The Dragon Monarch’s oppressive might could truly awe the heavens and cause the earth to tremble in fear. Even other god emperors would not be able to compare to him, let alone the rest of creation.
Both Yun Che and Shui Meiyin hardly had any interactions with the Dragon Monarch. But, the reason the name “Dragon Monarch” flashed through their hearts at the very first instant was because of the incomparable oppressive might that could only belong to the supreme ruler of the Primal Chaos.
All the elements in the entire area instantly went dormant in the presence of the Dragon Monarch. Yun Che and Shui Meiyin swiftly came to a halt, their expressions muted.
“Disciple Yun Che of the Eastern Divine Region’s Snow Song Realm greets the Dragon Monarch,” Yun Che said respectfully as he swiftly bowed.
Shui Meiyin loosened her grip on Yun Che’s arm and made a full curtsy as she said, “Shui Meiyin from the Eastern Region’s Glazed Light Realm greets Senior Dragon Monarch.”
The Dragon Monarch turned around slowly, his indifferent but powerful gaze sweeping over Shui Meiyin before settling on Yun Che’s body. He nodded his head slowly and said, “I heard that you were still alive, good… very good.”
“...?” Yun Che’s brows twitched slightly as he immediately replied, “I thank Senior Dragon Monarch for your concern. Even though I went through a rough patch, I managed to come out of it in one piece. This junior has never forgotten the kindness of the Dragon God Realm for taking me in that year.”
“...” The Dragon Monarch did not reply.
At this moment, Shui Meiyin stretched her hand out and grasped Yun Che’s wrist suddenly. Her pale delicate fingers tightened slightly… but her grip gradually began to grow extremely tight.
Shui Meiyin’s actions startled Yun Che and he glanced sideways to look at her. Shui Meiyin’s delicate head was lowered and she seemed to be biting her lip hard. The hand that grabbed his arm was squeezing with an excessive tightness, to the point where he actually felt pain.
All these signs clearly showed that she was nervous… and she was tremendously nervous at that.
While Yun Che felt astonishment bloom in his heart, he also found this scene rather ridiculous. Though he did not have many interactions with Shui Meiyin, from his impression of her, she was a precious pampered princess who was afraid of no one and nothing. She even dared to call the Eternal Heaven God Emperor “Grandpa Eternal Heaven” with a smile on her face. But she was actually this nervous in front of the Dragon Monarch.
Was she still a little girl at heart… Ehh?
Little girl my ass!
He secretly laughed, and with a flip of his wrist, he comforted her by grasping her small hand in his.
This was the first time that Yun Che had taken the initiative to hold Shui Meiyin’s hand… Thereafter, she bit down on her lip even harder, her hands still faintly trembling.
It was at this moment that another two mighty and oppressive auras descended from the heavens. Though both auras could not be compared to the Dragon Monarch, it still felt as if two massive mountains, mountains so tall that their peaks could not be seen, had suddenly pressed down on them, stopping Yun Che’s breath and causing his entire body to sink.
Yun Che, being the best of the younger generation, was at the level of Divine King. However, he had seen powers at the Divine Master level far more often than any other Divine King, and these two powerful and oppressive auras were definitely far stronger than the aura belonging to an ordinary Divine Master. They were clearly...
God emperors!?
And two of them!?
Yet they were not any of the four god emperors of the Eastern Divine Region that he had come into contact with.
He raised his head in surprise… At this moment, two more figures had already appeared beside the Dragon Monarch.
On his left was a woman clad in green, her age indistinguishable. She had a beautiful but cold countenance, and a slender and graceful body which was taller than Yun Che by half a foot. Her green robes looked exceptionally simple and graceful, however, after a light breeze brushed past her, it caused her clothes to glimmer like water that had been kissed by light.
What was most conspicuous was her long greenish-blue hair that seemed to emit a strange brilliance under bright light.
On his left was an elderly man who seemed different from all the other supreme powerhouses Yun Che had met before… Even Jun Wuming, who was at the end of his lifespan, had a fair and unwrinkled face. This elderly man had a face full of wrinkles, both his hair and beard appeared to be of a somewhat “heavy” grayish-white color.
But his eyes were frighteningly bright and clear. His gaze seemed exceptionally warm and peaceful as it met Yun Che’s. Yet it also made Yun Che feel as if a bright light that came from the heavens was shining a light into the deepest parts of his soul.
