As Chen Luo watched with amusement, the radiance of the transformation technique flashed rapidly across the giant dragon.
The next moment, an elder with white hair and dragon horns appeared beside Qin Shang.
After exchanging a deep glance with Chen Luo, the two surged with the power of heaven and earth, attempting to shatter space and escape!
But they were destined to be disappointed.
Spiritual patterns emerged from the air as the old Dragon King tried to break through the void.
Only then did they discover that an array, imperceptible even to them, had completely enveloped this vast expanse of land and sky!
Just as Chen Luo was about to step forward, he saw the old Dragon King quickly shield Qin Shang behind him, his face a picture of defiance:
"Lackey of the Heavenly Dao! Don't you come any closer!!!"
And Qin Shang, whom he was protecting? He was now attempting to slit his own throat!
Chen Luo was slightly taken aback and waved his hand casually.
The man and the dragon felt as if boundless restraints had sprung into existence between heaven and earth, rendering them utterly immobile!
The hearts of the man and the dragon sank little by little.
They never imagined that the monster coming to harvest this time would be so powerful, and that Qin Shang's means of escaping death had been so easily suppressed.
Under the helpless and desperate gazes of the man and the dragon, the white-robed youth slowly flew before the dragon-horned elder. After curiously observing this peerless great demon, who faintly exuded the aura of a wild beast,
Chen Luo spoke, "Old Dragon King, right? Could you please give me the portion of origin soul that Dragon Ji divided?"
The old Dragon King was stunned at the request, then looked at the youth favored by the Heavenly Dao with suspicion, his hoarse, aged voice slowly saying:
"Puppet of the Heavenly Dao! What are you talking about? This old dragon doesn't understand!"
Chen Luo shook his head, sat down cross-legged in the air, and said in a relaxed tone:
"Why are you two so stubborn? I told you, I'm not a puppet of the Heavenly Dao!"
"Have you ever seen such a handsome puppet?"
Under the suspicious gaze of the man and the dragon, Chen Luo sighed:
"Never mind, this small area of space has already been completely segmented by me, so it shouldn't alert that monster."
"Take a good look, this should prove it, right!"
As his voice fell, Chen Luo spread his hands.
On his left hand, phantoms of the human world flashed by. Although immature, Qin Shang could already discern that these were the nascent forms of the Dao of Humanity!
In this world, the power of humanity naturally opposed the Heavenly Dao, and as a puppet of the Heavenly Dao, it would be difficult to wield the power of humanity.
And when the old Dragon King saw Chen Luo's right hand, he became even more agitated:
"Savage bloodline aura?! Are you an ancient demon?!"
Chen Luo rolled his eyes and casually withdrew the bloodline aura from his right hand: "What great demon? This is the aura of martial arts bloodline!"
"And do you two really think I haven't seen it? The humans and demons of this world are of the same origin!"
"And what you two truly want to oppose is not the Heavenly Dao, but that monster that has merged with the Dao, right?"
Qin Shang and the old Dragon King exchanged glances, their eyes filled with uncontainable shock.
"Alright, the two things I just showed you are enough to prove that I'm not some puppet of the Heavenly Dao, right!"
"Coincidentally, I have some questions. Let's have a good talk."
"Don't worry, this area of ten thousand miles has been completely isolated by me! As long as that monster isn't awake, it won't discover anything for a while."
Chen Luo casually released the restraints on the man and the dragon, and under their half-believing gazes, they began to exchange the intelligence they possessed.
***
In the seven days leading up to the enthronement ceremony, Chen Luo, apart from occasionally training his disciples, spent most of his time traveling through the river of time.
From Chen Luo's present, the future had completely shattered, and Chen Luo could not enter it at all.
As for the ancient history before, it only extended to a million years ago. A force similar to the one that had previously expelled Chen Luo from the river of time had abruptly cut off time!
Logically speaking, these million years should have been enough for Chen Luo to uncover many of the world's great secrets. But unfortunately, it was unclear who had intervened.
This intervening million years had also been shattered into pieces, making it extremely difficult for Chen Luo to piece together everything that had happened.
However, a casual question from Linglong provided Chen Luo with a starting point for his search.
"Master, when I was breaking through, I suddenly awakened some extremely unfamiliar memories!"
In Linglong's memories, she was not born through normal means, but was cultivated by Dragon Ji and a mysterious organization.
However, because the fusion of her Supreme Blood and Dragon Blood was not perfect, she became a false true dragon, unable to ascend to immortality and lacking a true dragon form.
And to save her, this flawed product, Dragon Ji had used a portion of her origin soul and memories as a price to bring her out of the organization.
After Chen Luo learned of this, he had attempted to help Dragon Ji restore her origin soul and memories. But unfortunately, the separated soul involved her true spirit.
If Chen Luo wanted to perfectly restore this missing true spirit and memories, according to the system's prompt, it would cost at least two hundred units of Great Origin Power.
Chen Luo decisively refused and then plunged into the river of time related to Linglong and Dragon Ji.
Then, he saw an organization hidden deep within history, spanning endless years.
Dragon Ji was a member of the organization, and the reason she joined it back then was because the old Dragon King had brought her into it.
This organization was called "Nidao" (逆道, literally "Against the Dao"), and surprisingly, all its members were great demons!
The rules of this world dictated that those who ascended to immortality could enjoy endless lifespan, but there was an immortal tribulation once every thousand years.
After nine immortal tribulations, they would become Supreme True Immortals.
But the tribulations did not cease; if they did not ascend to the nine heavens and nine earths, even Supreme True Immortals could not withstand the increasingly powerful immortal tribulations.
Yet, in this world, there were still forgotten beings left from ancient times.
These were the remnants from before the spiritual energy era, those peerless great demons who only cultivated their physical bodies!
In fact, demons did not ascend to the nine heavens and nine earths; their so-called ascension was a disappearance.
However, it involved activating the ancient bloodline within their bodies and using their immortal will to resist the wild intent within their bloodline.
The most perfect outcome was a successful counteraction, where the immortal essence within their bodies was destroyed, and they transformed back into peerless great demons.
One possible outcome of failure was that the wild intent was too strong, potentially leading them to become irrational wild beasts.
The old Dragon King was an extremely successful example. He retained some immortal techniques and avoided the attention of the Heavenly Dao, thus he had been the visible leader of this organization for the past million years.
But the true leader of this organization was Qin Shang, who was human!
It was he who, a million years ago, found the old Dragon King in the vast sea and taught him this new method of returning to his bloodline.
And Qin Shang was not born within the past million years of recorded history.
He came from the era before the断层 (duàn céng, chasm/fault)!
Not from the previous several eras of immortal-demon wars,
But from a more distant era, the era when the spiritual energy had just begun!