Chapter 21: The Old Man in the Ring Appears
Looking at Xiao Chen, who had directly fainted from anger.
All the Jun family members in the martial arena shivered.
Jun Xiaoyao’s strength was impressive, and his knack for verbal jabs was just as sharp.
With just a few words, he almost drove Xiao Chen to his death on the spot.
Jun Xiaoyao let out a soft sigh, somewhat speechless.
Everything he had said was, in fact, the truth.
Generally, for someone like Xiao Chen, blessed with great fortune, once their cultivation was destroyed and their talents taken, they would usually experience a sudden outburst of hidden strength.
They would have continuous fortuitous encounters and grow rapidly, sweeping away all opposition in their path.
Thinking about it like that, Jun Xiaoyao was indeed doing Xiao Chen a favor.
“Someone, throw him out of the mountain gate,” Jun Xiaoyao said with a wave of his hand.
Before long, Jun family guards arrived and dragged the unconscious Xiao Chen away.
At that moment, Jun Zhantian’s figure suddenly manifested from the void.
“Grandfather,” Jun Xiaoyao said with a slight nod.
He had long sensed that Jun Zhantian and the other clan elders were watching him from behind the scenes.
“Xiaoyao, do you know the saying: ‘Wildfires burn endlessly, yet spring winds bring them back to life. If you cut the weeds, you must pull out the roots’?” Jun Zhantian said, his expression a bit grim.
He was worried that Jun Xiaoyao would develop arrogance and underestimate his enemies.
Letting an enemy go so easily was hardly a wise decision.
“Heh, don’t worry, Grandfather. I have plans of my own,” Jun Xiaoyao responded with a smile.
Did Jun Xiaoyao not know the principle of cutting weeds at their roots?
But right now, Xiao Chen was like a plot of leeks to him—ready to be harvested whenever necessary.
Jun Xiaoyao had only taken Xiao Chen’s dragon aura so far and had yet to fully drain Xiao Chen’s fortune.
Harvesting it little by little—wasn’t that more satisfying?
Once there was no more value to harvest, Jun Xiaoyao would naturally just swat this fly.
“As long as you have your own plan. A minor figure like him won’t make much of a stir. You still have a year; you must be prepared,” Jun Zhantian said.
Jun Xiaoyao nodded calmly.
What Jun Zhantian was referring to was naturally his tenth birthday banquet.
At that time, the Jun family would invite forces from all around the Desolate Heaven Immortal Domain, making it a grand occasion to be watched by all.
Even Jun Xiaoyao’s mother’s family, the Jiang clan from the Ancient Desolation lineage, would send representatives.
His mother, Jiang Rou, had long wanted to betroth the Jiang family’s precious daughter to Jun Xiaoyao.
Furthermore, at that tenth birthday banquet, the Jun family would announce his status as Sequence Zero.
No doubt the Jun family would be in for another round of major upheaval, and all the other Sequence members would react in their own ways.
That was why Jun Zhantian wanted Jun Xiaoyao to be prepared.
“Don’t worry, Grandfather. I won’t let you, Mother, or Eighteenth Ancestor down,” Jun Xiaoyao declared with firm resolve.
He had not forgotten that there would be a sign-in opportunity at the tenth birthday banquet.
The reward he would receive then might well provide a tremendous boost to his power.
“Of course Grandfather believes in you,” Jun Zhantian said with a satisfied smile.
After the commotion settled, Jun Xiaoyao returned to the Heavenly Emperor Palace, preparing to fully refine the dragon aura.
Bai Yuer also stayed temporarily in the Heavenly Emperor Palace.
She, too, had obtained a portion of the dragon aura, and with her own Vermilion Bird Divine Fire, her innate gifts and power were set to surge dramatically.
Most importantly, she was now utterly loyal to Jun Xiaoyao, marked by him body and soul.
Even if Jun Xiaoyao told her to die, Bai Yuer would not hesitate.
Compared to Jun Xiaoyao’s bountiful gains, Xiao Chen was in dire circumstances.
He slowly opened his eyes and realized he was already outside the Jun family’s mountain gate.
“Cough…cough…”
Xiao Chen struggled to stand. His body was covered in wounds, and countless injuries riddled him internally. His meridians were destroyed, and his bones were shattered.
He could not have been more miserable.
Outside the mountain gate, many cultivators were watching the spectacle.
After all, Xiao Chen had barged into the Jun family with such swagger not long ago.
Yet in practically no time, he had been tossed out so pitifully.
