"I'm not your grandfather!"
The dragon elder's voice came from the mist ahead. Snorting, he said, "What a mighty, magnificent figure your grandfather was—how could I be him? How could I be worthy of being him? I'm just a decrepit old man watching over the graves of the Dragon Court."
Mingman said with a laugh, "My father told me my grandfather died long ago. My grandfather's portrait is still hanging on the wall, so of course you couldn't be him. And there's one thing you got wrong: the Dragon Court is still around. It hasn't perished!"
The dragon elder retorted heatedly, "The Dragon Court was destroyed ten million years ago, and the dragon race perished long ago as well! The dragons of today aren't dragons at all—they're merely outsiders who happen to look like dragons! The current Dragon Court is nothing more than a herd of beasts kept by outsiders!"
"You're the beast!" Mingman flared with anger. "Your whole family is beasts!"
Xu Ying was startled. Had this girl always been so reckless? How had she survived before running into him?
In a place as perilous as the Heavenly Immortal Realm, even Xu Ying had to tread with caution to keep from being killed, yet this girl was brazen enough to heap curses on such an unfathomable expert. Fortunately, the dragon elder seemed somewhat touched in the head. Instead of flying into a rage, he wailed aloud and cried, "That's right... I'm incompetent! I am a beast... No, I'm not even fit to be a beast!"
For an existence as powerful as him, whose depth even Xu Ying could not fathom, to weep on command like a small child...
Seeing how wretchedly he wept, Mingman felt her heart soften. She coaxed, "I only spoke a little harshly. Why are you crying? How about I apologize to you? Stop crying... Fine, fine, I'm the beast, and my whole family is beasts. Happy now?"
Hearing that, the dragon elder cried even louder.
Mingman sighed helplessly. "Petty old man."
Xu Ying asked, "Mingman, what does your family do? Do they hold a high status in the Heavenly Immortal Realm?"
He was beginning to suspect that this female disciple he had picked up by chance might come from an extraordinary background.
Worrying he might refuse to teach her Dao methods if he learned she was an imperial princess, Mingman smiled and said, "My family isn't any great clan. My father just inherited the shade left by my grandfather. He's really nothing special."
Xu Ying asked, "Then what was your grandfather's name? What did he do?"
Mingman said, "I overheard my father mention offhand once that my grandfather seemed to be named Ming Xun. My father doesn't like talking about him much, though. Oh, and my father is named Ming Dao. Both of them were officials."
Uneasy, she looked at Xu Ying. She saw that Xu Ying's expression remained entirely calm—evidently, this young barbarian master had no idea that Ming Dao was the Great Emperor of the Dragon Court.
Looking at the back of the weeping dragon elder walking ahead, Xu Ying said, "Your grandfather must have been quite remarkable back in the day, a truly great figure."
Mingman chuckled. "Of course he was remarkable! But my father is very formidable, too!"
Ahead, the dragon elder had stopped sobbing at some point and spat with a furious snort, "Vile spawn!"
It was unclear whom he was cursing.
Knowing he was half-mad, Mingman paid it no mind and said, "Still, my father said my grandfather died a long time ago. During the Great Extinction, he refused to leave the Three Realms, and that was when he perished. The man ahead probably just looks like him." She hesitated for a moment, considered the possibility, and shook her head. "He couldn't have lived to this day."
The dragon elder moved underground ahead. Wherever he went, the thick deposits of Dao ash were disturbed by the Heavenly Dao within the mist, dissolving back into the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth so they could pass through.
Once the mist passed, the Dao ash turned dense and heavy again, leaving no trace of their passage behind.
Xu Ying marveled inwardly, "This mist is an escape method that allows unhindered passage through Dao ash. If I mastered such an ability, even if existences far more powerful than Cang Jue and Yu Lingcai came hunting me, they wouldn't be able to find my trail!"
With his current attainment in the Heavenly Dao, he was not yet capable of this feat.
Before long, the dragon elder led them into a subterranean world. The mist surrounding his body gradually dispersed, revealing his towering frame, though he never turned to face them.
Xu Ying surveyed their surroundings. Here, emerald hills and clear waters wound in tranquil, secluded beauty. Every flower, blade of grass, and tree was an immortal flora of immense worth.
