Beast Domain

"Beast Domain? Tch." The dragon guards clicked their tongues at the words. The Beast Domain was the safest place, but also the most barren. Going there was equivalent to giving up on advancement and waiting around to die.

Just think about it: the Ancient Void Dragon Clan had abandoned the Beast Domain and retreated into the Void Land, which proved that the resources within the void were more plentiful and important than those in the Beast Domain. The Beast Domain was home to lower-class Magical Beasts. Although the Ancient Void Dragon Clan had now split apart, Ancient Void Dragons still looked down on the Magical Beasts of the Beast Domain, considering them inferior.

More than seventy percent of the Magical Beasts on the Dou Qi Continent were concentrated in the Beast Domain, where all kinds of creatures were mixed together. Put simply, the void was heaven, while the Beast Domain was the mortal world. Only cowards afraid of death would choose to go to the Beast Domain. Among the Ancient Void Dragon Clan, going there was considered a fall from grace.

Zhu Jin did not explain anything. He knew of the Destiny Dragon. How could ordinary mortals and dragons like them possibly understand its greatness?

How could sparrows understand the ambitions of a swan? Zhu Jin inwardly sneered at them as well, but naturally did not dare say it aloud. The fifteen-meter Ancient Void Dragon before him was at least a Dou Emperor. It was likely even stronger than Queen Medusa had been in her early days.

The dragon guard formed hand seals with both hands, then sent a seal flying into the passageway. He said nothing further to Zhu Jin, looking as though he were saying, "Go fend for yourself."

Zhu Jin turned his gaze toward the passage. A colossal black void, hundreds of zhang wide, slowly rotated there. Waves of astonishing spatial power overflowed from it. North Dragon Island had more than a hundred such teleportation passages, and this was merely the nearest one.

"Tsk tsk, Spatial Wormhole technology. This really is heaven-defying." Zhu Jin carefully examined the black void. A sight that existed only in novels had now appeared vividly before his eyes. The passage emitted a strange suction force, yet all he could see within was endless darkness and hear an eerie howl that shook the soul.

Zhu Jin no longer hesitated and plunged directly into the passage. Under normal circumstances, one needed a spatial vessel to enter a Spatial Wormhole, but that was for ordinary cultivators. The Ancient Void Dragon Clan could naturally travel through the void, and the dragon scales on their bodies were the finest spatial vessels.

The Ancient Void Dragon Clan's passages were stronger and faster than those created by ordinary Dou Venerates. In just one day, Zhu Jin left the Void Land and arrived in the Beast Domain.

"So this is the Beast Domain. This is the true Dou Qi Continent." Zhu Jin stood atop a mountain, taking a deep breath of the air beneath the same heavens as Flame Emperor Xiao Yan. After letting out a long breath, he gazed into the distance.

"The air of the Dou Qi Continent is so sweet."

Although the Beast Domain was smaller than the Central Plains, it still occupied the southern part of the continent. Layer upon layer of mountains stretched endlessly in every direction, enough to make one feel the unique wildness of the Beast Domain.

The Beast Domain was known as the Ten Thousand Mountains, but that was merely a rough estimate. If one truly counted them, the number would certainly far exceed that. These mountain ranges extended into distant places beyond the reach of dragon power, and the passage of time had left countless treasures among their boundless peaks.

"The ancient ruins containing the Dragon-Phoenix Origin Fruit are in the Skeleton Mountain Range, according to the book, but it will still be a long time before those ruins emerge." Zhu Jin recalled some information from the book. With a thought, he opened his storage space and took out a yellowed map.

It was an ancient map of the Beast Domain owned by the Ancient Void Dragon Clan before it split apart, before Zhu Kun was sealed within the Tuoshe Ancient God Mansion. Or rather, it was a map of national borders. Though this map had essentially become obsolete, it was the only one concerning the Beast Domain that Zhu Jin could find after searching all of North Dragon Island, given his status.

