Schemes? Schemes. √

[Note: In this book, the Silver Dragon King and Gu Yuena are two separate dragons.]

"The time has come, Zi Ji. Stop playing with my granddaughter and get over here."

Rus Wang studied the Paperclip Plan schedule submitted by the Grey Feather Division. Once he had confirmed that, aside from the sea route, his people had been placed in every position, he looked toward the lawn of the manor. Zi Ji was playing there in her original form with her granddaughter Toriya, who had switched into her True Dragon Form.

"Huh? Coming. Sweetie, go play with the other young dragons. Your grandpa needs to talk to me."

When Zi Ji heard Rus Wang call her, she set Toriya down on the lawn from where she had been cradling her in her forelegs. Ignoring Toriya's disapproving pout, she transformed into human form, waved, and took a seat in one of the garden chairs.

"The Grey Feather Division got everything arranged? I thought we'd have to wait a few more months."

"What are you talking about? While you were studying the rune arrays from our predecessors, I wasn't sitting around doing nothing. The best way to defeat an enemy is to understand them completely."

What Silver Dragon King said in the Dragon 3 comics was certainly true: know yourself and your enemy, and you will win a hundred battles. But the execution had gone wrong. She shouldn't have been the one personally handling it as their leader.

Rus Wang shook his head at Zi Ji's reaction.

"We've already placed more than a dozen six- and seven-star agents from the Grey Feather Division over on Douluo Continent. It's a long way from Dragon Valley Forest, but with the encrypted Communication Books, we can still send written messages back and forth."

Unlike My Little Pony, where Sunset Shimmer could simply return to My Little Pony and ask Twilight for a new book, taking care of the matter in no time, these books were specially developed by Barus at the request of the Grand Mentor of the Grey Feather Division. They had a blood-binding feature, and only two different people could use one: each had to drip a drop of blood onto it.

Once the blood-binding was complete, only those two people could see the contents of the book. To any other Elf, it was a blank book. It was the perfect tool for an intelligence agency that needed to maintain strict, single-channel secrecy.

"Besides a few little things for me, there are some even more important Encrypted Communication Books here. The white one already has a drop of blood on it—that was the Light Dragon King's. It's already been blood-bound once. Give it to the Silver Dragon King and have her bind it with her blood too. Then your Lord, the Silver Dragon King, will be able to send messages across the distance to our Light Dragon King."

"But the Light Dragon King senior doesn't have a body anymore, does he?"

I couldn't exactly tell you that when Barus was making the Light Dragon King version of the Dragon Ascension Pillar, he kept five drops of blood. He reported to the Light Dragon King what three of those drops were for, used one to compare with my blood, and the last one was still sitting in a deep-cold storage tank in my son Barus's possession.

Rus Wang said, "Don't worry. This blood was personally given by the Light Dragon King. Don't question it. Our senior has all sorts of miraculous ways to preserve his flesh and blood."

"Oh."

Zi Ji took the plan schedule and the first-class ticket from Rus Wang, the corners of her mouth curling slightly.

"So you arranged an official position for me? Works for me. After more than twenty years, I'll get to experience the luxurious treatment of the human upper class again."

...Time passed...

At the docks of Dongjiang City, Star Luo Empire, whistles and alarms sounded constantly, along with Soul Tool broadcasts announcing ship numbers and preparations for departure. This was a world where the empire's men worked day and night. It was also the coldest, most efficiency-driven place in the entire Star Luo Empire—a place where even the slightest rot could not be tolerated.

"Work hard! Survive! Protect the empire! New World!"

That had practically become the shared slogan of the dockworkers and the shipbuilders in the shipyard's dry docks.

Skilled workers had come here from all corners of the Star Luo Empire. Some were Soul Masters, but most were ordinary people without Soul Power. With the Limit Douluo of the Dou Ling Empire having reached the end of his lifespan, and Shrek Academy and the Star Luo Empire still failing to produce a new Level 99 Limit Douluo, they had become the successors of the two.

Any Star Luo person who had received an education could see what lay ahead: their homeland, the Star Luo Empire, would be swallowed by the evil Sun Moon Empire through force.

