by Dragon King
However, she wasn’t overwhelmed by the victory. She thought for a second and asked Hao Ren, “When did you reach peak Qian-level, Ren? The black sword you used is the old dragon king’s weapon which he carries with him at all times. How come he offered it to you?”
Zhao Hongyu was wise, but she never thought that the old dragon king already passed away.
Zhao Kuo’s face was gloomy as he kept quiet.
“Auntie, I’ll explain it to you in detail when we get back to the East Ocean Dragon Palace,” Hao Ren didn’t really know how to explain this to her. However, he knew that Zhao Guang and the others would find out about Zhao Haoran sooner or later.
He fought a hard battle against Zhao Kuo to prove himself, and Zhao Kuo didn’t want to lose to the younger generation either. Therefore, the battle got more and more intense. As a result, Hao Ren’s meridians were damaged, causing the spiritual core which stored Zhao Haoran’s 1,000-year cultivation strength to leak.
Hao Ren depended on his nature essence to keep the spiritual core under control. However, since he consumed all his nature essence and tried to defeat Zhao Kuo, Zhao Haoran’s 1,000-year cultivation strength was accidentally released.
At this moment, the 1,000-year cultivation strength was dashing around in Hao Ren’s body and made him feel like death was better than living.
The fact that he could still reply calmly was all because of his willpower.
“Ok…” Zhao Hongyu thought that Hao Ren must be tired after the back-to-back battles, so she didn’t keep asking even though she had many more questions.
Hao Ren crossed his legs and sat down. He regulated his breath and frowned. Zhao Haoran’s strength was indeed overly powerful, and he wasn’t able to control it as a mid-tier Gen-level cultivator.
On the other hand, if Hao Ren were on Zhen-level, only touching this strength would have killed him!
“Humph!” Zhao Kuo snorted. His face was pale, but he wasn’t actually injured that bad.
In this battle, Hao Ren showed his strength and won some prestige.
In fact, both Hao Ren and Zhao Kuo wanted to defeat each other, and Zhao Yanzi was the key here.
Zhao Kuo wanted to prove that Hao Ren was too weak, and Hao Ren tried to show that he wasn’t weak at all. Deep in their hearts, what they were fighting over was Zhao Yanzi!
“Gongzi…” Lu Linlin and Lu Lili sat on Hao Ren’s sides. They put their hands on Hao Ren’s shoulders to help him recover.
With their help as Qian-level cultivators, Zhao Haoran’s 1,000-year cultivation strength slowly got under Hao Ren’s control.
Zhao Yanzi looked at Hao Ren and then at Zhao Kuo. She thought for a bit and picked Little White up before sitting down in a corner of the River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting.
Xie Yujia breathed out deeply while standing on the edge of the River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting. She finally felt relieved as she looked at the clouds floating under her feet.
Each of Hao Ren’s battle was alarmingly dangerous, and Xie Yujia paid attention to each of Hao Ren’s movements from the side of the arena. She was undoubtedly nervous for him.
Xie Yujia was exhausted now that Hao Ren had won, and she felt like she was the one battling the entire time.
Zhen Congming sat on the River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting with his back facing everyone else. He took out a piece of paper and a pencil from his storage space and started doodling.
He had always wanted to take a look at the Dragon God Shrine, but he never got the chance to.
When Hao Ren attended the Dragon God Shrine’s general exam, Zhen Congming tagged along with Zhao Guang and the others. He had no interest in the battles of the ‘low-leveled’ cultivators except for when Hao Ren and Zhao Kuo battled. In the meantime, he had been scanning around the Dragon God Shrine the entire time.
The Dragon God Shrine could be considered as the supreme headquarters of the Dragon Tribe, and the amount of resources they possessed were even greater than the four ocean dragon palaces.
Zhen Congming stayed in the East Ocean Dragon Palace with Qiu Niu for the time being. As shameless as he was, he didn’t want to take advantage of the East Ocean Dragon Palace. When he exploited the West Ocean Dragon Palace last time, he obtained a lot of stuff, but nothing was rare. He used the most precious items and made a flight dharma treasure with them.
However, the Dragon God Shrine was different. Since Zhen Congming was not a dragon cultivator in the first place, and he was not familiar with the Dragon God Shrine either, the famous Dragon God Shrine was like a mountain of treasures to him.
