerable Lietian stood to the side, his expression shifting uncertainly.

Others might not know, but he knew best in his heart.

"Something is absolutely wrong!"

Divine Venerable Lietian roared internally:

"At the moment I descended back then, I didn't take that palm from Pojun seriously at all. What I truly felt was a terrifying pressure radiating from within the world barrier, enough to destroy the entire Great World. That pressure made even my Soul tremble."

"I was only taken advantage of by that bastard Pojun because of that great terror."

He subconsciously looked at his own hands, then touched the blade of grass on his head, his mouth twitching.

But in the end, he still didn't speak.

After all, admitting to his juniors that he was scared witless and then got slapped to death like a mosquito was just too embarrassing.

Moreover, with the current strength of Dragon Prince Ao Qian and the others, they probably wouldn't be able to investigate the deeper truth.

The existence behind that pressure was likely a figure that even he, at his Peak, would have to look up to.

Just as thoughts were surging in Divine Venerable Lietian's mind,

"Go to the dungeon beneath the Chaos Main Hall."

A gentle voice entered his Sea of Consciousness, as clear as if it were whispering in his ear.

It was the voice of Gu Heng.

Divine Venerable Lietian's body shook, his pupils contracted sharply, and the blade of grass on his head trembled.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the waves in his heart, turned to look at Dragon Prince Ao Qian, and said in a hoarse voice:

"That's enough. There is no use in talking more about what happened back then. The urgent priority is that I need to return to the Chaos Main Hall to recuperate. There is something in the dungeon there that is crucial for me to recover my cultivation."

Upon hearing this, Dragon Prince Ao Qian quickly put away the Formation Plate:

"What a Divine Marshal Pojun! Rest assured, Senior. Once we return to the God Domain and your cultivation is restored, we will definitely assemble the Dragon Clan army and go to their door to demand an explanation from that Divine Dynasty!"

"Let's go back first."

Divine Venerable Lietian waved his hand.

Dragon Prince Ao Qian nodded, stepped forward, brought his fingers together like a blade, and slashed fiercely into the void.

"Riiip—"

A spatial passage, ten times wider than the previous one, slowly unfolded in the sky.

Golden light shone boundlessly, and the churning Chaos Qi on the other side of the passage was faintly visible, along with towering palace complexes looming in the clouds.

Dragon Prince Ao Qian was about to step in first.

Ao Gang, who was standing to the side, had an extremely strange, thoughtful look on his face.

He looked at Divine Venerable Lietian, then at the spatial passage that was taking shape, and hesitated as he spoke:

"Divine Venerable Lietian... there is something this subordinate does not understand."

Divine Venerable Lietian frowned: "What is it?"

Ao Gang pointed to the other side of the passage and scratched his head:

"Your residence doesn't seem to be near the Chaos Main Hall, does it? Moreover, the Chaos Main Hall has always been just a place for the clan to hold meetings; apart from imprisoning a few direct-line disciples, it is generally uninhabited."

"Most importantly, the concentration of Chaos Spiritual Qi there is much thinner compared to the War God Mansion where you lived back then. Senior, you are in urgent need of recovering your cultivation, so why go there?"

As soon as these words were spoken,

Dragon Prince Ao Qian's step stopped in mid-air, hanging there motionless as if he had stepped into an invisible quagmire.

He turned his head and looked at Divine Venerable Lietian blankly, "That's right, Divine Venerable Lietian, why?"

On the plaza,

the Five Great Dragon Emperors also stood frozen in place, looking at each other.

Everyone's gaze once again converged on Divine Venerable Lietian.