Chapter 475 - Yinglong
As Shen Lian entered Diqiu, something strange happened. A huge dragon could be spotted at the north of Diqiu, the location of the capital city. That dragon revealed its head and body from the clouds and it was as tall and big as a hill.
The dragon had a pair of beautiful s.h.i.+ny wings that wielded the clouds away as it gently flapped its wings.
Its big broad eyes lasered out rays of lights which scanned the entirety of Diqiu. Its presence was so intimidating that the two Mammoths creeped on the ground and trembled.
Shen Lian looked out the window and saw it crystal clear. This huge dragon was the legendary Yinglong.
Yinglong was a type of winged dragon and records has it that "a five hundred year old dragon is Jiaolong while a thousand year old dragon is Yinglong". Of course that was not true as Yinglong was not achievable with a thousand years of cultivation. Besides, compared to the Jiaolong, Yinglong was a lot more powerful and Shen Lian regarded it as the same level as his current level.
Yinglong scanned the entire Diqiu but did not pick up on anything. It then retracted its body and submit back to the capital city.
The traders were discussing about Yinglong, saying that it was the guardian beast of the city and no one knew how long had this Yinglong lived. They claimed that the Yinglong was as strong as Emperor Xia and even the royalties would bow down to Yinglong when they see it.
But today, something odd seemed to have triggered it.
Shen Lian knew that regardless of how hard he tried to slow his breath down, Yinglong would still be able to sense the invasion of an overwhelming existence and that was why it came out.
There was nothing strange about it. Even the most ordinary person would be alarmed if someone invaded their personal s.p.a.ce.
Shen Lian could isolate his breath but he could not block Yinglong"s instinct.
Fortunately he was not in the mood to get into unnecessary trouble and Yinglong was not able to sense him.
Perhaps it was because Yinglong did not detect anything odd that Da Xia did not a.s.sign any people to guard the place. This was also the charisma of Emperor Xia. Regardless of who you were, he would never be afraid of you.
This was Diqiu, the leaders of the twelfth aristocratic family were present here and every one of them were exceptionally talented.
However, Shen Lian felt that the city was being scanned by divine thoughts throughout time. He was surprised that the owner of the divine thoughts had a very strong sense of breath but the divine thoughts were not as strong. It was a lot weaker than of an immortal Zhenren.
A genuinely wise cultivator would be more complete as they progressed with their cultivation. Regardless of Daoism or Buddhism, it would be natural to also cultivate the life as they further their cultivation. Even if there were distinction between the two, the gap should not be too big.
Judging from the divine thoughts, the owner of the breath could be considered weak.
A trader came to Shen Lian and said, "Little prince of Xi Liang Kingdom, if you want to hand in your letter of credence, you would need to go to the Manor of the Prefect Grand Usher Dongcheng. The Prefect Grand Usher is in charge of foreign affairs. I"ve said this before but you only brought a letter of credence. It would be difficult for you to enter if you did not offer any tribute to them."
Shen Liam smiled, "Of course I have prepared an article of tribute. Thank you for your reminder."
The trader noticed that Shen Lian came empty handed and shook his head. If it was not for Chen Qing who paid him a hefty sum of money, he would not have bothered to look out for Shen Lian. After all, Chen Qing once learned from Zu Jia. Although she was not an official disciple, they still enjoyed a good relations.h.i.+p.
Zu Jia was the royalty of Yin Shang. He was the nephew of Tianyi and had onced hid among the entourage of traders to travel the world.
Chen Qing was fortunate to receive guidance from Zhu Jia. The knowledge that she gained was beyond any ordinary trader.
After Shen Lian departed from the entourage of traders, a young man appeared. He had a broad long sword that was made of green bronze and other metals behind his back.
He observed Shen Lian for quite a while until Shen Lian was out of his sight.
The trader said, "Wu Ding, why are you so bothered about the little prince of Xi Liang kingdom right now? He has been around with the entourage for quite some time and you have never talked to him."
The young man named Wu Ding responded, "Yi Gui, don"t you think he is somewhat special?"
The trader"s name was Yi Gui and he did not have a family name. "Yi" represented the second son while "Gui" means that he was an intelligent person. Yi Gui responded, "He is indeed special. You noticed too. He had an ordinary breathe, he is not a Qi cultivator neither did he posses any special bloodline."
"But in this long journey, have you ever seen him panic? He was always looking outside and yet he never had any exciting expression when someone discovered something new. He was always so calm and that calmness reminded me of someone." Wu Ding answered.
"Like who?" Yi Gui did not pay attention to the details and thought the little prince of Xi Liang Kingdom was very quiet and composed. But he had a black tiger that followed him and it looked really imbalance.
Wu Ding did not continue the conversation but a figure came to his mind. The person was slightly taller than average, he was not very handsome but was not ugly either. The person was always calm and warm. Nothing in this world could baffle him and there were no problems that he could not solve.
He was as skillful as Emperor Xia in terms of martial arts but he never liked to show off unlike Emperor Xia.
Emperor Xia compared himself to the sun and wanted to spread his prestige to every corner of the word like the suns.h.i.+ne. That was why the prison built by Emperor Xia was very intriguing. It was a high platform set in the entrance of the w.a.n.g Cheng Square. Anyone who entered the w.a.n.g Cheng Square would see it.
The four sides of the prison had sun sacrificial formations that gathered endless Real Fire of the Sun that kept the platform on fire.
Rumour had it that the temperature there was so high that refined iron would melt in there.
The platform was known as Xia Tai. It was custom made according to Emperor Xia"s wishes. The fine pattern carvings of Xia Tai were carved by thousands of slaves who died during the process.
Xia Tai had one prisoner. He looked like he was in his thirties but after a closer look, he looked more like he was in his twenties. He had deep eyes that looked like it hid million years of knowledge in it.
The guards around did not dare to look at Xia Tai. The man"s clothes had turned into ashes as his flesh and skin were burned in red. His headful of black hair was not ignited but it looked somewhat charred.
"Zi Lu, the Emperor really admired you. As long as you apologize sincerely and not act so recklessly , the Emperor would allow release you from Xia Tai." A loud voice pa.s.sed through the raging Real Fire of the Sun to reach the platform so that the man could hear it clearly.
Zi was the family name while Lu was the name. Zi Lu was Tianyi, the Monarch of Yin Shang, also the strongest person of Yin Shang.
The Real Fire of the Sun of Xia Tai could easily immolate any one of the seven people Xuan Zhen. But Tianyi had been held captive for half a year and looking at his conditions, he would probably remained safe for the next six months.
Tianyi did not ignore the words of the pa.s.serby, he said, "What happened to Yinglong? He would usually stay asleep for ten years and would not wake up even if lightning struck on it. But he made an odd movement just now. Could it be that a great existence has entered Di Qiu?"
"Zi Lu, no one is able to save you. The only way out is to be pardoned by the Emperor. Even if a powerful person entered Di Qiu, there is no way that you could escape. As a minister of the Emperor, there is nothing wrong with admitting your faults."