How could they stand for that? Hadn't Star Luo people, from top to bottom, heard about the horrific massacre described by the Heaven Soul refugees who had fled to the Star Luo Empire after the Sun Moon Empire destroyed their homeland? The rotting chunks of flesh crawling with maggots, the black-and-white landscape piled with white bones, and the blood-red lakes!

Hundreds of Star Luo expeditions and private organizations had filmed and documented it. Even the remains of the victims were on display in museums. The evidence was indisputable!

How could the Star Luo people still think that the throne might change hands, and that it had nothing to do with them? Never again would they be Kingdom N! They wanted to live!

"Everyone's working hard to build ships so more people in the empire can sail to the New Continent."

A manager wearing a white hard hat had come to inspect the shipyard's progress. He watched the workers bustling around with satisfaction, then spoke to the college student beside him.

"Xiao Liu, get each of the workers an extra big lion's head for lunch. I'll cover the cost, but remember to go to the shop at the east end of the city, at the Eight-Character intersection."

"Sure thing, sir."

The student assistant took the manager's bag of coins, hopped on his bicycle, and set off for the lunchbox canteen that sold big lion's heads at the Eight-Character intersection on the east side of the city. He went to order an extra meal for the shipyard workers.

With his shadow gone, the leader in the white hard hat returned to his office, which had only a Soul Tool fan, not a Soul Tool air conditioner. Don't mistake this for a sign of frugality. On the contrary, a shipyard manager having a fan in his office was considered a luxury in the Star Luo Empire.

After making sure no one would suddenly enter his office anytime soon, the manager took out a book. His expression grave, he began writing on the page with a quill.

[Lepidolite arrived. The time taken was only half. I record that the current was not flowing westward, but eastward. The journey should have added uncertainties, yet they have diminished instead. Most peculiar. Please take note.]

In the core area of Star Dou Forest, Bi Ji had been frantic with worry after Zi Ji suddenly disappeared. She had spent a long time searching for her friend, but there had been no sign of her. Even the Spirit Pagoda, which kept an eye on humanity, had not sensed Zi Ji's presence.

As time passed, Di Tian began to suspect that Zi Ji had left Star Dou Forest on her own to contact the Dragon Race on another continent. Bi Ji had even erected a wooden statue for her friend.

Yet today, Zi Ji had returned. She had brought a wealth of precious natural treasures, enough to make up for the loss of the Auspicious Beast, as well as three Dragon Clan Secret Techniques.

"Zi Ji, how did you get your hands on these three Dragon Clan Secret Techniques?"

Di Tian set down the precious herbs and various high-energy-density ores he had been holding, then looked at the Dragon Clan Secret Techniques Zi Ji had recorded and asked.

"I learned them from the Light Dragon King in Dragon Valley World. I had him teach me bit by bit over twenty years. It's kind of embarrassing for a dragon, actually."

Whatever the dragon felt, it said. The Light Dragon King and Rus Wang were angry at Di Tian for failing to protect the Auspicious Beast and letting the gods of the Divine Realm manipulate the situation, so of course they had to badmouth him. But back in front of Di Tian, Zi Ji instantly returned to her old self.

"You learned them from the Light Dragon King senior... Huh? The Light Dragon King senior is still alive? Zi Ji, how did you manage to avoid being detected by those up there?"

He was one of the Nine Great Dragon Kings beneath the Dragon God, and the husband of the Black Dragon clan's leader. He was still alive? What wonderful news! At last, Di Tian wouldn't have to shoulder the pressure alone.

"Back then, I saw you couldn't make up your mind about whether to send an envoy, so I acted on impulse. I went alone, whether or not those up there were watching. The four-month sea voyage nearly killed me, but afterward, I managed to get in touch with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon over there."

"At first, I thought it would just be an ordinary exchange, and that I'd be back in Star Dou Forest before long. But I never expected to attract the attention of Rus, a six-hundred-thousand-year-old Water Dragon King, and the hidden Light Dragon King in Dragon Valley World. Then I followed the Light Dragon King senior around and learned Dragon Clan Secret Techniques. Twenty years passed just like that."

Di Tian's mouth opened slightly, then closed again. After Zi Ji finished recounting her twenty-year adventure, which sounded like a fantastical tale, he lowered his head and said in shame, "Because of my grave mistake, you had to face the Light Dragon King senior and our fellow dragon Rus under those circumstances. I'm sorry, Zi Ji."

