272 RI

Eastern Sea dream realm.

An intense battle was reaching its climax.

Song Tao Zi was covered in injuries but his aura was strong, firmly suppressing Wu Shuai.

"Wu Shuai, you did not stop my killer move, that was your greatest mistake, now lose!" Song Tao Zi shouted as he raised his head, his body glowing in a dense green light.

The green light covered Song Tao Zi and spread rapidly, traces of green light resembling the leaves of a pine tree. Layers and layers stacked as they swept towards Wu Shuai in an unceasing manner.

Wu Shuai did not move, he continued to lie in the deep pit, seemingly accepting defeat.

The observing Gu Immortals saw this as they all sighed.

"Wu Shuai is going to lose."

"That is natural! Song Tao Zi is a peak rank seven of Wind Cloud Manor, his battle strength is definitely top three within Central Continent's rank seven Gu Immortals. Wu Shuai wanted to challenge him, he was truly out of his league."

"He is just a dragonman Gu Immortal, it was amazing that he could fight to this extent."

"Hehe, so what? Wu Shuai had already set the agreement with Wind Cloud Manor before the battle, this would decide the ownership of South Flower Island. This defeat is really a shame. His hundred years of hard work is going to end up wasted."

"That's right, I heard that Wu Shuai and his dragonman comrades have managed South Flower Island very well, it is full of resources. Now, Wind Cloud Manor is going to gain from it."

"You can't say that, back then Wu Shuai used a devious scheme to take South Flower Island from Wind Cloud Manor. This is just retribution, he deserves it."

The humans Gu Immortals were happily watching by the side, enjoying his misery.

Tai Qin watched at a corner alone, her eyes were filled with tears as she muttered worriedly: "Darling Wu..."

Meanwhile, those dragonman Gu Immortals had defeated expressions.

Only a few of the ones who knew the secret had excited and expectant expressions.

"Brother, use it, shock the entire world!" The former dragonman youngster Huang Wei idolized and admired Wu Shuai with all his heart, he yelled internally.

At the next moment, looking at the green light that spread towards him like an endless tsunami, Wu Shuai smiled lightly.

"You finally used this move, Song Tao Zi, do you know that I have been waiting for this for a long time." Wu Shuai laughed.

"What do you mean?"

"Hmph, he is putting up a front."

"Can a mere dragonman Gu Immortal like him accomplish a comeback?"

"This move is Song Tao Zi's famous killer move — Green Heaven Pine Wave! In Central Continent, no, in the entire five regions, how many rank seven Gu Immortals can actually successfully defend against this move?"

However, at the next moment, a huge castle appeared from nowhere.

Wu Shuai went inside it and charged up while manipulating this palace.

The palace soared towards the sky, up into the clouds.

"What is this?!"

"An Immortal Gu House!"

"I have never seen an Immortal Gu House like this, did Wu Shuai create it himself?"

"Most likely. This battle has been announced to the world, both sides can use their own possessions. Since Wu Shuai is using it, this must be his according to the rules!"

"Oh heaven, the dragonmen have an Immortal Gu House now, and it is a rank seven Immortal Gu House."

"Look, this palace is completely unaffected, it is as if green heaven pine wave does not exist, it easily carved out a pathway. This is not an ordinary rank seven Immortal Gu House, it can definitely resist rank eight existences!"

Everyone gasped.

Song Tao Zi was furious and shocked.

He looked at his proudest killer move being treated as harmless air, his heart sank to rock bottom.

Wu Shuai was currently using Dragon Court!

Dragon Court approached as Wu Shuai's voice resounded: "Song Tao Zi, kneel down and beg for mercy, I will spare your life."

Song Tao Zi had a pale expression, he said in a rage: "Don't even think about it! You, a mere dragonman, dare to humiliate me?!"

Even though he was in a desperate situation, Song Tao Zi refused to back down in this fight.

"Have mercy!" The surrounding Wind Cloud Manor Gu Immortals saw this and quickly shouted.

Within Dragon Court, Wu Shuai heard his words and laughed coldly. His dragon pupils burst out with killing intent as he used Dragon Court to directly charge over.

"Ah—!" Song Tao Zi could not dodge in time, he screamed pitifully as he was crushed to death by Dragon Court!

"What? Song Tao Zi died!"

"He actually killed Song Tao Zi! Is he trying to cause a war?"

"A dragonman Gu Immortal killed a member of our human race, what is he trying to do?"

All sorts of furious emotions erupted, the dragonman Gu Immortals present turned pale while Huang Wei had a look of nervousness.

At this moment, Dragon Court floated in the sky, Wu Shuai shouted from within: "Shut up! My battle with Song Tao Zi was a life-and-death battle, this was announced to the world long before the fight. If anyone has any objections, come out now and face me — receive your death!"

Instantly, the surroundings went silent.

In the next scene of the dream realm, it was the celebratory banquet.

There were a hundred tables here filled with delicious food and wine, everyone was happily celebrating.

The spotlight was naturally on Wu Shuai who was sitting at the main table!

"Congratulations to brother, after this battle, nobody will contest South Flower Island anymore, Wind Cloud Manor also lost a powerful general." Huang Wei offered a toast, he was filled with excitement and admiration.

Wu Shuai patted his shoulders: "Brother, this was not all due to me, you have credit too."

"Brother..." Huang Wei was choked with tears.

"Brother Shuai, this battle made you renowned in the world, I will congratulate you now." Tai Qin raised her wine cup, she spoke normally but her tone was filled with affection.

"Junior sister, thank you for the concern." Wu Shuai knew what Tai Qin was worried about in her heart.

Thus, he shouted loudly: "My battle with Song Tao Zi was a battle of life-and-death, the world can attest to that, whoever dies has to accept their fate! Song Tao Zi was a good opponent, he deserves the glory of dying in a heroic combat. I would like to assume that Wind Cloud Manor has no objections?"

Wind Cloud Manor had naturally sent an envoy to this banquet, it was an ordinary rank six Gu Immortal.

Song Tao Zi was killed by Wu Shuai's insistence, Wind Cloud Manor also lost South Flower Island, but for their righteous reputation, and to show their magnanimity, they still sent an envoy to attend the banquet.

Wu Shuai's words made this envoy's face turn red, he hesitated before standing up and calling out: "Is my Wind Cloud Manor a small sect? Since this was agreed upon, we would definitely not go against it!"

"Please take a seat, envoy." Wu Shuai waved his hand, laughing loudly.

The envoy gritted his teeth in anger, he wanted to blow up but there were many people looking at him, because the sect's reputation was at stake, he had to sit down.

"Friend Wu Shuai, I am an Eastern Sea Gu Immortal, Gu Liang, I watched your battle with Song Tao Zi and how you overwhelmed him with power, I offer you a toast." A male Gu Immortal wearing a robe and crown walked out.

He called himself Gu Liang, he was a middle aged man but had a smile that gave off the air of a person of authority.

Wu Shuai felt overjoyed internally: This battle really made him renowned in the world, even Eastern Sea Gu Immortals came to attend his banquet.

"Calligraphy Pavilion Lady has arrived—!" At this moment, the doorman shouted loudly.

The hall went into a commotion, a rank eight Gu Immortal had just shown up in this event after all.

Calligraphy Pavilion Lady did not come alone, she brought her daughter along, it was Wu Shuai's wife-in-name, Shu Jiu Ling.

"My son-in-law, congratulations on your victory." Calligraphy Pavilion Lady smiled lightly, even though she said just one simple sentence, everyone's expressions changed.

"Mother-in-law, my virtuous wife, I have been saving seats for you, please come and sit." Wu Shuai smiled as he invited them, feeling surprised internally.

From Wu Shuai's perspective, he would definitely invite Calligraphy Pavilion Lady for such an important event, at least on the surface, he would always do his part as a good son-in-law.

But the truth was, he did not expect Calligraphy Pavilion Lady to come.

But now, she came personally and even brought her daughter along, this was out of Wu Shuai's expectations.

"Lord Green Ant Ascetic has arrived—!" After Calligraphy Pavilion Lady got seated, another rank eight Gu Immortal arrived.

This was Wu Shuai's master, but for the last few decades, Wu Shuai had not been in contact with him.

Wu Shuai also sent him an invitation, of course.

"Disciple greets master!" Wu Shuai quickly went to greet him.

"My disciple, I have come to visit you." Green Ant Ascetic looked at Wu Shuai as he nodded in praise: "Mm, you are quite energetic."

"Master, please take a seat." Wu Shuai had an excited expression, he was not pretending, it was his true emotion.

The influence and gains from this battle were far beyond his expectations!

After the banquet, Wu Shuai sent off the two rank eights but Calligraphy Pavilion Lady left her daughter Shu Jiu Ling behind.

"You two have been separated for so long, how can that continue? You should stay together." Calligraphy Pavilion Lady said in a plain tone, but she had deep meaning behind it.

Shu Jiu Ling did not speak, she was not impatient as always, she was very quiet now.

But at night, Wu Shuai left her in an empty room: "My virtuous wife, take a rest first, I need to settle some work first."

He was still so polite, it was the same as their first encounter.

Shu Jiu Ling was silent for a moment before nodded obediently: "Go and do your work, husband."

Wu Shuai was not busy at all, he was meeting with Tai Qin.

"Junior sister, I have come."

