Dragon Subjugation

A seasoned master of a fishpond would not watch every fish in his pond at every moment.

Nor would he know every little movement each fish made.

But Lianshan Xin did not know that yet.

He thought he ranked quite high in Qi Shiyun's fishpond, so he was very seriously considering how he would wriggle out of it if she came to demand an explanation.

Third-Place Qi, you wouldn't want anyone finding out that your personally chosen Chosen One Son of Heaven killed the Princess, would you?

Lianshan Xin immediately rejected that line, which reeked far too strongly of a certain Japanese trope.

If Qi Shiyun got angry and slapped him dead, he would really have gotten the short end of the stick.

Third-Place Qi, if I said I didn't know she was the Princess before I struck, would you believe me?

Lianshan Xin thought it over and decided that whether Qi Shiyun believed it or not, he would believe it first.

So far, what ironclad evidence proved that Dai Yueying was the Princess His Majesty had left among the common people?

None.

Heaven knew, earth knew, Lianshan Xin knew, and Qi Shiyun knew. Beyond that, however, there really was no evidence that could prove it.

Based on his analysis of all the information he currently had, even Blood Guanyin might not have known. Otherwise, she should have kept Dai Yueying well cared for, hoarding that rare commodity until she could command a handsome price someday.

So as long as Qi Shiyun said nothing, everything would be fine.

As for whether Qi Shiyun would say anything?

If she was smart, she would not.

After all, he was the Chosen One Son of Heaven whom Qi Shiyun had personally selected. If his killing of a golden branch and jade leaf came to light, she would share responsibility.

What worried Lianshan Xin was whether he might frighten Qi Shiyun.

First I offended the Crown Prince right in front of Qi Shiyun, and now I've killed the Princess... Though she seems like a crazed beauty to her bones, all she dared to do was kill one of the Crown Prince's guests in front of him. Can Qi Shiyun handle an outlaw like me?

Lianshan Xin believed he needed to manage upward.

He needed to help broaden Qi Shiyun's courage and capacity to endure.

The Dragon Aiders lineage absolutely did not mean aiding dragons, but making dragon energy serve him.

Who could say that killing the Princess was not another way of making dragon energy serve him?

Of course, all that could wait.

He felt the Dragon-Slaying True Intent growing ever stronger within him, along with pain that grew ever more tangible.

Lianshan Xin dared not delay.

After confirming that Dai Yueying and Dai Yongzhen had both "dissolved in water," Lianshan Xin headed straight home.

The White Deer Grotto Academy was too far away.

The Spring Revival Hall was closer.

With no time to greet Lianshan Jingcheng or He Miaojun, Lianshan Xin rushed straight into his room. After locking it from the inside, he quickly sat cross-legged on his bed and began meditating, gathering and regulating the Dragon-Slaying True Intent within him as he tried to master this power.

While relieving his pain, he rapidly increased his strength.

Outside the room.

Lianshan Jingcheng and He Miaojun were both rather bewildered.

He Miaojun looked questioningly at Lianshan Jingcheng. "What's wrong with Xin? Why did he look like he was in pain?"

Lianshan Jingcheng hesitated. "Based on my years of experience treating martial artists, Xin looked a little like he was... breaking through?"

"Breaking through? Didn't Xin just take a Qi Condensation Pill and break through to the qi condensation realm?" He Miaojun grew even more puzzled.

After his breakthrough, Lianshan Xin had come home once to show off his cultivation realm to them.

He had never gone in for hiding his abilities from his parents. What parent would worry about their child amounting to something? Why not let them share in your success?

Lianshan Jingcheng sounded uncertain. "I might have seen it wrong, but it looked... looked like he was about to break through the qi condensation realm and advance to the true intent realm?"

"What?"

He Miaojun was so shocked that her voice rose a couple of notches. "Xin only advanced to the qi condensation realm today by taking a pill, and now he's breaking through again? How could it happen that fast?"

