Apep scoffed at Azhdaha's harsh words. "Hmph! Give you an inch and you take a mile. If my Heart of the Oasis hadn't stopped working in that fight, and you hadn't gained that miraculous suit of armor, do you really think you could have beaten me so easily? You merely took advantage of my weakness."
Seeing that Azhdaha still wanted to argue, Yucheng stopped him and said, "Apep, things have changed dramatically during all these years you've spent in seclusion.
"Ever since the dark calamity struck Khaenri'ah five hundred years ago, the Heavenly Principles haven't appeared for five hundred years. More importantly, the current Seven Archons' attitude toward the Heavenly Principles has undergone a subtle change. They no longer obey every command as they once did."
Yucheng's words immediately caught Apep's interest. After recalling the past for a while, Apep said, "The Khaenri'ah disaster five hundred years ago? I remember it. Back then, six gods and the Heavenly Principles descended on Khaenri'ah together, and the ruins of Khaenri'ah lie beneath Sumeru.
"That battle was extraordinarily brutal. Not only did I sense an intensely concentrated Power of Darkness, I also sensed several gods falling in that battle...
"Wait, could this be the perfect opportunity to take revenge on the Heavenly Principles that you mentioned earlier?"
Yucheng smiled. "Since, strictly speaking, the Heavenly Principles alone are the target of your revenge, then gods, and even humans, might be people you could win over. Surely that's much better than fighting alone as a single dragon?"
Apep was clearly stunned by this news from Yucheng. As far as Apep remembered, no race other than the Dragon Race should have harbored such great hostility toward the Heavenly Principles. Thus, Apep had only ever looked toward dragons who could be won over.
Unfortunately, Apep was probably