Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
When the Giant Buddha stepped into the plains of the Qing Tian Plateau, it was already noon, and the sun was shining right over everyone’s heads. The bright sun shone down on the Buddha, making it hard to tell whether the light emitted by Buddha was its own halo or the sun’s rays.
Right after stepping onto the Qing Tian Plateau, a large swathe of green fog started to blanket the plains, spreading further than a thousand miles in a blink of an eye.
The Buddha stopped and looked towards the depths of the plains. It said in a clear voice, “I’m just passing by. I hope that you can allow me passage.”
The fog thickened and spread non-stop for a long time. Eventually, it condensed into a silhouette of a Green Dragon that spread for thousands of miles in the sky. The Green Dragon looked down at the Buddha from its position above. “It’s not yet time.”
“I kept my promise from years ago to guard this place for a thousand years. Why is it not yet time for your part of the bargain?” the Buddha grumbled unhappily.
“I said that it hasn’t arrived yet, so that means it hasn’t arrived yet,” the Green Dragon replied flatly, refusing to listen to the Buddha’s argument. The Green Dragon rolled in the sky and turned back into a green fog, which dissipated into the air. In a flash, everything was back to pleasant weather with blue sky and white clouds, grass swaying in the breeze.
The Buddha stood amidst this picturesque scenery. It stood there in silence for about ten minutes, then snorted in dissatisfaction. “If only I weren’t this afraid of you.” Turning around, it then walked back towards the direction of Joy Mountain.
Halfway through, the Buddha’s pace was slowing down. It looked sideways to the North. From its point of view, it should only have been able to see a vast expanse of mountains. Nonetheless, the vision of the Buddha seemed to have passed through the numerous hills and streams to fall on somewhere farther away. It fell on the Qing Luan, which was looking right at it.
The Buddha clenched its fists. “Sneaking around suspiciously and peeping at people? They’re definitely no good!” It clenched its fists tighter after it finished talking and smashed them into the mountain next to it.
The Qing Luan squinted its eyes. This guy… he’s got a short fuse indeed. Its glowing green eyes turned away.
Sensing that the spying gaze from afar had disappeared, the Buddha huffed and finally left the place with its chin raised.
…
“Did you see the Green Dragon with your own eyes?” asked Bai Tongming, the old patriarch of the White Dragon Tribe, with a frown. He was still somewhat unconvinced that a being on Earth Star existed that terrified even the Qing Luan.
“Yes. Although it wasn’t in its true form, its breath was still extremely terrifying, causing my familiar, Qing Luan, to be almost paralyzed with fear,” Qing Yunbei said heavily.
“The bloodline of your Qing Luan is almost pureblood, and Qing Luan is a legendary species. Its position on the Mythical Familiar Ranking Index isn’t low. Could it be that it was genuinely a pureblood Green Dragon?” Bai Tongming said in contemplation.
“There’s a high chance that it is indeed a pureblood green dragon,” agreed Qing Yunbei. “If it’s actually a pureblood, what would its grade be?”
“A pureblood Green Dragon…” Bai Tongming muttered to himself. Their White Dragon Tribe had been raising White Dragons for generations and worshipped White Dragons as superior to other dragons. Only the most outstanding tribespeople could establish Blood Contracts with White Dragons, therefore their understanding of Dragon-type monsters was impossible for other tribes to measure up to. Not only that, but they had also been studying other species of dragon monsters in quite some depth.
“Among the legendary familiars, the dragons and phoenixes are of the highest tier. Between them, the dragons are yang, and they outnumber the phoenixes by quite a fair number,” said Bai Tongming, “Thus, the dragon species monsters are numerous in their population. The ancestors of our own White Dragons were a pair of purebloods…”
“Hmm.” Qing Yunbei nodded, appearing to agree with him, when in fact, he was grumbling in his heart. Every time he wanted to talk about important matters, Bai Tongming would always derail them and start lecturing him about his precious dragon species monsters.
For example, during the full-month-long celebration of Bai Tongming’s grandchild, he had invited some of his old friends over to have some drinks, then started to boast while everyone was drinking peacefully. “This is my ninth grandchild, born to my second eldest son. He’s a descendant of the main bloodline and has inherited the talents of the White Dragon Tribe. Speaking of the main bloodline, I’m reminded of the first ancestors of our White Dragon Tribe, a truly magnificent pair of pureblood White Dragons. The dragon monsters are numerous in quantity, but even among the dragon monsters, the White Dragons are also…”
Coming back to the current situation, Bai Tongming was finally feeling parched after blathering on for quite a while. He finally noticed the impatience in Qing Yunbei’s eyes. Only then did he come back to the topic and say, “In fact, having said so much, the gist is that they’re divided into two major categories, the family of Giant Dragons and the family of Ethereal Dragons.
