The Ancestral Dragon's Lament

Deng Yuchen was of the human race, not the dragon clan, but this village had once been the dwelling of the Ancestral Dragon and received the inheritance of the dragon clan.

The memory imprints left by the Ancestral Dragon were fragmentary; many things could not be truly investigated. However, Xiao Chen eventually learned the reason for her sealing.

Living under the shadow of Otherworld rule, it was impossible for any race to truly flourish and grow.

Whenever a race burst forth with the brilliant spark of civilization, the Otherworld gods would descend. They would break the sprout, strangle hope, and then themselves develop and perfect a new civilization system.

Several powerful civilizations had been destroyed, strangled in the cradle. The dragon clan, fearing a similar path of ruin, had remained hidden and endured in secret, hoping to eventually evolve into an enemy Stone Man King and then emerge to oppose the Otherworld.

Unexpectedly, they were ultimately exposed. Before she could take another step forward, the Otherworld's great army attacked.

The Ancestral Dragon had nine sons, hidden in secret alongside her, all of them War Ancestors of the Ninth Heaven, inheriting the bloodline and battle arts of the Ancestral Dragon, granting them unparalleled combat power.

On that day, to buy time for the Ancestral Dragon, knowing they would surely die, they all emerged from the shadows to fight alongside the other powerhouses of the Nine Provinces against the Otherworld gods.

Yazi, Pixiu, Tanhan, Suanni, Taotie, Qiniu… each was a top-tier powerhouse, having concealed themselves from the Otherworld for countless years and cultivated to the Ninth Heaven of the War Ancestor realm.

On that day, the nine dragons emerged together, shaking heaven and earth, causing the myriad worlds to tremble. The Otherworld paid an extremely heavy price—nearly all its Upper Ancestral Gods were annihilated.

But that did not change the outcome. The ending was already determined. Yazi, Tanhan, Suanni, Qiniu… dragon blood stained the sky, dragon bones cracked the firmament. They shook the past and moved the future, but in the end, all perished.

The nine sons of the Ancestral Dragon withered and fell. Dragon blood formed rivers between the mountains and rivers. On that day, the Nine Provinces ran with blood, corpses piled like mountains, and billions of living beings grieved. Just like the vanished civilizations before, ten thousand dragons were extinguished, a hundred races perished together, adding another tragic song of dragon clan blood and tears.

Watching her nine dragon sons fall, watching all life slowly lose its vitality, the Ancestral Dragon was overcome by grief and finally set foot on a desperate path. She paid an unimaginable price to summon the Heavenly Stele. At that time, though immensely powerful, she had never comprehended the Heavenly Stele Profound Art—she only possessed a fragmentary summoning technique. To summon the Heavenly Stele, she had to pay with blood and life.

In the end, the Ancestral Dragon succeeded. She summoned the Heavenly Stele and, in the final moment, took another step forward, ascending to become a Stone Man King on par with the enemy.

In that battle, the Ancestral Dragon caused the complete annihilation of all the Otherworld gods who had appeared in the Nine Provinces. Among them was an Upper Ancestral God who nearly rivaled a Stone Man King in potential, but even he was crushed to death by the Heavenly Stele in that battle.

However, the cost of forcibly summoning the Heavenly Stele was too great. The Ancestral Dragon lost vast amounts of blood essence and life force, and furthermore, suffered a near-fatal strike from that Upper Ancestral God who was almost equal to a Stone Man King, which nearly extinguished all her vitality.

It must be said that the Otherworld's foundations were deep. Having accumulated over several civilization cycles, it had produced too many terrifying figures.

Someone used a forbidden technique to deceive heaven and obstruct the Dao, channeling the resentment of countless beings from over a dozen destroyed worlds toward the Ancestral Dragon. By successfully leveraging the power of 'karma,' they used the Heavenly Stele that the Ancestral Dragon had summoned to suppress her instead.

