Primordial Wilderness: Mythical Grand Unity, Saints Beg Me Not to Show Off

In the center of the cavern and on the stone platforms around it, enormous dragon shadows coiled, their auras vast yet terrifyingly weak!

These dragon shadows varied in form and color, but without exception, they all exuded an ancient, weathered air, and a majesty that seemed on the verge of extinguishing!

Their bodies were wrapped in black karmic energy a hundred times denser than that of the Azure Dragon.

Some even bore distinct mottled patches of death energy on their forms, their massive dragon heads hanging low, their breathing faint, their vitality like a candle flickering in the wind, as if they might fall into eternal silence at any moment!

This was the final foundation of the Dragon Clan—the Dragon Clan Elders who had barely clung to life since the ancient Primordial Wilderness!

Ao Chen's gaze swept slowly across them.

At the center, the one with the most vast yet weakest aura was an ancient dragon of unimaginable size, its body a dim, candle-like yellow. Its eyes were tightly shut, as if lost in eternal slumber.

But the faint Time Dao resonance and the pressure of a peak Golden Immortal of the Origin radiating from it revealed its former identity—the Candle Dragon.

She was the younger sister of the Ancestral Dragon, and thus also revered as the Dragon Mother!

Not far from the Candle Dragon coiled another dragon, its body a deep azure, its scales ancient, its aura heavy as a mountain. Its condition was slightly better.

But only relatively so—karmic energy clung to it, its aura fluctuating around the mid-stage Golden Immortal of the Origin. This was another Dragon Clan Elder, the Azure Dragon!

Beyond these two strongest, there was another dragon whose aura matched the Azure Dragon's, seemingly wielding the power of earth and mountains—the Xiang Dragon.

Further away were two more dragons whose auras had already fallen to the peak of the Great Luo, yet whose foundational Dao resonance was exceptionally profound, seemingly tied to the void—the Tai Xu Dragon and the Kong Dragon.

Add to that the five ancient dragons coiled on the surrounding stone platforms, their auras also at the peak of the Great Luo, and beyond them, dozens more with auras ranging from early to mid-stage Great Luo, along with several hundred old dragons at the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal level...

This was all that remained of the Dragon Clan's hidden strength!

Seeing this sight, even Ao Chen, whose state of mind was far from ordinary, couldn't help but feel a shock inwardly!

"Good heavens! No wonder they were once the overlords of the Primordial Wilderness!" he sighed to himself.

"A dying camel is still bigger than a horse! Just among these surviving elders, there are four Quasi-Sages, seven at the peak of the Great Luo, and dozens of ordinary Great Luo..."

"With strength like this, even in today's Primordial Wilderness, it's a force that would make any power think twice!"

One could imagine how mighty and glorious the Dragon Clan must have been before the Dragon-Han Calamity, at its peak!

Ruling the Four Seas, commanding all scaled beings—even the current Witch and Demon Clans probably couldn't compare!

What a pity—bound by boundless karmic debt and shackled by causal chains, no matter how deep their foundation, they could only struggle on in this sunless Dragon Abyss, waiting for final extinction.

As if sensing the arrival of the Azure Dragon and his group, a few of the coiled dragon shadows slowly opened their murky dragon eyes, their gazes weak as they looked toward the Azure Dragon.

"Azure Dragon, what is it?" The Azure Dragon's aged, feeble voice rang out, tinged with exhaustion.

"Cough... elders..."

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, the Azure Dragon bowed to the assembled elders and then spoke eagerly.

"I have come today to bring a glimmer of hope to our clan—Heaven has not abandoned us dragons!"

With that, he recounted in full detail the appearance of Ao Chen, the Myriad Calamities Furnace Body he had created, and the profound mystery of this method—how it could refine karmic energy and Sha Qi, using calamity to nurture the body!

To add weight to his words, he immediately activated the Myriad Calamities Furnace Body technique on the spot, carefully drawing in a wisp of the surrounding black karmic energy and death energy, pulling it into his body, and painstakingly "smelting" it with his remaining dragon essence and blood energy!

Though the process was still slow and the effect negligible, the profound process of truly converting negative energy into nourishment for the self was clearly displayed before all the Dragon Clan Elders!

For a moment, the entire cavern fell into a deathly silence!

Every Dragon Clan Elder who had opened their eyes—whether Quasi-Sage or Great Luo—froze in place like statues!

Their murky dragon eyes first showed bewilderment, then disbelief!

Then!

"Boom—!"

An indescribable wave of emotion, a mix of excitement, ecstasy, and shock, erupted like a tangible storm from these ancient dragon bodies!

The powerful auras even stirred the dense black karmic mist into violent churning!

Some of the weaker-willed old dragons, their cultivation slightly inferior, trembled violently from the overwhelming emotion, causing the stone platforms beneath them to groan and crack, agitating the karmic energy within them and forcing out suppressed, pained moans!

"Groan..."

The Candle Dragon, the largest of them all, whose eyelids had been shut for countless eons, now trembled violently, as if gathering the strength of ages to force them open a crack!