"Brother Shuai, I thought you were not coming today."

"How could that be? You need to know how important you are in my heart, that woman cannot even compare to a strand of your hair."

Tai Qin was very happy when she heard this, after they enjoyed each other's company for some time, Tai Qin asked worriedly: "Brother Shuai, I am still quite worried, you killed Wind Cloud Manor's signature rank seven expert, would they let this go?"

"Of course they will not let this go, but so what?" Wu Shuai sneered, looking at the cold and bright moon in the sky, he sighed: "Today, after this banquet, I, Wu Shuai, have finally realized the truth."

"Realized what?"

Wu Shuai's eyes flickered with cold light: "In this world, strength is all that matters. Why do you think Master Green Ant and Calligraphy Pavilion Lady came here to attend my banquet? That is because I own Immortal Gu House Dragon Court. Even though I have rank seven cultivation level, I can use this house to fight rank eight, this is my foundation, I am now qualified to talk to them."

"Wind Cloud Manor will definitely remember this grudge, but they have too many concerns if they want to deal with me. That is because of my Dragon Court!"

"As long as I possess this strength, there is nothing to fear."

"No, I will definitely become a rank eight Gu Immortal, I will elevate Dragon Court to rank eight as well. By then, I want to see who can look down on me in this world."

"Brother Shuai..." Tai Qin placed her head on Wu Shuai's chest as she looked at him endearingly.

Wu Shuai lowered his head and met with her gaze, he caressed her hair gently as he promised: "Oh junior sister, I will give you happiness, I will give you a good life. Right now, Calligraphy Pavilion Lady is still a threat to me, but when I become rank eight, I will definitely give you a proper status."

"I don't need any status, Brother Shuai, I am satisfied with just being by your side."

"But I am not satisfied, I want to have many children with you in the future, I want us to enjoy the happiness of watching our descendants grow up."

"Will that day come?" Tai Qin's face flushed red with embarrassment.

"It will." Wu Shuai held her tightly: "Believe me, it will!"

-x-X-x-

Wu Shuai accumulated for a hundred years, he constructed an extraordinary rank seven Immortal Gu House, Dragon Court.

Next, he made a bet with Wind Cloud Manor, using Dragon Court to kill Song Tao Zi in front of everyone, becoming renowned in the world.

During the celebratory banquet, Green Ant Ascetic and Calligraphy Pavilion Lady showed up, this confirmed that Wu Shuai's influence had grown — he was now qualified to speak on equal terms with rank eight existences!

During the night of the celebratory banquet, Wu Shuai had a nice dream.

In this dream, he fulfilled all of his aspirations, he reached all of the goals that he was willing to fight for.

He became the dragonman leader, he had peak rank eight battle strength, Duke Long stepped down from his position for him.

He controlled Dragon Court and led his dragonman people to live freely, becoming equals with the humans.

He imprisoned Fan Ji and tortured him to death in front of Shu Jiu Ling, before he went to deal with Shu Jiu Ling herself. Calligraphy Pavilion Lady came in time and fought against him, after she lost, she begged him to spare her daughter and offered herself as his subordinate, Wu Shuai agreed to it, he only made Shu Jiu Ling a servant while Calligraphy Pavilion Lady became his subordinate for good.

He made Green Ant Ascetic and Wine Fairy his dragonman external supreme elders, even though they did not want to, the dragonman race was too powerful, Wu Shuai's strength forced them to submit.

And the happiest thing was that he finally made Tai Qin his sole dragon empress, they had many children together. All of his kids had great talent and aptitude, they were like shining stars in the sky. Even though they were still young, they would definitely become great figures in the future.

On the second day, Wu Shuai woke up with a smile.

He looked at his beloved Tai Qin as she slept, he covered her with a blanket affectionately.

Next, he walked out of the room quietly, starting to do his work.

His battle with Song Tao Zi did not just lead to his own rise, even the dragonman race was feeling a lot of motivation and excitement.

Due to this influence, the dragonman race became more active and had a stronger attitude.

For the next few decades, the conflict between the dragonmen and humans intensified as they clashed with greater intensity.

Duke Long learned of this and summoned Wu Shuai.

Wu Shuai flew all the way for thousands of li, but was scolded by Duke Long.

These years, he had been the main culprit behind the conflict of the dragonmen and humans.

Next, Duke Long ordered him to announce his crimes and step down as the owner of South Flower Island, at the same time, he had to change Dragon Court's name to Dragon Palace.

Wu Shuai was unwilling but against Duke Long and Heavenly Court, he was still too weak.

He had a dark expression and deep anger as he returned to South Flower Island, following Duke Long's instructions reluctantly.

Gu Liang came to visit.

The first time Wu Shuai saw him was during the banquet after killing Song Tao Zi.

For the last few decades, Gu Liang had been very close with the South Flower Island dragonmen, they had worked together many times, their cooperation was harmonious.

"Wu Shuai, I heard about the situation in South Flower Island, why are you admitting to such crimes? Is there anything I can help you with?"

Wu Shuai sighed deeply: "Gu Liang, this is the order of my ancestor Duke Long, I have no choice but to obey him, I am helpless now."

Wu Shuai spoke firmly: "I will tell you the truth, when I killed Song Tao Zi, I thought it was a turning point that will lead to the rise of my dragonman race. But after these decades, I seem to be stuck in a sandpit, all my actions are showing little effect, I am facing pressure from all directions."

Gu Liang smiled as he consoled: "Don't think too lowly of yourself. These years, I have seen all of your hard work. If not for your management of South Flower Island, this force created by the dragonmen would have been devoured by all the greedy people out there. After all, it is the ten great ancient sects and Heavenly Court that you are going against."

Wu Shuai was silent for a while, he was filled with deep rage and anger, but also helplessness, in the end, he sighed deeply as he raised his head: "The rise of the dragonman race, it is easier said than done, it is harder than ascending heaven."

Gu Liang still had his smile: "One step at a time, back then when Heavenly Court rose to power, wasn't it the same situation?"

Wu Shuai said in a defeated tone: "With my ancestor's instructions, my decades and even centuries of hard work have gone to nothing. The humans have control of the world, this is the trend."

Gu Liang said: "I have a method, it can solve your problem."

"Oh? What is it? Quickly tell me, there is no need to hesitate with our friendship." Wu Shuai immediately asked.

"This is a simple plan, you are only worried about the morale of the dragonman race. Especially since you and South Flower Island are the war flags that hold up the entire race, yet Duke Long wants to exterminate that. But what if you advance to rank eight now?"

"Advance to rank eight? Why would I not want that! But the final tribulation, even with Dragon Court, I am afraid..." Wu Shuai was hesitant.

"Hahaha, you have taken charge of South Flower Island for so many years, you truly cannot take such a risk. You know how important you are to the entire island and dragonman race. But all these worries are holding you back, you no longer have the same bravery back then. I am here to lend you a hand, I will help you pass the final tribulation and become a true rank eight Gu Immortal!" Gu Liang said as his aura transformed, turning from rank seven to rank eight.

It turned out that he was a rank eight Gu Immortal disguising as a rank seven.

Wu Shuai was deeply shocked: "Gu Liang... no, senior... you..."

Gu Liang raised his hand, stopping Wu Shuai: "Wu Shuai, let's continue talking as friends. The truth is, I approached you for my own intentions. Central Continent is too powerful, the rest of the four regions are weak. As an Eastern Sea Gu Immortal, I am willing to see internal conflict in Central Continent. But I am not helping you because of that, I really appreciate and admire you. To speak the truth, we are quite alike."

Wu Shuai was overjoyed: "These years, I have been finding a rank eight Gu Immortal to help me with my tribulation. But even Green Ant Ascetic and Calligraphy Pavilion Lady are constantly giving excuses, your help has truly come at the best timing. I, Wu Shuai, will never forget this favor!"

The next scene of the dream realm was his tribulation.

But because Wu Shuai and Gu Liang were very close in the earlier scenes, he was helped by Gu Liang.

Gu Liang had extraordinary strength, with his help, Wu Shuai successfully passed the tribulation without danger.

Wu Shuai finally became a rank eight Gu Immortal.

Even though he obeyed Duke Long's instructions and did everything, causing a huge commotion and fear among the dragonmen, when news that he became a rank eight Gu Immortal spread in the world, the tides shifted towards the dragonman race again, their morale rose greatly, it was even higher than before.

Wu Shuai became the second rank eight of the dragonman race, he surpassed his father's generation, only Duke Long was the sole person above him.

Wu Shuai had genuine rank eight cultivation level now, he could finally speak on equal terms with Green Ant Ascetic and Calligraphy Pavilion Lady.

Duke Long's attitude towards him also changed, he no longer summoned him and scolded him so casually.

It was like he had broken out of a hopeless encirclement, Wu Shuai felt his pressure lifting, most of the undercurrents involving South Flower Island for the last few decades were swept away after he reached rank eight.

"The scenery of rank eight is truly different!"

"From today onwards, I am also a peak existence of the Gu Immortal world."

Wu Shuai was extremely grateful to Gu Liang, their cooperation deepened continuously.

Gu Liang told Wu Shuai of many secrets: "The foundation of Heavenly Court is fate Gu. In history, two Demon Venerables attacked Heavenly Court, but why did they fail? The reason was because they could not destroy fate Gu, and because of Star Constellation's assimilation, they are unable to destabilize Heavenly Court's foundation."