Zhen Congming’s white paper slowly showed some complex lines. He added tons of symbols and comments, and it looked even more complicated than a mathematical reasoning problem and stricter than an architectural blueprint.
Even the most famous scientist in the world wouldn’t be able to understand his drawing. However, for Zhen Congming, the challenging courses at universities, such as Linear Algebra and Advanced Mathematics, were only of the kindergarten level!
Zhen Congming was a master who could overturn the most complicated math theory and physics law in the world!
If he were to learn to program, he would be the best hacker in the world!
He calculated and restored over 600 array formations outside the Dragon God Shrine within an hour! That was ridiculous… Zhen Congming was a little arrogant, but his intelligence was the best of the best.
The River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting flew over the clouds as everybody kept quiet. They were either meditating or buried in their own thoughts.
“We are here,” Zhao Hongyu said abruptly.
Hao Ren opened his eyes and found himself above the ocean already. The port of the East Ocean City was only a couple of kilometers away.
Under Lu Linlin and Lu Lili’s help, the exploding nature essence in his body finally returned to the spiritual core in the Qihai Acupoint. Then, he sealed it up with force.
“Congratulations! Gongzi!” The twins stood up beside Hao Ren and said in a pleasant voice.
Although they were both at Qian-level, Zhao Haoran’s 1,000-year cultivation strength was of peak Qian-level. Now that they had completed sealing that strength, they both were sweaty and tired. Their soft silky dresses were both half soaked.
Hao Ren clenched his fists and stood up. The dragon core near his dantian felt very refreshing, and he now had 178 openings.
Zhao Haoran’s 1,000-year cultivation strength dashed through Hao Ren’s body, and he put the spiritual core in its place slowly afterward. In fact, it was like rinsing Hao Ren’s body with the nature essence of peak Qian-level, and the benefits were tremendous.
In a sense, three Qian-level cultivators battled in Hao Ren’s body, and he certainly sweated more than Lu Linlin and Lu Lili.
But instead of Lu Linlin and Lu Lili’s crystal-clear sweat, his sweat was black and smelly!
The twins looked at Hao Ren from the sides, not showing disgust at his stinky sweat at all.
Hao Ren looked down at the layer of dirty stuff on top of his skin, knowing that his physical condition had significantly improved again!
That was what Lu Linlin and Lu Lili congratulated him on!
“Eww, so stinky!” Zhao Yanzi sniffed the smell from Hao Ren in her sleep, and she couldn’t help but complain as she held Little White in her arms.
“Hehe, please take a shower, Gongzi!” Lu Linlin pushed Hao Ren off the River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting with her beautiful hands.
Hao Ren fell from over a hundred meters into the rough ocean!
Hao Ren would’ve cried out in a panic if it were before, but he wasn’t worried at all now!
Splash!
Hao Ren fell into the ocean, and the waves he splashed up were immediately swallowed by other waves. His body was incredibly strong after being tempered by the heavenly lightning.
Hao Ren moved his legs and swam a few meters under the water. He knew how to swim because he lived by the beach, and he was way more flexible and powerful t
han before. With a little kick, Hao Ren moved quickly under the water like a tuna fish.
Water rinsed off the dirt on Hao Ren’s skin, and it made it much easier for his pores to breath.
Then, Hao Ren took one of the two robes that were on his front and back and wore it before dashing out of the water on his sword energies
Splash!
Hao Ren was refreshed. He hopped directly onto the River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting that was a few hundred meters above the ocean, and his face was no longer dirty. Instead, his clean face looked handsome under his wet hair.
The subtle salty scent of the ocean replaced the stinky smell.
“Gongzi got more handsome!” Lu Linlin took the opportunity to flatter Hao Ren. Lu Lili covered her mouth as she laughed while looking at Hao Ren in admiration.
Xie Yujia lightly smiled at Hao Ren; she didn’t say anything.
“Handsome, handsome, handsome! What’s the point of being handsome? Handsome can’t feed him!” Zhao Yanzi shouted, but she couldn’t help but glimpse at Hao Ren.
“Let’s get back to the East Ocean Dragon Palace as soon as possible, Auntie. We need to talk about some important issues,” Hao Ren said to Zhao Hongyu.
