Setting the Stage

Chapter 20: Setting the Stage

In the Dragon Domain, after many days, Long Jiuyyao returned to his courtyard, this time accompanied by the Golden Sun Nether Lion Cub in his arms.

As soon as he reached the courtyard entrance, a beautiful figure rushed towards Long Jiuyyao like a swallow returning to its nest.

"Brother, you're back! What's that in your arms?" Yuan Xin asked.

"A Golden Sun Nether Lion Cub. Its name is Jin Ming," Long Jiuyyao explained.

"Ah! This is the Golden Sun Nether Lion that disappeared long ago!" Yuan Xin snatched Jin Ming from Long Jiuyyao's arms.

Just as he was about to remind Yuan Xin to be careful, he noticed that Jin Ming was very friendly towards Yuan Xin. He realized that Jin Ming wasn't as fierce as when he first met it.

"Xin'er, play with Jin Ming for a while. Brother will treat you to barbecue," Long Jiuyyao said with a smile.

"Brother, what is barbecue?"

"You'll know soon enough."

Long Jiuyyao set up a grill in the center of the courtyard. These were acquired in Dragon Hawk City, and the ingredients were the meat of the Patterned Scale Crimson Flood Dragon.

The seasonings were high-grade Spiritual Medicine that grew in the Dragon Domain. He accidentally discovered these while collecting Spiritual Medicine to prepare for medicinal baths. Compared to the taste from his previous life, it was worlds apart.

There were countless Spiritual Medicines in the Dragon Domain, and Long Jiuyyao found dozens that could replace the seasonings from his previous life.

This was the fundamental reason why Long Jiuyyao asked Elder Yan to kill the Patterned Scale Crimson Flood Dragon.

Long Jiuyyao took out a short knife. With a flash of light, hundreds of bamboo skewers appeared before him. A large piece of Flood Dragon Breast Meat was cut into small pieces.

Long Jiuyyao skewered the meat, lit the grill, and placed the skewers on it. With a wave of his hand, several bottles of seasoning were arranged in a row.

Long Jiuyyao sprinkled the seasonings one by one. The aroma filled the air, and Yuan Xin, who was playing with Jin Ming in the distance, immediately looked towards Long Jiuyyao's location.

Yuan Xin even abandoned Jin Ming and came straight to Long Jiuyyao.

"Brother, is this the barbecue you mentioned? It smells so good!" Yuan Xin said joyfully.

"Haha, you can eat it soon," Long Jiuyyao said, his hands not stopping.

Jin Ming, in the distance, also smelled the aroma wafting through the air. It came to Long Jiuyyao's pant leg and rubbed against it, its meaning clear.

"Got it, there's some for you too."

"Roar roar roar!" Jin Ming roared happily.

"Alright, Xin'er, take Jin Ming to the pavilion over there." Long Jiuyyao brought all the grilled Flood Dragon Meat to the pavilion.

Long Jiuyyao gave Yuan Xin a skewer and also gave one to Jin Ming. He picked up a skewer himself and began to eat the hometown delicacy from his previous life.

Yuan Xin, who had just finished a skewer, began to devour the food voraciously, eating delicacies she had never tasted before. Jin Ming also ate the roasted meat in large mouthfuls.

Time passed, and hundreds of skewers of Flood Dragon Meat were finished, most of them ending up in Yuan Xin and Jin Ming's stomachs.

Yuan Xin lay flat on the stone bench in the Stone Pavilion, while Jin Ming lay in Long Jiuyyao's arms.

Suddenly, the surrounding space rippled, and a Middle-aged Man in Linen Clothes appeared in the Stone Pavilion.

"Xin'er, what kind of deportment is this?" Yuan Gan shook his head.

"Dad!" Yuan Xin, who had been lying down, sat up instantly and exclaimed.

"Yao'er, it seems you've gained quite a bit this time. I didn't expect there to be a cub of the Golden Sun Nether Lion at that auction," Yuan Gan said, looking at Jin Ming in Long Jiuyyao's arms.

Yuan Gan waved his sleeve, and Jin Ming was separated from Long Jiuyyao's embrace and lifted by Yuan Gan.

Yuan Gan examined the cub in his hand. A golden light flashed in its golden pupils, and then he returned the cub to Long Jiuyyao.

"Yao'er, you've struck gold this time. This is an anomalous bloodline of the Golden Sun Nether Lion clan," Yuan Gan said with emotion.

"What?" Long Jiuyyao touched his head, confused.

"Do you know what the top beast with a Lion Beast Bloodline is?"

Long Jiuyyao shook his head.

"The second-ranked beast with a Lion Beast Bloodline is the Golden Sun Nether Lion bloodline. The first-ranked bloodline also originates from the Golden Sun Nether Lion clan, but such a bloodline has only appeared once from beginning to end."

"Do you know what the top bloodline among tiger-type beast bloodlines is?" Yuan Gan asked Long Jiuyyao.

"Dark Sacred Tiger Bloodline," Long Jiuyyao nodded.

"Yes, and the Blood Sun Nether Lion, the top-ranked beast with a Lion Beast Bloodline, mutated from the Golden Sun Nether Lion. The Blood Sun Nether Lion is a beast on par with the Dark Sacred Tiger and is the common ancestor of all lion-type beasts."