"However, while Star Constellation's assimilation defended the reign of Heavenly Court, it also infuriated the Heavenly Dao. The way of heaven is balance, but humanity is flourishing and strengthening without restraint at the moment. This goes against the true heaven's will!"

Wu Shuai learned many important things from Gu Liang. Even though he lived in Central Continent and was a supreme elder of one of the ten great ancient sects, he had never understood Heavenly Court's true secrets, he did not have any sources of information.

"Wu Shuai, if you really want to lead the dragonman race to rise up, rank eight cultivation level is not enough. In fact, even if you get more rank eight Gu Immortals, it will not affect Heavenly Court's status. Heavenly Court has many more rank eights than you'll ever have!"

"In fact, if I put this bluntly, if your dragonman race really surpasses the bottom line of Heavenly Court one day, they will definitely take action against you. Don't they always say this? Those who are not my race having different motives[1]!"

Wu Shuai thought about it, there was deep meaning in this, he quickly asked Gu Liang for advice.

Gu Liang told him: "The rise of dragonmen is extraordinary, you have to target the source of everything!"

"The source? You are referring to fate Gu?" Wu Shuai smiled bitterly: "Fate Gu is kept strictly by Heavenly Court, it is too difficult."

"It is difficult indeed but there is still hope. Especially now, we have the greatest opportunity of all time." Gu Liang's eyes flickered with bright light.

Wu Shuai was moved: "You are referring to that person... Red Lotus?"

"That's right, Heavenly Court originally wanted to nurture Red Lotus into an Immortal Venerable, but he has other intentions, he chose to defy them. Your ancestor Duke Long has been very busy over this matter, it is giving him such a headache that he has relaxed his control over your dragonman race. From this point, you need to thank Red Lotus for lowering the pressure that you are facing." Gu Liang said.

"We need to borrow Red Lotus' power? That is a good idea, but how do we contact him?" Wu Shuai asked again: "Red Lotus is too mysterious, there is almost no way of tracing his movement."

"We cannot find Red Lotus directly, even if we want to meet him, he will reject us, he might even attack or destroy us." Gu Liang's expression changed, he showed some wariness.

He said with deep meaning: "Regardless of whether Red Lotus is an Immortal Venerable or Demon Venerable, he is still a human Gu Immortal."

"If he does not want to cooperate, how will we borrow his strength?" Wu Shuai asked.

Gu Liang laughed: "Red Lotus wants to revive his family and his lover, he has to go against the Heavenly Dao and defy fate. This conflict cannot be resolved, and precisely so, he turned on his teacher and Duke Long remains unable to get Red Lotus to turn back. Red Lotus will definitely attack Heavenly Court and attempt to destroy fate Gu. When he attacks Heavenly Court, it will be our opportunity to take action."

"When will Red Lotus Demon Venerable attack Heavenly Court?"

"That I am not sure. It can take many years, or it can be at the next moment."

Wu Shuai realized: "I get it, from now on, we need to get close to Heavenly Court, we need to constantly enter Heavenly Court to find more information and peek into deeper secrets. When Red Lotus attacks, we will use the prime opportunity to try and steal fate Gu!"

-x-X-x-

Wu Shuai became rank eight, he broke the encirclement and swept the pressure away. Not only that, he even found the only chance to defeat Heavenly Court, that was to borrow Red Lotus' power.

Red Lotus had yet to become a venerable, but he was already predestined to become a future venerable. Even though this was just a guess, the entire Gu Immortal world was inclined to believe it. If not for this, why would Duke Long and Heavenly Court try all ways to convince him? Back then, Duke Long descended and took him in as a disciple, it was an obvious sign.

After talking to Gu Liang, Wu Shuai changed his strategy, he started to keep a low profile, he no longer acted like before.

Originally, after becoming rank eight, the dragonman race was very excited, there was finally a rank eight great expert that could back them up.

However, Wu Shuai started to get close to Heavenly Court and Central Continent's ten great ancient sects, many dragonmen could not understand him.

Wu Shuai put in a lot of effort to show a repentant attitude, he gradually won the trust and favor of the ten great ancient sects. He purposely got close to Heavenly Court and tried all ways to get information about them.

In fact, he even put in funds to make an Immortal Gu House for Heavenly Court.

As for the conflict between dragonmen and humans, he also changed his stance, he suppressed dragonmen to protect the benefits of the humans.

After a hundred years, even though Wu Shuai gained some success, he could not gain Heavenly Court's trust.

"What should I do?" Wu Shuai was anxious, he discussed with Gu Liang.

Gu Liang said: "You are a dragonman, Heavenly Court has always been extremely wary of variant humans, they look down on variant humans from the depths of their hearts. Our only hope is Duke Long, we need to target him."

"How do I gain Duke Long's trust? His impression of me is..." Wu Shuai smiled bitterly as he shook his head.

Gu Liang looked at Wu Shuai solemnly: "It will depend on whether you can make sacrifices."

Wu Shuai did not hesitate, he immediately answered: "I've been planning for the dragonman race all along, so what if I have to make sacrifices?"

"Good." Gu Liang clapped: "Only a person like you can accomplish great things."

Gu Liang gave his plan but Wu Shuai hesitated. Because Gu Liang was asking Wu Shuai to sacrifice Huang Wei on purpose!

Huang Wei was a rank seven dragonman Gu Immortal now, he had followed Wu Shuai since his youth, he had always been working hard in developing South Flower Island with Wu Shuai, he was loyal and had made many accomplishments, there was no chance he would ever betray Wu Shuai.

Gu Liang urged him: "Everyone in the world knows about your relationship with Huang Wei. We can create a situation where you need to make a choice. If you defend the interests of the humans and sacrifice Huang Wei, Duke Long will definitely change his opinion towards you!"

"But... you want me to kill my greatest general, and he is the person who trusts and idolizes me the most..." Wu Shuai gritted his teeth, he was hesitant and unwilling to do so.

"I believe that if Huang Wei knows the purpose of his sacrifice, he will definitely do it. Am I right?" Gu Liang's words lifted a lot of Wu Shuai's hesitation.

Wu Shuai sighed deeply as his eyes turned red: "I know Huang Wei like I know myself, if he knows that is my plan, he will definitely sacrifice himself."

"No!" Gu Liang quickly interjected: "This plan is too important, the fewer people who know, the safer it is, only the two of us should know of it. Friend, you need to know that even the dead can be investigated upon to look for evidence, we cannot let Huang Wei know of our plan."

"This..." Wu Shuai shut his eyes as he shook his head: "Let me think about it, let me think about it..."

He hesitated for half a year before he finally made up his mind.

Compared to the individual Huang Wei, the entire dragonman race was more important.

Wu Shuai and Gu Liang plotted secretly, creating conflict and killing human Gu Immortals before gathering evidence to accuse Huang Wei.

After this matter happened, it attracted a lot of attention in Central Continent.

Huang Wei screamed out in innocence: "This was not done by me, brother, you know me, I will definitely not do that!"

Wu Shuai defended Huang Wei at first, but as more evidence got exposed, he had no choice but to 'uphold justice' and kill Huang Wei.

This matter caused a great commotion, the dragonmen became very upset with Wu Shuai, many dragonmen started to move out of South Flower Island.

The ten great ancient sects praised Wu Shuai greatly, even Duke Long heard about this matter and nodded in praise of Wu Shuai: "He has grown up a lot over these years, I am very pleased."

Wu Shuai successfully gained Duke Long's trust after this.

But he felt emptiness in his heart.

Before his execution, Huang Wei's last words were deeply etched into his heart, he could never forget it in this lifetime —

"Brother, I have never regretted following you! If you want to execute me, regardless of the reason, I will accept it! But brother, I have not done anything like this. You need to be careful, be very careful, those human Gu Immortals are trying to deceive you. These years, they have not done anything against you, they have actually changed their tactics, they are accusing me now to get rid of me, they want to gradually clip your wings."

"Brother, you told me about the future of the dragonman race, I have never reached it. So be it if I die, I hope you will carry on this dream. The future of the dragonman race cannot be achieved without you!"

Huang Wei knelt on the ground, crying as he said that, Wu Shuai felt his heart bleeding with every sentence.

Wu Shuai almost lost control and wanted to tell Huang Wei the truth behind everything. The one who framed him was this beloved brother right here!

In fact, there was a moment where Wu Shuai had the intense urge to kneel down and beg for Huang Wei's forgiveness, but in the end, he controlled himself.

He snorted coldly: "Huang Wei, you have committed a great crime and killed people, you still refuse to admit your sins even now. Sigh, I have trusted you in vain, you are too disappointing, I am deeply hurt."

Halfway through, Wu Shuai started to cry, his voice became shaky.

He did not dare to look at Huang Wei, he quickly turned around and left.

"Brother!" Huang Wei knelt on the cold floor of the prison cell, looking at Wu Shuai who was leaving, he shouted: "Brother, let me call you that for the final time before I die!! Don't forget the grand aspiration of the dragonman race."

Wu Shuai walked even more quickly now, he seemed to be escaping.

Many Gu Immortals came to watch Huang Wei's execution, but Wu Shuai did not go.

That night, he had a dream.

In the dream, he saw Huang Wei who was pointing at him and scolding loudly.

