Chapter 389: True Dragon Enters Nest Divine Skill Revealed

Dragon Qilin wanted to spit out the Fire Elemental Divine Core Pills from his cheeks, but when he saw Qin Mu's benevolent smile, he was so scared that he gulped them all down.

"What a pity, they would have made a good dish for New Year's," Qin Mu murmured.

Dragon Qilin shivered repeatedly and obediently trotted behind them. Fox Spirit perched on his large head, constantly cheering him on: "Fat Dragon, if you run too slowly, you'll be killed by New Year's!"

Qin Mu relaxed. Mishui Pass was not far from Xianglong City. According to the Grand Ruins geographical map, the Sea of Constellations was located in the Heavenly Dragon Star Palace, north of Xianglong City, about two hundred li away. On the map, it was called Star Sea, but people near Xianglong City referred to it as the Sea of Constellations.

Many ancient place names in the Grand Ruins differed significantly from their current names, likely due to the civilization discontinuity during the Kaihuang era.

According to the information Qin Mu had gathered, a significant gap, spanning over a thousand years, appeared in human history after the Kaihuang era ended. Very few records of events from that millennium survived. Aside from scattered accounts in the Three Great Sacred Grounds and Little Jade Capital, no other sects or nations retained any memory of that period.

Qin Mu summoned the Ink Dragon. The Ink Dragon obediently opened its mouth, revealing the True Dragon Lair, which the Dragon Herding Sovereign had refined to a mere five feet square.

Relatively speaking, the True Dragon Lair was still quite large. Even a deity like the Dragon Herding Sovereign could only refine it to the size of a round table. Refining it to a smaller size would require significantly greater power.

The Dragon Herding Sovereign's cultivation level was insufficient to achieve that.

"However, the Lord of the True Dragon was refined into something like a jade pendant. Doesn't that mean the person who refined it into the Emperor's Disk possesses cultivation far superior to the Dragon Herding Sovereign's?"

Qin Mu was stunned. Who had taken the Lord of the True Dragon and refined it into the Emperor's Disk? Why was it given to the Ling family? What was that person's purpose?

The Ink Dragon spat out the True Dragon Lair. Just as Qin Mu was about to catch it, he immediately felt immense pressure and quickly said, "Quickly, take it back..."

The two women watched, astonished and uncertain, as Grand Cult Master Qin's arms dislocated, and he was pressed onto the dragon's back by the weight of the dragon lair.

"This large basin-like rockery seems much heavier than the Grand Cult Master's sword pellet," Si Yunxiang whispered, sticking out her tongue as she recalled the time she refined a sword for Qin Mu using profound gold elite, only to press him into the ground.

Qin Mu grunted, struggling to pull his mangled fingers from beneath the dragon lair. Fat Dragon immediately scurried over, fawning, "Cult Master, I can lick your hands for you."

"No need."

Qin Mu's arms dangled limply. He circulated his vital qi, forcibly reset his arms, and enduring the pain, took out a bottle of dragon saliva, applying it to his fingers. He then let out a sigh of relief.

With the appearance of the True Dragon Lair, the Emperor's Disk on his chest immediately stirred, becoming hot and scalding. It was also stretching its "body," like a small dragon wriggling, attempting to fly out from his chest and return to the dragon lair.

This had happened once before: when Qin Mu was almost killed by a group of dragons, the Emperor's Disk had revealed a small dragon head, forcing the dragons to submit.

However, the Lord of the True Dragon had already been refined into the Emperor's Disk, and the Dragon Herding Sovereign had said it could no longer transform into a true dragon.

True dragons are born from qi and fortune. Qi and fortune give birth to true dragons, deriving their physical bodies. The Lord of the True Dragon was essentially a main dragon vein; having been refined into a treasure, it had no possibility of evolving into a true dragon.

Qin Mu took the Emperor's Disk from his neck. As soon as he let go, the Emperor's Disk flew up, slowly unfolding in the air and automatically growing larger, though still only about a foot long. Then, with a whoosh, it dropped into the True Dragon Lair!

