Chapter 3The divine dragon"s golden scales were melting and falling through the sky like a golden shower. Parts of his flesh were on fire and smoke could be seen escaping from the ruptures all over its body. Many of its internal organs were either damaged or incinerated in the blast. The three-legged crow did not come out completely unscathed itself. Dragons have some of the strongest bodies and natural defenses of all the different mystical creatures. Impacting on the dragons body with it"s head caused a fracture in its skull. As the dragon began to fall from the sky the three-legged crow was hovering unsteadily in the. Its body was keeping it in the air purely on instinct. It was at this time when the three-legged crow was in a daze that Chen Zhen and his plane seat smashed down on the head of the three-legged crow, splitting its head completely open. Chen Zhen, who"s body was still suffering from the ever increasing pressure of those powerful auras, felt like he ran into a brick wall going faster then the speed of sound. His body nearly exploded from the collision.
As all three of them fell from the sky a beam of light pierced through the clouds arriving right beneath Chen Zhen, the divine dragon and the three-legged crow. It was the lightning dragon that had destroyed the plane Chen Zhen was traveling on, causing him to fall to his death. Now that the lightning dragon was back in its home world it was able to restore all the yuan qi it lost just maintaining itself on earth. It was now ten times it"s original size that Chen Zhen had first seen. It opened it huge mouth and swallowed all three at the same time. If one looked closely they would see a very sinister smile on the lightning dragon"s face as it flew off to the horizon.
Chen Zhen slowly woke up. To be more accurate, he slowly became aware of his surroundings. He felt as if he was floating in the vacuum of outer s.p.a.ce. He felt as if he had no form or ma.s.s. As he became more and more aware of his surroundings he notice a very old man with sharp clear eyes. He had a head full of white hair and a full white beard, that both hung down to his waist. The old man"s looks were quite the contradiction. You could almost feel the years exuding off of him, but at the same time he gave you the impression of being spry and youthful. The azure colored dragon robe and golden belt gave off a very n.o.ble and regal feel. If the old man told Chen Zhen he was a king he would immediately believe him.
The old man smiled and said, " My name is Shanggu Julong. Young Chen Zhen you have come a very long way just to die. I don"t think that is fair, do you? " Before Chen Zhen could speak Shanggu Julong continued as he already knew what Chen Zhen was going to say. " I must say I have ventured into many worlds but I thought your world was a myth. How a world can survive in such a void state with such an infinitesimal amount of yuan qi is absolutely amazing. And what"s even more amazing is that there obviously must have been so much more at some point in your history because as soon as I introduced yuan qi into your body it greedily devoured it. To the point were you should have exploded but now your body is still absorbing energy even without my a.s.sistance. But instead of your broken body bursting from absorbing so much energy it is actually rebuilding itself. This is beyond my wildest expectations." Shanggu Julong knew that even though Chen Zhen"s body was rebuilding itself it wouldn"t be able to rebuild itself fast enough to prevent his death. While Shanggu Julong was contemplating Chen Zhen"s situation he could see the bodies of the dragon and phoenix lying behind Chen Zhen. Their bodies were completely destroyed and their souls were slowly leaving their bodies.
"I can give him the souls if these two spirit beast to help nurture and guide him in this new world. But they are such proud beast and have ruled over their own territories for thousands of years. If I want them to agree I will have to offer them something worthy of their attention....", thought Shanggu Julong.
Looking at the phoenix first Shanggu Julong released his immense aura. The soul of the phoenix was locked in place by this immense aura unable to move or perceive anything around it. It could tell that this overwhelming aura could crush it out of existence if it so wished, not even allowing it to enter reincarnation.
" What is your name?", Shanggu Long asked the phoenix after observing this phoenix"s soul for a while.
"This junior respectfully answers senior I am called Lou Tian of Imperial City"s Lou Phoenix Clan." Lou Tian didn"t dare to be arrogant in front of such an immensely powerful figure. As he sat there waiting he could only regret his bad luck for attracting this powerful figures attention. After what seemed like an eternity to Lou Tian, Shanggu Julong finally spoke again, but what he said next frightened him even more.
"Why were you attacking my direct descendant?", Shanggu Julong asked Lou Tian.
If Lou Tian still had a body he would be trembling and sweating profusely.
" Respectfully replying to senior, this was all a terrible misunderstanding. I was out traveling the world hunting for relics and holy treasures. I sensed that an ancient ruin was located in a mountain range near by. As I was heading there I was very excited and my vigilance waned. As I was traveling at my highest speed I may have accidentally b.u.mped into your direct descendant, who also seemed to be headed in the same direction. He mistook my accidental b.u.mp as an open a.s.sault. You already know the result of the ensuing battle. I hope senior can not hold this small matter between juniors to highly in his eyes...", explained Lou Tian.
"Are you telling me how I should view things? Is it your job to instruct me on how I should judge a situation?", Shanggu Julong asked interrupting Lou Tian.
Shivering in utter terror thinking he just offended this immortal existence. Seeing the look of terror on Lou Tian"s face Shanggu Julong couldn"t help but laugh out loud.
"I understand very well what happened here. You both being proud elites of your respective clans, neither of you could ever back down in a confrontation. But what exactly did either of you gain? Did either of you reap the rewards of your pride? No. In fact you both lost everything you worked your entire lives to achieve. Everything your clans put in so much work and resources to nurture you to thus point. And for what? Just for your pride to throw everything they gave you away."
Shaking his head and giving a long sigh Shanggu Julong couldn"t help but feel disappointment in his heart toward his descendant.
"Feng-er.... You were a very promising candidate for the future of our Shanggu clan. I watched you grow from a distance and I had really high hopes for you. I hoped to see you lead our clan I into a new age of growth and prosperity. But now..... look at you. Your pride has thrown away our clans hopes."
Shanggu Feng looked at his great, great, great grandfather"s eyes which were full of disappointment and could only hang his head in shame. His great, great, great grandfather was the last true powerhouse of the Shanggu Clan. Ever since Shanggu Julong ascended over a thousand years ago the Shanggu clan has been in a steady decline. This once hegemon could no longer hold on to the vast territories it used to hold. Warring with other clans, especially the Lou clan of Imperial city has downgraded them over the years to a mid-cla.s.s clan. Since his birth Shanggu Feng had followed closely in Shanggu Julong"s footsteps. As a child he quickly showed his comprehension ability and quickly master the martial techniques of the Shanggu clan. As he grew stronger his pride grew with him. He was look up to my so many in the Shanggu clan, he soon lost sight of strengthening the Shanggu clan and only thought of his own strength. He went from being the pride of the Shanggu clan to being its biggest disappointment. In Shanggu Feng"s mind he was the only important thing in his life. He took all the best cultivation Heaven and Earth treasures for himself. He fought regularly inside and outside of the clan. No one could offend Shanggu Feng and live. The slightest offense to him meant immediate death.
So when he sensed the very potent spiritual energy from the secret treasure hidden in the mountains he felt only he was worthy of having it. When he saw Lou Tian flying towards the treasure in his Phoenix form, he quickly changed into his Dragon form and ran into him. He could feel that Lou Tian was the same level and strength as him, but in his mind Shanggu Feng was unrivaled in the same cultivation realm.
As Shanggu Feng looked into his great, great, great grandfather"s eyes, he could only hang his head in shame,"….. forgive me….."