He circulated the fire-elemental nature essence according to the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll, and it dried his soaked robe immediately.
“Ok!” Zhao Hongyu nodded. As she made a hand gesture, the River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting sped up and created an energy sphere.
Splash! They dived into the ocean.
430 Hatred
“Greetings, Dragon King!”
A dozen purple-robed elders and a dozen East Ocean’s Generals were already waiting there when Zhao Guang and the others reached the front gate.
Zhao Guo’s face had already recovered from its paleness, and he walked behind Zhao Guang quietly.
The elders were surprised to see Zhao Kuo, and the generals were thrilled to see him.
“Third Lord is back! Third Lord is back!”
The soldiers cried out from above the defense wall in excitement when they saw Zhao Kuo.
They didn’t dare shout out too loud since Zhao Guang and the elders were around, but Hao Ren still heard them.
Zhao Kuo passed through the gate after Zhao Guang with a stern look, and the Elders followed them in as well.
The generals bowed toward Zhao Kuo before they returned to their positions.
“Anything new these days?” Zhao Guang asked as he walked.
“Dragon King, everything is normal around the East Ocean City,” one of the purple-robed elders who stayed in the dragon palace answered.
Zhao Guang nodded. “You may leave now. Arrange a few places to stay for Ms. Xie, Ms. Lu, and Little Daoist Zhen.”
“Yes, sir!” The elder who was leading the way slowed down immediately.
“You must all tired. Have some rest in the dragon palace today,” Zhao Guang said to Xie Yujia and the twins.
“Ok.” Xie Yujia smiled lightly.
Lu Linlin and Lu Lili looked at Hao Ren, and they followed the elder to the palace that was assigned to them after Hao Ren nodded.
Zhen Congming followed them, and Little White hopped out of Zhao Yanzi’s arm and followed Xie Yujia.
Then, Zhao Guang dismissed the dozen purple-robed elders and entered his palace with Elder Lu, Elder Sun, Zhao Kuo, Zhao Hongyu, Zhao Yanzi, Hao Ren, and Premier Xia.
The eight of them entered the palace, and Zhao Guang asked Premier Xia, who came last, to close the door. Then, he walked to the chair in the center of the palace and sat down, facing Hao Ren.
Premier Xie walked ahead hastily to stand beside him, and Zhao Kuo and Zhao Hongyu sat on each side of Zhao Guang.
This was Zhao Guang’s resting palace, so the conference lobby wasn’t large. It appeared to be very intimate after the door closed.
“Please go ahead with what you wanted to say, Ren,” Zhao Guang said to Hao Ren.
Hao Ren nodded and said, “First of all, I resign from my Commanding General position, and I am returning the token to Third Uncle.”
He took the token out of his storage space and walked a few steps ahead, handing it to Zhao Kuo.
“Not necessary!” Zhao Kuo waved him off, “Skip this.”
Hao Ren didn’t push it and put the token back in his necklace. Then, he went on with what was more important. “The second thing is that I need to give this to Third Uncle.”
Hao Ren took the Black Dragon Spike from his storage space and laid it in front of Zhao Kuo with both hands.
The Black Dragon Spike looked very sharp and heavy even without any nature essence inside.
“The old dragon king asked me to hand it over to you,” Hao Ren added.
Hearing that, Zhao Kuo reached out and took the Black Dragon Spike.
“The third thing is,” Hao Ren backed up beside Zhao Yanzi before he looked at Zhao Guang, Zhao Kuo, and Zhao Hongyu and said, “The old dragon king had passed away.”
Elder Lu and Elder Sun looked utterly surprised when they heard what Hao Ren had said.
Zhao Guang was stupefied while Zhao Hongyu slightly opened her mouth.
“Ah!” Zhao Yanzi gasped, and Premier Xie looked down with sadness in his eyes. His hunchbacked body bent even lower than before.
Zhao Kuo had no facial expressions with the Black Dragon Spike in his hand.
There was a silence of three seconds.
Hao Ren gritted his teeth and stood quietly.
Zhao Kuo suddenly stood up.
He laid the Black Dragon Spike on the handles of the chair. Then, he took three steps back and kneeled to the Black Dragon Spike.
Dong…Dong…Dong… Zhao Kuo made three hard kowtows with his hands on the ground.