The two of them stood slightly behind the Dragon Monarch, and it was clear they regarded the Dragon Monarch as their ruler.
But, that was only their attitudes when it came to the Dragon Monarch himself! Judging from the auras coming from the two of them, their strength was definitely at the level of a god emperor!
Could it be…
Yun Che gave them a quick glance before averting his eyes, his heart remained shaken for a long time.
But the two sized up Yun Che and Shui Meiyin for a long while with a strange light gleaming in their eyes.
“If this old one has not guessed wrong, this is the boy who went through the nine stage heavenly tribulation and attained the True God prophecy from the Heavenly Mystery Realm?” The black robed elder laughed heartily and said, “And this girl must be the legendary person who became a seventh level Divine Master in just three thousand years, the woman of Glazed Light who possesses the Divine Stainless Soul?”
“That’s right.” The Dragon Monarch nodded slightly.
“This generation of the Eastern Divine Region is truly filled with so many outstanding talents.” The woman in green glanced towards the east and said, “This is in addition to Luo Changsheng, who also took three thousand years to become a seventh level Divine Master. It’s already a miracle for a such a rare talent to appear once every era, yet the Eastern Divine Region has produced one after the other.From the looks of it, the phrase ‘born from calamity’ might not just be empty words.”
“Since we’ve arrived, let’s go to where Eternal Heaven is and have a chat with him,” the Dragon Monarch said as he turned around. He was already a few kilometers distant after taking just a single step.
The two people once again gave Yun Che and Shui Meiyin a long deep look before following after the Dragon Monarch.
Yun Che stood up and he seemed to have forgotten to let go of Shui Meiyin’s hand. He felt that something was not quite right as he looked in the direction the Dragon Monarch had left in. His brows furrowed and asked in a low and curious voice, “Those two people…”
“They are part of the ‘One Monarch Five Emperors’ that rule the Western Divine Region, the Qilin Emperor and the Blue Dragon Emperor,” Shui Meiyin answered in a very soft voice.
“Qilin Emperor… Blue Dragon Emperor!” Yun Che’s eyebrows twitched… As expected!
As expected, they were indeed people who were at the god emperor level!
Including the Dragon Monarch, three people at the level of god emperor had come from the Western Divine Region!
Even though the crimson calamity had not yet spread to the Western Divine Region, it was clear that they had sniffed out something and they did not take this matter lightly at all. To think that half of their god emperors had actually come… and even the Dragon Emperor himself had personally come.
The Blue Dragon Emperor…
Blue Dragon!?
Yun Che remembered that in the Primordial Era, the Blue Dragon, Ice Phoenix, and Ice Qilin were the Three Supreme Ice Attribute Beasts, and that they were on the same level as Three Supreme Fire Attribute Beasts, the Vermillion Bird, Phoenix, and Golden Crow.
Snow Song Realm, which had inherited the power of the Ice Phoenix, was only a middle star realm in the Eastern Divine Region. Whereas the star realm that inherited the power of the Blue Dragon… was a king realm in the Western Divine Region.
It was simply the difference between heaven and earth.
The other person, the Qilin Emperor… The qilin race which had gone extinct in the Eastern Divine Region was actually also a king realm in the Western Divine Region. He did know what sort of status the Ice Qilin race possessed among the Western Region’s Qilin race.
Oh right… Shen Xi!
Yun Che’s head jerked upwards as he suddenly recalled something. After that, he hurriedly ran in the direction that the Dragon Monarch had left in.
He had just taken a single step when Shui Meiyin caught his arm, and she held it extremely tightly, “Big Brother Yun Che, where are you going?”
“I have something that I need to ask Senior Dragon Monarch about,” Yun Che replied as he looked at her with suspicion.
“Don’t go!” Shui Meiyin shook her head and her grip grew even tighter, “You must not go.”
“Why?” Yun Che asked as his brows furrowed slightly. Shui Meiyin’s reaction had been rather bizarre ever since the Dragon Monarch appeared.
“I don’t know, but… you must not go.” Shui Meiyin’s face was completely devoid of the beautiful smile that had previously adorned it and the vivacious energy she had been buzzing with had disappeared as well. What replaced those things was… an indescribable feeling of heart-thumping fear. She continued, “I don’t know why but when Senior Dragon Monarch was looking at you, I felt very afraid… Big Brother Yun Che, you must believe me, my instincts are always very accurate.”
