Chapter 1879 (Raw 1890): The Dragon Returns Home
“What’s wrong?” Long Yan asked, confused, when he saw Xiao Chen in deep contemplation.
Xiao Chen replied softly, “I was thinking about some things. That is about enough. Let’s go. I still have not asked where the military camp’s transportation formation can send me.”
The two chatted as they walked. Long Yan said, “The very farthest would be the border of the Divine Dragon Empire. After that, you have to cross a desert to enter the Divine Dragon Empire.”
Xiao Chen frowned slightly and asked, “Is there no way to send me into the Divine Dragon Empire?”
Long Yan shook his head and explained, “No, only the trans-realm transportation formation can do that. However, the trans-realm transportation formation is under the Yanwu Emperor’s control, so that is rather difficult to access. Anyhow, once you reach the Divine Dragon Empire, travel will be more convenient.”
Xiao Chen thought about it and found it acceptable.
Even if he could be sent directly to the Divine Dragon Empire, he would not know which city he wanted to be sent to.
He knew too little about the Dragon Race.
After Xiao Chen slowly familiarized himself, he had to plan his path among the Dragon Race.
“Boom!”
Just at this moment, the ground trembled slightly. A war chariot carried a small-mountain-sized, rocky ferocious beast into the camp, escorted by thousands of people.
When everyone saw the huge beast enter, the entire military camp erupted in enthusiastic cheers.
The formation of troops was extremely large. Xiao Chen could not help giving it a few more glances.
“That is a Huge Hill Demon, a Holy-Venerate-level ferocious beast. It is said to be unrivaled within the same level. They are venerated as a holy beast by the northern Barbarians. Normally, if we manage to hunt down such a ferocious beast, it means we gained a significant victory over the Barbarian Race.” Long Yan smiled as he explained to Xiao Chen.
The atmosphere in the military camp made Xiao Chen somewhat envious. Living and dying together, advancing and retreating together, sharing the glory with one’s comrades.
“We’re here. I’ll get them to lay the formation.”
After a while, the two arrived at an open space within the military camp. Then, Long Yan called out.
Thirty-eight war chariots rushed over from different directions. They were like beams of flowing light, moving extremely fast.
Within a few breaths, these war chariots combined to form a Dao Platform with complicated formation lines.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
Many cultivators flew out from the war chariots and stuck the gleaming banners in their hands into the Dao Platform.
Immediately, a flowing light surged out, and thirty-eight iridescent white arcs descended from the sky. Propitious vapors spread out, followed by a rain of flowers.
A Dao Door manifested in the middle, among the boundlessly magnificent rain of flowers.
This transportation formation that should be extremely complicated was so easily assembled. This was truly an eye-opener.
Xiao Chen had no time to continue admiring this. He had to start his journey.
“Here is some information on the Divine Dragon Empire. Father had me collect them over the past few days. There is also a map and some Spirit Jades, which will be helpful on your journey.”
Before Xiao Chen left, Long Yan handed over the things that the Soaring Dragon Marquis prepared for him.
Xiao Chen did not stand on ceremony. After accepting the things, he performed a cupped-fist salute and said, “We will meet again if it is fated.”
“I’m sure we’ll meet again someday.”
“Whoosh!”
Xiao Chen pushed off gently with his feet and quickly entered the Dao Door, as light as a swallow in his white robes.
His Movement Technique was graceful and agile, just like his experience in the Yanwu Dynasty, merely touching the surface and not even causing any ripples, leaving before he could experience the boundless charm of the dynasty.
Thus ended the trip to the Yanwu Dynasty.
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Half a month later:
An incredibly vast desert between the Divine Dragon Empire and the Yanwu Dynasty appeared before Xiao Chen.
Heavy rain fell from the sky, black clouds spread out, lightning flashed, and thunder roared.
Xiao Chen was about to step into the Dragon Race’s territory, but there had not been any good weather at all. This was really strange, as it rarely rained in the desert.
However, once it rained in the desert, it normally lasted for many months, even half a year.
The sudden rain and bad weather seemed to foreshadow the hurdle facing Xiao Chen.
As he looked at the desert amid the heavy rain, he felt deeply moved.
When calculating the time finely, Xiao Chen had been gone from the Kunlun Realm abandoned land for four years already.
After four years, he finally was stepping into the Dragon Race’s homeland. The things that he promised the old Dragon Horse in the Azure Dragon Palace flashed before his eyes.
Xiao Chen clearly recalled these memories as he brought them to mind.
The goal seemed very near but also very far.
Xiao Chen wondered what the disciples of the Kunlun Realm’s Dragon’s Gate would think if they knew that he was about to step into the Divine Dragon Empire.
If his old friends knew that he had already gotten this far, they probably would wish him well.
In a mere four years, Xiao Chen had advanced from the Veritable Essence Stage to the Cloud Sea Realm’s Starry Sky Stage.
He was finally qualified to step into this Central Great Realm, to contest against the most resplendent outstanding talents of this age.
Outsiders would find it hard to imagine the effort and pain that Xiao Chen had gone through.
