The white-haired elder, dressed in plain blue clothes faded with repeated washing, set down his fishing net. Quinn felt something squirming at his chest, and then saw the Imperial Disc transform into a tiny dragon, wriggling out from his collar.
Myles Jiang, seeing the little dragon, instinctively reverted to his true form—a small dragon as well—and hid behind Quinn, both reverent and fearful. He whispered, "Maha—"
This little dragon was the True Dragon Lord. It yawned, then lazily crawled out from Quinn's collar, slithered onto the elder's hand, curled up, and squinted drowsily, nearly falling asleep.
Immediately, many young men and women emerged from the small village, surrounding Quinn and Myles Jiang. A sturdy young man asked, "Ancestor, is someone here to cause trouble?"
The white-haired elder smiled, "No. Don't frighten them—these two have a special connection to our village."
Myles Jiang poked his head out from behind Quinn, timidly saying, "Maha—"
Quinn was inwardly alarmed. Each of these young villagers brimmed with vitality and concealed their strength. When they had surrounded him, Quinn distinctly heard seven explosive sounds from the youngest girl's body—the opening of seven divine treasuries, clearly marking her as a Divine Bridge Realm expert!
And this girl should be the weakest in the village, since everyone protected her at the center!
In this seemingly small village, even the weakest villager was at the Divine Bridge Realm!
Quinn had always thought that Cripple Village was the strongest in the Great Ruins, but now it seemed this place was truly a land where dragons lurked and tigers hid.
"Besides the Imperial Disc, you also have the True Dragon Nest."
Quinn put the command token back in the red box and stored it in his Glutton Dragon Pouch.
The True Dragon Lord in the elder's hand immediately perked up and slithered into the True Dragon Nest.
The other villagers, seeing the True Dragon Nest, also became visibly excited and eager, as if they too wanted to crawl inside like the little dragon.
But they managed to restrain themselves.
Quinn guessed as much, then explained to the elder, "The Ling family's Imperial Disc was stolen by my crippled grandpa and given to me. As for the True Dragon Nest, it was refined by the Dragon-Keeper Lord of High Heaven, whom I subdued—so the True Dragon Nest also ended up in my hands. Senior, are you the one who forged the Imperial Disc?"
The elder's gaze lingered on the Dragon Nest, a faint smile on his lips. "Years ago, I refined the True Dragon Lord into the Imperial Disc and went to the Central Lands in search of a successor. I encountered an exceptionally gifted youth—the ancestor of the Ling family. Sensing true dragon qi in him, I gifted him the Imperial Disc and taught him the dragon tongue and techniques inscribed on it. But his mind was elsewhere, always chasing after girls. He got the girl, but forgot most of what I taught him. I knew then he wasn't the true master of the True Dragon Lord."
Quinn wondered aloud, "How could a formation become useless?"
"But I'm naturally lazy and only took on the task as a favor to someone else. Since the chosen successor wasn't up to the job, I just let things be."
The white-haired elder smiled, "Who would have thought that while that youth lacked ambition, his descendants would thrive—strengthening the Everpeace nation and achieving so much. Since the Imperial Disc is now in your hands, and you've obtained the True Dragon Nest and come here, you must be after the techniques it contains, right?"
Quinn replied respectfully, "Senior, I am indeed interested in the techniques within the True Dragon Nest, but this time I came because of the Heavenly Saint Cult's Founding Patriarch. He is my First Senior Brother and gave me a map marked with this village, so I came to seek it out."
The white-haired elder paused, thinking aloud, "The Heavenly Saint Cult's Founding Patriarch? Was that young man Wei Fengsui?"
Quinn hesitated, not knowing his First Senior Brother's real name.
The elder noticed, and smiled, "He visited me once, asking how to achieve merit. He was quite decent, very capable—a good disciple for the Woodcutter Sage. But Wei Fengsui wanted to become a saint, and that's a difficult path. He follows the Woodcutter Sage's way, which is extremely hard; I couldn't help him. If you're here to ask how to become a saint, I can't teach you either."
By 'Woodcutter Sage,' he must mean the Celestial Teacher, who was once the Pioneer Heavenly Court's Celestial Master, responsible for teaching the imperial heirs.
Quinn asked, "May I ask, did my First Senior Brother ever mention where he planned to go?"
The white-haired elder shook his head. "He didn't say where he was headed, but he did leave something behind. If he sent you to find me, it must be for this item."
He stood up, entered his grass hut, and after a moment returned with a red box, handing it to Quinn.