Wu Shuai told him the truth.

After hearing it, Huang Wei started to cry as he knelt down on the ground, saying: "Brother, you have worked too hard, I was too ignorant, I blamed you wrongly. For the sake of the dragonman race, you took on all these accusations and made such sacrifices, I am willing to sacrifice myself too."

Wu Shuai quickly held Huang Wei as he stood up, he patted his shoulder: "Brother, I'm glad you understand me!"

After waking up, Wu Shuai still carried a smile.

He did not get out of bed, he opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling.

The smile did not fade from his face, but tears flowed down from his eyes.

Huang Wei's death caused a lot of commotion. South Flower Island was in turmoil, morale fell to rock bottom, the dragonmen were all very disappointed in Wu Shuai.

But Wu Shuai started to go in and out of Heavenly Court regularly.

This was a major breakthrough.

Once, Heavenly Court decided to build Central Heaven Gate.

Wu Shuai grabbed onto this great opportunity and reported to Duke Long that he was willing to contribute his Dragon Palace.

All these years, Dragon Palace had remained as a rank seven Immortal Gu House.

Wu Shuai had done this after much consideration, losing Dragon Palace was not a big deal, he could rebuild it in the future. The most important thing was fate Gu!

Duke Long's reaction was not out of Wu Shuai's expectations. Duke Long said: "Wu Shuai, I am very happy that you are willing to do this. But Central Heaven Gate is an information path Immortal Gu House, while your Dragon Palace is enslavement path, it is not appropriate. Furthermore, with Heavenly Court's foundation, we do not need you to spend your own wealth."

Wu Shuai sighed: "Grandfather, I was too arrogant when I was young, I did many atrocious things. Now that I regret it, I've been thinking about ways to make up for my mistakes. Please give me a chance grandfather, I will not disappoint you!"

Duke Long laughed loudly: "Alright, you and your father will be in charge of building Central Heaven Gate."

Wu Shuai was overjoyed: "Thank you, grandfather."

To build Central Heaven Gate, many resources were needed, Gu Liang came to offer some help.

He said to Wu Shuai: "Heavenly Court has devious ambitions indeed, they actually want to create Central Heaven Gate, it can connect to grotto-heavens. But this is truly a great opportunity! We can target this Central Heaven Gate and leave a backdoor while probing for more secrets and information of Heavenly Court."

Wu Shuai started to work harder, he went around in preparation of creating Central Heaven Gate.

The dragonman race were very unhappy with him, many dragonmen started to scold Wu Shuai, they called him the traitor of the dragonman race.

These dragonmen held deep expectations for Wu Shuai in the past, it was all converted into intense disappointment and hatred now.

Even Wu Shuai's own father was very cold to him.

Wu Shuai endured these misunderstandings as he put in all his effort to complete Central Heaven Gate.

Creating a backdoor in Central Heaven Gate was not easy, especially under the supervision of Heavenly Court.

While he was working hard and was about to gain some results, an accident occurred.

His father returned from Heavenly Court, he was gravely injured, before dying, he called Wu Shuai over.

"I got into contact with fate Gu, my son! I received the revelation of fate Gu, we dragonmen will reign supreme, dragonmen will reign supreme!!" Wu Shuai's father was very excited, he grabbed onto Wu Shuai's hand tightly.

"What?!" Wu Shuai was deeply shocked, he was tongue-tied: "What is going on? Father!"

His father explained the situation: "I had found out by coincidence, but even though I got discovered, I was smart enough to purposely fail in constructing Central Heaven Gate, I suffered intense backlash and used this excuse to escape from Heavenly Court, to return to you."

"Dragonmen reign supreme! My son, our dragonman race is meant to hold the heavenly fate, we are meant to replace humanity! This is the revelation given by fate Gu, it is definitely true!!" Wu Shuai's father had shining eyes: "Do you know what this means? Quickly heal me, spread news of this to the world. The dragonman Gu Immortals will be extremely excited!"

"Father, you should recuperate in peace now, I will handle this." Wu Shuai was also very excited, after settling down his father, he left the room.

Not long after, he met with Gu Liang.

Gu Liang learned that Wu Shuai's father had returned with heavy injuries, he came to console him but seeing that Wu Shuai had a struggling expression, he asked for the reason.

Wu Shuai and Gu Liang had worked closely together, he had learned of Gu Liang's true identity, he was not a human but a variant human Gu Immortal!

After a moment of silence, Wu Shuai told him the truth.

Gu Liang was also shocked but after reacting to it, he understood why Wu Shuai hesitated.

"Wu Shuai, you did not rally the dragonmen and announce this news, it was the right thing to do. If Heavenly Court learns of this secret, they will definitely wipe out the dragonmen in this world!"

"But we need to continue deceiving Heavenly Court and make them think that this secret is still safe, we are currently not safe enough."

"Your father's actions were too abnormal, there is a chance that they will find out he contacted fate Gu. Next, Heavenly Court's investigators will definitely come to seek information."

"Gu Liang, you know me well, that is my current dilemma!" Wu Shuai sighed: "What do we do?"

Gu Liang hesitated but he still spoke: "You have already thought of the method, haven't you? In this situation, only by sacrificing your father and pretending that he had died from his injuries after coming back can we escape this terrible crisis of extinction!"

Wu Shuai had a pale face, he stumbled backwards as he shook his head continuously: "You want me to kill my father?! No, I will definitely not do that!"

"You will not do that? If Heavenly Court learns of this, your dragonman race will be wiped from existence." Gu Liang sighed: "I finally understand why your ancestor Duke Long treats the dragonman race like this. Heavenly Court must have known of fate Gu's revelation that dragonmen will reign supreme all along."

-x-X-x-

Wu Shuai frowned deeply, he had a bitter expression: "I am suspecting that this might be a plot against my father and me, they are trying to harm my dragonman race, what should I do? Dragonmen reign supreme might just be a lie, the culprit might have done this to find an excuse to wipe out dragonmen."

Gu Liang pondered for a moment and denied the possibility: "This possibility is very small. According to your father, there were many coincidences that led to him contacting fate Gu. These are not man-made coincidences, many of these elements were chosen by your father himself."

"Precisely because there are many coincidences, I am very suspicious of it."

"Back then, how did the humans obtain the revelation of heavenly fate from fate Gu? Isn't your father in a similar situation now?" Gu Liang's words made Wu Shuai speechless.

At this moment, a loud voice was heard in the sky, Heavenly Court's Gu Immortals had come to pay a visit due to the injuries of Wu Shuai's father.

"They came so quickly!" Gu Liang's expression changed: "Wu Shuai, you must decide now, if you wait, all of your efforts will be in vain, your entire dragonman race will face extermination!"

Wu Shuai's expression immediately turned ashen, his face turned pale and his body shook, he also fell to the ground.

The situation was forcing him to make a rapid decision.

He knew that this choice would bring him pain for eternity, but he had to do it!

Even though he was uncertain if the heavenly revelation of dragonmen reign supreme was real, or if others were harming them, he could not gamble.

If he lost the gamble, he would not just lose his father, he would lose the entire dragonman race.

That day, Wu Shuai's father died from the backlash of failing to build Central Heaven Gate, his soul was completely erased.

Heavenly Court's Gu Immortals gained no evidence, even though they were suspicious, they could not do anything to the rank eight Gu Immortal Wu Shuai, they left.

For the next ten nights, Wu Shuai could not sleep.

Tai Qin consoled him as Wu Shuai cried in the arms of his beloved woman.

Tai Qin said gently: "People cannot revive after dying, senior brother, you need to move on. Uncle died from building Central Heaven Gate, Heavenly Court will definitely compensate you."

Wu Shuai did not dare to tell Tai Qin about the truth, he had to endure this pain himself.

He could only say: "Junior sister, do you know? Back then, after I killed Song Tao Zi, I often had the same dream at night."

"In this dream, I became the king of the dragonman race, I led my people to prosperity, we lived a life of freedom and peace."

"I stayed within Dragon Court and ruled meticulously. The dragonmen lived in peace and prosperity, there were no conflicts or inequality."

"Huang Wei remained as my greatest right hand man, he handled many affairs for me."

"My father said I was his pride and joy, he often said: 'My son, you finally did it, I am so proud of you.'"

"And the two of us lived in bliss, we had many children, they could freely play around without worries."

Saying so, Wu Shuai lowered his head and cried: "But now, I only have you left! My beloved junior sister."

Tai Qin was also extremely sad, all these years, she did not manage to bear a single child for Wu Shuai.

When dragonmen copulate, they are able to have many children, more than humans. But mixed blood between variant humans and humans are very unlikely to have children. Not just dragonman, even the other variant humans were the same.

This was terrible news to Wu Shuai, for the next half a year, he was immersed in anguish.

Gu Liang came to urge him: "Wu Shuai, I can understand the pain that you are feeling, but please be mindful of Heavenly Court, don't put too much of the blame on yourself and cause Heavenly Court to sense something. If our efforts end up in vain, wouldn't your father have died for nothing?"

Wu Shuai jolted like he was hit by lightning, he realized at once as he wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, he cupped his fists to thank Gu Liang: "Thank you for the reminder, otherwise, I would have committed a grave mistake."

Gu Liang nodded as he smiled: "You have been overwhelmed by sadness these last days, you have not been working on Central Heaven Gate. It is time to continue."

