Feeling the pressure, Old Long immediately became solemn.
"Fellow Daoist, allow me to ask… who are you, and how did you enter the mansion?" he asked with a frown.
Judging by the intensity of the aura, the dragon concluded that the man, like himself, had likely already reached the perfection of Tribulation Transcendence.
Although he was confident in defeating Liu Taixuan in a one-on-one battle—being a pure beast of the supreme dragon lineage—that did not mean he would take lightly an opponent of the same level who had suddenly appeared.
But what confused him most was how such a cultivator had crossed the world barrier, which had age limits to be entered.
However, there was something more essential to deal with first before thinking about that.
Quickly shifting his eyes toward his Big Sister, the Dragon King sent an unspoken signal before turning back to face his opponent, everything happening very quickly.
Fortunately, the little girl was clever and understood. Then, with a subtle movement of her fingers, the library around them suddenly disappeared, catching everyone by surprise.
Now they were standing on green grass, in an open and sunny place.
They had not been teleported; they were still in the same place as before. What had vanished was the library. Without it to restrain him—which had held so much precious knowledge—the dragon could fight more freely if necessary.
Liu Taixuan watched all of this happen calmly.
But when the Dragon King seemed to enter combat readiness, Old Liu suddenly began to withdraw his powerful momentum, remaining silent for a moment.
He was not there to fight.
Although he could display his aura at will, it was only harmless and had no real suppressive effect. As for combat, if it were against lower realms, he could fight a little before entering a long rest, and if it were against strong opponents, only by burning his soul could he truly battle for a short period before his soul dissipated forever.
Furthermore, the Dragon King was not an enemy. Old Liu had only displayed his aura to support Aotian for the first time.
The boy, with his sincere response and promise that there was another path to ascension without needing to use his great-granddaughter, had earned much of the trust of that distrustful grandfather, and he decided to place his hope in him.
Moreover, Aotian had also spoken of healing the world, and together with the extraordinariness of the Infinite Dao Sect, plus the perfect-grade stones he had taken out earlier—which deeply shocked the old man and made him question his granddaughter nonstop—Liu Taixuan felt that the chances of that mysterious sect having a way to accomplish what the boy said were greater than 70%.
Such probability was already the most he could ask for. If his granddaughter could not only survive, but thrive for a long time in a world that would not end, Liu Taixuan would fight with all his strength to make it happen.
Taking a deep breath, he cupped his fists toward the dragon.
"Fellow Daoist Long, I do not intend to cause harm, only to establish a point, which is why I displayed my realm. As for how I entered, that is my secret, which I can share if the boy convinces you to swear loyalty to the Infinite Dao Sect," Old Liu explained diplomatically, casually placing his hands behind his back. "I only hope you do not doubt the boy, for his background is more special than you can imagine."
He did not evade the matter of how he entered, which could show they were not sincere in their approach, but he also did not reveal anything recklessly to someone whose loyalty was still provisionally questionable.
The dragon frowned slightly, but did not attack, nor insist. With a sigh, he massaged his head before looking at Aotian with hesitation.
"Junior, what you said earlier, do you truly know what you are talking about? Do you truly know what kind of ordeal the current world is actually going through before claiming you have the ability to solve the problem? Forgive me, but I do not believe your sect truly has the ability to resolve the problems that all the strongest people of the Lingxi world have been facing for generations, for millions of years."
The dragon's firm voice abandoned that previous gentleness, leaving only indifferent seriousness.
Who would want to die if they could live? He truly wished Aotian had the answers to his problems. Unfortunately, all of that seemed impossible to him.
Even the little dragon girl beside him did not seem very optimistic, her head slightly lowered, aware of the difficulties involved.
In the end, if not for the boy's words being supported by a powerhouse on the same level as himself, Old Long would have simply smiled and dismissed the matter.
Thus, his current seriousness sprang, deep down, from a tiny spark that had been ignited in that moment—one that was nearly extinguished. That spark was called… hope.
But Aotian did not hesitate under that gaze and nodded solemnly. Yet then, he suddenly shook his head, brutally extinguishing that spark.
The dragon's serious expression faded, and a gentle smile returned to his face. When he opened his mouth, about to comfort the boy and change the subject, Aotian's voice came first.
"Senior Long, the truth is that my sect and I arrived in the Lingxi world only about three years ago, and we remained in its least developed region during that time. Only recently did we begin expanding our activities into the more central areas, so we still do not know much."
"We heard before some legends from the mid-continents about a corrupted being that had been defeated, but, for being immortal, had been divided into pieces and scattered across the continents, in the Shadowfallen Burial Mountains."
"But only recently did we receive some news that seems to contest that somewhat and appear to be more truthful in origin. The information says that, a few million years ago, a Mahayana attempted to ascend, but what he encountered was a corrupted immortal world, and in the end, he himself was corrupted, not only failing to ascend, but also inadvertently bringing disaster to the world."
"Then, with no one able to stop that corrupted Mahayana, the tree of life intervened, subdued him, and since then began to die, infected by the impurities that spread more and more from the being it sealed."
He spoke everything calmly, as if it were just another everyday matter. But his words made Old Long's face gain a confused expression for another reason.
"Three years since you arrived… to this world?"
The dragon repeated strangely, staring at Aotian with an extra beat in his heart, not daring to believe what those words implied.
"Hmm!" Aotian nodded. "The memories of most of the elders and mine were self-sealed of everything above the Mahayana realm, so at this moment, we are not certain about the situation involving things above that level, such as the immortal plane. But even without the memories, some minor applications of the Dao can still be used, such as healing a plant to its maximum vitality, which includes eliminating diseases, wounds, and, of course, the corruption of impurities as well."
