Chapter 683
Dragon Corpse
Deep within the forbidden zone, several obscure divine thoughts suddenly became panicked.
Those are the ancient celestial beings who lie dormant here—they rely on the residual Daoist essence of the true dragon to prolong their lives, and are most sensitive to changes in the outside world.
The riots in the forbidden zone and the strange changes in the true dragon's corpse mean that the Daoist principles they rely on for refuge are in disarray and may even collapse!
A celestial being broke free from the seal. He was an old man wearing tattered bronze armor, his face withered like a dried corpse, and two ghostly green flames burning in his eye sockets.
He is a Seven Tribulation Celestial Venerable who has been lying dormant here for over thirty million years, barely surviving to this day only thanks to a forbidden seal.
"Who dares to trespass into the forbidden area and disturb the Dragon Lord's peaceful slumber!"
The old man in bronze armor shouted sternly, his voice dry and harsh like the grinding of sand, yet still carrying the majesty of a celestial being.
No one answered.
The old man frantically scanned the area with his divine sense, and finally, he saw it.
At the heart of the restricted area, directly above the deepest crack, stood a figure in black robes with his hands behind his back.
The figure exuded no aura, appearing as ordinary as a mortal. Yet, he stood suspended in the void, with a bottomless abyss fissure beneath his feet, from which gushed forth an extremely cold dragon breath powerful enough to freeze even the soul of a celestial being.
But he remained completely still.
The ghostly flames in the old man's bronze armor suddenly contracted.
He couldn't recognize who it was—he had been dormant for hundreds of millions of years, completely unaware of the outside world.
But he recognized the scent.
That's ignoring it.
The figure in black didn't even glance at him.
It's not contempt, not disdain, but true and complete indifference—like the way of heaven looking down on ants, the birth and death of all things is just the law of nature, why bother to look at them?
The old man stood frozen in place.
His divine sense told him that he should take action, that he should expel the intruders, and that he should maintain order in the restricted area.
But his instincts—the instincts honed through countless life-and-death battles over the long years—were frantically warning him.
escape.
Run away immediately.
Escape at all costs!
Meanwhile, deeper within the forbidden zone, other dormant Celestial Venerables were also gradually alerted.
A crimson beam of light shot out from an ancient hall piled with bones, transforming into a young man clad in a blood-red robe with an eerie appearance.
His aura was chilling, and he was surrounded by a thick stench of blood. He was clearly a Dark Lord who extended his lifespan by plundering the life essence of living beings.
"The Dragon Lord's remains are moving strangely... Could it be that he has a destiny to be born?"
The young man in the blood-red robe had a mixture of greed and wariness in his eyes.
He has less than three million years left to live, and if he cannot find a breakthrough opportunity, he will have no choice but to launch a dark upheaval.
However, in this degenerate age, the Heavenly Dao is suppressing the most severely, and the risk of instigating turmoil is far greater than before.
If he has the opportunity, he will do everything in his power to seize it.
However, when his gaze swept towards the dark figure at the core of the restricted area, his greed instantly froze.
He couldn't "see" the depth of that figure.
It's not vague, not unfathomable, but rather—nothing at all.
It was as if that figure was merely a projection, an illusion, and did not exist in this world at all.
But the dragon's roar still echoed, the cracks continued to expand, and the forbidden zone continued to riot.
All of this tells him that the figure is real and is the source of all these strange changes.
The blood drained from the young man's face.
He had lived for hundreds of millions of years and had never seen such a bizarre existence.
Several more figures broke free from the seals of various parts of the forbidden zone. They were all ancient celestial beings who had been lying dormant there, the weakest being at the sixth tribulation and the strongest at the peak of the eighth tribulation.
They all looked toward the core of the restricted area, toward that dark figure.
Then, everyone fell silent.
No one made a move.
No one spoke.
These ancient monsters, who have lived for tens of millions of years, may be greedy, or insane, or willing to do anything to prolong their lives.
But they are by no means stupid.
The figure they encountered gave them a feeling unlike any intruder they had ever encountered before.
