Chapter 31: Invitation to the Dragon Palace

Translator: Atlas Studios

Editor: Atlas Studios

The situation became a little awkward.

Li Changshou and Lan Ling’e both lifted their heads and looked at the skies simultaneously.

The azure dragon was circulating above the mountain-protecting array formation while the grey clouds tumbled in the sky.

The suppressive force that was similar to that of a Heaven Immortal seeped through the mountain-protecting array formation and engulfed the entire Immortal Du Sect. Many silhouettes appeared on the various mountain peaks. They were members of the Immortal Du Sect, who were shocked by the violent tremors.

All of a sudden, many beams of light emerged from the Heaven-Breaking Peak and flew out of the mountain-protecting array formation. The light beams turned into four silhouettes that were levitating in the sky and were looking at the clouds in the distance.

The male immortal, who stood at the front, wore a green and white robe. He stood with his hands behind his back in the sky. He was lean and tall like a cypress tree, and there were two long wisps of white hair at his temples. He appeared cool and distant.

The moment he appeared, the suppressive force from the sky faded away immediately. The azure dragon flew into the clouds instantly and did not dare to be near the mountain-protecting array formation.

That was the first time Li Changshou saw Exalted Wang Qing.

That’s right. That handsome man with white hair at his temples was the master of the Nine Jiu Immortals. He was a Heaven Immortal from the Immortal Du Sect, and his Dao name was Wang Qing.

Behind Exalted Wang Qing was an old Daoist priest that was holding a horsetail whisk and had a smile on his face. There was also an old lady who was using a wooden walking stick and was also smiling.

The last person was a beautiful fairy clad in a rainbow-colored dress. However, no one could see her clearly through the thin layer of fog that was surrounding her.

The red-scaled azure dragon yelled from the clouds, “Are you people the ones in charge of the matters within the Immortal Du Sect?”

Exalted Wang Qing did not even lift his head. His calm voice resonated within and outside of the array formation.

“I am merely an unfettered cultivator in the sect. I am not in the position to handle the matters in the Immortal Du Sect. I just think that you, little dragon, seem a little rude. Thus, I’m here to teach you a lesson.”

“How dare you!” The red dragon yelled in anger from the clouds. Most of the grey clouds that engulfed the sky scattered, and a dragon claw that contained Raging-Lightning Heavenly Fire crashed towards Exalted Wang Qing!

The dragon claw drew bigger as it cut through the sky. In a split second, its diameter had expanded to thousands of feet. It covered the entire sky and blocked out the sun. It appeared as though it was about to smash the Immortal Du Sect’s mountain-protecting array formation and the Heaven-Breaking Peak apart!

When they saw that, many disciples held their breath, some sect members, who were at a higher cultivation level, looked stressed as well.

Lan Ling’e was standing beside Li Changshou. She grabbed her senior brother’s arm involuntarily. Her cultivation level was too low, and the dragon’s suppressive force suppressed her. That made her extremely uneasy.

Li Changshou released a wisp of aura and enclosed Lan Ling’e in it in the nick of time. That helped to relieve some of the pressure that she was feeling and prevented her from suffering from mental demons.

Suddenly, the dragon’s claw, which covered the entire sky and appeared as magnificent as the mountain ranges, stopped above the mountain-protecting array formation without any warning!

The strong winds that followed the motion of the dragon’s claw made the thin and silk-like walls of the mountain-protecting array formation shimmer.

However, the enormous dragon claw mysteriously stopped in the air. It could not even move an inch closer!

Li Changshou utilized his Dharma powers on his eyes and saw that Exalted Wang Qing had lifted his left arm in the air. His fingers formed a finger sword and pointed on the huge dragon claw!

He managed to block the dragon claw that was as enormous as a mountain with just one finger!

Exalted Wang Qing’s long hair danced wildly in the air while his robe rustled.

“Humph!”

A disdainful snort reverberated in the air thousands of kilometers away!

Exalted Wang Qing’s left arm vibrated. The next moment, the mountain-like dragon claw shattered instantly into pieces and exploded in the sky!

The azure dragon that was tossing in the clouds appeared once again. However, it was enclosed in an invisible film of energy. Its gigantic torso twisted and struggled continuously and was thrown into the sky.

After a few moments, the azure dragon returned from the sky, boiling in anger. It let out an angry wail.

Exalted Wang Qing lifted his head slightly. There was killing intent in his eyes.