The room suddenly fell silent at those words.
Hui Lang and Cang Song took deep breaths, looking at each other in shock.
For a long time, everyone in the sect knew that the origin of the sect was extremely mysterious, and many of them even discussed whether the elders were, in fact, immortals who came to the mortal plane, and Aotian was also included in that speculation.
But discussing and creating theories was one thing, and something completely different was a trustworthy person undeniably saying that it was true.
Rihai and Liu Taixuan were not surprised, after all, they had already heard this before from Bao Hui, but when Aotian spoke about applying the Dao, the power of immortals, so easily, it still sent chills down their spines.
Finally, there was the dragon and the girl, who looked at Aotian speechlessly, thinking he was joking. But when they saw the attitude of the others, a trace of bewilderment and hesitation arose in both their hearts.
"Junior, you should not speak nonsense so easily."
The dragon reprimanded lightly, not finding it amusing. What the others did not see was that the hand he discreetly placed behind his back was trembling.
"I am not lying."
Aotian shook his head and then stared at him firmly.
"I know it is hard to believe, so let's not waste time. Open the passage for my sect's elders to enter and prove it, or go out yourself and they will show you. They can also force their way in, but we feared affecting the formation spirit by breaking through forcefully."
He offered without hesitation.
And what he said at the end was true.
The formations of this small world were created by someone at the same level as Lei Yun, from whom Aotian received his Mahayana-Tier formation creation abilities.
Considering that Aotian's own knowledge was already extremely profound up to the Formation-Tier, combined with Lei Yun's feedback, he had already surpassed those two Mahayanas. But despite the large difference, it was still not a complete leap in level.
Given that the formations of this small world had nurtured a spirit for millions of years, now extremely mature, being the little dragon girl there, it was indeed impressive that Aotian still had the ability to break a breach in the formation and enter by force, proving how far he had come on this path.
If he could synthesize his array inheritance up to the Void-Tier, he was confident he could invade without harming or alerting the spirit. However, while invading would be easy, if he wanted to fully take control of the arrays and the spirit by force, he might need to synthesize at least the Transcendent-Tier inheritance.
And now that he had met that cute little girl, he would not have such a cruel heart to do that, even if he could.
'Haah… if it weren't for this damn formation that detects and blocks anyone of a certain age and cultivation, I could get my elders through it and make my life much easier. But I've already tested it in secret, hiding it from the array spirit, and the problem is that the formation can't even detect the age of my avatars, so it automatically blocks them—which is a pain.'
Aotian complained internally, while continuing to stare at Old Long, who was still stunned there, and only at that moment regained his senses, with a complicated expression.
"This… if… if your sect can prove that it truly can do that, I am willing to swear my loyalty," the dragon suddenly spoke, his heart racing, but soon calmed down as he remembered something, and shook his head bitterly. "The problem is that I am already bound by an oath."
"What oath?" Aotian asked in surprise, frowning slightly.
"To protect this small world, and not leave before finding the heir of the Dragon Sovereign. It is the duty of my family, passed down from generation to generation, sworn by the soul, so that we, the guardians millions of years later, who did not live in that era, do not become rebellious and ungrateful, abandoning the shackles of duty."
Old Long recited softly, with a low sigh and slightly distant eyes, a phrase that seemed to have been passed down for generations.
"Why did your family bind itself to such a strong oath?" Aotian asked curiously, though equally frustrated by the constant obstacles.
Shaking his head bitterly, Old Long looked at the blue sky, the wind swaying his white hair.
"Because of the Dragon Sovereign, who freed us from the darkness."
A reminiscent glow from his ancestral tales appeared in his blue eyes.
"In that era, in every generation, a human with a Divine Physique would appear. The unbalanced power, emerging alongside the rise of the Mahayanas, over millions—or even billions—of years, eventually allowed humans to rule this world uncontested."
"In the end, we beasts became nothing more than humble servile slaves, especially my powerful dragon clan, which was treated as the finest mounts, the women as luxury sex slaves, and the men as powerful slaves, good for display, or even treated as the most tender delicacy."
"Those were dark times, which only changed when a child was born to a human woman of royalty from a certain cultivator kingdom—a woman with a heart nobler than her blood, who had even secretly freed many of my suffering ancestors—only for her to be persecuted and gravely wounded by her own cold family."
"In the end, before dying, she entrusted us to protect her son, a fatherless child… a child who possessed a Divine Physique."
"And so my ancestors did. They protected him, raised him, and risked their lives so he could grow—despite being the cub of a race that had committed countless atrocities against ours. But for that noble woman, they fulfilled their promise."
"We did not expect gratitude, after all, we had seen too many humans killing the parents who fed them, and stabbing the brothers who cared for them."
"But the boy was different, he inherited his mother's spirit, and with the kindness and gratitude he kept in his chest, he grew, became stronger, and then one day… freed us all."
Old Long could not help but let out a soft chuckle at that point in the tale.
"It was an irony of the heavens. The divine physique that condemned us, the human race that enslaved us, was the same that pulled us out of that quagmire of darkness."
"The Dragon Sovereign not only protected us, but also established this small world for us, where only our dragon race is welcome, and so that when another Mahayana was born among the human race, the dragon race would have a home that not even a powerhouse of such level would dare invade easily."
"That was the moment of hope, awaited for countless millions of years by my race… it is a pity that…"
At that moment, the Dragon King's voice trembled, and his eyes closed tightly, bitterly.
"It is a pity that, when the Dragon Sovereign tried to ascend, all he found was a world of darkness."
"That was the omen of the world's fall—and the dragons'."