In the past, those celestial beings who ventured into forbidden areas did so either to seek opportunities, to challenge themselves, or because they came prepared, or because they stumbled into a perilous place.
But they all have one thing in common—they are entities that can be measured, evaluated, and judged.
And the figure before us...
It cannot be measured.
Unable to assess.
Unable to determine.
He stood there, like an insurmountable barrier.
"Roar----!!!"
The dragon roared again, even more violently and rapidly than before!
The extremely cold dragon breath surging from the crack suddenly intensified, and the grayish-white cold air burst forth like a raging torrent. Wherever it passed, the void froze, bones shattered, and even light was frozen into ice crystals that fell in a flurry!
The Hidden Celestial Venerables all changed color and retreated frantically. Those who couldn't dodge in time had half their bodies instantly covered in frost, their Dao bodies almost frozen!
"The remains of the Dragon Lord... are about to be born!"
Someone exclaimed in surprise.
next moment.
The abyss rift exploded with a deafening roar!
A dragon's head, as black as ink and as massive as a mountain, slowly rose from the crack!
What a magnificent dragon head it was!
The dragon horns were sharp and jagged, like swords piercing the sky. Each horn was thousands of feet long, and its body was covered with ancient and mysterious patterns. These were the innate Dao patterns passed down from generation to generation by the true dragon clan, containing the supreme power to control the laws of heaven and earth.
The dragon's eyes were tightly closed, but even with them closed, a dark golden light, as cold as the abyss of hell, still shone from its eye sockets—that was the last wisp of undying fighting spirit of the True Dragon Supreme before its fall, which would not dissipate or be destroyed for billions of years.
The dragon's mouth was slightly open, revealing its sharp white fangs, each one like a divine sword or celestial blade. The tips of its fangs bore traces of blood that had turned black, scars left from its last battle.
The dragon's whiskers swayed like a dragon, each one thousands of feet long, slowly waving in the void, causing ripples in the space wherever they passed.
A single dragon head occupied most of the sky!
This is only the dragon's head.
Beneath the dragon's head, the dragon's body, stretching for millions of feet, was slowly rising from the crack. Each dragon scale was as heavy as a mountain, and each dragon pattern was a manifestation of the laws.
The dragon's body coiled up, obscuring the starry sky; the entire Burial God Star appeared as insignificant as dust before it!
This is the True Dragon Supreme, who is half-step into immortality.
Even in death, it must not be desecrated.
Even if they are destroyed, they should not be treated lightly.
Gu Qingfeng watched quietly as the dragon head slowly rose.
He was only ten thousand feet away from the dragon's head—a distance that the supreme dragon could reach with a mere claw.
The extremely cold dragon breath emanating from the dragon corpse had completely frozen the void around it, turning it into fragments of shattered black space.
But he remained standing with his hands behind his back, his black robe motionless, his expression as calm as ever.
"Though fallen for billions of years, its fighting spirit still remains..."
He murmured to himself, his tone carrying a hint of approval.
"respectable."
next moment.
The dragon's tightly closed eyes slowly opened!
"boom----!!!"
It was like the creation of the world!
The two dragon eyes, which had been awakened from billions of years of slumber, shot out two golden beams of light that pierced through the starry sky!
Wherever the beam of light passed, the void tore apart like paper, revealing its chaotic and utterly empty nature!
Several meteorites outside the Forbidden Zone of Burial Gods were grazed by the edge of the beam of light and instantly evaporated, leaving not even a trace!
In the dragon's eyes, there was no reason, no consciousness, no life.
Only the will to fight.
Only the will to fight.
That was the obsession of this supreme true dragon in its last battle before its demise—it died in battle, falling when it fought its last breath and bled its last drop of blood against a powerful enemy.
It was unwilling, unyielding, and unrepentant!
Even though it perished, even though the Great Dao collapsed, even though its soul was annihilated, its physical body still remembered the boiling killing intent of that final battle!
At that moment, someone touched its Dragon Ball.
That is the condensation of its life's cultivation, the only relic left after its fall.
Thus, the will to fight was rekindled.
Then the dragon's corpse rose again.
This is an unconscious instinct, a fighting obsession etched into the bones and integrated into the Daoist philosophy.