The azure dragon stopped its wail. Strong red lights shone around its body, and it turned into a burly man, who had a dragon’s head and was clad in armor. The man appeared shocked and angry.

Exalted Wang Qing said coldly, “How dare you cause trouble at the Immortal Du Sect when you have only just become a Heaven Immortal? Are you tired of staying alive?”

The burly man with a dragon’s head wailed in anger. He did not dare to attack rashly. Instead, he yelled from the skies, “Immortal Du Sect! Seems like you want to do this the hard way!

“I am a special envoy from the Dragon Palace in the East Ocean and a frontline warrior for the Dragon Palace Water Troops!

“How dare you behave so rudely!? I will definitely report this to the Dragon King. Not before long, we will prepare the troops and tread down this little mountain of yours!”

The old Daoist priest standing behind Exalted Wang Qing laughed instantly. “It is such a rare occurrence to see the Dragon Palace behave so boldly.

“However, aren’t you going overboard trying to establish your authority on our Immortal Du Sect?

“After all, the Immortal Du Sect belongs to the human school. The luck of the human schools protects us. The East Ocean Dragon did not live peacefully in the East Ocean to replenish its own luck but instead allowed an evil dragon to cause trouble everywhere. Furthermore, you attacked our mountain-protecting array formation without saying anything.

Are you a frontline warrior, trying to spark a war between us human cultivators and the dragon race?”

“You!”

The burly man with the dragon’s head bulged his eyes wide open. He did not dare to answer that question absentmindedly.

The current predicament they were in now was different from before. During the Great Mage-Demon War, the human race was weak and feeble. However, the human race was now the protagonist of Heaven and Earth. It was even more prosperous than the ancient mages and demons.

The human race did not even need the entire population of human cultivators to attack the dragon race. The immortal sects in the East Continent could do so if they invited one or two mighty figures from the Three Schools. The dragon race might not even be able to handle that attack.

The dragon was stuck in a predicament.

The old lady from the Immortal Du Sect stepped forward at the right time. She tried sorting out the situation with a smile on her face. She said some nice words and gave the dragon an out.

The dragon accepted her offer and started stating his purpose with a stoic face.

“Some days ago, the Immortal Du Sect came to destroy the demons at the East Ocean. However, your disciples hurt the soldiers that the dragon race had been developing by accident!

“However, our Dragon King decided to let this matter go. Three years from now, we will be holding a Demon-Sweeping Meet at the East Ocean. We are inviting all immortal sects from the East Continent to attend the meet to discuss future demon-sweeping matters.

“The East Ocean Dragon Palace is full of treasures. We will heavily reward disciples from the human race who perform well during the meet.

“This is the invitation card. You must not miss the event!

“Hmph!”

After he finished speaking, the burly man with a dragon’s head threw down a shining invitation card. Then he transformed into an azure dragon, plunged into the clouds, and left.

The old lady kept away the invitation card and shouted, “Take your time as you leave, frontline warrior. We shall not send you off.”

Jokes about the Dragon Palace sparked throughout the Immortal Du Sect instantly.

The four inner sect elders had an internal discussion before leaving the mountain to confront the dragon. Exalted Wang Qing would play the bad cop, the old Daoist priest would threaten the dragon, and the old lady would play the good cop.

These three Heaven Immortals had staged a play on their own and played the arrogant general from the Dragon Palace.

The dragon originally wanted to establish an opening gambit to the Immortal Du Sect. However, he had thoroughly made a joke out of himself. He did not even dare to say any harsh words and left dejectedly.

Dragons could shape the clouds while tigers could shape the wind. It was a rare and spectacular sight to see the azure dragon move through the clouds.

“Senior Brother, so this is the world of the powerful?” Lan Ling’e asked softly.

Li Changshou shook his head slightly and transmitted his voice to her, “They could only be considered as experts. They are not yet the most powerful cultivators…”

Afterward, the senior brother and junior sister duo recalled what happened previously. They lowered their heads and looked in front of them simultaneously.

Beside the Faraday Cage, Qi Yuan was silently closing the wooden door of the cage and was prepared to escape from the sides.

Lan Ling’e continued staring at the skies and pretended that she did not notice her master’s actions.

Meanwhile, Li Changshou closed his eyes and was in deep thoughts. He appeared as though he was amazed by the rare battle between the expert cultivators that he had just witnessed.

