Imperial Cultivation Chapter 1528 - 1524: The Gift of the Pearl

"..." The Elephant Beast remained silent.

Chu Zhiyuan laughed and said, "It seems you can still make it across."

"Back then it was sheer luck that I made it across. So many years have passed, it’s hard to say if I can make it across now."

"They won’t kill you, will they?" Chu Zhiyuan said, "At most, they’ll kill me."

"They won’t kill me, but they’ll definitely kill you. If you’re not here, I could make it across; with you here, it’s impossible!"

"We have to try anyway."

"... Are you really not afraid of dying?"

"I fear death, but I’d rather achieve the true Divine Race Heart Method."

"Divine Martial, huh..." The Elephant Beast’s long tail swayed violently. "Alright, let’s go, but only to the base of Dragon Mountain, no further!"

"You stay outside, I’ll see if I can go in—if not, then it’s just my bad luck."

"You’re just a mortal; dying for Divine Martial isn’t unusual. Let’s go!"

"Shall we go then? No preparations needed?"

"First, arrange your affairs, prepare to die?"

"I have mastered a technique of translocation, allowing me to leave a perilous place instantly, so I’m not that easily killed."

"Go ahead and show it."

"... You still claim you’re not of the Divine Race!" The Elephant Beast’s tail swayed faster. "If that’s not Divine Race, then what is!"

"Can the Divine Race do something like this?"

"Only the Divine Race can accomplish it!"

"This is the inheritance from the Taiqing Primordial Sect, this time I’m seeking the very place of the Taiqing Primordial Sect."

"Taiqing Primordial Sect, you actually know of the Taiqing Primordial Sect?!"

"You seem to have heard of it too."

"How could I not know the famous Taiqing Primordial Sect! ... Is the Taiqing Primordial Sect in Dragon Mountain?"

"Most likely it is there, we’ll know only by going and seeing."

"Then stop with the needless chatter, let’s go directly! You can translocate, what are you afraid of!"

"My translocation isn’t all-powerful, like above the river, I dare not touch it."

"Because you’re not truly of the Divine Race, you haven’t practiced the true Divine Martial!"

Chu Zhiyuan’s spirit lifted, "If I practice the true Divine Martial, I won’t fear them?"

"They can’t do anything against Divine Martial."

"But I haven’t practiced the true Divine Martial, so I can’t handle it; do you have a way?"

"Wait a moment." The Elephant Beast transformed into a white light and vanished.

A moment later, it reappeared on his shoulder, its tail wrapped around a lump of gold.

About the size of an infant’s fist, irregularly shaped, both rounded and angular.

The slender tail swung, tossing the gold lump to him.

Chu Zhiyuan caught it and asked in his mind, "What is this...?"

"Hold this, and they won’t attack you."

"Is it really that miraculous?" Chu Zhiyuan infused a strand of Divine Essence.

The Divine Essence vanished like a mud ox into the sea within the stone, without any response.

He examined the stone curiously, and under Super Sensing Illumination, it was a vibrant purple.

Like grape juice, yet it gave him a sense of explosive ferocity.

He felt nothing when stroking it, but under Super Sense, he was both frightened and apprehensive.

Yet he felt a vague familiarity, soon realizing its explosive ferocity was similar to the aura above the great river.

It seemed to stem from the same source.

"Anyway, you hold this, and they won’t attack you."

"Is it a Dragon Ball?" Chu Zhiyuan asked.

The Elephant Beast’s lightly swaying tail suddenly stopped.

It turned its head to look at Chu Zhiyuan.

Chu Zhiyuan laughed, "It seems I’ve guessed correctly, it’s the Dragon Ball."

Then he said, "The aura above the great river is Dragon Qi? Doesn’t seem so."

He had practiced Cloud Dragon Fist and Heavenly Dragon Introduction, most familiar with Dragon Intent.

The aura above the river was totally unlike the aura of a dragon.

"It’s Dragon Evil, Evil Qi condensed from those slain dragons."

"Dragon Evil..." Chu Zhiyuan slowly nodded.

His Cloud Dragon Fist contained Dragon Intent, yet was tinged with the aura of the Divine Race.

Thus, even with Dragon Intent, he was attacked by Dragon Evil all the same.

"Is this truly a Dragon Ball?"

