The Other Side of the Mountain, the Nine-Clawed Golden Dragon [Please Keep Reading and Vote with Monthly Tickets]

He took one last, lingering look at the boundless vista atop Buzhou Mountain, searing the sweeping grandeur of "all other mountains dwarfed beneath his gaze" and the insights it had brought deep into his heart, then resolutely turned away.

Rather than retrace his steps, he chose to descend along the other side of Buzhou Mountain, down a steeper, more treacherous slope seldom trodden by anyone.

The terrain here was bizarre, with towering, jagged boulders, countless bottomless fissures, and deep, ancient natural caves. Perhaps undiscovered opportunities lay hidden among them.

Though the omnipresent Pangu pressure still weighed upon him as he descended, climbing had meant going against the current, as though struggling against the mighty force of all heaven and earth. Now that he moved with it, the journey was more than ten times easier.

His figure drifted like smoke, like a weightless green leaf floating naturally down the precipitous mountainside.

At times, a light touch of his toes against a jutting rock sent him gliding hundreds of zhang. His movements flowed effortlessly, untouched by the slightest hint of earthly clumsiness.

His cultivation as a Da Luo Golden Immortal and his formidable physique gave him exquisite control over every ounce of strength and every circulation of his breath. He moved exceedingly fast, yet remained composed and utterly at ease.

He descended to roughly halfway down the mountain, reaching a secluded stretch of rugged terrain wreathed in thick clouds and mist.

Lord Wanshouyuan briefly checked his swift descent. Something suddenly stirred within him, as though an exceedingly faint, peculiar fluctuation, utterly unlike the immense Pangu pressure, had brushed across his keen awareness like a pebble dropped into a tranquil lake.

The fluctuation was extremely subtle. Had he not just broken through, greatly sharpening his divine sense, and possessed such tremendous fortune, he might well have overlooked it.

He immediately steadied himself in midair and swiftly cast his divine sense outward like an enormous invisible net, probing as carefully as the most precise instrument to determine the exact location and nature of that strange sensation.

A moment later, his deep gaze pierced the layers of mist and settled on the foot of a blue-black cliff not far below, sheer as a blade-cut wall and etched with the marks of time.

Countless thick, ancient, dark-green vines covered it in tangled layers, while heaps of oddly shaped, heavily weathered stones further concealed it. Without a careful sweep of divine sense, it would have been easy to miss the vast, deep cave mouth seemingly hidden behind those vines and rocks.

That faint fluctuation, carrying a sense of noble grandeur yet also desolate vastness, drifted from within the cave like the breathing of a slumbering giant beast.

"Could there be... another hidden opportunity here?"

Wariness rose in Lord Wanshouyuan's heart, but he could not suppress a flicker of curiosity and the urge to investigate.

Buzhou Mountain was unfathomably mysterious, formed from Pangu's spine and filled with legacies of the creation of heaven and earth. Since he had sensed something, destined affinity had led him here. There was no reason to let it pass.

He completely restrained his aura and reduced his presence to the barest trace. Like a green shadow merging into the surroundings, he slowly descended and landed silently before the concealed cave entrance.

Reaching out, he parted the ancient vines hanging like a curtain, their growth spanning untold tens of thousands of years, and revealed a pitch-black cave of unknowable depth.

There was no sinister chill or sense of evil within. Instead, it exuded an indescribable aura of noble grandeur and immense vastness, tinged with an age-old loneliness and desolation.

The peculiar fluctuation grew somewhat clearer here, stirring his mind.

After a brief moment of consideration, Lord Wanshouyuan kindled a small azure flame of Yi Wood at his fingertip, pure and brimming with vitality. It was not dazzling, but illuminated several zhang ahead. At the same time, green light faintly shimmered around him as he quietly brought his protective spiritual radiance to its strongest state. Only then did he cautiously enter the cave.

At first, the cave was rather narrow, allowing only a few people to walk abreast. Its walls were the hard, cold stone of Buzhou Mountain, tempered by endless pressure. Yet the deeper he ventured, the wider the passage became, and the rock walls grew extraordinarily smooth, as though some mighty force had scoured and polished them over countless years.

After only a few hundred zhang, the space suddenly opened before him. The light had not grown brighter, but the surroundings abruptly expanded into an immense natural cavern, as though the mountain's interior had been hollowed out.

The cavern's vaulted ceiling rose high overhead, vanishing into darkness beyond sight.

And there, at the center of that vast cavern, Lord Wanshouyuan's pupils abruptly contracted, and an expression of incredulous shock crossed his face!

What met his eyes was a dragon! A golden divine dragon of such suffocating immensity that his coiled form alone resembled a small mountain!

The dragon lay coiled, his body, at a rough glance, several hundred zhang long!

His head drooped slightly, resting upon his coils, and his enormous eyes were tightly shut, as though he had fallen into an eternal slumber.

Even so, the innate majesty of an Emperor of all beasts who looked down upon the world, together with a supremely noble aura born of his very bloodline, still permeated the entire cavern, exerting tremendous invisible pressure.

His body was covered in densely arranged golden scales, each the size of a bowl's mouth. Every scale was smooth as a mirror and gleamed with a pure, mysterious golden luster, as though forged from the purest essence of innate Geng metal blended with supreme Dao resonance—utterly indestructible.

His outstretched claws were powerful and sinewy, each with nine distinct digits whose tips flashed with cold light. This was unmistakably the legendary nine-clawed form, the noblest of all, symbolizing the pinnacle of imperial authority!

"A Nine-Clawed Golden Dragon?!"

Lord Wanshouyuan's heart jolted violently. He instinctively retreated half a step, instantly raising his great Luo magical power to its peak. His green protective divine radiance flickered fiercely as he braced himself, ready to meet an attack or flee a thousand miles at any moment.

As far as he knew, the Primordial Wilderness had only recently been created, and heaven and earth order had only just settled. The Three Innate Races—the dragons, phoenixes, and kirin—were still gestating or had only just come into being.

They were far from the age when they would dominate the Primordial Wilderness and reveal their peerless might, let alone produce a Nine-Clawed Golden Dragon, the supreme being of the Dragon Clan with the purest, noblest bloodline!

How could he have appeared ahead of time in this hidden cavern halfway up Buzhou Mountain? Just how terrifying would his strength be? Could this be some kind of trap?

He remained tensely on guard for a long while, but the anticipated retaliation of dragon might, thunderous roar, or terrifying spell never came.

The colossal golden dragon remained silently coiled where he was, utterly motionless, like a golden sculpture that had endured since time immemorial. Apart from the majestic aura filling the cavern, there was not the slightest fluctuation of life. The deathly stillness was unnerving.

Lord Wanshouyuan frowned slightly. Suppressing his shock and doubt, he cautiously extended his divine sense once more. This time he was even more careful, letting it approach the immense dragon's body as gently as the softest feather, probing more deeply and minutely in an attempt to understand this bizarre situation.

This time, his keen senses detected something amiss.

Though the dragon's body was incomparably solid, and his energy vast, immense, and supremely pure, far surpassing that of any living creature Lord Wanshouyuan had ever seen, he lacked the active soul fluctuations and vitality that a true living being should possess.

His body was not composed of actual flesh, blood, and scales, but of something... purer, more fundamental—a special form of existence blending several supreme powers!