Yet for the dragons of today who had undergone burial transformation, such immortal flora was poison.
This place formed a world of its own, with Heavenly Dao laws distinct from those outside, yet there was no one else here beside them.
Following the elder forward, they saw stone walls everywhere carved with diverse dragon glyphs. Xu Ying had once studied the dragon race's Dao language with Big Dragon for a time, but he knew little about dragon glyphs.
However, the dragon glyphs on these stone carvings emanated a Heavenly Dao aura familiar to him; it had to be these carvings that sustained this subterranean Heavenly Dao space, preventing the Heavenly Immortal Realm's Heavenly Dao from being completely obliterated.
"If you want to learn the Heavenly Dao, go look for yourselves." Leaving them behind, the dragon elder busied himself, never once turning around to look at them, as if too ashamed to face them.
"What an eccentric old man." Unbothered, Xu Ying smiled at Mingman. "Now it's your turn to be master. Teach me the dragon glyphs on these walls."
Mingman started, hurriedly saying, "When have I ever learned dragon glyphs? I can't even read them... Huh?!" Her gaze fell upon the steles, and she was astonished beyond measure. "I can actually understand the dragon glyphs on here!"
At that moment, the eccentric dragon elder's voice came over: "Ming Dao was never very clever even as a boy, so of course he would sire a foolish daughter who doesn't even know she can decipher dragon glyphs once her bloodline awakens!"
Mingman flared with fury and moved to charge over to argue.
Xu Ying hastily held the girl back, saying earnestly, "Master will teach you another supreme art today, and that is open-mindedness. When you face someone you obviously can't beat, you must keep an open mind. That's the only way to live a long life."
Mingman could only give up, seething, "If I could beat him, I'd definitely scalp him!"
The two leaned close to stele after stele. Mingman carefully studied each one, explaining the mysteries of the dragon glyphs to Xu Ying. Xu Ying already possessed an understanding of the Heavenly Immortal Realm's Heavenly Dao; with just a bit of guidance from her, he grasped the profound principles within the glyphs.
Not only did he rapidly comprehend the Heavenly Immortal Realm's Heavenly Dao, he could deduce further truths by analogy, understanding more and more dragon glyphs to ever greater depths.
Gradually, he could read the dragon glyphs on the steles on his own. At first, Mingman had explained their mysteries to him, but later it was Xu Ying elucidating the Heavenly Dao insights behind them for her.
The dragon elder was astonished, repeatedly glancing toward Xu Ying, clearly stunned by Xu Ying's incredible comprehension.
After a few days, Xu Ying had examined all the Heavenly Dao dragon-glyph steles here. After a moment of contemplation, he performed the Heavenly Immortal Seal once more!
As he executed the seal, heavenly treasures shone and the earth's numinous dragon light flared, the might of the Heavenly Dao doubling!
Seeing this, the elder's eyes lit up, only to dim immediately after. He murmured, "A pity he isn't of our dragon race. What use is it? This Heavenly Dao will never recover!" Blaming and pitying himself, he shook his head.
Xu Ying's voice sounded with a smile: "It all depends on effort—why shouldn't the Heavenly Dao recover? From what I see, that the Heavenly Immortal Realm's Heavenly Dao did not go entirely extinct in the Great Cataclysm was not mainly thanks to you, but to the immortal flora spread across this land."
The dragon elder flew into a rage. Still keeping his back to Xu Ying, he sneered, "Relying on the power of these immortal herbs, grasses, and trees to preserve the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth? You certainly have a knack for spouting grandiose nonsense, but don't think you can wag your tongue before me! If you can't explain why, your life ends here today!"
Princess Mingman turned exceedingly nervous, whispering, "Little Master... open-mindedness..."
Xu Ying raised a hand to stop her and stepped toward the elder, speaking leisurely: "Brother Dao, that you can sustain a world within the Dao ash using your own cultivation and attainment is indeed a testament to your vast abilities. Here, immortal flora grows everywhere in great profusion, and immortal flora are living things under the Heavenly Dao as well, are they not?"
