The Crown Prince's Gift, the Legend of Bioluo Gorge

The Crown Prince's Gift, the Legend of Bioluo Gorge

Chen Ming had yet to learn how far the rumors outside had spread, because an important problem no less threatening than Dugu Bo now stood before him.

"His Highness the Crown Prince invited me to the Seven Treasures Grand Restaurant three days from now? You're sure you didn't get that wrong?"

Looking at the servant from the Crown Prince's residence standing before his courtyard, Chen Ming pointed at himself in disbelief, seemingly unable to understand what merit he possessed to draw the attention of the current Crown Prince.

"That is correct. This is an invitation from His Highness the Crown Prince, and I hope you will honor us with your presence. No outsiders will attend the meeting in three days' time; only His Highness and yourself will speak. Please accept this invitation, along with the gift from my Master."

The servant, dressed in fine robes, wore a smile and spoke neither obsequiously nor arrogantly. With a slight movement of his arm, he took out a three-foot-wide wooden box from the Storage Soul Tool at his waist, which resembled an ornament.

The box itself had been crafted from the body of some plant-type Soul Beast. Though Chen Ming did not know how long ago it had been made into a box, it still carried a faint fragrance of grass and wood. A light sniff was enough to make the Soul Power within his body accelerate slightly, showing just how valuable it was.

The moment the box appeared, Chen Ming felt the Martial Soul within him stir. Yet the source of that disturbance was not the box itself, but the object hidden inside it.

Chen Ming glanced at the servant sent by the Crown Prince's residence. His expression was somewhat complicated, but he still reached out and accepted the wooden box.

As the lid lifted slightly, the object stored within began to emit Soul Power Fluctuations, and the agitation of Chen Ming's Martial Soul became even more pronounced.

With his keen eyesight, Chen Ming identified the object in the box in less than a second. He then reached out and touched it. Once he confirmed that it truly was what he had imagined, he could not help falling silent.

It was a small piece of green stone that seemed weathered away, covered in strange patterns. Though it appeared to have lain dormant for a long time, once exposed to the air, it still drew in the surrounding Soul Power, breathing in and out like a living creature.

The moment he circulated a little Soul Power, a powerful pressure surged from within the stone. Even though Chen Ming had been prepared, it still forced him back several steps before he could steady himself.

"This is... a remnant of an Azure Sky Jade Dragon?"

"Precisely." The servant from the Crown Prince's residence smiled, clearly unsurprised that Chen Ming recognized the item.

"Speaking of which, this item has deep ties to your family. Since it was placed in the national treasury several centuries ago, no one has ever been able to use it, leaving this treasure buried in dust for hundreds of years. With your talents, I am sure you will be able to put it to proper use."

"Then I truly must thank the Crown Prince for this gift."

Closing the lid, the smile on Chen Ming's face became noticeably more sincere. He could not help marveling inwardly that Qian Renxue truly was someone capable of great things.

The Azure Sky Jade Dragon was a Super Soul Beast. It was said to possess the bloodline inheritance of the Divine Beast Azure Dragon, though there were many differing accounts regarding its origins.

Some claimed that this Soul Beast had originally been a lesser dragon creature, such as a Dragonblood Centipede. It had supposedly obtained an Azure Dragon's Dragon Pearl by chance, thereby acquiring the Azure Dragon Bloodline and giving rise to the Azure Sky Jade Dragon race.

Others said that this Soul Beast had always been a descendant of the Azure Dragon, but for various reasons, the attributes within its bloodline had reversed or become contaminated by external forces. Its original life and lightning attributes had thus transformed into death and poison.

Yet regardless of the explanation, this Soul Beast was indeed recognized by Douluo Continent's Soul Masters as a Super Soul Beast possessing the bloodline inheritance of the Divine Beast Azure Dragon.

This Soul Beast was originally dark purple, resembling a centipede. It shed its skin once every hundred years, and every molt was a trial of life and death. With each molt, its body grew larger, its bloodline drew closer to that of the Azure Dragon, and its appearance gradually shifted from dark purple to blue-green.