"But the revelation of fate Gu, can we trust the notion that dragonmen will reign supreme?" Wu Shuai was still thinking about it, he could not let it go.

Gu Liang smiled: "To prove this, the best way is to get into contact with fate Gu. But the risk is great, the truth is, there is no need to be anxious, as long as you wait, you will be able to find evidence."

"You mean?" Wu Shuai had some sort of realization.

Gu Liang nodded: "Indeed, if dragonmen are meant to reign supreme, heaven's will will definitely give your dragonman race more care and concern. Your father is like Yu Ji from history, when he was still a Gu Master, he was just a slave in charge of cleaning the Rockman Sacred Hall, in the end, when he got close to fate Gu, he learned the heavenly revelation that humans would reign supreme. He followed the guidance of fate Gu and stole it, contributing it to the most crucial human — Primordial Origin who had yet to become an Immortal Venerable."

"I know about Yu Ji, he was the Dao Guardian of Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable. He obtained the heavenly revelation but did not die, instead he managed to steal fate Gu. So why did my father..." Wu Shuai had a pained expression.

Gu Liang explained: "I have some guesses about this. Remember I told you that Star Constellation Immortal Venerable had once assimilated with heaven's will? From then on, her will started to interfere with heaven's will. This is likely the reason why your father met with disaster, but he was able to successfully tell us the secret that dragonmen will reign supreme, he has died for a good cause."

Gu Liang continued to encourage him: "Your father told you this secret, Wu Shuai, you might be the crucial person chosen by the heavenly fate, someone like Primordial Origin. You cannot give up, you cannot be dejected, you need to work harder!"

Wu Shuai shook his head: "How can I be compared to a venerable? And we variant humans cannot become venerable."

Gu Liang was silent for a moment before he showed a peculiar expression: "Variant humans cannot become venerable, that is a phenomenon indeed, but nobody knows the exact reasons behind it, there are all sorts of theories."

"The truth is, we have been researching about the reason why variant humans cannot become venerable."

Wu Shuai questioned: "Isn't it because man is the spirit of all living beings?"

Gu Liang chuckled: "Hehe, that is likely just a cover. There is a huge secret behind becoming a venerable, it depends on the spirit to some degree but that is definitely not the only reason. In human history, there were some exceptions. Some Gu Immortals with exceptional strength passed all of their rank eight tribulations but could not become venerable. Their cultivation level could not rise to rank nine."

"Your ancestor Duke Long should be very clear of this. He was one such example, even with his extremely high strength, he could not become rank nine, he only became a dragonman afterwards."

"If you can find out the truth behind this, my tribe is willing to pay any price to learn of this secret!" Gu Liang promised solemnly.

"Do not worry, if I can learn of this secret, I will definitely share it with you at no cost!" Wu Shuai swore.

Before leaving, Gu Liang advised him again: "Friend Wu Shuai, do take care. Even though fate Gu is not in your hands, if you are truly the fated individual, you will get some revelations. You are definitely a crucial person, these revelations might come to you or the people around you, do pay close attention to them."

"I know." Wu Shuai nodded: "Let time prove everything."

But to Wu Shuai's disappointment, he did not receive any revelation.

He continued to build Central Heaven Gate to ease Heavenly Court.

The dragonman race, especially many dragonman Gu Immortals became upset with him, they called Wu Shuai a dog. His father had died from building Central Heaven Gate but this son was actually going to continue that job, he was truly enslaved and incorrigible. He truly deserved to be left with a dead father.

Thus, more and more dragonmen moved away from South Flower Island, it gradually became a trend.

On this day, Wu Shuai dreamed of his father again.

His father told him: "Continue to work hard, I understand you deeply. This sacrifice will definitely lead to great accomplishments! The dragonman race needs your leadership, my child."

He also dreamed that he had children with Tai Qin at long last. It turned out that deep within an Earth Trench in Eastern Sea, there was a nameless weed.

This weed was an ancient desolate plant, it spread over a large area and was guarded by immemorial desolate beasts.

If he and Tai Qin ate this seaweed, they would be able to have children, getting past the obstacle of cross breeding.

When he woke up, Wu Shuai had a realization, he jolted: Was this the heavenly revelation?

He recalled carefully.

Before Huang Wei died, he dreamed that Huang Wei was saying goodbye to him.

Before his father died, he also dreamed that his father was talking about his deceased mother, he spoke with great affection and said he was going to join her.

It was quite easy to confirm this point as well.

Wu Shuai immediately made plans, using Gu Liang's strength to head to Eastern Sea and retrieve the unnamed seaweed in the Earth Trench.

According to the method in the dream, Wu Shuai and Tai Qin used the seaweed together. Months later, Wu Shuai received great news — Tai Qin was pregnant with his child!

This was truly immensely great news.

Not only because he had obtained his offspring, but also because he confirmed his guess. He finally understood that the heavenly revelations had appeared long ago, he just failed to recognize them.

The dreams started to change, more revelations came to Wu Shuai.

Wu Shuai followed these revelations and achieved great success with minimal effort.

Not only did he build Central Heaven Gate, he even successfully made his backdoor without Heavenly Court noticing it at all, even when they checked.

In order to gain Heavenly Court's trust, he stopped developing the dragonman race, he focused on his own cultivation level.

Using the dream revelations, his cultivation level continued to rise, along with Gu Liang's help, he passed tribulations after tribulations.

The dreams started to change again, the revelation to build rank eight Immortal Gu House Dragon Palace appeared!

"The core Immortal Gu of rank eight Dragon Palace is rank eight — Dream Token? This is a dream path Gu, it corresponds to the great era!" Wu Shuai was extremely excited, he immediately traveled in the five regions and two heavens, searching for dream path immortal materials.

These dream path immortal materials are very rare, they were often buried in some corner, completely inconspicuous.

But Wu Shuai followed the revelations, he slowly found and gathered them, refining them successfully.

-x-X-x-

During this period, Wu Shuai purposely went back to South Flower Island.

Tai Qin finally gave birth!

"We finally have the next generation of our bloodline! Tai Qin, it has been hard on you." Wu Shuai hugged the baby that was just born, spinning around several times in joy.

Next, he carefully placed the baby on the bed beside Tai Qin.

He looked at Tai Qin who was still weak after giving birth with deep affection, his gaze was extremely gentle.

"What are we going to name our child?" Tai Qin smiled, she was filled with motherly love.

"This child has large, lively and spiritual eyes, let's call him Long Ling." Wu Shuai said.[TL Note: This is Dragon Spirit in Chinese]

Tai Qin nodded: "Long Ling, Long Ling it is a good name."

Their son, Long Ling, was just born, Wu Shuai was very happy now, but he also sensed that the burden on him had become heavier.

"Huang Wei and my father have both passed away."

"I only have junior sister Tai Qin and my new son left now."

"I need to give Tai Qin a proper status, I need to give my child a bright future, he cannot live in an environment full of ostracism. I want him to live properly and proudly as a dragonman, he will grow up with pride!"

The responsibilities were pushing and motivating him, after resting for a few days in South Flower Island, Wu Shuai went on a journey around the five regions and two heavens again, collecting dream path immortal materials.

The process of refining dream token Immortal Gu was very mystical.

It all happened within his dream.

As immortal materials were refined one by one, dream token Immortal Gu was finally at its final step to completion.

"This?!" Wu Shuai was immensely shocked.

The final revelation in his dream was that he had to sacrifice Tai Qin, as long as she willingly sacrificed her own life, it would complete the last step of refining Dream Token.

"No, I absolutely cannot do that!!!" Wu Shuai was deeply shook, his face turned pale, he could not accept this revelation.

For a few days, he was completely daydreaming, he moved around in immemorial white heaven like a ghost that had no soul.

Only until he met an immemorial desolate beast that almost killed him, he finally came to his senses abruptly.

He killed the immemorial desolate beast but was very vexed, he could not find a solution to this.

"Should I really sacrifice junior sister? No, absolutely not."

"There must be some way, there must be!"

Wu Shuai decided to halt the plan of refining Dream Token, he wanted to get more revelations from the dreams.

On the second night, he got a new revelation from his dream.

This revelation was beyond shocking — "Ancestor Duke Long has an immortal killer move that can exterminate my entire dragonman race?! And Duke Long has already been wanting to use this move many times already?"

Even though he trusted his dream revelations deeply, this news was just too unbelievable, he could barely accept it.

He pondered for some time, he decided to return to Central Continent and investigate the truth.

Wu Shuai had spent a lot of time and effort trying to refine dream token Immortal Gu. During this period, Central Continent was filled with undercurrents, conflict between Duke Long and Red Lotus was intensifying by the day.

Because of the death of Wu Shuai's father, even though Heavenly Court suspected him, Duke Long trusted him deeply.

Wu Shuai deployed all of the manpower that he could use to investigate this matter.

At the same time, the dream realm continued giving him more revelations.

With the help of dream revelation, Wu Shuai gained more and more clues. These clues all proved that his dream revelations were true, in fact, Wu Shuai even learned about the name of this move — Dragonman Extermination!

"Back then, Duke Long created the dragonman lifespan extension method, creating the dragonman race. As the number of dragonmen increased, they slowly developed into the current dragonman race."

