The Dragon's Nine Sons

He looked at the clear blood, then at the Nine-Grade Lotus Thrones floating above his siblings' heads, and finally touched the one between his brows.

This was what his little brother had done for everyone. For the sake of his older brothers and sisters, he had depleted even his own origin. No wonder he was still so small, and Father God was worried that he would grow so weak he wouldn't even have the strength to break out of his cocoon someday.

At the thought, Di Jiang couldn't help feeling his heart clench.

As the head of the Twelve—no, the Thirteen Ancestral Witches, the eldest brother who had been born first, how could he let their youngest brother bear all this alone, even sacrifice himself?

"No, I have to do something!"

Di Jiang felt he had to do something to show his gratitude. Otherwise, he would be ashamed to accept it.

But the Twelve Ancestral Witches were unlike the Three Pure Ones, whose primordial spirits came with merit from the creation of heaven, as well as innate supreme treasures as companion spirit treasures. Just like Xiang Dong, they didn't have a thing to their names.

Even the Nine-Grade Lotus Thrones they now possessed had all been given to them by Xiang Dong, and they were useful to him too.

After turning it over in his mind, Di Jiang realized that, in the end, he had only one thing left to offer.

So Di Jiang stepped back half a pace and drove his right fist into his chest.

Pfft.

A drop of blood spurted out and hovered in midair.

This was not an Ancestral Witch's Essence Blood, but the even more precious heart's blood. Though it was only a single drop, the power and Power of Principle it contained were so immense that the space around it warped ever so slightly.

Not only that, the drop of heart's blood also bore his Space Principle Dao markings. In other words, this single drop contained his space origin, the most precious thing he possessed.

Losing a single drop of an Ancestral Witch's Essence Blood required years of recuperation to replenish, let alone heart's blood of this caliber. Di Jiang would probably need to recuperate for at least a dozen or more Yuan Epochs before he could possibly replenish it.

Di Jiang's entire body was normally crimson, but now his face had turned pale, and he was visibly weak. Yet he paid it no mind, grinned, and flicked a finger.

The drop of heart's blood bearing the Space Principle Dao markings merged into the flesh cocoon containing Xiang Dong. Without knowing a thing about it, Xiang Dong absorbed it, and it became a part of him.

Looking at the little flesh cocoon, whose presence had grown much steadier after absorbing his heart's blood, Di Jiang felt a surge of pride as the eldest brother.

His little brother had given so much for them. The little he had given back as the eldest brother amounted to nothing and fell far short of what his little brother had given, so he still had to keep working hard.

"Little brother, when you're born, big brother will have your back. Your other brothers and sisters will protect you too."

Di Jiang patted his chest as he made his promise, but he struck a little too hard. Already far too weak, he sent himself into a fit of coughing.

So he stopped forcing himself and began regulating his breath to recover.

As Di Jiang entered a deep state of recuperation, Pangu Hall once again sank into its eternal silence. Even the churning of the blood pool grew gentler, and everything seemed so peaceful.

In the mountains, the sixty-year cycles passed unnoticed; in the Primordial World, no one counted the years.

Flowers bloomed and fell through who knew how many Yuan Epochs.

Pangu Hall was silent, but the world outside had long since been swept up in rising winds and surging clouds, as a magnificent legend unfolded.

Xiang Dong's consciousness remained asleep, but his tiny flesh cocoon in the center of the blood pool was quietly undergoing changes because of Di Jiang's heart's blood.

Xiang Dong's two Principles, Light and Creation, had come from Pangu's heart's blood and the jade marrow. Both Principles were imprinted upon his primordial spirit.

Of the two, the Light Principle suited him best and naturally became the core. As the flesh cocoon developed, Xiang Dong's alt soaking in the blood pool became the thirteenth Ancestral Witch.

The Light Principle thus became Xiang Dong's innate Principle, just as each of the Twelve Ancestral Witches naturally possessed a Principle of their own.

The Light Principle was primary, with the Creation Principle supporting it. And now, beside the imprints of those two Principles, a hazy yet profound Dao marking was slowly taking shape.

It was the imprint of the Space Principle.

Back then, to help Xiang Dong reach Buzhou Mountain faster, Yangmei had very kindly taught him the Space Great Dao, and had thoughtfully given him Enlightenment Tea to help him learn and comprehend it quickly.

Although the final result had been less than ideal, Xiang Dong had still gained an introductory grasp of the Space Great Dao. In his hands, combined with the Light and Creation Principles, it had produced quite a few new tricks.

And now, with Di Jiang's Space Principle as a catalyst, Xiang Dong had gained a Dao-marked Principle imprint of his own. Moreover, his Space Principle differed from those of Di Jiang and Yangmei, leaning more toward the scientific side.

Light, creation, space.

Within Xiang Dong's primordial spirit, the three began to resonate in a wondrous way, attracting and repelling one another.

But as Xiang Dong's alt continued to develop in the blood pool, the barriers between the three were also steadily being dissolved, spurring them to merge toward a higher level.

Now and then, an almost imperceptible ripple of space appeared on the flesh cocoon's surface, only to vanish again.

Then Xiang Dong's consciousness sank into a state between sleep and wakefulness, as though he were dreaming one vast, bizarre dream.

Xiang Dong dreamed that his consciousness had broken through some kind of barrier. It suddenly became light and weightless, able to follow the light to any corner of the Primordial Land.

The Sun Star, the Moon Star, the Innate Spirit Root sunflower at the foot of Buzhou Mountain, and the Acquired Spirit Root sunflowers spreading across the Primordial Land—the light from all of them was a part of Xiang Dong.

Because of that, his "dream" went from a little one-man show to a live broadcast of a grand documentary on the Primordial World.

The first thing to meet his "eyes" was the blazing spectacle of the three clans battling for supremacy.

With the gloom of the Beast Calamity dispersed, Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth grew ever more abundant. Heaven and earth became clear, all things flourished, and the curtain slowly rose on an era of unprecedented prosperity.

The Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin Clans, as the protagonists destined by heaven in this era, were naturally the most dazzling stars on the entire Primordial continent.

The three clans' fortunes blazed like rainbows, and they multiplied without the slightest restraint. Thus came a time when their clansmen walked everywhere and Great Luo were worth less than dogs.

Across the Four Seas, dragons roared, and all was Dragon Clan territory; above the nine heavens, phoenix cries rang clear, and all the Feather Clan submitted; across the Primordial Land, wherever qilins trod, the beasts bowed their heads.

A triangle was stable, but a three-way balance of power could not last forever.

Xiang Dong knew full well that a great war to decide who would rule the Primordial World was bound to erupt.

And that war would have no winner—or rather, the greatest winner would be the Heavenly Dao.

The Dragon Clan was the most numerous because the Ancestral Dragon was the most direct, the most brute-force, and the least inclined to beat around the bush. Using his own formidable bloodline as the source, he filled his harem and continually produced offspring.

That was how the dragon came to have nine sons, each different from the others.

Xiang Dong nearly shook his head off as he "watched." What was the Ancestral Dragon doing, treating having children like a gacha game?

The result of the Ancestral Dragon's mad expansion of the card pool was that the Dragon Clan's numbers in the Four Seas grew like dumplings being tipped into a pot, pouring out in vast masses.