"According to this map, this place was once the territory of an Ancient Void Dragon Clan vassal race called the Wild Mountain Macaque Dragon." After confirming a few details, Zhu Jin helplessly shook his head and put the map away. With the Ancient Void Dragon Clan in its current state, what vassal clans could possibly remain?

According to the book, Xiong Zhan was a transformed Ancient Dragon Bear with the cultivation of a Dou Venerate and strength at the level of a three-star Dou Venerate, yet he did not even know the route to Dragon Island and could not enter the void. The Ancient Dragon Bear Clan had once been a vassal clan of the Ancient Void Dragon Clan, but it had later been forced into independence. If not for Zi Yan, the Ancient Dragon Bear Clan would not even have been able to find Dragon Island.

As for the Wild Mountain Macaque Dragon, there was no need to think too hard about it. Either it had been abandoned by the Ancient Void Dragon Clan like the Ancient Dragon Bears, or it had become independent and turned into a Beast Domain race. It might even have been exterminated by powerful clans such as the Heaven Demon Phoenix Clan.

"Finding the Wild Mountain Macaque Dragon Clan isn't very realistic. Even if I find them, with my current Dou Ling cultivation and the Ancient Void Dragon Clan's present influence in the Beast Domain, if I go knocking on their door, I'm more likely to be slaughtered and eaten." Zhu Jin pondered for a moment. Looking for information through former vassal clans would not work.

He was an Ancient Void Dragon, but unlike a pureblood like Zi Yan, he was mixed-blood. It was unrealistic to rely on bloodline suppression against Magical Beasts stronger than himself. In fact, it was not difficult to tell from appearance: little dragons like Zhu Jin and Zhu Zong looked more like flood dragons than Eastern divine dragons.

The greatest difference between mixed-blood Ancient Void Dragons like Zhu Jin and vassal clans like the Ancient Dragon Bears, who carried Ancient Void Dragon bloodlines, was that the Ancient Void Dragon genes in the former were expressed rather than hidden. Put more plainly, those that displayed Ancient Void Dragon traits were mixed-bloods; those that did not were Magical Beasts carrying Ancient Void Dragon bloodlines. Xiong Zhan of the Ancient Dragon Bears and the Nether Sea Flood Dragon Beast of the Jia Ma Empire both had a trace of that bloodline, but could not be considered mixed-bloods.

If Zhu Jin settled down in the Beast Domain and had offspring with other Magical Beasts, they would most likely not display the appearance of Ancient Void Dragons. In the end, they would gradually become like a vassal clan.

"My primary goal now is to increase my strength, then find the location of Jia Nan Academy and a way to get there." Zhu Jin felt slightly heavy-hearted as he sensed the cold wind blowing through the mountains. He had once considered simply lying low and idling his life away. After all, even a weak Ancient Void Dragon was still an Ancient Void Dragon. Growing to the Dou Wang level and lording it over a corner of the Beast Domain did not seem too bad.

But in the end, the ambition of dragons and the greed of humans overcame his desire to idle his life away.

"Since I've been reborn and possess knowledge of destiny, it would be too un-dragonlike to just idle my life away!" Zhu Jin roared. "Five Emperors Break Through the Void. The book only said that Xiao Yan, Xun Er, and Medusa were among the Five Emperors. It never clearly stated who the other two were."

"Since it was never made clear, that means it is a variable in destiny. One of the Five Emperors might not necessarily be me!"

Zhu Jin knew that although the destiny of this world was fixed, variables still existed. For example, the Beast Domain was not described in detail in the book. Even the final fate of the Ancient Void Dragon Clan was not explained clearly, nor was Zi Yan's ending. Since that was the case, there were still variables!

Several years lay between Xiao Yan defeating Hun Tiandi and the Five Emperors Breaking Through the Void. That blank space was unknown, and the unknown represented variables!

"But for now... I'll find a few easy Magical Beasts to bully first..." Zhu Jin's gaze turned toward the depths of the forest. Several pairs of scarlet eyes were watching him greedily from there, as though they might pounce at any moment and devour his flesh and blood.

"Truly worthy of the savage Beast Domain. Wild enough. I like it."