"It's all right. The senior and Rus were angry about your mistake, Di Tian, but as members of the Dragon Race, they still helped whenever they could. Look at all the good things I brought back. They gave them to me while helping me arrange my return trip."

Di Tian and Zi Ji embraced for several minutes before letting go and changing out of their transformed forms. Then they began sorting through the little gifts Rus Wang had sent.

As the manager of Star Dou Forest, Di Tian immediately recognized the value of the Encrypted Communication Books. He was also thrilled that Rus Wang, a fellow dragon, had sent agents from the Grey Feather Division to infiltrate Douluo Continent and left him contact information.

The senior and his fellow dragon were angry, but they understood the situation. The things they had sent were precious and useful to Di Tian, who might as well have had the word "prisoner" carved into his forehead.

But this also left Di Tian wondering: had the gods of the Divine Realm really played no part in Zi Ji's twenty-year diplomatic journey?

"According to the Light Dragon King senior, the Divine Realm is so far from Douluo Planet that even if the gods watched us every second of every moment, they couldn't keep a precise eye on every dragon. As long as we aren't someone of particular interest, we can act in secret as individuals, provided there isn't a divine spy following us."

"And when I reached the continent where Dragon Valley Forest is, the first Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon I met quickly taught me a secret technique that could make me disappear from the gods' view. Di Tian, have you really never learned this useful Dragon Clan Secret Technique?"

He couldn't exactly tell Zi Ji that the Dragon God had kept him at his side and never taught him any Dragon Clan Secret Techniques, instead raising him to be a secretary to the Dragon Prince. That would be far too embarrassing. And as the Divine Realm's most closely watched prisoner in the Dragon Race, if he disappeared, wouldn't the gods of the Divine Realm come down and interfere without a second thought? A shameless one had done just that a few hundred years ago.

"Oh, right. The Light Dragon King senior gave me something good. We can use it to strengthen the spatial link between Star Dou Forest, Dragon Valley Forest, and the Zheer Continent."

As she spoke, Zi Ji took a Soul Tool storage device from Rus Wang and pulled out a long-distance Spatial Teleportation Rune Array stone slab.

"This spatial teleportation array has a range of fifty thousand kilometers. You need at least six hundred and fifty thousand years of cultivation to use it safely. It still can't take us directly into Dragon Valley Forest, but our fellow dragons have bought the land within a thirty-square-kilometer radius around the hidden location of the other teleportation rune array. We should be able to stay safe."

"Really?!"

Di Tian was thrilled. This was a true treasure.

"But, Lord Di Tian, you're different from me. You've said yourself that you're definitely one of the ones they're watching closely. If you suddenly go to Dragon Valley Forest..."

Seeing Di Tian's dark expression, Zi Ji didn't dare finish the rest of her sentence: "What if the Divine Realm notices?"

"..."

Damn it! The Divine Realm's prying eyes were a constant nuisance to dragons.

Di Tian was furious, but there was nothing he could do but be furious. He wasn't strong enough to face the top gods of the Divine Realm—not even strong enough to slap them twice.

Considering the great achievement Zi Ji had made, Di Tian decided to inform the Silver Dragon King after arranging a location for the teleportation array stone slab.

"Zi Ji, wait here. I'll go tell our Lord this wonderful news."

"Okay!"

The Silver Dragon King looked at the Dragon Clan Rune Secret Techniques Di Tian had presented to her. She had just been woken by Di Tian and was still drowsy, but now her sleepiness vanished completely.

Huh?

This was definitely Dragon Script, but why did it become harder and harder to understand once the characters were pieced together into various runes? And how could something as miraculous as rune secret techniques leave her mind completely blank? She knew nothing about them. The power and wisdom the Dragon God had given her didn't seem to include any of this.

"Perhaps I should ask the Light Dragon King for guidance on how to use Dragon Clan Rune Secret Techniques?"

The Silver Dragon King stayed silent for a long time. She glanced at the Communication Book beside her, which could transmit messages across dimensions to the Light Dragon King, then looked at the book in front of her and Di Tian. She picked up the quill that came with the Communication Book and contacted Di Tian, who was outside Life Lake.