"Not from a True Dragon, but from a Flood Dragon that failed to transform into a dragon, spitting out this pearl at the moment of death."

Chu Zhiyuan cradled the Dragon Ball, his eyes suddenly becoming vacant.

A moment later, his eyes returned to normal, he shook his head and sighed, then sighed again.

The Elephant Beast watched in bewilderment.

"The path to becoming a dragon is indeed extremely difficult; no wonder so much Thunder Power is contained within it."

The purple liquid within the Dragon Ball was condensed by Thunder Power.

In extreme discontent, that Flood Dragon absorbed and condensed Thunder Power, intending to spit it out in one breath, yet couldn’t escape the final strike of Purple Thunder, its soul scattered.

Through the Dragon Ball, he saw the Flood Dragon’s life, how it struggled bitterly, cultivated tirelessly, yet ultimately ended this way.

For a moment, he felt a sense of age and wistfulness, sighing with emotion.

"Are we going or not?!" The Elephant Beast impatiently urged.

Chu Zhiyuan laughed, "You turned out to be more anxious than me!"

"Hurry up!" The Elephant Beast snorted.

"Alright, let’s depart." Chu Zhiyuan laughed.

...

"Senior Song, we meet again."

Luo Yun laughed with cupped fists in salute.

At this time, they were standing in the square in front of the grand hall, looking at the leisurely approaching Song Chaoge.

Song Chaoge, in a blue robe, exuded a lazy and leisurely aura, returned the salute lazily with cupped fists, "Didn’t expect you to be so lucky, another harvest."

Luo Yun said, "This time it’s not a harvest but bad luck, otherwise we could’ve continued exploring."

Song Chaoge smiled, looking at Huang Zhengyang, "Director Huang, this time you encountered the Elephant Beast, retreating whole is fortunate indeed."

"Is the Elephant Beast powerful?"

"Its ferocity isn’t strong, it’s not a Fierce Beast, but still a beast and not human, not that reasonable. It doesn’t rely on killing to grow stronger, but if provoked, it won’t hesitate to kill."

"It nearly killed us." Huang Zhengyang shook his head and said, "The senior speaks rightly; it’s not that reasonable."

"We wanted to reason with it, build rapport," Meng Xianda chuckled, "but couldn’t communicate, and didn’t have the opportunity to, when it directly tried to wipe us out."

Zheng Zhenxing said, "Senior Song, since it’s not that strong, could we eliminate it?"

"Afraid not." Song Chaoge shook his head, "It’s not as strong as the Six Ferocious Beasts, but still beyond our capability to kill."

Luo Yun said, "Mr. Chu’s Flying Knife nearly killed it, but it survived, just short of success."

Zheng Zhenxing sighed, "If we hadn’t exerted so much earlier, we might have killed it thoroughly this time, just missed by a bit."

"Indeed, just missed by a bit." Meng Xianda nodded vigorously, "Our judgment was wrong, should’ve struck while it was vulnerable, and finished it off with a few more sword strikes."

Zheng Zhenxing snorted, "Useless, our swords can’t harm it."

"It was weak then, maybe there was hope."

Huang Zhengyang said, "Senior Song, how do we proceed?"

Song Chaoge said, "We’ll take a detour."

"Senior Song, can we enter the Secret Realm?" Luo Yun suddenly became excited.

The world is extremely curious about the four Secret Realms, yet outsiders haven’t been able to enter to glimpse its wonders.

Are they now making an exception to let us in?

"There’s no need to enter the Secret Realm." Song Chaoge said, "Mr. Cheng and Mr. Cheng are going together, right?"

"Yes." Huang Zhengyang nodded.

They surveyed but couldn’t find Cheng Qian and Cheng Kun.

The two had not arrived yet.

They waited for a while, finally Cheng Qian and Cheng Kun arrived.

Their expressions were radiant, obviously having a good event, yet they couldn’t spare time for greetings or inquiries, immediately entered the Grotto Heaven.

Swiftly arrived before Snake Valley.

First tried again in defiance, finally shook their heads in surrender, complex expressions filled mostly with helplessness.

Indeed, they couldn’t make it across.

Just as they were dejected, a red shadow flashed before their eyes, and Li Hongzhao suddenly appeared.

"Let’s go." Song Chaoge said.