Chapter 40: I, the Second Prince of the Dragon Palace

These two long days...

Amidst some rather tedious musical and dance performances, Li Changshou unlocked a new skill—monitoring his surroundings with the Feng Yu Curse while slowly savoring the scriptures he had borrowed from the outer hall of the Dao Treasury.

It was somewhat dull.

The most exciting parts of this Demon-Exorcising Assembly would likely be the upcoming Dragon Palace treasure presentations and the sparring among disciples from various sects.

Li Changshou had no interest in the treasures from Dragon Palace.

Although one could never have too many magical treasures, there were two reasons he stayed away. First, the treasures were scarce compared to the number of contenders, and with his displayed cultivation at the second stage of Fan Xu Realm, he stood no chance. Second, he deduced that Dragon Palace was fated for a great calamity, and he couldn't afford to entangle himself with any related karma.

If he did get involved, he could always blame it on Jiu Jiu.

Checking the time, it was nearly the point when the assembly would officially begin.

Li Changshou glanced at the elevated platform above. Over the past two days of discussions, the celestial immortals from various sects had likely finalized matters with Dragon Palace, such as the boundaries of the East Sea.

But none of that had much to do with him...

Jiu Jiu was still struggling with the six-color magic cube, which proved that high cultivation levels didn't necessarily correlate with intelligence. At least it had kept her occupied and sober through these boring days without wine.

As for Youqin Xuanya, after Li Changshou's earlier misunderstanding led him to decline her approach, she seemed to have figured something out. Though she glanced back every half-hour, she didn't come over again...

Overall, the two days had been fairly uneventful.

Just as he was leisurely reading his scriptures, without any warning, Li Changshou felt two sharp gazes fixed on him, laced with hostility.

He calmly put away the bamboo slip in his hand and focused on analyzing the messages from the Feng Yu Curse. Tracing the direction of the gaze, he spotted the vague figure of a young man.

Hmm?

Did he have some grudge against me? That didn't make sense.

Li Changshou looked up and saw the figure standing at the edge of the venue, about a hundred zhang away from the seating area for Du Xian Men...

More precisely, this wasn't a "person"—there were soft antler-like horns on his forehead.

A young dragon from the Dragon Clan?

He was probably one of the young dragons scheduled to spar with the immortals at this assembly.

Li Changshou was puzzled, as he noticed this dragon youth's gaze was locked firmly on him.

He shifted his body slightly backward, and sure enough, the dragon's eyes followed, confirming it was directed at him.

Upon closer inspection, he could see a faint blue glow in the dragon's eyes.

Could it be that this dragon had seen through his hidden cultivation?

That shouldn't be possible—his method for concealing his realm was a unique technique he had developed by deeply analyzing various methods for probing others' cultivation and then reversing them...

'Or perhaps, it's because I'm the weakest among the Du Xian Men group, so he's targeting me?'

Li Changshou pondered this, and just then, the Feng Yu Curse caught the young dragon flashing a "confident" smile at the corner of his mouth.

It seemed this young dragon lacked confidence but was under pressure to win in the upcoming spars, so he wanted to start by challenging the weakest from a major sect?

This approach was... quite bold.

Li Changshou looked up, meeting the dragon youth's gaze with a neutral expression. The blue glow in the dragon's eyes gradually faded, revealing a pair of eyes like blue gemstones, staring silently at Li Changshou from hundreds of zhang away.

According to the classic "ten-second stare" rule, this standoff between one human and one dragon should...

Suddenly, the line of sight was blocked by a large red figure—a turtle immortal had appeared in front of the young dragon.

"Your Highness, the Crown Prince, why did you come over here? You're about to take the stage!"

Crown Prince? The son of the Dragon King?

Being targeted by someone like this was no good news.

But this only deepened Li Changshou's confusion—why had the Dragon King's son singled him out among the vast crowd?

Could his appearance have some inexplicable appeal to male dragons?

Li Changshou fell into deep thought, carefully analyzing the causes and effects, and wondering if he should find an excuse to leave now...

The current situation of the Dragon Clan was quite awkward.

They possessed a multitude of experts accumulated from ancient times, along with countless treasures, but they also faced the great predicament of being rejected by the heavens after the ancient wars shattered the primordial world.

Although the Dragon Clan had experts in abundance and appeared prosperous, their overall strength was far inferior to the rapidly developing human race.