“...” Yun Che’s brows gradually started to knit together and it was as if he had thought of something. But after that, his expression grew completely relaxed as he gave a faint smile and said, “Alright, I’ll listen to you then.”
However, he had not done so solely because he wanted to comply with Shui Meiyin’s will, it was also because he had felt that bizarre feeling of unease as well when the Dragon Monarch had been looking at him.
Shui Meiyin once again put on a spirited smile as she turned around and wound a soft and delicate arm around Yun Che’s once more. As her body leaned slightly towards him, she said, “Big Brother Yun Che is so obedient. You must also get obediently get married to me in the future as well, okay.”
Yun Che, “-_-||”
“Let’s go, let’s go!” I'll take you to play with Big Sister Yuexian first! She is Grandpa Eternal Heaven’s youngest great granddaughter and the food she cooks tastes the best. I always look for her and ask her to cook many delicious dishes for me whenever I come to the Eternal Heaven Realm… Oh right! Big Sister Yuexian is not married yet either! If you can marry her as well, that would be great!”
“Wow! This is going to be such a great opportunity! You must do your best Big Brother Yun Che!”
Yun Che, “o(╯□╰)o”
————
In a dream.
“Little Che, Quickly wake up! It’s time to get out of bed!” a young girl shouted into his ear.
“Ugh… It’s still so early, let me sleep for a while more,” he mumbled miserably in a daze as he covered himself with the blanket.
“It’s your wedding day with Lady Situ! It’s almost time, you need to get up right now!”
Xiao Che’s eyes opened and sat up with a “whoosh” sound…
The curtains hanging above his bed were changed to ones that were bright red in color and the room was filled with red candles and red furniture. He became sober and remembered that he was to get married to the daughter of Governor Situ today.
He quickly got out of bed, washed up and then allowed Xiao Lingxi to personally dress him in a bright-red wedding robe.
“Little Che, this is porridge that I just cooked. Your body’s constitution is weak and you’re going to have such a long morning too... you must finish it all.” Xiao Lingxi brought him a huge bowl of porridge which filled the room with its aroma.
“Alright, alright, alright.” Xiao Che picked up the bowl obediently and directly slurped down its contents without even using a spoon.
"Ahhh… you don’t have to be in such a rush either, there’s still some time.” Xiao Lingxi stretched out her hands, afraid that he would choke.
“Phew… all done.” Xiao Che put the bowl down and wiped his mouth with his sleeves. As he looked at Xiao Lingxi, his eyes suddenly became misty and he blurted out, “I don’t know if I will still be able to taste Little Aunt’s cooking as often in the future.”
The precious daughter of the Governor Situ… she must be extremely pampered, so it would be weird if she knew how to cook.
“Hehe, the daughter of the Governor is marrying into your family, it’s not as if you’re marrying into hers. As long as you want me to, I will cook for you every day just like before.”
As she spoke, her smile slowly dulled and she said in a soft voice, “But rather it’s you, Little Che, who will have even less time to spend with me once you get married.”
“How can that be!?” Yun Che lifted his hand and swore, “I just promised Little Aunt yesterday that I would never neglect Little Aunt even after marrying Situ Xuan. Neither would I lessen the time that I normally spend with Little Aunt, and I would always be at your beck and call just like before!”
Yun Che had not not even gotten a single word of yesterday’s promise wrong. Xiao Lingxi finally managed to smile and laughed while saying, “It’s good that you’re obedient!”
She walked toward Yun Che and lifted her hand to straighten the corners of his robe. She looked at him from close up as her vision started to blur and her voice grew more and more slurred, “It’s just that… before I knew it, my Little Che has already grown up.”
“Big Brother! Big Brother!!”
After that excited shout rang out in the air, a person barged into the room full of vim and vigor.
“Yuanba, you’re actually awake at this hour?” Xiao Che said laughing.
“Hehe! It’s your wedding day, so of course I’m here to help out.” Xia Yuanba looked so excited that it was as if he were the one getting married.
“I’ll go get father. Yuanba, you accompany Little Che for a while.”
Xia Yunba stood in front of Xiao Che with a “whoosh” as soon as Xiao Lingxi left. He sized up Xiao Che’s bright-red wedding robes before happily saying, “Big Brother, you look rather good in this outfit.”
“The important thing is that I look handsome and elegant so obviously whatever I wear will look great.” He said while grinning, “It’s such a pity that we don’t live in an era that appreciates good looks.”