[How did you recover these?]

[Reporting to our Lord: our junior, Fear Demon Dragon King Zi Ji, risked danger to make contact with our Dragon Race compatriots on another continent. She learned these from the Light Dragon King, who is hidden in Dragon Valley World.]

"..."

That only made the Silver Dragon King more confused. She knew of Dragon Valley World, and could even sense that it was still drifting through the universe, slowly drawing closer to Douluo Planet. But she had no idea that dragons were still alive on other continents, or that the Light Dragon King was still alive in Dragon Valley World. As a wounded Dragon whose only refuge was Life Lake, she truly didn't know.

[It is good that you made contact with a survivor among the Nine Great Dragon Kings. But, Di Tian, tell me: why have you never told me that there were surviving members of our Dragon Race on continents beyond Douluo Continent?]

Di Tian immediately broke into a cold sweat. It was as if a red "Danger" sign were flashing over his head. He didn't know how to answer.

Fortunately, when the Silver Dragon King received no reply from Di Tian, she wrote again.

[Forget it. I know how difficult these past twenty thousand years have been for you, Di Tian. The Divine Realm has been watching you constantly. Go and fetch Zi Ji, who has rendered a great service. She can speak while you write. I want to talk to her and learn more about her experiences as an envoy.]

[Yes.]

Under the Silver Dragon King's gaze, the tone of the writing changed as if a different dragon had taken over.

[Our Lord.]

[Describe your experiences, the continent over there, and the major events you encountered. Be precise and concise.]

[Yes.]

As line after line appeared on the pages of the Communication Book, the more the Silver Dragon King read, the more something seemed amiss.

If, within the past five hundred years, the three Heavenly Sun Dragons, Lightning Tyrannosauruses, and Crimson Fire Dragons—each with more than five hundred thousand years of cultivation—had all died on the same day under the Heavenly Tribulation before Huo Yuhao was even born, wasn't that suspicious? Didn't it mean that Dragon Valley Forest was also under the watch of the gods of the Divine Realm?

The Silver Dragon King grew wary.

And Zi Ji had spent four months crossing the sea by ship to reach the continent where Dragon Valley Forest lay. Had the Divine Realm really made no move at all?

Think about how the Auspicious Beast had inexplicably fallen in love at first sight with Huo Yuhao, someone she had never interacted with before, and even sacrificed herself for him without regard for Star Dou Forest. Then there was that Soft Bone Rabbit traitor who had set the precedent by ascending to godhood alongside a bastard...

[Zi Ji, wait a moment. I'm going to ask the Light Dragon King something. I have a feeling there's more to your safe journey between Star Dou Forest and Dragon Valley Forest than meets the eye.]

Meanwhile, the Light Dragon King read the urgent report Rus Wang had sent from the Grey Feather Division agents hiding in Douluo Continent. It raised suspicions about the huge difference in travel time: Zi Ji had taken two months to return to Douluo Continent by sea, after spending nearly four months traveling to Dragon Valley Forest. The Light Dragon King's expression darkened.

Just then, the Silver Dragon King sent a message through her Communication Book, asking whether the Dragon Race had any secret techniques concerning the soul. She wanted to compare the effects of such a technique against the Auspicious Beast's bizarre case of suddenly falling in love at first sight with a human.

The Light Dragon King was appalled. He immediately replied, asking the Silver Dragon King to carry out emergency countermeasures at once, following his instructions exactly.

Then the Light Dragon King looked up at the sky over Dragon Valley World. It seemed he could see something there. He ground his teeth in fury.

"You certainly know how to wait..."

A pair of eyes in the sky above Star Dou Forest was forced to look away by some annoying noise. But this time, unlike the irritation of a bug returning, there was also a hint of satisfaction...

Late at night in Herundis Manor, the Soul Guidance Lamp was still lit in the bedroom. Toriya was struggling with math when, as she scratched her head in frustration, she suddenly felt a transparent orb come out of her head. She stared at it, baffled.

When did this thing get inside my head? Huh? It disappeared when I squeezed it? What was that?

Whatever. I still have to study derivatives and integrals. I can't fail the monthly exam.

[World News: Schemes? Schemes. √]