“Slay a dragon?!”
“That’s right. The rumor says the one who was slain was the Thirteenth Son of the East Sea Dragon King. He met his end in the Great Dragon Pool of Dragon-Tiger County. This enraged the Dragon King so much that he swore an oath not to grant a single drop of rain to Dragon-Tiger County for thirty years.”
Lu Chen felt like his mind was a complete mess.
He had already suspected that Dragon-Tiger County must have done something to offend the Dragon King.
But he never, ever imagined it would be something like this. That there was such a daring, fearless warrior out there.
One who would even dare to slaughter a divine dragon?!
“Elder Sister Sun, this brave warrior… is he from Dragon-Tiger County?”
“That’s not entirely clear. All that’s known is that he was a sixth-grade Spiritualist. He fought fiercely with the Dragon King’s Thirteenth Son for three days and three nights, finally slaying him in the pool. After that…”
Sun Yourong paused, her expression changing slightly: “He pulled out his tendons, stripped off his skin, and devoured his dragon flesh raw.”
Pulled out tendons and stripped off skin?
Like Nezha, the Third Prince?
No, wait, they said he was a sixth-grade Spiritualist.
Besides, even Nezha wasn’t known for eating raw dragon meat.
Lu Chen sucked in a breath.
“How deep could this grudge possibly be? What started it all?”
Lu Chen felt it couldn’t be that someone would just slaughter a dragon for fun without any reason, right?
After all, the dragon race are celestial spirit beasts, symbols of the mortal realm.
Even if they aren’t primordial spirits, their status is noble. How could ordinary mortals just torture and kill them on a whim?
“If you really want to get into the reasons, it’s complicated.”
“Take your time. It’s about an hour’s drive anyway, no rush.” Lu Chen adjusted his sitting position, ready to listen carefully.
Sun Yourong nodded. “Alright. To talk about this, we have to start with the Four Seas Dragon Kings overstepping their boundaries.
You should know that within the Three Realms, only the sea and river dragon clans are deities that coexist with us humans in the mortal world.
Their duty is to control the clouds and distribute rain, ensuring favorable weather for their regions.
However, the mortal world is vast. Based on where they live, the dragon clan is also divided into Sea Dragon Kings, River Dragon Kings, and even Pool Dragon Kings, Well Dragon Kings.
Originally, each dragon king had their own territory and clear responsibilities.
But as the Four Seas Dragon Kings grew increasingly powerful in the human realm, they, possessing the strongest dragon clan strength, were no longer satisfied with ruling only the oceans or coastal areas.
To compete for more incense offerings, more territory, and richer tributes and sacrifices,
the Four Seas Dragon Kings began driving their undersea legions to hunt down and besiege smaller dragon gods like the River Dragon Kings.
If these smaller dragon kings were willing to submit, they were absorbed into the Four Seas Dragon Palaces, thereafter subject to their commands and no longer allowed to have their own separate temples for worship.
But if they refused… well, the consequences go without saying.
It’s clearly recorded in the Chronicles of Sea and River Dragon Kings. Over a hundred years ago, the Four Seas Dragon Kings invaded the rivers’ territories. Many River Dragon Kings, unwilling to endure the oppression, rose up in resistance. In the end… most were brutally slaughtered by the Four Great Dragon Kings, their palaces destroyed and their domains wiped out.
Since then, in the Dragon King Temples we see today, the only ones enshrined are the Four Seas Dragon Kings.
This is the root of it all.”
Lu Chen frowned upon hearing this. “The Four Seas Dragon Kings act like this, and the Heavenly Court just sits back and does nothing?”
Sun Yourong responded with a cold laugh. “Although the dragon clan is under the Heavenly Court’s jurisdiction, they’ve always listened to summons but not orders. Besides, this is ultimately an internal dragon clan dispute. The Heavenly Court isn’t really in a position to interfere too much.
Moreover, among the Water Department’s regular deities in the Heavenly Court, only the Four Seas Dragon Kings hold high ranks.
Those River Dragon Kings, even if they hold positions in the Heavenly Court, are low in status.
From the Heavenly Court’s perspective, they’re probably considered hardly better than shrimp soldiers and crab generals.
If you were in their place, would you go to war over them?”
“No way!” Lu Chen couldn’t help but curse under his breath. “So you’re saying having a position in the Heavenly Court is meaningless? You just pay your tributes but get no protection? That’s worse than working illegally!”
A wave of unexplained anger surged in Lu Chen’s heart.
He felt the Four Seas Dragon Kings acted tyrannically, and the Heavenly Court was cold and inhumane.
Since they receive offerings, abandoning their subordinates when trouble comes?
Isn’t that way too shameless?!
“Why are you so surprised? Isn’t similar behavior common enough in the human world?” Sun Yourong replied meaningfully.
