Dragon Canon

Qianqiu City, Ning Province.

As Fan Donghe stepped out of the Morn-Eve Hall once again, he looked back at the towering, square, jet-black building and let out a heavy sigh. Many people whispered behind closed doors that the Morn-Eve Hall was like a coffin—once you entered, sooner or later, you would end up as a corpse.

For the past few days, the stewards had been asking the same questions over and over again. If Fan Donghe answered even a single word incorrectly, they would seize on it and interrogate him relentlessly. Or if another person’s testimony implicated Fan Donghe—no matter how trivial the matter—he would have to spend two full hours just explaining himself. After several days of this, Fang Donghe felt that his Dao heart was on the verge of collapse. Several times, he was tempted to throw caution to the wind and simply slash the few stewards sitting across from him. At other times, he thought it might be better to just give in—after all, these people were likely just trying to extort money from him before letting him off the hook.

But even if he wanted to, his family had already sold off everything of value.

After Xu Zhongxing was imprisoned, many of his former confidants had been arrested by Xu Chunyuan under various pretexts, and quite a few had been sent to the Morn-Eve Hall. To rescue them, Fan Donghe had long since liquidated all of his family properties. Now that it was his turn, he had no money left to offer.

Fan Donghe hesitated for a moment before finally changing direction. Moments later, he arrived at the entrance of a grand estate in the east city.

After announcing his arrival, the gatekeeper soon escorted him into a warm pavilion. Seated at the head of the pavilion was a woman dressed in fine attire. She appeared to be just under thirty, and her beauty was virtually unmatched.

However, Fan Donghe knew that the woman before him was but a step away from becoming a True Lord, with the potential to advance further. That was why, despite being a woman, she held sway over the Xu Clan’s eleventh branch. Across the entire Xu Clan, she was one of the few figures with real power, and hardly anyone dared to offend her.

Fan Donghe settled into his seat, hesitated for a moment, and then said, “Someone asked me to deliver a message, inquiring what you would be willing to offer if that person were unable to return.”

The woman smiled faintly and said, “It seems you still care deeply for the clan, General Fan. You didn’t want to lose an elder, which is why you’ve finally come to me after so many days.”

Fan Donghe tensed inwardly as he asked, “You knew?”

The woman picked up her teacup, took a light sip, and said, “It wasn’t hard to figure out. That Wei Yuan is a ruthless character who’d squeeze oil out of a stone. He captured Xu Chunyuan but didn’t kill him—clearly, he intended to use him as a bargaining chip. The Xu Clan is so vast that even if Wei Yuan didn’t know about the feud between Xu Chunyuan and me, there are certainly those who wouldn’t want him to return. That is why I was waiting for you to seek me out the moment you came back. But to be honest, I’m a bit disappointed that you’ve only shown up today.”

Fan Donghe gave a wry smile. “Unless absolutely necessary, I truly do not want to let Wei Yuan’s scheme succeed.”

The woman replied calmly, “You’re a good man, General Fan. All right, I’ve received your message, and I’ll handle what comes next on my own. Furthermore, starting tomorrow, the Morn-Eve Hall will no longer require your presence.”

“About my old subordinates—”

The woman raised a hand and stopped him from continuing. “Your message is only worth this much.”

With that, she served his tea and saw him out.

After Fan Donghe left, a strikingly handsome young man emerged from behind the screen and said, “Mother, that was a golden opportunity. Why didn’t you recruit him?”

Upon seeing the young man, a smile flitted across the woman’s face. “If he had come to see me as soon as he returned, or if he hadn’t come at all, then I would have considered taking him in. But he waited several days and only came to me when he had absolutely no other choice. This shows that, not only is he incapable of grasping the situation, he still clings to some laughable principles and convictions deep down.

“When employing someone, one must select them for their loyalty or their ability. But only one is enough, for those who fall somewhere in between aren’t actually as useful as they seem. Fan Donghe is one such person. If we were to take him in, he would eventually prove that he isn’t as easy to use as one might think.”

The young man looked pensive for a moment. Then, he said, “Mother, I’d like to visit Qingming.”

“What would you go there for?”

The young man’s face darkened with indignation as he said, “That arrogant man, Wei Yuan, dared to claim that all Xu Clan Avatars are garbage! Isn’t that an insult to you as well? Since we’re both peak Dao Foundations, I wish to confront him and see exactly who gave him the right to speak so boldly!”

“The foolishness!” The woman’s face darkened, and she yelled, “Guards! Take the young master away and have him face the wall for seven days! Also, whoever has been whispering nonsense in the young master's ear—find them and have them beaten to death!”

Two young maidservants with delicate figures and beautiful features glided over, one on each side, and took hold of the young man. He struggled desperately but could not break free from their small, snow-white hands no matter what. They then led him away forcefully.

Still unwilling to accept his fate, he kept shouting, “That Wei Yuan said he wanted a one-on-one duel—why should I be afraid of him?!”

Once the young man had been led away, the woman approached her desk, unfolded a sheet of letter paper, and began writing a letter to Wei Yuan.

Inside the palace complex of Qianqiu City, where a heavy, massive sword was sheathed in the ground beside a tranquil pond, a young cultivator was sitting cross-legged before the sword with his eyes closed. He was contemplating the sword with his mind’s eyes.