The marble tile was smashed into pieces, and there was blood on Zhao Kuo’s forehead. He didn’t use any nature essence when he kowtowed, so the pain went straight through his body.
“Dad!”
Zhao Kuo growled as tears rushed down his cheeks.
Zhao Haoran was most fond of his youngest son, Zhao Kuo. One reason was that Zhao Kuo’s brave and fierce personality was similar to Zhao Haoran. Another reason was that Zhao Kuo was incredibly talented, and he cultivated a lot harder than his two elder brothers.
Being a tough guy, Zhao Kuo never shed a single tear no matter how strong his enemies were nor how painful his wounds were; he didn’t even surrender at the life-and-death moment when he went through the Heavenly Tribulation.
But now, he kept knocking the floor with his fists as tears dropped onto the cracked tiles.
He remembered every single thing Zhao Haoran taught him about cultivation. Zhao Haoran kept an eye on Zhao Kuo’s growth from a Zhen-level teenager to a peak Qian-level master.
Although Zhao Haoran didn’t laugh much, he always had a smile on in front of Zhao Kuo.
But since Zhao Kuo chased after the Heavenly Dragon Realm later, he concentrated heavily on cultivating and battling. The times he went to see Zhao Haoran got fewer and fewer.
He was too ashamed of himself to see his father after failing to break through to the Heavenly Dragon Realm. Who would’ve thought that he never would be able to see his father again!
“Dad!” Zhao Kuo growled again as he smacked the floor with his fists.
Tear covered his face.
As a matter of fact, Zhao Kuo already sensed that something was wrong when Hao Ren took out the Black Dragon Spike. But now that Hao Ren told him the truth, there was no way that he could lie to himself anymore.
Zhao Guang and Zhao Hongyu kneeled behind Zhao Kuo and kowtowed to the Black Dragon Spike on the chair.
Zhao Yanzi looked at the Black Dragon Spike, stupefied. Then, she stepped ahead and kowtowed to it as well.
Zhao Haoran was almost 1,000 years older than her, and Zhao Yanzi wasn’t close to this grandpa of hers. In fact, she was a bit scared of him when Zhao Guang took her to the States to visit him during summer vacations.
But now, the backbone o
f the East Ocean Dragon Palace was gone, and so was her one and only grandpa. Zhao Yanzi felt the emptiness in her heart.
Now that she thought about it, Zhao Haoran actually cared a lot about her. Although he seemed stern, he never blamed or scolded Zhao Yanzi when she made mistakes.
Premier Xia, Elder Lu, and Elder Sun kowtowed to the Black Dragon Spike as well.
Hao Ren also stepped forward politely to kowtow to the Black Dragon Spike.
Although Hao Ren had only met Zhao Haoran a few times, he knew that Zhao Haoran was a real hero and overlord!
Zhao Kuo soon picked himself up; his face was covered with tears.
He took three steps forward and picked up the Black Dragon Spike with one hand. Then, he stared at Hao Ren and asked, “What else did my dad say?”
His hard look showed that he might kill Hao Ren if he said something wrong!
Instead of calling Zhao Haoran the old dragon king, he always addressed Zhao Haoran in a mortal way by calling him, dad. It was obvious how close he was to his father!
“The old dragon king told me to hand this sword to you in person when you come back,” Hao Ren answered.
“Hand it to me in person…” Zhao Kuo murmured.
This Black Dragon Spike was the weapon that Zhao Haoran always brought with him. During the war in the cultivation world, Zhao Haoran defeated countless human cultivators as the leader of the East Ocean Dragon Palace with this Black Dragon Spike, forcing the human cultivators to leave the land and move all the cultivation sects to and above Fifth Heaven.
Young dragon cultivators weren’t aware of this. In fact, to avoid young dragon cultivators from causing trouble, a lot of them weren’t even informed about the existence of Fifth Heaven.
This was also why when Hao Ren took out this Black Dragon Spike during the general exam, most cultivators didn’t know about the history of this weapon.
Even some elders in the Dragon Tribe didn’t know the legend behind the Black Dragon Spike because they weren’t born during the war!
Zhao Haoran put his Black Dragon Spike away after the war and never used it again!
At the last moment of Zhao Haoran’s life, he asked Hao Ren to hand his favorite Black Dragon Spike to Zhao Kuo. This clearly explained his intention!