C937 The Glory of the Nagas

Outside the Godsblight Marsh, more than a dozen giant dragons hovered in the sky, writhing and thrashing in agony. After some time, the eldest among them, Loong Jie, was the first to regain his composure. He realized that the strange force that had been shackling their spirits and bloodlines was fading away.

Transforming into a human form, Loong Jie gazed toward the Moonfall Sanctuary from deep within the clouds, his eyes brimming with boundless hatred. The rest of the Nagas followed suit, shifting into human shapes and lining up behind him.

These were old dragons who had lived for millennia, well-versed in their grim history and the existence of the Dragon Slaying Stage. The enmity they held for the archdemon Green Willow, who had consumed Loong Qi, paled in comparison to their resentment toward the Dragon Slaying Stage.

"Is it that thing?" inquired a frosty elder, who had transformed from a frost wyrm, standing beside Loong Jie.

"Yes, the Dragon Slaying Stage," Loong Jie confirmed with a slight nod. "The three great upper sects have pledged that if we give our all in this battle, the Dragon Slaying Stage will be removed from the dragon vein within the forbidden area."

At his words, a fiery passion ignited in the eyes of all the giant dragons. So long as the Dragon Slaying Stage continued to suppress the mightiest dragon vein in the Everlands, the potential of the Naga bloodline would be stifled, making it impossible to reach its zenith.

Without the emergence of a tenth-level Dragon God, the Nagas would never be able to engage on equal terms with the three great upper sects, the Devil Palace, and Shadow's Keep, let alone reclaim their dominion over the Everlands as in days of old.

Loong Jie, an ancient Five-clawed Golden Dragon, would have ascended to a tenth-level Dragon God long ago if not for the Dragon Slaying Stage standing atop the dragon vein.

"Our ancestors, the Dragon Clan, may soon reclaim our past splendor!" exclaimed the frost wyrm, his voice a mix of excitement and an unmistakable dragon's roar.

The cultivators of the Sunblessed Empire and the archdemons of the Godsblight Marsh were stirred by the commotion. Yet, curiously, the formidable archdemons within the marsh remained silent.

It appeared that they had all received directives from the Untamed, aware that the giant dragons had been absolved by the three upper sects, the Devil Palace, and Shadow's Keep, and were now serving as their vassals.

If not for that, the giant dragons of the Nagas would never dare to act so brazenly outside the Marsh.

"The number of supreme beings in this world is fixed. The Dragon Slaying Stage has suppressed our Nagas' Dragon Vein, leaving us weakened. Without the birth of a Dragon God among us, the vacancies we've left have naturally been filled by other supreme beings. However, with the return of Boulderdawn, a Primordial Spirit expert will surely fall, and a Dark Deity will perish!" Loong Jie, with a lick of his lips, revealed a golden gaze that shimmered with a savage thirst for blood.

"The demise of a Primordial Spirit and a Dark Deity will free up a seat among the Supreme Gods! Once the Dragon Slaying Stage is separated from the Dragon Vein, nothing will hold me back. I will swiftly shatter the limits of my bloodline and ascend as the Dragon God of our time! When I rise to that power, the days of our Nagas being oppressed by humans and evilkind will be over."

He paused, his thoughts drifting to the bygone era of splendor. "Thirty thousand years ago, when we reigned over the Everlands, there were five Dragon Gods!" His words ignited a fervor in the assembled giant dragons.

Five Dragon Gods were mightier than any of the three great Upper Sects, the Devil Palace, or Shadow's Keep!

Without a united front, these five paramount forces could never hope to defeat the Nagas at their zenith.

"The annals of the Everlands have given rise to many formidable powers. Yet, the only one that could stand against our Nagas at their pinnacle was the Boulderdawn of the previous era. At their strongest, Boulderdawn boasted five God-Kings. Now, among the Devil Palace, Shadow's Keep, and the three Upper Sects, only Shadow's Keep has three Dark Deities, while the rest, including the Devil Palace and the Upper Sects, each have but two Primordial Spirits," Loong Jie declared, his head held high with pride.

...

"Thank you for keeping silent about the Dragon Slaying Stage."

Once the Otherkin champions and Xi Quan had departed, Tian Zang breathed a sigh of relief.

"How many pieces did the Dragon Slaying Stage shatter into?" inquired Yu Yuan.

"Three," Tian Zang replied, his voice tinged with regret. "One of the three must remain atop the Dragon Vein, or else the Nagas will rise again, and Loong Jie will become the Dragon God. As for the other two pieces, I'll reluctantly part with one and leave it to your discretion. What do you say?"

