Chapter 2209: The Existence Soon to Be Awakened by the Bright Lamp

"Of course, the Lamp of Clarity cannot," Zhong Shengguang said, a strange smile touching his lips. "But the being it is about to awaken, can!"

Upon hearing this, He Lingchuan's heart quickened.

Emperor Xinyi Mou himself had confirmed that the Lamp of Clarity's function, the so-called unraveling of the "prenatal mystery," was in fact to awaken or retain memories.

Whose memories did Zhong Shengguang intend to awaken?

In both the celestial and terrestrial realms, whose divine soul could possibly contend with Mitian?

Zhong Shengguang, uncharacteristically, asked him in a mysterious tone:

"Do you recall I once asked you whether you thought the Great Square Pot was sentient or non-sentient?"

He Lingchuan instinctively nodded.

As the Great Square Pot's next collaborator, he was inclined to believe it was non-sentient, for its will was vast and boundless, entirely unlike the individual will of a living creature.

To be honest, it had already transcended the very concept of "sentience."

Yet, he also remembered Zhong Shengguang's words from that time:

The Great Square Pot might not be non-sentient.

Those two words, "might not," had made him ponder for a very long time.

Later, Zhong Shengguang had explicitly stated that the Great Square Pot was once sentient in his possession, but then its sentience vanished.

So, where did the artifact spirit go?

Connecting this to the Lamp of Clarity's eventual use on General Hong, He Lingchuan could only draw one conclusion:

"The Great Square Pot's artifact spirit... is it within General Hong?!"

"Precisely!" Zhong Shengguang exclaimed, pleased that his most admired Tigerwing General could infer so much from a single hint. "In this mortal realm, apart from those True Immortals on Spirit Mountain, only the Great Square Pot's artifact spirit is qualified to confront Mitian!"

At this, Zhong Shengguang gently pushed open the door and pointed to the high wall opposite.

Even though He Lingchuan had already suspected something, he couldn't help but feel his pupils constrict sharply and blurt out, "This!"

For a moment, he was speechless with shock.

On the high wall directly opposite Zhong Shengguang's office hall was a massive relief carving.

It was a pattern incredibly familiar throughout the entire Panlong territory:

The Black Flood Dragon Mark!

Zhong Shengguang carefully closed the door again, then said, word by word:

"This is Panlong City's greatest secret!"

For many years, He Lingchuan had been fiercely loyal to Panlong City, facing countless life-or-death situations. But it was only today that Zhong Shengguang revealed Panlong City's deepest secret to him.

He Lingchuan saw the firmness and conviction in his eyes.

Only the Black Dragon Divine Venerable could inspire such unwavering belief in a man like Zhong Shengguang, who had endured so much and seen through so many human hearts!

"The Dragon God is still... still here?" He Lingchuan's throat felt dry.

The ancient war between immortals and demons concluded with the Dragon God crashing into the Celestial Net Star. Afterwards, the Dragon God perished on Dragon Head Mountain in Blazing Gold Plain. The Black Dragon's scales and armor, especially the inverse scale on its chest, were fashioned into the Clanging Dragon Armor He Lingchuan now wore.

Given the Dragon God's immense power, could it truly have vanished so silently? Even long after the ancient war ended, the immortals still didn't believe it, but the Dragon God had indeed disappeared without a trace, never to be heard from or seen again.

"The Dragon God's body perished, but its divine soul merged into the fragments of the Celestial Net Star," Zhong Shengguang slowly explained. "When the Celestial Net Star first appeared in the heavens, the Dragon God immediately comprehended the new laws, knowing they would bring endless catastrophe to the world, one that even immortals could not withstand. Therefore, He had to leave a method of resistance for the mortal realm."

He Lingchuan understood, "Primal Force!"

Hearing this, his heart was filled with boundless emotion.

The Dragon God was truly a powerful and benevolent existence. Others who could sacrifice themselves for the Dao, dedicating their lives to the mortal realm, were already worthy of being called saints.