"Roar----!!!"
The dragon's roar shook the heavens!
The dragon corpse moved!
The dragon's body, which had remained motionless for billions of years coiled around the core of the star, now stretched out as if alive. Its millions-of-feet-long body meandered and swam, every scale radiating a dark golden light! With a sweep of its tail, several skeletal mountains in the forbidden zone instantly crumbled, turning even the corpses of several Celestial Venerables perched atop them to dust! Its claws extended, five toes like hooks tearing through the void, carrying a terrifying power capable of shattering stars, aimed directly at Gu Qingfeng!
This claw strike is enough to tear apart an ordinary Eight Tribulation Celestial Venerable along with his protective Dao!
The dormant Celestial Venerables were utterly terrified and frantically retreated, fleeing towards the edge of the forbidden zone. They had lain dormant here for tens of millions of years; never before had they witnessed the Dragon Venerable's remains erupt in such a violent outburst. Though the dragon corpse had previously retained some residual pressure, it had always remained as still as an inanimate object; today, it seemed to have come back to life and launched its own attack!
"Retreat! Retreat quickly!"
"The Dragon Lord's remains have undergone a strange change; this forbidden zone is no place to linger!"
"Who exactly is that black-robed man, that he could disturb the remains of the Dragon Lord and bring them here!"
Exclamations of surprise rose and fell.
And Gu Qingfeng finally made a move.
He raised his hand.
There were no divine weapons, no supernatural powers, and not even any fluctuations of true essence.
He simply raised his right hand, spread his five fingers, and gently pressed down on the dragon claw that was powerful enough to tear stars apart.
"boom--!"
The dull thud was like a giant hammer striking a drum, or a sacred mountain collapsing!
Dragon claw hovers in mid-air!
The dragon claw, powerful enough to tear apart an Eight Tribulation Celestial Venerable and shatter stars, was abruptly stopped by a seemingly ordinary human hand!
Where the dragon claw met the palm, the void collapsed into a black hole a thousand feet in diameter, and countless spatial fragments scattered like snowflakes.
The dragon claw's five toes exerted tremendous force, the dragon scales burst forth with a blazing dark golden light, and the dragon tendons taut like a full moon bow—but the hand remained completely still, as stable as the foundation of the heavens!
Gu Qingfeng remained calm.
He looked up and met the gaze of those dragon eyes filled with fierce fighting spirit.
"You have fallen."
He said calmly, "Let it be a peaceful sleep."
The words fell.
His hand, which was resting on the dragon's claw, trembled slightly.
"boom----!!!"
An invisible force suddenly erupted from his palm!
That is the Dao—Gu Qingfeng's Dao, the supreme order of the Netherworld Dao!
The moment this power surged into the dragon's claws, the dragon's corpse seemed to be pierced by lightning!
The dragon's body, millions of feet long, trembled violently, and its thick, mountain-like scales stood up all at the same moment, emitting a piercing metallic scraping sound!
The dragon's mouth opened wide, but no sound came out—it had perished, with no vocal cords or lungs. The dragon's roar just now was a resonance generated by the battle intent shaking the void, but now, that battle intent was being suppressed!
Gu Qingfeng withdrew his hand.
He stopped looking at the dragon's corpse and instead turned his gaze to the undulating belly of the dragon's body below its head.
There, there was a hideous wound that pierced through the dragon's body.
At the edge of the wound, the remaining eerie power continues to slowly erode the dragon corpse, enduring for billions of years.
That was the power that killed this true dragon supreme—at this moment, sensing Gu Qingfeng's aura, that power seemed to be enraged, suddenly boiling and accelerating its devouring of the dragon corpse's remaining essence.
The dragon corpse struggled more and more violently.
It sensed Gu Qingfeng's target—the dragon ball.
That was the condensation of its cultivation during its lifetime, the only remaining essence after its fall.
If it is taken away, its last trace in this world will also disappear.
It instinctively resists.
The dragon's tail swept across, its claws tore, and its horns stabbed straight like swords!
Each strike is enough to shatter stars, and each strike contains the remaining power of a near-immortal!