Reluctantly, the dragon elder nodded. "Every blade of grass, tree, leaf, and insect in the Heavenly Immortal Realm is a creation under the Heavenly Dao. But so what?"
Xu Ying came to his side, standing slightly below him, and smiled. "Yet this is not the only place underground with immortal flora."
The dragon elder froze.
Xu Ying said, "The first time I stepped into the subterranean world buried beneath the Dao ash, I found many immortal plants radiating astonishing spiritual energy and power, continuing to reproduce underground. Those places had no Heavenly Dao domain of yours, no Heavenly Dao nourishment. How did they survive?"
The dragon elder did not answer.
Xu Ying answered for him: "It is because the Heavenly Immortal Realm's Heavenly Dao was never truly wiped out by the Emerald Rock! Did experts like you halt the extinction brought by the Emerald Rock? Or did the mighty dragon race withstand that cataclysm? Neither. It was these weeds of the Heavenly Immortal Realm!"
He looked out over the immortal herbs and medicine covering the hills and plains. "It was these weeds—constantly reproducing, constantly evolving through generations, contending with heaven, earth, and the Emerald Rock to keep themselves alive—that allowed the Heavenly Immortal Realm's Heavenly Dao to survive! As for you, even if your cultivation and Dao methods are unfathomably deep, before this power, you remain insignificant." He shook his head. "Faced with the catastrophe ten million years ago, you failed to achieve immortality. But these weeds achieved immortality. For all your self-pity and sorrow, you are far inferior to them."
The dragon elder's body trembled. "Heh, I'm inferior even to weeds?"
Xu Ying said solemnly, "Not only are you inferior to the weeds of the Heavenly Immortal Realm, you are inferior even to the humans and demons of the Earth Immortal Realm and the Mortal Realm. After the Great Extinction, we grew like weeds, multiplied like weeds, walked out of extinction, and survived to this day."
The dragon elder flew into a towering rage, murder boiling around him. Sweeping an extraordinarily sharp glare toward Xu Ying, he growled darkly, "I'm inferior to weeds? I'm inferior even to those human and demon slaves?"
Xu Ying replied frankly, "You are."
Incensed beyond measure, the dragon elder was on the verge of killing him!
Princess Mingman was frantic, crying out, "Don't you dare! If you hurt my master, my father will beat you to death!"
The dragon elder glared viciously at Xu Ying. With the elder's strength, he could undoubtedly slay him in a single move!
Xu Ying said, "The weeds of the Heavenly Immortal Realm kept the Heavenly Dao from perishing and developed it, allowing it to contend against the Emerald Rock. The humans and demons of the Earth Immortal Realm and Mortal Realm did the same. And what about you? What have you done?"
Suddenly, all the murderous intent vanished from the dragon elder.
Xu Ying coaxed persuasively, "If I were you, I would observe these weeds, study the mysteries of how they grow, and seek the secrets of how they can withstand the Emerald Rock."
The dragon elder snorted. Suddenly murderous aura surged again. Just as Xu Ying thought the elder was about to strike him down, the dragon elder said, "An enemy of mine has arrived. Leave at once."
Xu Ying started slightly. Suddenly, the sky of Dao ash above ruptured, and boundless grey mist poured down from above, accompanied by wave after wave of soul-shaking roars!
Wherever the grey mist passed, the sky corroded, resembling a rotting pond covered with floating multicolored bubbles and greasy green scum!
Then, the Great Dao turned into snow, drifting down thick and fast, while the immortal flora covering the hills and plains withered rapidly under the corrosion!
A colossal creature swam within the grey mist, its skeletal joints clattering against one another in a terrifying din.
The roars coming from the grey mist were horrific as well, resembling Dao weeping yet subtly different. "Found you!"
Several heavy voices echoed in unison from the grey mist: "Old obstinate fool, I've searched for you for a long time. This time, I won't let you escape again!"
Xu Ying's expression turned grave. The aura radiating from that grey mist was terrifying beyond measure, on par with the dragon elder—it seemed to be another existence suspected of being in the Immortality Realm!
Xu Ying had already guessed that the dragon elder was an Immortality Realm expert from primeval times; someone capable of suppressing Xu Ying so thoroughly that he couldn't move could likely only be in the Immortality Realm.
