After Long Qingyue explained the situation surrounding the Super Dragon Phoenix Pool, the atmosphere eased.
Zi Yan looked at Long Qingyue sitting across from her, confusion flickering in her purple-gold dragon eyes in the firelight as she asked,
"Qing Yue, since you're the Little Princess of Dragon Battle Palace, and your father is an Earth Sovereign, your family must be a formidable power in the Northern Domain. How does Snake God Hall dare send people to hunt you down so openly?"
"Aren't they afraid your father will storm Snake God Hall in a rage and demand justice?"
Zi Yan's question was blunt, but as the Dragon Emperor of the Ancient Void Dragon Clan, she knew that when a faction had a supreme expert at its helm, anyone intending to harm that expert's direct descendants would have to weigh the consequences.
Snake God Hall knew Long Qingyue's identity, yet still dared to send a Fifth Grade Sovereign like She Wan to pursue her openly. There had to be more to the story.
Zi Yan's words seemed to touch a sore spot, and Long Qingyue's expression visibly dimmed.
Long Qingyue's shoulders slumped slightly, and her face, already pale in the firelight, took on an even more ashen cast.
She lowered her lashes, looking at her hands folded in her lap. Only after a long silence did she finally speak. "Because... Dragon Battle Palace has grown weaker and weaker over these past few decades."
"Tell us about it," Lin Ming said.
Long Qingyue nodded and slowly began her account.
"It's a long story. It begins when my father was young."
Long Qingyue's gaze settled on the dancing flames. Her eyes gradually grew distant and unfocused, as though she could see through the orange-red firelight into events from years ago—events she had never witnessed,