Quinn opened the box and found a palm-sized command token inside, stamped with the image of a fierce beast.
Quinn turned it over several times, unable to decipher its meaning, and humbly asked, "Senior, may I ask what this token does?"
Myles Jiang, in his little dragon form, tiptoed after Quinn. Hearing this, he shrank back and muttered, "Maha..."
The elder said, "Some runes on it I don't even recognize—perhaps it's from the Supreme Sovereign Era or even earlier."
He took the token, activated it with his own power, and stars rose from it, circling above them. "These stars are god-positions. When the gods take their places, the formation can be used to meet the enemy and fight."
Quinn looked up and saw that the stars from the token weren't real, but projections—yet there were thousands of them. He was stunned and muttered, "A formation of thousands of gods... What kind of war would require so many divine beings at once?"
"You haven't seen enough."
The elder withdrew his power, and the star projections vanished. He smiled, "In the Pioneer Era, battles of this scale weren't uncommon. The formation inside this talisman is mostly useless now, but it still makes a fine collector's item."
Quinn wondered aloud, "How could the formation be useless?"
The elder handed the talisman back to him. "Perhaps the world's Dao has changed—the formation in the talisman no longer matches the Dao, so its power is gone. This thing is truly ancient, probably from hundreds of thousands of years ago. As for its exact era, I can't say."
Since the Founding Patriarch Wei Fengsui left this red box and command token with the white-haired elder, it must be extremely important. That he sent Quinn here was likely for the sake of this token.
Quinn said, "Forgive my rudeness, senior—I haven't yet asked your name."
The white-haired elder smiled, "I thought the descendants of the Keane family would already know my identity, but it seems you don't. I was originally a dragon vein spirit who became a True Dragon, and in the past I followed your ancestor. When I was first born, I couldn't speak—only cry out 'Maha'—so your ancestor named me Ma Haqing as a joke."
Quinn's expression was odd. "Ma Haqing..."
Myles Jiang poked his head out from behind Quinn, timidly saying, "Maha—"
The elder continued, "Later, I became an official in your ancestor's Heavenly Court. There were four great palaces—mine was the Azure Dragon Palace, where I commanded the sixty star-god divisions of the Azure Dragon Heaven. The gods honored me as the Azure Emperor, but I thought that title too overbearing, so I changed it to Azure Desolation. Now that the Pioneer Heavenly Court has fallen and the Azure Dragon Palace is gone, you may call me Elder Azure Desolation."
Quinn bowed again. "Quinn Shepherd, 107th-generation descendant of the Keane line, greets Elder Azure Desolation."
Elder Azure Desolation quickly said, "Please rise. As soon as I saw you, I recognized your bloodline and guessed you were a descendant of the Pioneer Emperor. You want to learn the Dragon Tongue techniques of the True Dragon Nest? I can teach you."
Quinn was overjoyed and bowed again. "Thank you, senior!"
Elder Azure Desolation led him into the True Dragon Nest. "Your techniques and divine arts are already quite accomplished, and it seems you've cultivated both god-dao and demon-dao, opening both divine and demonic treasuries—very unusual. It seems you've found your own path, so learning my dragon clan's techniques will only be icing on the cake. But this little dragon should benefit greatly."
Myles Jiang, in his little dragon form, tiptoed after Quinn. Hearing this, he shrank back and muttered, "Maha..."
Elder Azure Desolation laughed, "No need to thank me—thank him instead. By the way, Quinn, I sense you have something strange on you, around your neck—a jade pendant with powerful sealing energy."
"Senior, do you mean this jade pendant?"
Quinn took out the pendant. "It was forged by Tu Bo, the Earth Sovereign, to seal my demonic nature. I was born in Youdu and invaded by demonic qi, so Tu Bo made this for me—to suppress the demonic side as long as I wear it."
Elder Azure Desolation examined the pendant and snorted. "Tu Bo sealed your demonic nature? As if he had good intentions! Give me the pendant—I'll break the seal for you!"
"Um..."
Quinn looked troubled and whispered, "Senior, Lord Hades once tried to break the seal and was cursed by the pendant. Furylo of the demon race also tried and was horribly cursed. Both my master and Lord Hades said the seal should never be broken, and the pendant must never leave my body, or terrible things will happen..."
"Just a curse—what's there to fear?"
Elder Azure Desolation laughed, "But if even the Celestial Teacher says so, there must be a reason. Come, let me teach you the true dragon techniques within the Dragon Nest!"