He had made his way here step by step, every step marked by startling events.
He had suffered humiliation, been looked down upon by others. He had also pitted himself against others in a battle of wits, suffering greatly in the hands of Holy Venerates.
Today, the dragon returned home. Xiao Chen finally arrived in the Divine Dragon Empire.
Xiao Chen did not choose to ride the Demon Blood Vulture. He walked the whole way, traveling through this desolate desert that belonged to the Divine Dragon Empire.
He started on a journey that belonged to him.
Xiao Chen had a cloak draped over him as the rain soaked him. His footsteps were heavy and his eyes resolute with no hesitation at all.
Despite the interminable rain, he continued walking and rested along the way. As he walked in the rain, he calmed his emotions.
At the same time, he reviewed the information that the Soaring Dragon Marquis had given him.
Right now, the Divine Dragon Empire’s territory was only about one percent the size of the Yanwu Dynasty’s. Of course, this only included the territories in the Central Great Realm.
This did not include the Dragon Race’s affiliated great realms.
The Divine Dragon Empire had many subordinate great realms like the Yanwu Dynasty had the Soaring Dragon Marquis’s Soaring Dragon Great Realm, as well as others.
However, in terms of population, the Divine Dragon Empire was pitiful compared to the Yanwu Dynasty.
The Yanwu Dynasty had tens of billions of people. The Divine Dragon Empire barely had one hundred million. This was primarily because only cultivators with a Dragon Race bloodline counted as citizens of the Divine Dragon Empire.
This was the same for all eight empires; they were all nations based on bloodline.
In order to maintain the purity and continuity of their bloodline, they maintained their independence and did not accept immigrants.
The four dynasties were more casual. Aside from cultivators, they had an incredibly vast number of ordinary people.
Hence, in terms of population, the empires could not compare to the dynasties.
The Yanwu Dynasty had one hundred eight provinces, each managing one hundred counties. Each county was about the size of a great realm outside the Central Great Realm.
The Divine Dragon Empire had only seven provinces. Of which, the Six Colored Divine Dragons each ruled one province with the remaining province ruled by the Dragon Emperor.
Aside from those, there were many independent counties scattered throughout the empire’s territory. These were managed by factions of lesser Dragon Race bloodlines.
Overall, the Divine Dragon Empire had about one thousand counties.
The Divine Dragon Empire was different from the dynasties. The Six Colored Divine Dragons were like feudal lords with a lot of independence.
For example, even the Dragon Emperor could not interfere in the internal matters of the White Dragons.
The Dragon Emperor was venerated as the Dragon God, the leader of the Dragon Race in name. However, the current Dragon Emperor did not have a strong authority the way the emperors of the dynasties did.
Even so, the Dragon Emperor controlled one additional province. Furthermore, with the Dragon Emperor title, he still had a lot of authority.
The current Dragon Emperor was the head of the Golden Dragons, one of the Six Colored Divine Dragons. He had held that position for one thousand years already.
Right now, the Golden Dragon Race was the strongest and the noblest bloodline of the Dragon Race.
Based on the Soaring Dragon Marquis’s information, Xiao Chen could tell that the Dragon Race put great store by the nobility and grade of bloodlines.
The Golden Dragon Race was undoubtedly the bloodline at the top of the pack.
Behind it came the remaining Divine Dragon bloodlines. Then, it would be the cultivators with True Dragon bloodlines.
Finally, it would be the cultivators with extremely diluted bloodlines. There were all sorts of shapes and forms, collectively known as mixed-blood dragons.
If one’s birth was not good, it might affect one’s future.
There were a few heaven-defying, successful people among the mixed-blood dragons. Within the Divine Dragon Empire, they held high statuses and were known as Heavenly Dragons.
However, their existence did not change the fact that the vast majority of the Dragon Race held low status.
Xiao Chen frowned slightly. Honestly speaking, he did not quite like evaluating a person based on their bloodline and deciding based only on that.
However, what surprised him was that the Soaring Dragon Marquis’s information barely mentioned the Azure Dragon bloodline.
Within the Yanwu Dynasty, the Soaring Dragon Marquis’s authority in information access was already very high.
Even so, the Soaring Dragon Marquis had not included much information regarding the Azure Dragon bloodline.
All Xiao Chen found was a mention of the Azure Dragon bloodline in an unremarkable corner. It said that the Azure Dragon bloodline was once the strongest in the Dragon Race but no longer existed, and the details were not known.
The words were blurry, and there was just that one sentence.
After that, the information moved on to introduce the other Dragon Races. If one was not meticulous, one would easily miss it.
The rain still had not stopped. Xiao Chen shunted the information aside. As the heavy downpour continued, it strangely felt somewhat lonely.
After a lot of pain and effort, he had arrived in the Divine Dragon Empire.
Yet, there was no one else of his race. In fact, the people of the Dragon Race did not even know about the Azure Dragon bloodline’s existence.
The dragon returned home with great ambition.
However, in this nation with a thousand counties, only he existed from the Azure Dragon bloodline. Only he existed!