Lianshan Jingcheng rubbed his nose uncertainly, equally incredulous. "Maybe I saw it wrong. Or... is this what an Immortal Cultivation practitioner is like? Perhaps it's only natural that ordinary mortals like us can't understand."

He Miaojun: "..."

Could Immortal Cultivation practitioners really be this unreasonable?

Inside the room.

Lianshan Xin slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.

Then he opened his eyes.

At that instant, lightning seemed to flash through the empty room.

The turbid breath Lianshan Xin had exhaled gradually transformed before him into a divine dragon baring its fangs and brandishing its claws.

Projecting true qi outside the body and changing its shape were both abilities available only at the qi condensation peak.

Lianshan Xin extended his right hand.

The divine dragon, which should have soared through the nine heavens, was trapped within the narrow confines of his palm, unable to break free.

Watching the divine dragon bare its fangs and brandish its claws without ever escaping his Five-Finger Mountain, Lianshan Xin's gaze grew complicated, and he let out a quiet sigh.

"So that's how it is."

"Dai Yueying... really was a treasure of a girl. With her death, she opened an entirely new path of cultivation for me."

"Qi Shiyun was right. The Son of Heaven's bloodline is indeed the finest possible aid to the Dragon Aiders lineage's cultivation. But she was only half right."

"She's taken the wrong cultivation path. Or rather, she's cultivating a castrated version."

As he considered the other information he had gleaned from the Dragon-Slaying True Intent, beyond the true intent itself, Lianshan Xin's feelings grew ever more complicated.

An immortal art's inheritance had its own miraculous workings. But heaven and earth had undergone a great upheaval, and seas had become mulberry fields. A thousand years later, the immortal arts lay shrouded in dust.

Through sheer accident, Lianshan Xin had used the "direct bloodline of the true dragon Son of Heaven" as expendable material and cultivated the Dragon-Slaying True Intent.

And from that Dragon-Slaying True Intent, he had comprehended the true core secret of this lineage.

Qi Shiyun had told him that Immortal Cultivation practitioners of the Primordial Era could rely on their long lifespans to master the Dragon-Supporting Immortal Art alone. But afterward, heaven and earth had undergone a great upheaval and the Martial Dao had flourished. Martial artists' lifespans could not compare to cultivators', so they had to borrow the imperial energy of the mortal world's true dragon Son of Heaven to cultivate.

But that was not entirely true.

"In the Primordial Era, the immortal path did indeed flourish, and Immortal Cultivation practitioners had long lifespans, far surpassing martial artists at the same realm. But their lifespans weren't quite as long as Qi Shiyun claimed. Those who achieved success cultivating alone, relying on their own lifespans, were still few and far between. Besides, bitter solitary cultivation wasn't the best method."

"Dragon Aiders takes aiding as its primary method and the true dragon Son of Heaven as its primary beneficiary. However you look at it, it leans toward support. But in the Primordial Era, cultivators stood high above everyone else. Would they have specialized in a support technique?"

"What Immortal Cultivation practitioner didn't want to become an immortal and found a lineage? Who would willingly remain beneath another? In the Primordial Era, a great age of cultivation with countless cultivation techniques, who would have chosen one that could only make them second-in-command? If that were really the case, this technique should have died out back then."

"The change from Dragon Aiders to Chosen of Heaven happened because the name violated an Imperial Family taboo, forcing them to rename it. What they didn't realize was that Dragon Aiders was already a name forced upon it once before, already a castrated version."

"And even after being castrated twice, this so-called Dragon Aiders Immortal Art still reveals its unruly defiance everywhere. Malice and insolence toward emperors, kings, generals, and ministers are still visible throughout."

"Some things cannot be hidden. In the Primordial Era, there was never any Dragon Aiders Immortal Art."

"Only Dragon Subjugation!"

"The Dragon Subjugation Lineage stood above dynasties, hunted emperors, kings, generals, and ministers, and subdued the true dragons of the mortal world. That was the Dragon Subjugation Lineage's path of cultivation!"