“Brother Yaowu! Brother Yaowu!” A voice called out from outside the courtyard, and a tall, burly man strode in without waiting for an announcement.

The young cultivator didn’t stand up. Instead, he turned around where he was. As it turned out, he had been sitting in mid-air.

“Have you heard? That Wei Yuan had been going around saying that all Avatars of the Xu Clan are garbage! He even declared that if anyone disagrees, as long as it’s a one-on-one, he’ll take them all on!”

Xu Yaowu replied calmly, “Of course I’ve heard. So, do you want to go face him?”

The tall, burly man frowned, looking hesitant, and said, “He was able to take down Elder Chunyuan singlehandedly while facing multiple opponents. I’m probably no match for him.”

“There you go.”

Indignance appeared on the tall, burly man’s face as he said, “I might not be up to it, but you are, Brother Yaowu! Did you just master that sword technique—”

Two faint streaks of sword qi suddenly shot out of Xu Yaowu’s eyes, and a murderous edge crept into his voice. “Who told you that?”

Startled, the tall, burly man stumbled back two steps and slammed his back against the courtyard wall, stammering, “O-once, when we were drinking, I-I saw a sword mark appear between your eyebrows....”

Xu Yaowu slowly withdrew the sword qi back into his eyes and, after a moment of silence, said, “You must never mention this to anyone, or my life will be in danger.”

“B-but isn’t this a good thing? Fine, don’t worry! I’ll keep your secret. We’re brothers for life, how could I ever harm you?” The tall, burly man swore repeatedly.

After he took his leave, the young cultivator gave a self-deprecating smile and said to himself, “I still can’t bring myself to be ruthless. Sigh! It seems that the master was right—sooner or later, I’ll meet my end because of my weakness.”

In the realm of Qingming, it was late at night, and all was quiet.

Wei yuan sat in his cultivation chamber facing a towering, fearsome warrior. Standing at one and a half zhang tall, the warrior’s head was touching the ceiling of the chamber. The surroundings appeared faintly distorted around his body; a sign that his mystic body was unbelievably powerful.

His features were strange, resembling a dragon’s head with a human’s face. He had sharp horns sprouting from his head that looked like flowing hair.

At the moment, every aspect of the warrior—from inside and out—was reflected in Wei Yuan’s mind.

A five-toed dragon claw was hidden within the warrior’s sea of consciousness, surrounded by faintly visible clouds, winds, and mountains that shifted constantly and could be manifested at will. This was the warrior’s Avatar, and it was clearly already at the late stage. Moreover, the dragon claw naturally carried within it mountains, rivers, clouds and wind. It was top-tier even compared to all other Avatars.

After many days, Dragonhawk had finally emerged from the black pond and transformed into a new Dragon Guard. Unlike the previous two Dragon Guards, he possessed a late-stage Avatar-stage cultivation and a top-tier mystic body. Though he was inferior to Dragonhawk in life, he was still far stronger than your ordinary late-stage Avatar.

When Fan Donghe left that day, he had expressed some criticism of Wei Yuan’s “one-on-one” fighting style. What he didn’t know was that Wei Yuan had, in fact, held back considerably. Setting aside Dragonhawk and Yin Yang, his combat power was amplified manyfold while he was in Qingming’s domain. If someone recklessly attacked him assuming that he was only as strong as three or four Avatars, suffice to say, they would be in for the reckoning of a lifetime.

At the moment, the Great Realm was teeming with vitality. Spirit plants were sprouting from the fertile soil, and people were busy tilling the fields, marking out plot after plot. The four immortal orchids had also been transplanted into the Great Realm, so the ordinary mortals divided into four groups to pay homage to the four immortal orchids that had not yet sprouted.

After studying the Dragon Guard Dragonhawk had transformed into for a while, Wei Yuan sent him back to the Great Realm for recuperation. He then sat cross-legged, preparing to do his homework for two hours. Although his cultivation would no longer increase his spirit energy at this stage, it could refine his Dao heart and enhance the spirituality of his Dao Foundation.

Just as he was about to lose himself in the practice, Wei Yuan was suddenly interrupted by a commotion arising from within his Dao Foundation.

The noise filled him with an inexplicable sense of irritation, so he entered the Great Realm to investigate. There, he saw two groups of people arguing. The dispute was growing increasingly intense, and it actually seemed they were on the verge of coming to blows.

The two sides consisted of the followers of the Bay Laurel Immortal Tree and the Ice-Glass Divine Tree respectively. Hundreds were engaged in the argument, while several thousand looked on coldly.

To outsiders, the two groups sounded like they were just shouting wildly and mindlessly at each other. In reality, they were communicating primarily through divine consciousness. A single “wa-ya-ya” was enough to convey a rich meaning. For example, “How can your wild tree compare to my immortal tree? If you don’t believe me, then let me explain—”

The opposing side retorted with a “ya-ya-ptooey”, which meant, “How many days has your wild tree even been in this world? Judging by her shape, she’s nothing more than a tea tree!”

The group on the Ice-Glass Divine Tree’s side was taken aback. “How do you know the origins of our immortal tree?”