The Unruly Immortals

Li Huowang brought the flame closer to the very end of the dragon vein, allowing him to see the first Emperor of Da Liang more clearly.

It was obvious that the face of the other had completely lost any resemblance to a human; it could be considered a dragon, but not quite—it looked more like a twisted, distorted dragon face.

The slender dragon whiskers, like stitching threads, threaded beneath the dragon scales, twisting the surface of the golden scales into odd shapes.

The seven dragon claws on the body had joints bent in reverse, and the number of claws varied from one to another.

At this moment, Li Sui explained to Li Huowang, "The dragon veins pass down from generation to generation, and if anyone can know anything, it can only be found on this dragon vein."

Li Huowang nodded in agreement. Indeed, the dragon vein not only served as the intelligence center for the reigning emperor but also held the truths of the past, spoken through the mouths of every past emperor.

"Whoosh~!" The clawed hand with scales swiped suddenly at a speed which Li Huowang couldn't react to and brushed across his face in an instant.

The sound of flesh tearing echoed, and half of Li Huowang's face slowly drooped down, revealing the bloody and exposed skull behind.

Li Huowang raised his right hand, bent his index finger, and used the back of his finger to slowly push his skin upward, eventually with a snap, reattaching the face back in place.

"Senior, are you the first emperor of Da Liang?" Li Huowang lowered his hand and asked towards the entity.

As soon as Li Huowang finished speaking, with an angry roar from the old emperor, a heart-shaking dragon's roar rang out from within the sarcophagus.

The dispersing dragon qi began to influence the surroundings, and Li Huowang's body became completely uncontrollable as patches of dragon scales emerged and vanished repeatedly.

"He's both deaf and completely mad now; you won't get anything out of asking him."

Li Huowang looked up in the direction of the voice and found a face with disheveled hair among a pile of emperors.

The golden strands, which could be either beard or hair, covered the face completely, preventing Li Huowang from seeing his features.

The long-bearded emperor shook his head and turned it towards the waist badge on Li Sui's waist beside Li Huowang.

"The Astrological Bureau? It's surprising that the Astrological Bureau brought you to see us old immortals; you must have an unusual status."

Just as the long-bearded emperor finished speaking, a voice came from a higher place.

"I remember him; after the Touzi took the dragon vein, it was this red-robed young man who killed the Touzi, returning the dragon vein to its place."

"So, this young man has done Da Liang a favor?"

"Indeed, a great favor!"

"He was Ji Lin's blade, having killed many royals of Da Liang with him."

"I am not of the Ji surname! Why should I care!"

As the voices grew increasingly noisy, Li Huowang immediately raised his voice, "Senior all of you!"

Seeing the voices gradually dwindle, Li Huowang spoke again, "Today, this junior comes not for other reasons, but to request seniors to tell me about some past deeds of the dragon vein."

To strengthen his words, Li Huowang quickly added another sentence.

"You all know that Da Liang is missing several hours now, which concerns the future of your nation, and I hope for your help."

The buzzing discussion began, and soon enough, they reached an agreement, and the noise began to die down.

"Since you've done Da Liang a great favor and were brought by the Astrological Bureau, we can inform you."

Upon hearing these words, Li Huowang wasn't particularly surprised; after all, they were already allied, so there was no reason not to tell him.

As the other dragon veins fell silent, the long-bearded emperor began to speak.

"Back when the Da Qi Dynasty fell and there was no leader among the dragons, within the capital's noble surnames, our Ji family was considered prominent, numbering in the thousands if not ten thousand."

"For this throne, we had sons killing mothers, grandfathers killing grandsons, brothers slaughtering each other, leaving only one alive, who became the first emperor of the Da Liang Dynasty."

Li Huowang glanced down at the emperor at the very bottom and spoke, "Senior, I know all this; what I want to ask about is not the inheritance of the dragon vein but its origin."

"A thousand years ago, Da Liang was Da Qi, so where did Da Qi's dragon vein come from? Do you know?"

"Haha, to tell you the truth, it starts from the beginning. In those ancient times, humans were raised by witches to be eaten, living like pigs that feed on dirt, only fit to eat mud on the ground."

"But later, our ancestors didn't want to be pigs for generations, so they leniently escaped."

"Escaping was not enough, though; sooner or later, they would have been discovered, so they had to find a way to open a world to live in, and the qi from the dragon vein was what held up this world."

"Witches?" Li Huowang inevitably recalled the Dharma Sect's ministers, who covered their faces. He immediately asked.

"Senior, do the witches you mention have any connection to the Dharma Sect?"

"They have nothing to do with them; this was the Ancient Times; there was no Dharma Sect."

"Then, senior, what are witches? By any chance...are witches the Fate Commander?"

Li Huowang's words immediately incited a storm.

"No, not the Fate Commander; the Fate Commander doesn't exist at all."

"Yes, right, there's no such thing as a Fate Commander—that's all fake."

"This is the Imperial Temple; those words are strictly prohibited!"

Subsequently, it was another sentence from Li Huowang that made everyone silent. "Then what exactly are you witches?"

After a while, the long-bearded emperor spoke slowly, "We are the emperors of Da Liang, and before Da Liang, there was Da Qi, before Da Qi, there was the Three Kingdoms of North Yan, and after the Three Kingdoms, there was Da Chen. We heard about it from the previous generation."

"Everything from the Ancient Times was passed down from generation to generation; none of us know what the witches were."

"But surely those witches were more powerful than people back then, otherwise why would they enslave everyone."

Li Huowang was currently preoccupied; he realized that amid the string of state names after Da Qi, there was also a Da Chen.

"Does this have anything to do with Tianchen Country? Could it be that Tianchen Country is a surviving part of Da Chen's history?"

The more he thought about it, the more possible it seemed. Li Huowang immediately started inquiring about Da Chen from the dragon vein.

"I don't know; there are several dragon veins in the world; you only ask us here? Go ask the Qingqiu dragon vein; it seems their dragon vein has some emperors from the Three Kingdoms of North Yan mixed in."

"Li Sui, I don't have time now; send someone to Qingqiu for me and see if there's any connection between Tianchen and Da Chen."

"Okay, but father, I think it makes no difference to investigate. Whether Tianchen is a reincarnation of Da Chen, they are our mortal enemies."

"What you say is true, but check first; there might be other gains."

After saying this, Li Huowang refocused his thoughts. "Senior, please continue; how did the fortune come, and how was the first dragon vein formed?"

"This world's fortune was taken by the first emperor along with his people from a witch. With this fortune, one person could hold up the world, and that person was the original emperor."