Moreover, the Dragon Clan relied mainly on bloodline to gain power, and after the fall of their strongest ancestor, the Ancestral Dragon, in the late ancient wars, no dragon could surpass him.

As a result, in the current primordial world under the six saints, the Dragon Clan had to tread carefully, fearing they might offend a saint and be wiped out. Yet, they were unwilling to fade into obscurity, still dreaming of their former glory as rulers of the heavens and earth.

A few years ago, East Sea Dragon Palace deliberately allowed a group of newly bred shrimp soldiers to cause havoc along the East Sea coast.

Du Xian Men sent disciples to exorcise demons and protect the human race, which was like a slap in the face to Dragon Palace.

But Dragon Palace didn't dare retaliate, as Du Xian Men was under the three teachings' lineage, leading to this Demon-Exorcising Assembly as a way for the Dragon Clan to show their might and negotiate East Sea boundaries with human cultivators.

Later, Dragon Palace sent a vicious dragon to deliver invitations to Du Xian Men, only for it to be flicked away by Master Wangqing, delivering an even louder slap.

Yet, Dragon Palace still didn't dare act against Du Xian Men, resorting instead to petty traps, like the one with the grapes, to vent their frustration...

It was childish, yet it revealed the Dragon Clan's helplessness and awkwardness.

In Li Changshou's view, the Dragon Clan was outwardly strong but inwardly weak, burdened by its past and beyond redemption, with the entire clan somewhat twisted.

'Could this young dragon have locked onto me because of these reasons?'

Li Changshou pondered for a moment and quickly decided to quietly observe how things unfolded.

Leaving now, in this place full of dragons and serpents, was far less safe than staying near his own immortals. If some Dragon Palace expert secretly targeted him, a minor Du Xian Men disciple, to vent their anger, that would be disastrous.

In the upcoming sparring, if this young dragon directly challenged him, he could simply admit defeat due to his low cultivation.

The performances in the venue came to an end, and an elderly turtle immortal stepped onto the golden turtle platform, beginning a leisurely recount of the Dragon Clan's past glory. Li Changshou didn't even bother listening.

Once again, he felt that earlier gaze and decisively put away the Feng Yu Curse, following it to look up. There, in the back, about to take the stage, was that...

Dragon Clan youth.

...

'I, Ao Yi, the second prince of East Sea Dragon Palace, must accomplish something significant today.'

Ao Yi stood behind several immortal dragon soldiers, his face calm as he waited for the turtle prime minister to introduce him before stepping onto the stage.

The immortal armor and robe he wore emitted a soft glow, accentuating his somewhat refined and youthful features, making him look warm and jade-like.

Ao Yi knew that at this Demon-Exorcising Assembly, he was something of a central figure.

It was his tenth birthday today.

But don't misunderstand—this was his tenth birthday since hatching from the egg.

More than two hundred and thirty years ago, Ao Yi had already gained consciousness inside the dragon egg and could move around for three hours each day.

In Dragon Clan terms, that was called "egg movement."

From that time on, various "teachers" used those three hours daily to instruct him in etiquette, poetry, music, immortal arts, and more...

It was all because he was the second son of the current East Sea Dragon King, with a purer bloodline inherited from the Ancestral Dragon than his elder brother. In the future, he might even reach the Da Luo Realm and become a pillar of the clan.

In the first few decades, the teachings made Ao Yi believe that the Dragon Clan was the strongest race in the world, born rulers and the true masters of the primordial realm.

But Ao Yi clearly remembered—a hundred and sixty-three years ago, on a clear morning in the East Sea, when he could already wake in the egg for five hours a day.

One of his music "teachers," seemingly drunk, told him many things about the Dragon Clan's unfortunate reality.

The Dragon Clan wasn't the strongest.

Heaven had saints, and earth had the human race...

In the ancient wars, the dragon, phoenix, and kirin clans shattered the once boundless primordial world, causing countless lives to suffer. The Dragon Clan thus bore an eternal, unerasable sin, facing rejection from the heavens and a blockade on their destiny by the Heavenly Dao.

They were forced to settle in the four seas, endlessly using the bodies of Dragon Clan experts to stabilize the unstable sea eyes, slowly atoning for their past sins...

What were sea eyes? They were springs of heavenly filth, the most perilous hells!

From then on, Ao Yi began to worry and think endlessly.

As a prince of the Dragon King and an inheritor of the Ancestral Dragon's bloodline, what could he do for the Dragon Clan, and what should he do?