Qi Yuan knew that his two disciples did so to protect his pride.

A few black vertical lines appeared on his wrinkled forehead. His face fell, and his lips twitched, but no words came out from his mouth.

“Cough! Umm… Cough!

“No one is allowed to laugh!

“This is the first time I am experiencing Tribulation Transcendence. I lack the experience!

“I shall… first head back to secluded cultivation!”

After he finished speaking, Qi Yuan turned around, covered his face, and walked away. He was extremely fast on his cloud.

The senior brother and junior sister duo held their laughter until Qi Yuan returned to the straw hut and reinstated the layers of array formations.

This mistake could be treated as a Tribulation Transcendence drill.

Fortunately, they did not alert the disciples from the other peaks, so there was no other audience. Moreover, the dragon had attracted all the attention. Otherwise, Qi Yuan would now be… He might wish that he was dead.

…

It was also a good thing that they did not experience a sudden Tribulation Transcendence.

After the situation died down, Li Changshou started to worry if his master would take out and inspect the precious pill that he gave him.

However, thinking from another perspective, his master might not even recognize the Immortal-Melting Pill, even if he were to inspect it.

Qi Yuan was not proficient in concocting pills. He was only proficient in array formations.

Since 1,000 years ago, when he first entered the sect, Qi Yuan had spent most of his time improving his cultivation level. However, because of the damage in his Dao base, his cultivation road had been tough.

The main reason why Qi Yuan did not have a high possibility of surviving the Heavenly Tribulation was because of the damage in his Dao base.

Li Changshou’s third strategy to help his master survive the Heavenly Tribulation was to repair his Dao base.

However, although the third strategy seemed to be able to solve the problem from its roots, in reality, it was the most dangerous and toughest strategy yet.

The damage to his Dao base was due to an injury he had when he was younger.

Li Changshou had tried asking his master several times about the exact reason for the injury, but Qi Yuan had never answered those questions directly. He had merely responded that he had made some mistakes during his cultivation.

After that injury, the seniors from the sect had used many pills to save his life.

During that time, Qi Yuan was the only person in the Little Qiong Peak. His Martial Grandmaster had left the mountains to travel about 900 years ago. He had never returned.

While Qi Yuan had been repairing his Dao base, the sect had offered him many healing pills. However, they were short of a few precious treasures.

After the injury to Qi Yuan’s Dao base had stabilized, he had cultivated for another couple hundreds of years. It appeared as though he had fully recovered. However, the damage to his Dao base was irreversible, and it was almost impossible to repair the damage done.

When a tree grew in a crooked direction, and it continued growing it that position, it would ultimately become an old crooked tree.

The Dao injury that Qi Yuan suffered was similar to that.

To replenish Qi Yuan’s Dao base, Li Changshou had to destroy his cultivation level that he had accumulated for hundreds of years. He had to carefully tear open the Dao injury that had already sealed up and heal it using rare treasures.

Not only would the process be perilous, but it would also cause Qi Yuan to suffer from immense pain. Moreover, it was hard to find rare treasures, and Li Changshou was also not completely confident that he could amend the Dao injury.

Therefore, Li Changshou prioritized the first two strategies. He kept the third strategy and the other six alternative strategies to himself and decided to use them only when the situation required him to.

After the incident, Qi Yuan underwent another two more months of secluded cultivation.

Two months later, Qi Yuan wanted to reestablish his authority as the master and also answer the few questions that Li Changshou had previously asked.

However, Li Changshou was prepared for that. After he heard Qi Yuan’s explanations, he asked a few more new questions. Qi Yuan was once again unable to answer those questions. He headed back to the straw hut, started on his secluded cultivation again, and continued improving on his Dao.

During that period, Li Changshou thought of a few more tools that could be used during Tribulation Transcendence.

When his master came out from secluded cultivation, Li Changshou could sense wisps of aura changes that were surrounding him.

That was a sign that he had been targeted by the Heavenly Dao and was about to experience Tribulation Transcendence.

In no more than two years, his master would definitely start to fight the Heavenly Tribulation. He would not be of any help then.

After all, Tribulation Transcendence was his master’s matter. Others could not step in.

Therefore, after a year and nine months…

Qi Yuan’s Heavenly Tribulation was like an old lady who had just been married. It appeared shy and hesitant at the beginning. However, at the crucial moments, it came like a storm.