Before Yu Yuan could respond, Tian Zang added, "The Blood Altar has drawn the power from the Dragon Slaying Stage with the permission of the God-King within the Bronze Coffin! I have pledged my allegiance to him and agreed to serve Boulderdawn for the sake of the Dragon Slaying Stage below."

Yu Yuan instinctively looked up at the sky.

He then remembered that the entire forbidden area was shrouded by the Soulforge Matrix, casting the sky in an eternal shade of black and blue, obscuring all visibility.

"He agreed to your terms?" Yu Yuan inquired.

"Yan Qiling is aware. Before that individual broke through to the extraterrestrial realm, he left behind a message, forming a pact with me," Tian Zang confirmed with a slight nod. "I remained to assist him with certain tasks, and in return, he will aid me in retrieving the Tears of the Azurefiend, enabling me to harness the power of the Dragon Slaying Stage with them."

"And the other you, the real you, where is he?" Yu Yuan asked, his brow furrowed.

"In one of the pieces of the Dragon Slaying Stage," Tian Zang answered.

"Take your soul back and integrate it with your real body to see if my Lunar Spirit is also within your piece," Yu Yuan suggested, uncertain if his real body could enter. He continued, addressing Tian Zang, "This is to prevent any conflict between another version of you and my Lunar Spirit."

He had lost contact with his Lunar Spirit, and similarly, Tian Zang's soul had no knowledge of the situation within the Dragon Slaying Stage after leaving it.

The true Tian Zang was still within the Dragon Slaying Stage, refining its power.

Should Tian Zang mistake his Lunar Spirit for an intruder...

"As a member of Boulderdawn, I understand your position and will not harm you. Nevertheless, I indeed need to return so that the me inside can be aware of our conversation," Tian Zang acknowledged, and his soulful figure swiftly vanished into the fissure.

...

A boundless and extraordinary realm unfolded.

The terrain, silvery-white like that of the Moonfall Sanctuary, was strewn with the bodies of giant dragons, discarded carelessly like refuse. Upon closer inspection, one would notice that although the dragon corpses appeared whole, they had actually been severed into segments.

The dismembered dragon corpses were artfully reassembled, creating the illusion of being whole.

These dragon remains, like uneven mountain ranges, stretched across the expanse of this otherworldly landscape.

In the heart of this realm stood a Blood Altar, soaring thousands of feet into the air. The Spawn of Chaos stretched across the land, while the Blood Altar and the Soul Altar above shimmered with the luster of blue jade.

The altars rose majestically, their crystal-clear structures dazzling with an otherworldly brilliance and splendor. Countless delicate dragons, intertwined with lightning, spewing flames, shimmering with frost, or gleaming with golden scales, were drawn into the Blood Altar and the Soul Altar, flashing by in an instant.

Giant dragons were slain here, their blood drenching the earth, and their fragmented Dragon Souls were trapped, unable to fade away or return to the Root of the Lunar Meridian. Over time, these remnants transformed into slender dragons, a blend of dragon blood and Dragon Souls.

These slender dragons were not true members of the Nagas but rather a form of pure energy, infused with dragon's breath, Dragon Souls, and the intricate bloodline mysteries of the dragon race.

Yu Yuan's Lunar Spirit was suspended high above. His spirit confronted Tian Zang, who presided over the towering altar. Far across the land, the remains of an old dragon, dead for thirty thousand years and resembling a vast mountain range, lay in seven pieces. Upon the arrival of Yu Yuan's Lunar Spirit, a thick aura of hatred emanated from the carcass.

This hatred was boundless, permeating the seven segments of the dragon's remains, as if traveling through time from an era thirty thousand years past to the present moment. Yu Yuan's Lunar Spirit gazed upon the segmented corpse, sensing the passage of time within the ceaseless hatred.

"The Nagas, once the pinnacle of existence, the Chronowyrm," intoned the Ghost King Tian Zang, seated atop the Blood Altar. As he spoke of the Chronowyrm, the resplendent light dragons, born from the seven pieces of the dragon's remains, let out mournful cries.

"It's already dead. What significance is there in releasing its residual time magic in a fit of emotion?" sneered Tian Zang. The Spawn of Chaos at the altar's base roiled with volcanic psionic power, snuffing out the resplendent dragon shadows that emerged from the seven pieces of the dragon corpse in an instant.

As the resplendent dragon shadows cascaded down like a shower of light, the dragon corpse, once divided into seven parts, finally found peace.

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