"Duke Long is the ancestor of dragonmen, the source of the race, when he created the dragonman race initially, he left behind a hidden card, that was the killer move dragonman extermination."

"By using this move, all the dragonmen in this world would self-detonate and die, none would survive!"

"Furthermore, Duke Long has been wanting to use this killer move for a long time, he has only been waiting as a result of Star Constellation's will. Ancestor, you are too cruel! You are really so cold-hearted!"

Wu Shuai felt a chill, he was helpless, anxious, and furious!

All of his hard work, the future of the dragonman race, they were all a joke compared to this killer move, they were living in a real and yet illusory bubble!

"What do I do?"

Wu Shuai raised his head and screamed, he had no ideas left.

"Right, I still have my dreams!" Suddenly, he realized as hope sparkled in his eyes, he still had a final trump card.

That night, the dream's content went back to a few years ago.

Regarding the refinement of dream token Immortal Gu.

The final step of dream token Immortal Gu was for Tai Qin to make a self sacrifice.

The dream told Wu Shuai that in order to deal with dragonman extermination, he had to refine dream token Immortal Gu first.

Wu Shuai woke up in shock from the dream, in the darkness of the night, he cried soundlessly.

He looked at his lover in a daze, the woman that he loved the most in his life — Tai Qin.

Tai Qin was originally sleeping soundly, but she seemed to have sensed something as she opened her eyes, she saw Wu Shuai's expression which was full of anguish and sadness.

"What is it?" Tai Qin quickly embraced Wu Shuai gently.

Wu Shuai hugged her, he hugged her tightly. He used so much force, but never had he ever felt so weak and useless in his life!

Wu Shuai had to tell Tai Qin the truth.

Tai Qin was able to accept it quickly, she used her warm hands to touch Wu Shuai's face, she smiled gently: "So that's the reason, my Brother Shuai. I love you, I am willing to sacrifice everything for you, including my life. This is nothing much, but in this life, I not only have you, I also have another concern, that is our child."

"After I die, you must take good care of him, nurture our child well. Promise me that, okay?"

"I promise you, I promise you on my life and dignity, I promise you with everything I have!" Wu Shuai cried profusely, he was filled with anguish and sadness.

Dream Token was refined.

Next, rank eight Dragon Palace was also constructed.

After it was created, Wu Shuai stayed inside most of the time, he often walked around the palace as he touched the walls and pillars. He pretended that he could feel Tai Qin's warmth, but the reality was that he could only touch the cold icy walls of the Immortal Gu House.

The child he had with Tai Qin gradually grew up, sometimes, he would ask: "Father, where is mother? Why is she not back yet?"

Each time he asks this, Wu Shuai would feel like a sharp spear was stabbing into his heart, causing him to bleed.

Each time, he would squat down and hug his young son Long Ling, he would hold him tightly and warmly as he lied to him.

The young and innocent Long Ling was like his antidote, the only thing in this world that could heal his broken heart.

He possessed rank eight Dragon Palace but Wu Shuai did not have any intention to fight for fame or glory.

He secretly targeted Green Ant Ascetic, Wine Fairy, and Calligraphy Pavilion Lady, enslaving them all. He achieved his former dream, he could imprison Shu Jiu Ling, capture Fan Ji, and even torture him to death in front of her.

But Wu Shuai did not do that, he let Shu Jiu Ling go be with the person she truly loved.

He no longer cared about the past glory or humiliation, even though he had once felt pain from them and had fought intensely to achieve them.

Wu Shuai had experienced many things in life, he let go of many things.

Now, Wu Shuai felt very tired, he was very tired but he could not stop, he had to continue because the matter regarding dragonman extermination had not been resolved yet.

Dream revelations came time and time again, in order to settle the matter of dragonman extermination, he had to use rank eight Dragon Palace while doing experiments on the dragonman body.

Dragonmen were the product of the dragonman lifespan extension method, while dragonman extermination was created through this source. The three were tightly connected together.

Wu Shuai already grasped the dragonman lifespan extension method.

Using the power of Dragon Palace, he could totally reverse-deduce the killer move dragonman extermination killer move through it.

But to do that, Wu Shuai alone was not enough, he gathered all of the dragonman Gu Immortals and told them the truth, he begged them for help.

In the huge Dragon Palace, there was an unprecedented meeting, almost all of the dragonman Gu Immortals had gathered together.

These dragonman Gu Immortals did not believe him initially, but when Wu Shuai provided facts and evidence that could not be denied, they had to believe him. At the same time, Gu Liang was present to testify that Wu Shuai's father had found out the secret of the heavenly revelation, it was all announced to them!

"To do experiments, we need a vast number of dragonmen, these people will almost all die, even if they survive, they will wish they were dead. However, I cannot stop this plan, if anyone objects, speak up now."

"I object!" Immediately, someone jumped out.

Everyone turned to look, it was Wu Shuai's cousin, the beloved seventh young master that Duke Long doted on the most.

Seventh young master pointed at Wu Shuai who was on his throne as he scolded: "You scoundrel, you are insane!!!"

"In order to gain Heavenly Court's trust, you killed your most loyal sworn brother!"

"To conceal the secret of dragonmen reign supreme, you caused the death of your own father!"

"To refine dream token Immortal Gu, you actually used your most beloved wife as the Gu material!"

"Now, to deal with dragonman extermination killer move, you even want to sacrifice all of your innocent dragonmen and do experiments on them?"

"Why is your heart so wicked, why are you so cold-hearted?!"

"You think that this so-called evidence will make us believe you? Hehe, you are too laughable, do you think we are all fools?!"

"Hehehe, no, you are not laughable, you are pitiful and sad!"

"You want to give your wife happiness, and in the end? You sacrifice her to refine a Gu. Hehehe."

"You wanted to make your father proud, and in the end? You killed him! You killed him with your own two hands!!"

"You promised Huang Wei a bright future, you gave him hope. But in the end you killed him yourself. And now, what future is there?"

"Hehehe, hahaha!" Seventh young master laughed maniacally, his tears were almost falling out: "You tried so hard to lead the dragonman race to rise up, and in the end? In the end, the dragonman race is about to be wiped out, we are going to be extinct!"

"It was you, it was you! If you were not ambitious and took over South Flower Island, relocating our people, developing rapidly and causing conflict with the humans, why would all this happen? If the dragonman race lived quietly and peacefully, ancestor would not have the intention of wiping us out!"

"Wu Shuai, oh Wu Shuai, you are the strongest person in the dragonman race besides our ancestor, but what you gave us was not glory or hope, it was neither equality nor dignity. It was... destruction!"

"You are a real tragedy! Your whole life is a tragedy!!"

The entire hall was silent.

Wu Shuai sat on his dragon throne, expressionless...

At this point, the dream realm finally faded away.

In the depths of the sea, only a beautiful palace was left, along with the Four Dragon Generals.

The dragon generals looked at Fang Yuan's dragonman clone with complex and subservient expressions, they walked out of Dragon Palace's door.

The door of Dragon Palace opened on its own.

The dragonman clone took huge steps out of this Dragon Palace.

He was expressionless, but the vicissitudes of life were seen deep in his eyes.

Looking at Dragon Palace, he could almost still hear the accusations of Little Seventh, as well as the gathering of the surrounding dragonman Gu Immortals.

But taking another glance, the hall was empty, everything was gone.

"It has... already been a million years."

"I am back." The dragonman clone's voice resounded in the hall, it was like the cry of a lingering spirit.

"But I... am no longer myself." The dragonman clone smiled bitterly.

This was not his voice, this was not his face, this was not his body, it was not even his soul.

Only his will was left —

The will that had endured through a million years, waiting until today!

"Dragon Spirit greets master!" Dragon Spirit appeared with a reverent expression, there was a trace of happiness in its eyes: "Finally, Dragon Court finally has a new master!"

The dragonman clone looked at Dragon Spirit intently, his eyes turned red rapidly.

He really wished that at this moment, Dragon Spirit could call him — Father!

But it was impossible now.

"Tai Qin, I have let you down after all, I could not even complete your final and only request." Wu Shuai raised his head, he sighed deeply, his tone was filled with endless guilt and sadness.

But he did not cry.

A million years ago, his tears had already run dry.

-x-X-x-

After spending a lot of effort, Duke Long finally reached an agreement with Fang Yuan.

The two rank eights of Eastern Sea, Song Qi Yuan and Shen Cong Sheng, watched the process but could not stop them.

Duke Long not only compensated Fang Yuan a large amount of qi path cultivation resources, most importantly, he even gave one Primordial Origin true inheritance to Qi Sea Ancestor!

This made the two Eastern Sea immortals helpless, but they also could not help but admire Duke Long's resolution!

Of course, they only made a fraction of the transaction on the spot.

Qi Sea Ancestor, which was Fang Yuan's disguise, agreed on a truce with Heavenly Court, they would coexist now, Heavenly Court would also hand over the resources gradually. As for Primordial Origin's true inheritance, it would also be handed over in portions.

After all, neither side was following any alliance agreement.

They finally finished their negotiation, but not only did Fang Yuan not leave, he led the way for them.

"Fang Yuan is trying to get Dragon Palace now, Duke Long, maybe your Heavenly Court will be able to resolve your enmity with him today." Fang Yuan smiled as he said.

From his expression, he looked like someone who was going to watch the show by the side.