But Gu Qingfeng simply walked with his hands behind his back, his steps unhurried, like a shadow weaving through a storm. No matter how frantically the dragon corpse attacked, it could not touch the hem of his clothes.
He walked to the dragon's abdomen, to the hideous wound that ran through its body.
Divine senses probed in.
In an instant, he "saw" it.
Deep within the dragon's core, in the center of that dense, almost tangible aura of the true dragon, a fist-sized dark golden bead floats silently.
Those are Dragon Balls.
The Dragon Pearl is formed by the unity of the life essence, the essence of cultivation, and the reliance of the soul of the True Dragon Clan.
Each Dragon Ball is the culmination of a true dragon's lifelong cultivation, and its preciousness is no less than that of a natal treasure personally crafted by a near-immortal powerhouse.
The dragon pearl before me is a deep, dark gold color, with countless fine and mysterious Dao patterns flowing across its surface. These are the innate Dao of the true dragon race, the imprints of laws passed down from their bloodline.
Inside the Dragon Ball, a miniature dragon can be vaguely seen winding and swimming. It is the last remnant of the dragon corpse's soul before its death, now devoid of consciousness and only retaining instinct.
The Daoist aura emanating from the Dragon Ball was different from what Gu Qingfeng had sensed in the Immortal Crystal before.
The Daoist essence within the immortal crystal is immortality itself, a manifestation of the Great Dao after reaching that realm, vast, profound, and perfect.
The Daoist essence within the Dragon Ball before us is the Daoist essence that pursues immortality—it touched that threshold but failed to truly step into it, thus appearing incomplete.
But precisely because of this, this Daoist charm still holds value for Gu Qingfeng.
The path to immortality is the end, while half-step immortality is the final stretch of the road to that end.
What he needs is precisely the experience from this journey.
Gu Qingfeng reached out his hand.
Through layers of dragon scales, through the barrier of the true dragon's Daoist aura, through billions of years and death—he reached out and grasped.
The Dragon Ball trembled slightly.
As if sensing some kind of summons, the Dao patterns on the surface of the Dragon Ball suddenly blazed brightly, and the miniature true dragon inside swam wildly, emitting a silent hiss!
It was resisting; this was its last vestige of dignity as the supreme dragon—the Dragon Pearl was the culmination of a lifetime of cultivation, how could it be given away so easily!
However, Gu Qingfeng simply said...
"Your words are not yet complete; keeping them here is of no use."
"I will follow your path and walk the road you did not finish."
"With this as a pledge, I have no regrets."
The words fell.
The patterns on the surface of the Dragon Ball flickered violently, as if struggling and hesitating.
After a while.
The light dimmed.
The Dragon Ball gently detached from the core of the dragon's body, passed through layers of dragon scales, and through that hideous, fatal wound, before slowly flying out.
It hovered above Gu Qingfeng's palm, its dark golden light flickering, like the final breath of some ancient ritual.
Gu Qingfeng clenched his fist.
Dragon Ball acquired.
The moment the Dragon Balls detached from the dragon's body—
"Roar----!!!"
A dragon's roar.
Unlike before.
The previous dragon roar was a battle cry, a sign of resentment, and a call to arms.
The dragon's roar at this moment was long, deep, and serene.
It was as if an old soldier who had fought all his life had finally laid down his armor and weapons and closed his eyes to sleep forever.
The millions of feet long dragon corpses that had been coiled around the starry sky slowly fell.
Its dragon eyes closed, and the dark golden light around its body receded like a tide. The dragon scales that had opened due to the fighting spirit stuck back onto its body one by one, becoming dim and lifeless.
It no longer struggled, no longer resisted, but quietly and peacefully fell back into the bottomless abyss, back into the burial place it had never left for millions of years.
This time, she truly slept peacefully.
Gu Qingfeng withdrew his gaze and looked at the dragon pearl in his palm.
The dark golden pearl was as smooth and warm as jade. Inside, the miniature dragon had stopped swimming and curled up like a sleeping fetus.
The Daoist aura emanating from the Dragon Ball was no longer sharp and domineering, but became gentle and calm—it acknowledged what Gu Qingfeng had just said.