Every ten thousand years, one segment of its body underwent Dragon Transformation. At ninety thousand years, its entire body would completely take on the form of an Azure Dragon, with only the dragon horns atop its head remaining purple. That was a sign that the poison and death attributes within its body had grown to their ultimate limit.

It was said that when it overcame the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast Heavenly Tribulation, those two attributes would undergo their ultimate ascension and reverse once more into the lightning and life that the Azure Dragon should have commanded. It would gain the power to summon wind and rain, command thunder, and wield lightning.

At that point, it would become an Azure Dragon possessing the four great attributes of life, death, lightning, and poison.

However, these were only theoretical studies. In reality, it seemed that no one had ever discovered such a Soul Beast truly transforming into a four-attribute Azure Dragon. It was said that there had been quite a few of these Soul Beasts on Douluo Continent ten thousand years ago. Yet for some unknown reason, none had ever been seen overcoming the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast Heavenly Tribulation and truly becoming an Azure Dragon.

As for why Chen Ming knew so much about this legendary Soul Beast?

Naturally, it was because, just as the servant from the Crown Prince's residence had said, it truly had deep ties to the Chen Family.

It was said that a Super Soul Beast with poison attributes had fallen outside Biluo City, in Bioluo Gorge, before overcoming its Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast Heavenly Tribulation. In truth, however, this was more than just a legend.

When Biluo City had first been built, the Chen Family had also received an order from the Heaven Dou royal family to search for the remains left behind by a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. While exploring the depths of Bioluo Gorge, the Chen Family discovered the place where that Soul Beast had fallen and found the remnant it had left behind.

That's right, that legendary Soul Beast had been an Azure Sky Jade Dragon. It was an unlucky creature said to have already become half an Azure Dragon, with the death attribute in its body having reversed into life, only to fall at the threshold where its lightning and poison attributes were meant to transform into one another.

Logically speaking, a Soul Beast killed by a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast Heavenly Tribulation should have been reduced to ashes, leaving behind hardly any remains. Yet perhaps because the Azure Sky Jade Dragon was both immensely powerful and of noble bloodline, while most of its body had turned to ash, this piece of remnant had remained.

The remnant of an Azure Sky Jade Dragon was certainly tempting, but the Chen Family had not dared to hide it away. After trying every possible method and failing to scrape even a trace of debris from it, they obediently handed it over to the Heaven Dou royal family and accepted the reward offered by the royal court.

After all, the Heaven Dou Empire of that era had not yet become as rotten as it was now. Though there were still countless nobles large and small within the country, all of them had to bow their heads before the Emperor of that generation. Imperial authority was highly centralized. It was one of the few eras when the Heaven Dou Empire could contend with the neighboring Star Luo Empire using the strength of the entire nation.

Chen Ming's grandfather, Chen Shijie, had once complained to him that if their ancestor had been bolder and kept that piece of Azure Sky Jade Dragon remnant, there might not have been so much trouble later on.

Even if that thing could not be used directly, water it had been soaked in would have been a treasure for poison-attribute Soul Masters to cultivate with. If a poison-attribute Soul Master hugged it while sleeping, their Soul Power would be slowly drawn along and increase.

With such a treasure, their descendants would not have been affected by the Bilin Seven Absolute Flower to the point where their inheritance had nearly been cut off.

Who could have imagined that this treasure, which had slipped away from the hands of their ancestors, would make its way back to Chen Ming after several centuries?

If the Chen Family ancestor and the Emperor of that generation, who had carefully locked this remnant away in the treasury, knew about it, they would probably be so furious that they would leap straight out of their graves.

"Such are the twists of fate." Chen Ming sighed, yet a few traces of yearning for strength rose within him.

On Douluo Continent, power did not equal strength, but strength absolutely equaled power.

Right now, he still had to watch other people's expressions. But if he had enough strength, wouldn't the treasuries of the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires be his for the choosing?