But Fang Yuan decided to stop stalling for time, if he continued wasting time, Duke Long and the two Eastern Sea immortals might sense something.

In that case, he should grasp this situation firmly instead.

They did not set any alliance agreements anyway, when it is time to fight, Fang Yuan will attack directly.

As for those negotiations they made, who cares!

Duke Long flew straight, he looked calm and composed, he replied plainly: "If that really happens, we will have one less problem ahead."

The two Eastern Sea immortals looked at each other, this matter concerned Dragon Palace, they were not going to leave yet.

When the entire group reached the location where Dragon Palace was hidden after diving into the depths of the sea, Dragon Palace had vanished already.

"Was Dragon Palace really here?" The Eastern Sea immortals did not believe it, they were suspicious that Fang Yuan had brought them to a wrong location but they did not dare to say it.

Duke Long did not suspect that, even though Fang Yuan brought them here, this was the route that Fairy Zi Wei had deduced as well, there were no deviations.

"It seems that Dragon Palace really flew away." Duke Long sighed.

Fang Yuan smiled: "It is truly a pity, if Dragon Palace was taken by Fang Yuan, your Heavenly Court would have lost to him once again."

Fang Yuan had the expression of a curious and excited bystander, he tried to provoke Duke Long with words.

Duke Long replied plainly, he was completely unaffected.

Because he knew a lot about Dragon Palace, back then when his descendant created it, it was designed such that only a dragonman could become the Dragon Palace Lord.

In that case, Duke Long, who had the killer move dragonman extermination, was basically holding a trump card against it. If Fang Yuan really subdued Dragon Palace, he would have either turned himself into a dragonman, or had a dragonman subordinate.

"Fang Yuan is a vigilant person who was reborn from the future, there is little chance that he turned himself into a dragonman. But even so, my dragonman extermination can kill one of his capable subordinates."

"But killing is just an added bonus, the key is to retrieve Dragon Palace."

"Even though I failed this time, it was not completely without gains, at least I managed to improve Qi Sea Ancestor and Heavenly Court's relationship, there might even be a chance of recruiting Qi Sea Ancestor in the future."

"As for Dragon Palace... now that it has appeared, it will definitely leave clues behind, I will find it once more."

"Sigh, Fang Yuan's advantage from using rebirth is too great, he could set up arrangements in advance to strike early. I was late in this contest over Dragon Palace."

Duke Long thought about it for a while, he was not in a hurry to use dragonman extermination yet.

This trump card was best saved for a crucial moment in the future, to catch Fang Yuan off guard.

Of course, Duke Long also thought that Fang Yuan might know about dragonman extermination. But if he knew, he would be guarded against it, Duke Long would not gain much from activating it.

Regardless, not using it now was still a wise decision for Duke Long.

"I cannot let Dragon Palace fall into Fang Yuan's hands. The matter of retrieving Dragon Palace and dealing with Fang Yuan should be considered one problem, Fang Zheng, who is useful against Fang Yuan, should be saved first."

Thinking so, Duke Long approached Shen Cong Sheng.

Gu Yue Fang Zheng was currently in Shen Cong Sheng's hands.

Shen Cong Sheng was already prepared for it, he was not surprised by Duke Long's request.

After all, his Shen clan and Duke Long's Heavenly Court were both in the righteous path, they handled matters similarly.

Shen Cong Sheng was willing to undergo transaction with Duke Long of course, exchanging Gu Yue Fang Zheng for a lot of benefits.

He had no interest in Gu Yue Fang Zheng, he was useless anyway. Shen Cong Sheng was secretly excited, he decided to extort Heavenly Court.

Heavenly Court was extremely affluent, he had seen the conversation earlier.

Fang Yuan watched by the side and was slightly moved too. But if he competed against Duke Long now, it would not be a good idea.

Firstly, he had just arrived at an agreement with Duke Long, if he acts against him now, this would go against Qi Sea Ancestor's character.

Secondly, Fang Yuan was not confident in competing with Heavenly Court.

If he tried to kill Shen Cong Sheng to snatch Fang Zheng away, the chances were very slim.

However, Fang Yuan did not give up, he secretly transmitted to Shen Cong Sheng and inquired.

Shen Cong Sheng heard that Qi Sea Ancestor was also interested in Fang Zheng, he quickly replied: "To speak the truth, I had just soul searched Fang Zheng, I know about his recent encounters. It seems that he indeed counters Fang Yuan, someway or another, he manages to exert negative influence on Fang Yuan."

Bright light shined in Fang Yuan's eyes as he immediately asked Shen Cong Sheng secretly: "Even though this Fang Yuan is only rank seven and I have only met him once, he left a deep impression on me. Since Fang Zheng counters Fang Yuan, you should keep him and negotiate with Fang Yuan. After all, he has many venerable true inheritances in his hands. If you really transact with Heavenly Court, will they want to give you venerable true inheritances?"

Fang Yuan attempted to convince Shen Cong Sheng to keep Fang Zheng so that he could find a chance to strike.

After all, the difficulty of planning to take Fang Zheng, who was in Shen Cong Sheng's hands, was completely different from him being in Heavenly Court's hands.

Shen Cong Sheng answered very quickly, he did not dare to keep Fang Yuan waiting, he smiled: "Ancestor is right, this is a good suggestion!"

He said that as he turned to Duke Long: "If Heavenly Court wants Fang Zheng back, give me a venerable true inheritance."

"Hahaha." Duke Long laughed loudly in amusement: "Oh Shen Cong Sheng, you are too greedy. Do you think you are on the same level as Qi Sea? Friend Qi Sea was able to get a venerable true inheritance through fighting and gaining my acknowledgement. If you can get a venerable true inheritance from just trading a captive, wouldn't you be treating Qi Sea as a joke?"

"Shen Cong Sheng, watch your attitude."

"If you still have unrealistic goals, then let's have a fight first."

Duke Long's change of attitude was very clear, he spoke domineeringly, completely different from when he spoke to Fang Yuan.

Shen Cong Sheng felt a little troubled, Duke Long was very eloquent, he purposely mentioned Qi Sea Ancestor, praising him and using this as a bargaining chip.

But Shen Cong Sheng had done soul search on Fang Zheng, he understood the value that this person had, he smiled coldly as he said without fear: "Duke Long, I know that I am not your match, but so what? You can defeat me but you cannot kill me now. Furthermore, Fang Zheng is in my hands, I can kill him with a single thought."

"If you do not want to give a venerable true inheritance, what do you want to offer? Let me see Heavenly Court's sincerity."

Shen Cong Sheng was not stupid, he spoke in a tone mixed with hard and soft words, he had taken a step back and stopped requesting for a venerable true inheritance forcefully.

After all, Duke Long was much stronger than him!

Both sides negotiated for a long time but did not come to an agreement.

Shen Cong Sheng wanted a lot because Fang Zheng was really important to Duke Long and Heavenly Court.

Fang Yuan watched by the side as he gained a clearer understanding of the situation. The more Heavenly Court placed importance on Fang Zheng, the more likely he was trouble to Fang Yuan, and the greater Fang Yuan's killing intent became.

He secretly spoke to Shen Cong Sheng: "In my opinion, you should contact Fang Yuan first and talk to him. He might give a higher price than Heavenly Court."

But Shen Cong Sheng had already made up his mind, he replied: "Senior Qi Sea Ancestor, I am more willing to hand Fang Zheng over to Heavenly Court. Firstly, Heavenly Court is a righteous path force, it has a reputation to upkeep, it also needs a living Fang Zheng. But Fang Yuan only wants a dead Fang Zheng, he might not negotiate with me peacefully. Secondly, in terms of wealth and foundation, who in this world can match Heavenly Court?"

Shen Cong Sheng was a righteous path member after all, he had an innate barrier with the demonic path Fang Yuan, he was more willing to interact with Heavenly Court even though he was full of wariness against them.

Fang Yuan saw that he could not convince him, he could not overdo this in case they found anything suspicious, he could only think of new plans.

Duke Long became increasingly impatient.

He had already spent all his effort negotiating with Fang Yuan earlier, it was not his usual way of handling things. Now that he also had to talk to Shen Cong Sheng, Duke Long felt an impulse to attack.

But Fang Yuan was right beside him, considering that Shen Cong Sheng and Qi Sea Ancestor were both Eastern Sea Gu Immortals, Duke Long held down his urge.

At this time, Fairy Zi Wei gave Duke Long a piece of information.

Duke Long heard it and his eyes shined, this was an important bargaining chip, he quickly transmitted to Shen Cong Sheng.

Shen Cong Sheng's expression changed, he cried out: "Really?"

"Of course." Duke Long nodded: "How about that? The resources I mentioned earlier and this intel."

Shen Cong Sheng agreed without hesitation.

This made Fang Yuan and Song Qi Yuan feel surprised, they wondered what transaction those two had just done.

Gu Yue Fang Zheng was handed over to Duke Long by Shen Cong Sheng on the spot.

Fang Zheng had already fainted, Duke Long held onto him as he bid farewell to Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan could not make him stay, he had to say goodbye as well.

The remaining two Eastern Sea immortals said the same thing, they invited Fang Yuan to be their guest in the clan, they promised to gift some resources to Fang Yuan as the compensation for destroying the immortal battlefield unintentionally.

Fang Yuan nodded, he needed these two people to influence Eastern Sea's Gu Immortal world.