"Will you continue the path you have not yet completed..."
Gu Qingfeng murmured to himself.
Without saying anything more, he put the Dragon Ball into his storage space.
He then turned around and was about to leave.
Just then—
"S-Senior, please wait!"
A dry, hoarse voice, filled with obvious fear and awe, came from afar.
Gu Qingfeng paused slightly and glanced to the side.
It was that old man in bronze armor.
Where was his former divine majesty now? He was hunched over, his head bowed, his aura chaotic, and even the few eternal flames on his armor had been extinguished.
He dared not approach, and bowed deeply across tens of thousands of feet of empty space.
"This junior...this junior was unaware of your arrival, senior. I have been very rude earlier. Please forgive me!"
His voice was trembling.
This is real fear.
He had witnessed Gu Qingfeng's previous battle with the dragon corpse—or rather, the entire process of Gu Qingfeng unilaterally suppressing the dragon corpse.
Even though the remains of that half-immortal True Dragon Supreme had perished and its strength was less than one ten-thousandth of what it had been in life, it was still half-immortal!
He is an existence that is two whole realms higher than him, a Seven Tribulation Celestial Venerable!
If he were to face that dragon corpse, he probably wouldn't even be able to withstand a single claw strike before being annihilated, body and soul.
The person in front of them stopped the dragon claw with just one hand.
A single word brought peace to the dragon's corpse.
He calmly took the Dragon Ball, as easily as taking something out of a bag.
What a level of attainment this is!
Peak of the Ninth Tribulation?
Half-step immortality?
He dared not think about it, nor did he want to.
All he knew was that the person before him was someone he could not afford to provoke.
Not only should we not provoke him, we should even seize this opportunity—even if it's just to say a word or leave an impression, it might be the greatest chance he's had in his tens of millions of years of survival!
Gu Qingfeng looked at him but did not speak immediately.
The old man felt a chill run down his spine from that calm yet heavenly gaze, and almost knelt down on the spot.
But Gu Qingfeng did not make things difficult for him.
"What's the matter?"
His voice was flat, showing neither joy nor anger.
The old man felt as if he had been granted a pardon and hurriedly said, "Senior, you are wise. I am Feng Xuan, a Seven Tribulation Heavenly Venerable. Because my lifespan is about to end, I have no choice but to stay in this forbidden area by borrowing the remaining Daoist essence of the Dragon Venerable."
"Having witnessed the divine power of my predecessors today, I now realize that there are heavens beyond heavens and paths beyond paths!"
He took a deep breath and mustered all his courage: "This junior dares to ask, I am willing to serve you like a dog or a horse!"
"If my senior has given me any command, I will go through fire and water without hesitation!"
Upon hearing this, the other hidden Celestial Venerables who were also observing from afar all revealed complex expressions.
Some looked down on it, some sneered, and some secretly regretted not speaking up first.
That old man Feng Xuan is quite clever!
But they could only dream about it. They knew they couldn't bring themselves to publicly submit to an unknown entity like Feng Xuan had.
Gu Qingfeng glanced at Feng Xuan.
This glance was devoid of pressure or scrutiny; it was merely a calm, emotionless look.
But it made Feng Xuan feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave.
He felt that everything about him was laid bare before his very eyes.
After a moment, Gu Qingfeng spoke.
"No need."
Feng Xuan was struck dumb, his face turning deathly pale.
But Gu Qingfeng's next words lifted him from hell to heaven:
"I do not need your service, but there is one thing you may tell me."
Feng Xuan was overjoyed and bowed repeatedly: "Senior, please ask! This junior will answer to the best of my knowledge!"
Gu Qingfeng stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze passing over Feng Xuan and landing on the hidden, probing auras deeper within the forbidden zone.
"Besides the Forbidden Zone of the Burial of Gods, are there any other remains like the Dragon Corpse in the other ordinary forbidden zones of this starry sky?"
Feng Xuan was taken aback, then quickly replied, "Yes, senior. As far as I know, there are at least three other ordinary forbidden zones where remains exist—" (End of Chapter)