Qin Mu looked into the dragon lair and saw the Emperor's Disk land. It coiled like a dragon in the center of the ninth layer of the lair, perfectly filling the gap.

As the Lord of the True Dragon entered the lair, an earth-shattering dragon might instantly erupted. The dragons around Qin Mu instantly became weak, collapsing and crawling on the ground. The dragon carrying them also hastily prostrated itself, motionless.

Even Dragon Qilin immediately stopped, his fur and scales standing on end. Still, he could not resist the terrifying dragon might from the lair and was forced to prostrate himself on the ground, daring not to look up.

Qin Mu paid little heed to anything else, immediately noticing numerous runes pulsating on the dragon lair. These were Dragon race characters—bizarre and ever-changing, with no two characters alike!

Each different character contained a unique message. The characters appearing on the True Dragon Lair were, astonishingly, an incredibly complex cultivation art!

True dragons are born from qi and fortune, which originates from the Dao of Heaven and Earth. Thus, true dragons are close to the Dao. Every dragon inherently masters the Dragon race language upon birth, with no need for learning.

Because there is no need to learn the Dragon language, there is no need for repetition within it. The Dragon race can use a single character to represent the meaning of a word, or a sentence, or even an article spanning tens of thousands of characters!

This is why it is unimaginably difficult for other races to learn the Dragon language.

The Dragon Herding Sovereign had extremely noble blood, but he was, after all, a flood dragon, not a true dragon. Although he had taught Qin Mu much of the Dragon language, there were still many characters on the True Dragon Lair that Qin Mu did not recognize.

Some characters within the Dragon language taught by the Dragon Herding Sovereign had extremely complex meanings. A single character, if expressed in human language, would require tens of thousands of words, and some characters simply could not be expressed in human language at all!

Qin Mu concentrated on memorizing the Dragon language on the True Dragon Lair.

Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang also came closer. Si Yunxiang wondered, "What kind of writing is this?"

"Dragon race characters."

Ling Yuxiu exclaimed in surprise, "These are all Dragon race characters! I once learned some; my imperial father taught me, but I don't recognize many, only a few scattered ones."

Qin Mu pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Sister Yuxiu, do you have your Ling family's original Nine Dragon Emperor's Art?"

The Nine Dragon Emperor's Art was not originally outstanding; it only evolved into a top-tier profound art after successive generations of masters in the Ling family improved and perfected it. However, Qin Mu speculated that the initial version must still exist, otherwise Emperor Yanfeng would not have taught Ling Yuxiu the Dragon language.

Qin Mu suspected that the original Nine Dragon Emperor's Art was written in the Dragon language, and Emperor Yanfeng taught Ling Yuxiu the Dragon language precisely so she could read the most ancient version of the art.

"How did you know I've read the most ancient Nine Dragon Emperor's Art?"

Ling Yuxiu was astonished and said, "The most ancient Nine Dragon Emperor's Art of my Ling family is indeed written in the Dragon language, and I have read it. My imperial father made me memorize it before he taught me his version of the Nine Dragon Emperor's Art."

Qin Mu smiled and said, "Recite the most ancient Nine Dragon Emperor's Art in the Dragon language, and I'll give you a great reward later."

Ling Yuxiu shook her head, "I can't say it, but I can write it."

Qin Mu retrieved paper and brush. Ling Yuxiu wrote a few strangely shaped Dragon race characters and said, "It's like this. My Ling family's Nine Dragon Emperor's Art was recorded on the Emperor's Disk. Unfortunately, the Disk vanished without a trace, stolen by some despicable thief."

Qin Mu's face flushed slightly. He didn't reply but instead looked at the Dragon race characters she had written.

"So that's it. The Nine Dragon Emperor's Art is actually the introductory chapter of the cultivation art revealed on the True Dragon Lair and the Lord of the True Dragon."

He read through the original Nine Dragon Emperor's Art, then examined the constantly flashing characters and symbols on the dragon lair, finally discerning the outline of the Lord of the True Dragon's cultivation art.

With the outline in hand, Qin Mu continued his study, and a magnificent and intricate cultivation art gradually became richer and more complete.