“Ermm… So, what does getting married feel like? Why don’t you seem to be all that excited?” Xia Yuanba asked.
“I really don’t feel anything much so I’m not very excited. After all, this marriage was settled by my parents, and Situ Xuan and I have only met a few times. I can’t even clearly remember what she looks like.” Xiao Che stared at Xia Yuanba seriously for some time and suddenly said, “Surely you can’t just be this excited solely because of my wedding at this time of the morning, right?”
“Hehe.” Xia Yuanba’s eyes gleamed as he said, “Actually, I have a piece of good news. My old man invited a good friend who is a tutor at the New Moon Profound Palace a few days ago. The original intention was to get me into the New Moon Profound Palace through him. But unexpectedly, that senior tutor actually said that with my aptitude, I would be completely able to enter the Blue Wind Profound Palace directly.”
“Wow! That’s great! This is great news for our entire Floating Cloud City!” Xiao Che replied sincerely. He was joyous, but at the same time, he also felt extremely envious... and sad from the bottom of his heart.
Blue Wind Profound Palace… was a holy land that he could not even hope to enter in his lifetime. But for Xia Yuanba, who possessed an exceptionally high innate talent, this was just a starting point.
“Hehehe…” Xia Yuanba could not hide his smile as he said, “I’m so excited that I haven’t been able to sleep properly for the past two days. Wait until I enter the Blue Wind Profound Palace and grow stronger and stronger. When that happens, I’ll see who still dares to bully you!”
“Also, this matter is currently still a secret. My dad told me to keep it under wraps for the time being to avoid any unnecessary complications. So for now, you’re the only one who knows about this.” Xia Yuanba had grown up with Xiao Che and he had never once kept anything from him. He continued, “Oh right, speaking of which, I’ve heard many bad rumors over the last two years. Rumors that say Governor Situ will surely cancel the engagement and betroth Situ Xuan to Xiao Yulong, your Xiao Clan’s Clan Master.”
Xiao Che. “...”
“I get so mad when I hear those rumors but I’ve never dared to tell you about them before. Now though, those rumors have been proven to be false.” Xia Yuanba said smiling, “I bet that the faces of those who spread the rumors must have swollen up a lot.”
“Where there is smoke, there is fire,” Xiao Che said as he gave a seemingly unaffected smile, “but that’s alright, I’m used to it already. For a cripple like me, having a friend like you and being able to marry the daughter of the Governor is already a gift from the heavens.”
“Compared to mine, yours is the actual happy occasion.” Xiao Che smiled as he said, “When you officially enter the Blue Wind Profound Palace, I think that the whole city will… will… will...”
Xiao Che’s voice suddenly turned soft and listless, his eyes turned swiftly turned dull...and they grew even duller… before he collapsed entirely.
“Big Brother? Ah! Big Brother!” Xia Yuanba panicked as he rushed forward to support Xiao Che’s falling body, “Big Brother? What’s wrong… Big Brother!!”
His eyes started to close and the world started to swiftly fade away. He could hear Xia Yuanba’s voice but he could not reply.
“Little Che? Little Che… quickly wake up, don’t scare me… Little Che!!”
His consciousness grew even more blurry but it seemed like he could hear Little Aunt’s frantic shouts.
The last thing he heard was the heartrending cries of a young girl…
————
“ Che’er!?”
Yun Che shuddered as he woke up with a jolt.
He was sitting on a stone bench in a courtyard. Mu Xuanyin stood in front of him, her icy brows furrowing slightly.
“Master.” He stood quickly… Strange, when did I fall asleep?
“What happened to you?” Mu Xuanyin asked.
“This disciple is alright, perhaps the aura of the Eternal Heaven Realm is too gentle, so I unknowingly fell asleep and I even had a strange dream,” Yun Che said truthfully.
And this strange dream…
Mu Xuanyin did not probe further. Her eyes shifted away from him as she said, “The Eternal Heaven General Assembly will begin in an hour, let’s go.”
“Yes.” Yun Che shook his head to clear his thoughts and followed after Mu Xuanyin.
The day of the Eternal Heaven General Assembly was finally here.
The Eternal Heaven God Emperor would surely announce the truth that he knew to the public today… Who knew what kind of reaction everyone will have at that time, and what countermeasures the Eternal Heaven God Emperor already had in place to deal with those reactions.
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