At that time, King Pangu was blocked by the Zixiao Stone King of the Celestial Realm and others, ultimately failing to stop what was happening. By the time he arrived, the Heavenly Stele had vanished, and the Ancestral Dragon had already transformed into the surging Yellow River.

In the end, only a trace of the Ancestral Dragon's soul imprint remained unextinguished. It sealed itself within a purple jade bracelet, placed in the Ancestral Dragon Village where she had once dwelled in seclusion.

The ancient people of this place had received her inheritance generations ago, preserving the purple jade bracelet through the ages.

The purple jade bracelet seemed to have been intentionally left by the Ancestral Dragon for a specific person, but no one ever came to claim it. Eventually, the struggle among the three Ancestral Dragons occurred.

In truth, many mysteries remained uncovered, ultimately lost in the river of history. However, Xiao Chen could roughly deduce what must have happened, and even if not entirely accurate, it could not be far off.

In particular, he now fully understood the origin of the Ancestral Dragon Village.

At the same time, various signs indicated that there had been many civilizations in the past. Humanity was not the latest to emerge—that had always been a misconception.

At the very least, the ancient people of the Primordial Ancient Village seemed to have an extremely long history.

Xiao Chen did not accept the inheritance of the dragon clan. The Black Dragon King, the Red Dragon King, and the Inverse Dragon King were the most suitable candidates—he had no need to compete for it.

Watching the dignified, holy figure of the woman gradually fade, Xiao Chen opened his mouth but found no words. Then, he strode toward the interior of the Ancestral Dragon Village.

Familiar village. The scent of the land. Everything was so intimate.

The yellow soil path was lush on both sides with grass. The unique fragrance of vegetation evoked distant memories. He remembered the times as a child when he ran swiftly here with his companions.

At the head of the village, the big yellow dog from Zhang Na's house was as sturdy as a calf. Not far away, under a thatched awning, an old cat was snoring loudly in its sleep.

Walking into the village, he glanced over and saw steam rising from an iron pot in Uncle Li's yard, though he could not tell what was being cooked.

It did not feel as if thirty thousand years had passed. It was as though he had never left. Everything was just as before.

Xiao Chen found a sense of familiarity. Returning to this village after thirty thousand years left him in a daze, with an unreal, dreamlike sensation.

Passing by Uncle Wang Liu's yard, he saw the cucumber vines growing vigorously. The tender green melons, topped with small yellow flowers, evoked even more memories.

He had returned. Come back to the village.

The fruit trees were heavy with fruit, their fragrance wafting through the air.

Unable to restrain himself, Xiao Chen stepped forward, picked a plum, and bit into it. The sour taste instantly brought a flood of familiar images before his eyes.

He remembered as a child, loving plums so much that he ignored his mother's advice and ate too many, which caused his teeth to go sour, leaving him unable to bite even tofu for three days straight.

Thinking of this, Xiao Chen smiled, then, with excitement, pushed open the door.

Inside the room, the sounds of light, steady breathing came from the inner chamber. He walked deeper and saw both of his parents sleeping soundly.

Those decades of unconscious slumber had left no trace on their faces. Though their hair had already turned white, it had not gained any additional silver strands during that time.

Thirty thousand years had passed. Xiao Chen saw his parents again, and his eyes immediately blurred. Just thinking of such a vast span of time left his heart feeling empty and vast.

So many years had passed. The world's grasses and trees had flourished generation after generation. Many lakes and great rivers had completely dried up and vanished. Countless great mountains had collapsed.

Enough to erase countless people and events. Yet the longing in Xiao Chen's heart had only grown deeper over those thirty thousand years. He almost choked up. For thirty thousand years, through life and death, wandering on the edge of extinction, experiencing several life-or-death battles, he had never been able to enjoy or taste the comfort of family affection.

Today, seeing his parents again, the complex emotions in his heart could well be imagined.

At this moment, he was not a warrior fighting against heaven and earth, but merely an ordinary wanderer who had returned home.

Involuntarily, Xiao Chen knelt by the bedside, gazing at his parents, who had already shown signs of age. A feeling of filial affection filled his heart with indescribable warmth.