The Ling family's Nine Dragon Emperor's Art only had an introductory stance, which wasn't truly a divine art. However, the Ling family managed to perfect this art, using only the introductory stance, into a top-tier cultivation method capable of rivaling the core arts of the Three Great Sacred Grounds. This truly shows how astonishing the cultivation art recorded on the True Dragon Lair is!

As he deciphered it bit by bit, his astonishment grew. This was the Fortune Seizing Art that the Dragon Herding Sovereign had spoken of, though not entirely focused on seizing fortune. By cultivating this art and absorbing the true dragon qi from the Lord of the True Dragon, one could become the Lord of the True Dragon themselves!

The power of this cultivation art lay in the practitioner's incredibly vast vital energy and dragon-like strength. Among all the cultivation arts Qin Mu had ever encountered, only the Hegemon Body Three Elixirs Art could likely achieve such cultivation at the same realm.

However, the achievements this art granted in terms of strength and physical body were incomparable to those of the Hegemon Body Three Elixirs Art!

Although Qin Mu had made considerable progress in physical cultivation, the Hegemon Body Three Elixirs Art required powerful body-refining methods as supplementary training, which he lacked. The body-refining methods in the Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scripture were not considered top-tier.

The cultivation art on the True Dragon Lair, however, could refine one's physical body to be like that of a Dragon King!

"What a magnificent art, truly magnificent... Emperor Yanfeng is also remarkable!"

Qin Mu praised repeatedly. He had deciphered most of the cultivation art but encountered many unrecognized characters. He then looked up, exhaled a cloudy breath, and praised, "Your Majesty is truly remarkable! To develop a peerless martial art from just an introductory stance—such talent is hardly inferior to the Imperial Advisor's! Sister Yuxiu, when did your Ling family acquire this cultivation art?"

"Around seven hundred years ago, I believe."

Ling Yuxiu recalled Emperor Yanfeng's words: "My imperial father said that at that time, a Ling family ancestor encountered a deity who bestowed upon him the Emperor's Disk and taught him the Dragon race language. However, our ancestor was restless by nature and didn't take learning the Dragon language seriously. At the time, he was infatuated with a woman—who later became my Ling family's ancestress—and his thoughts were entirely on her. By the time our ancestor wanted to learn, he found that the deity had already left, and he had forgotten most of the Dragon language taught to him. Ultimately, he only managed to comprehend the initial Nine Dragon Emperor's Art from the Emperor's Disk."

"Grandpa Deaf's words were true!"

Qin Mu thought to himself, "No wonder Grandpa Deaf always said women get in the way; it's true! Grandpa Butcher also said that women are too troublesome, and Old Man Ma doesn't get close to women either. So there were reasons for it! I must not let my cultivation be delayed like the Ling family's old ancestor. Still, Sister Yuxiu is quite pretty, and while Sister Xiang is a bit thin, she's also rather good-looking..."

He felt a jolt of alarm and quickly suppressed those distracting thoughts. He pulled the Lord of the True Dragon out of the dragon lair; the dragon-shaped dragon vein once again transformed into a jade pendant, its head and tail connected.

Ling Yuxiu watched, a hint of suspicion in her eyes. "This jade jue is somewhat similar to my Ling family's Emperor's Disk... but also different. I heard the Emperor's Disk is a jade pendant, while this is a jade jue, which has a gap."

Qin Mu smiled and said, "I just said I'd give you a great reward. Now, I shall impart to you the Nine Dragon Emperor's Art that I have comprehended."

Ling Yuxiu let out a chuckle. "I have the Nine Dragon Emperor's Art taught to me by my imperial father. Can what you've comprehended be even more powerful than his?"

Qin Mu slowly recited the "Nine Dragon Emperor's Art" he had comprehended. Gradually, Ling Yuxiu's expression grew more solemn. She realized that while the beginning of the Nine Dragon Emperor's Art was identical to the Ling family's original scroll, it became increasingly profound and powerful, surpassing even the perfected version by Emperor Yanfeng.