“Within the Ethereal Dragon family, White Dragons, Black Dragons and Yellow Dragons are considered the most powerful among colored dragons. However, Green Dragons are an exception to that rule, as they’re extremely rare. Thus, they have a special status.”
“And what kind of status is that exactly?” Qing Yunbei asked indifferently.
After a pause, Bai Tongming finally said, “A pureblood Green Dragon should be slightly above the status of Quasi God.”
“Above a Quasi God… Then isn’t that… Moreover, this one is actually a pureblood. If it experiences its awakening, then…” Qing Yunbei’s breathing became heavier.
“That’s why, since the start, I couldn’t believe that you saw an actual green dragon in the sky above the Qing Tian Plateau. How could such a high-level being appear here casually?” Bai Tongming shook his head.
“But now I hope that what you’ve said is true.” Bai Tongming looked serious.
“Are you crazy?” Qing Yunbei frowned. This situation was like a tiger appearing on the doorstep of their house. Even if he knew that the tiger wasn’t hostile for the time being, no one would see this as an auspicious event.
“The scouts who went all over the world to explore have finally gathered information, including bad news. Fortunately, it isn’t bad enough to be catastrophic.” Bai Tongming’s expression was complicated. “On this matter, it would be better to discuss it when all the available elders from all three of our tribes can gather here. It is very important.”
Qing Yunbei contemplated what he had heard before nodding his head. “All right, I will return immediately and inform them now.”
After making sure that Qing Yunbei had left, Bai Tongming lowered his head and unfurled the goatskin scroll in his hands. On the scroll, there was a sketch of mountains, rivers, river valleys, cities… and countries.
Two days later, other than the Quasi Gods who had isolated themselves to hone their abilities and those who were deep in slumber, the Quasi Gods and elites of the three major tribes had all gathered at the Jade Emperor Peak of the Tai Mountain. The Tai Mountain was the first of the five sacred mountains of Huaxia. It also held the honor of being the most important mountain of the five sacred mountains. Ever since the Qinshi Emperor had made pilgrimages to the Tai Mountain, the emperors of the following dynasties had continued to make pilgrimages to this place.
Since ancient times, various legends and myths relating to the Tai Mountain had already been spread around. Such a legendary mountain then became more and more extraordinary after the Cataclysm. In the depths of the Tai Mountain, an Emperor-tier Cross-Mountain Draconic Eagle once lived. The ability to raise an Emperor-tier Cross-Mountain Draconic Eagle was enough evidence of the natural wonders of the Tai Mountain.
On the Jade Emperor Peak, the air was permeated with thick mist, and the freezing wind was howling. There were candles burning in the palace, and a total of 13 people were sitting on papyrus sitting pillows.
“I have some bad news to tell all of you. We’re lucky that for now, it’s not too bad,” Bai Tongming said in a low voice. “This is the same information gathered by the monster trainers assigned to explore Jiutian Shidi. This is the map that they drew. Do take a look.” Bai Tongming spread out the goatskin scroll in the middle of the circle.
As the goatskin scroll unfurled, the mountains, rivers, cities, and countries all popped up in their vision.
“It’s just a map; what’s so special about it?” someone looked down at it and said flatly. “How about the rest of the information? Just lay it out for us.”
“Don’t keep us guessing! I know more about the history of our White Dragon Tribe than you do!” snapped an elder with a magnificent beard that almost touched the ground as he glared at them. He was a Quasi God monster trainer from the White Dragon Tribe. However, his rank was much higher than that of Bai Tongming.
“The bad news is… for thousands of decades, the advancement of the Mutated Tribe was even faster than we expected,” Bai Tongming explained slowly. “Not only that, but their elite members have completely surpassed us, both in quantity and quality.”
The atmosphere in the room turned cold. Nothing could be worse than hearing that their enemy was developing very well, extremely well even.
“The good news is that over the years, the Mutated Tribe has developed into many countries, and these countries are currently embroiled in warfare.”
“That’s great! Who knew that these mutated tribes also liked internal conflict.” A Quasi God monster trainer laughed uproariously.
“Exactly, they’re also vulnerable to infighting… I had never thought that our hopes would actually rely upon our enemies’ internal conflict,” another Quasi God monster trainer mumbled to himself.
The monster trainer who had been laughing just before gradually became silent and seemed a bit awkward.
“But this is precisely our chance!” Bai Tongming’s eyes sparkled in the flickering candlelight.