No more slaughter, no more bloodshed, no more deadly enemies, no more flashing blades and gleaming swords. Now, he felt only the warmth of home, forgetting all troubles.

He could already make his parents healthy and long-lived. It was hard to imagine the scene when he had to part from them in life and death.

"Father… Mother…" Xiao Chen called softly.

After a moment, the two elders stirred, their eyelids fluttering as they slowly opened their eyes and awakened.

They showed no great agitation—that was because they did not know they had slept for thirty thousand years. But their gazes toward Xiao Chen were full of affection.

No matter how powerful Xiao Chen had become, in their eyes, he was still just a child.

Seeing his parents awake, Xiao Chen felt like crying. His parents did not know that thirty thousand years had passed, but he had personally experienced all those years of wandering abroad, always yearning and dreaming of this moment of reunion.

"Child, what's wrong?" the two elders asked kindly, somewhat puzzled by Xiao Chen.

"Nothing. I just got something in my eyes."

Xiao Chen did not want to tell them that thirty thousand years had already gone by, did not want them to worry and press him for answers. Moreover, he did not know whether the Ancestral Dragon Village would re-emerge in the world from now on, and he did not want to disturb the peaceful state of his parents' minds.

Soon, the two elders' eyelids grew heavy, and without realizing it, they sank back into slumber.

Xiao Chen was silent. He knew that the Ancestral Dragon Village had not yet reappeared in the world, and his parents would still sleep.

He sat quietly by the window. Only after three days did he leave the room.

He longed to be reunited with his parents, but he still had many matters to attend to and could not stay.

Xiao Chen resolutely and determinedly walked out of the yard and closed the gate once more.

Before the Ancestral Dragon Village, the figure of the Ancestral Dragon had vanished. Everything she had was inherited by the three Ancestral Dragons.

At this moment, the Black Dragon King, the Red Dragon King, and the Inverse Dragon King had all taken human form, sitting side by side cross-legged before the Ancestral Dragon Village, their eyes closed in silent meditation, as if digesting that vast fortune.

Xiao Chen spread open his palm and saw that the shattered purple jade bracelet had already been restored intact. He vaguely guessed that before the three Ancestral Dragons left the Primordial Ancient Village, the Ancestral Dragon Village would remain hidden.

He stepped into the void and then tore through space, leaving that ancient village world.

When Xiao Chen reappeared in the outside world, he saw the bright moon hanging high and the surging Yellow River.

It was a silent night. There were no towering buildings, no neon lights flashing.

He did not know that outside, more than a hundred years had already passed, and this place had become a forbidden zone in the eyes of the civilization of the Nine Provinces—ordinary people would not easily approach it.

And just then, Xiao Chen noticed that before the ancient village, not far from the bank of the Yellow River, stood a five-story ancient tower. On it stood a solitary, dejected figure.

Decadent and melancholy, his eyes filled with desolation and grief, he stood alone in the shadow of the tower under the bright moon.

"Above the tower, he watches the world's fickle affairs, aloof outside them. Below the tower, he looks at you, drunk on life and death, a solitary cup. The bright moon adorns the tower, yet you stand on the tower, saying you are at ease—yet you are forlorn…"

The decadent and melancholy Human Demon Ge Qian let out a mournful cry. He poured a cup of wine before the tower, gazed at the Yellow River for a long time without moving, like a fossil.

After a long while, he finally spoke: "Is it time…"

And then, in that instant, the myriad worlds trembled together. In the Otherworld's sacred grounds, three stone cities collapsed and were destroyed. In the new Otherworld, five Primordial Demon Cities simultaneously crumbled. Moreover, a flesh-and-blood Upper Ancestral God's forehead cracked, blood dripping down in lines…

"The bright moon adorns the tower, yet you stand on the tower, saying you are at ease—yet you are forlorn…" The Human Demon Ge Qian, decadent and lonely, cried out mournfully: "What more can I do?"