“Did that prince of the Azure Dragon Kingdom just get crippled?”
“Likely so. He looks just like a dog now.”
“That’s what he gets for not knowing his place and provoking the Jun family’s divine child. Even his fiancée probably ran off. Serves him right!”
The onlookers mocked him mercilessly, their faces filled with scorn.
Clenching his fists, Xiao Chen walked forward step by step.
Once he was out of the crowd’s sight, Xiao Chen raised his head and roared, repeatedly smashing his fists into an ancient tree before him.
“Damn you, Jun Xiaoyao! If there’s even the slightest chance, I’ll pay you back a hundredfold for the pain you’ve caused me today!”
As Xiao Chen howled, his blood gradually seeped into the coiling dragon ring on his finger.
“Have the descendants of my Azure Dragon Kingdom all become as spineless as you?”
Suddenly, an aged voice rang out.
“Who’s there?” Xiao Chen looked around in alarm.
A moment later, his gaze fell on the coiling dragon ring on his finger.
The ring suddenly flashed with azure light.
In the next instant, the illusory figure of a white-browed elder dressed in a blue dragon robe appeared in front of Xiao Chen.
“You…you are…” Xiao Chen’s eyes widened as he stared at the elder.
The elder had two small horns emerging from his head.
For a moment, Xiao Chen felt as if he had seen this elder someplace before.
“Heh, have my descendants already forgotten me?” the dragon-horned elder in blue robes asked with a chuckle.
“You’re…our Azure Dragon Kingdom’s founding ancestor, the Azure Dragon Master!” A flash of realization struck Xiao Chen, and he gasped for breath.
He finally remembered.
This elder looked exactly like the founding ancestor’s statue that stood within the Azure Dragon Kingdom’s royal palace.
According to the records, that founding ancestor—the Azure Dragon Master—had been a quasi-supreme.
He was only half a step away from stepping into the true Supreme Realm.
Such a transcendental level of power was just one step short of becoming an ultimate Supreme.
“Xiao Chen, Crown Prince of the Azure Dragon Kingdom, greets the Ancestor!” Xiao Chen trembled, his voice filled with excitement.
He had never imagined that the coiling dragon ring, an heirloom left behind by his mother, actually housed the soul of their founding ancestor.
Truly, the heavens had not cut off all hope!
The Azure Dragon Master looked at Xiao Chen and spoke. “I awoke a few years ago. Sensing you were currently the chosen bearer of the kingdom’s fortune, I provided you with power and resources. Yet you were still defeated by that divine child of the Jun family.”
Hearing this, Xiao Chen’s expression turned dark and hateful. “Ancestor, why didn’t you strike directly back then and kill Jun Xiaoyao?”
“Hmph, foolish question. If I had made a move, neither you nor I would have made it out of the Jun family alive,” the Azure Dragon Master rebuked coldly.
He had been rather satisfied with Xiao Chen’s performance until now. It was only that Xiao Chen’s mind was in turmoil.
“But you’re a quasi-supreme, Ancestor. Are you telling me even the Jun family wouldn’t fear you?” Xiao Chen asked, unwilling to give up.
The Azure Dragon Master shook his head. “Never mind that my power is barely a tenth of what it was. Even if I were at my peak, I still couldn’t do anything to the Jun family. The Ancient Desolation families are not as simple as you think.”
“Then I’ll never be able to avenge this humiliation…” Xiao Chen muttered through clenched teeth.
He himself was crippled, and even the Azure Dragon Master couldn’t help him.
“Don’t lose hope. You are the bearer of our kingdom’s fortune; the Azure Dragon Kingdom still needs you in the days to come. I won’t let you end things in such misery,” said the Azure Dragon Master.
“Please, Ancestor, help me. I’m willing to pay any price!” Xiao Chen replied, his voice firm.
Seeing his determination, the Azure Dragon Master’s eyes shone with approval. He took out a scroll of azure hue.
“Though your meridians and cultivation have been destroyed, it may be a blessing in disguise. This quasi-supreme technique, the Azure Sky Dragon Transformation Art, is the one I once practiced. Now I shall pass it on to you.”
“‘Transform into a dragon beneath the azure sky’—sometimes you must break before you can rebuild!”
Upon hearing his words, a spark of hope burned once again in Xiao Chen’s eyes, which had been on the brink of despair.
He seemed to awaken entirely, his fighting spirit surging!
“Jun Xiaoyao, your greatest error was your arrogant complacency in letting me live!”
“This grudge, I, Xiao Chen, will repay a hundredfold!”