Quinn Shepherd and Drake Dandy stepped forward. At the junction where the sixth dragon vein met the Master Dragon Vein, a colossal portal stood, its sides carved with countless dragon reliefs.
Quinn looked around, marveling at the lifelike, ancient dragon carvings—each one distinct, with different forms and species. The artistry here rivaled even the Hundred Dragon Diagrams of Great Thunderclap Temple.
The Hundred Dragon Diagrams at Great Thunderclap Temple only depicted a hundred or so Heavenly Dragons, but here, the dragon reliefs numbered in the thousands. Dragons of all sizes circled a coiled giant dragon that gazed directly out from the wall—some soared, some crawled, some lounged as if asleep.
Some of the dragon reliefs stared at the ground, as if watching something amusing; others, the larger dragons, looked after playful younglings. A few little dragons climbed up the giant’s whiskers, hanging upside-down and frolicking—every possible pose was present.
The giant dragon was sculpted with both majesty and menace—its bearing divine yet savage, wild and fierce. Its eyes met those who approached, making it nearly impossible to hold its gaze.
"Is this giant dragon the True Dragon Lord? If I could study here, I might perfect my understanding of Thunder Chant Eight-Form—and perhaps even create new divine abilities!"
Quinn’s heart stirred. Grandpa Mark excelled at carving, Deaf at painting, and Mute at forging—all had taught Quinn much.
He could appreciate the beauty of a thousand dragon reliefs—and see even deeper. The portal’s carvings had been made with an axe. Quinn seemed to glimpse a god wielding a great axe, chopping with such skill that the tool became both the finest brush and the wildest pen, painting and slashing at will, unleashing a world-shaking axe technique in every stroke.
"Strange, very strange!"
The Dragon-Keeper Lord’s voice echoed from the other side of the portal, sounding agitated—as if he’d encountered something he couldn’t figure out.
Quinn stepped through the towering portal and froze. Beneath his feet yawned a vast, empty abyss; magma surged down from every wall, thundering with a deafening roar!
It was a perfectly round cavern, as if cut by a blade—yet the Master Dragon Vein that the Dragon-Keeper Lord expected was nowhere to be seen.
The Dragon-Keeper Lord hovered in the center, cradling his golden cauldron. He inspected the True Dragon Lord inside, glancing around with deepening confusion.
"No, the True Dragon Lord’s vein should be here—why isn’t it? Was it moved? Or has it already taken flight as a true dragon?"
Fidgeting with impatience, the Dragon-Keeper Lord suddenly plunged downward, heading for the depths of the enormous cavern.
Quinn immediately leapt into the air, landing on Dragon-Qilin’s back. The beast stepped onto cloud-wreathed feet and flew downward; Drake Dandy also took to the air, following the descent. After a long while, they finally reached the cavern’s bottom.
Both were stunned, gazing around in awe. Magma poured from the cavern walls above, flooding the golden-lit underground space!
This subterranean expanse was enormous—magma cascaded from above, crashing onto the golden floor below. Everywhere, pillars and boulders of Mysterious-Gold Essence crisscrossed the space, extravagant and dazzling.
Strange symbols, characters, and diagrams flickered across the surface of the Mysterious-Gold, appearing and vanishing, flowing constantly.
They felt waves of terrifying, obscure power—strong and unfathomable. Faint dragon roars echoed in their ears, savage and mighty.
"Strange, these symbols and patterns look familiar... Where have I seen them before?"
Puzzled, Quinn approached a pillar of Mysterious-Gold Essence and examined it closely. It did seem familiar.
"The True Dragon Lord really isn’t here... Not here at all..."
The Dragon-Keeper Lord had arrived ahead of them and was inspecting the golden dragon. Suddenly, he let out a deafening roar: "Only the Dragon Nest remains—who dug out the True Dragon Lord?"
"The True Dragon Lord was dug out?"
Quinn was stunned. He looked at the massive underground Dragon Nest—it was vast, filled with Mysterious-Gold Essence, and from the layout of the pillars, it seemed a great dragon had once coiled here.
The center of the Dragon Nest was empty, forming a gigantic ring—its circumference over ten li.
That colossal dragon vein hadn’t yet absorbed enough dragon qi to become a true dragon, but someone had already dug it out and taken it away.
"The True Dragon Lord was refined into a Dragon-Jade Ring!"
The Dragon-Keeper Lord sped around the perimeter, his face darkening. He said coldly, "But they miscalculated—they didn’t expect me, the Dragon-Keeper Lord, to descend here, nor did they realize they shouldn’t have left the Dragon Nest behind!"
"So the one who took the True Dragon Lord’s vein refined it into a Dragon-Jade Ring?"
Quinn exclaimed, "Who could possess such immense power?"
A Dragon-Jade Ring is a jade talisman shaped like a coiled dragon—a circle with a deliberate gap. Judging by the missing segment in the Dragon Nest, the dragon’s head and tail never met, exactly matching the form of a Dragon-Jade Ring.
But the Dragon Nest was made of Mysterious-Gold Essence, while the Dragon-Jade Ring was pure jade.
And the largest Dragon-Jade Ring is only palm-sized—how could anyone refine a dragon vein over ten li long into something so small?
Suddenly, Quinn understood why the Dragon-Keeper Lord called it a Dragon-Jade Ring.
The Dragon-Keeper Lord peeled away a layer of Mysterious-Gold Essence from a pillar, revealing jade beneath.
Quinn looked up and studied the scene. The magma here had melted Mysterious-Gold Essence, which then flowed over the Dragon Nest, coating its original jade with gold, giving it a golden appearance.