Never had he expected to encounter another existence with comparable aura here! "Let's go!"
Brooking no delay, Xu Ying deposited Mingman into his Martial Dao Cave Abyss and flew away at once!
Above his head, the momentum of all Daos rotting and decaying bore down with blinding speed, intent on reducing this entire subterranean Heavenly Dao world to ashes!
Xu Ying's speed surged, managing to dash out of the Heavenly Dao world just before the terrifying grey mist arrived!
Mingman's bewildered voice came: "Barbarian Master, that grey mist... it seems to be our dragon race's Dao method! But why does it clash with the Far Ancestor's Dao methods...?"
Xu Ying had no time to answer. He heard the pulse of a divine ability rushing toward them from behind, faster even than his own speed!
Evidently, the entity in the grey mist had noticed them and struck!
Just as Xu Ying moved to dodge, space-time solidified behind him as though turning to gel. Glancing back, he saw massive bony dragon scales slowly rotating within the frozen space-time, slicing toward them!
Capable of using a divine ability that solidified space-time—who on earth was this dragon elder? Was he truly Mingman's grandfather, Ming Xun? Yet Mingman was completely clueless about the dragon race's bloodline heritage, and her attainment in burial transformation and other-shore Dao methods was not very high either.
As Xu Ying pondered, he channeled the Heavenly Immortal Realm Heavenly Dao domain he had comprehended and cut into the Dao ash.
Looking back, he saw a colossal burial-transformed dragon head looming in the grey mist, massive as a mountain.
Then, a second burial-transformed dragon head and a third appeared in succession. Unknown numbers of dragon heads were concealed within the grey mist; one of them even looked toward Xu Ying in surprise, seemingly astonished that Xu Ying could turn Dao ash back into the Great Dao.
Those heads had different appearances, but all had massive external skeletons protruding from their flesh, exuding the overwhelming aura of alien archaic gods!
Xu Ying had initially thought many burial-transformed divine dragons were hiding in the grey mist, but then he saw that all those necks were attached to the same burial-transformed dragon body.
"Old thing, you probably don't know yet, but that Far Ancestor you've been yearning for has already been captured by us!" The voice of one of the dragon heads sounded with a chuckle. "Not only was he captured, but even the Ancestral God you pinned your hopes on has been seized as well. And they even threw in a barbarian brat as a bonus!"
Hearing this, Xu Ying's heart jolted violently. "The Ancestral God and Lord Dragon were captured? That's impossible! They could definitely seize the Heavenly Immortal Realm's Emerald Rock—they couldn't have been taken!"
Behind him, the Great Dao reverted to thick Dao ash once more, submerging his silhouette.
Xu Ying had no time to dwell on it. Bearing Mingman along, he shot rapidly through the Dao ash. Behind him, the two existences suspected of being in the ninth realm—the Immortality Realm—finally clashed, and the terrifying shockwave crushed through the Dao ash, bearing down toward them!
Xu Ying pushed forward with all his might to evade the horrific divine ability shockwaves. From behind, wave after wave of chilling ripples surged forward with an all-annihilating aura, over a dozen shockwaves piling upon one another to become even more terrifying!
"Mingman, I'll teach you one more life-saving divine ability!" Xu Ying shouted, his feet moving like the wind as he yelled, "And that is: when danger comes, run as fast as you can!"
Even amidst the Great Dao's ashes, he sped like lightning, hurtling madly forward. Astonishingly, the divine ability shockwaves of the two existences suspected of being in the Immortality Realm failed to overtake him and were left far behind.
Whoosh!
Xu Ying felt the pressure suddenly lift as he burst through the heavy Dao ash and shot into the sky. Looking down, he saw the mountains and terrain across ten thousand li suddenly swell high into the air, then slowly sink back down.
The subterranean earth heaved and shuddered ceaselessly, as though colossal beasts were wreaking havoc deep beneath the Heavenly Immortal Realm!
Xu Ying let out a breath of relief, then suddenly thought of something else: The Dragon Court captured three people—who was the other barbarian brat?
At that moment, Yu Lingcai's voice rang out from behind Xu Ying: "Found you, barbarian brat! Let's see where you run this time!"
Chapter 684