"If he hadn't fallen, under his leadership, the Golden Sun Nether Lion clan would likely have become a dominant race in the Demon Domain."

"However, he fell prematurely in that ancient war, and since then, the Golden Sun Nether Lion clan has gradually retreated from the stage of history. Therefore, descriptions of the Blood Sun Nether Lion are very scarce, with only a few brief mentions."

"The cub in your arms possesses a trace of the Blood Sun Nether Lion bloodline. The cluster of blood-red mane on its forehead is proof," Yuan Gan said, patting Long Jiuyyao's shoulder.

Long Jiuyyao looked at Jin Ming in his arms, not expecting its bloodline to be so powerful.

"Dad, how can Jin Ming completely evolve into a Blood Sun Nether Lion?" Long Jiuyyao asked.

"I don't know. Perhaps devouring powerful beast bloodlines can promote its evolution, but it must be a Lion Beast Bloodline superior to its own," Yuan Gan said uncertainly.

"Ugh! Just say it needs to devour the Blood Sun Nether Lion bloodline. But the Blood Sun Nether Lion has long been extinct. Where can I find it!" Long Jiuyyao said regretfully.

"You brat, that's not necessarily true. There is still one Blood Sun Nether Lion on the Tian Xuan Continent," Yuan Gan comforted him.

"Dad, are you talking about the Blood Sun Nether Lion that perished in the ancient war?" Long Jiuyyao's eyes lit up.

"Yes, as long as we obtain its residual bones, Jin Ming can undergo bone replacement and advance to become a Blood Sun Nether Lion," Yuan Gan nodded.

"Do you know where its residual bones are? Or rather, where it perished?" Long Jiuyyao asked again.

"I don't know where the residual bones are, but its place of demise seems to be in the North Profound Domain!" Yuan Gan shook his head.

"The North Profound Domain, that's where the Dark Temple headquarters is located. In the North Profound Domain, the Dark Temple is the supreme ruler," Long Jiuyyao murmured.

The Dark Temple's status in the North Profound Domain was akin to the Dragon Clan's status in the Demon Domain, or perhaps even higher.

This was because in the North Profound Domain, the Dark Temple was the sole power that dictated the rules. In contrast, the Demon Domain was a balance of power among the Four Hegemons, each ruling a quadrant of the Demon Domain, with none submitting to the other.

Of course, the Dragon Clan was the universally acknowledged leader of the Four Hegemons. This was because the Dragon Clan's Six-Fingered Sacred Dragon Emperor had once unified the beast world. Although the beast world had fragmented again after his demise, this did not affect the Dragon Clan's position as the leader of the Four Hegemons.

Long Jiuyyao stroked Jin Ming in his arms. "It seems I'll have to make a trip to the North Profound Domain in the future."

Jin Ming looked up at the pensive Long Jiuyyao, its small lion head nudging Long Jiuyyao's chest.

"Heh heh, we will go to the North Profound Domain in the future," Long Jiuyyao said with a smile.

"Yao'er, there's only one month left until the secret treasure event. Prepare well. And Xin'er, don't be lazy either," Yuan Gan reminded them.

"Got it, Old Dad," Yuan Xin waved her hand.

Yuan Gan departed, leaving only Long Jiuyyao, his sister, and Jin Ming in the stone pavilion once more.

Long Jiuyyao exchanged a few words with Yuan Xin and also left the stone pavilion.

In his room, Long Jiuyyao leaned back in his chair and muttered, "I wonder what stage the plot has reached. It seems I need to find someone to probe for information."

"Clap clap!"

Long Jiuyyao clapped his hands, making a sound.

Elder Yan, clad in a black robe, appeared in Long Jiuyyao's room.

Long Jiuyyao went to Elder Yan's side and whispered a few instructions. Elder Yan then vanished from the room.

Long Jiuyyao had only given Elder Yan two tasks. First: to investigate how long the young patriarch of the Sky Demon Sable had been missing.

Second: to send three servants at the Qi Creation Realm to Qingyang Town, Tiandu Commandery, in the Great Yan Dynasty, to find Lin Dong. They were to secretly assist his family but not to monitor Lin Dong.

The reason Long Jiuyyao only dispatched three Qi Creation Realm servants instead of Nirvana Realm experts was not that he couldn't command Nirvana Realm experts. It was because in the region of Tiandu Commandery, Qi Creation Realm experts were already top-tier cultivators, sufficient to handle all early obstacles.

Nirvana Realm experts, on the other hand, were capable of establishing sects and dynasties in prosperous regions. They also possessed their own dignity and could not be tasked with such surveillance.

Long Jiuyyao was also well aware of the immense temptation of the Ancestral Stone, which held great allure even for Reincarnation Realm experts.

He dared not take the risk, even with Dragon Clan servants. He knew the Ancestral Stone's allure. If someone discovered Lin Dong's secret, killed him, and fled with the treasure, even with the Blood Seal planted by the Dragon Clan on the servant, the Ancestral Stone's purification ability—capable of purifying even Yi Mo—could easily remove such a mere Blood Seal.

Facing these issues, Long Jiuyyao had to be cautious. It was always good to plan ahead.