According to the Dragon-Keeper Lord, the entire Dragon Nest was made of fine jade. The True Dragon Lord’s vein had been incubated here, absorbing dragon qi from the Great Ruins and Everpeace Empire’s dragon veins.
But before the True Dragon Lord could mature, someone took it away, refined it into a Dragon-Jade Ring, and left this place.
No wonder there’s a giant abyss here—whoever took the Dragon Nest must have tracked down the True Dragon Lord’s vein, bored through the earth, and found the nest!
The Dragon-Keeper Lord shook his body, and a swarm of fire flood-dragons burst from his robe, transforming into massive serpentine dragons that spewed flames, burning and melting the Mysterious-Gold Essence everywhere.
All around the Dragon Nest, molten gold dripped and streamed into the magma below, making Quinn secretly lament the waste as a physician.
As the Mysterious-Gold Essence melted and flowed away, more jade mountain stone was exposed. Bathed in the glow of the magma, it shimmered with crystal-like colors—though far softer and warmer than ordinary crystal.
"The person who took the True Dragon Lord left the Dragon Nest behind, surely to let it keep absorbing dragon qi. Once enough qi is stored, they’ll come back for the nest, using it to nourish the True Dragon Lord—preserving both nest and dragon!"
The Dragon-Keeper Lord sneered, gazing down at the slowly revealed true form of the Dragon Nest. "But it’s useless! They never expected me to come here and claim the nest first! They took the True Dragon Lord and refined it into a Dragon-Jade Ring, but I control the Dragon Nest, which can counter the Ring. With the nest, I can sense the Ring’s location, track it down, and restore the True Dragon Lord’s vein!"
Quinn touched his chest—his jade pendant had suddenly grown scorching hot, making him deeply uncomfortable.
He wore two jade pendants on his chest—one was his ancestral pendant from Carefree Haven, the other was the Imperial Disc that Crippled Joe had forced on him.
The Imperial Disc was heating up, making Quinn increasingly uncomfortable.
"Wait a second!"
Quinn blinked, clutching his chest. The Imperial Disc that Crippled Joe had given him looked just like a Dragon-Jade Ring!
His heart suddenly thudded twice—after all, the Imperial Disc was a jade ring engraved with countless obscure symbols, characters, and diagrams, flickering and shifting constantly.
Legend said the Imperial Disc was a god-bestowed treasure for the Ling family, symbolizing imperial authority. Crippled Joe lost a leg to the Everpeace Imperial Preceptor’s sword for stealing it.
But after acquiring the Disc, Crippled Joe spent decades trying to decipher it, to no avail—eventually, he stopped caring.
The Disc was useless to him, so Crippled Joe shoved it onto Quinn. When Quinn returned to the village, he tried to give it back, but Crippled Joe refused—he’d already regrown his leg and had no interest in the Disc.
So the Imperial Disc had hung around Quinn’s neck ever since, tied together with his own jade pendant.
"Could it really be this much of a coincidence?"
Cold sweat beaded Quinn’s brow—the Disc truly had symbols and diagrams similar to those covering the Dragon Nest, all flickering and shifting in ways no one could decipher.
"But my Imperial Disc isn’t a Dragon-Jade Ring—it only resembles one, and it’s not broken. Maybe the symbols are just a coincidence."
Quinn steadied himself, planning to watch how the Dragon-Keeper Lord would collect the Dragon Nest—but the Imperial Disc on his chest grew hotter and hotter, until it became nearly unbearable.
Suddenly, Quinn felt something shift in his chest. The youth’s heart thudded uncontrollably twice, and he reached to touch it.
The Imperial Disc had cracked—turning into a Dragon-Jade Ring!
Not only had it cracked, but the Dragon-Jade Ring felt slick and alive, almost as if it had become a living creature—a tiny dragon!
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Quinn could hear his own rapid heartbeat, impossible to suppress. Sweat beaded on his brow, and his legs went weak—he nearly couldn’t breathe.
"What’s wrong, kid?" The Dragon-Keeper Lord glanced at him, sensing his anxiety.
Quinn steadied himself and replied, "I just remembered I haven’t fed the dragons today. I’m worried you’ll punish me, so I’m a little anxious..."
The Dragon-Keeper Lord smiled, "So that’s it. But it’s too hot down here—all magma, nowhere to stand. If you’re going to make pills and feed the dragons, go up above. No need to be so afraid; I’m easy to talk to."
Quinn agreed, though his legs were still shaky. "Then I’ll go up and prepare the pills."
The Dragon-Keeper Lord shook himself, sending out dragons of various sizes from his robe. He handed Quinn his gluttonous pouch: "Let your little maid help you. Teach her well—don’t let her stay so unruly."
Quinn quickly urged Long Qilin to fly upward, with a troop of flood-dragons trailing behind, waiting to be fed.
Dragon Jiao’nan followed as well.
At the cave entrance, Quinn said, "Maid, stay here. I’ll go over there to make the pills."
Dragon Jiao’nan sneered, "Dragon-Keeper Lord wants me to follow you—afraid you’ll run away."
"Run away? Me? Ha! What a joke!" Quinn’s face darkened.
Meanwhile, deep in the cave, the Dragon-Keeper Lord began his ritual, refining the massive Dragon Nest in an attempt to collect it.
"Strange, it feels like the True Dragon Lord is very close—the Dragon Nest is responding..."
The Dragon-Keeper Lord exclaimed, "It seems to be nearby—how odd... I’ll collect the Dragon Nest first. Then I’ll know exactly where the True Dragon Lord is!"