Gradually, Ao Yi discovered a tragic fact.

Most of the Dragon Clan still believed they were the strongest race.

Countless clan members even viewed guarding the four seas—as a punishment from the Heavenly Dao—as a noble virtue, actively bringing welfare to all beings!

Even more clan members boasted that the Dragon Clan, as ancient rulers, were superior to the human race, which they saw as mere ants, by countless degrees!

With the phoenix and kirin clans nearly extinct and the witches and demons reduced to side roles, the Dragon Clan remained as prosperous as in ancient times and was worshiped as totems by humans—this proved they were the supreme race...

Pathetic!

Ridiculous!

The Dragon Clan's current survival was bought with the flesh and blood of countless ancestors filling the sea eyes!

Heaven had saints, who could annihilate the Dragon Clan with a single finger.

Earth had the human race, whose momentum now far surpassed what the Dragon Clan could withstand!

Yet, most of the Dragon Clan clung to their ancient dreams of dominance, unwilling to wake up. They constantly flaunted their might to the human race but dared not truly go to war with them.

Just a few days ago, his elder brother, the crown prince of Dragon Palace, arranged those dirty tricks against Du Xian Men but didn't have the courage to issue a proper challenge!

This was his noble Dragon Clan!

This was the ancient ruler, now rotten and twisted to its core!

What could he, Ao Yi, a mere ten-year-old young dragon, do?

Ao Yi looked toward the platform, as if seeing his father, already in the Da Luo Golden Immortal realm.

Even Da Luo Golden Immortals could only be destroyed by great calamities, and even if his father abdicated, the position would go to one of his uncles, not him. He could never ascend to that throne or use the Dragon King's authority to change the clan's fate.

Ao Yi let out a cold laugh.

'In the end, I'm just a pretty puppet, used by my clan to vent their anger and uphold their so-called dignity.'

Nothing more.

'My child, at today's Demon-Exorcising Assembly, you must select a Du Xian Men disciple to spar with and make sure to win impressively to please your father.'

That was his mother's instruction.

'Your Highness, remember to hold back in the fight and not actually injure anyone, or it could cause complications.'

That was the advice from his father's prime minister.

But they had no idea what he intended to do.

"... Now, let us welcome today's star, His Highness the Second Prince of East Sea Dragon Palace, to the stage!"

The turtle prime minister had begun the announcement.

Ao Yi stepped forward with a calm expression, feeling the gazes converging on him, but he had no interest in looking at these non-dragon beings.

The turtle prime minister continued with his prepared speech, and soon they would reach the segment where Ao Yi personally selected an opponent for sparring. This was the "entertaining performance" before the assembly officially started.

It was also meant to publicly humiliate the minor Du Xian Men.

Ao Yi was well aware of his own true strength. With the deep accumulations from his time in the egg, the Ancestral Dragon's bloodline, and his innate divine abilities, even though he had only been hatched for ten years, he could already defeat the dragons in his clan who had recently achieved immortality.

But today...

In front of this gathered crowd, with immortals from sects near the East Sea all present!

He, Ao Yi, the ten-year-old Second Prince of East Sea Dragon Palace, would do something significant!

He had already observed the strengths of the Du Xian Men disciples and locked onto the weakest one!

O noble Dragon Clan, you've been slapped twice by Du Xian Men and still think it's not loud enough, don't you?

Still not waking up, are you?

Very well!

Today, he, Ao Yi, the Second Prince, would openly and honorably lose to the weakest among the Du Xian Men group!

Would that slap be loud enough?

Wake up, Dragon Clan!

Wake up, all you clan members lost in ancient dreams!

It's not too late now. We must cast aside the Dragon Clan's so-called nobility and seek a true path forward—send our talented dragon sons and daughters to study under the three teachings' saints, just like the human disciples, and cultivate their laws and ways!

The turtle prime minister said with a smile, "Today, our star of the day, His Highness the Second Prince, will select a talented disciple from the sects for a friendly spar..."

Here it comes.

Ao Yi took a light breath and stepped forward, his gaze turning toward the Du Xian Men seating area.

Along with his, everyone's eyes in the venue shifted to the Du Xian Men area.

"You."

Ao Yi raised his right hand, pointing directly at the Du Xian Men disciple he had chosen earlier, and spoke in his still-youthful voice,

"Step forward and spar with me."