Chapter 1224: Stirring Up Trouble

However, with the scout’s reminder, the Eight Gates team immediately grew agitated. No one intended to let the White Dragon off so easily. Little White had originally sought protection from Xu Yang, but this time, Xu Yang merely shrugged, clearly mimicking the White Dragon’s earlier mischievous prank.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help you with this. In fact, I even think they make a lot of sense. For years, you’ve been stirring up trouble in this strait. Who knows how many teams and how many top cultivators have fallen into your hands.

If you claim you don’t have a secret stash, no one here will believe you. More importantly, handing over your treasures now can be considered your redemption for the sins you’ve committed in the past.

I believe the person you fear will also perceive your sincerity. After all, whether human or dragon, what goes around comes around. Don’t you want to consider your future more carefully?

Furthermore, joining my team is not that easy. Even if you possess a relatively pure dragon bloodline, you absolutely cannot do as you please in my team. This is the perfect opportunity for you to show your sincerity and seamlessly integrate into the team.

If you miss it, I don’t know when you’ll get this chance again.”

Thus, with Xu Yang assisting the Eight Gates team through a mix of threats and inducements, Little White, the giant dragon, finally compromised. He directly emptied his entire accumulated private treasury from over the years and shared it with the Eight Gates team.

It contained some top-tier ancient cultivation techniques, some rare spiritual treasures, and more importantly, powerful ancient divine artifacts with elemental properties.

A considerable portion of these items matched the members of the Eight Gates team. After all, this team was originally comprised of individuals with vastly different cultivation types and techniques. If they all cultivated swordsmanship or belonged to an exclusive lineage, it would have been truly difficult to distribute the spoils.

But as it was, almost everyone could find something perfectly suited to them in Little White’s treasury. Although their words had been somewhat menacing, they didn’t completely empty the White Dragon’s private treasury.

At the very least, they left him with over half of his resource reserves. However, what remained was basically worthless. Seeing this, Little White’s face twitched uncontrollably, but what could he do?

“Hahahaha, Brother White Dragon, you don’t need to look so downcast. While we’ve taken your treasures, we also appreciate your generosity. From now on, you are a true member of our Eight Gates team.

If anyone dares to bully you in the future, I, your elder brother, will be the first to stand up for you!” Hearing the Big Crab say this, asserting seniority over him, Little White nearly spat blood.

After all, he was a true descendant of the dragon race, having lived for tens of thousands of years or even longer, yet he was being called "Big Brother" by this lowly human.

Nevertheless, to quickly adapt to his dependent life, Little White ultimately chose to endure with a helpless grimace, nodding repeatedly.

After dealing with Little White, Xu Yang continued leading the team, escorted by the Fifth Prince’s group, towards the end of Kufeng Gorge.

Five more days passed in a flash, and they finally completely exited Kufeng Gorge, leaving behind the most challenging waters near the Dragonfall Abyss. They arrived at the calm waters on the other side of the strait, with less than a day’s journey remaining until they could truly land.

For the rest of the journey, the waters were relatively shallow with no major waves, and their travel speed was much faster than before. A great deal of the pressure in the Fifth Prince’s heart was released.

However, he also understood that the tremendous help he received was entirely due to the role played by Xu Yang’s team. If he had been alone, it would likely have been impossible for him to cross Kufeng Gorge so easily in this lifetime.

That day, everyone in the ship’s cabin began celebrating in advance, anticipating a successful landing on the other side of Kufeng Gorge. As everyone was clinking glasses and drinking, Little White, who had transformed into human form and was eating and drinking with the group, suddenly frowned. He looked at Xu Yang with a solemn expression, then put down his wine cup.

Unbeknownst to Little White, Xu Yang also had a premonition. He sensed something the moment Little White looked at him, and his expression grew a bit more complicated.

“Master, you must have noticed it too, right? Something feels wrong. I actually sensed another dragon’s aura. This is almost impossible on the entire Yingzhou Continent! But I can tell you clearly, my judgment shouldn’t be wrong. A dragon’s aura has appeared near the sea, and it has likely been watching us for a long time.”

Xu Yang nodded slightly. “Your judgment is not wrong. Before, because I was constantly dealing with you, and your dragon aura was too pure and too close to me, it caused me to temporarily lower my guard. As expected, there’s a very clear difference between your aura and the aura of the dragon you detected.”

Hearing their conversation, the others no longer had any desire to eat or drink. The Fifth Prince, in particular, looked extremely solemn again. He had originally planned well, thinking there would be no more difficulties after dealing with the White Dragon, but he hadn't expected his understanding of the dragon legends on Yingzhou Continent to be flawed.

“Boss, what do you think about this?” Everyone turned their gaze to Xu Yang, who then offered his deeper interpretation.

“Logically speaking, it’s highly probable that the entity appearing in Kufeng Gorge in advance is from the imperial palace’s forces. However, it’s a giant dragon that has arrived, which makes me think more deeply. There appear to be two possibilities now.

Either the one emitting the dragon aura is a hidden force lurking within the imperial palace, or they are a servant of an influential figure within the royal family. In that case, the number of individuals capable of controlling a giant dragon in the entire imperial palace should be extremely small.”

At this, Xu Yang looked at the Fifth Prince. How intelligent the Fifth Prince was! He immediately understood Xu Yang’s hint. “You mean it could be a giant dragon sent by Imperial Father?”

Xu Yang nodded slightly. “There’s absolutely that possibility. Therefore, we must not act rashly. First, we need to figure out the true origin of this dragon aura emitter.

If he truly was sent by your Imperial Father, we cannot easily engage him in combat. The best approach would be to turn his plan against him.

If we reveal too much of our strength, we might not be able to stop this individual, and instead, we would expose our ambitions. In that case, your life will likely be difficult once we enter Xuanyuan Imperial City.”

The Fifth Prince fully agreed with Xu Yang’s advice and assessment, and quickly nodded.

“What you said makes sense. In that case, I must trouble Esteemed Xu Yang to make another assessment and determine who this individual emitting the dragon aura truly is.

However, according to the intelligence I’ve gathered, no one in the imperial palace has ever wielded true dragon power. As for my Imperial Father, he has countless strong individuals around him, but we, the seven imperial princes, are completely unaware of trump cards of this level of power. Even his own power is now beyond our comprehension.”

Xu Yang revealed a slight smile and nodded gently. “That’s normal. Given your Imperial Father’s personality, if he allowed you to see his full power so easily, he probably wouldn’t be qualified to sit on the throne of the Central Domain Imperial family.”