Lu Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, snorting. “Elder Sister Sun, it wouldn’t be strange for me to say that. But coming from your mouth… it doesn’t seem quite appropriate, does it?”
Sun Yourong didn’t seem to mind. Her gaze drifted past the rapidly receding scenery outside the car window, and she said calmly, “Maybe in your eyes, we, as a ‘Great Clan,’ are famous across our region, living a glorious life. But don’t we still have ‘Renowned Families’ and ‘Ancient Noble Houses’ above us? How can you be sure that one day, people like us won’t become the River Dragon Kings?”
Lu Chen turned his head to look at her, his throat moving as if to speak, but in the end, he didn’t continue this topic further.
“So how does this connect to a human slaying a dragon?”
“The Four Seas Dragon Kings sowed evil seeds, so they couldn’t reap good fruit. Back then, a large number of River Dragon Kings were slaughtered, but many ordinary people in the world still devoutly worshipped them. So, this grudge spread to the relationship between the Four Seas Dragon Kings and these Spiritualists.”
“That Spiritualist from three years ago, it’s said his ancestors worshipped a River Dragon King. He studied hard and finally mastered the skills to slay dragons. Carrying out his ancestors’ will, he beheaded the East Sea Dragon King’s Thirteenth Son, who had taken up residence at the bottom of the Great Dragon Pool, taking revenge for the former River Dragon King.”
“When the East Sea Dragon King found out, he flew into a rage. He immediately stirred up storms and wanted to flood the county, forcing the human race to hand over the killer.”
“Did they hand him over?” Lu Chen couldn’t help but ask.
“They did… but you could also say they didn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“Because after that fierce battle with the Dragon King’s Thirteenth Son, the sixth-grade Spiritualist was already mortally wounded. That Thirteenth Son’s strength was almost equal to a sixth-grade Spiritualist, and fighting in the water, he could even rival a seventh-grade! For that Spiritualist to defy the odds and slay a powerful dragon at the sixth-grade level, he must have used some kind of life-for-life secret technique.”
“It’s said that when the authorities found him, he had already died, his body turning to ash, leaving behind only his dragon-slaying sword.”
“Our human race handed that sword over to the East Sea Dragon King, but how could the Dragon King let the matter rest? He still wanted to cause trouble.”
“In the end, it took a Great Sage from our human race to step in and barely stabilize the situation.”
“It’s said that during this time, the Heavenly Court also dispatched divine envoys to mediate.”
“Finally, both sides backed down. The East Sea Dragon King swore an oath: no rain would fall on Dragon-Tiger County for thirty years. And that was considered the end of it.”
After hearing the whole story, Lu Chen was completely stunned.
“Wait… so this mission is only rated S? Forget SSS, it should at least be SS, right?!”
Sun Yourong chuckled. “You seriously underestimate the difficulty of an S-rank mission.
But for this mission, well, there is indeed an intent to downplay it. If it were fully exposed, it would probably affect the relationship between the entire human race and the dragon clan.
So, the matter was quickly suppressed.
If, as you suggest, it were labeled SS-rank, it would not only have a bigger impact but would also be harder to keep quiet.
Knowing it’s a dead end, who would come to take on an almost unsolvable mission?
If that happened, the people of Dragon-Tiger County would truly lose all hope.
But labeling it S-rank is different. Every year, it still attracts a few groups of Spiritualists who don’t know the inside story but are overly confident, coming to try their luck. As long as someone is willing to try, for the people of Dragon-Tiger County, there remains a faint glimmer of hope.
Although, after all these years, they’ve probably already become deeply disappointed.”
At this point, Sun Yourong smiled at Lu Chen. “So, when I heard you took this mission, the first thought that crossed my mind… guess what it was?”
“That you thought I’d definitely fail?”
“No, my first thought was…” Sun Yourong gave a thumbs-up. “You’re quite a great person for ‘bringing warmth’ to everyone~”
Lu Chen: “…”
“But what’s done is done. It’s too late for regrets now. Just treat it as a sightseeing trip. It’s just a bit costly – four million in cash plus eight hundred military merits. But don’t worry, you’re still young. You’ll always have chances to earn it back.”
Sun Yourong shot him a somewhat sympathetic look.
Lu Chen, however, sighed. “Elder Sister Sun, you’ve got it wrong. I’m not worried about the mission itself at all. I just think it’s a shame. It’s clearly SS-rank difficulty, but it’s been downgraded to S-rank. That means I’m putting in the same effort but missing out on thousands of military merits and tens of millions in prize money! Tell me, isn’t that bullying an honest guy?!”
Sun Yourong’s expression froze. She turned her head to look at Lu Chen in disbelief. “Are you saying… you’re actually confident you can complete this mission?”
Lu Chen’s lips curled into a smile. He waved his hand dismissively. “What’s so hard about that? The problem is they won’t send rain. The things His Eastern Depot doesn’t want to do? Well then! I’ll get the Western Depot to do it!”