A sliver of faint yet immensely majestic aura leaked out, shaking the entire Dragon Abyss!

The Azure Dragon himself jerked up his massive dragon head, which had hung low for who knows how many years, his death-marked dragon eyes fixed intently on the Azure Dragon.

His heavy breathing sounded like a bellows, his enormous frame trembling slightly from excitement, stirring the surrounding karmic mist into a violent surge!

His azure dragon claws instinctively scraped the ground, carving several deep furrows into the hard black crystal floor!

The Xiang Dragon, the Tai Xu Dragon, the Kong Dragon...

Every elder who could still move struggled to lift their heads, focusing their gazes on the Azure Dragon, on that seemingly insignificant yet infinitely hopeful operation of the technique!

Refining karmic energy? Using calamity to nurture the body?

This... how was this possible?

How many eons had they been plagued by this accursed karmic debt?

How many methods had they tried? What prices had they paid? In the end, they could only watch helplessly as they were slowly eroded, heading toward extinction!

But now, someone was telling them there existed a technique that could let them, relying on themselves alone, refine this bone-gnawing Karmic Debt into nourishment for their own growth?

Was this... was this real?

"Roar... wail..."

A low, suppressed dragon's cry, brimming with uncontrollable excitement and longing, burst from the mouth of one of the Elders, shattering the dead silence!

That sound was no longer the weakness of before; instead, it carried a faint sense of long-lost power!

Then, one after another, low growls, heavy panting, and even sobs that could barely be held back began to rise!

It was the raw outpouring of emotion after countless ages of despair, suddenly catching sight of dawn!

It was the primal cry of life, suppressed for ten thousand epochs, finally breaking free!

All the Elders' gazes, as if pulled by a single thread, focused sharply on the young Dragon Clan man who had been standing quietly beside the Azure Dragon, his aura seeming only at the Heavenly Immortal level.

Their eyes were filled with excitement, ecstasy, disbelief, and a scorching emotion named "hope" that threatened to drown Ao Chen entirely.

Like a drowning man staring at a god descending from the heavens.

At that moment, the Candle Dragon, who had kept his eyes tightly shut, trembled all the more violently.

Finally, he forced his eyelids open a sliver, and a gaze containing the vicissitudes and majesty of endless ages fell upon Ao Chen. A weak but clear voice slowly sounded:

"This technique... who... created it?"

Chapter 47: The Candle Dragon's Amazement, Ten Thousand Dragons Roar Shake the East Sea

"Ao Chen greets all fellow Daoists."

Ao Chen stepped forward, calmly clasped his hands in a bow toward the assembly of Dragon Clan Elders in the cavern, whose auras ranged from strong to weak but all bore the mark of ancient vicissitudes.

Since the Azure Dragon had told him to address them as fellow Daoists, he saw no need to lower his own status before these other Elders.

His address of "fellow Daoist" stunned the already emotionally stirred Elders once more.

Though the Azure Dragon had already recounted Ao Chen's creation of the technique, the impact was still immense when this youth, whose aura was merely that of a Heavenly Immortal, truly stood before them as an equal.

Was it really him?

All the Dragon Clan Elders stared at Ao Chen in astonishment.

"To create such a technique, which grants our Dragon Clan a second chance at life, he is indeed worthy of the Azure Dragon calling him 'fellow Daoist.'"

A voice, carrying some authority yet hard to conceal its weakness, broke the silence, tinged with the scrutiny of an old hand.

The speaker was the Azure Dragon. His massive dragon head lifted slightly, and his murky dragon eyes looked Ao Chen up and down.

"Azure Dragon! What do you mean by that?"

Before Ao Chen could respond, the Azure Dragon beside him grew angry. He whipped his head around and barked.

"Fellow Daoist Ao Chen's strength is heaven-defying, far beyond what you or I can fathom! For him to call you a fellow Daoist is your honor, not something to be summed up by mere technique creation!"

The Azure Dragon had personally experienced Ao Chen's terrifying power, which could suppress a Quasi-Sage with a wave of his hand. Hearing the Azure Dragon speak with such dismissive posturing now, he immediately defended Ao Chen.

"Oh? Is that so?"

The Azure Dragon's eyes narrowed at this, clearly unconvinced, and he said with a hint of mockery.

"Azure Dragon, I think the Karmic Debt has addled your wits! This child's aura is merely that of a Heavenly Immortal. Even if he has some talent for creating techniques, how strong could he really be?"

"Could he possibly stand shoulder to shoulder with us Quasi-Sages? Don't forget your place!"

He was about to continue lecturing the Azure Dragon with his seniority when a voice, even older, even more majestic, as if from the end of the River of Time, cut him off.

"Azure Dragon, silence."

It was the Candle Dragon, the Dragon Mother of the Dragon Clan!

From the slit of his hard-won open eye, two beams of dim yellow light shot forth, as if they could pierce through past and present, locking firmly onto Ao Chen.

This time, his gaze was no longer merely one of amazement; it was filled with deep gravity, even carrying a hint of wariness that he himself could not understand.

"Incredible. Truly incredible."