But the Dragon God's contribution went far beyond that.

Even after His death, He continued to fight against the Sky Demons in another way, continuing to protect all living beings.

Perhaps this was the "Dao" He single-mindedly pursued.

This was the ultimate embodiment of manifesting the Dao through one's actions.

"That's right, the new laws brought by the Celestial Net Star favor the Sky Demons; while the new laws brought by the Dragon God, or rather the Great Square Pot, benefit all living beings. It's just that for all these years, the mortal realms haven't been able to make good use of Primal Force."

It was as if both the Sky Demons and humans had acquired divine weapons. How to use them depended on their respective skill levels.

Unfortunately, for the past two millennia, humans had used it terribly, allowing the Sky Demons to freely drain the spiritual energy of the mortal realm.

"To be fair, the laws of Primal Force are not easy to comprehend, and they have been constantly refining themselves."

"Yes, the Primal Force laws are perfected in sync with the Great Square Pot," Zhong Shengguang sighed. "The Dragon God foresaw that the Sky Demons would one day return, and by then, the mortal realm would be weak and unable to resist. Its divine body had already perished and could no longer fight head-on, so it could only hope for the emergence of powerful individuals in the mortal realm who could properly use Primal Force and ultimately drive out the Sky Demons."

He Lingchuan suddenly realized, "So the Great Square Pot has always been seeking powerful individuals—first the Yuan Kingdom, and later Panlong City."

And after Panlong City, it was him, He Lingchuan!

However, with repeated failures in the struggle, the Great Square Pot's method of cooperation with human powerhouses had also been continuously improving.

It was always evolving, never stopping.

"And how is the Lamp of Clarity to be used?"

"Before the downfall of the Yuan Kingdom, King Yuan ordered Shao Jian to send me the Great Square Pot. But it never paid me any heed until I took office as the Commander of Panlong City, when the Panlong Wilderness was repeatedly invaded by external enemies, and my wife became pregnant. That was when I had a long and bizarre dream," Zhong Shengguang said softly. "In my dream, I saw the Dragon God crashing into the Celestial Net Star, saw the Celestial Net Star fragments refined into the Great Square Pot, and also saw fragments of the rise and fall of the mortal realm over the past three thousand years... Finally, I even saw the Dragon God's true form!"

So, at that time, the Great Square Pot actively communicated with people. He Lingchuan felt a touch of envy.

Hearing this, all of He Lingchuan's past doubts vanished, and he finally understood. "Luring Mitian's divine descent—that was a plan formulated by you and the Dragon God!"

"At that time, Panlong City was inherently weak, caught between the pincer attack of Baling and Xianyou. It needed an incredibly powerful external force to break the deadlock! And I also received news that the Great Sky Demon Mitian had been searching for the whereabouts of the Great Square Pot." Zhong Shengguang lowered his gaze. "Also, due to the Dragon God's favor, this child Wuhuan is not only a body of divine descent, but can also achieve the innate primal body, one in ten thousand."

"Innate Primal Body?" He Lingchuan murmured. Had he heard that somewhere before?

"Innately, all her meridians are clear, her muscles and bones are strong, and even her eight extraordinary meridians have no blockages. Therefore, her innate true energy circulates within her internal organs and never dissipates, which is why she is called a 'Primal Body'," Zhong Shengguang said with a light cough. "What other prodigies achieve after ten years of arduous cultivation, she can reach in less than a year or half a year. This was incredibly rare even in ancient times."

He was talking about "other prodigies," not ordinary people.

He Lingchuan: "..."

Ridiculous! Back then, his own cultivation involved carefully opening his main meridians, then gradually clearing his extraordinary meridians, step by step. The process was incredibly dangerous and extremely time-consuming; one slip-up could lead to qi deviation.

And yet, even with that, he had been praised as having an innate martial sage physique.

Heaven knows how many cultivators went astray at the stage of clearing their meridians, ending up either paralyzed on one side or mad and confused, their lives ruined forever.