After agreeing on a time, Fang Yuan turned around and left.

After flying for a while, he stopped at a certain cloud.

From within the cloud, an Immortal Gu House appeared, the dragonman clone walked out.

Fang Yuan and his clone smiled at each other.

On this expedition to retrieve Dragon Palace in Eastern Sea, even though there were many hurdles, nothing bad had happened in the end, his gains were even more than expected!

-x-X-x-

"This is dream token Immortal Gu." Fang Yuan inspected Dragon Palace.

Dream Token was shaped like a dragonfly, it had a round head and long body, with a pair of pink ruby eyes and four pairs of transparent wings. Looking closely at its thin wings, one would also see a faint layer of rainbow halo.

Fang Yuan felt a sense of joy in his heart.

All along, he had been holding deep expectations towards dream path Immortal Gu. He had many dream path killer moves, but he still had zero dream path Immortal Gu until now.

For example, unravel dream used the wisdom path Immortal Gu Unravel Mystery, Fang Yuan used a large number of dream path mortal Gu to replace the effect of the supposed dream path Immortal Gu. This caused unravel dream to expend a large number of dream path mortal Gu each time.

In the initial period of getting unravel dream, Fang Yuan had laboriously refined those dream path mortal Gu one by one.

If he had a dream path Immortal Gu to replace them, he would not have had such trouble.

Fang Yuan had always lacked a dream path Immortal Gu, but now, he finally had his first one, and it was actually the rank eight Dream Token!

"Thinking back to the dream realm exploration, it was truly dangerous, I almost lost myself in it." The dragonman clone who was to the side sighed heavily, he still felt deep lingering fear: "If I had not sensed something amiss in advance and secret set up unravel dream beforehand, and made it activate when I came out, I would have betrayed the main body already."

Fang Yuan had always used unravel dream on the dream realm, but this time, he targeted himself.

Dragon Palace was able to enslave rank eights and create a new owner because of the power of the dream realm. Thus, when Fang Yuan's clone used unravel dream on himself, it was also targeting this problem, effectively solving it.

Killer moves were fixed, but people could think.

The exact use of Gu worms depended on the user's intentions.

Of course, unravel dream itself could not deal with rank eight level Dream Token. In this aspect, he had to thank the four Eastern Sea Gu Immortals including Granny Rong and Zhang Yin.

Fang Yuan's main body nodded: "This was truly the most difficult dream realm I have ever explored. But earlier when I used luck inspection, those azure-purple qi were not a lie, they signified that you had a chance of becoming Dragon Palace Lord without losing yourself."

Because Fang Yuan saw a chance of success, he let his clone enter the dream to try the test.

If not for those azure-purple qi, he would only fail regardless, Fang Yuan's main body would have taken action already.

At this moment, Fang Yuan and his clone had already finished communicating, they learned of each other's encounters during this period.

Fang Yuan's main body critiqued: "Dragon Palace's dream realm was very complex and deep, because both body and soul went inside, it was normal that emotions were pulled and manipulated. The dreams within the dream also made one sink deeper and unable to awaken themselves."

"Externally, there was Heavenly Court's action, had I not been careful, a huge battle would occur, the situation would go out of control rapidly."

Even though these two Eastern Sea immortals looked harmless, they were not benign people. In the previous life, they had fought against Duke Long in order to obtain Dragon Palace. After Duke Long won, during the Central Continent Refinement Path Convention, they even joined with the other rank eight Gu Immortals to invade Hidden Dragon Cave, they had never given up on Dragon Palace.

The truth was, Duke Long chose to negotiate because Qi Sea Ancestor had incredible power, but he had also made considerations for this.

Looking at the entire situation, Fang Yuan's trip was full of danger this time, it was like he was walking on a tightrope, any carelessness and he would lose complete control.

But in the end, no actual danger happened, he kept control over the situation, this showed Fang Yuan's expertise in strategic planning.

Firstly, he had a lot of experience in exploring dream realms, he was the number one person in the world. Even though it was his clone who took action this time, Fang Yuan had given him methods like pure dream reality seeker transformation and unravel dream.

Secondly, Fang Yuan constructed Cooking Luck Pot, he could inspect luck. Fang Yuan had seen the azure-purple qi personally and knew there was hope of success, that was why he gave it a go.

Thirdly, Fang Yuan sent Bai Ning Bing and others to the River of Time and used Myriad Year Flying Warship to fight against five time path Immortal Gu Houses, he drew Heavenly Court's attention away. Next, by using schemes, he deceived Duke Long and meticulously balanced the forces of Eastern Sea and Heavenly Court, using both sides to his advantage.

And finally, even if he failed, Fang Yuan would only lose a clone, his main body was safe and his foundation would be intact. Even if the dragonman clone betrayed him, Fang Yuan could use the connection between him and his clone to pursue and kill him. Forget about the rest, just the luck path tracking methods could not be concealed by Dragon Palace.

Because Dragon Palace was created during Red Lotus' era, while luck path was created in the future by Giant Sun Immortal Venerable.

Because of all these reasons, Fang Yuan was able to face Heavenly Court, Eastern Sea's Gu Immortals, and the Four Dragon Generals while showing great strength and control, he created a situation where he could advance or retreat at all, he had a great advantage throughout.

Of course, the risks were high.

If he lost the dragonman clone, Fang Yuan would lose all of his dream path methods.

After all, unravel dream and pure dream reality seeker transformation were with his clone.

But he had to take the risk.

How could any grand plan have no risk? And this was involving a rank eight Immortal Gu House like Dragon Palace!

As for Wu Shuai's will, it did not exist.

No will could live in the dream realms for over a million years.

The dragonman clone had thought he was Wu Shuai for some time, it was the effect of Dream Token's modification, twisting his own will, causing the dragonman clone to think that he was Wu Shuai, having been revived.

But how could Fang Yuan's will be so easily distorted?

Even if he were deceived, he would sense it in the future and gradually wake up. Unless the dragonman clone stayed inside Dragon Palace all the time and imprisoned himself, subjecting himself to the effects of Dream Token.

Wu Shuai's arrangements and considerations back then were truly meticulous, his effort was praiseworthy.

After Fang Yuan's main body learned of the clone's encounter, he was moved and praised loudly: "He was truly a formidable person!"

It was a pity that Wu Shuai failed.

It was not that he lacked capability. Otherwise, how could he resist the pressure of the ten great sects of Central Continent and develop South Flower Island properly?

His talent and aptitude was very high. That was why his father nurtured him since he was a child, afterwards he even got picked by Green Ant Ascetic, finally becoming rank eight, even though he received external help, his own strength was the foundation to everything.

Regrettably, his enemy was too strong. Forget about Heavenly Court, just Duke Long alone could wipe out the dragonman race. And behind Duke Long, there was still Star Constellation.

The heavenly revelation that dragonmen would reign supreme was the decree of the Heavenly Dao. But Star Constellation Immortal Venerable was too fearsome, after assimilating her own will into heaven's will, she actually managed to twist the Heavenly Dao.

Precisely because of that, the three Demon Venerables who appeared after Star Constellation did not manage to destroy Heavenly Court, it was only Red Lotus Demon Venerable who managed to damage fate Gu. Just this small accomplishment was already beyond the expectations of everyone, after all, Red Lotus Demon Venerable was not an otherworldly demon!

Thus, Wu Shuai's defeat was predestined from the start.

Even Demon Venerables failed, more so Wu Shuai?

Wu Shuai could make sacrifices, but Heavenly Court had countless members who were willing to sacrifice too. Duke Long exterminated the entire dragonman race, wasn't it a sacrifice? Star Constellation Immortal Venerable became one with the Dao, she sacrificed herself.

From Wu Shuai's life, Fang Yuan's main body learned about the strength of Heavenly Court!

This organization's foundation was just too deep.

The immortal graveyard had countless slumbering rank eights...

After a million years, Duke Long was still alive...

Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable, Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable, Duke Long, Fairy Zi Wei, Chen Yi, and Thunder Ghost True Monarch, all of these people were very influential and powerful...

Today, the great power of Heavenly Court was already established, it suppressed everything in history. Even Demon Venerables could not defy it.

Just this alone could make one feel suffocated! No wonder Shen Cong Sheng and Song Qi Yuan felt so wary, looking at the Earth Trenches emerging and the five regions fusing, they got more anxious by the day.

Fang Yuan wanted to overturn this current trend!

"Only by destroying fate Gu can I have any hope of eternal life."

"If I fail, will anyone feel moved when they hear of my story in the future?"

"Hehe, they would merely be moved."

After inspecting Dragon Palace, Fang Yuan kept his clone and Dragon Palace in his immortal aperture, he summoned Xue Er, Shi Shi Cheng, and Mo Tan Sang.

Fang Yuan used Omni-directional Travel with them, rapidly leaving Eastern Sea.

Ever since Fang Yuan annexed Qi Sea grotto-heaven, the killer move jade flow pearl stopped being effective. He had to use Omni-directional Travel instead to move around.

The ancient battle formation had its unique advantage too, Fang Yuan could naturally use Myriad Year Flying Warship to travel, this rank eight Immortal Gu House was not slow at all. But it was currently fighting inside the River of Time.

Even if Fang Yuan had it with him, he would not use it to travel, it was too eye-catching.